Awaiting the dawn, Chaos had time to rest or to prepare themselves for the upcoming battle. Noktum was busy repairing Samukai's sword with magic, samurai himself was enjoying the surface for as long as he could and Fenfir was dozing off. Phantom on the other hand was thinking about the thing that Pharaoh has shown him. While he tried to make sense of any of it, he just couldn't find any to begin with. What were those towers, what was that thing, and why did that mechanism create so much energy. He thought about contacting the Pharaoh, but then again he doubted that he would get anything from the talk. The only thing that made this situation suspicious was that, even after the amount of Chaos energy that he had generated, Pharaoh still didn't appear in person just like the first time. Did he need to do something more? Besides, when will he finally gain that strength that was promised to him?
- You're fine there?- warrior's voice brought him from the thoughts.
- As fine as ever, why?
- You do seem to think about something. And it doesn't seem to be about burning another city or anything of that sort. So what is it?
- It's nothing serious, really
- If you say so- while samurai might have given up trying to start a conversation, he could still feel that something is bothering him and that's an unusual sight.
Aww, they care about you. Can you say that about yourself, leader? That mock on the last word upset the demon.
What's your problem? I do your job, you give me strength, and it better stay that way, so stop getting involved in things that don't concern you!
But I am only making sure that you will keep your promise to them. There is nothing wrong with that, right? Even though this conversation was only in Phantom's minds, he could still see the Pharaoh grinning.
Shut up, you better tell when I will get an useful spell from you
First get the another crystal and the we can talk
While this answer didn't plead the demon, he'd at least known that soon he might get something from Pharaoh. And he hoped that it would be good.
And what's with that "they care about you"? Phantom's knew that if they could, they would return to Hell as fast as possible. That's what they always do.
But for now he had other problems. The king being the major one. He hated to admit it, but without Noktum's trap they wouldn't have beaten the previous one. Who can say if anything they might have will even have an effect on this one.
- Noktum, what else do you have in your arsenal, or any of you to be clear
- Ah, I see what was on your mind- warrior got up and went closer to the demon- you are worried about the fight with the king, right?
- I am not worried, I just want to know with what I can work in the future- Phantom mumbled, but Samukai seemed to not hear that.
- Worry not, we somehow won the previous battle and I'm sure that we will also manage this one
- I agree with Samukai, beside I can pull the spells from your spellbooks, if the situation will call for that
- Yeah! I mean you gave him a lot of books. Not only that, we also know that a major weakness is not working here. We also have you, and seeing how many spells you have, one of them must work, now combine that with my tactics, Fenfir's endurance and magical assist from Noktum and that elemental will hit floor faster that he will know
- You do seem excited- Phantom smiled at the warrior.
- That may be because I'm already out of this maze, but yeah. I swear those drive me crazy
- I can tell, by the way Noktum, since I'm going to now seriously start your training, you will call me master, you get that?
- Yes master- shadow answered as he was examining some spellbooks.
- Am I supposed to call you master too?- Samukai asked half seriously.
- I wouldn't mind it
- I never thought that you would be into that- this comment made Phantom chuckle.
- Heh, but that's more an Eligor's thing if I am being serious- demon then commanded the samurai to sit nearby.
And like that both of them chatted for a few hours. Samukai told the demon about his life before he went to Hell, or at least what he remembered and Phantom shared some stories from his glorious days at the coliseum. Noktum, while reading the spellbooks, still listened to those stories, but hadn't said anything himself. Even Fenfir seemed to be a little interested in the talk between demon and warrior.
- And I kid you not, but that wyvern wasn't actually part of our plan. I mean that Yuki got his ass burned but not the way we intended
- Heh, you know, I don't remember when was the last time I talked with someone for so long
- That's kinda sad- warrior took a glance at the sky- it seems like there will soon be dawn. We should better get ready. Now I wish the we had more time to get ready
- Your enthusiasm sure died quickly- demon scratched his chin as trying to remember something- Kudo, was it?
- It now got to me that we will have to fight another elemental. I mean, I know I seemed confident a few hours ago, but now I'm not so sure. And beside, just call me Tatsuya
- Worry not- shadow joined to the conversation- we somehow dealt with first one, we will also deal with this one
- I hope so, but what if magic won't work?
Phantom stood up and started going ahead.
- Then we will whack it to death with my scythe or your swords. Now let's go, I can't wait to kick some elemetal's ass
The road to the next crystal led through the grassland full of forget-me-nots. Truth to be told, the grassland looked more like a sea than land. And with wind blowing gently, they sure did seem to try and emulate waves.
While crystals were close to each other, they still pointed to one direction. And they sure weren't wrong when stone road was replaced the softness of grass. Following the road, Chaos stood now before the temple which was surrounded by the same blue flowers that they saw before.
- A'ight ready your weapons
The entire team entered the temple, but immediately stopped when they noticed that there was barely any ground to stand upon. While the previous temple had its floor intact, this one had only two pieces. One at the entrance and the second one at the end of the temple, with nothing but a seemingly endless pit between them.
- I don't know how 'bout you, but I don't want to fall down there- warrior said as he slowly backed down from the edge of the cliff.
- So I guess that this will be a ranged fight. Heh, now that's something that I can get behind- Phantom said, getting himself ready for battle.
A sound of steps filled the room and from the shadows on the other side emerged a familiar figure. This King was nearly identical to the previous one, but his robes were dark blue with light blue stripe in the middle.
- Ah, I welcome thee in my precious temple- he even spoke on the same calm manner as the red one- I know that you are already in possession of two Gracious Crystals, so you know what shall come for thee
- Just summon your elemental
- Let me prepare the arena first
Prepare? What did he mean by prepare? For the demon, this "arena" already looked prepared. Endless pit that forced them to use ranged spells. What other things can he do? Phantom wondered for a while and then he remembered the flowers outside the temple. The first one was accompanied by many bright colored leafs and the arena was inside a ring of fire. This one is surrounded by blue flowers. And only two attributes were associated with blue. But frost was always the lighter one, so that left only one option.
His guess was confirmed when a loud rumbling noise appeared and the endless pit started filling up with water. It easily reached the edge of the ground on which they all stood on. The king of water then dropped the crystal. As it vanished from the eyesight, water started glowing. Soon the glow stopped, but nothing seemed to come out from the depths. After a few seconds a single tentacle made of water with a slightly glowing orb at the tip emerged in the middle of the arena.
- That's it?- Phantom asked with disappointment, but still not letting his guard down.
When he said that another two bright objects started to shine just below the surface as if imitating eyes. And then it showed itself in all its glory. A giant sea serpent made of water emerged from the water. Its two yellow eyes were focused on the Chaos, and its orb glowing as if it tried to analyze them.
- You just needed to ask, didn't you?- Samukai asked as he recovered from the shock.
- Well that tentacle was slightly disappointing, but that thing- he pointed at the elemental- now that's something that I can fight with
The elemental let out a bone shaking roar as if informing the intruders that the battle has begun. Noktum immediately casted a barricade when the beast was trying to ram them. It only bounced from the barricade but left it greatly damaged. Shadow then used Eye of Horus, but it showed that elemental has no weaknesses against any of the attributes.
- So far nothing. I say that we try everything we got- he informed the rest of the team.
- Don't you perhaps have a trap for its size?- warrior asked, standing in front of the magician.
- Sadly no
More tentacles came from the water, each of them started attacking the barricade. Soon it broke down, leaving Chaos open to upcoming attacks. Phantom casted aspect of the sky: free bird. But before trying to attack from above he tried to use the abbadon. And while the beam did hit the elemental and left a hole in its body, the wound closed really quickly. It seemed like the demon and the beast had similar regeneration.
This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.
- Oh come on! Now will all of them be resistant to abbadon? For fucksa-GAH!- demon was cut short as another tentacle rose from the water and hit with enough strength to send him flying into a nearby wall.
When another one was aiming at the demon, samurai cut it off with Izanagi. Phantom finally got out of the wall and started circling around the elemental. The head was now fully focused on the spellcaster, giving time for the rest of the team to come up with a strategy.
- There must be a way to weaken it. How about we try to freeze it or electrify?- warrior started but quickly took a battle stance as more tentacles appeared.
While the tentacles were problematic, it was good that they were able to hit two times at most before breaking down. Worse thing about them was that, when one was cut down or it destroyed itself, at least two more filled its place.
Phantom fired another abbadon, but it was stopped by a giant wall of water that was created by many tentacles merging together. While elemental was distracted, Noktum hit it with a beam of frost, trying to solidify the water. It worked to some degree, as slight layer of ice covered the body of the beast. After the monster was frozen solid, Phantom hit the glowing bulb with abbadon. It shattered and with its gone, the rest of the body crumbled.
- Well, the first one was much more challenging- the demon said but bit his tongue as he saw two more bulbs rising from the water. Finally they took the form of the serpent- But of course it must be a hydra! Because fuck me!
- Maybe instead of swearing you will focus on destroying them- warrior called to the demon as he cut down a few tentacles that aimed at him.
Hell hound was ready to leap at the nearby head, but backed off as a big chunk of floor broke out and fell into the water.
- Still water runs deep, won't you agree?- king asked with slight amusement.
While the team tried to figure out what he meant by that, the answer was more literal. The water at the very bottom was slowly cutting the edges of the ground. While Phantom didn't need to worry about that, the rest of Chaos needed to come up with a solution for that. And it should be done rather quickly.
Noktum then casted a big barricade shaped like a square. Samukai then grabbed him and with the wolf, they jumped onto the spell. After they landed even more chunks broke out.
- Sheesh, that was close- warrior said.
Another set of tentacles rose from the water and started grabbing the barricade. Samurai and hellhound were cutting them down with either blade or claws. Noktum needed to fall back from the battle, to support the barricade.
Hydra then opened its mouth. Small blue ball formed inside it and soon this ball turned into a jet created of water which aimed at the trio. But Phantom was first one to act and casted a stream of fire to counter the hydra's attack. Two spells connected and canceled each other, filling the temple with mist. The only thing visible in this mist were glowing bulbs and eyes of the elemental.
Demon then tried to take out one head with abbadon. Hydra barely dodged an upcoming beam, but was able to protect the bulb from destruction. Second head then lashed at the Phantom, biting his left wing off. Demon started furiously flapping his right wing, trying to stay midair.
- Now you pissed me off!- Phantom summoned his scythe and started chanting- Thou shall join the dead in frozen lands; Spear of Niflheim!
Air in the temple immediately became much colder. Icy wind started dancing around the demon, enveloping him in some kind of a sphere. Chunks of ice were flying in random directions, some of them hitting hydra, some Chaos. Finally from the sphere rose a giant spear made of ice. It aimed at the hydra. It wasn't even a second later when the elemental was hit by it and began to freeze. Soon both heads and some water beneath them were nothing more than ice. Abbadon got rid of one head and Samukai destroyed the other one.
Then another four head emerged. Those didn't wasted time and immediately started spitting out a massive projectiles of scalding water. No one from the team was able to dodge all incoming attacks. While the wounds weren't bad, the barricade on which they stood was becoming weaker with each passing second. Noktum've known that creating another barricade will take toll on him and sustaining it for who knows how long will be near to impossible. He didn't got time to cast another one when giant tentacle rammed the spell from below, breaking it.
Chaos fell into the water. While Fenfir and Samukai were able to swim by themselves, shadow wasn't so lucky. Samurai helped him to get to the surface, and during the time he was underwater he thought he saw a big shadow that rested in the depths.
- You fine there?- warrior asked as the shadow was climbing upon the hell hound.
- Wet, slightly cold, bruised, but nothing close to a mortal wounds
Before anyone was even able to come up with a plan for this situation, two heads of the hydra started to let out a mist from their mouths. The mist was downright chilling. Phantom used the ice beam which Noktum used, but this time it seemed to have a worse effect on the elemental than the previous one. When mist finally faded he saw why. The spell that hydra used already started to solidify it, but instead of freezing it completely, monster some kind of hardening that looked like that of the bugs. Heads were then free to ram into everything they pleased to, causing much bigger harm compared to the tentacles.
While the trio was able to dodge most of the incoming attacks by diving underwater, Phantom had much harder time with the elemental. He was able to block on charge with his wing, but a second one sent him flying, crashing into the surface of the water. Purple mass, now drifting with more than half of its body below the surface. Phantom felt that some of his ribs were broken, one even nearly pierced through the skin.
Hydra then roared and started glowing with blue light. Soon glowing stopped, but elemental gained blue shine.
Demon fired abbadon, yet it seemed to have no effect. Noktum then followed by fireballs. Beast didn't even notice that it got him. Even Fenfir, attacked by his own fireball, which was weaker than Noktum's, still should be able to do some harm. Though it ended the same as previous attempts.
- Don't tell me that this motherfucker is now resistant to magic- demon said, preparing a Hydra’s chain of flame.
- It would've seemed to be the case- Noktum stated as a demon followed by a long and tired cursing.
- Well then, it is our time to shine- Samukai said as he and Fenfir took a battle stance- Noktum, can you cast a few more barricades?
- I'll see what I can do
- Great- warrior then started casted blessing of Hermes onto himself. Yellow aura danced around him, then in blink of an eye he jumped on the barricaded. Wolf followed him. Shadow casted few more, samurai appeared on each new barricade, being way too fast for naked eye to register it. Fenfir while being slower was much more open for attacks from hydra. But when tentacle tried to grab him, he simply smashed through it, landing on a barricade few feet away. Elemental then tried using projectiles to shot down the duo. While none of the projectiles hit either warrior or wolf, they did destroyed few barricades.
Samukai took out Izanagi and leaped at the hydra. When he was close enough, he throughst the blade into the frozen skin of the elemental. When one of the heads saw him, it lashed out a beam of blueish energy. Samurai gracefully dodged an upcoming attack, thus making hydra hit itself. The one who got hit hit back. And like that the two heads started fighting with themselves. Fenfir followed the warrior's steps and also baited elemental to turn onto itself. While it wasn't done as fast and as easily, due to the only way of gripping the hydra were his own claws, the hellhound was wounded in the leg by the tentacle. When the hound returned to the rest of the team, all hell broke loose with heads. Each of them was ramming into one another, neither of them caring if they themselves will get hurt in the process. Heads were smashing and crashing into everything, one of them even hit water close to the barricade.
Warrior admitted that he never had seen such ferocity coming from any hydra that he has ever seen before. Granted it was like two times, but still. Two heads were even biting the head that was damaged the most. After a few minutes only one head was left, but it had lost its armor. Phantom finished that one with an abbadon.
- Is that it? Or will there now eight heads pop out from the water?- demon asked.
Then as for an answer many yellow lights appeared beneath the water surface. For a moment the entire pit was yellow from the glow.
- How many of them are coming?- shadow started backing down to the center of the barricade.
- That's one, two ,three, four... a lot. Really fuckin' lot of them coming!- samurai shouted with a distress in his voice.
King only clapped his hands and said:
- Well then, I believe that we should come to a finale of this battle, don't you agree?
Something big was coming from the depths, as a whirlpool appeared. All of the lights were now focused at one point. Then came a wild roar that shook the entire temple. After that from the center of the whirlpool rose a monster that none of them had even seen before. It looked like some sick mix between a whale and shark, with additional massive crab claws. Beast itself was easily the size of the pit. Its many yellow eyes were glaring at the Chaos. It then launched a powerful attack that took the form of a giant water pillar, which crashed with the barricade. The team was now in water, and that didn't help in the slightest.
Elemental opened its mouth. Many tongues lashed at the team, each grabbing a party member. When everyone was in steel grasp of the beast, tongues started smashing Chaos into the walls. Samukai was the first one to get out, due to Izanagi having no problem with cutting down the tongues.
Phantom was casting abbadons left and right hoping to free himself or to at least hurt the beats somehow. When he hit one of the many eyes, monster loosened its grip a little. Demon then casted Waves of the Abyss. Three powerful waves were more than enough to destroy the tongues.
Warrior swam closer to where Noktum was and called upon the blade of Seiryu. Izanagi was once again covered in green energy. Samukai made a swift cut and released the magician from the steel grip.
Now Fenfir was the one that had the worst time getting out. Due to his massive body five tongues wrapped him, making it difficult to free him, without damaging him in the slightest. Yet the wolf thrashed hard enough for the tongues to finally let him go.
- Do any of you have an idea on how to kill it?- Samukai asked, trying to fend off a few tentacles.
- I can hit him with black comet- demon said once again attacking the monster from above.
Hellhound howled and a rumbling came from the depths. Soon a stone platform appeared, giving Chaos some distance from the water.
- It's time to end this. Now finish them with Sirius!- King raised his hand. Elemental followed the other. Beast opened its mouth, gathering blueish energy. Soon the gathered energy turned into an orb, easily the size of the hound. It started pulsating.
- Everyone! Dive!- samurai called to his teammates.
- O you, who cast shadows upon the darkest of nights; O you, whose flames burn brighter than the sun; O you, who cover yourself in crimson descend upon us, Black Comet, and bring us ruin! - Phantom chanted as the orb turned into a beam of energy that even dwarfed the boosted abbadon. Beam destroyed everything that stood in its way. Not even the temple itself was safe from the pure strength of that spell. Phantom barely dodged the spell, yet still lost a good quarter of his tail. When the beam destroyed the roof, the demon finally saw his salvation. An enormous mass of dark energy surrounded by a crimson flame, closing in at alarming speed, surely did pick up an interest from the king, who just calmly looked at it, maybe even a little shocked that the demon was able to pull off such a spell without bigger problems.
When the comet finally hit the temple, the only other thing that was heard, beside the explosion, was a terrifying screech coming from the elemental. Did it scream from pain, or maybe just from anger that somebody dared to cast a spell that it wasn't able to protect itself from?
Phantom had not cared why it screamed, the only thing that mattered was that it screamed. It was a sign that the black comet had any effect on the beast before him. Now what effect did had would only be sure after all of the dust and darkness will fade.
- That...was for...my wing- demon panted out as he slowly fell on the remaining parts of the platform near the entrance. When dust finally cleared, the rest of the team returned to the surface. Everyone of them came to the demon. But it wasn't time to celebrate yet.
The elemental was still standing. The beast lost many of its glowing bulbs, only five remained, it still refused to die. It tried to finish the Chaos with weaker spells, such as flying water vortexes that cut the sky, but it was clear that black comet took a toll on it.
Wolf remained with the wounded demon, while samurai and shadow took off to end that beast. Noktum destroyed one bulb with his own abbadon. Samukai hid in the shadows, waiting for the perfect moment to strike. And when it finally came, Izanagi destroyed two more bulbs. Beast as a last resort released many tentacles, but those lacked the strength or ferocity of the previous ones. After a few more minutes of struggling, Blade of Seiryu finally destroyed the last bulb.
Elemental let out a final growl before becoming one with the water.
- Is it over?- Samukai asked, expecting something else to pop up from the water at any moment. But instead he heard a slow clapping coming from the king.
- Now then, I believe that I shall give you your reward- king then tossed the crystal all the way to the warrior- All I can say is that each further battle will be tougher than the last
- I guess, but why are you telling us that?
- Just a little friendly warning that I give to every challenger. Remember to take it to your hearts
- Yea whatever you say, weirdo- demon said as he was being dragged out from the temple by the wolf. Rest of Chaos followed them and left the temple, or rather what was left of it, in peace.
After everyone was outside Phantom asked:
-So are we resting till the evening, and then go on?- this was followed by tired yes coming from the other teammates.