After the rest of the paladins arrive, and Sabelle instructs them on where to go, her along with Hunter are nearby the center clearing, with Caleldes, Serenity, Duvainion, and Nicholas in various positions within the center clearing. Annabelle just sticks nearby Nicholas while Melody zips through the forest, using her fairy dust mixed in with her own magic on anyone she comes by, in order to improve their own magic potency.
"Alright, everyone seems to be ready. Duvainion, Nicholas? Do your thing." Sabelle says to them.
They nod, Duvainion then kneels down and places his hands on the ground, in order to get a better connection with the dark goo on the roots. Nicholas watches this, and soon does the same.
They then start to send a concentrated wave of dark energy into the ground, attempting to pull the dark goo up to the surface.
And once the gooey darkness soon starts to bubble and gurgle to the surface, and it starts to pool at the bases of the trees, everyone else soon starts to use their life and light magics to try and eliminate the darkness.
It seems to be working so far, and the darkness seeming to be trying to retreat from the magics being cast at it, while Duvainion and Nicholas continue to prevent the darkness from retreating back into the ground and the root system.
Though soon enough, the darkness goo starts to vibrate some, soon letting out a loud screeching like sound. This causes everyone to stop what they're doing, in order to hold their ears, the screeching causing them pain, and temporarily stunning all who hear it.
The screeching soon starts to fade, as all the gooey darkness now starts to gravitate towards a single point, joining together as it all meets up. And soon enough, all the darkness goo starts to form into a large humanoid beast, almost as tall as the trees themselves.
"That is a lot of darkness... Is that all of it, guys?" Sabelle asks both Duvainion and Nicholas.
"I think so... I can't sense any more on or in the ground." Duvainion answers.
"Alright then, seems like our mission has changed boys! We now need to defeat this giant darkness monster. So, let's get to it, then." Sabelle calls out.
"Duvainion, Nicholas, try to use your dark magic to try and slow the monster down as much as possible. Serenity, Hunter, use your life magic to try and protect the forest, especially Asiza. The rest of us will use our light to attack the monster." Caleldes orders.
"You heard her, everyone to their positions!" Sabelle calls out.
Duvainion and Nicholas do as they're told, and their dark magic does seem to make the large monster a bit more sluggish, as it attempts to slam its huge fists on the ground.
Serenity and Hunter use their life magic to protect the trees from the darkness goo that splashes off from the monster, as it moves and attacks.
Sabelle wields a large sword and shield that she has imbued with her light magic, and Caleldes wields her dual swords made from light energy, whilst the other paladins use various other types of weapons and magic.
CaIeldes charges at the monster as it's distracted by some other paladins, and she jumps up on its back, stabbing her swords into its back, towards its neck area. This enrages it, and it roars in pain, trying to now shake her off.
As its busy with CaleIdes, Sabelle runs up to it, and slashes at its legs, more of the dark goo flowing from the wounds that she creates, as it does, another paladin cleanses it, and it shrivels away.
"This thing won't stay still enough for us to properly cleanse the beast!" One of the paladins mentions.
"Just keep trying!"
The monster, still trying to get CaleIdes off of it, ends up running over a few of the other paladins. Noticing this, she then pulls her swords out of its back partially, and slides down its back with her swords, while it roars in pin again. Her swords, being made from light energy, end up cleansing the dark goo before it even has a chance to ooze out, too. She then takes her swords out of it, and jumps away from it.
The monster does heal its wounds, but each time that its wounds close, it also gets slightly smaller.
"We're wearing it down, don't give up!" Sabelle calls out.
The monster then does its screeching again, again trying to stun anyone who hears it. As it does, it swings its large arms at some of the paladins. Although soon, one of its arms is mysteriously cut off, and now laying on the ground. It tries to retrieve its arm as it switches to an angry roar, instead of its screeching, but its arm is then quickly cleansed by Sabelle, who is still nearby, and it now slowly dissolves into nothingness.
Standing nearby, after severing the monster's arm, is Olula, in her usual dire wolf form. She then leaps towards the monster, and transforms into a massively long python like snake, wrapping around the monster as she makes contact with it, keeping as tight a grip on it as possible as she keeps it immobilized.
'Quickly, cleanse the beast whilst I keep it immobilized.' Olula commands the others. 'Do not worry about me, I will be fine.'
"If you say so." Sabelle then builds up light magic in her sword, soon sending a beam of light out towards monster. CaleIdes then turns her dual light swords into beams, as well, and aims them at the monster. The other paladins also use similar light spells against the monster, and it writhes in pain as it struggles against Olula's fierce grip, attempting to break free.
Though as the light magic soon becomes too much for it to handle, it soon explodes, sending its gooey darkness flying all over everything and everyone nearby.
Before it can soak into the ground once more, though, Duvainion uses his dark magic to gather all of the darkness up into one spot nearby, and then Nicholas decides to try his hand at cleansing it, placing his hand on the now nearly lifeless blob of dark goo, and uses his own light magic. The darkness then starts to emit a glow from his light magic, and then disappears in a flash of light, nothing left of it any more.
"Thank the gods that that's finally done and over with." One of the paladins remarks.
"No. Don't thank them, they didn't do sh*t. You should be thanking each other. We couldn't have done this without everyone here. So, thank YOU all. You all did amazing today." Sabelle tells them. Though after a moment of silence, she speaks up again. "Also, we did lose some men today, and others were injured. It is always a possibility, in our line of work. And the families of the fallen will be compensated. But do not despair, for we have conquered a great evil, today!"
Serenity then heads over to where Sabelle is, and speaks up. "And if any of the injured would like to be healed, I am more than willing to lend my services as a healer."
-------
After the paladins that need it get healed, and they rest up for a while, they eventually start to head off, back to the capital. Though Sabelle seems to be staying behind, for now.
"Hope you don't mind me staying behind for a while, I want to make sure that everything will be alright on its own, before I leave." Sabelle mentions.
"It's alright. We don't mind. It's even nice that you care about this place that much." Serenity responds.
'Yes, the more we have here, protecting this place, in these times, the better.' Olula, back in her dire wolf form, says as she heads over to where they are.
"So, when will, what did you call her, Asiza? When will she be awake again? The higher ups will definitely want some form of statement from her, if at all possible." Sabelle asks them.
"It mostly depends on when she will regain her energy. Although I may be able to help speed that up some, by giving her some of my own energy." Serenity tells her.
"Okay. Don't do it so much that you hurt yourself, though. I don't need to be back any time soon, anyways."
"Alright. Also, Caleldes, what are you all planning on doing, now?" Serenity asks.
"Not entirely sure at this particular moment, but I must admit, I am a bit curious about meeting Asiza, when she does wake up." CaleIdes mentions.
"Of course. Stay as long as you'd like."
"Thank you."
Soon, Annabelle, along with Melody riding on her shoulder again, heads over to where Nicholas is. "Hey Nicholas, sorry that I couldn't be of any help... But Melody did great, didn't she?"
"Yeah. But don't feel bad about not being able to help, I'm sure that there will be other stuff in the future that you'll be able to help with. Less dangerous stuff, maybe." Nicholas mentions.
"You really think so?"
"Of course."
"Thanks."
"By the way, you still haven't told anyone what magic you have. We won't know how to have you help, if we don't know what you can do." Nicholas mentions to Annabelle.
"Oh, right, well... I, uh... Can sorta transform..."
"Really? You mean kinda like how Olula can?"
"Not exactly. Since she's the guardian spirit of forests, she can turn into pretty much anything. But I can only turn into one thing..."
"Which is...?"
"Well..." She then just wiggles her cat ears a little, trying to give him a hint without actually saying it, though Nicholas still just seems confused. She sighs after a moment, and then just says it. "I can transform into a cat, okay?"
"Really? Can all beastmen people turn into their animal?"
"No. It's actually a pretty rare ability, and it's usually the stronger animals who gain the power." Annabelle admits.
"Well, sounds like you'd be amazing at stealth missions, then." Nicholas tells her, giving her a smile to try and cheer her up.
"...You really think so?" Annabelle asks, hopeful.
"Of course. What better to sneak around then a small and stealthy unassuming cat?" He responds.
Annabelle then blushes slightly, smiling at him, happy now.