Interlude
Retaliation Part Two
The war between the Dark and the Light intensified, scorching the magical forest. In a nefarious scheme, the Dark Princess Bandora had laid siege on the Casterwill Mansion, leaving no survivors. Furthermore, she had used the forbidden art of necromancy to reanimate the bodies of Queen Undine and her Royal Guard as soulless husks subservient to her – The Fallen Arcanum.
The Mystic Force was lured to the mansion, a cruel trap intended to have them slain by the cursed corpses of their family and friends while the Dark Army pillaged rest of the realm.
The High Priestess of the Celestial Coven, Keziah sacrificed herself to protect the realm from a wave of darkness that had spread through the forest, draining the life force of everything it touched, converting man to monster.
The Mystic Academy was attacked by an army of tengas, putties, hidiacs and other dark creatures, preventing them from aiding the realm.
The Mystic Mother Zanna led an elite team of mystics to the Underworld, intending to stop the Master himself, only to bear witness to the Nether realm collapsing on itself as the dark magics twisted the Master into an Eldritch Terror.
Things have never been more dire for the Mystic Force.
Niella couldn't help herself as she felt her knees give away. Tears rolled down her cheeks as she howled in anguish.
Udonna gulped, forcing herself to stand guard in front of her sister instead of breaking down. She had lost her mother and some of her closest friends. Niella had lost her husband as well.
Daggeron took a deep breath, stilling his nerves unable to tear his eyes away from the possessed forms of Marlene and Anthea.
He felt a hand on his shoulder. He turned around to see Augusta.
"How dare you do this?" She asked the Dark Queen, her voice quaking with fury.
"Just a fun experiment!" Bandora winked at them.
"You murder the Queen and our friends, defile their bodies with your perverted dark magic and you say it's for fun." Leanbow snarled, drawing his sword.
"You will pay for this." Amaya vowed, her trident appearing in her hands in a swirl of blue magic.
"You have crossed all lines this time, you demented hag." Gale brandished his spear.
"We will show you no mercy." Petros bellowed, swinging his axe.
"This is the end for you." Daggeron led the charge, summoning his sword in one hand while firing lasers from his lamp from the other. Bandora swatted aside the blasts while Marlene and Anthea sped to their mistress' defence.
"If you want to get to me, you have to go through them." She smirked.
Daggeron faltered on seeing the blank eyes of his sister and the bloody face of his wife. He was hit by a torrent of gold and silver energies, which slammed him against a lone pillar which shattered on impact.
Anthea's silver whip latched around his leg before it flung him to the air. Too shocked to fight back, he was about to collide with a spike on the wall, seconds before Leanbow's sword cut through the whip and Mei caught him before he fell.
"That's not them, Daggeron." Mei told him grimly. "They are already gone."
Daggeron nodded. No soon did he get back on his feet, they were surrounded by two of the Barbarian Beasts.
"Don't worry, gold knight. You can join your family in servitude of the Darkness soon enough." The yeti monster said.
The bulldog monster grunted.
Mei and Daggeron looked at each other and nodded, shedding their ranger forms for their Ancient Mystic Modes, and charging at the two.
Leanbow charged forward, switching to his Ancient Mystic Mode. He blocked the energy attacks with his shield and swung his sword in a diagonal arc, letting loose a stream of phoenix fire that incinerated the silver and gold knights. He paused, closing his eyes, and taking a deep breath in memory of his friends. He had trained both Anthea and Marlene to be knights. He had watched them both grow up before his eyes…
Leanbow turned towards Bandora, his yellow eyes turning crimson as flickers of flame escaped from them.
"Ooh, things are about to get interesting…" The dark witch smirked, her hands glowing with evil energies.
Gale twirled his staff, letting loose a gust of strong winds that slammed against Screecher's sonic scream, cancelling it.
Petros leapt at Warmax, his axe colliding with the samurai monster's sword.
Augusta let out a stifled sob from Udonna's side as she watched the phoenix fire consume Marlene's body.
Lena, Roshni and Calindor stood protectively in front of them, holding back the possessed forms of Alfred and Francis, the blue and red knights of the Royal Guard.
Lena and Calindor moved fast as lightning, pinning the two knights to the ground with lightning bolts.
"I am sorry." Roshni whispered as she raised her magi staff and a wave of solar energy consumed the fallen knights.
Before the gold mystic could catch her break, a giant slab of ice slammed against her, knocking her to the ground.
"Roshni!" Calindor shouted as he and Lena ran towards their cousin who winced in pain as she tried to crawl out of the slab over her, only for frost to cover her armour and the ice to engulf her.
"NO!" Lena yelled, turning around to see Queen Undine walking towards them. The fallen queen thrust her hands forward and a ginormous wave of water crashed against the two knights, sending them skidding backwards before the water crystallised to ice, trapping them too.
Niella was still unable to move, the terror and shock etched across her face.
Udonna's face contorted with pain as she saw her mother's face look back at her, her eyes devoid of warmth and life. Undine waved her hand and shards of ice shot at them like daggers.
Augusta swung her hammer in an arc, shattering the shards before they could reach the Casterwill sisters. Undine sped towards her, her trident clashing with the hammer. The frost clung to her hammer before spreading to her suit.
"No!" Udonna shouted as she ran towards them, pushing Undine off the earth mystic, who breathed a sigh of relief as the ice thawed away instantly.
Undine grabbed the white mystic by her throat, her clawed fingers digging into the fabric of her enchanted suit before it shattered. Udonna's eyes widened with fear.
"Mother, no…" She whispered.
"NO!" Niella screamed, a silver wave of lunar energy bursting out from her form and encompassing the entire battlefield.
Udonna gasped as Undine's form disintegrated into flakes of blue and black dust and she dropped to the floor, Augusta helping her up.
She saw as the Barbarian Beasts and Bandora catch fire as the light touched them.
The slabs encasing Lena, Calindor and Roshni shattered, freeing them.
"What did you do?" Bandora shrieked, wailing her arms, yet unable to smother the fire.
The Barbarian Beasts were too preoccupied with their flaming torsos to notice their opponents attack them with their powerful magics.
The generals regrouped beside their empress as Niella came forward, her eyes glowing with silver light and her staff blazing with arcane power with light distorting around it.
She let out a fighting cry as she thrust her staff forward and bands of silver wrapped around the four monsters. A spell circle appeared beneath them, dragging them to the depths of the Underworld, ignoring their screams of protest.
Bandora looked horrified.
"What-"
"You will pay for what you did, witch!" Niella spat and struck the dark witch with her staff.
"NO!" Bandora screamed as silver light spread through her body, like cracks and her skin turned grey.
With the last of her strength, Bandora knocked the staff back and crawled away from the mystic. Giving her a rueful look, she teleported away in a puff of purple smoke.
Niella heaved a sigh of relief and dropped her staff as exhaustion claimed her. Udonna caught her before she could hit the floor.
"They are gone…" She whimpered. "Neville, Mom…"
"I know." Udonna said, her voice breaking.
"What do we do now?" She asked. "Our home… Our family destroyed."
"We regroup." Daggeron said firmly. "And we avenge everyone the darkness has claimed by destroying them once and for all."
Thought it was time to complete the flashback sequence and the Fallen Arcanum arc. Hope you enjoyed. :) And stay tuned for Wolf War!