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ALWAYS TOGETHER
Arc 4 Chapter 40: In Search Of Sarah—Part: 3

Arc 4 Chapter 40: In Search Of Sarah—Part: 3

The air thickens with greed, tension of hostility, envy towards a person whom he never called a friend: An acquaintance would be an understatement towards the induvial he blames for stealing his one true key to taking over all of humanity; Ravana’s outside of the entrance of the cavern where all his followers are currently awaiting his next ploy. His fists clenched, grey sky's darkening by the hours, he glares off to the horizon, and senses something bothersome heading his way.

“Where is that lousy punk, Sacramento? He hasn’t given me updates of Leon’s whereabouts since four.”

Feeling annoyed, he thought the best way to relieve his stress was by quickly teleporting to a random city in Canada to stare at the busiest street. Putting one hand on his hip, he saw the sea of people staring at the strange man that had suddenly appeared out of thin air. Squinting his eyes, the entire populist that was in front of him had been eviscerated and a nuclear explosion destroyed the city. Quickly teleporting back where he was standing before erasing an entire city off the map, Ravana summoned a mirror in front of his gaze.

In front appeared a follower who looked afraid and uneasy.

“Sir, I have dire news.”

“Then out with it. And it better be good.”

He gulped and bowed.

“We have lost contact with Sacramento. And his SUV was found on its side and destroyed.”

Ravana sucked his teeth and put one hand up, making the robed man sweat more.

“You said what? Now?”

“Sa-Sacramento… we lost all contact with him and believe that Leon was the one behind it.”

“Hmm, is that so?”

He slowly nodded and kept his bow. Ravana’s anger simmered and he started analyzing the situation. He rubbed his chin then snapped his fingers. He walked out of the entrance and looked over his shoulder, spotting the ginormous tree he’s been trying to grow for the past decade.

“In reviving Abyzou, here where we’ve relished; just her presence alone will feed my seed of life.”

Ravana chuckled and furrowed his brows.

“But if she becomes mine, then the tree will become more than just a new seed for a new world—”

He spread his arms out and laughed hysterically.

“—it’ll be the new beginning of my evolution and air as my rightful place of becoming—A GOD!”

Ravana kept laughing and laughing until he felt Shaman’s presence behind him.

“What do you want, weakling?”

Shaman shrugged.

“Thought I’d stick around and watch your failure happen before my guilted eyes.”

Ravana shook his head with pride and expressed a smug grin.

“Ha! Poor Shaman, still doesn’t believe that I’ll achieve ultimate greatness!”

Shaman also gazed at the tree.

“So your ultimate plans to use Abyzou how she used Leon?”

“No! I want her to be mine! So we can rule the new world she envisions together! I want to be her king!”

Shaman felt the same sensation that had Ravana on edge earlier, which made him turn his head.

“You feel that? It’s Leon.”

Ravana crossed his arms.

“How could you be so sure?! It could be anyone!”

Shaman grinned, but it was both sad yet forced.

“When you’ve pissed Leon off once and experienced his mana up close instead of a mere spectator like you have… then you’d know.”

Ravana growled and vanished.

Shaman remained, watching the grey sky beginning to go erratic from the powerful force coming to them.

“See you soon, my old friend.”

As the greyness erratically swirled, zoomed over the area, Shaman quickly disappeared before everything went back to normal. Just arriving a mile away from the tree, Leon and Jack were adjusting their clothes and Jack was checking if he was still alive, patting himself. Leon closed his eyes, and concentrated to see if they had arrived at the source of mana he detected. Jack held his rifle tightly, and once he aimed straight, he witnessed the humongous tree a mile away.

“Holy—shit, what is that?” he said.

Leon still had his eyes closed.

“Whatever you’re seeing, it’s got a lot of mana flowing into it.”

Jack lowered his rifle to bask in the gargantuan size of the tree.

“That damn tree’s gotta be as big as a mountain, what the hell?!”

Leon sensed more than just dozens of mana flow into the object, something much more powerful was being absorbed into it. He opened his eyes and saw the tree of life standing before his eyes.

“What the hell is Ravana planning with this thing?”

Then, a sudden burst of mana went into the tree, and he knew exactly who’s mana it was.

“Sarah!” he shouted.

Jack readied his rifle.

“Wait, you found her?!”

Leon began to growl. He could sense the tree beginning to suck more of Sarah’s mana, even going as far as trying to suck her life essence.

“That damn tree’s being nourished by my daughter's life!”

Leon raised his hand and it began to ignite in mana.

“To hell with surprise, I’m cutting a hole in the earth.”

“I wouldn’t do that if I were you, my old friend.”

The two stopped and began to erratically look around themselves from the voice that spoke. Leon stopped and stared at the tree.

“Ravana, you sick bastard. What are you doing to my daughter?!”

Ravana chuckled beneath his breath.

“Keep playing on this facade of this daughter of yours you keep projecting, D-e-s-t-r-o-y-e-r! Because I’m getting sick and tired of everybody telling me that I’m wrong!”

“Hmph, looks like your fragile ego is still eminent. But, it’s good to know that you haven’t changed one bit.”

Jack was still looking around.

“Where’s this guy speaking from?! His voice is everywhere!” Jack said.

“Leon Leon, oh, you know me so well! And since you know me so very well, then you’ll know I’m about to give you a nice big welcoming party.”

“Quit stalling and tell me where she’s at! Or else I’ll not only blow up the tree, but wipe everyone that’s beneath this land.”

Ravana laughed and his laughter faded out in the distance.

“This guys just fucking with us! Just blow up the damn thing, Leon!” Jack shouted.

Leon took aim, but felt weakened for a second.

“Da-damn, my mana’s still recovering.”

“Damn, then what do we do?”

Leon already had a plan in mind. He lowered his hand, took a step forward and raised another. He shot his foot into the ground, and split the earth towards the tree. Dust, rubble all collapsed, creating a cloud of dirt and smoke to shoot up into the air, blinding their visions temporarily. Once the dust had settled, Jack coughed and wiped the air in front of him. He saw shadowy figures rising from the crater Leon had just created.

“Holy… shit.” he muttered.

A swarm of robed people came out and engulfed the sky. They floated around the tree and their glowing eyes glared at the two. Jack was able to finally understand the magnitude of their situation and it made him collapse to his knees, dropping his rifle.

“There's… there’s thousands of them, ho…w are we supposed to beat this?”

Leon smacked his gums and spat.

“I told you that this was my problem.”

He took a glance at the disbelieved young man as he sweated his fear out profusely. Repeatedly gasping and with his eyes wide, Leon was quick to get down and rub the young man's back.

“Jack, when I attack, you run and find an entry point. I'm going to take care of all of them.”

Jack gripped the leftover grass beneath his sweaty palms.

“Leon, I-I…”

“Jack, this is my fight. You go find Sarah and get her back to me, but if you happen to bump into anyone—”

Jack felt his back hot and then felt Leon’s protection coursing through his veins.

“I will once again, bless you with my mana, protection, and if needed, you’ll awaken that rancid darkness lurking within your damned soul.”

Jack grit his teeth, and grabbed his rifle. He got back on his feet, and turned to Leon.

“This is definitely the worst situation I've been in thus far.”

He put his hand out to Leon.

“And I’m glad I have you by my side.”

Leon grabbed Jack’s hand and shook it.

“Likewise. And don’t worry about me, I’m Sarah’s father, and Leon Bolverkr the destroyer.”

Jack weakly nodded and took a huge deep breath. Mild winds sent chills across Jack’s body, fluttering the two men’ hair and the thousands of cloaks sagging in the sky: Leon clenched a fist and shut his eyes for a moment. The cloaked sea all clenched, cracked their bones, stretched their limbs as they waited for their attacker to make the first move.

Leon’s body began to emit a disturbing heat that forced Jack to run away.

“All of you, all lost and without a future; only to be tossed vessels to feed a weak man's ambition, somehow—”

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Leon’s eyelids slowly opened and his eyes were glowing iron purple.

“—it feels so familiar it’s boiling my blood.”

Leon glared back at the cloud of lost souls and his fingers began to crack.

“I know you all can feel it, my animosity, my… hatred towards your supposed God—Aby…zou.”

Leon blinked at them and once they were open to see his targets, a small speckle hit the first man in sight. It brushed against his body and a massive explosion threw the thousands of cultists into a panic and frenzy. They dispersed and began their assault at Leon. Leon launched himself into the air and flew straight into the sea of cloaks and screaming banshees.

Jack heard the sonic boom Leon created, which forced him to cover his ears for a moment and couldn’t help but stop for a moment. He wanted to see Leon in action and saw another explosion go off. Sparks flew everywhere, a barrage of mana and plasma was shot at him as he punched, kicked, swerved, dodged every single thing in his line of sights.

“Leon!” Jack shouted.

Explosions, bodies flying everywhere, crashing back to the earth, limbs being flung and it began to rain crimson. Clouds of red engulfed wherever Leon attacked and Jack couldn’t help but be mesmerised.

“I swear, once I find Sarah, we’re fighting alongside you!”

Jack ran and ran until he was almost turned to dust by a ball of mana that made an impact near him, which sent him flying towards an odd opening in a hill.

He groaned as he got up, all bruised up and aching in pain.

“This, this outta be the entrance.” he said.

As explosions, sonic booms went off behind him, he carefully made his way into the opening and could see light down the end of the tunnel he found himself in. With his rifle aimed straight forward, chips of dirt falling off from the ceiling from Leon’s combat, Jack began to panic a bit. His iron sights were shaking and he did his best to control his breathing. Letting his fear out his mouth, taking a deep breath after another, he was able to walk normally again. His sights steady, Jack was nearing the source of the light and another entrance way.

“Where could you be, Sarah?”

Jack’s just at the entrance and found two ways to go deeper into the dirt tunnels. One path, he saw more light, the other, it was dim but saw light fluttering. His instincts said to go towards the brightest source of light, but his mind said to go towards the unknown light, given it might lead to a clue to Sarah’s whereabouts.

“Knowing this stupid supernatural logic, the barely lit room will lead me to something better than the obvious source of light… I hope.”

He carefully walked into the barely lit tunnel and was cautious of his surroundings. He could still feel Leon fight for his life as the ground kept shaking, rumbling from the attacks going on above. Then, Jack heard dozens of footsteps coming from behind. He quickly turned with his gun aimed and finger on the trigger, barely squeezing it. He saw a couple, then more and more of the cloaked people coming out of the tunnel where the light source was coming from, which gave him a sigh of relief.

“Fucking hell, thank goodness I took this path.”

Feeling more confident of his decision, Jack continued forward and walked faster.

“Don’t worry, Sarah, I’ll find you even if it kills me again.”

Gaining more speed by the second, Jack stumbled into another set of two paths.

“Ugh! I don’t have time for this!”

He rushed to the left and bumped into one of the cloak people. He gasped and the two struggled for his rifle and fell to the ground. They tumbled, rolled ontop of each other as they struggled for the gun. Jack grunted, kicked the cloaked person in the groin, giving him an advantage in their struggle. He grunted in agony while holding his private area. Jack shot back to his feet and pulled the trigger, killing the person with a single shot.

“Fuck…”

Jack ran past the body and he took a quick look over his shoulder, seeing more coming after him.

“You never learn, do you Jack?!”

He took aim and fired relentlessly, which forced them to hide until one bravely ran forward, creating a force field blocking the Remainer of his bullets. Jack emptied his rifle and loudly groaned in frustration, running from the enemies.

“I gotta shake these guys off or else I’m fried!”

Meanwhile, Ravana was watching the slaughter ensue right before his eyes on the mirror he had plastered on the wall. Seeing hundreds killed by the seconds made his nerves twist and turn. His lips puckered as he continued seeing Leon’s onslaught. Although, he wasn’t losing hope on his plan, and remembering the details made him smile again.

“Won’t be long until you’ll be affected by the same source of power that took you out the first time, my old friend.”

Ravana gripped his chin and nodded.

“Hmph, but it is very shocking to say the least he’s grown this strong since our last interaction. I mean, when we last saw each other a little over a month ago, you shocked me on how strong you’ve gotten.”

He knit his brows and clenched his teeth.

“Yet seeing you in action and casually disposing of these pathetic fools really has me on edge. Tch, damn you Leon.”

As Ravana’s annoyance showed once again, Chelsea and Eligor had just entered the chamber where Sarah’s being kept. There were vines wrapped around the cells, and roots stabbing into her room. Visibly, the two could see the roots suck her mana and life essence. Seeing her vulnerable and out cold made Chelsea regret taking part in Ravana’s ploy. Eligor felt ashamed but shook it off and approached Ravana.

“So, what’s the plan? Leon’s making a ruckus up there.”

Ravana crossed his arms and tapped his arm.

“I know he’s making a ruckus. I want you two to go handle the psycho kid that’s running through our tunnels.”

He looked over his shoulder and squinted his eyes at them.

“And I mean handle it, end him! Take him out for good, Chel-sea!”

Chelsea quickly bowed, her breathing panicked once she felt Ravana’s mana swallowing her soul. It made her vomit mana and her eyes water. Eligor quickly held her and glared at Ravana.

“Of course, Ravana… we wills handles it.” she weakly said.

Ravana smacked his teeth and went back to watching the continuing genocide.

“Good, because if you fail this time I’ll make sure you two regret ever pissing me off!”

Eligor was upset and didn’t say anything. Chelsea clung onto her man and the two dusted away.

“Yeah, that’s right, Leon, keep it up, keep it—up.”

Ravana’s envy towards Leon showed more when he saw him eviscerate a thousand of his men with a single blast. But, he knew one thing about Leon that no one knew, and it’s the fact Leon despised using mana attacks. Seeing that happen made him express a vile grin and laugh hysterically.

“He’s backed in a corner! Which means—!”

He glanced at the corner of the room and saw the crystals that took him down and weakened him flutter.

“—Yes! It’s time. He’s got no choice but to use mana attacks since his energy’s slowly dwindling as I speak, haha!”

Meanwhile, outside amongst the chaos and aftermath of slaughtering the one thousand people, Leon’s heart began racing dramatically. He clutched his chest and his breathing intensified.

“Damn it… to all hell…”

He squinted an eye and realised the situation he’s starting to get in.

“Ravana, that bastard.”

Suddenly, the sea of cloaked people flew to him and thousands upon thousands of mana blasts went his way. He put his forearms up and all the blasts combined into one giant ball of blue mana. He braced himself and the mana ball made impact, and he was pummeled to the earth. It exploded and a giant gamma burst erupted out of the atmosphere. The wonderful light show was an amazing display of destruction and beauty to Ravana’s eyes as he saw the light drill Leon deeper into the earth.

“Bwahaha! It’s working! He’s getting weaker and weaker!” Ravana shouted.

Ravana hopped with joy as he saw the swarm fly into the crater. After a couple hundred more flew into the abyss, an even bigger blast exploded out of the crater, shooting into the sky, erupting mana into the atmosphere and breaking the magnetic field of earth for a moment. Ravana felt his life almost escape and his skin boil when the magnetic field was disrupted. Thankfully, Leon repaired it and flew out and his aura was out, turning the area into an entrance way of a volcano.

“You think… I’ll fall for the same trick, again?! Ravana!”

He powered up and shook the earth even though he was floating in air.

“I will not let your foolish tricks weaken me! You won’t get the best of me—EVER AGAIN!”

Leon’s roar shattered the earth below, creating multiple cracks and rising the ground to form hills. He powered up more. Lightning struck everywhere, and with each strike created more holes in the earth.

Ravana watched on, still grinning and enjoying the time of his life.

“It doesn’t matter how much more you power up buddy! The crystals are already draining your life force! You might as well get on your knees and beg, Bolverkr!”

He laughed more hysterically and even fell to the floor as Leon continued his onslaught.

“Oh, what a hell of a party! And I’m the perfect host. Oh what a time to be alive!”

***

Deep in the underground Caverns, gazing upon a giant opening, purple crystals flickering in and out of light; Jack has found himself in an odd predicament. After managing to escape the group of cultists that were after him, he had a chance to take a breather. Despite wanting to take a longer break, being the curious young man that he is, he wanted to inspect the crystals and wanted to find out why so many are growing in the giant space. He touched one and it reacted by zapping his finger. He rubbed his zapped finger and groaned. Feeling lucky, he grabbed one and immediately, it shattered the barrier that Leon made for him.

“Oh shit!”

He let go and the barrier’s shattered remains flung back to reform around Jack. He was curious why Leon’s barrier shooed away like that, which had him thinking of what the cult plans of doing with these odd gems.

“These weird sickos got to be thinking of a way to beat Leon, and these crystals have got to be the key to them.”

Jack cocked his rifle and aimed it at one.

“I wonder…”

He shot one, but his bullet ricochet off and echoed throughout the lit cavern.

“Damn, it was worth a shot.”

He tried coming up with another idea, but the ground above him shook and crystals that hung from the ceiling started falling. He quickly dodged out of the way and the ground shook more. He couldn’t keep his balance and fell. Jack grunted as he tried his best to stay on two legs. The shaking stopped for a moment, then, in a quick turn, the ceiling collapsed and Jack ran to avoid the crashing dirt and rocks. He fell on his front side, and quickly turned, spotting a familiar holy cloak that gave him the fight of his life a month ago.

His eyes quivered and he quickly grabbed his rifle and took aim.

“No, not now.” he mumbled.

“Boy, it’s time we settle this.”

Pulling off his hood, Eligor revealed himself and Chelsea landed behind him with her Warhammer.

“Don’ts take this personally, sweety.” she said.

Jack’s repeatedly gasping and can’t think of any other way to fight them in his current state.

“Fuck it…” he said.

He began firing and the two split. Eligor charged at the young man's oncoming fire while Chelsea hopped from stump to stump. Jack’s breathing grew intense as he reloaded and came to a conclusion.

“I guess, we’ll see if you’ll help me out again…”

Jack put his rifle behind him, and clenched his fists.

“... Mallory.”

Eligor threw a jab and Jack’s lights were punched out. But his footing remained seated to the earth as he was pushed away from the powerful jab.

He spat out a pool of blood and wiped his mouth.

“That hurt… bi-big time…” he muttered.

Panting, spitting repeatedly, the young man knew that Leon’s barrier was the reason for his survival.

Despite Leon’s barrier, he still managed to penetrate it like last time.

He took a glance at a crystal.

It has to be those stupid purple things. Jack thought.

Chelsea came from the side, and gave him a side kick, which sent him flying, crashing through the earth.

Jack crashed through dense, thick dirt until he exploded into a room and rag dolled to his front side. He could barely open his eyes, but managed to get a clear vision of where he was.

“Is this… their worshipping area?” he murmured.

He carefully raised his head and saw the huge open area that was bigger than a football stadium.

“Fu…ck…”

Eligor came charging into the area where Jack’s broken body crashed through. He spotted the young man, barely living.

“Come on, boy. Show me that darkness that managed to chip away at my muscles.”

He leaped into the air and put his foot forward. Holding back, his huge boot made impact to the young man's back, which made Jack scream in agony and arch his body.

“Wake up! Show me your will to fight besides this pathetic display!”

He kicked Jack away and Chelsea teleported in, striking Jack with an uppercut that shot him back to the surface.

His body crashed out of the ground and it caught the attention of Leon who’s still holding his own. He saw the young man's body landed badly on the ground and his pupils were gone.

“Damn, I thought he’d awaken that power of hers like last time I felt.” Leon said.

A couple of cloaked cultists charged at Leon, which he fought off, killed and dismembered their limbs.

“Guess he just needs a—”

Leon aimed his palm at the young man's body that was a mile away.

“— another boost!”

He shot a ball of purple mana and it struck Jack. His body absorbed the mana and nothing happened. Leon went back to fighting the army out for his blood and Jack remained unconscious.

“Damn it, Jack, wake up!”

Leon felt more of his energy draining and grew more irritated.

“I’ve gotta stall enough. He might be fighting himself against his blackened mind.”

Leon’s eyes grew brighter and he shot beams out of them. He sliced hundreds and hundreds of cultists in half or down the middle. Blood splatter to the ground, guts splashed the earth, it rained crimson.

“I… despise using my mana this way.” he muttered.

He let out a war cry and charged forward into the curtain of lost souls.

Jack could hear Leon’s shouts and fury. His fingers twitched yet he couldn’t bring himself to wake up. All he could see was darkness.

“I’m sorry, Leon. But I’m just too weak to help you.”

He could feel Leon’s frustration send shockwaves to his motionless body.

“What could I do? What can I do?”

The conflictions inside the young man made his mind rewind all his failures in life. Angela getting paralysed, his friends getting in danger, exposed to Dr. Cato and his men: Veronica’s home being destroyed, Candy getting shot and on the brink of death, Anna almost becoming a victim of Mallory, but most of all, his biggest failure which played out again as if he were sent back the exact moment Sarah was taken from him. Her saddened face, and voice almost made him explode in depression all over again. He screamed in his mind until he saw his vision de-blackening. Instead, a misty thick fog overtook it, and all he could see was swirls of grey and purple.

“W…hat’s going on?”

The swirls grew more intense and the fog began to clear up.

“Either way, there’s nothing that I can do to help.”

“Because, you’re a failure and selfish person.”

“H…uh?”

Someone, a soft young voice, a boy's voice had interrupted Jack’s self monologue. It made Jack confused and questioning who it is, insulting his being.

“Who are you… to judge me.” Jack said.

“Me? Don’t you mean, y-o-u?”

“What?”

“You heard me. I’m just speaking to myself, reminding of how much of a worthless, pathetic, hypocrite, murderous, vile villain I am.”

“Who are you talking to?! Who are you!”

The fog in front of Jack cleared more and he could see someone approaching him.

“Even in the future, I’m still a naive fool who thinks he can save everyone with the will power of stupidity.”

His voice changed and it sounded exactly as his. It made Jack gasp and grow chills. He approached more and he stood tall, just like him and his hair, from the outline behind the fog was the same as his.

“Jack… Samr, the embodiment of greed and betrayal.”

“Stop…”

“What? Don’t like to hear yourself mention how much of a backstabbing disgraceful human you are?”

“Shut up!”

“Fools! Is what we’ve become! We’re nothing more than vessels of a lover's broken heart destructive mindset: And rightfully so!”

As the fog grew thinner, Jack could see a small glint shone from where his eyes would be, glaring at him.

“Because Jack, we’ve done nothing but hurt those closest to us and more notably—the girl that we… truly—love.”

Jack panted and wanted to shoot the imposter dead but couldn’t. He felt limbless and unmotivated to do anything else.

“Who? Wh-who would that be?”

The now turned man bent forward, his face slowly pushing away at the grey fog, and revealed half of his blackened charred face that made Jack loudly gasp.

“Mallory…”

Leon sliced someone in half with the tip of his fingers and felt the darkness inside Jack starting to leak out of his pores.

“Oh? Is this—?”

Eligor was standing a good mile from where the young man's body was buried somewhat in the earth. Chelsea’s floating mid air, but seemingly worried about if her hubby had actually finished the job. Although, she can’t help but feel bad for the young man.

“Dids you get him?” she asked.

Eligor squinted his eyes and saw black sparks starting to electrify around the crater he’s buried.

“Nope, we’re just getting started,” he said.

His tone sounded ecstatic and he was itching for a rematch. The headlock that Jack gave him still bothered him despite the power gap.

“Let's see if you can handle me now, boy.”

Jack’s body began twitching, his fingers cracked, twisted, and his teeth began to clench so severely, some of his teeth chipped off. His eyes turned blank and he slowly gapped his mouth. Steam came out, and the young man let out a roar that put a stop to everything. A black explosion went off, flashing the area in white and black. His roar continued as the light blinded everyone. Once it faded out, Eligor heard rumbling and it was rapidly approaching, faster and faster, then…

“Ahh!”

Eligor’s face was met with a stupendous punch that launched him away.

His body skidded away and sent miles of dirt and debris into the air. Chelsea loudly gasped as she saw the culprit behind punching her man away with a devastating punch. Jack’s arms hung limb, his mouth steaming, gapped, the young man’s eyes glinted a red hatred that no one could imagine as he growled like a rabid rottweiler. His pores let steam out, the black veins coursing through his chalked skin illuminated as he stood, hungry for his prey to get up.

Eligor got up, and rubbed his cheek.

“Nice shot, kid.”

He ripped his cloak off and was shirtless. He pumped himself, and his mana muscles appeared as he got into a boxing fighting pose.

“Oh, I’ve been yearning to show you how a real fighter puts up a grappler such as yourself!”

Chelsea flew next to him.

“Honey, we needs to works together.”

“Babe, I can take him on myself, don’t you worry.”

She glanced at the steaming hot young man: the heat illuminating off his body began melting the ground and made the area feel humid.

“He's definitely lost it.”

She flew up and stood on one of the giant branches of the mighty tree.

“I’ll keeps an eye up here!”

Eligor powered up and his mana muscles swelled more.

Jack roared in response and his blackened aura cratered the earth around him.

“Boy! You’re about to get your ass kicked like it’s never been!”

Jack roared more and began charging.

The other cultists watched and Leon used the opportunity of their distraction to teleport to the nearest entrance. Before entering the underground, he saw their collision that sent shockwaves across the country and sent electrical currents into the sky. Jack’s terrifying roars filled with sorrow and hatred echoed as Leon watched on from the sideline.

“You said you wanted a punishment, well…”

Leon nodded and turned away.

“... that’s your punishment from me, Jack Samr: distract them while I go look for Sarah.”

The earth shook, the sound barrier kept being broken as the two fought and fought.

“It won’t take me long, just distract them long enough for me, Jack.”

Leon ran into the entrance and suppressed his mana. The earth around the tunnels shook and began collapsing.

I can feel her, she's close, but deeply buried where the tree stands.

Leon shoulder tackled through a blockade and found himself in their worship area. He saw the paintings of the platinum haired demon who took eighteen years of his life away. Seeing the form that Samantha took on again almost made him burst into an angered frenzy. The crimson eyes, the white hair, her glowing pale skin: The personification of false fallacy and to anyone's eyes, she would almost be angelic. Yet, what he was staring at was the personification of envy and wickedness. His eyes quivered and he took a breath and a moment to reflect. He got the moment to calm his nerves and open his eyes, glaring at the giant painting of Abyzou. He pointed two fingers at it, and shot a small burst of mana to ignite and it bursted into flames. It burned and he felt more at ease.

“Soon, soon your judgment will come, Samantha Abyzou.”

Leon ran off and was back on track to Sarah’s location.

Don’t worry Sarah, I’m coming for you. And on my dead parents, I will never have you turn into the same being Samantha once turned to.