Battle Inside the Mystical Forest

At the ritual ground, the moon finally reaches its highest point of the night, illuminating brightly over the grounds. All of the elders stand up from their seats, walking over to the giant circle placed in the middle. Four elves, dressed in a ritual outfit, enter the circle and dance. The elder starts chanting in unison, repeating a set of phrases in a pattern. Hundreds of elves surround them, watching in anticipation, all holding their own unique personal offering. The time arrives when the dances finally complete. A maiden can be seen holding some kind of orb, clear to the point of almost being reflective. She walks slowly, surrounded by some kind of blue flowers that are gently gliding down behind her. With the slow steps, she eventually reaches the center. Raising the orb into the moonlight, it seems to actually change color, absorbing the lights into its core. The orb now turned into that of a marvelous light pink. The maiden takes a deep breath, calmly and methodically putting the orb down in place.

“Thanks for the nice show, it’s time we put it to an end.”- A voice can suddenly be heard, echoing through the crowds.

The elves look at each other in confusion, searching for the one that said it. The elders are now on high alert as they all realized the incoming threat.

“Come out coward, show yourself!.”- One of the elders threatened.

“Hahaha, those you fools can’t even do so much as to scratch me. Maybe it’s time for you to see the one that will bring the end of the elves.”- The same voice spoke, coming from a different location.

Suddenly, spells fly out of the forest, launching toward the location of the elders. Barriers appear in the air, blocking the attack as the spectators scream in terror. Everyone is now in a panic, looking at the direction that the spell flew from. Many shadow creatures, beasts and even the Phantom Army appear from the trees, attacking the elves.

“Take the children and non combatants out of here, this is going to get very dangerous.”- Sorenna orders.

A tall figure steps out from the shadow behind the Demon Lord army, revealing himself. He is a Dark Elf, with a confident smile, he looks around, seemingly enjoying the sounds of terror.

“Let me introduce myself, I’m Malum, one of the Demon Lord’s apostles. I’m here today to put a slight damper to this festival.”- He smiles.

His army ravages through the crowd of people, a full battle has broken out. The elves are quite naturally strong in their magic usage so they immediately fought back, launching spells at the intruders. Some elves picked up weapons and fought using a melee style instead, fighting the beasts from the Demon Lord army.

“Summon the Executioner, the situation is dire. We need to protect the orb at all costs.”- One of the elders said to a scout.

With the message received, the guard runs into the forest. Malum sees his chance, shooting a dark energy beam towards the running guards.

“Not on my watch!”- Rash counters the attack with his own energy spell, barely deflecting the attack.

The scout got up from the ground and continued running.

“Are you kidding me?”- Rash said, looking at a smiling Malum.

Malum channels an incredible amount of dark beams, with the full intention of wiping out the forest. With a snap of his finger, the beams are released, making their way towards elves. The elders stand their ground using magic, forming counter spells and barriers. Despite their effort, some beams still manage to weave their way through, hitting and making an explosion. Many elves are injured, including some of the elders themselves.

“DO NOT UNDERESTIMATE THE US!”- Rosenna shouts, channeling her spell.

A spirit of a giant deer materialized in the air, charging its way through the Demon Lord’s army. Those that are hit by it gets knocked away at extreme peace, forcing an opening in their force

“Intriguing.”- Malum looks at the deer spirit.

Raising his hand in the sky, he summons a dark mist, covering the spirit. It slowly loses momentum, decreasing in size until it eventually dissipates.

“I don’t have any more time to waste. Have to put this ritual to an end before its completion.”- Malum said, walking slowly towards the circle.

Many different warrior elves can be seen charging at him, all taken down by the phantoms draining their life energies away from them. Malum forms a ball out of pure dark energy, sending it floating towards the circle. Sorenna once again channels her mana, summoning a spirit tsunami that engulf the outside of the circle. As the ball makes contact with the wall, an ear piercing sound can be heard, followed by a massive release of energy that shakes the ground. Sorenna is doing her best, trying to hold the form of the spirit tsunami in order to protect the orb. The elders seem to also be losing ground as the Demon Lord army moves further in. Sorenna fears for the worse as she is currently the only one that can hold Malum back. Roars can be heard from the distance, signaling an ever bigger threat their way.

“Our situation is ever deteriorating, Mother Fiara, bless us with your miracles.”- Rosenna prays.

“Looks like our friend is finally here!”- Malum laughs, looking up at the sky.

A massive dragon comes into view, tearing through the sky. Hovering on top of the ritual area, it charges its attack up.

“Rosenna, maintain your barrier on the orb. We’ll take care of the dragon’s attack.”- One of the elders said.

They launch a counter attack using their strongest magic spells. The sky is lit up from all the magic. Unfortunately, their attempts do nothing to deter the dragon’s attack, not even leaving a scratch on it. The dragon finishes the charge and roars, breathing fire down onto the area below. Giant barriers appear in the sky, casted by the elders. The flame slams into them, for a moment, the barriers seem to be keeping up with the attack. But as time goes by, cracks start forming in them. Eventually, they broke and the fire continued making its way down to the barriers below it. The momentum transfers, breaking the barriers below it and finally onto the elves below.

“This is the end, we have failed to uphold our duty.”- One of the elders said.

Flames shower down into the forest as a giant explosion occurs. The forest is now burning rapidly, with tree tops burning like matchsticks.

“Over there!”- Leo said, pointing at the fire in the distance.

The group hurried over after hearing the loud explosion and the roar of the dragon.

“Please still be fine.”- Rudy prays.

The barrier has managed to reduce the effectiveness of the dragon breath, but its impacts are still devastating. Many elves are affected, even some of the Demon Lord’s army itself. They laid injured, burned and exhausted. As the smoke dissipates, Rosenna is still standing, very injured from the blast.

“Unfortunately for you elves, you don’t have a “Garnet” of your own to block that attack. Impressively though, you still remain standing out of anyone.”- Malum smiles, looking at Rosenna.

“You fiends will never defeat us... our proud people... will overcome…this...challenge.”- Rosenna finally collapses, dispelling her tsunami spirit.

Malum causally and almost in a mocking manner, walks over the bodies of the elves laying on the ground. The Demon Lord’s army continues its battle, fighting the remaining elves who are still standing. He makes his way into the circle, kicking away the bodies of the elders laying in the way.

“What a beautiful orb, I wonder what kind of beautiful sound it will make once it's broken.”- Malum chuckles like a maniac.

With his hands clutched, Malum summons a sword, ready to stab it into the orb. In a swift move, he slices it down, only to find his arm stuck in the air.

“What?”- Malum asked in confusion.

He looks back behind him, seeing a blue chain made of arcane energy. Malum turns back to the orb in a panic, only to be kicked by a tall elf so hard that he flies out of the forest.

“THE EXECUTIONER IS HERE!!!”- One of the guards in the distance can be heard shouting.

The figure that just kicked Malum out of the forest stands up, he is wielding a two headed scythe. That person standing there is the Executioner of the elf villages. They belong to the rare class of high elf, those who have ascended above their status. They usually go on for hundreds of years of uninterrupted meditation. That’s why they are summoned only in the most dire of situations that can threaten the survival of the elves. The Executioner looks up at the dragon floating in the sky, it roars as a form of intimidation. With a few swift steps, he hops on the bodies of the burning tree and leaps into the sky. He spins his weapon that produces some kind of green energy and slices into the dragon. The dragon screeches in pain, falling into the trees below. As the Executioner falls, he fixes his form to land directly on top of the dragon. Of course, it wouldn’t go down without any form of resistance, swiping at him and slamming him to the ground.

“...Gentle Rain!”- Natalie, Leo, and Amber all can be heard casting the spell.

Rain forms in the sky, calming the raging flame that’s engulfing the forest. They have finally arrived at the ritual site. The scene that unfolds in front of them is certainly shocking, but they couldn’t let it stop them from helping out the injured elves.

“The Demon Lord’s army, huh? Interesting.”- Velh thought to himself as he looked around.

Claudius, Sophia and Velh went right to the location of the battle in order to provide aid for the struggling elves. Roars can still be heard as the dragon and the Executioner are going at it, trading blows for blows.

“That guy is fighting a dragon one on one? That’s ridiculous!”- Leo thought to himself as he looked over at the fight.

“Why is a Dark Elf helping us? Aren’t they all evil?”- One of the confused elves can be heard asking.

“OH MY GOD JUST SHUT UP SO I CAN HELP YOU!”- Dark Elf Sophia responds in frustration, scaring the elves.

She realizes that her respond wasn’t a good one, so with a sigh, she said:

“I’m Sophia from the Northern Village, I might be a dark elf but I’m still here to help you. Is that explanation good enough?”

The confused elves nodded their heads and finally continued on with the battle. Even with such a small number of reinforcements, Velh and Rudy’s strength alone can turn the tide of the battle. Velh defeats the enemy minions with ease, breezing around the battlefield. Rudy and Natalie choose to help heal the injured elves and take them out of the battle. After healing Rosenna, she woke up in confusion.

“Why are you guys here? You all should be in your cells right now. Why are you helping us even after what happened?”- Rosenna asks.

“Oh calm down already. I’m telling you, we aren’t bad people. You all need to learn to stop judging a book by its cover.”- Natalie sighs.

“The orb, is it ok?”- Rosenna asks, struggling to sit up.

“It's doing fine right now, stop moving!”- Rudy replies, holding Rosenna down.

“Um, what the hell is that?”- Leo asks, looking into the distance.

Everyone turned over in confusion, seeing hundreds of Malum rushing into the forest towards the ritual circle.

“I THOUGHT DOPPEL’S ABILITY IS UNIQUE?! WHY DOES THIS GUY HAVE IT?!?”- Leo shouts in confusion.

The Executioner turns around in a hurry, trying to protect the orb, only to be whacked by the dragon into a tree. Decisions flow through his head, he needs to make a choice right now. He comes to the conclusion that the dragon is a way bigger threat, turning to it and raising his blade. Velh rushes over to where Leo is, in front of the ritual circle and tries to aid him in holding back against the Malum wave.

“Malum, so this is all your fault?!?”- Rudy gets up in anger, rushing towards the circle.

Right as Malum got up close, Leo cast Fireball, shooting it at him. Shockingly, the fireball goes through Malum’s body. It was as if he was a ghost.

“I see your trick now. LEO, IT’S AN ILLUSION, ALL OF THEM ARE FAKE. FIND THE REAL ONE!”- Velh shouts.

“Ok, gotcha. I’ll…”- Leo couldn’t even finish his sentence when he saw a beam flying right between himself and Velh.

Turning around in horror, time slows down as the beam makes contact with the orb, breaking it instantly. Malum’s plan wasn't to rush the orb, it was to distract people so he can sneak in a ranged attack.

“Oh no!”- Leo said.

The orb burst into pieces, releasing all the light it had absorbed, shining brightly and marvelously throughout the forest. All of the elves look in shock, fearing that the worse has come. The battle rages on in the background, but a strange sense of serene fills the air.

“Hey, it wasn’t too bad.”- Leo looks around.

The ground rumbles even harder, shaking furiously as Malum laughs in the background.

“Ok never mind.”- Leo facepalms.

The dragon screeched, flying up and fleeing in fear. It disappears into the night sky as the rumbling gets worse and worse. Everyone tries to hold onto the nearest thing as they can see in the far distance, where the massive tree lays, a looming shadow is forming. Alas, it takes the shape of a white serpent, so big that its head almost touches the clouds. After a brief silence, it makes an almost deafening screeching sound, echoing throughout the whole forest and outside of it. So far in fact, that the citizens of Absol that are celebrating the festival can hear it.

“You dare anger the gods?”- A voice echoes through their head.

“It’s time for you to know the wrath and face your failure.”- Another voice enters their heads.

“Yo, this god gets that pissy over a failed offering? They have to be quite grumpy after being awoken from their sleep.”- Leo complains.

The Serpent starts making its movement towards the group, shaking the ground furiously. They all look in despair as their enemy seems unbeatable, quite literally. Malum starts laughing and celebrating their victory before he is interrupted by a few hundred crystals raining down on him.

“Rudy Taus, fancy to meet you here.”- Malum said, looking at a very angry Rudy.

Her attention is fully on him, launching constant barrages of crystal towards him. Malum evades the attacks and even shoots some counter spells, but in his attempt to dodge, the crystals hit many of his own army.

“What should we do?”- Amber asks.

“I don’t really know, that thing is too big and it’s heading at crazy speed towards us.”- Leo said.

“WE FIGHT OF COURSE!”- Dark Elf Sophia said in anger, drawing the attention of the whole group.

Leo laughs and nods his head, agreeing with Dark Elf Sophia.

“You’re right! We’re just crazy enough to fight this thing. Let’s give it everything we have!”- Leo said.

“Get all of the elves out of here, they will just get caught up in the Serpent’s path and be crushed.”- Leo turns to Rosenna.

“But…We need to help you guys.”- She hesitated.

“Who said we don’t need help?!? Just get the injured out and then you can help us!”- Dark Elf Sophia said.

“Understood.”- Sorenna agreed, ordering the guards and guardians to aid the injured and remove them from the battlefield.

As she takes her leave, Sorenna turns around and bows, saying:

“I look like I severely misjudged you all, I apologize for that. We’ll return soon with reinforcements, so hang on.”

With that, Sorenna and some of the remaining elves take the injured and retreat into the forest. There are now only about 30 elves remaining, along with the 7 members of Leo’s groups.

“Now what? We have both the Demon Lord’s army and this Serpent God to deal with.”- Leo thought to himself.

With the dragon making its departure, the Executioner has turned his attention to fighting the Demon Lord army. Rudy, on the other hand, is now locked into combat against Malum. She’s so angry at him that she is just non-stop shooting spells at him.

“Ok, let’s try sending everything we have at it.”- Leo suggested.

All the elves who are capable of using magic join his group in sending spells at the Serpent, even Velh. After a countdown, Leo shot out his Fireball, followed by hundreds of elemental spells from the others towards the Serpent. The sky lit up from all the different colors and elements casted, creating almost a firework-like effect. To their despair, there seems to be some kind of shield nullifying all of the attacks before they make contact with the Serpent’s skin.

“My worst fear is true.”- Velh said, looking at the approaching Serpent.

“What is it?”- Leo turns to Velh in surprise.

“Since the Serpent is still a god, it has divine protection. It’s immune to magic and physical attacks.”- Velh explains.

“WHAT?!? HOW CAN WE HIT THAT THING THEN???”- Leo shouts in a panic.

“Calm down. Attacks from dark sources should still be able to affect it. So attacks from him or her could still work.”- Velh points at Claudius and Dark Elf Sophia.

“My magic is only basic level, it’s nowhere near strong enough to do damage.”- Claudius said.

“Just have people channel mana into you and hope your body can hold up.”- Velh suggests.

“That’s a crazy idea. I like it!”- Claudius said.

Velh puts his thumbs up, turns around and heads towards Rudy’s direction. Everyone just stared at Velh casually jogging away, confused about what just happened.

“Ok, just trust me here. I don’t know what I’m doing, but it’s worth a try.”- Claudius said, raising his staff up.

The elves were hesitant at first, but since they’re facing a threat greater than their own, they decided to trust him. The Serpent seems to notice what’s happening and suddenly speeds up towards them. It will make contact in less than a minute, they won’t be able to cast their spells in time.

“What can I do here? Is there anything I can do to stop it?”- Dark Elf Sophia thought to herself.

“Wait, I can’t stop it, but she can! I’m betting my hopes on you.”- She closed her eyes and in seconds she turned back to the normal Sophia.

“I’m back!”- Sophia said.

“The rest is up to you, I know you can stop that thing.”- A voice echoed through her head.

“What do you want me to...Oh, I see now.”- Sophia interrupts herself.

Channeling a major amount of her mana, Sophia casts her ancient magic spell, Overgrowth. The trees in the Serpent’s path all started to grow rapidly, forming massive roots that entangled the Serpent. Leo turns around and looks back at Sophia in surprise, she is super tired from attempting such a large spell.

“NICE ONE!”- Leo shouts.

He turns his attention back towards Claudius, who is preparing to cast his spells. Their plan was simple: if Claudius can’t cast a high tier spell, he can use his usual one, just many times bigger in size. The elves prepare themselves, using their interconnection ability, channeling mana into Claudius. He glows with the newly gained amount of mana. Usually, if a normal person receives this much amount of mana, their body wouldn’t be able to handle it and would rapidly discharge the amount of mana they gained. Claudius, on the other hand, isn’t your average living being so he is betting on his unique body being able to take on the surplus of mana.

“Here goes nothing! ABYSSAL BLAST!!!”- Claudius casts.

Sounds of heavy wind blows through the forest. An intense pressure concentrates around the tips of Claudius’s staff, with at its core, a light purple color that matches Claudius’s looks. That twisting, violently spinning core flies at incredible speed, gaining size as it travels. It’s so massive by the time that it reaches the Serpent that it completely envelops the being. It leaves behind a trail of destruction, blasting away all of the forest in its path and sending the Serpent a few hundred meters back. Everyone looked in disbelief as the Serpent screeched in pain, its whole body turned dark from the corruption.

“CURSES, CURSES!!! YOU DARE DEFILE A GOD?!?”- A voice screams in their head.

“Shut it you stupid snake! We wouldn’t have to do this if you didn’t want to kill us all.”- Leo complains.

The Serpent regains its footing, even angrier than before. It’s movements are super sluggish from the slowing effect of the Abyss magic. Claudius collapses on the spot, after casting the spell. The elves rush in to catch him, laying him down on the ground.

“Nice work Claudius, we’ll take care of the rest.”- Amber said.

“From what you said, it should be able to take damage now right?”- She turns over to Leo.

“I didn’t say anything! It was Velh’s idea, I trust that he has enough experience to know what’s going on.”- Leo guesses.

“Ok, then we hit it with all we have again.”- Amber said, turning around.

It looks like half of the elves are out of commission, having used up all of their mana from the battle earlier and having to supply Claudius. Regardless, Amber is determined to finish the battle. Out of nowhere, the Serpent disappears, vanishing in front of their eyes. Sophia looked shocked, as she didn't understand what had just happened. Leo turns over to look at Malum, who was fighting Velh, only to see that both of them are also looking confused at the direction of the missing serpent.

“Wait what? It wasn’t part of the Demon Lord army’s plan?”- Leo thought to himself.

No one could tell what has happened, only to be surprised by what’s to come.