I felt a sense of horror drowning me for a moment before it was suppressed and then replaced with confusion.
If not memories, then what?
At this moment, the round of attacks was over and the old man lowered his hand. The delicate-looking statues of the woman lowered themselves to the ground and merged with the earth like they were never present in the first place.
All except the one in front.
As the view beside me was now clear, I looked around to satisfy my curiosity only to be horrified by what I saw.
It was a scene of carnage!
'Oh my God!'
I nearly screamed.
There were broken pieces of bodies everywhere!
The landscape was completely ruined and covered with pieces and chunks of flesh, some of them floating in large pools of blood that had gathered from the numerous broken bodies around.
The last of the day's light was all that made this gory landscape visible and I couldn't help but blank out at this scene of carnage.
I lived in modern times, I had never seen such a gory scene before.
Fuck I had never even seen a dead body before!
I looked in front of me and saw the only person left alive. The middle-aged man that controlled flames.
His eyes were burning with unconcealable rage as he stared at the remains of the people he had brought with him.
The old man floated forward and stood beside the figure of the giantess. I used this chance to take a look at her face.
It was a pretty face.
Her soulless eyes were soft and gentle, strands of finely carved hair draped across her straight chiseled nose and full lips. Her two arms were wrapped across her bare chest to cover her breasts and her bare navel grew out of the earth.
The old man looked at the statue from the corner of his eye before turning to look at the middle-aged man who was gritting his teeth angrily.
"Why are you doing this?"
The middle-aged man suddenly asked.
I was caught off guard by the question as he seemed the type of person to fight rather than seek dialogue. I wasn't sure previously but it seemed that there really might be some history between these two men.
The old man stared at him but didn't reply. The crazy glint in his eyes disappeared as the final statue merged into the earth.
"At least tell me why you're doing this! I don't understand!!!"
The middle-aged man yelled again but the old man just stared at him silently. When he finally opened his lips, he asked another question.
"Does the soul make the body or does the body make the soul?"
'What?'
"What?"
The middle-aged man reflected my thoughts with the confusion written all over his face.
"Should let's say you take the soul of a cat out of its body and place it in the body of a dog. Would it act like a cat or a dog?"
Even I fell silent at this type of questioning. I looked up at the old man who had such a serious expression on his face as he asked the question to what seemed like both of us.
The middle-aged man went quiet for a moment before sighing deeply.
"You have always been like this. It seems I would never truly understand you."
BOOM!!!
A great eruption occurred just below us as the once darkening sky turned red!
A great flame that ranged from deep red to violent orange erupted from the ground. Accompanying it was a pair of arms that would span almost 10 meters in width, they were like two enormous tree trunks with unrelenting flames for fingers.
Should I have had eyes, they would have gone wide in shock and fear at the sight that I was seeing.
"Hmm?"
The old man looked down at the flaming grasp that was reaching out for him with a slightly interesting look. He raised his hand and pieces of earth tore out of the ground, forming a large pyramid above his head before waving his hand down.
BAM!!!
ROOAAARRR!!!!
The large pyramid slammed onto the appearing head of the flaming figure that was tearing out of the earth and it roared loudly in response.
This still didn't stop the hands from reaching out as they tried to grab the old man. The middle-aged man watched all this quietly but I could notice a hint of satisfying madness in his eyes.
"It took me quite a lot to contract this flame elemental. This time, I will make sure to erase any traces of you from this world completely!"
ROOARRR!!!
The middle-aged man roared together with the flame elemental as the hands clapped firmly around us. All I could see was a flaming wall covering my sight before I heard a loud explosion.
BOOM!
The flame elemental which was now half out of the ground revealed a malicious grin on its face that mirrored that of the middle-aged man. It didn't last for long though as another explosion subsequently followed.
BOOM!!!
The two hands of the flame elemental were blasted into pieces as the old man appeared once more. I looked around me in confusion and noticed a kind of force field protecting us. It looked similar to what the old man did the first time we were attacked by the middle-aged man but…. different.
I couldn't tell what was different about it but it was something I instinctively felt. The only thing worth noticing was that the crazed glow in the old man's eyes was back and he revealed a distorted smile as he faced the middle-aged man.
"That is enough!"
He waved his free hand towards the flame elemental just once.
What I saw, I was sure that even the most absurd fantasy stories I have heard had nothing nearly similar in absurdity.
The surrounding mountains shook and the ground trembled!
In a wide radius around the valley, around a dozen mountains were torn from their roots and floated in the sky. Their shapes distorting as they were transformed rapidly under some kind of unearthly power.
Countless roars were heard from the unfortunate animals that still inhabited these mountains as their nests and dens were destroyed and they found themselves either being crushed to death or flung into the depths of where those mountains used to be.
The entire sky was blocked out as the once tall and lofty mountains were quickly transformed into enormous spears that glimmered with a light of their own.
The blades were wide and sharp as if forged by some divine blacksmith and just one of them was enough to span the size of three houses. Their rods were comparable to the hands of the flame elemental as they turned their pointy ends towards the flame elemental.
The image of 12 such spears was intimidating, to say the least, and both the middle-aged man and the flame demon were staring up at the sky in shock and fear.
The old man just turned his gaze to the flame elemental and smiled.
WHOOSH!!!
The spears descended with a dominating aura!
BANG!
The first spear went right through the elemental's forehead, pinning it to the ground. It roared in what sounded like excruciating pain as its entire body was slammed back.
BANG! BANG!! BANG!!!
The next three spears pinned the right arm to the ground, one through its large palms, one through the elbow, and the last through the shoulder.
BANG! BANG!! BANG!!!
The left-arm received similar treatment.
ROOOAARRR!!!!
The elemental cried out in immense pain and frustration as it built up its energy to pull its limbs out. More of its body started to emerge from the flames beneath as it roared in defiance.
BANG!
A spear slammed right into its exposed abdomen, slamming its body back to the ground and preventing its legs from emerging.
"Hmm…. I have four more?" I could hear the old man mumbling to himself with the screams of the flame elemental echoing in the background.
He mumbled a few words to himself before waving his hand once more.
BANG! BANG!! BANG!!! BANG!!!!
The remaining four spears smashed into their designated spots.
Right chest, left chest, right eye, left eye.
The impact of all four spears piercing through it at once stunned the flame elemental so much that it immediately went quiet!
I would have thought it was dead were it not for the fact that its flames were still soaring brightly trying to burn up the earthen spears and the low growls that later started emerging from its lips.
The middle-aged man stared in shock throughout the whole ordeal, unable to even say a word. I could see the frustration and disbelief displayed on his face.
The old man turned to face him with a wide grin on his face that had derisive intent.
"It looks like the fire realm will lose a powerful elemental, I wonder what effect this will cause this time around? Will it be like the records say, I wonder?"
He laughed heartily to himself and snapped his fingers.
WHOOSH!!!
From my position in his breast pocket, I saw the world around me distort as I felt the pull of an unknown force.
The middle-aged man stared at the previous location where the old man once was.
He was gone, vanished, teleportation.
He looked around him.
From the gruesome remains of the people, he brought with him to the destroyed landscape and then the body of the flame elemental whose flames were slowly dying out as it lost its life force.
All these things, by just one man.
"Foutier!"
He growled through gritted teeth.