Purge IV

“MY LOVE! I KNEW YOU’D COME THROUGH!” Charlette screamed

We saw some guards flying into the walls of the compound.

Explosions ensued.

But what we saw was…

Honestly I don’t know how to describe it, just see for yourself.

“BABY! YOU CAME BACK FO- Wait, why are you holding Ellane’s hand?”

Neither of them responded.

“You… You’re leading her to me right? RIGHT?”

“Oh Charlette honey… let’s just say that your fiancee was never really yours to begin with. You however, if you can’t even keep my investment safe then… your usefulness to me has, well, expired!” Ellane said, looking all smug.

“RON?! WHAT IS SHE TALKING ABOUT??”

“Let’s just say that she’s recognized and acknowledged how multifaceted I am. Besides, she is nowhere near as clingy and annoying as you are! Besides, me and Ellane have always been together.” The brotherhood leader, Ron, said.

“Huh?” Charlette said, confused.

“Oh, and our engagement’s called off! You’ve made a good backup while we were a thing! But I fear I have to go back to the love of my life.” He said with a wicked smile.

Charlette looked defeated.

“What did I just witness…” Mara said, disgusted.

“I couldn’t tell you.” I said, equally disgusted.

“Well, well, well… If it isn’t our resident hero! The main character of our fateful encounter if you will… Are you ready for our second dance?” Ellen gloated.

“Did I knock you too hard? What’s with the poetic act?” I said.

“Yeah, it doesn’t look good on you at all.” Mara added.

We laughed at her.

“YOU! YOU DARE LAUGH AT ME!” She exclaimed.

“Don’t worry, I thought I’d get a good laugh before we start.”

“WELL IT’S GOING TO BE YOUR LAST!”

Ellane dashed at us, but she seemed a bit sloppy.

“MARA!”

“WAY AHEAD OF YOU JOBBY!”

That was new.

Mara went off to deal with the brotherhood leader.

Ellane brandished a blade.

But I just parried it with my dagger, with one arm.

“You’ve grown awfully sloppy since our last encounter!” I teased.

“I’M JUST WARMING UP!” She screamed back.

She came at me again and again.

But each time I blocked her attacks.

“THAT’S IMPOSSIBLE! THIS WAS ENOUGH TO ALMOST BEAT THAT COMMANDER BACK THEN!”

“Jokes on you Ellane. I haven’t been sitting down doing nothing, like you.”

“YOU!”

“Oh, be quiet! I’m trying to fight here!” I said smugly.

I launched at her with my dagger, and then my claymore.

Both went clean through her chest, and she fell to the floor.

I pulled both my blades out of her.

She regenerated her wounds.

“Get up. I’m not letting you go that easy.”

“Well if you kill me you’ll never know where your sister is.”

“Oh don’t you worry. I have no intention of killing you. NOW GET UP!”

“YOU’LL REGRET THI-”

I took the hilt of my claymore and bashed it across her face sending her flying across the room.

“ELLANE!” Ron screamed out.

“Look alive playboy.” Mara said, as she backhanded the wind out of him.

“GET UP!” I screamed.

I thrusted at her shoulders.

“GET UP!”

I thrusted at her knees.

“GET UP!”

She dashed into a corner, trying to recover.

But I would not give her that chance.

I followed her movements to the T.

I launched a vicious overhead blow.

It blew straight through her guard, driving her back.

“GET UP!”

I pressed my advantage with a series of rapid strikes.

They forced her towards a jutting boulder.

“THIS IS FOR GRANDMA YOU WENCH!”

“URK”

But then out of nowhere, she gained an immense power boost.

“I WON’T LOOK DOWN ON YOU ANYMORE. BEHOLD MY WRATH YOU VERMIN”

She dropped her weapons and started to manifest magic into her hands.

She started shooting out combinations of Pressurized Karma, along with air and fire.

She even drew the very water out of the plants to form a blade.

I leapt out of the way, just barely.

The blade grazed the skin on my arm.

“YES! KEEP RUNNING.”

She shot more combinations of magic from her arms at me.

I leaped high, arcing over here attacks.

But before my boots touched the floor, lightning bolts lanced downward from the heavens.

I hit the ground rolling, sprinting forward.

One bolt struck mere inches from my last position.

Then another.

Then another.

Then another.

I could not falter.

Then the earth opened beneath me.

“YOU’RE NOT THE ONLY ONE THAT’S BEEN TRAINING!” She screamed.

I launched myself forward in a desperate leap.

“ARG!” Mara screamed out.

“MARA!”

“I’M FINE! JUST TAKE CARE OF MISS I HAVE DADDY ISSUES!”

“BI-”

“EYES OVER HERE ELLANE.”

I lunged at her, having now manifested my Karma.

She just barely dodged.

“WHAT! DID YOU MEET THAT BASTARD?! WHY IS YOUR KARMA GREEN?”

I didn’t respond, instead I kept attacking her rapidly.

Left.

Right.

Up.

Down.

We covered the full three hundred and sixty five degrees with our fight.

But then, a rogue bolt of fire sent me hurdling out of the sky.

Her face twisted with desperation, magic still crackling around her fingers.

“I NEED TO END THIS NOW!” Ellane screamed.

She flew up into the sky and held her hands up high.

She was drawing the air around her, and it seemed she was infusing Karma into it.

She was conjuring a massive fireball.

I lunged at her with the intention of stopping it.

“TRY WITHSTANDING THIS!”

I was too late.

She sent the fireball into the ground, demolishing the entire complex.

“THAT SHOULD BE ENOUGH TO DEAL WITH YOU.”

But, when the smoke cleared.

I was unscathed.

I looked in front of me.

It was Dio.

I felt something push me out of the blast last minute. It was him.

“DIO! DAMMIT DIDN’T I TELL YOU TO STAY IN THE ROOM”

But he didn’t respond.

I put my head to his chest.

He was breathing.

I let out a sigh of relief.

“ILL TAKE CARE OF DIO, FINISH HER!” Mara screamed.

“JUST LIKE YOUR GRANDMA, ANOTHER HAS FALLEN. YOU WILL NEVER BE STRONG ENOU-”

“Shutup.”

My eyes glowed green, and there was aura all about me.

I held my claymore in my right hand, and the dagger in my left.

She shot her manifestations of fire, water and air upon me.

She opened up the earth.

She launched lightning from the heavens.

But it was all too slow.

I could see through it all.

I walked towards her, all the while adjusting my steps by the most minute of measurements to avoid her attacks.

Ron tried cutting me off, but Charlette had finally regained her senses.

“You and I need to have a chat.” she said as she stuck her hand through his chest cavity.

“Wha-” He said.

“If I can’t have your heart, then I’ll just take it by force.”

With the last of his strength he turned to Ellane.

Ellane screamed in fury.

And she directed her attention to Charlette.

That was her mistake.

I charged up.

The debris around me began to float.

I focused on my blades.

“I WILL FINISH THIS IN ONE STIRKE.”

I aimed for her chest cavity.

.

.

.

.

.

.

But she dodged.

She sent out a shockwave that knocked everyone into the wall.

“MARA! YOU AND DIO GET OUT OF HERE!”

She nodded at me and left.

Just then, Charlette lunged at Ellane, her twin daggers in hand.

“THIS IS FOR MAKING A FOOL OF ME!”

But Ellane simply backhanded her, sending Charlette falling to the ground.

She exploded with power.

There was Karma streaming out of every part of her body.

“I DON’T CARE IF I OVERLOAD. I’M TAKING YOU WITH ME.”

She gestured in a downright motion, and a phantom slash came crashing down upon the earth.

I couldn’t dodge in time.

My left arm was no longer attached to my body.

But I could not feel the pain.

I don’t know how I did it, but I conjured a hand made of karma.

Despite this though, I felt weaker the more time dragged on.

“It’s time to finish this.”

I remembered what Grandma had done in her fight with Gerthard then and there.

I got in an offensive stance, stooping low to the ground.

She was charging her energy too.

“I AM ETERNAL!” She screamed.

The sky crackled with lightning, and the air made whirlpools around me as I walked.

She was conjuring another massive fireball, but this time it was infused with water, compressed air, and earth.

It looked different though… chaotic and unstable.

Water spiraled through its core in serpentine-like patterns.

The compressed air seemed to form a cage around it all, making this ungodly shrieking noise.

And beneath it all, jagged spikes of earth jutted outward.

This was a very crude synthesis.

“THIS IS IT!” I screamed.

HEAVENLY

LIGHTNING

SUPREME

-

ELEMENTAL

MASHUP

Our attacks collided, creating a massive explosion that swallowed any and all sound.

The entire Bethar property disintegrated in an instant.

After the smoke settled, I saw her body on the ground.

She wasn’t moving.

“Hah… I did it.” I said as I coughed up blood.

My limbs felt extremely heavy.

I looked down and saw the spreading stain across my torso.

My knees buckled.

My vision blurred.

“I’m going to rest a while. I-I feel tired.”

I fell into the now growing pool of blood forming beneath me, and smiled as I closed my eyes.

It’s funny. The last thought I had then was of my darling sister, Mara, and Dio.

If it was them. . . then they'd be okay.

But at least this time, I was strong enough.