Elincia's Point of View

Dwardew Ruins

Frozen in fear as the Demon crawled over to me, it eventually stood over my legs as it lowered its face down to my own. Even without its grotesque appearance, the shadowy form was intimidating enough. Sharp teeth were almost all I could see. It wasn’t until the Demon shifted slightly that I saw swords impaling his side.

“Run!” Kheri shouted as I looked to my left and saw her there.

She looked pale, and the Demon didn’t even seem to notice her attack. “Amusing.” It replied without strain.

A claw reached out around her throat and lifted her into the air as she kicked against the air futilely. Her wings flapped uselessly as she was held in place. The sounds of her choking reached my ear. My magic activated as I let out a battle cry and launched a spell at the Demon from below at point blank. It connected with the mass of shadows, but tendrils merely shifted to show the Demon looking down at me as it blocked my attack with no effort.

“So eager to die.”

Bringing its other claw down on my chest with my arms pinned against my bosom, I felt its full weight press into me. Kheri’s wings flapped erratically as she tried to escape. All this while I tried to push back. Even Dwar tried to help as he slammed into the Demon’s side with his shield to try and bash him. It didn’t work. A tendril whipped out from the Demon as Dwar was sent tumbling into the building housing the prisoners.

“That reminds me…” He trailed off as more shadows shot from his body and through the house in question. “I came here for a different reason.” It quickly collapsed as wisps of shadows burst all around. “Everything else has just been a nice surpri-“ A horrible screeching sound suddenly came from the Demon as its body seemed to go rigid.

Its face was lifted from mine as he lost his grip on me, and I wiggled out from under him. Kheri fell to the ground and crawled away as quickly as she could. The two of us got to our feet to prepare ourselves. We turned to the Demon only to find it was being held by the back of its neck by Arthur. Except, he looked slightly different.

Part of his head was missing. Specifically, the section of his left eye was completely gone. It was healing slowly, but it was a horrible sight to see. I honestly didn’t even know how he was still alive with part of his head completely erased. However, it was his new limbs that got my attention. A claw was holding the back of the Demon’s neck and appeared to be an armored limb of sorts. It wasn’t just the one either. All of them had changed to dark black armor with light blue energy running across it that had reminded me of his sword.

Arthur’s glare was terrifying as his one eye seemed to shimmer. He slowly lifted the Demon and turned it to face him. Looking at the Demon, I could see the shock and awe written all over its body as it appeared frozen. Whether it was from Arthur’s grip or disbelief, I wasn’t sure.

“Do you know how fucked you are?” Arthur’s voice cut in a lifeless tone.

The Demon writhed as the shadows tensed. “How are you still alive!?” It demanded in a strained tone.

“Because you and your kind don’t seem to understand, Tor.” Arthur’s voice said in his same chilling emotionlessness as the Demon tried to free itself.

“My understanding doesn’t matter!” The Demon grunted out. “No one survives getting part of their head destroyed!” It exclaimed. “No God or Demon beside me should be able to survive such a wound!” A tendril shot into Arthur’s chest once more, but he didn’t even flinch this time.

“I’m not a God or a Demon.” Arthur responded as his fingers sank further into Tor, which seemed to cause him great pain. “Make sure you keep extremely still.” His eye then shifted to me. “Kheri was right. Run.” He told us.

My eyes widened, and I activated my magic. Before I teleported us all away, a beam of light touched down on Arthur’s shoulder. It seemed to be slowly getting bigger as I ushered the others over to me. While they moved closer, my magic sought out General Dwar in the rubble. I didn’t know if he was alive or dead, but it didn’t matter.

Arthur lifted Tor slightly before slamming him into the ground as he spoke while the light seemed to intensify. “A being made of shadows…” He thought out loud. “I wonder if you’d be able to survive under the full force of the sun?”

The light began to intensify and expand as I could feel the heat from it. As it started to grow, so did my fear. A horrible burning smell filled the area as I saw smoke start to appear on Arthur. Once the light touched Tor, the Demon began to writhe and did everything it could to escape. Arthur merely kept it in place as a horrible sizzling noise could be heard. We teleported away just as the light intensified.

At the palace, we heard a sickening sound that sounded almost like the release of steam. In the distance, we saw a beam of light shining down. It was blinding after a little longer as it continued to grow. Turning away from it as it became blinding, I could only pray that Arthur knew what he was doing.