Chapter 11 – Vicious Viper
"These guys keep showing up!" Zero screamed slashing an invader in the chest, kicking him away; Zero swung her sword into an inverted position and then stabbing the approaching invader from behind.
"You made your discomfort clear the last five times you repeated that sentence." Edric responded by blocking an invader's blow, thrusting his shield, Edric threw the invader off balance, breaking his guard and piercing him through the heart.
"Sorry, but I'm tired, I've used too much magic for today!" Eupherbia screamed, hiding inside Edric's pouch, the magic that surrounded her body glowing dimmer with each invader she helped defeat.
The two partners grudgingly advanced across the Land of Seas towards the sanctuary, cutting down any invaders that got in the way.
"I don't know if you noticed, but I'm in a hurry!" Zero exclaimed deflecting another invader's blow, then slashing his throat, but the invader didn't care and continued fighting.
"Hurry is the enemy of perfection; you need to do things slowly and calmly." Edric responded by slashing at an invader's waist and chest shortly thereafter.
"Sorry, but that's not my style, I like it hard, rough and fast!" Zero responded by leaping over an invader's spear strike, as she landed behind the invader, Zero slashed him in the back.
"You know damn well that's not what I meant!" Edric responded by kicking an invader in the chest, knocking him to the ground and piercing his heart shortly thereafter.
"Hump! That's what everyone says, you knights talk about honor and duty, but all it takes is one pretty face to offer a little fun and you'll drop it all. I wonder what you look like underneath the armor."
"If you want to know what I look like, you will have to remove my armor by force."
"I have no problem with that."
Growling in irritation, Edric cast Soul Ray, the spell blasting a hole through an invader's with a bow that was farther ahead.
The two continued advancing until they reached a village by the sea, gargoyles from all sides attacked the place, but the gargoyles weren't killing the inhabitants of the village, they were taking them away.
Gargoyles invaded the houses and held humans by the arms and legs, taking off shortly afterwards and disappearing amidst the swarm.
Seeing this, Edric ran faster towards the village.
"Hey tin head, what are you doing?" Zero asked following Edric.
"What do you think? Helping these people!" Edric responded by switching to his bow and firing arrows at the oncoming gargoyles.
"If you're going to waste time then I'll move on! I have a sister to kill!" Zero exclaimed to Edric.
"Then do it, but I doubt the gargoyles will allow it." Edric responded by hitting an arrow through the head of a gargoyle as it swooped down on him.
The arrow destroyed part of the gargoyle's head, knocking it to the ground where its body shattered.
Edric was right, as more gargoyles landed around the village, surrounding Zero, a gargoyle tried to pierce Zero with his rapier, but the intoner took a step to the left, dodging the blow, then cutting off the gargoyle's arm and with the following blow his head.
"These things are annoying! Where did they come from?" Zero asked Edric.
"These things are gargoyles from the Tower of Latria, created by the Old Monk in his soul experiments." Edric replied, dropping another gargoyle from the sky.
"Do you ever hear yourself talking? It looks like a crazy priest!" Zero responded by kicking a wagon towards a group of gargoyles and then leaping into the middle of the group, tearing it apart in a series of blows.
"If I were a priest I would throw holy water on you."
"Are you calling me a demon?"
"You're hardhead as one! Dragon come here!" Edric answered Zero as he called out to the black dragon.
A flapping of wings was heard, a large shadow passed over the village, immediately a rain of fireballs destroyed part of the gargoyle swarm, this attack was followed by the fireballs of a smaller white dragon.
"Hey Zero! I am helping!" Mikhail screamed.
"Shut up! I'm in the middle of a conversation! What do you mean by that?" Zero demanded to Edric.
"You fight with rage and no technique, the slightest insult sends you into a fit, you swing that sword like a piece of metal and care little for what is going on around you." Edric responded, equipping his sword and shield and running through the village streets.
"Get back here and say it to my face!" Zero pursued Edric.
"Your anger only proves my point." Edric responded slashing at the gargoyles in his path.
"I see you two are getting along well." The Black Dragon said with amusement in its voice, crushing a gargoyle between its teeth.
"Oh! Zero are you making friends? Hello sir knight, my name is Mikhail!" The young dragon told Edric.
"Hello Mikhail, my name is Edric." Edric responded with a completely different politeness than the one used with Zero.
"Hey, no befriending the tin head here!" Zero pointed at Edric, slicing a gargoyle in two at the waist.
"Tin head?" Edric asked, blocking a crossbow dart fired by a group of gargoyles.
"Yes, if I'm the hardhead, you're the tinhead."
"Honestly, that's not the worst thing I've been called."
"Oh! I can be creative if you want. How about virgin knight?" Zero teased.
"Serious? Is that your maturity level?"
"Believe me, I'm a lot more mature than you think, I can show you tonight."
"Tell me is that all you think about?"
"Not usually, I get like that when I go a long time without fucking."
"I feel sorry for the man who decides to sleep with you."
"Me too, until today I haven't found one that satisfies me, maybe you want to try it?" Zero teased again, testing Edric's patience.
Unfortunately, or fortunately for Edric, the moment was interrupted by the arrival of more invaders. The two made it through the village and with the help of the dragons, the gargoyles were eliminated, but those that were taken were not recovered.
"Them again, I'm pretty sure I killed the same guy five times. What is their problem?" Zero asked.
"I'm getting tired of repeating this to everyone I meet, but as long as the summoner isn't killed more invaders will keep appearing, killing them will only banish them temporarily." Edric answered.
"And where is this summoner?"
"I have no idea."
"Perfect! Then we'll do it the hard way!" Zero replied, running towards the invaders.
Sighing, Edric ran after Zero, Zero blocked a sword strike from an invader, parrying the blow, she dealt several cuts to the invader, another group of invaders approached, using her great speed, Zero danced among her enemies.
With quick, graceful leaps and acrobatics, the Intoner landed a flurry of blows on its foes, stepping to the side, Zero dodged a spear, slicing off the invader's arm and head then leaping backwards, Zero dodged the enemy's blow from a Claymore that cracked the ground.
Jumping, Zero landed a knee on the invader's face, the invader's head was thrown back, Zero took advantage of this moment to jump on top of the invader, piercing his chest and pinning him against the ground.
Edric faced his own enemies, using his shield, he blocked the blow of a rapier, the invader attacked repeatedly and quickly, in one of these blows, Edric pushed his shield, hitting the invader, the invader was caught off guard, Edric cut him in the waist, chest and neck.
Then Edric rolled out of the way of an ax blow that would have decapitated him, the invader continued his attack, forcing Edric to constantly dodge, in one of these attacks Edric ducked and as he rose, slammed the top of his shield into the invader's chin, knocking him away, and then piercing his chest before he got to his feet.
Zero and Edric continued advancing, defeating the invaders in their path, simultaneously the dragons destroyed the gargoyles in the sky.
"Hey Zero! What kind of sister is Five?" Mikhail asked, shooting a fireball at a group of gargoyles.
"The slutty one." Zero responded by dodging a crossbow bolt and killing an invader.
"What does that mean?"
"It means she only thinks about dirty things."
"Oh! Like you?"
"No!"
"Hahaha! I've met Five personally, and comparing the two of you, I can see why Mikhail thinks so." Edric responded, slaying an invader.
"I bet she took you to bed." Zero spoke.
"No, I prefer to avoid Five's presence as much as possible."
"Wow! Virgin Knight was just a nickname, but I see I got it right."
"Human, where do you find such interesting people? Watching you two argue has been good entertainment." The black dragon spoke.
"Listen here you..."
However, Edric didn't finish, in front of the two, a line of invaders holding bows and crossbows appeared, everyone prepared to shoot, not giving Edric and Zero the opportunity to deviate.
Edric took the lead and running ahead of Zero, raised his shield, blocking the various projectiles, Zero who was right behind, jumped on Edric's shoulder and using him as a springboard, jumped over the group of invaders.
The group did not react quickly enough and was slaughtered by the combined force of Zero and Edric, when the two finished off all the invaders, they reached a large beach, and what they saw was another war scene.
Soldiers and knights fighting against invaders and gargoyles, in the distance warships fired their cannons at the gargoyles and in regions on the beach where the concentration of invaders was greater.
"Where is Five's shrine?" Zero demanded confused.
"I don't know, you seemed to know where to go, I just followed." Edric responded, stopping beside Zero.
"I think she got us this time. And you, one more comment and I'll rip your tongue out."
"Not if I rip your head off first." Edric answered.
"Hump! You would be surprised whit what happens next. But where are we going now?"
Zero had her answer when a large bipedal monster with gray skin and carrying a large club emerged from the sea, the monster took a few steps down the beach before roaring in pain and trying to touch the back of its neck, but before it did, the monster fell dead to the ground.
In addition, standing on its back with an Uchigatana in each hand was an invader wearing shaman clothes, removing the swords from around the monster's neck the invader raised them in an X shape above its head.
A second invader appeared, this one equipped with a scimitar and a wooden catalyst, the invader fired a spell towards the Uchigatanas, enchanting them, with their swords covered in magic, the invader jumped towards Zero.
Zero jumped back, dodging the invader's blow, but the invader continued his attack, dragging both swords across the sand of the beach, the invader rushed forward, and as he approached, he swung his swords up, throwing sand in Zero's face.
"Son of a… AAAHHH!" Zero screamed as she was slashed across the chest by the invader's sword.
Recovering from the attack, Zero managed to block the next blow in time, her sword fighting the invader's swords, with his strength, Zero managed to push the invader back and tried to cut him with her sword, but the invader blocked the blow with one of the Uchigatanas and advanced with the other.
The invader tried to cut Zero's neck, but she managed to duck and then immediately tried to cut the invader's legs, but the invader jumped back, dodging the blow.
Annoyed Zero advanced towards the invader, and the invader did the same, both exchanged a flurry of swift blows, the enchanted Uchigatanas releasing sparks as they collided with Zero's dragon tooth sword, in one of the blows the invader tried to pierce the heart from Zero, but Zero dodged that blow, kicking the invader in the chest and sending him rolling across the beach.
The invader stopped by sticking his swords into the ground, but he had little time to think, as Zero rushed forward, stepping out of the way, the invader receiving a slash in the chest rather than having his heart pierced.
"You are pissing me off, just die!" Zero shouted at the invader.
Giving Zero an impassive look, the invader stepped forward and the two exchanged blows again, the invader swung his swords in an X, but Zero leapt over the invader, quickly the invader turned, blocking Zero's blow, holding her sword with both hands, Zero forced the invader to move.
The invader's arm shook as he tried to fight off Zero's enormous strength; his feet skidding across the sand, with a scream of rage, Zero pulled her sword back and slammed it against the invader's Uchigatana, shattering it in a shower of metal.
The invader's eyes widened upon seeing his broken sword, he hurled what was left of the blade towards Zero, Zero deflected the projectile with her sword, out of options, and the invader grabbed the remaining Uchigatana with both hands and raised it above the head.
When Zero approached, the two landed their blows, the invader lowered his Uchigatana and Zero slashed with her sword, in a flash, the two were on opposite sides of the beach, for a moment nothing happened, until the invader fell to his knees on the sand, his arms separated from his body.
The invader lowered his head waiting for the final blow, turning and walking towards his enemy, Zero slashed him in the back of the neck, separating his head from his body.
"Now that the bastard is dead, where is the tin head?" Looking around, Zero spotted Edric fighting the catalyst invader.
The invader kept Edric at bay, casting a mix of Flame Toss and Soul Arrows, Edric leapt and rolled out of the way, each spell creating a cloud of sand as it hit the ground.
Placing his shield in front of him, Edric took the damage and advanced towards the invader, but when he tried to land a blow, the invader disappeared.
"AHHH!" Edric screamed as he was slashed across the waist and then across the back, looking around then at the sand on the beach, Edric saw courts forming, swinging his sword towards the steps, Edric forced the invader to break his spell blocking the blow. .
Edric and the invader exchanged blows, but in the middle of each blow, the invader took the opportunity to cast a quick spell, forcing Edric to dodge clumsily, in one of these dodges, Edric found the catalyst pointed at his face.
"Hey, idiot! Look here!" A small voice called out.
It was Eupherbia; the little fairy got out of Edric's bag and fired a magical projectile at the invader's face, pushing him back.
"I thought you were tired." Edric spoke.
"A little, but not enough to do nothing." Eupherbia responded with half her body out of the bag.
The invader cast a series of spells, enchanting his scimitar, covering his body with a barrier, surrounding Edric with a poisonous mist and turning invisible.
However, that didn't help, Edric jumped out of the cloud and cast Anti-Magic Field with his talisman, creating a circle of blue magic across the beach, and all the invader's spells were cancelled.
"I can't help you now, whatever you've done prevents me from using magic." Eupherbia spoke.
"Don't worry, thanks for the help now leave the rest to me." Edric placed his shield on his back and gripped his sword in both hands.
The invader tried to block Edric's blow, but the knight's strength was such that he ended up being thrown away, the invader rolled on the ground, when he stopped, he tried to get up, but he wouldn't have time since Edric was advancing quickly.
Then the invader took something from his belt and threw it at Edric, it was a fire bomb, due to his speed Edric did not have time to dodge and was covered by the flames of the explosion, unfortunately for the invader, Edric continued advancing, his defense against fire being too big to be stopped by a simple bomb.
Raising his scimitar for the last time, the invader tried to fight back, but his movements weren't fast enough, Edric's sword pierced him in the throat, with the tip coming out the other side, the invader's body went limp and he disappeared.
"Well, looks like it's all over here, see you later." Eupherbia replied, returning to the bag.
Edric and Zero approached each other.
"So where to now?" Edric asked Zero.
"Shut up, let me think!" Zero replied.
"Zero! Something is rising!" Mikhail shouted in the midst of the fight.
"Certainly, ruins are rising from the bottom of the sea." The black dragon completed.
From the sea a series of ancient ruins emerged, causing tremors and raising waves, in the distance a large coliseum appeared, the gargoyles that covered the sky changed course, stopping to attack the ships and dragons and advanced towards the coliseum.
A yellow magic circle appeared above the coliseum, a large thing came out of this circle and fell into the large building, rays of magic could be seen coming out from inside the coliseum and destroying the swarm of gargoyles by the hundreds, but more gargoyles took their place .
Simultaneously the battleships formed lines, pointing their guns towards the beach.
"Everyone, the shelling will begin, evacuate the beach! We will send these things to hell!" One of the soldiers shouted.
Immediately the soldiers retreated, escaping their struggles and returning inland, out of cannon range.
Zero and Edric stared at each other after hearing that information.
"Idiot!/Dragon!" Zero and Edric screamed at the same time.
Both dragons dove from the sky and grabbed their respective partners, Zero sat on Mikhail's back, Edric held on to the black dragon's leg.
They got out just in time, as a rain of cannonballs hit the beach, covering the place in smoke and explosions, killing all invaders present at the time.
"Hump! At least those bastards are gone." Zero growled.
"Yes, but for how long?" Edric asked himself.
With the conflict on earth behind, the dragons approached the coliseum where the gargoyles fervently attacked.
As they approached, they found Five, Ditto, and a large, golden crab-like creature fighting off an almost endless swarm of gargoyles.
Five and Dito pierced every enemy they encountered with their spears, the angel incinerated gargoyles with magic, but slowly they were overcome.
"Tell me darling, looks like we're not getting out of this." Five said to her disciple.
"Of all the places I could die, why does it have to be right next to you?!" Ditto screamed.
"Honey this is not the time to pretend you don't like me, we're in an emergency right now." Five replied, ignoring her disciple's anger.
"AAAHHH!" Ditto yelled in frustration.
A cloud of gargoyles dove towards the two, Five tried to sing to activate her Intoner mode, but one of the gargoyles covered her mouth, preventing her from continuing, the rest of the gargoyles grabbed her arms and legs, preventing her from fighting.
Ditto was in a similar situation, but one of the gargoyles held something in his hand, a spherical object, pale and slightly glowing, a Colorless Demon Soul, the demon placed the soul in Ditto's chest, the soul sank into his body.
Then the gargoyles released Ditto, Ditto grabbed his chest, pain coursing through his body, the disciple coughed and struggled, getting up and trying to escape from there, the disciple tried to walk away but the pain clouded his judgment, the disciple fell from the coliseum towards the sea in the center of the large building.
Upon seeing this, Five let out a mighty scream, the magic of such an attack destroying the surrounding gargoyles, with the enemies destroyed, Five ran to the edge of the coliseum and kneeling on the edge, extended her hand towards the water, and her action was in vain, as Ditto did not return.
Suddenly the entire coliseum shook, a large shadow appeared on the water.
"Dito?" Five asked.
A large jet of water was raised drenching Five, a large shadow covered her body, with the sun shining behind the large shape that created the shadow, Five fell to a sitting position when she saw the thing that stared at her.
It was a gigantic golden viper; its yellow eyes looked around before focusing on Five.
"Dito is that you?" Five asked.
"RRROOOAAARRR!" The viper let out a deafening roar, then opened its mouth and tried to devour Five.
BOOM!
"RRROOOAAARRR!"
Fortunately, for the Intoner, a shower of fireballs hit the viper, causing pain and stopping its attack, looking where the attack came from, the viper spotted two dragons approaching.
"What the fuck is this?!" Zero screamed.
"A demon!" Edric answered.
"Wow! This thing is huge! Does it taste good?" Mikhail asked.
"Finally a powerful opponent, I was getting bored!" The black dragon exclaimed.
"Stop! He is my disciple!" Five called out to the new arrivals.
"That thing is no longer your disciple! It would be best to put him out of his misery!" Edric screamed.
"No! Dear! It's me, Five! Why don't we stop this and have a little chat? We can find out what you can do with that new body, I bet we can have fun! Just imagine! Doesn't that turn you on?" Five tried to reason with her disciple.
This seemed to irritate the viper, as it opened its mouth again and tried to devour Five.
"Dragon!" Edric shouted at the black dragon.
The dragon dove towards Five, Edric reached out his hand, grabbing the Intoner and pulling her out of the way, the viper's bite tore a piece of the coliseum, throwing stones everywhere.
"What are you doing standing there? Get rid of that thing!" Zero shouted at Mikhail.
"Yes Zero!" Mikhail responded, flapping his wings and diving towards the viper.
"Not like this!" Zero exclaimed.
Mikhail collided with the side of the viper's head, knocking the monster's head to the side, the viper shook its head, disoriented, but upon recovering, it opened its mouth towards Mikhail and spat out a green goo.
"AAAHHH!" Mikhail shouted as he stepped out of the way.
When the goo hit the coliseum, it melted the building stone.
"That was close." Mikhail spoke.
"What were you thinking, hitting that thing?" Zero demanded.
"I did what you said."
"Yes, and we were almost melted by the poison!"
However, the argument was cut short as the viper lunged at them again; Mikhail flew out of the way while spitting several fireballs at the viper.
Nevertheless, the viper continued its attack, chasing after Mikhail without regard for the damage done to his body.
"Stop, you are hurting him!" Five screamed as she tried to break free of Edric's grip.
"Can you please stop?! I'm trying to keep you alive here!" Edric answered.
"Not while you try to kill my disciple! I said stop!" Five screamed.
Her scream drew the viper's attention, the monster stopped its attack on Mikhail and turned to Edric, taking a deep breath, the viper spit out another jet of acidic venom.
The black dragon moved out of the way and lunged at the viper, slamming into the great serpent's forehead.
"Face me!" The black dragon roared, spewing balls of fire at the viper, each one causing explosions and leaving severe burns.
"See! He's trying to kill you!"
"He's confused! Ditto would never do that!" Five replied, grabbing the black dragon's leg and trying to climb onto its back.
"Don't climb on my back!" The black dragon struggled, forcing Five down.
Five and Edric glared at each other as they held on to the dragon's leg.
"Listen! If I solve this problem without killing your disciple, will you stop being a problem?!"
"Yes!"
"Then let me think!"
Hm! Let's see, this transformation is the result of an out-of-control Demon Soul, I need to remove the soul without killing this thing. If there was any way to suck the soul out of the body. Hang on! I will need to thank Yuria when I return to Boletaria.
"Dragon, fly close to Zero!" Edric screamed.
"I don't know what you're thinking, but I better not spoil my fight!" The black dragon exclaimed, flying towards Mikhail.
The two flew dodging the viper's bites and venom, and upon reaching Mikhail, Edric grabbed Five by the arm and threw her toward Zero.
"AAAHHH!" Five screamed as she flew through the air and slammed into Zero on Mikhail's back.
"Hello, do you come here often?" Five asked lying on Zero's lap.
Zero's response was to try to stab Five.
With the Intoner relatively safe, Edric and the black dragon engaged the viper.
"Dragon hit that thing with all you might!"
"No need to repeat!"
The black dragon flapped its wings and shot towards the viper, the monster did the same, the two collided in the air, but the dragon was stronger, forcing the viper back, seizing the moment, Edric jumped from the dragon onto the head of the viper.
Pinning his sword into the monster's head to hold it in place, Edric touched the tip of the catalyst to the monster's head and cast a spell, Soul Sucker.
The viper's eyes widened when it felt that there was something wrong, the monster struggled trying to take Edric off, and a strong white light shone in the place where the spell was cast, luminous particles came out of the viper's body.
The light grew stronger and stronger, with a final roar, a powerful blinding light covered the coliseum, when the light dissipated, Edric and an unconscious Dito fell from the sky towards the sea.
The black dragon took the two in its paws and dropped them on the coliseum, Mikhail, Zero and Five followed, leaving the dragon and approaching Edric and Dito.
"Dito! Talk to me!" Five shouted as she held the disciple in her arms.
"Ugh! Are we alive?" The disciple asked, regaining consciousness.
"Yes!"
"Shit!"
"So what do you have there?" Zero asked as she approached Edric.
"A Colorless Demon Soul, the soul of a demon that has absorbed enough souls to become a potential Archdemon. Can be used to upgrade special weapons." Edric replied, tucking the soul into his bag.
"Hm… I still think you're talking rubbish, but after seeing what it did to the bitch's disciple, I'm willing to give it some attention."
"That was amazing; you hit that thing like it was nothing!" Mikhail said to the black dragon.
"Keep fighting and someday you will reach my level young dragon." The black dragon replied.
Unfortunately, the moment of peace was interrupted by the return of the gargoyles and the appearance of the invaders in the coliseum, the gargoyles dove towards Five, meanwhile the invaders kept Zero and Edric busy.
"Let go of me!" Five screamed as the gargoyles took her away, one of the gargoyles gagged Five, preventing her from singing.
"Hahaha! Take her away from here!" Ditto shouted as he waved at the gargoyles carrying Five.
"Dragon get us out of here!" Edric exclaimed, as he blocked an invader's sword.
"You are giving me too many orders today, I don't like this boldness." The dragon flapped its wings, taking flight and grabbing Edric and Ditto.
"Let's get out of here too!" Zero mounted Mikhail.
"Yes Zero!" Mikhail answered.
Then the dragons flew away, pulling away from the invaders taking over the coliseum, Five had already disappeared over the horizon, the Land of the Seas had fallen, without their leader and with the invaders spreading like a plague, all the people could do was flee while Five's forces were trying to recover.
Meanwhile, the aforementioned Intoner was taken away, what her fate was, only the gargoyles knew.
END OF CHAPTER
Well, I'm alive and I didn't abandon this story, I apologize to those who thought that happened.
Leave what you think of the story, comments, criticisms and suggestions are welcome.
Until the next chapter!