Chapter 28

Beta: Old man of the mountain

The group had returned to the previous bond fire and recovered. While they had a bit of a trip to return, they managed to make it without much opposition. However, after recovering, they had to make the long trek back to their mother's home. Sadly, they ran into more of the monsters that rolled on the ground and spewed flames. Luckily, Naruto managed to dispatch them easily; however, it was still a difficult return.

"Alright girls, we are here." Standing in front of the fog door, he turned to them. "Are you sure you're ready for this?"

Quelaag nodded.

"Yes it is time we need to free our mother's soul from the horrors she is subjugated to."

Quelana agreed while Quetiva smiled.

"We'll have your back no matter what."

Naruto nodded before reaching into his pouch and pulling out some white bones. He handed it to the girls.

"Listen, if something is about to happen or it looks like too much use these. From what Gwynevere has told me they are meant to take you back to the last place we rest. Which is the bond fire outside the ruins."

"We won't need them but thank you." Quelana walked to the door and put her hand on it. This led to the wall disappearing.

Naruto heft his sword on his shoulder. He decided that he might need Dragon Slayer for this fight.

Walking into the room the girls noticed that it was a slide down into their mother's chambers.

"Alright, let's do this." Quelana rushed down followed by Quetiva, and then Quelaag and Naruto.

Arriving at the bottom the girls took in the sight of their mother and their sisters.

While the sisters were hard to see as they were off in a far distance, their mother was clear as day. She had evolved into some kind of giant root monster with arms sprouting out of its core, which lifted them above its head and released a powerful tremor.

"Mother."

Quelana couldn't believe it, this is the source of all the demons and their mother?

Quelaag investigated the corners and saw her sisters standing there but they had been reduced to nothing. More, like small parasites unable to move.

Quetiva frowned and did a silent prayer for her mother and sisters.

Naruto took initiative.

"Quelana, Quelaag, go to your sisters and free them. Quetiva and I will distract her."

The girls nodded.

Quetiva gathered up her flames and formed a bow. She pulled back and released a powerful flaming arrow.

This shot sore through the air and hit the wooden beast.

All it did was roar from teh attack and then lift its hands. Bringing them down in a strike, Quetiva fired another arrow. But the arrow exploded, leaving not a scratch on it.

"Move!"

He picked up Quetiva and rolled away from her attack. There the hand was laid out and he quickly lashed out. cutting the branch arm and making it roar in pain.

"Didn't know she could feel that." Naruto smiled, "Good to know."

Another loud roar exploded out of the beast, damaging both of its sides. She screamed and pulled out more root arms from the ground. A dark red and orange flame appeared on top and seemed to be staring down at them.

"Oh, I think we made her mad now."

Quetiva pulled out her bow and aimed it once more, firing this time at the flame.

But the flame was drawn into the beast.

"Shit it would seem that she can absorb our flames." She sighed, "Shouldn't be surprised mother is the goddess of pyromancy."

Naruto nodded but saw that it was lifting its hands up.

"Um, what is she doing?"

"Oh now, Naruto we need to move!"

The girls in the corner noticed this, too, and shouted similar instructions.

Naruto quickly dashed away from Quetiva who dashed to a corner of the room.

However, doing this, Naruto noticed small puddles of flames popping out of the ground. Releasing large torrents of flames to everyone around them.

Naruto quickly hustled away from the attack and watched his footing. One of the pieces on the floor fell off and revealed a very dark chasm at the bottom.

"Shit." Turning to the monster he frowned and made a mad dash.

"Naruto stop are you crazy!?"

He was a bit but he figured that since the two girls were gone that meant the core was wide open.

Quickly, he pursued the core of the beast but had to avoid the destruction of the floor.

He jumped through the air and landed on the branch without much trouble. But he had to move quickly, as more pillars were popping up. By the time he reached the belly of the beast, he had avoided most of the flames. Cutting his way through, he found the core, which he looked at with pity.

"Sorry witch but this is the end. I will make sure your daughters are safe."

Slamming his blade down, he killed the bug.

A loud roar tore through the arena. Naruto expected the roar to end, and darkness to follow soon.

Exiting the creature's core, he looked up and was surprised to see the flame on top of the beast still burning.

"What the hell?"

An ear-piercing screech tore through the air. The girls were on the ground holding their ears, waiting for the noise to end. But Naruto was closer, and he couldn't react fast enough. He was down on his knees and unable to get back to his feet.

A minute passed before the noise lessened and a thud was heard.

Naruto looked up and his eyes widened, it was a person. Or at least someone he thought was a person at one time.

They had a slim feminine figure and seemed to be whispering in a hush. But he was more drawn to the person having tattered remains of what looked like a robe. Their body is completely emancipated, and the person holding a long golden handle katana. But this weapon had a flame pattern through the blade, giving off a dark orange and red glow.

But what drew his attention the most was her glowing head. It was one giant golden orange eye hovering above thebody and giving off a nasty vibe. He was sure that something was scratching the back of his head, and he could hear a faint whisper. Something that was seen trying to get him to talk back. But given his history with mind readers and understanding how to battle with his mind, he was aware not to do that. As this would open the door for them to try and take over his mind. While he was sure Kurama and Gwynevere would be able to help stop it, he didn't want to put them at risk.

The being in question stared at him and he could see them holding out their off hand.

The flame in his free hand was plucked away and the being held it in theirs.

'What the hell?'

"Naruto, this is definitely the Witch. She can cancel out your pyromancy and use it to enhance her own!"

'Great.' Naruto hefted the blade onto his shoulders and growled. "Sorry witch but it is time for you to rest in peace." He swung the blade up and brought it down with all his momentum.

A clang was heard, and he was shocked.

Her katana was blocking his attack and only the floor was slightly cracked from the attack.

"You can't be serious." Naruto grimaced, this was going to be harder than he thought.

The sword was knocked away, and he found the person kicking him in the chest back into the nest. Naruto rolled backwards a few steps but came to a stop. He hefted his blade onto his shoulder once more, this time ready for a counterattack.

But she didn't enter after him, just stood there waiting for him to come back out.

'Is she toying with me?'

"Probably. But listen Naruto you know-,"

'Yeah, as long as she is blocking the exit, it isn't going to be easy to get out of here.'

Digging his toes into the ground he gritted his teeth and blurred forward.

'However, I don't have the luxury to wait and see what she wants to do.'

The figure stood there waiting for him and when he took a sideways swipe, she brought her weapon down.

Parrying his second blow with ease.

'Shit this is going to be harder than expected.' Naruto knew he just said that, but this was way out of proportion to the others. While Nit was powerful, he at least had Priscilla to help him, but here? He didn't have that same luxury.

His weapon was knocked away again, and he pulled out a bomb from his pocket and threw it.

The bomb was cut into multiple pieces and fell to the ground.

'Great, well that didn't work.'

Naruto gagged, the woman had grabbed him by his throat, lifting him off the ground.

'Shit, this is bad!'

Naruto hated to admit this but in pure skill he wasn't on par with her. The Witch was definitely more powerful than the others he had faced. or at least seemed to be, or his technique was just that much better.

The woman turned around and threw him across the platform, and he landed next to the girls.

"Naruto!" Quelaag checked on him and saw no major injuries. But she turned to the figure across the way and growled.

"Don't." Naruto stood up and lifted his blade on his shoulder once more. "She is too powerful, I don't know how, but she is able to steal my pyromancy. Which means we have to beat her up close."

Quetiva frowned, and Quelana growled. This situation wasn't favoring them, but they had to do something to help.

Quetiva quickly started chanting and put her hands on Naruto and Quelaag and soon they were covered in red embers.

Pulling her hands back she huffed.

"Goquickly before the spell wears off."

The two nodded and turned to face the woman once more.

She was standing in front of them now and her flame's heat could be felt.

Naruto swung his sword, and she brought it down to block.

Quelaag went high and aimed for her flaming head, but found her blade passed through it.

"What the hell?"

Naruto grunted as his blade was parried once more and decided he needed to change things up.

Lifting the heavy sword, he swung it down, and she brought it up to block.

Naruto released his grip on the weapon and summoned his sword from Quelaag.

The woman parried the giant sword but found the katana ripping through her body. The blade was thrust forward and impaled her through the stomach and out the back.

Quelaag jumped into the fight and slashed at her back and then impaled her through the collar.

But the Witch didn't seem fazed.

She quickly released a powerful screech that sent both flying backward. Quelaag landed a few feet from her mother and near the edge of the broken floor while Naruto was sent back into Quetiva and Quelana.

The witch pulled the blade out of her collar bone and threw it to Quelaag.

Pulling out Naruto's Chaos Blade, she snapped it in half and dropped it to the ground. Naruto frowned. He was now down to his Dragonslayer blade, which he managed to retrieve.

The Witch slowly grasped her blade with two hands, and a dark red and gold energy started surging around it. The energy expanded around the weapon and was slowly growing and width. The handle morphed from its curved feature and took on a straight pommel.

The weapon itself was surrounded by a dark flame of red, gold, and black energy. Naruto could feel the heat laminating off the blade, and it was growing stronger with every second that passed.

Naruto gritted his teeth.

"Great a new form of her weapon."

She raised the bladed up and began glowing brightly.

Naruto's eyes widened.

"Hit the deck!"

The weapon flung sideways, and soon, a powerful explosion roared through the city.

Outside of the city, sitting near a bond fire nestled near some demons, sat a child-like figure who was humming a soft tune.

An explosion and debris started flying from the top of the main building of Izalith. The being watched as the stones were flying and crashing down on the lava and the demons around him. most of the demons managed to survive the initial impact, but more stones hit. Killing a handful of them and some were screaming and running from the attack.

One stone flew to him, and he stared at it.

It turned to golden dust.

"Interesting, so you definitely had a hand in this, huh? I wonder how far your influence has gone in this land. Oh well," he smiled.I guess it is time to get involved."

Back in the arena, Naruto looked around and was in shock. The entire top floor of the building was gone.

The walls, the pillars, the branches, and all the structures surrounding them were gone. It was nothing more than a clean slate and open air to the heatcoming off the lava.

"No way." Naruto couldn't fathom this; Nito was powerful, Seth was strong, but this? This was a whole other level of power.

What was giving her this power?

This wasn't just her flame doing this; there was something else. He could feel it, as this was on par with what Kaguya could have done. She had the power of the Chakra flowing through her veins, along with all the original powers that came with it.

The woman held her weapon to her side and started walking.

He quickly swung his blade and she parried him. Grunting at this, he quickly spun in a complete circle and slammed into her.

The attack was blocked again with her sword.

Quelaag appeared behind her and slashed down on her body.

The weapon stopped inches from her collar. Showing her standing there with three fingers holding the blade in place.

Quelana summoned her flames and slammed them onto the ground.

Naruto jumped away and Quelaag pulled her blade free.

Pillars of flame exploded out of the ground and were hitting their mother.

Quelana huffed, from doing the buffs and this she was stretching her reserves to the limit.

But a screech came from within the flames making them vanish.

Naruto's eyes widened.

She managed to dispatch the attack with sheer will power. What the hell? How were they supposed to deal with her?

An arrow of fire tore through the air but was cut down the second it got close.

Naruto grunted.

This was getting them nowhere, but they needed to figure out something.

He smirked, maybe he could do that.

Naruto summoned things out of his patch and quickly ran at the witch. She stood there with her glowing eye, watching him as he approached.

Naruto brought his blade back and slashed at her side.

She parried the attack once more, making his blade go into the air, but he directed the blade's strike downward.

Another parry and she closed the distance between them.

With her hand on his chest, she released some of her heat and pushed him through the air.

This attack sent him flying through the sky and forced him to land on his feet. But he was kidding against the ground and forced to slam his blade into the stone to stop the momentum.

He looked up and saw the Witch standing there, almost as if asking, "Is that all he had?

No, but he was glad she was interacting with him more.

Rushing again, he trusted his blade forward, this time hoping the tip would reach her.

But another strike of her weapon and he was parried.

Just what he wanted.

As he spun through the air once more and brought his blade around in a spinning slash.

She parried him again, but this time, she noticed something off with the attack.

Naruto grinned,

"Checkmate."

A set of black orbs was hanging off his weapon, confusing the woman, but then a large black explosion rang through the arena.

The Witch screeched from the pain and was falling backward from the attack.

Naruto slammed his blade through her stomach lifting her into the air.

Her voice was screeching for all of them to hear, but she was now stuck.

"The risk paid off." He smirked at the Witch. "I expected your parries, so I wanted to gauge how much time there was between each attack and if you would follow up. You didn't, other than that one attack, which gave me more than enough time to secretly attach the bombs to my blade. You didn't notice, which was the intent."

While Naruto was being parried, he watched for her movements. When she didn't do anything, he quickly opened his magical space and started tying the bombs to the blade. It was a risky move that could destroy his weapon on impact, but he knew it was a risk he had to take, as there was nothing else that could do damage to her. He was open for each parry, but she didn't attack either through boredom or restraint.

He wasn't sure which, but he took advantage of it.

Quelaag frowned, this was a gamble but now she had to end this fight no matter what. Rushing to the penetrated woman she brought her blade up and slashed through her mother's wrist.

This made her blade fall to the ground and she roared in pain once more.

Naruto was sure they were about to finish this and get the next Lord-

Another screech escaped her, but this time the building was shaking. Every floor was trembling under the might of her power and the roar was reaching his soul.

Even Kurama and Gwynevere could feel it.

The woman put her only other hand on the blade and, with a firm push, popped herself off the weapon.

Landing a few feet away, she stared at them with her glowing eye.

Naruto glared.

They had managed to unarm her and damage her, but that didn't mean she was out of tricks.

As master of all fire sorcery she had some kind of ace up her sleeve.

The eye started to glow brighter, and the foundation of the building was shaking. Naruto could see the tiles slowly breaking free from their spots, the walls cracking, and the roots that were still on the building breaking under the pressure.

'Shit what is she-,'

A powerful roar, greater than all the others, escaped her and her eye glowed even brighter.

Naruto felt his body heating up, and the heat started to sear his skin. The floor was turning into liquid, and the roots were turning into cinder. Naruto could hear the cries of the demons all around them and the pain they were in. Including the fact, their souls were entering him and were being prepared for processing.

However, the pain he was in was growing and the heat seemed to intensify the louder her roar got.

Quelaag and her sisters collapsed to the floor, sweating and burning from the flames. The pressure was intense, and they couldn't stand it.

Naruto was barely holding on and he was struggling to manage the power.

He grunted in pain and tried to lift his sword.

But he had to drop it as the heat around the handle was too hot.

'Shit I have to do something but, what can we do?'

The fire was growing and the pain was becoming more apparent. The sisters weren't going to last much longer from this, and he would be behind them soon enough.

"Oh dear."

Hearing a new voice, he turned his head and saw a small figure standing next to him with a hand on their chin. "So they really were the reason for the Witch's fall? I hate to say it you are probably the most persistent of us. Always meddling in the affairs of mortals, no matter how small it is. Looking to find that one true lord."

A deep sigh was released, and they turned to Naruto. He couldn't see their faces, but he could see they were young.

"You want to stop her right?"

"Y-yes."

The figure nodded.

"You have impressed me up to this and I want to see what else you'll do. So, here."

Taking Naruto's good hand he put his hand down gently, then just as quickly removed it.

A golden rune in three circles appeared on his hand with some lines in between.

"What the hell?"

"Not hell, but we are pretty close. Listen, you want to stop this madness. Touch her with this." He snapped his fingers.

A golden glow covered Naruto, and he could feel his body returning to normal and moving normally.

"Better hurry. This will only last so long, and once it is done, I'm not helping you again."

Naruto wanted to retort and ask questions, but he didn't have time. He had to finish this. Trusting the child knew what he was saying, he pushed off the tip of his toes and appeared in front of the Witch.

Reaching out his hand he put it against her chest and focused on the mark.

It glowed for a few seconds.

Before vanishing off his hand.

"Son of a-,"

The woman screamed in pain, and he was blasted away.

Landing on his back, he looked up and saw that she was covered in some kind of golden chain. It was spreading all over her body, and she was struggling against its power. She scattered and pulled on the chains, but nothing she did worked.

"You might as well give up. Once those chains wrap around your body, nothing other than myself can break them." The child slowly walked up to the woman, and her golden eye stared at him. "Oh, don't be so petty. You lost, and I won. It is as simple as that. You gave a mortal your blessing, and I gave this one mine." The child's smile grew. "Now then, I think it is high time for you to leave."

Holding up his right hand he snapped his fingers.

The woman screamed and a golden glow burst from the chains. Naruto covered his eyes, and the girls were covering their own. The underground city was shaking from the bright light, and after a few moments, it faded.

Naruto removed his arm from his eyes and looked where the Witch once was.

Or should he say still was?

Though a blush appeared on his face.

On the ground wasn't the malformed woman without a head.

No it was a stunning beauty that would make even Gwynevere feel self-conscious.

She had large breasts that were bouncing up and down from her deep breathing. Her long black hair was sprawled all voer the ground, and she had light white skin. Her body was very well formed, and had a well-firm ass from what he could see. On top of that, she was naked so he could see it all on display. Including the pubic hair that was residing over her crotch.

Naruto blushed.

He really shouldn't be looking at her like this, and he was sure he could feel someone walking over his grave. Turning slowly, he saw the girls were looking at him.

Quetiva with annoyance, Quelaag with jealousy, and Quelana?

She poked him in his eyes.

"OW! Fuck that hurts!"

"That's what you get for leering at our mother creep." Quelana snorted as she walked over to her mother and quickly covered her in some extra clothes she had on hand. Granted they would be tight in certain places but nothing too uncomfortable.

Naruto groaned form the pain and tried to open his eyes slowly.

Only to get two more fingers jammed into them. This time from Quetiva.

"Fuck that hurts even more, please stop doing that!"

The girl huffed. Rushing over she asked,

"Is she-,"

Quelana smiled, "She is alive sister. Whatever that perv did, it managed to save our mother."

Naruto groaned,

"I would appreciate it if you didn't say I was a perv when she was the one naked."

Quelaag wrapped her arms around his neck, pushing her breasts into his back.

"Naruto do you have a thing for older bustier women?"

A bright red blush appeared on his cheeks.

"That's not true in the slightest and we should get out of here! Who knows what is going to be coming for us after this fight?"

Quelana sighed, "Indeed, while I can't sense any heat or flames coming from this place, I know that there at least has to be a few demons we haven't seen yet." Shaking her head, she said, "We should get moving, so back to the bond fire and back to Anor Londo."

"I can carry your mother if you girls-," Naruto groaned as he felt the inside of his headhit.

Kurama deadpanned seeing the pouting Gwynevere.

'Kid, your still dense as a rock. At least you noticed the opposite sex.'

Gwynevere on the other hand was angry. Naruto looked at her like that once, but he never did again. Was she not as beautiful as the witch? I mean she was a MILF too, so she had the same appeal. Her breasts were bigger and her ass was softer, she was sure on that. So why did he leer at the witch and not her?

It was infuriating.

Gwynevere was not hiding her feelings; she had learned how short life was and there was no time to play around. She was attracted to Naruto and wanted him. But she knew without a body that wasn't possible. But she would find a way and then she would be with him.

Kurama could see her thoughts playing out, and he just huffed.

That boy from earlier—who was he? He couldn't sense anything from him. Not an ounce of life. It was almost as if he wasn't even alive or was just too powerful to sense. Given the power he gave Naruto for that one move and what it did to the Witch, he was sure that the latter was likely.

But why help them? What did he gain out of this?

They would have to talk about this later.

For now, he would watch and see if the idiot could figure out why the girls were mad.

In the Duke's Archives, the child from before was standing in the middle of the library looking at some books. The same ones that Seth and Logan looked at.

"Interesting so that is how you did it. You're a sly dragon I will admit, I underestimated you. Everyone did, but then again you might be worth keeping around for just a little while longer." Smirking, he felt someone approaching him from behind.

He picked up the next book and started reading.

The person raised their weapon up, only to vanish a second later.

Nothing remains in that spot, not even dust.

"Hm, interesting. So that is what they did. Foolish creatures messing with forces out of their depth." The child laughed, "That boy from earlier would know better than to try into those kinds of waters."

"fiang really1)," A dark figure emerged from the book shelves and stood next to the boy.

Looking up the child smiled,

"Oh my, you have come to grace me your presence."

"Don't get smart with me. You know better than to get involved in affairs in this land."

"True, but unlike you, I had personal reasons to be here. So that didn't violate the rules of their little game." Skimming through the book, he put it back on the table before picking up the next one. "Look, if those brats want to continue on with this little competition, they can do so. However, I have found something quite interesting, and since you sent him here, I believe we have a responsibility to make sure he is able to face the challenges."

"I believed he could be the Dark Lord, but his survival means nothing."

"Oh contrary," Turning his head, the figure saw the golden eyes of the boy, "We only see the beginnings. We should let things play out a little longer to see if he will hold our interests."

"Hmph." The figure turned from the boy and whispered, "They won't overlook forever. Be careful whose toes you step on."

The being faded into the floor, and the child laughed.

"So stiff, they really need to loosen up." He found something in the new book, "Hello, isn't this interesting."

Oh this is going to make life more interesting for sure.

Chapter End