As Sergio left the area, Emma and Renzo stared at each other, ready to fight to the death. There was only an angel left on Renzo's side, but he was missing an arm with a lot of deep cuts in his armor. On Emma's side, she was the only one left, but she had more energy left than Renzo; it would be a close fight.
John climbed out of the wall where Sergio threw him. He snapped out of his frenzy and was starting to gain control again. The memory of what he tried to do to his friend was flooding his mind. He knew he had lost a friend and he could never forgive himself for trying to kill his friend. He then remembered his parents and wanted to know what happened to them. If they were gone then he would have nothing left!
John ran to his house ignoring the gazes that Emma and Renzo were giving him. Renzo immediately told the last angel to kill him while he held Emma back. The angel flapped his wings and flew towards John. Emma was about to kill the angel, but Renzo got in the way by casting a spell.
Renzo pointed his finger and an enormous golden dragon appeared out of thin air as it attacked Emma from the side. Renzo got his greatsword ready and followed behind the dragon. If Emma didn't dodge the attack she would get a serious injury, but she had to do something. She dodged to the side, but at the same time quickly shot out a black fireball from her sword.
She was able to dodge the golden dragon, but she was caught off guard by Renzo who followed behind the dragon. She couldn't dodge his sword attack. She braced herself as she brought her swords to her chest. Renzo raised his sword and chopped it down towards Emma. She was able to defend against the sword but was sent flying down to the ground because of the powerful attack. Her back hit the ground, creating a crater. She got out of the ground and onto her feet, but she was coughing out blood.
She felt it was worth it as she turned to look at the angel who tried to attack John. The angel was crying out in pain. He was caught by surprise and was covered in black flames. All you could see was a figure surrounded by black flames from head to toe. The cuts in his armor allowed the flames to go inside and burn his body.
The flames were consuming his wings, turning them black and his feathers were burnt to ash. He fell to his knees and tried to cast a spell to put out the flames, but nothing worked! Not long after his body fell to the floor, he died. But the flames kept burning his body and wouldn't stop until only the ashes were left. Renzo was beyond pissed! With Emma in the way, he couldn't attack John! He had to get rid of her no matter what the cost.
"EMMA DIE FOR ME!"
He was determined to end it fast and was going to put the last of his energy into his last spell. While flying in the air he put both hands on his sword. His feet and body wherein a fighting position. He brought his sword close to his face and did an incantation.
"Those who hide in darkness beware the power of light, the sword of eternal light!"
His sword shined like the sun and he swung his sword down to where Emma was. Then a beam of light that was 60 meters wide was shot at her. There was so much power in that beam that looking at it would burn the eyes and shake the soul. Emma knew that this attack would follow the enemy until it ran out of energy or if the target was destroyed, she couldn't dodge it. She had a grim expression and knew that she had to use almost all her energy to form a defense or she would be turned into ash. She got into a defensive position, her sword crossed together. She did an incantation.
"All consuming hell fire protect those who wield your power, ultimate defense!"
All around her black fire came out of the ground. Then she was surrounded in a sphere of dense black fire. You couldn't see the inside of it! The beam of light hit the black sphere and was piercing through the shield! Emma put the last of her energy into her shield. She was shaking and sweating as she held her ground. The light had almost gone through the shield but it faded away as it ran out of power.
Emma's shield disappeared as she also ran out of energy. Renzo was relentless as he charged from the sky at Emma with his sword. Since they were out of energy they couldn't use spells, now they had to fight with their swords. He was flying at high speed and attacked from overhead. His sword was aimed at her head.
She rolled forward and saw the sword stab into the ground behind her. She got up and attacked Renzo as he pulled out his sword, barely blocking her attack. She kept swinging left and right with her swords, constantly moving around him. She was pushing Renzo back, only allowing him to block.
Renzo sword was too long to swing around because of how big and long it was. Emma kept herself close to him, not allowing him space to swing his sword. Renzo knew that he was in a tough position and decided to do something risky. Just as he blocked another of her swings, he purposely left himself exposed on his left side. Emma on instinct attacked his exposed left side.
Emma was able to stab into Renzo's armor and cut deep into it his flesh almost hitting his bones. But then she felt him ram his fist into her stomach. She was hit right in the solar plexus. She was having a hard time breathing. Renzo then kicked her in her shin, causing her right leg to fall to the ground. He then lifted his sword and swung to the left with all his strength, ready to chop her head off.
Emma was sweating in fear. If she didn't do something, she would die. But no matter how she looked at it, she would die. She was having a hard time breathing and was on one knee. But then a crazy idea popped into her head. If she couldn't dodge or block it then she would take him down with her. She didn't want to die, but she didn't have a choice. The second before Renzo's great sword cut her head off, she pushed off the ground with her left leg and aimed her sword at his stomach.
Renzo cut her head off, but with her momentum, she was able to stab the sword deep into his stomach right before her death. Her body then fell to the ground as blood was squirting out. Renzo stumbled backward and looked at the sword in his stomach.
"That crazy bitch!"
He could see blood coming out his stomach, but he didn't have enough energy left to cast a healing spell. He couldn't pull it out or he would bleed to death.
"Even in death you still cause me trouble!" he laughed in pain.
When Renzo heard some noise nearby, he could see a bunch of people closing in on him. They had hatred in their eyes as they looked at Renzo. These people where actually the survivors of the fire sword sect, they were left behind because they weren't strong enough to fight. There were some who were in the early mind consolidation stage and the peak body refinement stage. There was even a very old man who was at the peak power expansion stage. The rest of the sect was destroyed and only the stronger members survived, but they had some injuries on them.
They saw the dead bodies of their sect leader and elders. They knew these outsiders where the reason why they were dead and the city was destroyed. Instead of leaving and looking for safety, they went back into the city. They knew that the enemy was too strong, but they were young and hot-blooded. As for the old man, he was actually the previous sect leader, but he stepped down and lived in the sect as a teacher.
He wanted to fight with the elders of the sect, but they left him behind as the last line of defense. If anything bad happened he could protect them and escape. Allowing the sect to survive and come back from the ashes. But the old man did the unexpected and agreed with the foolish plan of avenging the sect. They wanted to attack when angels and demons killed each other and weakened each other. Even if they all died they would avenge their sect!
Renzo knew they were around but to him, they were nothing but bugs. He never saw them as a threat and would handle them when he was done with the devils. But when he saw the old man carrying the skull of an ancient bird, his eyes bulged. Even if it was just the skull of a baby phoenix it was still a phoenix
"How do you have the skull of a phoenix!" Renzo couldn't believe that such a small and insignificant sect would such a priceless spirit beast fossil.
The phoenix skull was the reason why this sect had risen in the middle of nowhere. The skull was discovered by the old man's father when he was young. It contained a strong power inside, even after death it had a strong fire attribute. With it, they were able to create a cultivation manual and master the power of fire. But because they only found the skull of a baby phoenix they couldn't progress past the power expansion stage.
The old man looked solemn knowing that the only way to take down someone as strong as Renzo was to give it everything they had. Even if it meant using the skull as a bomb, using himself as a match that would light the remaining power inside, creating a huge explosion that would kill Renzo. The sect members created spells to protect the old man. They resolved themselves as they even used their bodies as shields.
Renzo was physically and mentally exhausted. He was out of primordial energy and had a blade in his stomach. Even with all this he still ran towards the group with his sword. Cutting through spells with his sword and cutting through the bodies. Desperately trying to get to the old man before it was too late.
The old man grabbed the skull and poured every drop of energy into the skull. He then activated a spell that would cause the energy inside the skull to be released. Renzo was only a few feet away from the old man as he killed the last members of the sect. With tears in his eyes, the old man looked at Renzo. His blade was about to cut him down, but it was too late, and the old man looked at Renzo with a smirk.
The skull exploded, and a dark red and yellow flame was released from the skull. The flames were as hot as the sun and blasted across half of the town. From above you could see waves of flames expand, consuming half the town in flames. The flames rose up into the sky and a faint cry of a phoenix could be heard. When the flames touched Renzo, they burned his body and turned him into ashes within seconds. Everything the flames touched was turned to ash in seconds, it was too hot.
Half of Greenwood no longer existed. All you could see was brunt ground and ash for miles. The power from the blast was enough to take out half of the city while the flames burned whatever was left. There was no evidence that the town even existed here. The flames kept burning and started to spread to the other side of town. The side where John was.
John had reached his house before the explosion of the phoenix skull. He saw that his house was in ruins, his parents had died. This broke John as he no longer had anything left. He just stared hopelessly at his house and accepted his fate. He could no longer go back to his happy life, where he would play with Luca and enjoy the company of his parents. He wasn't even himself anymore.
He felt his skill shard vibrating in his pocket. He had nothing left to lose, so he put it on his forehead. There he was greeted by a female chaos devil. She could feel Johns's despair seep into the skill shard. She could sense it and knew that this was the best time to convince John in his moment of weakness.
"Does it hurt? Do you feel like life's not worth living anymore? I can see it and I can show you a way to make the pain go away. There's more to life and all you need to do is accept yourself and let me teach you. You can control yourself, so you don't go berserk again, all you need is my teachings. In the future, all you will feel is pleasure and happiness."
John wanted anything that could make him feel better. He was desperate, and with her words, he found his salvation. He didn't care anymore. If she could help him, then he would take it. Since there was no one left, he had nothing to lose. With hope in his eyes, he looks towards her.
"I accept!"
"You can call me Verna. Just follow my directions and ill take you to my old hideout"
She also warned him to first leave the city to the east now because she felt danger coming from the west. John agreed and got out of the skill shard. He was still in his evolved form as he ran out of the city. The moment he got to the city walls, he felt a powerful shockwave. An explosion from the west. He felt an intense heat hit him and saw flames consuming the city. The flames were spreading. He was lucky and got over the city walls before the fire spread to where he was. He kept walking, not looking back.
He stopped until he was at a safe distance. He then went back into the skill shard. Verna told him to head towards a major city so that they could get a map. Then they would head to her hideout. John from now on would embrace the chaos devil within him and walk towards a dark path of destruction.