Battle at Urnan Castle

Mella flew us over to the castle, right up to a big wooden gate with bars of metal across it. It almost looked like a drawbridge, but there wasn’t a mote.

As we flew up, someone on the other side noticed us, then opened a small hidden door at the bottom of the bigger door.

“Who are you people?”

He had a military look to him, a green helmet and a vest that was probably bullet proof.

Since I was the only one here with any military authority, I spoke up.

“My name is Yalda Asamo! I’m here to stop the demon.”

“You’re the archangel from the radio!” I recognized this guy’s voice. He wasn’t the captain of the guard, he was the other person that was talking to him. “You really are a little girl…I’ll let you inside. But what about those witches?”

I could feel Indena’s body temperature rise after being called a witch. She definitely didn’t like that.

“Don’t worry about it!” I said to him. “The one witch here is on our side now.”

I realized the last time he'd heard me reference a witch she was attacking us. This must have been really weird for him to accept.

“Alright, I’ll let you guys in.”

We swooped down and got off the broom. The inside of the castle was about everything I expected out of a medieval style castle, minus candle light. They had huge floodlights brightening things up. Still, the place was interesting.

The guy who was bringing us inside introduced himself as second lieutenant Nathan Bondson. He started explaining the situation to me.

“All this started a few hours ago. When the darkness fog hit, about four fifths of the men didn't notice, even the captain didn’t see it. When Chairman Verren said that we had to evacuate to the castle, most of the others thought it was a joke, so they ignored him.”

There were at least thirty other men patrolling around, setting up and maintaining all kinds of equipment. Any entrances or windows were being boarded up and watched closely.

“You could say we disobeyed orders to bring people up here, but since you’re here, you outrank all of us. We won’t be court martialed, thank God.”

I think being court martialed was like getting in big trouble in the military. He seemed really relieved.

If the situation was so bad that they’d get in trouble for helping people, these demons had frightening control over the justice system.

“Did you meet someone named Uncle Mel?” I asked.

“Uncle…Oh, Mel Asamo. Yeah, he’s in the chapel room with the civilians and council member, lord Verren.”

He also said that Uncle helped them fight off demons. Their weapons were pretty much useless.

I noticed that he was holding a wooden rifle with metal sightlines and barrel, keeping it low and relaxed.

“Can you take us to him? The head demon is on his way here, and I need his help to prepare.”

“Of course, ma’am.”

He called me ma’am…it felt so cool! I felt all important. He did say I outranked everyone, anyways.

Wait. Did that mean the army was under my control? Oooooh man!

We started moving toward the chapel, but Mella stopped in the hallway and got my attention.

“I am forbidden from going into such a place. So I will remain here, making sure nothing passes through the front gates.

Since she was a witch, I guess any holy place like a church would be too sacred for her to walk into. I gave her the okay to stay back and keep watch at the front door.

“I apologize for this,” she said.

“Nah, get out of our hair, stupid witch.” Indena grumbled.

“It’s fine, Mella. Just stay safe, okay?”

She nodded, then turned back to the front door. Second Lieutenant Nathan made sure to let the others at the door know a witch was going to be there.

“Don’t be nice to her,” Indena said to me. “And where’d this Mella name come from? If you nickname an animal, you’ll start to care about it.”

Mella wasn’t an animal. But boy, did Indena not like her. I mean, I can’t blame her when Mella nearly killed us before…but at least she was helping us now.

I said before I don’t think Mella is evil, just misguided. I’m holding to that.

When we got to the chapel, I noticed that everyone was behind a big wooden wall with pretty paintings of angels and saints on it. This wall had decorative grates between the paintings, and it was all behind a beautiful gold altar at the head of the chapel.

Uncle wasn’t behind this wall, he was talking with some army guys and pointing all around. They were talking about creating a tighter defensive perimeter around the castle. Apparently, the minion demons and skeletons were attacking the entrances pretty frequently.

I was worried they were going to kill the skeleton guys. They were just possessed, and needed to be saved from that.

"Uncle!" I ran up to him, bouncing in place to show I meant business. "Those skeletons are actually people! We turned them back to normal!"

“You can save them?” Uncle asked.

“Yeah. We did it to a bunch of people.”

Of course, we left them with the inquisitors.

“Very well. We’ll have to collect the remains of those bones and sort them properly.”

That was a relief. I just hoped we’d be able to keep everyone’s bodies together. I was ready to go out there and help with that, but Uncle said it wasn’t my problem.

Marek and Yamin joined in on our chat, both relieved to see Indena and I make it here in one piece.

I told them how I defeated the Reaper in his first form, but then he evolved into a edgy skull biker and was trying to get here. Now that we damaged his ride, we had time to prepare.

“So, how do we beat this skeleton biker?” Yamin asked.

Uncle and I both knew the only way to finish this was with stardust, but I just didn’t have any left in me from all the fighting we’d been doing. My combat skills tanked too, so this was going to be brutal.

If we had Stardust, then Uncle could use it to kill the demon.

“Wait!” Yamin raised her hand up, waving it around. “Don’t forget, I can use stardust too.”

Uncle spoke up next saying, “That’s true, but you hardly have the precision to match the Young Mistresses craftsmanship.”

I definitely had an easier time making stuff out of stardust then Yamin, but my crafting was powered by an Empyrion class super computer.

“Yeah, but it may be our only option!”

She attempted to grow some sort of stardust weapon in her hand, but it was a crude, blunt object that looked like it had the durability of glass.

To show its weakness, Uncle grabbed it and tapped it against a table. The whole thing shattered to bits.

“This may work on weaker demons, but not this one.”

Yamin looked really bummed out that her weapon didn’t live up to his expectations. I couldn’t help but feel Uncle was being a bit too mean about her skill.

“Uncle, you're being mean to her.”

“If I have offended her, I do apologize. But this problem needs an objective view of our options.”

I suppose that made sense. But wasn't there a nicer way to bring it up?

“You can help in another way.” Uncle said. “Share your power with Yalda. Allow her to use it to make a weapon.”

Yamin didn’t mind helping like that. She mentioned that it was better than being useless.

We only probably had a few minutes before the Reaper recovered and came here. Which meant Yamin and I had to get started.

How were we supposed to do this? Did she need to share power through some ritual or something…?

Oh, her hands were glowing and my body was absorbing the electromagnetic energy.

Yamin turned to Uncle and asked, “This should work, right Uncle Mel?”

Hey, why was she calling him Uncle? He’s MY Uncle!

“Yes.” He nodded. “It’s not the optimal transfer method, but it will work for now.”

There were probably other ways to share Stardust energy, but none of us knew them.

Uh-oh, I felt the Reaper was near. It was like my stomach was churning, and my head had a terrible migraine.

It was sickening, causing me so much distress. I fell down to my knees, cradling my head to comfort the pain.

Some of the people crowding around also felt the same sickness take them. They were crying and screaming, all the while trying to keep their shreds of sanity together. From the looks of it, the people had it far worse then I did.

Seeing them suffer made me realize how I had to bear the pain. If even one person felt uncomfortable, I didn’t have time to sit here and let my own feelings keep me from helping them.

I stood back up, trying to compartmentalize the blistering headache that pounded in my head like a drum.

“You alright?” Yamin asked.

“Yeah.” I nodded, feeling my head swell with pain. “Keep shining as bright as you can!”

Yamin kicked her light up a notch, making it just a bit brighter. The more that light shined down on me, the more it actually helped the pain.

This plan was working. My Stardust Points meter was charging, just like we’d hoped. But it wasn’t going terribly fast, so we’d definitely need time to finish this.

VrooooommmmmVRRROOOM!

CRASH!

The Reaper’s motorcycle rammed through the stone brick wall, crumbling it to dust! All that rang through the air was screams of terror and a very loud engine.

Uncle lept to the center of the room, predicting where the Reaper would land. Then he grabbed the wheel just before it touched down and swung the motorcycle around before throwing it!

The Reaper and his ride flew through the air and crashed into a wall. Bricks staggered down on top of the demon, but he recovered quick enough to start riding once more.

Uncle timed a punch, reeling back his fist for just the right moment to strike at the skull of the demonic being.

Just as he was about to pass by, Uncle slammed a fist into its face and he went flying off the vehicle!

CRASH!

The motorcycle blasted through the wall, falling right off the cliff!

Now the demon laid on the ground, recovering from the attack. But Uncle didn’t waste a moment and started whaling on him!

The skeletal hands clawed all at Uncle, trying to get a grip on him to throw him off. Eventually the demon phased into the floor and reappeared behind him.

Uncle was quick, using his power gauntlets to catch a swipe attack. Then he retaliated by karate kicking him!

But the demon was strong, hardly phased by the strike. With a single spin, following the momentum of the attack, he was back in the battle.

With how they were fighting, you could almost mistake it for a bar fight. Between Uncle looking like a mafia boss, and the Reaper looking like a biker edge lord, the only thing missing here was a few broken beer bottles and a bar maid trying to pull them apart.

I watch a little too much TV I think…

The pews were getting wrecked, but Uncle picked one up and swung it, shattering it to bits on the demon! The Reaper took some serious damage!

In retaliation, the Reaper summoned a shadow ball and shot it at Uncle!

BOOM!

Uncle blasted into the hole in the wall leading off the cliff!

“Uncle!”

Now that Uncle was out of the picture for the moment, the Reaper's eyes turned to the crowd gathered behind the thin wall to the back of the altar. Seeing all these people around must have been a bountiful buffet to steal mana from. But his eyes locked onto one person in the room. A girl with cinnamon brown hair, whose name was Yamin.

He motioned toward her, reaching one arm out to grab her, and his other arms preparing the spindle.

He hovered above the wooden wall, but Uncle returned, using his wings to fly up and grab him, wrestling with the demon twice his size. He held him back with a furious gaze, tossing him around with all his strength.

The Reaper wasn’t detoured, only seeing Uncle as another wall he’d have to soon pass over. His siren wailed out, then with an extra four arms, he grabbed out four revolvers with scythes bayoneted at their ends and took shots at Uncle.

“Energy shields!” Uncle shouted, spawning rounded shields out of the his gauntlets.

His shields caught each of the many bullets the Reaper fired off, making sure none ricocheted into anyone around him.

Well the Reaper was reloading with his two open hands, Uncle raced in and bashed the Reaper down, then hit away each of the guns. The Revolvers turned to dust when they left the skeletons' hands.

The energy shields hung over the Reaper, bolts of lightning were raining down from the surface and striking all over it.

In a desperate attempt to free itself, the Reaper spawned his scythe, holding it close to the blade, and swung it wildly at Uncle. Sparks flew all across the room as this deadly blade clashed with magical energy.

The sparks that were flying around were disintegrating whatever they touched. That put the people into utter panic. They raced around the room, screaming and feeling the sting of darkness infused sparks.

To counter, Uncle spawned a bubble shield around he and the Reaper. Then he started beating on the Reaper with his bare hands.

The Reaper grabbed him and tossed him into the bubble shield, but he recovered quickly and they went right back to attacking each other.

While they were fighting, Marek stood up on the center stage looking over all the people freaking out.

“Everyone!” His voice boomed across the chapel room. “Please come to where I am, you will be safe here!”

He was at the other end of the room, by the doorway.

Somehow, they all eased up on their panic and moved toward him, like water flowing to the lowest point in the ground. They stood behind him, some grabbed onto his jacket for comfort.

“The people there have been brought here by heaven. They’ll protect us from these demons. So remain calm, stay near me and you’ll be safe.”

They were all beginning to walk into the castle hallway. While they were getting out of the mess, Uncle and the Reaper continued to fight. The bubble shield was taking a beating from the two of them constantly drumming into it, so it eventually went down.

Once the shield was gone, Uncle picked up one of the little tables and slammed it into the Reaper! A chunk of it broke off, but Uncle came in for another crack over the Reaper’s head. The table shattered to bits!

Then he grabbed it by the skull, putting his thumb into the eye socket and brining the head down for a slam into his knee! With that momentum, he got the Reaper in a headlock and threw all his weight down on top of its back, ripping the head right off!

Wow! That was amazing! But no chance it would kill that demon, we’d definitely need to finish this stardust weapon.

“How much more energy do you need?” She asked.

“Just a little more!”

I had enough charge for about 70% of a weapon, so I’d need more. I didn’t want this weapon to be too weak, or else it definitely wouldn’t kill that demon.

Although the Reaper was missing his head, he started to float back up, and his head began to regenerate all on its own.

“Yalda, what is the status of the weapon?!” Uncle shouted, tossing the old skull away.

“70% done!”

“Good enough! Make it now!”

I didn't want to make something cheap. Otherwise it might not be strong enough. I already wasn't sure if I had the power to make a full scale weapon.

What if I downsized it a little? Rather then make something full scale, I could send him a short spear instead.

“Yalda! NOW!”

I cut Yamin off and grew a crystal spear in my hands, half the size of what I normally would. It was more like a knife with a long handle.

I threw it to Uncle and he caught it. But The Reaper smacked at him just as he caught it, then he fell to the ground.

The Reaper sent out a flurry of swipes with all six of his arms, Uncle countered each strike with the stardust short spear. The bone hands of the demon were tearing away upon contact with the stardust, so it backed away, once more pulling out a revolver.

Rather then shoot the gun, it used the scythe bayonet to slash at Uncle. Spear and bayonet clashed.

Once their weapons were locked, the Reaper moved the gun just enough to get a shot at Uncle’s head!

BANG!

He moved his head just enough to dodge.

Uncle kicked the Reaper, then activated his hand blade and duel wielded spear and light sword!

The Reaper retreated a few of his arms, then spawned a scythe using his left hands. Now they both had two weapons and leapt into combat.

With a flurry of attacks that were hard to track, both of them struck at each other with their weapons.

Uncle moved with precision, coordination, like a machine timing all of its movements to perfection. The Reaper moved like a wild predator, only seeking the death of its prey. They both had skill, but matched each other’s strength. It would definitely be coming down to the stardust to finish this off.

But the Reaper wasn’t going to play fair, he summoned bones from under the floorboards to grab Uncles legs! He couldn’t move!

We were all on the edge of our seats, worried that this would be the final moment where Uncle might lose.

“NO!” I screamed. “Uncle!"

“Stop it!” Yamin shouted.

The Reaper was just staring down on him though, paused, as if he was considering what to do next.

Uncle took advantage of the Reapers pause and knocked the gun out of his hand, then he slashed right down the middle of the demon!

The demons body parted, splitting open and gushing rays of light in every direction. Its siren voice blared wildly, but slowly turned soft as the shadow that once comprised its body turned to dust.

Samael leapt off my head and dove into the dust, retrieving a crystal heart from under it all.

He brought it back to me, then I took it and swapped it into my arm port.

-New Items Obtained!-

-Reaper Soul Steal scythe added to inventory-

-Disciple of Cassana cloak added to inventory-

-Mana Regeneration up!-

-Congratulations! You Leveled up!-

Wow! Tons of goodies!

Ooooh! I didn’t know I could get weapons with these hearts!

Darn it. I was too low a level to use the weapon…and the cloak too, apparently.

Was this battle over though? Mella was at the doorway, so I looked to her for that answer.

“Unfortunately, no. The Reaper is no more, but the gates to Hell have not been shut.”