Fierce Battle

Somewhere in the Chablis continent. 10pm.

The clouds have started to disperse, allowing the moonlight to shine through, mixing with the red light being emitted all over the place.

The area looks like a battlefield, countless deep craters are strewn across the landscape, the nearby trees have either been reduced to ash or are still burning.

The Demon General Raziel. He slowly walked in my direction, the glow of his eyes visible under his helmet, blazing with the will to fight. His crimson red armor had already repaired itself from the impact from the explosion caused by Iris’ modified cannon.

His heavy footsteps dented the ground as he makes his way towards me. He dragged his huge halberd behind him, breaking up the ground. It started to glow red hot, making the air around the weapon boil.

“Not even your ashes will see the light of day” He exclaimed in a low growl.

I sneered at him. “You are full of yourself” 

I walked towards him, intending to finish him off. I made note of the area around us as I walk by, drawing mana from my Grimoire at the same time. He’s probably fire-based, since Flame Lances barely affected him. Earth Magic it is.

Rank 8 Earth Magic.

“I will bury you in the dirt. Earth Manipulation.”

The land around us started to rumble. Two huge arms formed from the ground beside me. I curled my right hand into a fist, lunging at the Demon General – who’s still a couple of feet away.

As if on cue, the huge dirt hand from my right also formed a fist and quickly extended towards Raziel. He raised his halberd and sliced the arm in half. Another fist then struck down on him from the air. Multiple towers rose from the ground, turning into huge blades.

The blades quickly converged on his position. The hand that’s holding him down suddenly exploded and Raziel jumped up into the air.

“Stay down!” I exclaimed as I reached my left arm towards him.

Another dirt arm formed from the ground, reaching towards him. The arm pulled him in as the blades hit him. He brushed it off, taking little damage. 

He faced towards me. “This is nothing!”

He plunged the halberd into the ground, and the area around us swelled. Lava burst out from the land around me, forcing me to levitate high up into the air. Multiple Flaming Lances appeared, closing in on my position.

I glared at him, pointing my hands at the incoming projectiles. “Blizzard!” 

Snow and Ice fell down onto the Flaming Lances, neutralizing all of them. It then continued to fall towards the ground as rain. A massive smokescreen then appeared, briefly covering the battlefield.

"I got you now!" a voice called out from below the smoke.

A bright light suddenly appeared, blocking my vision and forcing me to close my eyes.

I swiped in a wide arc. “Earth Barrier!”

In a few moments, something made contact my barrier. I opened my eyes to see that Raziel’s Halberd is just inches away from my head. I quickly teleported just outside the barrier and created another one, and then another one as the demon general hacked at me with his halberd in quick succession.

I then realized that he's up in the air with me. Not only that, but he didn't even say anything to cast spells.

“How are you even floating!?” I exclaimed, defending myself with Earth Barrier.

He threw a fireball which curved in the air around me. "Same as you, human!"

An explosion caught me off guard, scorching my back. The resulting shockwave pushed me towards the demon general-who's already in mid-swing. Just before I get split into two halves, a dirt hand managed to catch him in the air and dragged him towards one of the craters in the area.

“Light Chains!”

Chains wrapped themselves around the demon general. Time to end this.

“Caustic Acid!”

Acid poured all over his armor, melting it faster than it can regenerate. He slashed at the chains, but multiple smaller dirt hands appeared and held him down, forcing him to kneel.

“Enjoy your funeral” I growled at him.

Rank 9 Earth Magic.

“Fallen Star!”

A huge sphere – made from rocks and metals forcibly clumped together and compressed, appeared dozens of feet above him.

Not enough. Rank 10 Earth Magic.

“Triple Gravity Well!”

The sphere accelerated to a frightening degree, glowing red hot for a moment before it crashes into the ground below. I teleported a few hundred feet away as the area around the demon general is forcibly blown apart.

It felt like a strong earthquake hit the area. The sphere pulverized the area around it, shockwaves blasting off in every direction.

I fell on my knees. That last spell really consumes mana like there’s no tomorrow. I still have some mana left in the grimoire though – that clone of mine literally casted more than a hundred Rank 10 Light Magic spells.

I do not recall the demon generals being that tough in the past when the past heroes were fighting them. It was like the bar for the power level was raised to the max for this one. He was comparable to an actual Demon Lord, one from the past.

And that clone. It somewhat resembled my original power and form. It was able to cast multiple spells with ease, and could keep teleport portals open. The clone just lacked divine power. But it was already super tough.

That being said, what artifact does that? I do not recall making anything of that sort. I am guessing this is all Oberon and Oriana’s doing. They put everyone around me in danger, and almost killed me a couple of times. I will make sure they pay…crap.

A figure emerged from the huge crater. He is still alive. His armor transfigured into gold, becoming a hybrid of light and heavy armor. Ornate designs swirled across it, platinum forming across the edges.

The weapon also changed. It’s now a spear, its tip full of serrated edges. Dirt and stone whirled across the shaft.

His movement seemed to be getting slower, like all the attacks I threw at him just made him fatigued. When it should have killed him.

I teleported closer. There is no point in running away. Either I finish him or he finishes us.

Multiple huge dirt arms appeared beside me again.

I scowled at him, curling my fists. “You are still alive, demon”

He points his spear at me. It starts to vibrate, and the ground seems to shake slightly.

“You'll fall soon, human” he growled at me.

The arms converged on his position. He flipped his spear, causing the surrounding dirt arms to disappear. He then threw the spear at me. As it flew, spikes emerge from the ground where it goes by. Great, turns out he is not fire-based.

I swiped up. “Earth Wall!”

A wall appeared in front of me, but the spear goes through it. I teleported myself behind the demon general as the spear returned to his hand.

Metal chains suddenly appeared from the ground, attaching to my leg. The chains then pulled up, lifting me up into the air. Raziel brought his hands down and the chains flung me across the place into the ground.

“Not so fun when it’s you being chained, is it?” he hissed.

He dashed towards me as I grabbed hold of the chains.

“Flamethrower!”

Flames burst from my hands, melting the chains. I then aimed my hands at Raziel, showering him in burning hot fire. He thrusted his spear, hitting the side of my stomach.

“Ack! Teleport!”

I teleported away from him. He’s completely unaffected by the flames now, having reinforced his defense with Earth Magic.

I took a moment to assess myself. Broken bones, burnt hands, hole in my side.

“Recovery, Heal, Cure”

My body glowed in multiple shades of green. But I knew it will not heal me completely. Turbulent mana has begun to backtrack inside my body from the recoil from all those spells, rendering the healing ineffective. I will have to end this fast.

He dashed towards me again. I bet he is going to tank whatever I’m going to throw at him just to get within range.

Alright, time to switch this up. I pointed my hand at him.

Rank 10 Water Magic.

“Absolute Zero”

Just as predicted, he made no effort to dodge it. He just reinforced himself with Earth Magic. Raziel lunged at me with his spear. Just before the spear hit my face, the demon general freezes solid.

Rank 10 Dark Magic.

“Abyss Snare”

Darkness seeped into the frozen demon general, slowly spreading out into the ground. The darkness materialized into a solid mass, pulling tighter and tighter.

“Frozen Claymore”

An ice sword appeared in my hands, as I walked towards Raziel. I swiped the blade at him, shattering him to pieces. The darkness then absorbed the shards into the ground.

“I do not know how you survived the first one, but you are most definitely not getting up from this one” I muttered as I dropped the sword, walking away.

I looked at my hands. They are half-frozen, half-burnt, and bloody. The influx of mana coursing through my veins has almost destroyed my arms. I have been casting multiple Rank 10 spells without regards to myself. I will not be able to cast another spell for a while until my arms heal. I cannot even cast healing spells right now.

Hm. I observed my surroundings. The smoke has mostly cleared. There is water and fire everywhere. Where did I teleport the others?

…

That feeling. I turned around. He is still alive.

“Why didn’t you just stay dead…” I said, backing away slowly.

“…”

His armor turned jet-black in color, it’s now mostly made of light plate and cloth. He held dual obsidian swords. He looked at me, observing my pitiful state.

“You’ve hit your limit” He hissed, walking towards me.

His voice sounded raspy. Looks like all those spells did a number on him. But then again, he was not even supposed to survive.

He noticed the bewildered look on my face. “Yes, I know what you’re thinking. I should have died quite sometime ago. It’s all thanks to the artifact”

I continued to walk away from him slowly. When those Flame Lances hit him, his armor and weapon took on the fire attribute, and it was the same when I dropped Fallen Star on him- his equipment took on the Earth attribute. And now Abyss Snare. Darkness Element.

“The artifact resurrects you, and gives you the attribute of the element of the magic that killed you”

“You’re observant. That is correct. I still have three… more lives”

“But…It still took a toll on you…” I muttered.

His legs started to shake.“…Right”

We both slowed down even more. Raziel dropped his swords.

Even with his armor resurrecting him, he is having trouble even staying conscious. Abyss Snare should have affected his soul as well.

I am no better off than him though. I will not live long enough to get out of this place without healing. There is too much feedback from all those spells. Ice has started to creep into my lungs, parts of my shoulder are turning into metal and stone, amongst other things.

With a thud, Raziel falls to the ground.

I kept walking. Normally, all the spells I have casted would take days to chant, and requires multiple mages to cast. The amount of mana used is ridiculously high, and the strain it does to the body is just as bad.

There is so much pain, so much that there is no longer any pain at all.

My legs gave way, and I fell to my knees.

A figure appeared in front of me. Did they come back?

“You’re in bad shape Raziel. I can’t believe this human actually did this much trouble”

A woman’s voice. The female demon general. She passed behind me.

“You misunderstand Xenieth. I’m just lying down for a moment, then I’m going to kill this human” Raziel replied.

Everything is numb and painful at the same time. They continued to talk behind me.

“I’ll help you up”

“No need. I can do it… myself…”

“Hm. He fainted. Now what do I do with you”

A hand picked me up by my head, bringing me face to face with Xenieth. I cannot even resist.

“You look terrible” she said.

“…”

“Really terrible. You didn’t even notice that I’m cutting your leg open”

Huh?

She then tilted my head down. The blade on her forearm was sliding across my left leg. I did not even feel it.

“Are you really not going to say anything?”

“…”

I cannot say anything. Ice has crept up to my throat.

She dropped me on the ground. “Well then, time to die”

I closed my eyes. Sorry everyone.

…

Hm? I’m still alive?

I looked up. Xenieth is fighting against two people… Iris? Aidan?

“Can you get up? We have to get out of here!”

It is Shaun. He had begun healing me.

Iris and Aidan continued to fight against Xenieth. Aidan is not using his crossbow, in his hands is a katana that looks similar to Nadia’s. He is actually good at using it, but the demon general is faster. But whenever she almost gets Aidan, Iris blocks the hit. She is wearing her metal claws, probably remnants from the destroyed cannon.

Shaun placed my arm across his shoulder, trying his best to lift me up. I slowly pointed at the two.

“Mass…Teleport…” I forced my throat.

Nothing happened. A headless figure appeared behind the two. The figure is holding Raziel’s obsidian swords. Aidan turned around to face him.

“Grav...ity …Well” 

Nothing happened.

Shaun forced me to continue walking. “You can’t cast anything right now! You’re all messed up!”

I look at my arms. It is not visible due to the darkness, but I can sense that the mana lines in my arms are either severed or torn. The grimoire.

“My…book…”

“Here!”

He handed me the Grimoire. Mass Teleport!

A glow surrounded me and Shaun.

…

The glow ended. We seem to be in a forest somewhere far – everything from the ground to the trees are intact. 

Where’s everyone!?

I looked around, ignoring my half-frozen state. Shaun is right beside me. He is fine. Thank goodness.

He has his gaze fixed in front of us.

My throat started to feel a little better.

“You’re… okay Shaun”

“…”

“…Shaun?”

Moonlight pierced the forest canopy, lighting up Shaun’s face. His expression is blank.

I looked to the front.

I rubbed my eyes.

Aidan and Iris are a few feet away in front of us. They faced each other’s backs, both kneeling on the ground.

“…”

A black sword is embedded between the two, starting from Aidan’s chest ending from Iris’ stomach. Aidan’s weapon was broken, but he still held it.

Shaun immediately punched himself and started chanting healing spells.

“No no no no…” I stammered, shuffling towards them.

Upon closer look, Iris also has a deep laceration on her neck and she’s unconscious. But her wounds have already started to close.

Aidan.

He is still breathing.

I placed my hands on him. “Aidan, hold on. Heal” 

Nothing happened.

“No!! HEAL!!” I yelled, further injuring my throat.

My arms began to bleed as mana ran amok, turning parts of my arms into ice and sand. But now is not the time to think of the consequences.

“Hea-”

Aidan grabbed my arm. “Stop… You’ll lose your arms. It would be weird… for a God to be armless”

Shaun aimed his staff at Aidan. "Heal!"

Shaun immediately finished the chant, casting heal on Aidan. The wound glowed, healing and opening once more.

He coughed up blood. “It’s… not going to help… I’m done for”

The sword was deliberately aimed at his heart. We can’t pull it out, and we can’t heal it if we don’t. My vision began to blur and my face felt warm. 

“Hey…stop that. It’s also weird for… a God to cry over a human…” Aidan punched me lightly.

“…”

He pulled out his journal. “Take… my journal…give the letter inside…to Nadia” he gave the journal to me.

“What about the journal?”

“Keep it”

"..."

His breathing started to get shallow as he looked up into the sky.

“This…sucks…”

He closed his eyes, forcing a smile.

“But… it was…fun…”

…