The seven of them broke through the surface of the ground like seals out of water. After everyone got out, Hedrick closed the hole and collapsed the small remains of the tunnel. Lazellia knelt down, placing her hands on the ground. Her eyes shone green.
The ground trembled.
The seeds that she'd thrown around before infiltrating the base would indeed come in handy, and sooner than she thought as well. Massive vines sprouted seeds the size of sand grains, towering over the dilapidated house like titans overlooking a wall. They all reared back, then smashed down with devastating force on the house in organized destruction.
"Woah, nice!" Zayne awed at the power Lazellia wielded. "You reckon you can save that for the big guy?"
Lazellia raised an eyebrow. "Big guy?"
"The demon." Demitri sweated bullets. "It saw us. It's coming."
The ground trembled.
Orion groaned. "You just had to open your mouth..."
The collapsed rubble of the ancient home shot upwards, debris scattered everywhere. A horned mass rose from the ruins. The demon gazed coldly at the inferior creatures before him.
"You will all die today." Its voice boomed its promise. It stood in full, its height eclipsed their doom. The demon's tail slithered around like a serpent, observers would be wise to be wary of its bite. The purple, snake-like eyes of it gleamed with hatred deeper than the abyss they stood in.
Lazellia grit her teeth, looking at the blood stained claws of the onyx being. 'That's why it was so quiet…'
"You monster, did the lives of your subordinates mean so little to you?" She shouted at the demon. "They were your followers, you should have at least spared them!"
It stared indifferently at her. "Their lives are as useless as yours. You will die the same they did. Painfully."
"No, I don't think we will." Orion's eyes sparked with flames. He walked forward, an inferno blazing around him. The flames grew stronger, reaching a peak before being forcefully shunted, compressed into his palm. "Arsenal: Ingrid the Morning Spear." The abyss was flooded with blinding light that died as fast as it was born. The abyss grew warmer. A great, crimson spear with intricate golden flame patterns stood strong beside Orion.
Dylan raised his right arm, a torrent of water flowed out from it and covered his body. Intricately, he froze the first layer over his body, then another, and another until what was left resembled a knight's armour. A long claymore made of ice formed beside him, his left hand took it while the remaining water froze around his right, becoming a shield. He breathed out a white mist, breaking the ice at his feet as he stepped forward.
"Ah, the children of Fourthbringer, Ares and Tritus stand before me, even the traitorous spawn of Harzoli wishes to die today." The pitch black behemoth walked out of the darkness, the light of Ingrid illuminated it fully. Its horns were a crooked obsidian, its skin was cracked and grey, its eyes were purple and snake-like. It looked oddly human. Standing two full meters, the demon towered over the student council members. It cast its cloak aside, revealing a greatsword made of dark silver. An aura of suffocating malice emanated from it. "I am Bel the Rage, knight of Markos. I will gut your bodies, hang you with your own entrails and conflagrate your bodies for all to see in a gore parade."
"Wow, somebody give this guy a chill pill. Jeez." Zayne flippantly floated. "Lauren, why don't you do just that?"
An ice lance launched towards the Bel, smashing into him and creating a mist of ice. Orion and Dylan spared the demon no quarter, rushing in on the opportunity given to them by Lauren. Dylan ran in first, shield forward. He swung the claymore in a perfect arc, feeling its blade bite into the demon. Orion attacked from above, dealing a devastating blow aimed at the heart. As the mist dissipated, the two were unsurprised to see the demon now covered in pitch black scales.
"Pathetic. Have you not learned from last time? I am invincible." It swung its greatsword down like a meteor on Orion.
Dylan intercepted, freezing the blade on impact but it proved ineffective. The blade was too thick to be called a sword, it was more like a slab of iron in the shape of one instead, so trying to break it with ice was worthless. The demon snarled, trying to take a step forward but realized it couldn't. The ground beneath it had turned into quicksand. Hedrick stared deep into the hateful eyes of the demon, defiant. The demon felt something touch its feet, coiling around them. Lazellia stood next to Hedrick, smiling proudly at the combo attack the two created. Once again, Orion and Dylan went in on the attack, their blows clanging loudly against the unbreakable armor of the demon.
Even restrained, Bel weaved, blocked and parried effortlessly against Orion and Dylan's coordinated onslaught. Dylan thrusted forward, Orion perfectly swinging in a large arc just above. Their attack left no room for dodging or parrying. It was surekill, but even that wasn't enough. The demon just let the attacks hit, feeling joy at the despair he inspired as everything bounces uselessly off of his armor.
Hedrick ran around the battle field, fertilizing the soil in order for Lazellia's power to work. Every now and then, when he had the opportunity, he shot earthen spears at the demon.
Lazellia's focused on the roots around the demon's feet, gripping with enough strength to crush concrete. She pulled deeper, but was unable to make the demon budge.
Bel sighed, disgusted by the feeble attempts at his life. These wretched humans knew not of the immense power he wielded. It was quite sad, really. 'Kill them. Kill them all.' A voice whispered at the back of his mind. A great heat spread throughout his body. Something in his mind snapped.
Bel lashed out, flailing his greatsword wildly. Orion and Dylan were thrown back by the blows, suffering minor injuries. Lauren splashed the ground it stood in with a great amount of water, turning the sand thicker and then froze it. Bel roared loudly, the force of his voice breaking all the stone around him, freeing him from the trap. Like a beast, he hunched down on all fours, his eyes, which were previously purple, were now a crimson red. He let out a harrowing howl.
"Maybe he should get anger management instead," Zayne was flying up above him. "Aint that right, Tritri."
Demitri scowled, eyes burning bright red. "I thought I told you to never call me that!"
"Woops." Zayne giggled. "Ah well, let's just kill that thing already, I'm feeling sleepy."
Demitri had both his arms together, clasped with both his index fingers pointed out like a hand cannon aimed at the demon. His arms were glowing a radiant red, all the heat focused on his fingers which were a bright blue. A loud crack resounded throughout the abyss, its volume reaching the top. Onlookers who peered down from above could see the bottom light up for a second.
An obliterating line of blue heat shot out with the force of a railgun.
Where the demon once stood was a great crater, burrowing deep down into the earth.
Demitri fell from the sky, crying out in pain. Both his shoulders were dislocated, his bones protruded from his elbows and he had terrible burn marks all over his arms. "D-Did I get him?"
Zayne flew down, catching Demitri before he fell. "Yeah, you did! That was awesome!"
"You idiot! What did you do to yourself!?!" Orion ran over, worried sick over his idiot brother. "Don't you ever do that crap again!"
Lauren walked to Demitri, summoning water to help treat the burns as Lazellia tended to the dislocated shoulder and broken bones. Lazellia praised Demitri: "that was a powerful blow, I'm glad somebody like you will join the council! You have more potential than your brother!"
"What was that?" Orion scowled. "Anybody could pull off a super move like that if they sacrificed a limb or two."
Demitri weakly laughed. "Oh yeah? So why didn't you? Too chicken?"
Orion smacked him on the head. "Idiot, it's because it's not worth it."
Dylan stabbed his claymore into the ground, stalwartly guarding them while Demitri was getting treated.
Hedrick went to investigate the crater. He scrutinized the wreckage, unsure if that blow really did in the demon. Its armor was powerful enough to deflect blows from Ingrid, and Ingrid was powerful enough to pierce through steel like butter. He peered into the hole that Demitri made, staring at the darkness.
Zayne's ears perked up, eyes widening. "DUCK!"
The ground trembled.
Just in the nick of time, Hedrick jumped backwards as a greatsword flew straight up from the hole. Like a resurrected demon king, Bel crawled out of the crater without so much as a scratch.
"No more games, you're all dying."
Zayne burst forward, eyes glowing a cold silver. He outstretched his hand, an invisible force fell on Bel who stumbled a bit. He grasped at his throat. "Interesting." His gaze snapped to Zayne, who had begun sweating hard. Bel tried stepping forward, but was halted by Dylan who rammed him with his shield. Bel grabbed Dylan's shield, shattering it with his fists alone. Orion grunted, Ingrid struck like lightning against the breast of Bel, but was unperturbed. Dylan released an onslaught of blows against the demon, his claymore being deflected effortlessly by Bel's tail.
Zayne fell to one knee.
A large pillar of earth rose from the ground, crashing into Bel and crumbling to pieces. Lazellia summoned more vines that smashed downwards on the demon. It was all useless. Dylan was sent skidding backwards, the outer layer of his armor destroyed by a swipe of Bel's tail.
Zayne's face was turning blue, his eyes hazing up as he released his spell, breathing hard.
The demon chuckled, its crimson eyes cruel. "Ah, so the caster cannot breathe while taking away the breath of others...how ironic."
The ground trembled.
It swatted Dylan far to the side, he crashed into the wall in the far distance.
"Brother!" Lauren ran after him.
Bel picked Ingrid up, it dissipated into embers as he aimed it at Lauren. Orion grit his teeth, picking his brother up to run.
Bel leisurely took his time, outstretching his hand as a low whistle sounded from above. The dark greatsword fell, being caught easily in Bel's open palm.
Zayne weakly smashed the ground, creating a gust of wind that propelled him backwards creating distance from him and the demon. Orion caught him mid air, reconvening with Dylan who looked worse for wear and Lauren who rode on his back.
"Quickly, over here!" Lazellia shouted for them, her and Hedrick were on top of the biggest vine she had made yet. The five of them booked it, Zayne's eyes flickered a grey light. The wind around them parted, having no resistance and allowing them to move much faster. It was for naught.
Bel stood straight, raised his sword high and swung downwards.
"S-stop!" Zayne tugged Orion and Dylan's shirts. The two came to a skidding halt. A cutting wind blew past them, heading straight for Lazellia and Hedrick. Quickly, the two jumped off and managed to avoid it, but it didn't matter anyway. The vine was destroyed.
Despair choked the air, the lightless abyss grew darker.
Demitri wheezed and panted. "Damn it. Damn it all! Where are you, Matthew?"
The ground trembled.
"Your feeble attempt to fight me was laughable. You meek humans cannot dream of denting my armor, let alone defeat me. I will enjoy taking you apart one limb at a time, and I will ensure you are alive all the while." The demon walked slowly towards them, taking its time, but sure as death. "I wonder how your bodies will react to Aster."
The ground rumbled greatly, throwing even Bel off balance. "What?"
A loud shriek echoed throughout the abyss, a giant mass could be faintly made out in the darkness. It smashed into the walls like a mad beast, causing more rumbling.
Far in the distance of the lightless expanse, a small figure ran desperately, ducking and dodging a ginormous arachnid's attacks narrowly.
"Speak of the devil." Zayne giggled weakly. "Trouble's literally following him."
Orion, Demitri, Lazellia, Hedrick, even Dylan and Lauren were wide eyed, mouths open in shock at the sudden sight in front of them.
"Is that- is that a Matriarch Widow?!" Orion was slack jawed. "And what is that in front of it!? Is that-"
Demitri answered before he could speak. "Matthew. That's Matthew."
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Matthew screamed, leaping forward to avoid the massive blow of the Matriarch's claw. Every step the titan took created a crater under its foot (or claw in this instance). Too terrified to even notice Bel, Matthew ran straight past him. Bel couldn't even react to Matthew, he was too gob smacked by the sight of a ginormous goliath of pure nightmare fuel charging straight at him.
Matthew crashed into Orion, toppling everybody over.
"Ow, my arms!" Demitri cried out in pain. "Damn it!"
Zayne laughed heartily, "Demitri was right, you are special! I like you, Matthew."
"WHAT ARE YOU SAYING, WE HAVE TO LEAVE!" Matthew picked Zayne up in his short arms and ran towards Lazellia and Hedrick, who were trying to create another vine. Hedrick was using the bulk of his power to make the soil in the abyss fertile, while Lazellia was creating a powerful enough seed to sprout a powerful plant. Matthew had no idea what they were doing, so he just threw Zayne at Hedrick who caught him and ordered everybody to get near him.
Bel slashed at the legs of the Matriarch Widow, slicing one of them clean off. This enraged the creature, who redirected all its attention to the demon. It smashed its legs down repeatedly in a flurry of gargantuan blows, creating a larger crater three times that of Demitri's where it landed. Bel jumped up from the cloud of dust the attack created, his armor dented and broken in some areas. He delivered a devastating blow to one of the Widow's chelicerae, green blood spraying everywhere. A lot of it landed on Bel, sizzling against his skin upon impact. Bel screamed in pain loudly. "I SHOULD HAVE ENDED YOUR LIFE WHILE YOU WERE STILL IN YOUR EGG SACK!"
Matthew counted. Orion, Demitri, Zayne, Lauren, Lazellia, Hedrick. 'Who am I missing…oh, right, me.' He and Hedrick looked at each other.
"Let's get out of here!" the earth shifted, Matthew created a massive tower that shot straight up, barely reaching the top of the abyss. Onlookers gasped in shock, robed individuals ran towards them realising they came from the abyss. Dylan put a hand on Matthew's shoulder, letting out a cold sigh as ice formed at his feet, creating a highway straight over the Center to the mainland. Together, they all hightailed it out of there, the earthen tower crumbling not a second later after the ice path was created. Matthew's face was sickly white, he weakly grabbed onto Hedrick who hoisted him onto his back. Safe, Matthew finally allowed himself to pass out as the sun broke past the horizon. 'I'm never...coming back here...again..."
Deep in a lightless expanse, a towering figure with one horn of pure onyx stood atop the corpse of a titanic mutilated spider. All eight of its legs that spanned hundreds of meters were entirely severed, where its head used to be only gory mush remained. Bel leaned on his sword. He was covered in acidic burns, large gashes that littered his torso and puncture marks that pierced deep into him. He didn't wince once from the pain, focusing entirely on the broken horn that he held in his hand.
The shadows moved.
"I see you have failed your post, Belial of house Jagren." A voice as deep as the shadows echoed.
Belial got down to one knee. "This one offers his sincerest apologies, Lord Alphos."
An ashen grey hand rested on his shoulder. "Stand, my brother. You may have failed this day, but you can make up for it in the future."
Belial stood, turning to see nothing there behind him
"Return home, I will tutor you personally from now on, younger brother." The voice paused for a moment. "That child that led the juvenile matriarch spider to you, Matthew...he's strange. If there is one benefit of you losing here today, it is notifying us of that child's existence."
Bel remained quiet.
"I will send our followers to keep an eye on him. His mana was different from the other earth mages. He will become a problem in the future, so I will have him killed." The voice spoke of this matter as if it were a mere passing thought. "Come."
Bel did as ordered, stepping into the shadows and taking something's hand.
"Ah, I'm late. Anathemiah is going to have another tantrum..." The voice sighed. "What a bothersome queen."