Chapter 29: The Elf Society Pt. 6

Theriault raised his arms in an ex, blocking the heavy blow from Thelassia as she kicked her away from her, jumping up and looking at him with an enraged expression.

"Ugh, pretty good," Theriault said, rubbing his hip through his zip-up jacket.

"Human, we have no problems, I even feel gratitude toward you for opening my eyes... All this time I wanted to be the queen of the elves... But I am destined for more... Much more, I will free the males, allow them to become demons and I shall be their queen! The next step in our society's evolution will be soon!"

Theriault fake gagged. "Have I mentioned I don't enjoy villain monologue? Ruins the mood you know... Just keep your silly plans to yourself," Theriault rushed Thelassia. "Since they'll fall through anyhow."

Thelassia tanked a kick from Theriault, smiling as she swiped at the boy, missing by a large margin as he dodged and slid back toward Shen Yi and Hunter.

"This could be a good lesson you know? It's not every day a demon freshly awakened shows up, this is when she'll be at her strongest..."

Theriault didn't need to say anything more as Hunter nodded and rushed in with him, fire swirling around him before concentrating in his palms and-

Hunter widened his eyes as his flames flickered and blew out, leaving him defenseless against the huge red fist about to cave his head in.

*Swish*

The fist strayed to the side at the last second, the wind blowing past Hunter as a warning. Shen Yi stood in front of the boy with her sword out, standing with a short person wearing a loincloth and chainmail armor.

"789, have you always known about this demon thing?" Shen Yi asked, her arms shaking under the pressure of Thelassia's fist she was blocking with her sword.

"No, my love, I have never heard of demons in our culture before... But then again I am only 12," The male elf answered, stuttering a bit as he tried his best to stay out of the way.

Shen Yi did a double take, looking at the dirty elf with scrunched eyebrows. "You're only 12?"

Thelassia struck again, aiming at Shen Yi's body, the frail form would be the ultimate satisfaction for a demon to break.

Hunter clenched his jaw, stepping in front of the distracted girl and kicking the fist out of the way.

Pain shot up his leg, he knew instantly that it had broke on that blow, but at least he had diverted it enough to not be a fatal attack.

"Hey look at you two, so cute!" Theriault teased as he jumped in, delivering a two-leg kick to the demon's head and sending her flying down the room.

Turning toward the remaining elves, who were all focused on helping Nuala get up, Theriault grinned.

"You," He said, pointing at Nuala. "You're the new queen of the elves, we'll talk after I take care of this little mess," Theriault said.

As soon as he got the words out he was swept off his feet by Shen Yi and Hunter, who tackled him to the ground just in time to dodge Thelassia's kick.

"You three are beginning to piss me OFF!" The queen of demons yelled, her skin changing colors once more.

"Oops..." Theriault said, gulping a bit as the demon's muscles grew once more, bulging out of her already much too tight dress.

"What do you mean oops!?" Shen Yi yelled as she raised her sword, ready to attack.

"Well uh... The demons are a complicated race, she's in her first ruler form... Usually, the royalty gets three different forms besides their base, but I was hoping without any kingdom it wouldn't take effect..."

Hunter looked at Thelassia in horror, his mark sizzling on his arm.

Thelassia looked confused for a second before she smiled and spoke, her voice much raspier in this form. "I see... The slave mark has always been a use of demonic magic, which means... By default I control you!"

Hunter widened his eyes as his body moved on its own, dropping to his knees and bowing to his queen.

'Wait she's not my queen!' He wanted to shout, but he couldn't do anything except watch as Shen Yi and Theriault looked at him.

"Kill them, use your full abilities..." Thelassia said, her voice revolving around his head as he stood up, dazed.

"As if that would wor-" Shen Yi began to say before slashing her sword down, cutting through bright white flames. Theriault and Shen Yi looked at Hunter, who stepped toward them, his eyes looking like he was completely out of it.

"Ah... I see now, she does have a kingdom... anyone with a slave mark is her property," Theriault said as Hunter sent another wave of flames toward them, this time being stopped by the floating scythe.

"So what do we do in this situation?" Shen Yi asked sarcastically.

Theriault, oblivious to sarcasm, or perhaps just wanting to poke fun, answered seriously. "Isn't it obvious? We disembowel the boy and then kill the demon," He said with a straight face, Hunter's heart skipping a beat at the words.

"Wake up boy! It's demonic magic and I'm a holy being!" Fenghuang yelled, flying around his head as the mark burned even hotter, as if reacting to that thought.

"Damn... It," Hunter said slowly, but in his mind he was screaming in agony as he felt the slave mark melt into his flesh, his eyes rolling back as the pain increased tenfold.

Shen Yi took a step forward and blocked a kick from Thelassia, slicing her sword up and connecting with her shoulder.

"Hah, my skin seems too much for your blade girl," Thelassia laughed before Shen Yi finished the move, slashing right through the blue flesh and spraying blood on the ground behind the demon.

"And I thought my sword wasn't enough to slice through the supernatural, this is amazing!" Shen Yi cheered as she turned back to Thelassia, who was still recovering from the slash.

"Expect more attacks now that I know it works," She warned, slashing again and cutting across the queen's cheek.

Thelassia held the wound on her shoulder for a second in pain, but when she moved her hand it was gone, as if Shen Yi hadn't attacked her at all. "Looking forward to that," She answered.

Meanwhile, Theriault stood back, watching Shen Yi's form and leaning against the floating scythe.

"Well, deified weapons are powerful, but against a healing factor like that I'm not sure I want to let this bitch evolve further..." He said as if he was talking to the scythe.

Thelassia whistled, instantly Hunter blocked Shen Yi's next strike, pushing her blade with the palm of his hand and creating an opening for Thelassia to grab Shen Yi's collar.

"I got you now," The demon said, raising her arm and throwing Shen Yi across the room...

At least, that's what she tried to do.

Shen Yi slashed in an upward arc as Thelassia rose her arm, cutting into her forearm and separating her hand from her arm, blood gushing from the wound.

"Do you?" Shen Yi mocked, following through and hitting Hunter in the solar plexus with her pommel, finishing with a kick to the demon's inner thigh, slashing her sword across the other cheek.

Thelassia wasn't fazed, her cut healed instantly as her hand began to reform, albeit a little slower than the earlier healing, but fully functional in a matter of seconds.

"Huh..." Shen Yi said, jumping out of the way of the next heavy strike, which hit Hunter instead, sending her slamming and rolling into the ground with several loud thuds.

Suddenly Thelassia fell to her knees, her body growing hot and her blue skin disappearing, returning to the red one as before.

"Oh? Is there a time limit then?" Theriault suddenly spoke up, rushing in and kicking the downed demon in the face quickly.

"You can't stop me, I am the queen of the demons! I will destroy you!" Thelassia growled, standing up and swinging her fist down, but Theriault dodged it easily and delivered a punch to her gut.

"Yeah right now your strength is that of a normal elf, you should really rest up," Theriault said, kicking the demon away as he let out a breath of relief.

Thelassia looked at everyone in the room, even Hunter, who had now returned from his daze with his skin looking raw as if he'd been sunburnt.

"Ugh... I... I..." Thelassia said, seeing the elves watching her, "I will return!" She exclaimed, jumping with all her might up, smashing through the castle ceiling causing tiles and stone falling in her place.

"Oh... I actually didn't expect that," Theriault said calmly, looking at the hole in the ceiling as Shen Yi checked on Hunter.

"You, human..." Nuala, who was being helped by two other elves on each side of her, said as she approached.

"Ah, your royal highness, how ever so glad I am to see you, there was a demon attack, I thought you'd been hurt!" Theriault said with mock worry as he turned toward the elves, his eyes blank as they stood there.

"What happens now male- Human?" Nuala asked, looking at the blood and damage in the room.

"Well... She said she'll be back, and fun fact about demons, they aren't capable of lying... Kind of ironic right? Demons not being able to lie... Haha," Theriault smiled amusedly, it had been funny to him at least.

"So how do we prepare, I am much to old to remember the old demons we fought back in those warridden times..." Nuala hated asking advice from a human, a human man at that. She had no choice though, he'd been with the queen before she had been killed by Thelassia.

"Well... If she comes back again... You could always just kill her. That's pretty much all you can do," Theriault shrugged as Hunter groaned on the floor, holding his arm and breathing heavily.

"You'll be fine, it only hurts so much because the demonic energy and the holy energy from your key aren't mixing," Theriault said, turning away froim Nuala.

"How do you expect me to kill that!" She exclaimed, causing Theriault to look at her with an annoyed expression.

"You've yet to pay us anything for saving you, we're not just free workers you know, you'd have to pay us all like... 300 gold each at least, I'm not sure what currency you guys use, but that will help with actualy life..."

"300 gold..." Nuala muttered.

"Sleep on it, we have more important matters, can't be here stuck with you guys for so long, we'll miss the next opening."

With that Theriault grabbed Hunter and slung the boy over his shoulder.

"How do we leave Ulibel?" He asked, looking back at the elves.

"I know the way, let's go... I'm tired of this place." Shen Yi said, scowling at the blood stains all around the room.

Theriault shrugged and followed her as she left, only turning back to smirk at the elves. "When you need us again, just remember that price..." He said before walking through the door.

...

Shen Yi, Hunter, and Theriault all sighed in relief as they reached the edge of Ulibel.

"My love!" A voice yelled from behind as a male elf popped out from behind a tree. "Please! Allow me to follow you!" 789 begged the young girl.

Shen Yi looked at him, a sad expression in her eyes. "Unfortunately, I don't think that's a good idea... But who knows, maybe I'll come visit..."

'Not likely' She thought.

With that she turned and walked through the barrier, dissapearing from sight.

"Ah, heartbreak, its truly an eyeopener isn't it mate?" Theriault said, walking through the barrier, flipping off Ulibel.

"Where to now?" Shen Yi asked as Theriault looked around the forest, it seemed passing through Ulibel had saved a days trip of walking.

"Well, in order to get even a clue to where the master key can be... We need to talk to a council member..." He said, scowling as he thought of the man he had to talk to. He was the closest one.

"But first... We're going to need to earn some money... I spent it on that last bus trip..." Theriault said, revealing critical information.

"What!?" Shen Yi yelled in shock...

***

789 hid from the female elves who were hunting in front of him. Watching each one of their graceful moves.

He was much dirtier than when Shen Yi had first met him, and he'd ditched the chainmail armor.

"Are you just going to watch?" A voice said from behind him, a hand stopping him immediately from panicking and running.

"Shh... You are so much more, I see the yearning in your eyes, you don't want to be like them... No, you can be better," Thelassia said, the black mark on 789's neck glowing.

"W-What..." 789 said as he felt a burst of energy. Not only that, but he felt himself growing, it was almost like he was... Growing up.

"Hey!" One of the hunting elves yelled, pointing her bow at him as Thelassia and he stood tall, looking over at them.

"Go my chosen, try it out..." Thelassia commanded, her eyes full of delight as 789 rushed toward the elf, grabbing her by the throat and ripping her body from her head.

"Ahh!"

"No please!"

"Queen help us! Save us!"

The elves' screams were for naught as 789 tore them all apart, the green grass bathed in blood...

----

The Elven Society will return...