12 Victory

'Tap'

'Tap'

Multiple footsteps, echoed throughout the cave, and the silence exuded an intimidating feeling. Indra and Meres soon reached a place, which resembled closely to a throne room and slowly walked in.

"Ah, what a perfect place hehehe." Meres replied, turning his back towards Indra and viewing the insides of the throne room.

"Does it matter?" Indra asked.

"No, but I'm scared that I might end up hurting you too much."

"Don't make that face, if you're going to be so caring." Indra disgustingly replied, as he saw Meres turn around. Only one word came to his mind, 'creepy'. Indra fully knew, this was the type of guy to slowly toy with his foe and torture him to death.

"Here I come, boyyyyy!" Meres hollered creepily and charged at Indra, as his finger nails started to expand like claws.

'Claws huh, interesting' Indra thought as he continued to dodge Meres' attacks.

"As I thought, you can dodge this speed. How about we take it up another notch?"

Meres's arms started to transform, as two spikes protruded out of his elbows and his toenails expanded, similar to his claw like fingernails. The appearance made him, even more vicious and menacing.

"To think after so many years, I'd end up seeing demonification. You really sold your soul to the devil didn't you?" Indra questioned.

"That's right, and since you talk so much let me rip out that tongue of yours." Meres speed increased two-fold, as he continued slashing, but to his avail, Indra dodged it effortlessly.

Meres then came close to Indra and created a purple orb and detonated it right in front of him. Just as he thought he had won, Indra grabbed Meres's arms. He tried to struggle free from his foe's clutches, but to his surprise, was not able to do so.

Indra then, lifted both his legs in the air and kicked Meres in the abdomen.

"Hey now, don't tell me this is all you have?" Indra replied sarcastically.

'Crash'

Meres flew across the throne room and crashed into the walls.

On the other side, the dust settled with Eden on one knee and Zenith pointing his dagger towards him.

He had failed completely in obtaining the crystal as Zenith was too strong for him and his men. Death lingered in the air, and today, only one of them would get out of this alive.

"How?" Eden replied in exhaustion.

"Idiot, you're not the only one with a barrier." Zenith said as he slit Eden's throat.

After killing him, Zenith mustered his remaining energy and walked towards Thromier. The moment she opened the barrier and let him in, he walked inside and smiled towards her, indicating his win and passed out.

Thromier shook her head, as she noticed the huge potential within Zenith. This man would one day, shake the universe.

Meres slowly came out from the crated wall, and jumped down. Things weren't looking so good for him.

His ribs were shattered, especially his sternum, while his head was bleeding after crashing with such momentum. Had he not use his demonification, he would have been splattered.

"What the hell are you?!" Meres screamed in fear. Nothing mattered right now. All he wanted to do was escape and never meet this man ever again. His strength and speed exceeded Meres', astronomically.

Meres started to realize, when he first met Indra, he was only able to gauge Zenith's battle power, but was not able to feel a thing from Indra. Sweat started to trickle down as he decided to escape. But how was he going to do it?

Who here had the ability to stop him. Immediately he felt two presences concealed within the throne room.

"Princess! I know you are here with your servant. Save me from this man and I shall give you anything you want." Meres started to beg.

Indra had already detected their presences, yet kept quiet. Though the princess was not as strong as Meres, the servant however seemed much stronger than him. Though to Indra, it was all the same.

"Then, you have to sign a loyal to death contract for the next hundred years and that you will not go after the amethyst crystal. Otherwise I can just leave you here to rot." She replied without looking at him.

Meres nodded immediately, without caring for anything but his life. It was understatement, yet hypocritical to mention how much he values his own life.

"I have nothing against you Ma'am, so I suggest you step out of the way." Indra replied.

"No can do. You will be eliminated today. Now go, my faithful servant." The princess pointed towards Indra.

Without a moment's waste, the servant charged towards Indra with all his might and started to hammer him down with his mace.

Just as Meres thought Indra was done for, a reverberating boom echoed throughout the throne room, causing dust to fly everywhere.

When the princess and Meres slowly opened their eyes, they saw a figure passed out in a large crater in front of them. When the she realized it was her servant, she screamed in horror as tears trickled down her eyes.

"I did not kill him. However-" He instantly appeared in front of the princess, grabbed her by the throat and lifted her up, causing her to convulse from the pain.

"Should you ever get in my way, I'll kill you." Indra's gaze pierced the very depths of her soul, causing her to eventually faint. Placing her down, he noticed Meres stunned, in place without moving.

"Please don't kill me, I beg you." He started pleading.

"Did you let the others go when they were in your position?" Indra asked in anger.

Meres couldn't utter a single word, as he ran out of words to speak.

"Don't worry, I will not kill you. But.....I will take away your power permanently." Indra stated, as he grabbed him by the head.

Soon, golden energy started to flow in Meres' body. He started to scream with all the pain. A pain unlike anything felt before. The golden energy violently attacked the demonic energy and was pulled out from his body.

After throwing the unconscious Meres away, Indra stared at the black energy on his hand. It felt ominous, and corrosive; trying to absorb his golden energy and turn into more demonic energy. He converted the remaining demonic energy into pure energy and dispersed it into tiny fragmented particles.

'It's finally over huh.'

Indra sighed as he walked away from the place and headed over to Thromier. He immediately searched for Zenith and his whereabouts. Noticing him unconscious yet safe, Indra felt relieved and headed over to Thromier.

"So you won huh?"

"Yeah, by a close margin." Indra smirked.

"Yeah right! I saw that 'close margin' battle. You are much stronger than I thought."

"Thanks. So how is he?" Indra asked.

"He is fine. He did go a little overboard consuming some of his life force, but he should be healed soon." She responded.

"Thank you Indra. I owe you one."

"It's fine, and besides, you owe me a crystal." Indra replied impatiently.

Thromier started laughing loudly startling the poor Zenith from his sleep.

"I thought I almost died you stupid dragon! Can't you just shut up for once?!" Zenith screamed.

"Well, it was Indra's fault for making me laugh." Thromier blamed it all on him.

Upon noticing each other, Indra and Zenith fist bumped each other in delight.

"You did it Zen, I'm proud of you." Indra replied.

Zenith who heard him, laughed sheepishly and jumped in excitement, only to fall back down yelling about his injuries. All three of them laughed to their hearts content.

Indra, who watched Zenith and Thromier laughing, couldn't help but remember the times with his parents.

The love, the feeling of warmth and being safe, made him tear up. He felt like a crybaby, wanting to cry more and more. Without being found out, he wiped his tears silently, and joined in the fun with his friends.