Chapter 6

I was giddy with happiness that Phil was back. Not completely, but still, it was better than nothing.

In my hand was Starlight, humming with power. I was shocked to see that Starlight was finally listening to me. It was as if it had a mind of its own, telling me that there was more to it than I had thought.

I raised it up, trying to see if there was something that I could decipher.

Nothing.

It had a soft glow around its body that flickered like a flame.

I looked up, noticing the direction where Olivio was.

Julia was temporarily blacked out.

The Leviathan roared. Olivio changed into his human form. In his hand, Gala glinted with vigor.

Olivio headed straight toward the Hydra. He didn’t look back once.

The Leviathan spat out a jet of water with a hiss, straight at Olivio.

A magical barrier appeared before Olivio, blocking out the jet of water that came at him with fury.

The water bounced off the barrier as Olivio moved forward.

Frustrated, the Hydra swayed, closing its mouth. It struck Olivio.

Olivio dodged. He turned around and slashed downward, cutting into Levian's head. The blade skimmed past its face and bounced off, taking a slice of its scales with it. Blue blood heavily dripped down, covering half of its eyes, blinding it.

The Leviathan pulled back, splashing water to cover its tracks as it dove back into the water, leaving Olvio out on the deck.

Overhead, I heard the sound of beating wings.

I looked up and noticed Julia hoovering close by. She landed with grace.

“My Demon King,” Julia called out.

Phil turned in her direction. He massaged his forehead.

Julia saw Phil had the sword in hand. She hesitated from getting closer.

“My Demon King, we have a mission to accomplish,” Julia spoke carefully, watching the sword. I could tell that she was very nervous about it. “If you want to accomplish the things that we set out to do, we must get rid of the Heroes now.”

Phil didn’t pay much attention to her, which made Julia frustrated.

“At the rate that everything is going, we will lose it all. But, not only that, the reason that you followed me here will come into fruition!”

This jolted Phil. He looked over toward Julia.

“Come, my king.” She waved her hand in front of her for him to follow. “Leave the sword behind as it is something that you don’t need.”

I barked out. “She’s lying, Phil.”

My words stopped Phil.

“She just wants you to walk away and let this world burn into hell. I don’t know what you made a deal with, but it’s not the way.” I replied. I didn’t want Phil to go back to her.

“I know,” Phil replied sternly.

I could see that there was still a struggle in Phil’s expression, but he was still fighting against it and winning.

“You are a fool.” Julia spat. “The amount of power that you have gained. You could have challenged the Gods and even sat upon its throne to change people’s destiny.”

I scoffed at Julia. “You are a fool, Aunt.” I shook my head. “To challenge the Gods for what? Is it really to change my destiny, not become God yourself? What then? Are you happy that you have achieved such a state without realizing the consequences that you have achieved? The People that you have burned for your own selfish desire? Is that really in the name of obtaining Godhood, or have you fallen to the depths of hell?"

“Little girl, you don’t understand the value of having such power.” Julia looked at me with disdain. “All the little things that had happened could be erased and restarted all over again. We would be able to create the world in our own image the way that we like it.”

“But, what is it to say that the world is already in the ideal state, and you are the one that is messing it up and downgrading it because you don’t understand the intricacies of the universe? What then? Oh, mighty one.” I sarcastically stated.

Even though I did not know all the universe's secrets, to suddenly want to become God without understanding the state of being was preposterous.

Aunt Julia snorted. “You don’t understand. Over time, I have gained this power by taking, merging, and overcoming my limitations. Understanding how the magical force of the Legendary Creatures works and becoming one myself. All this power had a price, and I paid sweat and tears for it.”

“And you don’t think that there is a price for that as well?”

“I do.”

“What are you willing to pay?”

“Anything.”

“And what if the price was your soul?”

“Then so be it.”

I shook my head. “Even I understand that the price of the soul is the right to forfeit your chance of Godhood. You have lost yourself, Aunt. You have lost yourself in the hunger for power that you don’t understand or see what is in front of you.”

“Me?” Aunt Julia rolled her eyes. “That is what you think. You were given the Dragon Maiden's power, and I have to work to get to this point. So now I am not just a Black Dragon, but a Black Dragon that brings the TRUE end and the beginning. The one who wields everything at my fingertips.”

“But you are still a Black Dragon,” Phil spoke. He brandished his sword in front of him. The tip of the blade glimmered dangerously.

Aunt Julia unconsciously took a step back.

“See, still a Black Dragon.” Phil goaded with a smile on his face.

Even I could not help but feel excited at the prospect of what Phil would do.

“My Demon King, please, come back and become the rightful heir to your destiny. This is not the

way.” Aunt Julia tried to hide her nervousness.

“I don’t think so,” Phil spoke. He started to walk towards her.

“You’re making a terrible mistake.”

Phil didn’t listen. He kept coming closer.

The air between the two was getting very dangerous and heavy, making it difficult to breathe.

Phil jumped forward, brandishing a sword as he struck.

Julia raised up her claws, stopping him in the process. She spat angrily at his retaliation.

Phil was pushing Julia back. His sword dangerously glinted with power. He had a powerful surge of energy that slowly overpowered Julia.

Julia had a serious expression, clawing her way to overpower Phil. Her wings were beaten, trying to keep Phil back.

Phil swung his sword, meeting Julia’s claws. SLicing off a finger in the process.

Julia roared, throwing her hand back.

I pumped my fist next to me, glad that he was able to damage her. I couldn’t quite get in between their fights. Whenever I can, I lunge in to grab ahold of Julia or throw in a few punches.

It was becoming a chaotic brawl between my aunt and us.

My tail wrapped around my aunt’s foot, pulling it out from underneath her.

Julia fell with a thump as Phil jumped in and went for a strike at her head. Julia clawed at my tail, forcing me to let go. She rolled out of the way with a quick reflex, barely missing a decapitation.

Julia roared with anger, causing the air around us to vibrate.

I roared back.

I jumped at her, smashing into her body.

Claws meeting claws, I spat and bit. Finally, my head swung to the side, hitting against my aunt's own head with a raging fury of my own. I felt a bit dazed, but I kept fighting.

My right hand came down, scratching against her face. A long ugly steak cut down her chin as blood spurted out freely.

“You!” Julia barked at the cut.

“It’s a nice addition to your face, aunt,” I replied back, swinging my other claws right after.

Both of our claws are locked in place.

“Just like your mother.” Julia hissed, leaning in.

I could smell her foul breath against my face.

“Always thinking that you can win against someone like me.” Julia's power started to get stronger, “Do you think you will win?”

“Absolutely,” I replied back. There was no way I was going to back down against her.

Julia scoffed. She stopped pushing and pulled my hand in the direction. This caused me to stumble forward as all the momentum was going in one direction.

Julia wrapped it around my neck with her tail and yanked me down even faster. I tripped and fell with a thud.

Phil jumped and ran up on my body. He swung his sword, blocking Julia from giving me a fatal strike.

Julia screamed in anger that she was getting pushed back. She spat, cursing underneath her breath.

With rage, Julia came rushing through. She lowered her head, smashing into my body. I was thrown back, away from the battle between Phil and Julia.

I skidded across the ground as I destroyed trees upon trees until I finally stopped.

With a groan, I shook my head.

That was something that I did not want to go through again.

Looking up, Julia closed her eyes.

Phil swung his black in a large arch, but before his body could harm him, he smashed into an energy barrier that stopped him from advancing temporarily forward.

I got up, shaking away the dirt.

"Thanks," I said to Phil, pushing myself up and pulling back.

It was embarrassing.

Every move I took caused pain, but I ignored it and moved forward.

Eventually, I got to the front, but I hit a barrier instead. It fluctuates with an eerie green. I balled up my fist and struck.

The shield shimmered, but it did not break.

I stepped back, drawing fire into my stomach, and blew.

The fire licked the barrier, turning it red. The more I blew, the fiercer the barrier seemed to buzz back as it kept my flames at bay.

A barrier was temporarily placed between us.

Seconds ticked, the barrier wouldn’t break.

I was baffled at the amount of magical strength that my aunt had. It was enough to stop me from coming between them.

It seemed that Julia wanted to keep me separated from them in the first place.

Quickly, dousing my flames. I called out to Phil, “Phil! I can’t get through!”

Phil swung his blade in midair, stopping Julia from attacking. “It’s fine! Go help the others first!”

“But, what about you?!”

“I’ll be fine! I have the legendary weapon. I can kill her!” Phil said with confidence. I felt a tingle of energy starting to blow through me.

It wasn’t until I had to give up that I realized that the barrier wasn’t going to budge.

“Go help the others!” Phil shouted again.

“I’ll find my way back in!” I replied back. I turned around, leaving them alone. Then, with a pump of my wings, I lifted myself up into the air.

I scanned the battlefield as I climbed higher.

The other heroes pushed back their respective Legendary monsters, dealing damage wherever they went. I was impressed by their tenacity.

I could feel the immense power fluctuating around me and at all of the remaining Heroes. It was exhilarating to see the Heroes fighting against their respective monsters.

Stryd was the first one to make it to his opponent.

He bellowed, screaming out against the Titan with just as much fury as the Titan when they saw each other.

The Titan raised his hand into the air.

Magic formed above and behind him, creating a flurry of magical energy dazzling to the eyes.

Large shapes of giant boulders appeared, heading straight towards him with fury. In seconds, they landed everywhere Stryd moved.

Stryd jumped from side to side, trying not to get squashed. He swung his fist as his gauntlets shimmered with power, breaking the boulders in half as he rushed towards the Titan.

With relentless fury, more and more boulders were thrown at Stryd.

Stryd dodged to the right. He jumped, kicking off onto an oncoming boulder, and sprung forward. In midair, he swung back his fist and punched.

A giant fist full of energy came in midair, smashing into the Titan with one blow.

The Titan stumbled backward, trying to keep its balance.

Stryd landed onto the ground, bursting forward. Swirls of energy mingled together as he punched a quick combo one after another.

Quickly reorienting himself, the Titan fumbled to get his bearings. He put up his arms to block the attack. However, he did not back down and held out to give him a much-needed opening.

The Titan broke through in the span of a short window, his punch heading straight toward Stryd.

With a heavy thump, the ground split apart as Stryd jumped away.

The back and forth battle between the Titan and Stryd was intense. The Titan did not back down or allow STryd to get closer. They were in an impasse between physical attacks and magic.

Every stomp of the Titan’s feet, the ground trembled, raising up earth stones that would chase after Stryd.

Stryd jumped away from one to another, trying not to get flung, crushed, or even smashed into pieces.

He hopped to the right, barely dodging another barrage of earth stones coming out from the ground. Finally, it became so bad that Stryd misjudged and tripped.

Quickly, he rolled forward, using the momentum to get back up again. His fist swung to the right and the left, taking out more boulders that came from above. Focused, alert, and adrenaline-pumping, he continued towards his goal: getting closer to the Titan.

The earth walls came on all sides to crush him in one fell swoop.

Stryd punched through the wall.

“This is child play!” Stryd shouted. He continued to break through more and more earth walls that came from below or above.

With quick steps, he jumped onto one of the boulders, using the momentum to jump to another. It quickly became his playground as more and more slabs of the earth came at him, but it couldn’t keep up with his speed.

Stryd danced around them that the Titan couldn’t even keep up summoning its magic. This frustrated the Titan, even more, causing his eyes to turn red.

With a swing of his hand, the Titan smashed downwards. Dust and debris flew all around them.

Stryd dodged out of the way, jumping onto the Titan’s arm. He scaled up to the shoulders.

Angrily, the Titan swiped with his other hand, trying to catch Stryd. But, instead, he ducked, moved back, and even punched the Titan’s hand out of the way to move forward with nimble feet.

The Titan got up. He rolled his shoulders, annoyed as he snorted air out of his nose. Stryd was pulled off balance for the moment, which gave the Titan a chance as he reached over to grab ahold of Stryd from above, which Stryd did not see coming.

In one fell swoop, the Titan grabbed him as he was pulled up.

“Got ya, you little insect.” The Titan replied with glee. “You’ll die here today.” Evil laughter escaped his lips.

With every inch of power he had, he squeezed as his muscle bulged. Even using both hands.

Blood gushed out of Stryd’s lips as a few of his ribs fractured. Pain shot through his body, awakening him up from the intense pain. He wiggled and wedged the Bone Crusher in between the Titan’s hands, making it impossible for the Titan to break it.

With each grumble and huffing, the Titan squeezed harder and harder to the point where he was starting to get red.

Eventually, the Titan couldn’t exert any more force and let loose, allowing Stryd to summon upwind magic that Bone Crusher allowed him to use. He used this chance to kick the Titan’s hand apart. Then, holding onto Bone Crusher, he fell down and landed with a loud thud as wind magic swirled around him.

“You damn insect!” The Titan roared, causing the ground to shiver. He then started to stomp heavily toward Stryd. His foot landed on top of Stryd.

Stryd was crunched up, fighting back not to get squashed. Sweat came streaming down his face as his muscle was getting strained.

The Titan continued to pour in more force, and even magic started to wind around his legs to give him more strength.

With each increase in power, the deeper Stryd was pushed into the ground. Finally, its spider cracked outwards, becoming an indentation in the ground.

Stryd knew the longer he stayed underneath the Titan’s feet, he would die. He bites his lips, blood draw. He took a short breath, and with all the fiber of his muscles, he tilted his arm. This caused the Titan’s feet to slide to the right, giving Stryd a few seconds of escape.

Stryd rolled out of harm's way, swiping Bone Crusher at the base of his foot, knocking it out of his way. His eyes were focused, and he was ready to deal with the Titan.

Stryd bellowed. He swung, hitting the Titan in the knee.

The Titan buckled, falling onto all knees. He quickly jumped overhead, swinging Bone Crusher with a heavy downward strike.

At that moment, Stryd summoned all the power that Bone Crusher gave and swung. A heavy impact blew through the field as he crushed the Titan’s skull.

The deafening silence of monsters that were around Stryd froze.

Stryd roared, pumping his fist into the air.

The Titan was dead.