Chapter 17 - A Golden fist to the sky

Emrit launched himself with a mighty fist clenched at his side. He struck forth with all the strength that he could muster as the barrier which coated his skin glowed ever so brightly in the darkened night. And as he neared the creature, floating in the air above, surrounded by the dark ashes that spiraled like a wild fire, he swung back his arm. Closer he came as the world continued to move ever so slowly in his mind. Just a bit more now.

Bam! A fist struck forth to send shockwaves of wind that broke the earth below and parted the night sky that was now dotted with many tiny stars covered by the light of a half moon.

But to Emrit's dismay, he noticed that the very same fist was safely nested within the creature's dense shadowy hand.

"Is that all you've got?" It asked as it swung its arm to the ground and sent Emrit into the earth itself, several hundred meters below, that caused a sink hole to be formed which then collapsed on the man to bury him alive.

"And I here I thought that the Stronghold family prided themselves in their strength?" the creature laughed. "How amusing?" It raised its arms into the air as his red teeth were wide on display. The third eye remained open.

A bolt of darkened red lightning then aimed for the creature's right while a fist of golden flames went for his left. Both met their marks but the creature remained unaffected.

Then there was a slash of water that came for its front while a slicing wind came from behind. Once more the creature ignored it and the Gifteds' attacks seemingly did nothing and what little damage had been done soon healed itself entirely.

"Oh how cute!" The creature mocked. "Don't you all see that you're outmatched! Nothing you do can faze me!" It continued to laugh at the leaders below.

Roy gritted his teeth as several red balls bounced upwards and gathered in front of the creature as they covered the dark mass to trap the monster within. But all it took was a simple swing of its fist to crack the barrier. And then another to shatter it some more. And finally, a third strike to completely destroy the king's prison.

Three hits. All the leaders began to sweat from that mere fact. Lord Stronghold had taken thirty such hits to do so when he was younger. And he, for one, was praised as the strongest of all Gifted.

"We must retreat." Lady Natura proposed as she readied a carpet of light for herself. "There is simply no way to win this fight with just us six. We must seek the help of as many Gifted as possible. That's our only choice."

"I agree." Riot hopped on to the back of the carpet to which Lady Natura batted an eye. "What?" the man asked as he crossed his arms. "Unlike you lot, I don't have a convenient mode of transportation."

"Do you think that I'll just let you all leave?" the dark creature fumed as it flew downward in a blitz to the golden carpet. Lady Natura fired a beam of light towards it as it came closer. But through grit and pain, the monster continued to fly through the burning light that etched away at its skin.

"Oh no you don't!" Lord Firestone shouted as he punched both his fists in one centralized blast that pushed the monster back as it came just a few inches to the Lady Natura's face.

Ratuna panted for breath. Even he was having trouble. Using such strong attacks were the only option to keep the monster at bay. But not even this bunch could continue at such a rate forever.

"All of you go ahead and gather as many allies as you can!" Ratuna shouted. "Grab Emrit out of that pit as well!" the man then ordered but as he did so, Lord Stronghold leapt out from where he had fallen into the ground.

"No need!" the man panted as he landed to his knees. "I can take care of myself." He then looked around to find Mohan some distance away. "Woman!" he shouted. "Reinforce the barrier!" he ordered.

Mohan reluctantly did as she was told and channeled her energy into the barrier to heal the places that had been cracked and fragmented.

"It is good that you are fine!" Ratuna shouted as his fist glowed golden and bright. Brighter than he ever had the need to. "Now go ahead! I will keep him at bay."

There was no argument to be made at that. The other leaders saw his resolution and didn't bother to oppose it. They each then made their way to the Rift where the majority of the Gifted along with an army of soldiers remained.

~

"Oh, how brave you are?" the creature mocked and then disappeared into nothing as it eyes glowed. "But you know, without the Lady Aerite here, you have no way to deal with my ability."

Ratuna laughed. He clenched his fist as his flame began to circle around his body. "It matters not if you are in one place or a many." The man began. "Either way, you will burn." And it was then that golden flames began to expand and encapsulate the area in a huge burst of fire.

This was the dragon's den. A fire so immense and powerful that it would turn the land to lava and heat the sky so much that it would rain for seven days after. It was a manmade hell that would burn away even the tiniest living creature and change even the mightiest beast into a well cooked meal.

The heat there was so immensely strong that not even the Lord Firestone himself would be able to handle it. But regardless, he continued to laugh as the fires covered his body and from the distance where the other leaders made for the Rift, they saw the giant golden fist that pointed to the sky. Their eyes dimmed for knowing what that might mean but still, they continued on with resolve.

~

Teya could see the raging fire from the balcony of her noble home belonging to the Firestone family. Blyke was her with her since he refused to return home to the Electura's mansion.

Her eyes began to tear up as she saw the golden fist pointing to the sky. "Father." She said as she fell to her knees and began to sob.

She knew what that power meant. Dragon's den was something specific to only a select few members of the Firestone family. Though its power, shape and strength would differ from person to person, the downside would always remain the same.

In essence, it was a sacrifice. It was the final flame of anyone who used it. That very flame would then continue to engulf its user's body and soul which would be used as fuel to continue burning away at its target for several hours when it would then stop to leave nothing behind.

"Hey what's wrong?" Blyke asked as he reached an arm out for the girl. He, for one, had no idea what such a powerful attack meant. He only thought it as another power from one of the Gifteds' leaders.

But no Gifted would be able to do something of that caliber without any drawbacks.

Teya continued to sob as Blyke desperately tried to figure out what was wrong. "Father." She continued to mutter as tears fell from her face. "Father…"

~

Maya made her way through the skies towards where the battle continued at the Rift. Along her way, she saw the giant glowing fist, which sent rays of heat even to where she was, flying some miles away.

"Terrifying." She said to herself and then continued on her way.

~

Raus continued to meet the man's ice with his raging orange flame. While the walls of ice melted on contact with the suns that he made, the silver man could seemingly make ice without any limit in mind.

But despite all that, the man couldn't help noticing the burning fist that emerged closer to the Kingdom. It was there that the seven family leaders had been fighting. Blyke gritted his teeth. He knew who that fist belonged to but he hadn't time to grief and only continued to focus his attention to the silver man.

However, Eon soon joined him in battle as the small man landed a kick that shattered a wall of ice which then crumbled to the ground.

"Hey you!" Eon shouted at the silver man who stood upon a pillar of ice as his silver robe drifted along with the wind under the starry, moon-lit sky.

"You must know how to close that rift!" Eon continued. The brown man's eyes then became terrifying and his brows sharpened. "Why don't you tell me how to do that?" Eon shouted and then blasted himself into the air.

This time, the silver robed warrior knew better than to attack Eon with his ice formed creations. Instead, he gracefully skated down, using the ice that he made, and slid past Eon who was several meters in the air. Then with a simple touch, Eon became frozen within a mountain of ice as the silver man continued down to the ground below.

"As strong as you might be, your consciousness still becomes dimmed within ice." The robed warrior said as he looked to Eon. Then he refocused his attention to Raus. "Now I'll just have to make sure you don't melt that ice away."

As the man spoke, his voice seemed somewhat forced. It was definitely deeper than it should have been. He was trying to hide his identity.

No matter though, Raus readied his flame. Whoever he was could wait until the battle was over. A raging sun soon emerged to be countered by a wall of ice. The fight continued.