"Fly, I can do so much more than fly,", Conlin Jr. said as he finished his ascension.
He pointed to a spot in front of Teresa, Bella and I just before a red, foamy substance began to bubble up from beneath the ground. The crowd of onlookers began to panic and scatter in different directions as the bubbly foam took the shape of 3 wolves. Their crimson bodies bubbled and rippled as they began approaching us.
"Really, more wolves? This is why I prefer cats," Bella said before she hit the wolf closest to her with a ball of fire.
When the flames hit the creature, it erupted into a thick layer of dark reddish smoke.
I looked up at Conlin Jr. When Bella launched her attack and noticed that he seemed pleased that it happened. That made me suspicious that there was something we didn't understand about these creatures.
"Well, this won't take long," Teresa said and prepared herself to eradicate the other wolves just as quickly.
"No, Teresa don't," I blurted out in vain.
She dashed over to the wolf closest to her and sliced it cleanly in half with her sword before it could attack her. The halves both erupted into the same cloud of smoke as the one Bella attacked. A heavy wind cleared the smoke and revealed what I had feared. There were now 2 wolves standing where each wolf was when they were attacked.
"Bella, I'm not trying to challenge your status as the nerd of the group, but I feel like there should be less of them," Teresa said as the wolves began running at us.
The 5 wolves spread out and surrounded us. We backed into a tight formation so they couldn't attack any of us from behind. One of them leapt at my face.
"Deflect," Bella yelled and covered us in a protective barrier.
The wolf slammed face first into it and then took its original position with the others. They paced around us, looking for an opportunity to attack.
"How long do you think that little trick will protect you? I promise my pets will still be here long after you've used every bit of MP you have. Then they will tear your weak, exhausted, bodies to pieces while I watch and enjoy it," Conlin Jr. said with lust in his eyes.
"Simeon, try your mind control thing," Bella said as Teresa nodded vigorously in agreement.
I still didn't quite understand what the power was, but I had seen it work enough times to trust it. I gripped my sword and locked eyes with one of the creatures.
"Go back to wherever you were summoned from and never come back," I said with as much authority as I could muster.
The creature didn't respond. It seemed completely unfazed by my command.
"What the hell was that supposed to do? These are my pets, they only listen to me, idiot!" Conlin Jr. Said with a sick pleasure in his tone.
"Umm, it didn't work," I said with a slight panic in my voice.
"Obviously," Bella replied. She was clearly getting frustrated.
"Come on, don't be sore losers. Just drop the barrier and let's get this over with. We all have better things to do. Well, I have better things to do, you all will, you know, be dead," Conlin Jr. Said and began cackling with obnoxious laughter.
"Okay, so magic and brute force makes them multiply. They are unaffected by Simeon's trick, so what option does that leave us?" Bella thought out loud.
I stared at Conlin Jr. and noticed the fingers on his left hand moving ever so slightly.
"What if we target Conlin Jr. Instead, I think he's the real threat," I said aloud.
"Those things seem pretty threatening to me," Teresa said.
"That might actually work. Do you remember how to do that spell you did in the cave?" Bella asked me. There was hope in her voice now.
"Not really, but that's kinda my thing, right?" I said and pointed my sword at Conlin Jr.
As I aimed the sword at him, I tried to remember how I had felt when I saw Teresa fall in the cave. How the image of her blood flowing freely out of her had made me feel. I couldn't though, thinking about Teresa only brought on feelings of happiness. Come on, upset me. I pleaded with my own thoughts as I gripped the sword as tightly as I could.
"You're doing it all wrong sweetie," a familiar voice said from somewhere nearby.
"Laura, is that you?" I asked and searched for her.
"Yes, it's me. But stop looking around for me. You look crazy," Laura said and laughed.
"Then where are you?" I asked.
"That's not really important, just know that I'm always with you," she said in her same warm, motherly tone.
"Okay, so what am I doing wrong?" I asked. I decided to focus on the blade of the sword as the place her voice was coming from
"You're mistaking what feeling allowed you to tap into the power of the Lover's Blade. It wasn't sadness, it was love. When the big brutish one got hurt in that cave you weren't trying to punish the creature, you were protecting a loved one," she said.
"So, you're saying these happy memories can be used to power my attacks?" I asked, hoping I understood her.
"No, I'm telling you that if you love the person, any memory of them can. You have to watch out though, not all memories have the same of power in them," she said.
"Thank you for the help," I said and looked back up at Conlin Jr.
"Anytime now Simeon, I can't hold this all day!" Bella said.
I began trying to tap into the sword's power again. Memories of our time together played in my mind as the sword's blade began to glow. When I felt the energy surging through me, I called out the attack.
"Blade of light," I called out just before the sword shaped energy shard launched in Conlin's direction.
Conlin managed to dodge the attack by gliding to his right. Someone placed their hand on my shoulder, but I didn't respond to the touch.
"Is that the best you can do? Maybe your parents will put up a better fight when this is over," Conlin Jr. yelled in response to my missed attack.
"Rain of blades," Bella said. Her voice was so flat that she sounded bored to me.
The single shard I fired multiplied in the sky above us. It split so many times, it reminded me of the stars in the night sky. When it finished multiplying there were too many tiny shards to count. They began zipping back to the ground at a speed only light can travel. Conlin noticed in time to avoid the first one, but an overwhelming barrage of them hit him. At first, he screamed as they shot through him but after a few seconds the screaming stopped. Once his wails of pain stopped the only sounds coming from his body were the sizzles from the holes burned into it. His pack of wolves vanished as his body hit the ground with a disgusting splat.
"Good riddance," Teresa said and spit in the direction of the smoking corpse.
"Yeah, no one's ever deserved it more," Bella agreed.
I was distracted by the chained spirit kneeling next to the dead body. It held the body in its arms as a ring of flames engulfed them both.
"The spirit was Conlin Sr. What a sad way to exist," I said and shook my head.