Chapter 59:
Heart Dream - How I Got To Chase My Dreams and Myself In Another World!
Donisemon attacked with his Noctis and then with the Vespera, but both attacks were defended by Isabella who was in front of the others. Mazanlold lunged from behind her to attack with his morning star. Donisemon defended with his yellow blade and counter attacked with the black one forcing Mazanlold to retreat. Caoilainn released a stream of energy from her staff, but Donisemon simply raised Noctis, which absorbed the stream.
- "Come on, show me what you got!" - Donisemon said. He approached them and started a slow flurry of attacks. He attacked with Noctis and protected himself with Vespera. In a steady pace he aimed at Isabella, then Mazanlold, then Caoilainn, then Mazanlold, then Isabella again. The three fighters avoided and defended all hits, but were unable to counterattack. Donisemon turned around and now attacked with Vespera. Isabella lunged at him, defending the first hit and immediately counter attacking. Donisemon defended the her overhead hit with Vespera. At the same time, Caoilainn threw a fireball at him and he defended with Noctis. With this window, Mazanlold hit the demon's right side using his morning star.
The demon flinched and moved away from them, but no clear damage was done, after all, the armor was strong.
- "Now, we're starting to talk!" - Donisemon smiled as he started another flurry of hits. His pace got faster as he attacked Isabella with Noctis. On the right, on the left, an overhead strike and a poke, she defended all hits, while Mazanlold wasn't able to find an opening. Isabella skipped away and Donisemon turned to attack Mazanlold with repeated overhead strikes of Vespera. At the same time that Mazanlold defended, Caoilainn threw fireballs, forcing him to defend with Noctis. The sword absorbed the fireballs and threw then into Caoilainn, forcing her to jump away from the attack. Isabella lunged at Donisemon and was able to hit his back with all her strength. The demon jumped away releasing smoke on his wake.
The three observed as the demon seemed hurt. However, he said:
- "Finally, you are starting to fight! Let's see what you have got!" - Donisemon again leaped at them. At the same time, Isabella shouted:
- "Richard! Come on! Fight us, we believe in you!"
- "Come on Richard!" - both Mazanlold and Caoilainn shouted as they resumed the fight.
Their voices however were unable to reach Richard. He watched the fight, but was unable to focus. He felt hurt and confused: on his mind echoed the memory of his own voice saying how he was an actor, how nothing was real and how nothing was worth it. Somewhere on his mind was the light, but it was hidden away, out of his sight. Just like the voices of his friends which were silenced inside his head. Conflicted, Richard was paralyzed thinking: "For what would I even fight? If I am not even a human what cause would I defend? And what meaning would victory have to me if I helped them? If I have no dreams and no heart?". He stood there, unable to get up.
Donisemon started attacking alternating Vespera and Noctis. Isabella had to pick up the pace to defend each hit. She kept a defensive stance and alternated between defense and jumping back to keep herself safe. When Mazanlold came to attack, Donisemon was able to attack both Isabella and Donisemon, using Vespera and Noctis. The two were unable to find any hole in his defenses, he parried and avoided each hit. Caoilainn used that opportunity used her staff to absorb mana for a huge fireball. When she was ready, she unleashed the spell at Donisemon. Mazanlold and Isabella jumped to the sides and the fireball exploded on Donisemon's head.
The warriors covered theirs eyes and observed, waiting for the light of the spell to subside. When it did, however, they saw two large gray wings in front of Donisemon's face. They watched in horror as the wings unfolded and revealed his malicious smile, unscathed.
- "That was clever of you, Caoilainn! You even forced me to reveal my wings!" - laughing he lunged at Caoilainn using Noctis. Isabella stepped up to defend her and parried the hit. Donisemon followed with hits from Vespera which Isabella avoided. Mazanlold advanced and Donisemon resumed to fight them both at the same time. At the same time, Donisemon released purple energy balls from his wings, directed at Caoilainn. She ran around and used her staff to conjure barriers.
As the fight continued, the three comrades danced according to Donisemon's pace. He was relentless, none of them found openings, their strikes were counterattacked, they were getting tired and Donisemon seemed unfazed. Isabella shouted:
- "We need to go together!" - Isabella and Mazanlold jumped away and got side by side. Caoilainn rushed behind them and started throwing fireballs on Donisemon. At the same time, Isabella and Mazanlold advanced together unleashing flurries of attack from both sides in all directions they could. Donisemon was forced into the defensive, using Vespera to defend from Isabella and Noctis to defend from Donisemon. Using his wings, he neutralized Caoilainn's attacks.
It was becoming a battle of attrition. Watching this Richard felt the urge to join, but his mind was obscured by all he kept saying to him for all these years: "It is worthless! You are worthless! Life is worthless!". Then, he thought: "If everything is a lie, there is no difference I can make."
While Richard was there, the battle continued. The three warriors did their best to keep the pace and find an opening, knowing Donisemon would probably resist longer then them. Mazanlold increased his strength and used repeated blows to force the Duke's defense to lower and protect his rib cage. Then, Mazanlold turned his morning star into a spear and thrust it towards Donisemon's face. Donisemon moved away, defended a hit from Isabella and used the pommel of Noctis to parry the spear and hit Mazanlold's side with the blade. Both flinched. Isabella stepped up to protect Mazanlold from further hits and barely defended a flurry of hits from both swords. Caoilainn threw a slew of fireballs near the ground to force Donisemon to step away. The three used this time to step away.
As they regained their breaths, Isabella and Caoilainn noticed Donisemon's face was scarred and Mazanlold's armor was damaged on the place of the hit.
- "Are you alright?" - asked Caoilainn.
- "Yes" - Mazanlold replied panting - "It hurts, but no blood, we can go on." - before Isabella could say anything, Donisemon shouted:
- "This was fun, but it's time to stop playing!" - he smiled - "Now you will know the meaning of pain from the great Demon Duke Donisemon!" - as the demon said that, he was engulfed in shadows. Much their horror, the shadows split into three copies of the Duke, all with the same swords, only a little shorter and looking paler. - "Now you will have a Duke for each one of you! Isn't it a dream come true?!" - the Duke on the center released a fire ball on the middle of the warriors forcing them to jump. Now, they were separated and each Duke aimed at one of them.
Mazanlold was on the right and his Duke attacked with full force. Strong, precise strikes that causes sparks to fly as they hit Mazanlold's morning star.
- "Do you want to be remembered? Do better than this!" - the Duke said unleashing more hits. Mazanlold defended them all, and decided to give it all. He turned his weapon into a spear and thrust it intensely, forcing the Duke to step back. Then, he turned it into a sword and went on the offensive, forcing the Duke to defend. When the Duke found an opening to defend with Noctis and attack with Vespera, Mazanlold turned his weapon into a shield, parried the hit, and turned it into a spear to strike at the Duke's chest. The Duke however protected himself with his wings, which were hurt and hurled fireballs at Mazanlold. Mazanlold stepped back and the Duke counterattacked with Noctis hurting Mazanlold's right side. Using fireballs, the demon burned Mazanlold's hand, who jumped away and fled from more attacks.
At the same time, Caoilainn and her Duke exchanged fireballs and energy streams, staying in a stale mate. Using the Philosopher's Stone, Caoilainn tried her best to create daggers and throw them into the demon's direction, while she kept the spells going. Unfortunately for her, the demon was able to parry every dagger using his swords. Using his wings for protection, he lunged forward, forcing Caoilainn to protect herself with her staff. That was the Duke's opportunity to use his both swords to slice Caoilainn's right thigh and left side. Hurt, she stepped back and used her staff to create an explosion, to give her space to flee.
Isabella, on the center faced her Duke. She used her classy technique to fight against the Duke's swords putting up an elegant fight. She was able to parry hits and try counter attacks, but the demon's prowess with two swords was hard to match, he always had a way to defend from every strike. Then, Donisemon started hurling his purplish fireballs into Isabella's direction. Defending from Vespera, Noctis and the fireballs was too much and Isabella started dragging, allowing Donisemon's next move. He lunged at her, attacked with Vespera and she defended. Then, he used the pommel of Noctis to punch her head. He used this chance to attack her neck with Vespera, but Isabella was able to gather strength, and parry the hit lunging her sword, forcing him to step back. Isabella took that opportunity to rush and position herself in front of Mazanlold and Caoilainn. She used her sword for support, panting and hurting but ready to defend her friends.
The three warriors observed as the three copies reunited into one Duke. Enjoying himself he said:
- "As you can see, you are not even a close match to me." - he smiled. - "I gave you a lot of opportunities, to give up, to serve me, to kill who dragged you down. But now" - he shook his head - "You shall be destroyed! Give up if you want and you may suffer less! Continue and bear witness as I take your hearts into the depths of despair!"
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