Descent To Madness---- III

Licking the dripping blood off of her palm, the demon released a hot breath into the chilly night air as her flushed cheeks reddened and the swirling madness of her crimson eyes intensified.

"Oh~ Oh how sweet your blood tastes little birdie~ "

Dropping her shoulders lifelessly, the demon let the blood trail down her arm and stain the ground, her white hair curtaining over her eyes. "Unfortunately, I can't play with you any longer as. For today is master's awaited day! The day an immortal falls!" she said, raising both her arms abruptly in a crazed fashion

"And, you're the only one left…"

Poising one of her sharp black legs in front of Eset's chest, the huge spider demon grinned, stretching her lips all the way to her ears.

Eset raised her head weakly, some chips of her cracked white antlers falling off.

{Wind Blade}!

Just when the spider's deadly leg was a hair's breadth away from her chest, Eset sent a thin wind blade severing the ebony lance perforating her wing and letting her fall to the ground.

Behind her, the spider's sharp leg destroyed the tree, sending millions wood pieces asunder.

Under the demon's giant body, Eset crawled, sending wind blades at its legs to no avail, for they were too tough. Proving fruitless, Eset thought to escape from the immediate area, but augmenting her senses to their limits, and enforcing her body to minimize the damage along with her wind blade attacks, left her dry on Aeter.

'N-Not enough A-Aeter to T-Teleport…'

When Eset was under the demon's bulgy abdomen, a sticky white material latched on to her leg and dragged her all the way to the demon's face.

"How sneaky~ I applaud you for delaying the inevitable, but you will die by my hands today. So just sit still, okay~?"

'N-No! Please, d-don't'

Eset watched on with dread as the demon's finger nails extended like blades, threatening her life once again. She thrashed and squirmed under the demon's firm grip screeching in panic, yet she was not able to escape.

"Nighty nighty little birdie~"

Mercilessly, the demon mocked Eset, reveling in her anguish as she thrust her nail at the owl with a savage grin.

###

-SHATTER

That was all it took for the dream to shatter like broken glass and to find myself laying in a mass of rubble.

Laying under the piles of wood and debris, I opened my eyes tiredly as I experienced jolts of pain running through my body. Blood was leaking out of many crevices, small wooden chips pricking the pink tissues peeking out of my torn skin.

The fog of debris was thick and the wooden logs impeded my sight under the night sky, only my ears picking up faint sounds outside.

I heard a mad cackling waft through the air, goose bumps rising on my skin as it made its way into my ears. I heard sounds of heavy impact and chaotic movement, but most importantly, I heard pained screeches.

Screeches of agony, screeches of hopelessness and suffering.

My eyes turned bloodshot as I wrestled with the heavy wooden logs using my weak wound ridden body. My finger nails cracked and bled as I dug into the fibers of the logs, straining my energy-depleted muscles.

"AAAARGGGGHH"

A muffled scream escaped my mouth as I bit into one log, unable to hear the tortuous screeches of my sister.

'GET UP! GET.UP!' I shouted into my mind.

Slowly, as rage consumed my mind, a golden hue covered my body like a burning fire. I felt my strength return, and adrenaline engorge my veins.

I clumped my fist tightly, veins snaking my fisted arm in droves. Reeling it backwards as much as I could, I struck my arm to the mass of rubble stacked on top of me.

-BOOOOM!

Powerfully, my fist broke through the clattered structure, sending much of the debris flying as it produced a shock wave of violent air pressure, rustling the trees and rattling their deep settled roots.

Free from the impediment of rubble, I was able to see the demonic creature torment Eset from my still half-seated position.

Anger engulfed my senses once more as I stretched my arm forward, sending dozens of thick, green, thorny vines at the spider shaped demon.

{Vine Barrage}!

The Plantae attack burst through the surface of the soil and twisted in the air devouring the distance between them and the target with great speed.

"Hmm~? I thought I snuffed your candle…"

Muttering to herself bemusedly, the demon scurried away swiftly, avoiding the vines easily as they stabbed into the earth she stood on barely a fraction of a second ago. Eset however, fell from the demon's grip still wrapped in the cocoon of sticky webs as the wave of vines swerved around her under Elias's accurate manipulation.

[Elias… Y-You're still alive! Thank the gods!] Cried the owl telepathically, chocking on her voice as small tears escaped her once listless eyes.

Elias was barely controlling his own emotional state, only sparing her a quick glance before his bloodshot eyes narrowed at the demon.

"You…" he said solemnly, pointing his finger at the demon. "I will kill you today, and nothing will stop me. Not even the gods themselves."

Thunder rumbled the sky, lighting up the dark curtain behind him as he declared his challenge.

The arachnid chuckled softly at first before holding her body with her arms tightly and laughing madly as she hunched over.

"Little boy, you could not perceive the speed of my attack. What makes you think you could utter such bold words to Tsuchigmo the Impaler?"

Tsuchigmo's body vanished shortly after she said those malice filled words to Elias, only to appear right behind him.

'SHIT!'

Blasted, Elias's body flew in the air as he crashed into multiple trees, blowing them all to smithereens.

As he came to a crouching stop several broken trees later, smoke wafted off his stationary body eliciting a proud grin from Tsuchigmo. That was, until the silver moonlight reflected off of the glinting metal shell protecting his back, its light piercing through the smoke enveloping his figure. On its surface, a dent could be seen, right above the spinal area.

Elias cracked a mad grin almost matching hers as he looked into her eyes fearlessly.

Wordlessly, Elias's body catapulted into the high into the sky as he kicked his legs in the air. Falling down, Elias straightened his body like an arrow and zeroed in on the demon like a comet.

Rough wind flapped his cheeks and exposed his red gums as he smiled crazily.

"Oho~ What a tough one you are! Come here little human boy, come to death!"

Readying herself, the demon conjured a white silky web from the flesh under her exoskeleton and molded it into dozens of lance like shapes. Seeping her corrupted Aeter into the webs, they soon hardened and turned into the same shade of black as her armor.

Thrusting her hand forward, Tsuchigmo sent the lances homing on Elias's falling body like missiles.

Mid-air, Elias twisted his body and twirled acrobatically, dodging the dark lances as they zipped through the air. Some lances however were unavoidable, for those, he augmented his body and conjured a metal shield on his arms parrying the deadly lances aside.

Finally free of the wave of attacks, Elias took out his staff from the dimensional storage ring and held it with one hand to the side of his body, following his arrow shape structure.

Just when he was a few meters away from the demon, and just when he thought her attack was over, Tsuchigmo reeled her extended hand backwards with a triumphant grin, clutching a plethora of hidden strings that made themselves known only after it was too late.

As the blades zipped back threatening to impale the boy's body, Tsuchigmo's eyes showed confusion at the boy's increased delight.

'Too bad. I wasn't planning on facing you head on in the first place!'

"SWITCH"/[SWITCH]