Chapter 8 - A demon made of malice

Finally they had reached the bottom and as it were now, Evan and the others stood in some sort of underground labyrinth. Of course, they were still malice beasts that lunged at them every now and then, but the group had gotten used to that by now. Still, it would only be a matter of time before they would all become exhausted and worn out. Whoever there foe might have been, the group would have to deal with that matter quickly and hopefully have enough strength remaining for them to leave.

But the bigger problem currently at hand was deciding how to proceed. They had no idea how large the labyrinth was. However, they did know it branched out in several directions. So they decided that they would split apart in three groups. Ronin would go by himself to the right. Marcus along with Evan and Teya would go to the left. And the remaining Gifted, lead by Rill, would go forward. Their orders were strictly to scout and nothing more. They were to investigate their respective tunnels and return here, exactly one hour later.

With that said and done, they were off.

~

Teya kept her ring of fire around both men as they traversed through the tunnel. Evan noticed that due to the confined space, the malice beasts that formed here were much smaller than those in the vortex of the storm. That made things easier to deal with and navigating forward wasn't too difficult.

But something kept bothering Evan. There was this voice in his head and he recognized it as well. It was the same voice that spoke to him through the rift. The one belonging to the gigantic demon lord.

It roared in his head and he fell to his knees with his hands placed over his ears. "You've come strange one. But why is that?"

"Evan!" Teya called. "What's wrong?" she knelt beside the boy who was trembling terribly.

"It's in my head." Evan replied. "The demon's in my head."

Teya then looked to Marcus behind her. Even the man didn't know what to do.

"We should head back." He said finally after some consideration.

Evan forced himself to rise and forged a cloud. "Get on." The boy said. "He's knows that we're here. We have to find the others."

And then a swooshing sound, resembling water running through a tunnel, was heard coming from the passage ahead. "Get on!" Evan shouted as he jumped on to the cloud. Marcus and Teya did as they were told and soon they were dashing away from the strange sound. In the darkness, they could not yet see what it was. That is, until it came close enough to Teya's flame for the girl to see a red eye within a puddle of black malice streaming towards them.

Evan saw it too and forged a hardened cloud behind them after Marcus shot a few shards towards it.

"Is that the demon lord?" Marcus asked as he turned to look at the boy who was still groaning with a strange headache.

"I think so." Evan replied as he looked back to see his clouds being enveloped by the shadows.

Evan then returned his attention to his front and forced the cloud forward with all his might. It was then that a strange symbol had begun to emerge in his eye as the clouds turned luminescent and multicolored. Before the boy knew what was happening, a rainbow blasted off behind him and at a dazzling speed, they had arrived once more under the eye of the storm. And slowly, the light faded away and Evan's cloud dissipated into nothing as the boy fell in to a forced slumber.

~

On the other hand, Rill's group had managed to make it all the way to the end of the tunnel. And with the red lightning that zapped around them, they were able to see a ledge that lead off into a deeper cavern beneath. Going down there using normal means would mean death since it was quite a steep fall. But luckily for them, they had Maya within their presence.

And as such, the group hovered down below. But as they did this, a dark mass lingered behind them and from the corner or Rill's eyes, he saw the red pentagram symbol.

"Take us back!" the boy shouted.

Maya having known him for quite some time knew that he wouldn't say such a thing without good reason. And without a word of question, she dashed upwards just as multiple walls of liquid like malice raised high around them and plunged down into the ground with a huge splash. It would have taken the group with them as well, had it not been for Rill's warning.

"Take us back through the tunnel, Maya!" Rill yelled but as the girl flew back to where the tunnel had been, she found that it was now blocked by a wall of malice.

Then a red eye opened and a smiling face of red luminescent teeth was seen.

It laughed.

"Well, well. Look who we have here." The monster spoke. "Fish caught in a net."

And just as the creature spoke, a bolt of lightning struck for its face. But it did nothing and what had once been destroyed by the bolt soon became healed as malice flowed into the creature.

"Impatient are we?" A massive hand reached for Blyke as his lightning raged around him.

"Shut up!" he yelled and blasted forth his power at the hand. But just as the face did, the hand soon became healed after it had been destroyed. All Blyke had really done was stall for time.

"Maya, get us out of here!" Rill shouted. "I don't care where, just anywhere else!" he added impatiently as sweat dripped from his forehead.

Maya did as she was told and blasted forth her wind that carried her friends in whatever direction she felt was right. And what was right was anywhere that didn't have the hands of malice that emerged from the ground. But it was trivial, no matter where she went, she either found herself facing a wall of rock or being attacked by some malice filled apparition. It was hopeless. As the creature had first told them, they were fish trapped within a net.

~

The giants continued to approach regardless of what flame, wind or lightning the Gifted shot towards it. Even with the Lord Aquaron's help who summoned mighty waves to crash and wash them away, things were not going so well. They had managed to kill about seven such giants by now. And that was mostly thanks to Eon and Lord Aquaron himself. But even those two had begun feeling tired due the giants that continued to force themselves out from the rift.

This time, it was a bird like apparition that came out and flew to the skies above. "Oh no you don't." the lord roared as water emerged from nothing and blue spears were flung into the sky, striking the bird and causing it to crash in to the ground below.

The man panted and wiped his sweaty forehead. He narrowed his eyes at the incoming giants that walked with their long hands dangling in front.

Water rose in a mighty wave and he motioned it forward to push those giants back. He gritted his teeth and soon spikes of stormy water emerged to spear each and every one of the giants. But this did not kill them nor did it kill the bird that had fallen to the ground. These creatures were nothing but black malice. And they would only die when all that malice became destroyed.

Eon had already gone to continue pummeling at the bird until it disappeared entirely. For now, the blonde man would have to keep these back by himself with the help of those Gifted around him. But that was what he thought before seeing the bolt of red lightning that struck down from the heavens to electrocute those trapped it the water. And soon, an old friend landed beside the man.

The bearded man grinned as he saw the familiar, stiff face beside him. "So Roy finally dragged you out of that hole you made in the mountains."

"Be quiet and hold them back." Lord Electura replied coldly as he pointed forward his hand and a storm of lightning shot forth into the water that held the giants in place.

~

Meanwhile, Eon along with a few other Gifted and soldiers had finally shrunk the bird into a reasonable size. Even if this flew to the capital, the soldiers posted on the wall would take care of it. So now the man looked towards the giant rift that had opened. Despite him having surveyed the area and destroying all the spheres that lingered around, the rift still remained open. Something else was powering it but the man didn't know what.

He then looked at the golden haired man that walked towards him and took a seat as he panted for breath.

"Should you really be taking a break?" Eon asked to his half-brother.

"Shut up, not all of us are built like a brick." Lias complained. "My healing ability expends a lot of energy so I can't do as much as you, despite me wanting to." Lias pouted and turned to the side.

Eon then looked forward to the battle field where most others had backed away, Raus included, and had left the giants to be dealt with by the two family leaders that were present.

It was quite something to see those two work together. Terrifying even. To think that even the reclusive Lord Electora had come out to fight.

Despite the King's orders, Eon's father didn't listen and only said. "I cannot fight those creatures. Do you not see my arm? Of course not, it is gone. My strength is too much for an old body such as mine. I'll die before I kill a giant. Eon can fight in my place. He is stronger than I." And with that said, the man had went away to his mansion to hide while chaos unfolded near the capital.

Though of course, some part of Eon couldn't blame him. Once there was a time when the Lord Emrit was the strongest of all Gifted. But as time went on, his body became too weakened to use his power. Then one day he had fought to save Eon's mother. And while he had managed killed the creature that attacked them with a single blow, his hand was also destroyed in the process.

But that much didn't matter now, Eon looked towards the Rift opening into his world. He then took a seat beside his half-brother. There wasn't much he could do now with the two family leaders in the way. So at the very least, he would get some rest.

~

Ronin heard the cries of battle coming from ahead. And without hesitation, he abandoned his current path and walked through the walls, heading towards the direction of the sound. As he did this, he began to hear a voice within his mind.

"It would seem someone dangerous has come as well." The voice roared.

"Who are you?" Ronin asked as he continued through the walls with glowing purple eyes.

"I am who will soon be your master and ruler." The voice replied.

Ronin gritted his teeth. "You speak treason and I will give you hell for that."

The man quickened his paced and dashed forward.