Final Trial

I lost Lady again in all the storm that they were brewing.

"Why is Lady here?", I asked Chopper.

"The same reason all of us are here", Chopper looked at me, "You've done good with Ebony, Seraph. But even at your level, you can't beat that guy no matter how hard you try. In fact, even I couldn't take him if I was at my best. The truth is, right now the only one that can take him down is Lady."

"Lady...?", it was certainly hard to believe, "Are you sure though?"

"Who are you doubting, idiot?"

I simply couldn't imagine that Lady would be able to best that opponent.

"Who is she fighting?", I asked.

"Lord Magnus", Deli spoke, "Chopper's right. I couldn't handle him either. Only Lady can do it now. And that's because he's immortal."

"Immortal...? Then Lady...she can't take care of him on her own, not at her age. Shouldn't we-"

"The hell are you talking about? What do you mean 'at her age'? This is barely her prime. You just see. She's got something that can definitely save us all", Chopper hit me a slightly which made me wince because I was more injured than I was letting on.

He looked at me with a really annoyed face and then turned towards Deli.

"You are holding up alright?", he asked casually.

Deli closed her eyes, "There's someone you need to look for, Chopper."

"No need!", we were ambushed by a flying Sight that almost blew us all away with him.

I don't know where he came from but some sort of impact had sent him flying, not that it was enough for him to lose his cool. I wonder if anything at all ever really bothered him.

As expected, Chopper was irritated beyond anything I've seen and he was probably itching to knock some sense into Sight. That's what I thought but really he was giving me a murderous look probably because I had ended up collapsing with him. He was crushed beneath me which I bet hurt a lot more for him than it did for me.

He later threw me aside and went on to meet up with Sight.

"A mutant", Sight began whistling before continuing, "It's really a berserker, this one."

"Chopper-san!", I finally recovered from all the mess that we were in and joined up with the other two.

"Seraph, look sharp."

We were joined by a glimmering huge obsidian figure that flailed about as it walked. We couldn't tell its face from its stomach. It was like a huge walking blob of whatever. I think I did see something like a face that would occasionally appear over his head or his stomach but these faces would soon sink back in.

"What is...that?", I asked as I looked at Chopper who had a mortified expression on his face.

Sight placed his hand on Chopper's shoulder, "That's exactly what I was thinking."

"Sight...?"

"Boy, you probably can't feel it but that thing over there is nothing but the craziest blend of magic. Its almost too terrifying. But, boy, that thing needs to go down. It is way too unstable to be left alone."

I couldn't see how something that sluggish could attack us. But just as I was thinking that, a face appeared on its head that looked like it was crying. And then before we could hear something, we were thrown back by a huge storm with unbelievable pressure. Still, we managed to save ourselves just barely and weren't completely destroyed by that mutant's voice.

"We can't get close", Sight said.

"Can't you put a barrier on him, Sight?", I asked.

"Probably, but not from here. This isn't gonna be that straight up, boy. His voice is like a billion knives. Get in the way of that supersonic sound wave and you are already dead."

We had just managed to regain our composures before the mutant turned toward us again and the face appeared once more. It was just at the verge of sending another one of his cries when something crashed into him from the side and both of them went flying towards the castle wall.

Naturally, they didn't make it all the way and were stopped by the massive bode of that mutant. When the smoke settled, what appeared out of their collision was Lady who at least wasn't visibly injured yet.

She exhaled before springing back up, "Ah, yo!", she winked at us before shooting back into her battle.

"Chopper-san...what are we going to do?"

"Uh...well, probably wait for her to drop by again", I guess we all agreed on that because no one objected.

In any case, we needed to come up with a strategy. While Sight kept a close eye on the flailing mutant, Chopper examined the situation. He probably had things figured out but then he looked at his injuries. None of us were in a very good condition but we had no other options...or so I thought.

"Seraph, we'll take the sides", in the end our best option was to split and attack from different sides.

That soon ended in failure as we were pushed back once again. Sight had taken the center while the two of us were attacking from opposite sides but the mutant grew three faces on each side and once again we were defeated by his cry. We had barely managed to survive this time too.

We were now desperately looking at Chopper to find a way.

"Alright, I'll go front. Just buy me a-"

"No!", Deli intervened, "Sight, take down the barrier. I'll handle this guy."

"Deli, stop and think", Chopper warned her.

"You are the one that needs to do that. Don't take stupid risks. Besides, I have better chances out of all of us. Sight, hurry!"

"Chopper-san..."

"Seraph, don't let go of Ebony. We'll give her the window she needs", Chopper grasped Ivory and got ready as Sight got Deli down.

The fight between Lady and the vampire lord was brewing a huge storm too. Facing that mutant, we were nearing the end.

"You should seize that which you bear."

I closed my eyes slowly.