Chapter 5

I gaped. Completely baffled by what was happening. The rogue wave brought chills even to me as I saw the monstrous wave that was coming toward me in its full glory.

“Berry!” Olivio shouted. He flew over toward me, flapping his wings. “We need to stop that wave!”

“How?”

“We need to activate the Barrier!”

I was confused. Barrier?

“Follow me, quickly.” Olivio turned around.

I followed silently, heading straight toward the clock tower in the middle of the city. I was confused as, why we were heading there.

Olivio landed on the clocktower, hanging off the side. He leaned in, touching his forehead on the clocktower’s face.

I landed on the other side, wondering if it could even hold both of our bodies, but surprisingly it did.

“Follow what I do.”

“What?”

“Quickly. We don’t have much time.”

I hesitantly, at first, but my head against the clock tower’s face. Suddenly, my head throbbed.

Pulsing energy had crept up in my mind, causing me to have a slight headache. The power continued to drip into the very source of the clocktower.

Ding! Ding! Ding!

The clocktower rang out loud, the hand on the clocktower spun furiously.

A blast of energy expanded outward rapidly.

The soldiers outside the castle quickly headed back in.

Even all the other heroes that were out fighting their own fight headed straight back into the city to not get washed away.

Instantly, the barrier expanded outwards, rapidly covering the whole city.

The wave crashed into the walls, submerging the whole area with water.

I gritted my teeth. I could feel my energy rapidly depleting against the waves that crashed into the bubble of a barrier.

It wasn’t just once or twice, but three large waves that shook the city over and over again nonstop.

The city trembled; the people watched in awe and fear.

Many of them screamed in fear as the barrier flickered. Some cowered, hiding and running into the building as if it would save them. Others froze, unable to move but watch for their possible doom.

I could feel my power starting to waver; beads of sweat formed as both my father and I kept pouring magic.

It was over as the wave came to an end.

The water receded as the ocean water pulled back.

“It's done,” Olvio spoke with a heavy breath.

I could tell that he was exhausted.

The barrier wavered, and finally, spots started to appear, allowing the white film of the barrier to slide down.

My energy was drained. My shoulder slumped, and I felt out of it.

My hand unconsciously loosened, I fell backward.

Olivio grabbed my arms, yanking me back.

“Berry.” Olivio's voice startled me awake.

I grabbed the clocktower, coming back to my senses. Realizing that I could have hurt myself from that fall.

“Thanks.” I worded underneath my breath. I was slowly getting out of my daze as I shook my head.

“We need to go down and recuperate.” Olivio started to climb downwards, his tail swishing back and forth.

“I agree.” I started my descent, climbing down.

The moment both my feet touched the ground, I could feel my whole body shuddering with delight.

Exhaustion washed over me, my leg caved in as I slumped onto the ground.

Wings tucked in, and my head dropped to the ground. My chest shivered, allowing me to take deep breaths.

Olivio was the only one sitting down, looking at me. “Are you alright?”

“No," I replied with a tired voice.

Olivia chuckled.

“How are you able to have any energy left after that?”

“Practice.”

I tilted my head. “This happened before?”

“Yes.”

“When?”

“When the hurricane season comes around, but in such instances, I only had to activate it three times since its creation. Today was it's third.”

My eyes became wide. But before I could ask Olivio for more, we both heard something breaking.

I looked over my shoulders.

The Titan was smashing against the barrier, cracking it even further.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

“They are trying to get in,” I growled. I pushed myself up.

“The shield won’t last for another ten minutes.” Olivio squinted. “We need to get those

legendaries under control.”

“I agree, but the better question is where does that rogue wave come from?” I asked.

It was strange to suddenly have a rogue wave coming from afar and smack us with a fist of fury. The only thing I could think of was that Aunt did something that caused such a wave.

More loud banging sounds were heard to the left.

The Black Griffin and his children were smashing magical energy into the barrier, causing it to quickly speed up the process of the barrier’s collapse.

The Black Phoenix blowing its own black fire into the very walls on the east.

“They sure are persistent,” I groaned.

“We need to stop them from breaking down the barrier.” Olivio quickly replied.

I shook my head, “Let’s leave that to the Heroes.” I said. I knew that I could trust them to deal with their opponents.

The seawater left a bloody mess outside the city walls. Luckily, the ocean water took washed away the other monsters killed outside the field.

As quickly as the legendary heroes were banging against the barrier, I saw Stryd, Khor, Don, and Ginger moving straight toward their respective monsters. They were rushing in as they clashed amongst each other, pushing the legendary monsters back away from the city walls.

I felt relieved that solved one of the problems that would have wiped the whole city out.

Monsters started to spill outwards like streams of water, rushing over.

Loud horns blared throughout the city walls, over and over again. Reminding the soldiers that they needed to wake up to deal with the problems ahead. Quickly and efficiently, they moved toward the direction as they clashed amongst the oncoming monsters once again.

Suddenly, a loud barking roar resounded from the sea.

I swiveled my head, my eyes becoming wide.

In the water, a creature was emerging. At first, I thought it was just a sea monster, but the closer it got, the bigger it got.

Its whole body had scaly green and black scales, eyes that reminded me of bloody rubies that glimmered underneath the moonlight. Sharp, white teeth showed throughout its mouth, giving him a scary angry look. Its long neck swayed back and forth as attached to a large body with a long tail and flippers.

“Is that what I think it is?” I asked, my gut twisting into knots.

Olivio snarled. “Yes, the Leviathan.”

I hiccuped, realizing what this meant.

My Aunt did it. She summoned them all.

“When? How?” I spoke out loud.

“I don’t know.”

“I have yet to find anyone who can fight against that!” I worried, my head aching. There were too many things going on at once.

“We’ll do what we can.” Olivio opened his wings.

“But-”

“No buts, this is my city that I decided to protect, and I’ll fight to the death to keep my people safe.”

“Father!”

Olivio took a moment, and he looked back, taking a good look at me.

“This is crazy; what you are doing will kill you,” I shouted; I had only known him for a short period, and it felt like a sudden farewell. I didn't want to lose him.

“So be it.”

With a flap of his, Olivio started to flap into the air. He then took flight as he left me behind.

Where in the world did he have the energy to take flight? It took a lot out of me to even lift my body up.

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Taking one step, I tried to head toward where my father was heading straight too. But I couldn’t.

My legs were like lead, becoming difficult to move forward or backward. Even my wings were dragging behind me. Every step I took, I stumbled until finally, I fell onto my stomach, unable to move or get up.

This was bad.

I could barely do anything but watch.

Olivio flew, his gaze dead set on the Leviathan ahead. When he arrived overhead the Leviathan, his stomach lit up as the energy in his stomach glowed upward towards his throat. Then, a blast of powerful energy spat out from him and smashed into the Leviathan.

Waves after waves of energy continued to drill into the Leviathan.

I gaped with awe.

The amount of power he had left was extraordinary, and I couldn’t help but look up to him with respect.

Suddenly, out of the corner of my eyes. I saw a black dragon coming barreling forward toward Olivio. They both clashed, throwing him away from the Leviathan.

Both of them tumbled in midair as Olivio tried to overpower Julia. They broke apart in midair.

Olivio breathed his fire straight at Julia.

Julia snarled. She dove to the right, completely missing Olivio's fire.

With a sharp bank to the right, she circled around him. She spat out her own black fire as well, continuing the fight in midair. Olivio woven in and out, their constant tangle of aerial battle was fierce.

At times, they would smash into each other, continuing to hammer down on one another over and over again.

Julia roared at the top of her lungs, causing Olvio to halt momentarily in flight. He faltered, giving her an opening. She flew straight at him, smashing into his body.

Both tumbled in midair.

I gasped.

This was not good.

Julia snapped, tearing into Olivio's neck, chest, and arms, chomping down on him over and over again. Finally, he kicked her off.

Blood dripped down Julia's face, giving her a wicked look.

Olivio slammed into the ground with a heavy thud.

I gasped.

A burst of energy spurred inside of me.

With heavy wings, I flapped hard, pulling myself into the air. Even though my body screamed at me that I needed rest, I didn’t listen.

I needed to go. I did not want him to die.

Julia cackled. “You fool.” She spat. “You should have married me. I was your other half.”

Olivio lowly chuckled, shaking his head. “Please, keep that dream-like thought out of your head.”

“You approached me!”

“I did no such things,” said Olivio. He spat out blood.

“You came over to talk to me when I was sitting by the pond. You were the one who started to have a conversation that sparked my interest.” Julia claimed wildly.

“And? I wanted to know who you were. That was it.” Olivio spoke with bafflement of her statement.

“You led me on.”

“Once again, your own mind.”

“We could have been happy.”

“You stole my happiness from me,” Olivo shouted. “You killed the love of my life!”

“She was not the love of your life. I am.”

“You're delusional!”

“Never. You have pushed me to this point. I’ll ask you again. Will you come with me?”

Olivia glared. “You’re out of your mind." A blast of fire escaped his lips, licking her scales. "You are the one trying to marry the demon king and me too? What do you take me for? A fool? Do you think I'll ever forgive you for killing her?”

Julia snorted, hovering in midair.

“My sister was just a rock in the road. She’s nothing.” Julia spat, “Now, this is the last time I‘ll offer this to you. Will you join me? My soul mate.”

“You still don't listen to what I have to say. So my answer will always be a No.”

“Fine, then so be it.” Julia's eyes darkened, and her expression became evil. Pulling back her head, she gulped in huge air. A blast of dark fire spewed out of her mouth and straight at Olio.

Olivio was doused entirely in Julia’s fire.

He screamed in pain as the fire ate slowly through his scales. Whenever he tried to get the fire off his body or move too fast, the fire grew bigger to the point where he could barely move without causing even more pain.

My heartbeat was crazy as my chest turned into knots.

I looked down, a surge of magic started to swell inside my chest. Then, instinctively, I blew out white flames downwards onto my Aunt and father.

Julia was temporarily caught up in my flames as she screamed. But, unfortunately, she didn’t expect my sudden entrance, and she scattered backward with stumbling footsteps.

On the other hand, the fire that ate away at Olivo quickly quelled. I could see that his suffering pain had made him even weaker. Finally, he fluttered down to land with a heavy thump.

I landed next to him. “Are you okay?” I asked worriedly, checking to see how badly he was injured.

Olivio shook his head and weakly raised his hand. “I’ll manage.”

“Are you sure?” I looked at his body warily and could see open burn wounds. It was pretty nasty, and anyone who looked at it would have cringed from the terrible wound. “You don’t look all that right to me.”

“I’ll manage.” Olivio spoke, “Your flames are helping.”

“Really?” I looked over, wondering what he meant. All I saw were open wounds until I saw some of them slowly but surely closing. “Don’t worry too much about me, stop Julia.”

I nodded. Looking over towards my Aunt, I could see that she had gotten rid of my flames that left an ugly burn mark on her scales. She glared at me with the intent to kill me.

“Aunt, it's good that you stop here and right now,” I spoke.

Julia snorted, “you are out of your mind if you think such a thought would stop me from achieving my purpose.”

“And...what is your purpose?”

“To rule the world.”

“You? Rule the world?” I couldn’t help but roll my eyes at her. “You would be a terrible ruler.”

“You don’t know that, child.” Julia straightened up. It was then I saw something move on Julia’s back. Phil was sitting, watching everything that was happening.

I opened and closed my mouth, unable to speak his name.

“I was born to be a ruler, and your father was born to be my husband.”

“Is that why you forced yourself onto Phil!?”

“He’s just an extra to take to the next step.” Julia shrugged.

Phil was not phased by Julia’s words. It was more like he was dazed that he didn’t really have a mind of his own.

“To use people in such a way,” I wasn’t happy with what she had said; I was honestly furious.

“Let Phil go.”

“Absolutely not.” Julia scoffed, “My Demon King.”

Phil looked over.

“Show them who you are standing with.”

Phil nodded; magic swirled around his hand. He threw the magic straight up at me.

I raised my claws, throwing up my own shield in front of me. The black magic bounced off my shield and dispersed.

Julia opened up her wings, pushing herself into the air. Then, she bolted up into the sky, leaving me behind.

I quickly followed her.

“Phil!” I shouted as my voice boomed, following closely.

Phil turned his attention towards me as he rode on top of the black dragon that glimmered dangerously in the sky. He was wearing all black from head to toe with red eyes that seemed to blaze with its own fire.

Something was terribly wrong.

I couldn’t sense the same Phil that I once knew at all from him.

“It’s too late, darling.” Julia started with a slither of her tongue. “He does not know you anymore.”

“What did you do to him!” I snarled.

“Nothing, my dear.” Julia hoovered in the air, watching me with her green eyes. “He came into what he was meant to be. A true Demon King.”

“No, you changed him!”

“I doubt that.” Julia snickered. “When a man wants to change his life, he shall.”

“You blackmailed him.”

“Did I?” Julia feigned ignorance. “I think you should be thinking about what will happen to you in the next couple of seconds.”

Julia dove straight at me.

I dropped and folded my wings. Julia started a chase as we both plummeted to the ground.

I opened up my wings at the last second, pulling myself upwards sharply.

Julia flipped in midair, facing me with her wings opened. She blew a jet of green fire straight at me.

In alarm, I retaliated back.

A stream of white fire was shot back as both clashed against one another.

Flames of fire continued to splash outwards, creating a deadly heatwave. Julia stopped blowing, reorienting herself as she moved out of the way.

I continued to spit out fire, chasing her.

It was a battle of fire as we blew at each other continuously from one to another.

Sparks flew as fire clashes continued to spin out of control in midair.

I dove and spun, trying not to get burnt by Julia’s fire.

The awful heat was overbearing, making even me want to hide from the powerful blow of magic that seemed to come at me with the intent to kill.

“Phil!” I shouted again. In Between each blow of fire. “Phil!”

Phil didn’t even blink an eye. The anger in his gaze was terrible. There was a sense of death. He snarled, showing off his teeth. He reached back, pulling out his bow and an arrow. Standing up from his seat, he knocked an arrow and fired.

My instincts screamed, twirling in midair.

The arrow brushed past my shoulders, and I heard the arrow clink off my scales. What was surprising wasn’t the attack but the power behind the arrow. A sense of darkness was tightly wrapped around it, making it even more dangerous to me.

There was a strong sense of malice in the arrow.

Once again, he fired.

I slightly moved out of the way with a twist of my body.

“Phil!” I tried to get into his head. “You’re better than this!”

Julia and I clashed together in midair.

We were entangled in a deadly cold. Julia's neck snapped to take a chunk out of my shoulder. I butted my head against hers, causing her to be temporarily dazed.

“Wake up, Phil!” I screamed; my teeth sank into Julia’s shoulder, causing an ugly deep wound.

Julia roared in pain. Her eyes glazed with fury and spite.

“You think you can win this?!” Julia snaked her head in and bit down hard on my shoulder. “Just because you are the dragon maiden, you think you can win every time?!”

Julia was heated.

We continued downward into our descent.

Phil took this chance to climb out of his seat, heading straight towards me. His hand grabbed onto my spine as he scaled his way up.

“Do you think that you can do anything?” Julia spat, she bit again and again. “He’s mine!”

“He’s not a thing!” I sharply replied back. I wasn’t going to back down. My teeth snapped into her shoulders again and again as we both drew blood.

“Julia!” A roaring scream bounded outward.

Suddenly, Julia was ripped off of me, and instead, Olivio and Julia tumbled in midair, smashing into the ground.

On the other hand, this threw me off as I crashed onto the ground not too far away from them.

On the other hand, Phil was thrown off my back, hitting against the tree.

Shocking pain escaped my body, I groaned. My head throbbed, and my shoulder pulsated with pain, causing my muscles to twitch.

With heavy hands, my claws drugged into the ground. I shakily pushed myself up as I shook my head.

I looked around, trying to find Phil.

Phil was unmoving on the ground, next to the broken tree. I could see that there was blood flowing down his head.

I cursed. My body wasn’t listening to me like I wanted. From the draining of magic from my body and straight into another fight with my Aunt. This wasn’t a fun day at all.

With each step, I pulled myself over.

My body shifted into my human form.

I coughed, coughing up blood in the process. Then, reaching over, I wiped it off.

I walked over, got on my knees as I pushed Phil onto his back. His eyes were closed. Leaning

down, I checked his vitals.

Everything was alright.

I sighed in relief. I was glad to see that he was alright. However, there was a sense of discomfort still around him.

I watched.

Phil moved, causing me to tense. He opened his eyes slowly. Then, groaning, he blinked a few times.

He then looked over towards me, and in alarm, he pushed me aside.

I stumbled backward, looking at him with confusion.

Phil brought out his sword, glaring at me.

“Phil.” I raised my hands to show him that no harm would come from me. “Phil.”

His sword didn’t budge.

“Do you remember me?” I said, hoping that there would be some recollection between us.

Phil tensed as I took a step toward him.

“It’s me, Berry,” I said.

“Berry?” Phil tilted his head, “I don’t know any Berry.”

“We spent time together. Traveling the world and even to another.”

“Don’t lie to me, dragon. If I knew who Berry was, I would have remembered her. You are just the Dragon Maiden that needs to die today.”

My lips twitched. I was fuming inside. What did Aunt Julia do to him? He was completely brainwashed.

“You are better than this,” I spoke again. “You aren’t a Demon King; you are Phil.”

For a moment, Phil's eyes seem to flicker.

“Silence!” Phil threatened. He wasn’t going to budge on his stance. “You will die here today, dragon!” He pulled back and struck toward me.

Suddenly, a bright flash of light erupted out of me.

Phil cowered backward, throwing up his hand to cover himself, and pulled back his sword.

I could feel the magic around me start to pour into my body. Giving me the extra boost of energy that I have needed. I didn’t feel tired anymore as it felt as if my source of power came directly from the universe.

The swirls of light magic continued to grow and grow, blinding anyone that looked directly in my direction.

Magic pulled out of my body as white light started to form in front of me.

A magical array of sigils swirled around, compressing the light in front of us until finally,

everything started to die down.

I opened my eyes, shocked to see what was in front of me.

Three swords gallantly circled around me.

The first was the Legendary sword Starlight, Gala, and finally Laurel.

I was confused why they were out.

All three hummed with one another until, finally, they broke apart.

The first to speed out and head straight towards Julia was Gala. Its sparkling light shot forward and took a sharp right, heading toward Olivio.

My eyes became wide. My father?

I couldn’t believe it, but at the same time, I was relieved. I knew that Olivio could handle the sword with ease if it was him.

Olivio shifted from his golden dragon form, turning into a human. He reached out, grabbing the Legendary sword Gala into his grasp. With wide eyes, he held it for a moment, trying to figure out what was going on. Eventually, he understood as his eyes brightened.

He looked over towards me.

I shrugged without saying anything back.

I could see that he formed a couple of words that I couldn’t quite read, but I knew that whatever he said was probably on the line of a thank you.

Eventually, I turned my gaze back at the other two weapons.

Phil was frozen. He didn’t know what to do and instead watched.

Starlight headed straight towards me, and Laurel flashed back toward Phil. He glanced downward at the floating Laurel, which waited for him to pick it up.

I reached over, Starlight rested on my hand comfortably.

Phil didn’t move, his eyes still glazed, but for some reason, I could tell that there was something different flickering in his eyes.

There was life in him that I could see that was growing bigger and bigger.

The glaze in him had finally flickered enough for him to wake up.

Phil reached over, grabbing the weapon in front of him.

A pulsating light erupted outward, completely dazzling him and the others in the process.

The darkness that was inside Phil was suddenly expelled out of him.

Phil stumbled backward.

He shook his head, trying to get his bearings straight.

For a moment, there was silence.

I waited.

Three seconds passed.

Phil rubbed his forehead.

I couldn’t help but feel uncomfortable, waiting for his reply.

Was there anything left of him? I wasn’t sure, but I hoped that the sword would wake him up.

“Phil?” I called out.

Phil blinked a few more times.

“Phil,” I called out again.

Phil turned his attention towards me. The glimmer in his eyes was gone, and his normality was

brought back.

“Berry?” Phil whispered.

“Phil!” I cried out in happiness, running toward him.

Phil raised up his hand to stop me.

I halted.

“Are you okay?”

“No,” Phil grunted. “It’s not safe to be around me right now.”

I sighed. This wasn’t good, but it was nice to have him partially back. “Is there anything I could do?”

“No. It’s something I need to deal with.”

I looked over at him. I didn't know what to expect but knew I didn’t have to worry as much.

“I’ll stay right here for a while.”

“Thanks.”