Chapter 19 | The prime final battle.

Steven and Jel continued running through the long corridors, slaying demons and goons blocking their way. It was the same for Hiroshi, finally, the three met up in a large room from their opposite ends.

"HIROSHI! YOUR ALIVE!" Jel yelled hugging Hiroshi. "THANK GOODNESS!"

"I'm glad you both survived." Hiroshi smiled. "I'm really... glad.

"Hey, your eyes are a blue colour now, along with your Axe," Steven said. "Did something happen?

"Yes, I managed to get an upgrade on the way," Hiroshi replied. "I have blue flames now."

"COOL!" Jel exclaimed. "MARKUS IS GOING TO BE SO SCARED!!!"

"Say, this was the spiral staircase Bryan was talking about, right?" Steven said.

"Yes, I assume we must go up it," Hiroshi said. "Let's do this."

"Right!" The two boys said.

The three continued climbing up the tall spiral staircase. It was silent and the three of them were nervous. Finally, they climbed the staircase and stood Infront of a giant tall gold door.

"Whatever happens, stay alive," Steven said. "I don't want any of you to die."

"Let's use all of our strength in this battle," Hiroshi said. "And take back the district!"

"We'll beat him up!" Jel said. "Let's go!"

The three crashed through the door. Coming to a stop with their fighting stances. They were expecting an ambush, but nobody was there, except for Markus sitting on a tall golden throne at the opposite end of the room. It was a long and tall throne room, decorated with paintings, and everything was gold and silver.

"So, you three came!" Markus yelled across the room. "I wasn't expecting pests to come inside my hidden castle."

Steven stepped forwards Infront of Jel and Hiroshi. With an angered expression.

"You mean this hellhole of a dungeon?" Steven said. "It reeks like blood in this place."

"HOW DARE YOU!!!" Markus screamed with a raged insulted face. "YOU RAT WOULDN'T KNOW HOW LONG IT TOOK ME TO DECORATE THIS CASTLE!"

"Someone has anger issues..." Jel muttered.

"WHY THE HELL DO YOU CARE?!" Markus screamed. "I DIDN'T DO ANYTHING TO YOU! I DIDN'T KILL ANY OF YOUR FRIENDS! STOP GETTING IN MY WAY!"

"SHUT THE FUCK UP!" Steven yelled. "YOUR VOICE PISSES ME OFF, I WILL FUCKING TEAR YOUR THROAT INSIDE OUT AND TOSS YOU IN A MEAT GRINDER!"

"FUCKING DIE!!!" Markus screamed, launching out of his throne towards the three with extreme strength with his sword in hand.

"HIROSHI!!!" Steven screamed.

"RIGHT!" Hiroshi answered slamming his axe towards the ground. Instead of a single strike towards Markus, there were three. The blue flames were much bigger than the red ones.

"USELESS! USELESS! USELESS!" Markus screamed dodging the incoming flames.

"JEL!" Steven yelled.

"I GOT IT!" Jel replied. "EXTREME HYDRO CRAB CANNON!"

A bigger blast of water rushed out of Jel's blade, aiming toward Markus. But Markus easily slashed through it and avoided the attack.

"SHIT!" Steven said. "HE'S CLOSING IN ON US!"

"PUNISHING TORNADO!" Steven yelled releasing violent winds out of his sword, turning into a tornado. But Markus easily got past the powerful winds.

"INCOMING!" Jel yelled. "HIROSHI!"

"AGHH!" Hiroshi screamed swinging his Axe towards Markus. Markus blocked the attack and absorbed it. He then released the energy back to Hiroshi which blasted him into a wall with a powerful blast of flames.

Hiroshi crashed into the wall, gushing blood out of his mouth. Jel looked terrified at the sight, letting his guard down.

"JEL!" Steven screamed as Markus slashed Jel, sending him crashing down the throne room. Jel became unresponsive, bleeding puddles of blood.

"ITS YOUR TURN BITCH!" Markus screamed, swinging his sword towards Steven. Steven saw the attack and blocked it, But Markus absorbed the friction and release it back towards Steven, slamming him into a wall. Steven tried to regain control of his body as it was becoming numb. The past fight before this one took a toll on Steven's body and energy which was starting to slow him down.

Markus grabbed Steven's head and rammed it across the wall. Finally tossing him to the ground. Steven was starting to lose consciousness; it was too much pain for him to handle. His body was not responding to him, and all of his senses were starting to not function properly.

Steven felt defeated. He knew it was the end. Markus's strength was overwhelming for him and the rest. No wonder why nobody defeated him in the district. All who tried, died trying. He was letting go of his life. Maybe, it was better that way.

Then he felt something slap his cheek, the slap was familiar and warm, it felt like it had no intention to harm him. He opened his eyes to see his brother Chris standing Infront of him. Everything around him was pitch black, and it was obvious it wasn't real.

"What the hell are you doing?" Chris said. "You're going to die here?"

"I can't... do anything Chris," Steven said tearing up. "I just can't with you!"

"IF I COULD DO IT, THEN YOU CAN!" Chris yelled. "GET BACK UP AND PICK UP VALKYRIE AND KICK HIS ASS!"

"Chris..." Steven said.

"I know right now I'm not with you, but we'll meet again." Chris smiled like he always did after scolding Steven. "You're my brother, you have so many lives in your hands right now."

"You won't die."

...

Steven raised his body off the floor and picked up his sword. Something was off about him. His pupils were missing.

"Oh, the rat is back for more," Markus said turning around. "Well, this time, I'll make sure I kill you-."

Markus paused and immediately dodged a surprise attack. Steven's speed was unbelievable, so fast that Markus could barely see it. Steven started to rapidly swing toward Markus at extreme speed.

"YOU MORON! I'LL ONLY USE THAT POWER TO KILL YOU! HAHA!" Markus laughed, releasing the attack back onto Steven. Steven crashed back into a wall but quickly recovered from the attack. Continuing to chase Markus.

The same pattern repeated again and again, with Steven becoming more persistent and faster every time, not running out of energy.

"WHY DON'T YOU JUST FUCKING DIE?!" Markus Screamed sending Steven back crashing into the wall.

Jel was starting to regain consciousness, slowly getting off the ground. Quickly Jel realized he still was in a battle. And slashed Markus from behind. Markus quickly turned around to strike Jel back. But Steven quickly came from behind slashing his back. Markus coughed blood from his mouth as he slammed into the floor.

Hiroshi woke up and quickly slammed his Axe at the ground, bursting flames toward Markus and burning him. Markus tried to recover from the blow, but Jel released a pump of water towards Markus, launching him towards the opposite side of the room. Markus slammed into the wall as Steven closed in on him.

But Markus had had enough. He screamed like a beast that shook the room, making Steven pause in his tracks. Everyone covered their ears from the loud angry screaming coming from Markus.

Markus's skin turned from pale to a dark purple, he grew purple horns on his head and his eyes turned into a nasty purple colour. His teeth turned into fangs and his nails turned into claws. On his back, six testicles rose under his flesh. Markus had reached his true demon form. He teleported Infront of Steven and punched him with full strength to the opposite side of the room.

He then sprinted toward Jel with extreme speed and slammed him to the ground, creating a crater. And finally approached Hiroshi almost instantly, driving him into a wall. Markus sprinted towards Steven who was trying to recover and impaled Steven in the chest.

However, Hiroshi managed to regain control of his body and noticed that the room was starting to crumble. Debry kept falling from the ceiling and the walls were starting to crack. The only things supporting it were six pillars that were struggling to hold it.

"STEVEN! JEL! BUY ME SOME TIME!" Hiroshi screamed at the two. Jel like Hiroshi managed to recover and get himself back up. He nodded his head and attacked Markus from behind. Hiroshi was slashing the pillars one by one, and the ceiling was starting to rumble.

Meanwhile, Jel and Steven were fighting Markus trying to restrain him. Markus absorbed Jel's extreme crab cannon and sent him crashing into a pillar. Steven however was still fighting despite the serious injuries on his body. It was obvious Steven was in an unconscious state where his body was moving on its own, ignoring pain and thoughts. Only with the emotion of rage and violence.

The two were trading hits and blocking hits simultaneously. Markus was starting to grow tired but was still going strong. The two were launching each other into walls back and forth.

Hiroshi only had two pillars left to go and the ceiling was starting to crash down everywhere. He slammed his Axe with all his strength and might toward the resistant pillars.

"Cmon c'mon!" Hiroshi said becoming impatient. Finally, the pillar crashed down, and there was only one left. However, Markus immediately noticed that the ceiling was starting to break down, and struck his sword against Steven, launching Steven back into the other side of the room. Markus quickly made his way toward Hiroshi who was trying to destroy the final pillar. But Jel blocked his way, pumping out more amounts of water to stall him.

"I WON'T LET YOU GET TO HIM!" Jel screamed with tears in his eyes. "EVEN IF YOU KILL ME!"

Markus screamed and slashed Jel across the chest. Jel tumbled down on the floor gasping for air and losing puddles of blood. He could feel his life fading away slowly as he was grasping on. All he could see was Markus approaching Hiroshi and thinking the words "No!"

Jel remembered how his sister would place band-aids on his cuts when he was little. He would go out into the forest and explore. Sometimes he would get hurt but his sister was always there to smile and put a band-aid on him.

Jel's sword responded to his emotions and spoke. "I won't let you die here." a male voice spoke from his voice. Jel's body was surrounded by water and healed extremely fast. He quickly got control over his body again and his senses were back. He quickly launched himself off the ground towards Markus who was only inches away from Hiroshi. Using water, he propelled himself towards Markus at an extreme speed and swung his sword against Markus's back. Markus stopped and let out a scream of pain.

Finally, the pillar crashed down and the ceiling began to intensely rumble. Jel and Hiroshi propelled themselves using a blast of fire and a vortex of water to make it towards Steven. Markus was following behind chasing the two, but they greatly out sped him as rubble was blocking Markus's way. They made it to Steven and Jel quickly made a Hydro Vortex cover them from the rubble. Finally, the ceiling collapsed on Markus, and everything went silent.

Hiroshi dug their way up to the surface and everyone was safe and alive. The water healed everyone completely from their injuries. Surrounding them were trees, and grass. The sun was setting, and everyone gasped with relief.

Steven went back to his original state with his grey eyes returning. He felt lightheaded and weak, but he held himself up.

"Steven are you okay?!" Jel asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine," Steven muttered. "Although I feel like something took a toll on me, my bones hurt too."

Suddenly, the rubble below them started to shake violently. Markus rose from the ground all wounded and deformed. He was covered in blood, bruises and wounds. Then, he started running into the forest.

"DON'T LET HIM ESCAPE!" Hiroshi yelled.

Steven immediately followed after Markus who was trying to escape into the forest. He could see Markus up ahead and wasn't going to lose him.

"COME BACK HERE COWARD!!!" Steven screamed. "PUNISHING TORNADO!"

Steven's sword released violent strong winds aiming toward Markus and clearing the trees. Finally, it hit Markus from behind and slashed him dozens of times. Markus struggled to get up and Steven stood in front of him making a disgusted face.

"Look at you, begging for dear life," Steven said. "I wonder if that's how all your victims were."

"D-Don't... kill me... please," Markus muttered pleading for life. "I'll.... do anything."

Steven looked down at him with angered eyes. Markus could hallucinate all of his victims, including demons behind Steven with eyes filled with hatred.

"Begging for mercy huh?" Steven said. "Did your victims plead for mercy?"

Jel and Hiroshi approached Steven from behind, looking down at Markus struggling like a small bug. Clinging on to dear life.

"Jel," Steven said. "You know what to do."

"Right." Jel smiled. "EXTREME CRAB CANNON!" Jel screamed releasing a pump of water, slamming Markus back down on the ground.

"Hiroshi, your turn," Steven said. "Go ahead."

"Okay," Hiroshi said. He smashed his axe down towards the ground with full power. The blue flames violently rose from the ground towards Markus, engulfing him in flames.

Markus screamed from pain and anger as Steven stepped ahead.

"Bryan said I could kill you so, here goes nothing," Steven said. "Goodbye, Markus."

"Golden Valkyrie."

Time moved slow, and only Steven could move at a normal speed. Steven spat on Markus and began violently slashing through his body multiple times, finally ending it with a strong slash right in the middle of Markus's body. Time moved normally again, and Markus was instantly cut into hundreds of pieces, finally dying.

The three boys fell to their knees and hugged each other, beginning to cry. They were so glad it was all over. The reign of terror in the prime district was over.

And the sun finally set.