Chapter 7

The sky was filled with smoke from the burning of bushes and torches. The land was in total chaos as war broke out between the ghouls and the mages. The latter seemed to be losing the ongoing battle as the ghoul forced seemed to prove too strong for them. The battle took place atop a hill which peaked over a vast stretch of land and in the distance was a village. Amongst the chaos stood a larger ghoul with a muscular body which made him much bigger than his comrades. He was bare chested and only wore a loincloth on his waist with an axe strapped to it. He had an ugly scar than ran across his face from his fore head to his mouth which had a bit of tusk-like teeth peeking out. He had four arms of which three were waving in victory while the other was clutching the clothes of a boy who seemed to be in his teenage years, kicking and scratching at the large figure holding him above ground.

"Tremble before the might and power of Xorgon the next Ghoul king!" The ghoul said to which his troops yelled in admiration. They tied up the mages to be taken in as slaves while the others that tried to resist were sucked of their mage essence.

"I promised the throne that I would bring victory to my battles." He said as he walked through the ghouls to stand on top of a boulder.

"And here we are making these pitiful humans kneel before us!" He said again and his army yelled in Joy. He marveled at the sight before him and looked around with pride but was soon distracted by the laughter of the boy he held in his hand.

"And what seems to be funny about your imminent destruction." Xorgon demanded.

"It's not MY imminent destruction, it's yours." The boy said as he threw a fire ball at the face of Xorgon which the ghoul swallowed as a show of mockery to the weak power the boy had.

"Such puny attempt at escaping…" As Xorgon was speaking he began to feel uneasy. He slowly dropped the boy as he used two of his hands to clench his stomach and the other two on his throat.

"What have you…" As he spoke, smoke escaped his mouth as his throat began to glow and get hot. In an instant, he let out a loud yell accompanied by fire which took the shape of a phoenix flying up into the sky and transformed into a sight which resembled the northern lights, then almost immediately it stopped and was replaced by what looked like little stars falling from the sky.

"What are those?" Asked one of the ghouls before it was struck by a flaming arrow to the eye and died instantly.

Xorgon regained his composure and looked up as most of his army was being taken out by the rain of arrows. The boy beside him ran and began freeing the captured mages to help finish off the rest of the ghouls.

"What is going on?" Asked one of the mages.

"They are here!" The boy said with a smirk.

In the distance the village disappeared and it was revealed to be an illusion. What stood in the distance was a flag which had the crest of the Beaver on it being held by another army of mages making their way toward the location of the battle led by a man on a white horse. The man was tall and had long flowing black hair which he tied in a silk ribbon for battle. He wore a brown coat which covered his black fitted body hugger with the crest of a beaver on it.

"Xorgon!" He yelled as he got close.

"I implore you to surrender your troops and submit yourself for trial before the mage council!" He said commandingly.

"Burn in hell human!" Xorgon replied as he drew his axe which glowed when he touched it.

"I shall personally see to it that I use your skull to drink your blood!" He threatened as he threw the Axe at the man who stood on his horse and leaped forward as the Axe cut through the horse's head. The man ran through the fields toward the attacking ghouls and brought six plasma infused knives which he threw from in-between his fingers at the ghouls in front of him. He was agile and nimble and made sure he didn't miss any ghoul he aimed at. Soon he was in the middle of the battle, getting closer to Xorgon but was blocked by more of his troops.

"Not supposing you guys can let me through." He said with a smirk to which the ghouls snarled at him, holding spears and swords.

"Ok, I guess I'll have to create a path for me." He said as he pulled out two plasma infused daggers and prepared to fight the ghouls that surrounded him. Two came at hm from the front, one with a spear and the other with a sword. The man switched the dagger to the south of his handling and used it to block the spear while using the other to block the sword of the other ghoul. Then he stabbed the ghoul who had a spear causing it to burn then disintegrate, he then slashed the other ghoul across the belly causing it to disintegrate as well. He then looked around him at the other ghouls and gestured them to come at him. As they ran toward him, a few of them were struck by arrows to the head, signifying that the rest of the beaver house mages had finally caught up to their leader.

"Please sire, it wouldn't be easy to 'have your back' if you always move too far ahead of us." Said one of the mages.

"Don't sweat, these guys are easy pickings." He said as he looked into the distance and saw the young boy from earlier.

"Isn't that Alexis' boy?" He thought to himself. The boy was doing well against the ghouls on his own. He moved with quickness and agility, throwing fire balls and making good use of his cloning technique. He had just downed a ghoul when he got smacked to the side by a heavy force.

"You are really a pest to me boy!" Xorgon said as he walked slowly to the boy who was trying to get up. Xorgon lifted his hand and the axe which he threw earlier flew back to him.

"I'll make sure to end this quick." The ghoul said as he lifted his axe to hit the boy. In that instance, the boy used him flame technique to boost himself from the legs and then conjured a clone to hold the ghoul by the wrist of the hand he was using to bring down the axe. He then proceeded to kick Xorgon in the face, which had no effect on him but he then added a flame burst from his feet to burn the ghouls face causing him to clench his eyes. The boy then landed to the ground, tossed a small dagger to his clone who stabbed the leg of the ghoul before dispersing making Xorgon scream in more pain.

"I'm going to end you!" Xorgon said swinging his axe blindly but the boy dodged every single swing.

"Wow, now I see why Alexis took a liking to him." The house leader said in amazement.

Xorgon regained his sight and then looked in the direction of the boy who was in a fighting stance. He threw his axe at the boy again who flipped backward dodging the flying weapon. He then stood on his feet and ran toward the ghoul with his knives in hand.

"Watch out!" The man said as he used his daggers to block the axe that was returning like a boomerang about to hit the boy in the head. The axe the deflected and landed in the hands of Xorgon.

"You must be the commander of these mages." Xorgon said as he pointed his axe to the man.

"My name is Jonathan Lancaster, head of the house of the beaver." He said as he got into a fighting stance in anticipation for the ghoul's attack.

"I have no use for the name of a dead man." Xorgon stated as he launched forward at Johnathan, swinging his axe at the mage's face. Johnathan ducked and rolled to evade the attack but Xorgon followed up with another swing to Jonathan's leg. He did a flip backward then threw plasma infused ninja stars at the ghoul which Xorgon blocked with his arm. As Johnathan landed, he ran toward Xorgon with smoke pellets in his hands which he threw in the air and on the ground to blindside the ghoul. Xorgon waved around to clear up the smoke and was hit in the face by a fire ball from the boy standing by. Xorgon was about to take a swing at the boy but was jumped on by Johnathan who landed on his back and put him in a full nelson. Xorgon tried to use his other arms to get Jonathan off but they were being pulled with an enchanted rope by the boy and a clone the boy conjured leaving his chest wide open. In that moment, there arrows came from nowhere and pierced Xorgon in his hand, chest and eye causing him to yell in pain.

"Take this chance to surrender now and get the rightful punishment that awaits you." Jonathan said still on Xorgons back.

"Never!" the ghoul yelled as he let go of the axe which flew toward forward then changed course toward the rope holding his arms back and cut him loose. He then grabbed Jonathan and threw him forward but the head of the beaver house landed on his feet.

"There's no holding back now!" Xorgon yelled as he cut his axe and proceeded to slice his wrist which poured out black blood that enveloped the axe and covered Xorgons skin.

"Oh my, he's a blood manipulator." Jonathan stated. Jonathan had a more serious face on as he looked at the boy beside him and then at Xorgon who looked like he had gone berserk.

"It's not gonna be easy kid, I suggest you go back to the phoenix platoon to help Alexis." Johnathan said to the kid but it seemed as though his words fell on deaf ears.

"He's a blood manipulator, all we need is to heat him up enough to turn his blood into crystals." The boy said with a straight face as he readied himself for the fight.

Johnathan was astounded by the knowledge of the boy. Most youngsters his age would cower at the sight of the berserker but he stood his ground.

Xorgon yelled what sounded like a battle cry and moved forward with speed at the beaver house mages. He swung his arms at them clearing them aside. He was shot with arrows but he swatted them aside with his axe. Johnathan threw more ninja stars at him and the boy hit him with more fire balls but blood around his skin only evaporated and regenerated.

"It isn't enough, we need a precise hit at his vital point." Johnathan said.

"We should try aiming for his chest more." One of the beaver house members suggested as he dodged a swing from the ghoul.

"We can't, he's just gonna block it with his axe." Johnathan said and almost immediately he had an idea.

"Boy, move in to attack with me, the rest of you maintain a distance and shoot him up from afar." Johnathan gave orders as he moved in to attack the ghoul with the boy right behind him. Xorgon swung his axe horizontally causing Jonathan to duck while the boy boosted using Johnathan as leverage to jump over the ghoul to attack its back. As Xorgon tried to grab the boy, one of the mages shot a water arrow at his hand causing it to divert its grip path. He tried using his lower arm to grab the boy again but he couldn't move due to the fact that another mage has thrown shadow marionette knives at the shadow of the ghoul. The boy then proceeded to jump on the ghouls back to place his hand on the position where Xorgons heart was and then proceed to heat up the area with shots of fire blasts.

Meanwhile, Johnathan threw one of his daggers at the hand of the ghoul which was holding the axe. It sliced through the blood due to the heat and also sliced though the wrist of the ghoul but he only used the wound to recoat his skin. Johnathan ran toward Xorgon with the other dagger in hand and Jumped trying to aim his blade at the eye of Xorgon, but the ghoul had other plans. Xorgon flipped forward and launched the boy into Jonathan mid-flight, causing both of them to fly backward. The flip twisted the arm that was held down by the shadow knife but it didn't seem to affect the berserker. Xorgon swung his axe at the knife removing it from his shadow and then he proceeded to shift his broken arm into place as he smiled at the two in front of him.

"NOW!" Jonathan yelled to which a mage from afar threw a spear which he had infused with lightening. The spear moved so fast it almost look like an actual lightning bolt and it struck Xorgon from behind at the point which the boy had burnt up all the blood coating away from. The Spear pierced through the heart of the ghoul and in that instance, there was silence except for the crackling of the lightning on the spear. Xorgon took two steps forward before spitting out blood and all his blood coats disintegrated off him.

"Puny… hu…man." He whispered before he fell to the ground and disintegrated as well.

There was a brief silence and a look of shock from both the mages and the captured ghouls, then the silence was broken by a shout of victory from all sides.

"I have to say I'm pretty impressed by your skill kid." Johnathan commended as the boy sheathed his daggers. Johnathan was about to continue speaking when he was interrupted by the sound of a horn in the distance accompanied by a flag with the crest of the phoenix on it. The house members of the phoenix came into view being led by a woman who was levitating in front of them. She was blonde and had a black headband on. She was slender and this was evident from the tight black turtleneck and suit pants she wore. On her neck was a necklace which had the shape of a bird on it and it glimmered even from the distance. In her hand was the still talking head of the ghoul general which was leading the troops they just fought.

"Classic Alexis, always trying to make a grand entrance." Johnathan said while still staring as she got closer. She looked all around the battle field, then at the boy, then at Johnathan.

"You seemed to handle yourself well." Alexis said.

"Well, I am the leader of the hous…"

"I was talking to the boy." She said with a raised eyebrow.

"And… I was talking to my squire." Johnathan said in an attempt to save face to which his squire got confused.

"Yes, yes you were." Alexis replied as she giggled then gave Jonathan a kiss to the surprise of everyone present.

"Finally, it's all over." Alexis sighed. Everyone began exchanging remarks and checking up on each other with an air of ease.

"Wait, he's the guy you always talk about?" The boy said to Alexis who laughed and ten nodded.

"So, you DO talk about me?" Jonathan said which made Alexis tilt her head in a shy manner. Then he looked at the boy who just rolled his eyes and walked away to attend to his injuries.

"He hopes to become house leader someday." Alexis said as they began walking along the field.

"Well he's got the skill and battle intelligence, but does he have what it takes to be an actual house leader, I mean you do know how other leaders from the council can be… Irking." Jonathan stated.

"He has had his rough edges in the past but the pressure he's had to endure growing up has actually blossomed him into a fine diamond. Being a second born in an orphaned home, had his brother committed to rehab due to drug abuse, he was had been forced to fend for himself which led him to a Juvenile correction facility where he met friends he had to also fend for." Alexis paused to aid in healing an injury inflicted on a mage.

"He may not have had a good start, but with a bit of guidance he's become one of the proficient mages in the mansion, he's just trying hard to proof himself worthy of the role." As she said it, Johnathan looked in the direction of the boy as he was gently helping a female mage bandage her arm.

"What's his name?" Jonathan asked.

"Well, he claims to have forgotten his real name but I call him Lex." Alexis replied with a smile.

"Lex? Is that short for Alexander?" Jonathan asked again to which Alexis nodded.

"You got that from your name, didn't you?"

Alexis laughed and then Jonathan joined in with Alexander watching from a distance wondering what was funny.