Chapter 9

The ground rumbled.

A blast of powerful dark waves of energy was felt near the shores of the sea. I twisted my attention towards it, realizing who it was coming from: Aunt Julia.

Following after, Phil's energy burst in retaliation as two forces clashed.

People panicked as they lowered themselves; others dove as they laid flat. Monsters even stopped attacking as they braced themselves. Then, in an instant, the sea and the land ripped open.

The waves of the ocean water were split apart, the ground shook even more violently than before to the point where buildings were collapsing. Finally, rubbles fell, killing a handful of citizens.

I hovered in the air.

Stepping through the open waves was Aunt Julia. Every step she took, the ground spluttered and hissed as magma blossomed out and an eruption happened after.

It went on for a couple of minutes. The waves thrashed back and forth, smashing into the docks as they pulled it apart. Driftwoods floated in the water, leaving behind a large amount of wooden debris floating in the water.

Eventually, it stopped.

Bringing it with a temporary silence.

Suddenly, a loud screech resounded outwards that brought a bone-chilling shiver. I looked over.

A black dragon with open wings sprayed out green flames all around her. She was furious that all of the other legendary creatures were dead.

Her aura was glowing dangerously neon green. Streams of green lines shot out of her body as she connected with the once leftover remains of the other legendary creatures.

Pulsating light from the remains erupted outwards as the energy seeped into her.

Julia's body turned bigger. Her scales are heavier and impenetrable. More eyes opened on her head, giving her a ghastly look. The horns on her forehead became elongated and dangerous. Her claws were sharper, and her tail became deadly as it was a mixture of a club and spikes together.

Extra wings sprouted out from her back, giving it four. The more she absorbed the leftover energy around the dead carcasses of other legendary monsters, the bigger she grew.

Phil was violently clashed back, trying to stunt her growth.

Julia slashed, sending an array of dark energy at him. She then spun around, twirling her tail.

Raising his sword, Phil clashed heavily with Julia’s tail. He skids backward and stops. The tips of Julia’s spiky tail graze his cheeks.

Julia pulled back her tail and slammed it towards Phil again.

Phil dodged to the side, missing her tail by a hair’s breadth. He sliced upwards as the sword glanced off with a spark. He lunged and rolled as the tail reverted back towards him.

With quick steps, he got out of harm's way, pulling back from safety.

“Your majesty,” Julia spoke in a dark and deep voice. It sounded close to a more demonic voice.

“We can still become gods.”

Phil didn’t listen. He gazed forward, relentlessly attacking.

Julia pulled back, spraying out an acidic spray of flaming acid.

With quick steps, Phil danced out of harm's way.

Julia didn’t stop. She surrounded herself with green flames, giving her a sinister looked. Unbearing heatwaves pulsated with vigor. Some soldiers were caught up in the flames as their skin melted off with their armor, creating terrible third-degree burns. Others weren't lucky and perished.

On the other hand, I had to brace myself. Again, magic spilled out from my body.

Light magic clashed outward from my body, slamming back at the evil energy in the air.

Each life that Julia took, the bigger she grew. Small translucent souls from the recent deceased were quickly sucked up into their bodies.

“We need to stop her!” I headed straight towards her. I lifted up into the air with Starlight in my

hand.

Both Phil and I were becoming a speck before her.

Phil ran around, trying to stab his sword into her leg, but the scales bounced it off. He hops onto the claws, running up the side. Out of the corner of his blindside, the tail swiped him, pushing him back off onto the ground.

Julia didn’t stop. She continued her rampage.

With every swipe of her claws, a building was destroyed. Every breath of her fire, people died in her flames. Each movement caused the ground to shake violently as she headed straight towards the city.

I did not stay on the ground for long.

Instead, I flew in the air, moving my own sword to my rhythm. I swung and smashed, chipping

away at the scales that seemed to not want to open up.

Phil hopped onto her feet. He then scaled upwards onto her leg to get to her back.

Julia was busy destroying the city even further out of pure anger that she didn’t pay much attention to us.

Out of the corner of my eyes, a golden dragon came flying through the air. Olivio was a quarter of her size. He slammed into Julia, causing her to falter.

“Julia!” Olivio screamed with fury in his voice.

“Olivio. My sweet, sweet darling.” Julia said in a deep scratchy voice. “Have you finally come to be with me?”

Julia caught herself, holding ground against Olivio’s push.

Olivio beat his wings even harder, but Julia didn’t seem to budge.

“Sweetheart, you have finally come to me with open arms,” Julia said with a giddy voice. “Do you know how long I have been waiting?”

I, on the other hand, wondered if Julia had finally gone delusional. Her obsession with my father was so out of the ordinary that it was creepy.

Julia swiped her claws towards Olivio, grabbing ahold of his body.

Olivio snarled, swiping his claws, but could not make any cut. Instead, he was reeled in even further.

“It’s good to finally have you,” Julia said in a creepy voice that even made me shiver.

Phil had to grab on tightly not to fall off as he dangled in mid-air. His hand started to slip and fall.

I dove down, reaching over and grabbing ahold of his hand. The wind whistled past my ears, telling me to go faster. He reached out and grabbed hold, wrapping my hand around his waist to help him up and not pull his arm out of his socket.

My wings pumped hard, trying to keep it afloat.

Phil looked me in the eyes. I knew instantly what he wanted me to do. So, I tilted, pumping upwards as I carried him up and dropped him straight on Julia’s shoulder.

“Let go, Julia!” Olivio snarled.

“No, you are mine.”

“I am never yours.” Olivio blew fire straight into Julia’s hand, heating it up.

Julia felt the heat from Olivio’s intense flames. Finally, her hand let go, allowing Olivio to slip through and fly away.

“No!” Julia cried out in a fury. “You are mine!” She swiped her hand in the air, trying to catch Olivio in the air.

Olivio dived and pulled away from her grasp.

“No! No! NO!” Julia stomped around even harder, causing the ground to shake. The insanity in her eyes was ever so blatantly present that nothing went through her ears.

Suddenly, both Phil and I could feel a powerful charge of energy from Julia’s body. It vibrated her whole body, lighting up red and eerie green down her spine.

Phil raised up his sword. Powerful light energy was being drawn towards him.

I could even feel my own energy being sapped from above and knew that we had to divert Julia’s crazy blast away from the city. The number of death tolls that she would accumulate would only help her and harm us.

I dove from above, sending out a blast of a powerful beam of energy, smashing into Julia’s side.

The darkness that Julia had sent out from her mouth skewed to the right and into the air. A part of the city was cut in half, taking away a good portion of the people’s lives.

Phil was able to weasel his way to Julia's back as he stabbed downwards.

Julia felt the horrible pain. She screeched. A blast of dark energy shot towards me.

In exchange, I sent my own.

Both of our blasts of energy smashed into each other, causing a light show of dangerous spark that glittered all around us.

Flames and electricity spit out as they fell onto the ground, burning away chunks of buildings, people and even gouging out holes in the ground.

I could feel my magic wavering, but I did not stop.

Out of the corner of my eyes, I could see Phil moving.

I kept her distracted for as long as I could.

Phil pulled back his hand behind his shoulder. This time, the sword Laurel glowed blue, completely different from the white that it would spew out. He threw.

I felt the power become silent as if it completely disappeared and reappeared right next to Julia’s head. Thousands upon thousands of light and dark energy spread across her whole body, but especially her head.

Julia spewed out blood.

Rage filled her eyes.

Black flames shoot out from the ground, creating a wave of deadly poisonous air and clearing around her vicinity.

Both Phil and I had to brace ourselves as we were protected by the white light, keeping us safe.

Julia breathed heavily.

“I curse you!” Julia screamed in a bloody rage. “I curse you, Berry! You will die today!” Blood dripped out of her mouth.

“You won’t get a chance too.” Phil pushed the sword in deeper. “I’ll make sure that you won’t ever be alive.”

Julia cackled, her eyes started to flicker. “I don’t need to.” An evil smile erupted on her lips.

“Your lover will die tonight, Demon King. The prophecy will come true, and you will be all alone.”

“Shut it, you vile demon.”

Phil pulled out his sword. Blood sprayed outwards. With a heavy swing, he swung.

Julia’s head was sliced cleanly off. It flopped onto the ground, rolling a good foot away.

With a flick of his sword, he shook his blade clean of the black blood.

“It’s done.” Phil put away his sword.

An immense sigh of release escaped both of our lips.

All the legendary creatures were dead.

It was as if I was freed from a heavy shackle that wore on me over time that I did not think I had.

I slumped on the ground, resting.

All the stress escaped out of my body. All I wanted to do now was to sleep my life away.

The sword in Phil’s hand shimmered and changed. It became a small wisp of light that headed straight towards me, melding into me.

I felt a rush of energy, giving me the boost I needed.

Phil came over, sticking out his hand.

I looked up.

He motioned his hand to grab on.

I reached over, he pulled me up.

My balance swayed as I fell into these warm arms. Embarrassed, I tried to pull away, but Phil kept me in place.

Confused, I looked up, which matched his gaze. I was lost in his look that kept me frozen in place. My mind went blank, unable to comprehend what was going on.

We continued to stare, trying to figure out each other.

But before we could continue, I felt eerie energy behind me.

A terrible ear shrieking screech resounded outwards as a chill ran up and down my spine.

Both of us snapped towards the direction where it was coming from.

A whisk of smoke simmered out of Julia’s body. It was even blacker than night, impossible to even see-through.

The smoke continued to sway to the point where it became a dangerous black ball growing over time.

Streams of dark energy from worldwide headed straight towards the dark ball of energy.

Swirls of faces and monsters screaming or crying with desperation appeared in the swirls of

clouds of darkness. I could see that there was something alive in the ball.

The more darkness it gathered, the more grotesque and terribly heavy with the energy it became. I could sense the sinister energy from it, and I had a feeling that it was all the dark energy of the world.

Words whispered in the air, tickling my ears.

I could feel that Julia was somehow still alive. The remnants of her were still inside the dark ball of energy.

Starlight glimmered in my hands, telling me it was not over.

I looked down, understanding what I must do.