Chapter 47: The Finale [MOON]
The Demon Queen constantly kept her distance away from me. She refuses to allow any chance for me to get close to her by constantly using her ranged attacks. I am down to only one more chance of using of Rend and Lightning Charge. I need to make it count. There was not much point in trying to use Lightning Strike as she will just dodge it. There is a reason why she kept nimbly flying around.
The Demon Queen used two of her existing thorn pillars to slam on me but I managed to avoid it. After regaining my bearings, I saw that she had readied a heck amount of blades and daggers to throw at me.
“This is the end, Hawthorn!” she shouted and sent all the floating blades and daggers towards me.
I quickly summoned Rend as I had no time to dodge. Thankfully I had enough time to cover myself with my cloak. After the last of the blades had bounced off my cloak, I was hit by an impact that I felt awfully familiar. Damn it, she used her scream attack on me once again. The floor beneath me broke and I quickly summoned Tengu-kaze to stab through the floor which is above me now. Geez, almost fell to the lower levels below me. I was deafen so I had to make do with my other senses for now. I quickly climbed myself up, brushed off the dirt from my shoulder and taunted the Queen once again.
“You were saying?” I said as I tilted my head.
***
Do I really need to use Great Blessing in order to kill this captain? So far, the both of us is certainly not capable of eliminating him as his strength or speed had increased to at least threefold. Not to mention he can heal much quicker now that he had his limiter removed. The Dark Lord is starting to pant heavily now that his previous potion duration had ended.
The captain placed his greatsword on his shoulder and shook his head as though he was not amused. He then taunted us to attack him as though he hadn’t been using his full power. And he might be right, he had not even used his Bloodlust after his limiter broke.
The Dark Lord turned his head to look at me. I sighed and nodded. We cannot afford to hold back much longer. While I do not enjoy the after effects of using Great Blessings, we don't really have much of an option now. At least Zen & the Dark Lord can benefit greatly from this spell as well.
The Dark Lord reached to his back pouch and took out a small vial while I kneeled to begin my chanting. The captain waited for us to ready ourselves. Had not known that demons were so noble, or perhaps he is just arrogant right now. The Dark Lord emptied his vial and tossed it aside. The room was surprisingly silent to be able to hear the sound of the vial rolling. His body started going slimmer and smaller which he had to eventually remove his armour and cape. His hair started turning from black to red while his eye turned eerily to purely white. Complete opposite than the previous potion that he drank. He is only wearing his inner wear now and stood ready. There are two downsides to this elixir but the benefits far outweigh the cons.
I focused myself and casted Great Blessings. My body was encased with a golden semi-transparent light armour in several places that can protect me against fatal blows. Both Zen and the Dark Lord had partial golden armours that protected their shoulders and knees. My Great Blessing was enhanced by Focused Meditation turning it into the True Great Blessings. This spell will not last long and both the Dark Lord and I will be down for the count in about 15 minutes. We need to end this before the duration ends.
“Let’s go,” I said and the Dark Lord nodded. Not willing to speak, eh? I already know the downside of you using that potion. No need to be shy.
The Dark Lord charged straight ahead. With his smaller body, his speed had drastically improved along with my Great Blessings. The captain was caught off-guard by the sudden boost in speed and tried to block the attack from the Dark Lord but he was too slow. The Dark Lord almost managed to pierce through the captain’s helmet but the captain turned his head at the last moment avoiding the blade from piercing through his brain. Damn, we were so close.
Stolen story; please report.
Red blood seeped out of the helmet. That attack must have pierced his eye at the very least. The captain roared with anger and activated Bloodlust immediatly. The Dark Lord was now about a third in height compared to the captain and he taunted the captain with his index finger. Like a child making fun of an adult.
***
“This spell again? What a nuisance!” complained the Demon Queen.
I don’t have much time left to maintain Rend. After this, I only have my red dragonhide cloak to protect me. Even with the blessing provided to me, I can’t seems to get into close combat with her when she kept gliding far away from me constantly. An opportunity is all I need. Only about 5 minutes left before Rend expires. Got to make it count!
I call forth another lightning with my right gauntlet. I have to take a gamble. The roof the castle were mostly broken at this point. The Demon Queen made a “Tch!” and moved even further away than before to avoid getting struck by my Lightning Strike once again.
The Demon Queen raised a huge wall of thorns and pushed it towards me. She must be baiting me to use the Lightning Strike on that wall. I ran towards the wall and smashed through it with my spectral cloak. Then I immediately released Lightning Strike on her. But she had already enclosed herself with a thick layer of blood that my Lightning Strike could not penetrate through. Damn it, she baited me into her trap.
My spectral cloak started flickering in and out of existence and eventually disappeared. The Queen smirked and started her evil laughter. She must be getting overconfident now that Rend had ended.
***
We are pushing the captain back. However, our spell and potion is only going to last for about another five minutes or so. This demon have insane regeneration after he activated his Bloodlust. Any injuries are being healed almost instantaneously. Even breaking his bones do very little to slow him down. Do they never tire out eventually? We resort to dismembering whenever we can as that takes more time for him to regenerate.
I took a quick peek at Zen on how he is faring. He was running around seeking cover from the many attacks that the Demon Queen was throwing at him. What happened to his Rend spell? Did he hit his limit? We need to help him!
The Dark Lord most probably had noticed Zen’s situation as well. He is pushing his body to its limits in attacking the captain. I joined the fray and tried to inflict as many wounds as we can on this captain. We kept a lookout for the possibility of reaching his helmet but there was none. This demon must have decades if not centuries of fighting experience to keep his one weak-point so closely guarded.
The captain managed to counter the Dark Lord and hit him with the hilt of his greatsword sending him flying. Now it is just me and him. I pumped myself up and fought hard but every damage I inflict on him would end up healing while mine stayed bleeding or bruised. He eventually gave me a kick to my sternum which knocked me to the ground. Even with the armour from the grand blessings, I was sure my sternum was fractured from that kick. Armour only prevents against stab or slash wounds but not against impact sadly. The captain stood next to me about to deliver the coup de grâce. I was fading out of consciousness at this point as the spell was wearing out. The Dark Lord was struggling to stand up himself and was panting hard. I had resigned myself to death as the captain swung his sword at towards my face. I hope Rose would take up the courage to be the next Paladin Lord. A bright flash of light covered my vision followed by a loud rumble that shook the whole castle.
***
I needed to time it right. Only one Lighting Charge is left. I need to lure her to the right spot. The Queen continued her barrage of attacks on me while I hid behind a pillar. It won’t take her long to find my location. She spotted me and I continued her attacks. I threw Tengu-kaze at her and she dodged it with ease. I continued to head closer to the throne with the cover of the pillars. She flew closer and summoned thorn pillars from the ground. The pillars were slithering after me like they had a mind of their own. I resummoned Tengu-kaze and used wind pressure to cut the pillars which resulting in me cutting the castle pillars as well. I’m still amazed at how the castle still remained standing after such destructive battles.
The Queen continued her chase and barraged me with her daggers once again. I leaped as far as I could behind where she flew and swung a huge gust of wind towards her pushing her closer to the throne. As she was guarding herself from the wind, I tossed Tengu-kaze and it pierced one of her wing. The weight of Tengu-kaze was starting to bring her down but she steadied herself and maintained her flight. Now is my chance!
I rushed towards her as she tried to pull Tengu-kaze out of her wing while also trying to keep herself afloat. She saw me coming closer and tossed a couple of daggers towards me clumsily. I raised my red dragonhide cloak to keep me protected but some daggers still managed to pierce me despite her clumsy throw. I ignored the pain and continued running towards her. The Queen wanted to fly away but Tengu-kaze’s weight was pulling her down.
I am still waiting for the right opportunity to strike. C’mon Zeus, grant me something! I saw a flash of white light from out of the throne’s window. There!
I raised my left hand towards the Queen. She guarded herself but realised that my left gauntlets wasn’t charged. She smirked and was about to say something when a lightning came through the window behind her and pierced through her body. She was stuck getting electrocuted for a couple of seconds as the lightning charged up my gauntlet. The power was insane. A direct lightning from a real thunderstorm is complete different than a summoned one. My dark gauntlet started turning white from getting charged by that lightning.
The Queen’s body was roasted from the lightning and had a huge gaping hole at her stomach area. I ain’t making the same mistake again. I charged up Inazuma with Lightning Charge quickly and walked towards the Queen. It’s amazing that she is still afloat even after getting her body toasted by lightning. I leaped at her ready to strike. The combination of Lightning Charge and Dark Slash will be enough to finish her now that she is immobilised. I gave a roar as I lobbed her head off from her body. Now that was extremely satisfying.