Grudges (2)

"What do you mean by that, Isaac?" (Arella)

Arella was stunned after hearing him; the same could be said by the two quiet elders in front of her.

Although Isaac wanted to answer right away, he suddenly received a telepathic message from Nayru.

~[Master, a woman with unknown motives is here, and from her vibe, she isn't friendly.]~

These news started to worry Isaac. He knew that these situations were caused by someone working with Trigon, but as to who the person was, he had no idea. After all, this situation can be considered partially his fault.

He messed with the events leading to the destruction of Azarath, and now these are the consequences, a situation that never happens in the comics.

Did he regret it? Not at all; after all, he needed the magic guide, and changing the future of little Raven and her mother was something he thought about even before meeting them.

"I will be brief; the souls of those two elders are connected with the souls of the demons. As to how that happened, I will need to examine them further, but the best option right now is to trap them or seal them...."(Isaac)

His tone of voice became stern and serious, and after saying the first part, he looked at Arella in the eyes.

"Right now, Raven and Nayru are probably fighting the mastermind behind this incident." (Isaac)

The eyes of Arella showed a plethora of emotions, but the most prominent one was worry. The elders in front of her became more serious, showing the gravity of the situation.

"Go, Master Azar, protect your daughter" (Elder Ada)

The first one to speak was Elder Ada. She knew the worries of a mother, but she also knew that the new Azar was heavily bound by her duty.

"...but Elder Ada..." (Arella)

For a couple of seconds, she couldn't speak, but she managed to try to protest, but a voice interrupted her.

"Please leave this to us, Master Azar." (Elder Janni)

The serious voice of Elder Janni almost convinced her, and when she tried to refute his words as well, another voice came from behind her.

"Go, Master Azar. I, as a Guardian of Azarath, along with the Elders, will deal with this situation." (Isaac)

*Sigh*

"Very well"(Arella)

She couldn't reject their kind intentions anymore, and without saying another word, she went running upstairs, where her daughter was.

"Gaaargh!!"

"Raaagh!!"

The demons, enraged by these humans who were ignoring them as if they didn't exist at all, began to charge at them.

"Then Elders, shall we take care of this quickly?" (Isaac)

Isaac took a battle pose, to which Elder Ada and Janni replied by taking their own.

"Ha ha ha ha, sure thing, kid, show us what you got.(Elder Janni)

************************

Arella ran with all her might, boosted by her own magic; it only took a couple of minutes to reach the main entrance of the temple.

There she saw the fairy that Isaac brought to Azarath to protect and keep company with her daughter: Nayru, fighting a female demon, but something was different about this demon. Instead of a "beast," this demon had some humanoid features, and you could actually recognize who it was before her transformation.

"You?" Arella said in shock.

Her voice wasn't loud, but it definitely wasn't low. The battle momentarily stopped, and both Nayru and the female demon looked at her.

"Ah, finally the sinner graces us with her presence" (???) With her sarcastic remark, she could feel the hate and disdain in her tone.

"Mom!"(Raven)

Arella looked where her daughter was, and then she saw the gray magic shield around her that was on the brink of destruction.

Seen distracted, the female demon took the opportunity to attack her, Nayru, and Raven. 

Gathering demonic energy around her, she formed spears, tridents, and swords all over the place. With a wave of her hands, she pushed them at the three of them.

Arella responded by gathering light magic around her, and for a moment, her purple iris turned golden, then she pushed her hands forward.

*Flap* *Flap* *Flap*

Countless doves made out of energy charged at the demonic weapons in the whole place; some went flying close to Nayru and others in front of Raven.

*Pop* *pop* *pop*

Each time the weapons attacked and destroyed a dove, instead of disappearing, they popped, absorbing the demonic energy and purifying it.

"Arghh..you..."(???)

These actions dissatisfied the female demon, who looked more pissed than before. Seeing that her ranged attacks were useless against them, she changed tactics.

She retrieved all the demonic energy in the room concentrated on her body, then rushed, not at Arella or Nayru but instead at Raven.

"No! You will not harm my child!" (Arella)

She extended her hands and made a grabbing motion towards the female demon. In front of her chains made out of light, it chased the female demon quickly.

*Crash*

*Clank*

With the barrier broken, Raven could see a right hand with long, dark nails just a couple of inches from her small face, the hand had a light chain around her wrist that prevented her from moving any further.

Not only the right hand was chained, but the left hand, right foot, and waist of the female demon were also wrapped in chains.

Arella pulled her hands backwards, and the chains obeyed her by pulling the female demon towards her and away from Raven.

Nayru took the opportunity to position herself in front of Raven, and just for good measure...

"[Dia]"(Nayru)

...she cast a heal spell on her.

*********************

"Haa! Any ideas, kid?" (Elder Ada)

*Crash*

"Ho! Let him think for Azar sake!"(Elder Janni)

*Zap*

"Shut up, you old sack of bones!" (Elder Ada)

"What did you say!?..." (Elder Janni)

As soon as Arella left, Elder Ada and Janni began fighting the demons themselves, giving Isaac some time to think of a solution.

(For I could see with soul sight those two elders were forced to merge with the demons, but the most intriguing part is that it doesn't seem like they are rejecting the process either.)

Isaac started to look around the room for a possible explanation, and when his gaze landed on the "Cleaning Ritual," he understood.

(That's...the ritual is corrupted?, no, it was modified.)

"Elders, please hold them a little longer. I think I know what happened here!" (Isaac)

He immediately went running to the cleaning ritual place to investigate further.

"Raaagghh!!"

"Wwaaaargh"

The demons noticed where he was going, and as if they knew his intentions, they charged at him and launched themselves at him, ignoring the Elders.

"Oh, I don't know what you discover, kid, but apparently they don't like it, [Azarath, Lux, Eterna]." (Elder Janni)

*Clap*

He put his hands together in a horizontal position, putting his left hand at the bottom and his right hand on top.

*Thun* *Thun* *Thun*

As both demons were charging at Isaac, they suddenly stood inside a circle made of light magic.

"Arrgh?"

"Garrgh?"

They stopped for a moment, and in that moment, Elder Janni pulled his right hand and left hand up and down, respectively, and from his fingers, light connected both hands.

Pillars of light stuck close together began to rise up from the circle below the demons, and when it caged both of them, a circle on top appeared, sealing their only escape route, completing the containment cell.

"Arrgh!"

"Raawwgh!"

Both demons started attacking the pillars, trying to destroy them. One of the demons started punching them, and the other threw fire from his mouth at them.

"Ghhagh!" (Elder Janni)

Beats of sweat began to fall from the face of the Elder, but he was still holding on. Elder Ada positioned herself in front of Isaac as the second line of defense.

Meanwhile, Isaac was already in front of the ritual, examining it carefully from top to bottom.

(Interestingly, the ritual wasn't modified as I thought but instead was inverse. I see the demon entity is the part that they descarted when they took part in the cleansing ritual, and because that part went to Trigon, it became demonic in nature, so I need to revert this thing again?, No, I will need more time...)

[Master, sorry for interrupting your train of thought, but the previous orders...]

(Shit!...Right, they weren't normal demons, but demonized people; how many did you kill, Ivory?)

[As we speak, there are 25 demons that were eliminated and 10 that were captured for further study.]

*Sigh*

(It can't be helped, I didn't know that this could be used against us; from now on, capture every demon that you find)

[Understood]

"Ha, ho, kid, any results!"(Elder Ada)

Isaac turned around, only to find Elder Ada fighting the demons inside the cage that Elder Janni was conjuring.

"Good news and bad news"(Isaac)