Sero (part 2)

     I was stunned. Seeing Libero vanish so suddenly, I wondered if we even had a chance. Surely the only reason we had come this far was because Sero didn’t want to kill us, but if he did, then we-

“JAMES, WAKE UP!”

     I snapped to attention as Siti let loose a barrage of ballista fire, a combination of iron and wooden bolts from all directions all converging on Sero.

     Yet Sero walked towards me slowly, without care. The wooden bolts were incinerated before even getting close, and the iron bolts were swatted out of the air by his hands, sending red-hot metal fragments through the air. The various metal rods that I had set around the battlefield, including the lightning rod, all were heating up and taking on red glows.

     As the lightning rod was destroyed, Siti’s various ballistae burst into flames one after another, and I could only slowly back away from Sero’s approach, trying to think of what I could do. The crab and finger abilities wouldn’t work, and he’s already shown he can melt iron. What else do I have that can even work? Then, SPLURRRTTTTTT.

     Sero was doused in a deluge of transparent, green-ish goo. My eyes followed the stream and Siti had grown a new plant, a strange thing that looked something like one of those fire truck-mounted water guns. The goo seemed to work, it stopped his movements, the lightning couldn’t get through, and while it did burn, it was far slower than the rate at which more goo was added.

“James, think of something! I can’t hold him forever!”

But what? I can’t touch him and my metals just melt!

     No...iron just melts. I needed something with a higher melting point. But which ones? I don’t remember every metal’s melting point! I don’t even remember every metal! Space ship alloy? I don’t even know what that’s made of! Can I even make alloys?? Higher melting point usually means heavier, right? Ghh, I wish I paid more attention in chemistry class!

     Then I remembered a video I once watched on a theoretical weapon. Made of a heavy metal that could withstand the heat of atmospheric entry, the Rods of God. That metal was tungsten!

     I raised my hands towards Sero and began forming the metal as I had before, but forming it and shaping it were even more difficult than iron! Slowly, a sheet of tungsten began to form, but it was far too slow. “Faster, faster! Come on!” I groaned, frustrated with myself.

     Sero burst from the gooey prison, changing his target to Siti and flicking off the goo that remained stuck to his body with plasma burning away the smaller bits. Sero growled with contempt in his voice, “That’s enough disgusting tricks from you!” With a swing of his arm and a thunderous BOOM, an enormous explosion of plasma eradicated Siti and everything she quickly tried to defend herself with.

     Then it was just us. I knew Siti wasn’t dead, so did Sero, but what could she do? Sero turned to me once more, spreading his arms wide as he casually strode towards me, “And? What are you going to do with this? Is it your final struggle? I don’t want to kill you, so how about this: I will allow you to have this last attempt, then you surrender. How does that sound? I promise on my honor as a Lord that you will live in comfort until your purpose is served.”

     I didn’t answer, I didn’t even consider it. These demons don’t know the first thing about comfort. And to what? Doom everyone else for it?

“A stupid offer.” I replied, “I’ll keep trying even if it kills me!” I’d gotten enough time to make a sheet of tungsten large enough to cover him, and threw it at him, then tried to bend it around the Demon Lord to bind him in it. As I bent it into place, I continued to add more, thickening the sheet and folding the seams shut.

     Sero didn’t even try to move initially, but after a few seconds of being covered, he tried to move his arms. “Hoho, this metal is much more sturdy.” Electricity and plasma burst out from the few openings that had not yet been sealed and, while the tungsten held out for quite some time, it was clearly heating up more and more and slowly bending out of shape. “Incredible,” Sero remarked, “Durus could never make something like this. It makes me wonder how much you know about electricity. Surely I can use this power to an even greater degree.”

     No, there were few things on Earth more powerful than a bolt of lightning. A hurricane? A volcano? An earthquake? I couldn’t do anything like that, but I did remember, there are some things I know about electricity. Ah, I’m such an idiot.

     While Sero was busy melting and tearing his way through the tungsten, I started forming iron again, as well as running around to collect what iron hadn’t been turned red-hot strewn around, especially the former lightning rod. I had a hunk of iron roughly the size of a horse that I quickly shaped into a singular solid bar resting on the ground. Then, I concentrated. I couldn’t sense it or feel it, I could only trust and believe that it was a quality of metal that I could manipulate. Something so small, but a quality that existed nonetheless.

     Sero finished wrenching himself free and looked to my project, then sighed, “A bigger piece won’t save you. That was your last attempt, so, die.” He raised his hand and with a thunderous burst, he tried to do away with me as he did Libero and Siti.

But that wouldn’t work.

     The plasma came towards me, then sharply diverted away and into the nearby rubble. “Hm?” Sero said, then tried again. The same result. He began walking towards me, trying again and again, electricity coming from him or from the sky, but each time the scorching plasma would divert away. At some point, Sero couldn’t even conjure any electricity around his body, as if it were being pushed out of him. “What is this?” He muttered to himself in amazement.

“One of the four fundamental forces of the universe: electromagnetism! NOW LIBERO!”

[Territory Manifestation: Caelum Sine Finibus]

     Sero turned quickly to find Libero had reformed himself with a new, clean body. The messy patchwork of horns and scales were replaced with a more unified form, more close to a human with chalk-white skin, feathers covering his body, and the same monstrous face as before with four neatly-curved horns atop his head. The air around him was a stark contrast to the chaotic, heated red air of electricity, and seemed to be a boundless blue sky that seemed to extend only an arm’s length around him.

“Ha!” Sero laughed, “You fool, Libero! An ancient demon like you should know what happens when a smaller territory manifests near a larger one! You’re just begging to be destroyed for good!”

“I guess a young demon like you hasn’t had the chance to learn what happens when you’re torn out of your territory while it’s manifested.”

    As Sero heard those words, it seemed he did know and quickly turned to run, but he was caught. Green hands, sizzling while touching him, had emerged from the ground and firmly held Sero by the ankles. A muffled, “Got you~!” could be heard from below.

     Libero caught up to Sero in a single stride and grabbed his head in one hand, slamming him into the ground where more of Siti’s hands grabbed onto him. As that blue sky surrounded Sero, he was cut off from his own territory and he screamed, “No, NO!!” Quickly, that blue sky seemed to spread and swallow up the chaotic, electrified domain.

     Siti’s head popped out of the ground and she looked to Libero, “That’s enough, Libero. Leave him alive for James to use.”

“Are you joking? With this guy’s territory, no other lord will stand a chance against me! We won’t need his help at that point.”

“And what about the information that Sero knows?”

“We’ll get that from somewhere else. There’s plenty of other-”

“Caedes.”

“...What did you say?”

“The king he serves is Caedes. Is that name familiar to you?”

I could hear cracking as Sero’s head was getting crushed in Libero’s grip.

“Yeah. Caedes is one of the demons I need to kill. He was there when I got locked up. Though he wasn’t a ‘king’ back then.”

     I could tell Libero was conflicted, weighing his options. More power? Or the only lead he’s found to getting his revenge. With a loud groan, he rose up and threw the limp Sero towards me, “Raaaggghh! Fine! Take him! Then tell me how to get to Caedes!”

     Sero’s last sounds were a fearful scream as those myriad green fibers reached out from my suit to tear apart and absorb the once-Demon Lord.

     Siti emerged from the ground with a wide grin on her lips and her knuckles on her hips as she proclaimed with a shout to the surrounding demons, “LISTEN UP ALL YOU DEMONS OF LORD SERO’S SETTLEMENT!

THIS PLACE HAS NEW MASTERS NOW!”