31 Skylar, The Third Pillar

In all of a sudden, her lips touched upon his skin. However, it didn't feel like Blue's lips. When she popped her eyes open, she noticed it was Blue's finger stopping her lips from getting close.

In that brief moment, Blue's and Celina's eyes were close, only few inches away, they both awkwardly exchanged stares.

"That won't be necessary." Blue said, throwing his manly and warm breath upon her cheeks.

Celina lurched away with a screech, she sat and noticed the floating skulls were already gone. "What's going on?" She said.

The old man laughed heavily as he hugged his stomach. "Sorry for that, I just made it up, those spirits are actually harmless."

Celina sprang up annoyed, she stomped her foot. "I can't believe you fool us Uncle!" She hissed.

Blue snickered. "I can't believe you were actually gonna kiss me if I haven't stopped you."

Celina's cheeks blushed heavily, her face was visibly red, a heavy blunder smacked her chest, she could feel herself melting away from embarrassment. "Whatever, I am done." She leaped over the boat, dipped into the waters and swam across the lake.

"Hey, you're going in the wrong way missy." The old man said, correcting her direction.

***

The dark clouds loomed under the city of Raxin. Loud grumbling noises engulfed the outer stony walls of the city, on the ramparts were archers with their bows nocked and ready, they aimed their weapon to the throng of demons on the base of the walls. The demons below battered the iron gate with their clubs and bats, thus far they only inflicted several dents, but anyone could tell it won't hold for long. They then fired to dwindle their numbers, however they were stubborn.

The lanky demons crawled upon the walls, they were shot down by mages and archers who kept an eye above the ramparts. The army of demons were pushing their way through, climbing like ants upon the high walls, one or two often gets to clamber successfully but they were taken care by the knights on standby.

A confident looking captain of Raxin, his face still as a rock with his burly posture, walked to and fro behind the line of archers, giving commands and strengthening their morale, but there was a shred of anxiety written on his face, and it was well hidden.

The demon have started their attack this early morning and it was now noon, sadly enough the demons showed no signs of tiredness.

His men however were turning sluggish, then out flung a rain of spears skewering the archers infront of him. One almost hit him, it flew close to his chest.

"Enemy reinforcements!" One man yelled

The captain quickly crouched behind the rampart walls, he peeked over and noticed a seperate approaching demon army from the distance. They looked like an incoming swarm, merging with the army they were currently battling, swelling the population size of their enemy even further.

"Captain Shugart, what should we do?" A soldier approached his side, then stooped to hide.

Shugart snorted in displeasure. "Where are the crusaders? I heard they will arrive today?" He said in frustration.

The man infront of him turned anxious. "Actually, I just recieved a message, the crusaders was delayed because they were ambushed by a demon forces."

"What!" Shugart bursted a word. He turned his eyes to the vast army of demons, they were hurling a shower of spears that dwindled his men on the ramparts. It pierced through their flesh, some fell from the walls, while most of his men collapsed like bowling pins, blood spurting out on the stony rampart.

He noticed his men's posture were turning unsteady, their morale were wavering.

"Men, hold them! Do not falter." Shugart hollered.

Shugart cursed and clenched his fist, he took a bow, some arrows and fired upon the demons. It struck him bad when he realized, him joining won't change the tide of the battle.

Several demons managed to scale the walls and land upon the rampart, Shugart unsheathed his sword then sliced them down quick. The mages and archers could no longer keep up with the numbers of the demons crawling up.

Most of the knights have joined the battle, they engaged the battle against the demons upon the ramparts.

"Elite demon!" A man warned them.

Shugart halted, he turned his anxious face into the open landscape, surveying the chaotic crowd of demons. He gritted his teeth when a demon with slightly different in hue, advanced forward. It stood out from the other demon with its composed gait, and its movement had some hint of grace.

It was a tough looking demon, with a broad torso, its skin seemed dense and hard judging from its smooth texture, since there were no creases found on its skin as well. Its head had a horn like rhino, it then crouched as it eyed the iron gate. The demons stepped sidewards, creating a path for the elite demon.

Upon sensing the intention of the demon, Shugart widened his eyes.

"Shoot it down, quick!" Shugart commanded.

With his voice echoing through the walls, most of the archers directed their aim upon the elite demon. Arrows rained down upon the elite demon, most that struck its skin were either snapped or deflected, giving them an idea its skin was rock solid.

Seeing it was no use, he sneered.

The demon lunged itself forward like a rhino with its head first, then it slammed upon the gate, with a heavy clang, the gates got bent and fell apart, making a path for the huge demon army to enter the city.

The demons cheered with their arms rose up.

Shugart slammed his fist upon the wall. "Damn it! The city is now done for." He spat.

A man besides Shugart took a monocular telescope and peeked through it, he then gasped in surprise after what he just saw. "Captain, the reinforcements have arrived."

Shugart felt relieved. "How many?"

"Two." He replied.

"Two? Then how will that change anything?" Shugart said confusingly.

The demons mirthly celebrated when the gates were brought down, however they got hushed quick when a layer of ice crawled across the battlefield, it ran across the throng of demons petrifying them and turning them into ice sculptures. The ice magic expanded outwards transforming the entire landscape into a glistening, icy surface.

The men on the ramparts fluttered their eyelids, they blinked one more time just to make sure they weren't dreaming. The army of demons below were turned into ice statues, and the noise got quelled in an instant.

"Captain, it's Skylar the third Pillar!" Said a man shocked.

On the distance, was a jet black haired young man who wore a grey shirt, he crouched and touched the ground with his arm. "Absolute Zero!" Skylar declared.

Right beside him was a girl in fancy red robe, she had a long, smooth blond hair fluttering freely on the open the air. She had a bright cheeks, her face was young and shy, glimmering tiara affixed with bright rubies was found on her head, she was clasping both of her hands infront of her as though unconfident. The entire land was encased in ice, except for the ground where she stood. Her name was Herana.

Skylar chuckled and rose himself up. "Let's go Princess." He said.

Princess Herana nodded, she then scampered to his side.

Her eyes were sunk to the ground as she clung unto him. "Skylar, the demons scare me." She said.

Skylar smiled. "Don't worry Princess, I'll protect you."

They weaved though the field which was filled with demon sculptures, she could tell they were still alive beneath the ice since their eyes were actively darting. Her grip upon him became tighter.

The knights near the walls quickly took care of the demons who weren't caught by the ice. The soldiers poured out from the gates then took the opportunity to slay the demons while they were defenseless as statues.

One demon broke out from the ice, shattering it to pieces, as they recognized it was the elite demon from earlier, it snarled from frustration and mowed down the soliders infront of it. It then turned its enraged face to the calm Skylar, it was distant but Skylar could feel its oozing bloodlust.

"How dare you human!" It roared, and crouched on the ground readying itself to attack once again.

Skylar patted Herana's shoulder. "Princess, could you stand back for a moment."

Herana nodded and went to a safe distance.

The demon charged itself like a train heading to Skylar's direction, it heavy and pudgy body gave an impression it was unstoppable.

However, Skylar stood still unperturbed, he stooped to the ground, when the demon got close enough, "Ice spear!" after the cast, tilted ice spikes were conjured from the ground heading to the demon, it jabbed the demon's body, yet it didn't penetrate through its skin, the demon continued breaking through Skylar's ice.

Skylar smirked. "You're not bad, then how about this, Ice wall."

A broad several layers of walls of ice rose up from the ground, on the first or second layers of ice it broke through fine, breaking it into pieces, but when it reached the seventh layer it turned slow, until it lost its momentum completely upon the last layer.

Skylar strolled towards the demon who were recovering its stance, when he was on point blank range he touched the demon chest. Upclose the demon loomed over him, it's grotesue face, and buldging muscles would send some fright on anyone's skin.

The demon growled and rose its giant fist, then when it thrusted his fist towards Skylar's undettered face, the demon's arm were halted on the air as though it stopped itself. The knuckles of the demon were only few inches infront of Skylar's face, yet no signs of fear were emanated by his expression.

There was no signs of ice on the demon's body yet it got petrified, it couldn't move an inch of its muscles.

Thin shards of ice were slowly forming atop its skin. The demon groaned as it shivered hard, its mouth were releasing a puff of cold mists, as though its innards were being frozen. It's skin turned pale blue as though it was a corpse.

Skylar gripped the demons arm, and with a gentle tug, the demon's body fell apart and shattered into pieces like a fragile ice, its body parts were like a broken vase, scattered into pieces on the ground. "Ice Break!" He casted, with a cold, unforgiving eyes.

***

"Bye younglings." The old man on the canoe said, waving his arm upon the two.

Celina and Blue finally left the lake and the foggy area, Celina crossed her arms with her face away and tilted up, displaying an irritated expression. She was obviously pissed from their joke earlier, and still haven't moved on.

Blue had dried her clothes again, as much as he wanted to help her, the thought of being reduced to a cloth drier was starting to get on his nerves.

Both silently walked on the hard packed dirt road, besides their path was a vast and lush pastures gently swaying by the breeze. The mountains on the horizon carved an outline upon the clear blue sky, upon a glance on his front, the road they were on seemed endless as it stretched further even beyond his eagle-like sight can see.

The sun was almost sinking, however he can stay the night anywhere he wanted, he still haven't experienced any signs of drowsiness, so he had no need of sleep yet. The woman however were his concern. He pointed at her. "Hey woman, you should hurry before night fall."

Celina snorted wildly, she went on first and ignored him completely.

At least his ears was quiet, the whispers of the nature sounded better than her annoying squeals. He can breathed in more calmly.

"Blue, next time I'll double the embarrassment you caused me." She said aggressively.

The peaceful and silent atmosphere he just felt were quickly broken. "I prefer going with you when your mouth was shut." He said.

Celina jolted her arm in anger. "What happened earlier will continue to hunt me in the future, especially everytime before I sleep." She said.

Blue laughed, scoffing her. "Was it that bad? Or did you rather prefer if I didn't stop you?" He said.

Celina flushed a bit, she hastened and trudged her steps. "Geez, whatever." She said.

She slowed down and her anger went away when she noticed a village on the distance. There were paliside walls surrounding the village, with a tall wooden building near the gates, which seemed to be a watch tower. The tall and thick trees nearby somewhat concealed the village. It seems even the smallest settlements were prepared against any demon attacks.

Since the night was coming they could probably find somewhere to rest in this place.