Ashes of Dreams

This is the beginnings of the final encounter…

“Eryth! You need to stop this! I’ve come to take you home!”

“Stop this? I’m bringing peace to this world… Once it's fully taken over by the withering there will be no more wars.”

“So you’d kill every last human to do that?”

“I-I.”

She’s stuttering, it seems to me she doesn’t even understand the magnitude of her goals!

“Eryth! You’d be a murderer, no different from what the withering already is!”

“No different? I’d be no different…? Yeah–that’s right, but couldn’t you say the same about yourself King!”

Her defiance blossoms again, as it does the darkness around her flows faster in her anger.

“King–you’ve killed hundreds of withering creatures and haven’t stopped to think about their lives, not once!”

It’s true, I’d rather not think about it. I’ve honestly been dreading this encounter for that specific purpose.

“So what if the withering things have some sense to them–they attacked me first. If it weren’t for the withering monsters of this land your home never would have been destroyed! If a withering monster never attacked my brothers, I never would have gotten this shovel.”

“Eryth, they are the enemy!”

She walks forth, the dark particles swarming her now, the black storm of petals nearly completely obscuring her.

“Then I too am your enemy.”

A stream of darkness pulls toward Eryth from the black spire just behind her. As the dark passes by it begins forming into puppets made up of petals, maybe fifty enemies just summoned!

“So be it…”

Unhooking the shovel I ready myself to fight the person I so desperately don’t want to fight…

She’s the enemy.

“Gil, Lala this is it!”

Lala twirls his bat.

“Just a couple of small fries again, hmph let’s take home the victory royale!”

Gil readys his stance, fists up, his blood glows golden, he’s ready.

“But Eryth has that highly defensive magic–what do we do about that?”

Dr. Creeks bites the end of the pen she’s been writing with, her face now bandaged up.

“She seems to be wavering in her motivation, I’ll try to talk her down… Make sure to attack her when her guard’s down.”

It's a bit of a dishonorable move, but what are you going to do about it? Her [Arx] is basically unbreakable.

“Armor of electrified steel, I’ll become the storm approaching, [Electrostatic Discharge]!”

“Oh that was a good one.” Gil nods. Then prepares his flashy incantation.

“Oh lords of the long gone fallen, grant me the strength of a thousand titans, allow me your [Lifelight]!”

“Man now I want a cool transformation skill, but I’m ready to fight with my [Magic Bat Attack]!”

“Haha what, [Magic Bat Attack]? That’s what you went with?”

“Ehh–don’t judge me, I came up with it in the moment… I’ll probably change it…”

Lala responds, twiddling around with his bat.

“Don’t worry Lala, I like your [Magic Bat Attack].”

“Thank you Gil–See King, be more like Gil, hmph.”

“Oh just teasing you. Come on, let’s win this!”

Her army of petal puppets waddles towards us, they really aren’t much, but we need to get closer. Clearing them out is our first task.

“I’ll take first blood! By diving in the middle of it all! Go–[Static Spear]!

SNAP–

CRASH–

SNAP–

BOOM–

Launching the shovel smack dab in the middle of the waves of darkness, it vaporizes a good group of them instantly! Finally snapping again I go teleporting in–surrounded by the remainder.

“[Voltaic Arc]!”

The shovel electrifys–sending arcs of electricity across the battlefield. Sparking through all neighboring enemies and their neighbors too.

Ooh my attack is just too good!

Eryth raises a hand out forward, in the process the remaining hordes merge into two monsters. They take on the shape of what look like rhinos! Or rather quadrupedal beasts with horns on their heads.

“Woah that’s a new one Eryth!”

“Shut up–we’re enemies, there’s no time for banter.”

“There’s always time for banter!”

“SHUT UP!”

She slashes her arm, and with it commanding the rhinos to attack. The two beasts begin their charge!

“Stand back, me and Gil got this one!”

Jumping forward Gil and Lala ready their battle stances. Gil’s arms glow golden as massive fists rise from him, and Lala’s bat begins to sparkle as he prepares his spell.

“Lala–say when!”

The rhino beasts charge ahead.

“Wait for it…”

The rhino beasts lean forward increasing in speed, preparing to strike true. But Gil has the same idea!

“NOW PUNCH! [AMPlify Combustion]!”

KABLAMO–

What were the petaled beasts are no more, for all that remains is petals scattered on the wind. The power of the amplified attack completely removed the two beasts from the battlefield. And with their giant stature gone, the three of us notice Dr. Creeks somehow snuck behind it all and have approached Eryth.

“So you’re trying to save the world by destroying it, seems like a flawed response.”

Dr. Creeks began a battle of ideals with Eryth…

“What–uh no–wait, what…are you?”

“I’m just like you–a monster, pretending to be human.”

“You’re like me? But that’s impossible, nobody is like me.”

“Nothing’s impossible in a world full of magic.”

“Shut up–I’ll just kill you.”

“Kill me, but I’m withering aren’t I? That’d make you a murderer wouldn’t it.”

“Um-no because, you’re just a human…”

“I’m a monster and so are you, you’d be a murderer to kill me.”

“Whatever I’ll spare you and kill all the humans–it's for the betterment of the world!”

“What gives you the right to decide what’s right and what’s wrong? Do you really want this? To kill King, and a couple of children!?”

“I…”

“You would go so far to destroy all of humanity… just for what? Because you see it as right? Or are you just such a hateful person that can’t stand the existence of another living being, that’d you’d kill every last one of them to make yourself happier!”

“STOP IT– THAT’S NOT ME!!”

The doctor shoots us a quick look as Eryth explodes in confusion. Now is the time to press the attack!

…

My man Coach Lala turns to us with a plan. It's a good one, as usual.

“A PUNCH OF [LIFELIGHT] TO BRIGHTEN YOUR DAY!”

WHOOSH–

Without approaching Gil punches the air with extreme levels of force, sending a powerful gust of air in Eryth’s direction, in turn causing all the withering surrounding her body to fly away in an instant!

She spins around holding her arms outstretched hoping to gather up what was lost…

SNAP–

My shovel ignites in black static.

“Batter up Gil–you better hit the target!”

“Oh please, like I’d miss!”

“Like a bolt of lightning, zig and zag to the heart of darkness, take this [Static Spear]!”

The shovel of black magic is sent off in Lala’s direction. His bat held high, he’s prepared to hit it!

“Oh let this smack fly true, another critical hit to add to the books, with my [Magic Bat Attack]!

KLUNK—

The shovel ricochets off of Lala’s bat, leaving him with even greater power than when it was thrown!

CRASH–

It cuts right into Eryth at extreme speeds, lodging itself into her body, the force of the collision ripping one of her arms clean off.

SNAP–

The spark connects me to the shovel, to hammer the nail set by Lala’s bat!

CRACK–

Her body is split in two! The two halves collapse to the ground.

Our combined skill, Gil’s removal of her extra defense, Lala’s amplifications, and my final electrifying kick broke her!

We won!

“AHH WHAT NO THIS CAN’T BE HAPPENING HOW? HOW HOW HOW? ONE DOES NOT SIMPLY BREAK [THE UNBREAKABLE ARX]!”

I stand towering over her body, my shovel caught firmly in my grasp… I could finish the job.

I could kill her now.

Her body is shattered and still the black withering petals still gather around her.

“JUST GIVE IT UP, ERYTH! YOU LOST!”

“No I can’t lose, I need–the world to be consumed!”

“For what purpose, Eryth!? Isn’t the world fine as it is now? Why do you wish to destroy everything!?

She starts but stops herself from speaking…

“Do you even know yourself… Don’t make me kill you…”

She’s struggling to speak. So down defeated she’s likely never been in this position before.

“I…just…wanted… a place to belong.”

“ … ”

“If everyone’s a monster then I’ll finally find my place in the world… Finally I can be someone too.”

“But Eryth, there’s already a place where you belong… it's with us. You may see yourself as just a monster, just a doll. But I can see past that. What I see is a hotheaded young woman, a magician that has mastered defensive magic, you’re a master of magic in your craft. You're a person with wants, desires, and goals. You’re a human, through and through. No amount of withering is going to cloud my eyes of what you truly are… You are… Human.”

“Why? Why are you being so nice to me–I said I was going to kill you–I was…”

“Well, because you’re my friend, silly.”

“Your friend?”

“I’d like to think he’s my friend too, don’t you agree, Strider.”

That voice–and out of nowhere again! The Demon Lord!

“Goodbye, Eryth. You were a welcome guest to the party, until you weren’t. But hey at least you get one last happy memory, so go ahead and say sap sap to my [Whispering Death]!

A tether of red lightning strikes down through the ceiling of the room! Was he watching us this whole time?! Damn it I should have expected this to happen!

He yanks his red lightning causing Eryth’s upper body to spring upward–the darkness from within her, the broken bits of her are being drained from her vessel. All those black petals join, climbing up his whispered death.

Until it abruptly stops, dropping Eryth’s body back to the ground, it clatters, detaching itself from each limb.

She’s gone.

END CHAPTER 36