The Dark Side

“What is so funny?” the ninja asked while the villain kept laughing.

“It’s funny how stupid you are! How naive you must be if you think this changes anything. This city is mine and soon the entire kingdom!”

“How can you be of the Water Stanza? I understand that there are bad people of each Stanza, but empathy is the guiding word of the Water one, and you are a sociopath!” I spoke.

“Oh, but I have empathy. I understand perfectly how each person feels, I just don’t care at all. I use this knowledge to control people. Before, it was normal manipulation, but when I awakened my Stanza, it became all much easier.”

“Who cares!? I will just kill you, and everything will be solved,” the ninja said, not sounding much like a Heroine.

The man made a ‘no’ gesture with his finger.

“I wouldn’t do anything hasty if I were you. As I said, I know how people work and feel, and I know that you wouldn’t like the consequences of what will happen if I die.”

Even after that, the ninja was still ready to attack him, but I held her arm.

“What do you mean?” I asked Matteo and the ninja looked angrily at me for holding her back.

“Well, with my controlling powers I found something very entertaining. The Blue Demon themselves, under my control.”

That news was shocking. Of course, none of us were ready to fight another Elemental Demon, but also finding someone that could control him… he might know about Elvira and her own Elemental Demons.

“If you kill me, make me unconscious or even if I got tired of dealing with you, the Demon will be free from my control, and I’m the only one stopping them of drowning the entire town.”

I just thought about it, but the town was full of water. If the Blue Demon was unleashed here the damage would be enormous.

“I’m so tired of these villains using innocent people to keep in power,” Agnes Stein spoke and I couldn’t agree more.

“You are a monster!” surprisingly it was Rita Fiori who screamed that.

“Oh, and you think I care about that. Cry me a river!” And he laughed again.

“So, you want us to just go away and let you take over the kingdom?” I asked knowing that we wouldn’t do it.

“Of course not. I want you all to willingly give your minds to me. Remember how happy you were working under me? You can keep doing that forever! And it was not bad; you will become the servants of the new king!”

We all looked at each other, and there was no doubt in the mind of any of us.

“It will not be the first Elemental Demon we’ve stopped,” I spoke.

“And Ember is in town, once your mind control stops working on her she will help defeat the Demon!” Agnes Stein completed.

“Wait, what?” asked the ninja, but we didn’t have time to respond.

The battle was quicker than expected. Agnes Stein and I went ahead hitting the creep guy with a double punch in the stomach. The ninja came after us and used her Stanza to change the properties of her dagger it extended, becoming and metal rope that tied the man.

“You have doomed this entire town!” he screamed and we felt the ground shaking.

“No time to waste!” Rita Fiori said and we went to the window, leaving the prince still whining in pain on the ground.

“Nikolay, stop being so dramatic and come help!” ordered his partner, but he was in no condition of help.

Outside we watched as the water in the canals became agitated and screams echoed everywhere. We couldn’t see the body of the Demon, so we didn’t know how to stop it.

“Let’s start by helping people in immediate danger first!” I suggested it and we started.

Agnes Stein ran like lightning taking people away from near the water. Rita Fiori tried to calm down the canals, of course she couldn’t stop the effects of the Demon in the entire town, but she could save people who fell in the water by taking them out. And the ninja used her extendable dagger jumping through buildings and took people away from danger.

That was just palliative though, it was clear that we needed to find the Demon and the more time it took, the more people would be hurt. To make matters worse I was useless, as usual. I tried to use my Void Bubbles in the canal, even if I knew it wouldn’t absorb natural water, I hoped that the Demon might be hidden there and I could defeat them.

Of course, that didn’t happen and I panicked as a building near me collapsed.

“We need to find the Demon!” I screamed hoping someone could help.

At that moment, Rita Fiori stopped what she was doing and concentrated. The water got more agitated, but she didn’t stop until I saw a new blue thread, this time not to any of us, but toward a place in the center of the town.

We ran until we reached the region and there were hands of water coming out of the canal, grabbing people and destroying buildings. However, once again my Void Bubbles didn’t work. Those hands were still made of water from the city, and I couldn’t find the core of the Demon, hidden inside the canal.

When an enormous water hand came in my direction, I thought it would be the end of me, but then I felt heat as flames as big as the hand appeared and boiled the water until it was all gone.

A woman appeared by my side, very beautiful, with long red hair. Even though the town was being destroyed, she was smiling despite the danger.

“I was hoping that my apprentices could deal with this, but I think you need a little help. I’m Ember Lascander by the way, nice to meet you!”