Click here to return to our homepage
Make Us Your Homepage
For IE users only.
|
Chapter 40: Dark Metamorphosis Author's Note: Here on in, it's Alexis's PoV until I say so. I could sense something was wrong with the guy Artemis was with. Because of that, I let the taxi drive me around a corner, and then I punched the driver and jumped out. I would have avoided it if possible, but Artemis wasn't in her right mind. I tailed Ikki as he took her into an abandoned house near my home. "The sky......" the Siren pointed my head upwards. The previously cloudless skies had now filled with clouds and black lightning was shooting around. "We need to get out of here." it directed me in the direction of my house and I ran as fast as my legs would carry me, and not a moment too soon. A deafening roar issued from the house, bringing it, and other nearby houses down into their foundations. I only just got to cover behind a steel wall in time, and the resulting shockwave dented the metal itself, punching through in a few places. "Demonic energy...... But this power is way above S-rank." the Siren breathed. "That's not good." I muttered. A dark silhouette rose out of the rubble of the building and took off in the direction of the city. I stared after it. "Was that......" I gasped and ran towards the city, bumping into Roy, Mei Ling, Lacus and Lopez in Roy's car on the way. "We know, we know. The shockwave nearly blew the house apart." Lopez said. "Get in!" Roy motioned for me to get in, but I just hopped on his car's roof and held onto the roof scoop. "GO!" I yelled. Roy didn't wait for an explanation. He floored the accelerator. We nearly crashed into several cars driving away from the city, which was already in flames. Black flames. Screams of terror could be heard from all over the place. A few Kerning Party Quest hopefuls were already logging off, data fizzling in the air for a few seconds. "This is a disaster!" Mei Ling gasped. Dead bodies were everywhere. "No kidding. I'm guessing that's the source." Roy pointed at a dark figure perched on the highest building in Kerning. "Hold on tight." he added, and I heard a button being pressed. Suddenly, the car's trunk burst open and a few rocket boosters appeared out of it. "And I thought I'd never get to use 'em." he smiled and pushed another button. White-hot flames shot out of the rocket boosters, propelling the car forwards. I held on for my life as Roy accelerated over a coincidentally placed ramp, and into the sky. "Now, wings." Roy spat around the wind and two wings shot out of the car's underside, helping to stabilize it. "Okay. Need a dropoff? Lacus brought your sword along." Roy shouted and Lacus's hand reached out of a side window, holding my Jikyeon Sword and it's sheath. I grabbed it and unsheathed it, handing the sheath back to Lacus. The golden blade vibrated unnaturally fast, as if it was thirsty for opponents to kill. "Too much mana in the air. You might not be able to channel spells with your sword!" Mei Ling yelled as we shot through the air towards the demon perched on the building's top. It seemed to acknowledge our presence, and immediately rose up into the air. The car-plane's headlights illuminated it completely now. "It's a girl!?" Lopez gasped. The inflated chest and long hair attested to that fact, but the skin was pure darkness. The demon radiated a powerful demonic aura. "Now, kill. Dark Angel." a voice boomed through the air. Roy instinctively looked around for the source, but it seemed to have come from the air itself. The demon flew towards us. I grasped my sword tightly in one hand and hoisted myself onto the roof of the car. "Okay, footgrips." Roy muttered. Two foot-shaped portions of the car's roof sank in and I put a foot in each one. Some sort of gel flowed into the hole and sealed it up again, with my feet inside. "You fly, I fight." I nodded at Roy and pointed my sword at the advancing demon. "Incoming!" Lacus yelled as the demon held up a hand and released a massive black jet of fire through the air. Roy killed the engine and the car dropped a few metres, just evading the fire. He activated the engine again and the boosters ignited. "Yikes." Mei Ling put her head out the window and almost got it burnt off as another black jet of flame flew past the car. "I'll keep my head in from now on." I heard her mutter. "Alexis, I can't get any closer! Got any long-range attacks!?" Roy shouted, rolling right to dodge another jet of black flame. Flame...... Water! "Tsunami Strike!" I shouted, spinning my sword. A pillar of water shot out of it, but the demon dodged it easily. "Oh my god...... NOOOOO!!!" Lacus screamed. The demon had just shot a jet of black flame that twisted around, following the car, eventually swallowing it. Roy ejected me off before it happened though, and I was now in a freefall through the air. "ROY! LACUS! MEI LING! LOPEZ!" I screamed their names. There was an explosion from inside the winding pillar of black flame that blew me onto the top of a nearby building. "No......" I sank to my knees. The wreckage of the car dropped to the ground. No one could survive a fall from that height. The others were dead. "Don't...... count... your chickens.... before they hatch..." a voice said from behind me. I turned around. I massaged my eyes. I must be either hallucinating or crazy. Roy, Mei Ling, Lacus and Lopez were on the ground. "I added a Teleporter to the car just for kicks. Never thought it'd be used for something like this......" Roy staggered to his feet. I ran to him and hugged him tightly. "Car's in pieces though. No transportation hurts." Lacus got up slowly. She had a small bruise on her arm, but she Healed it easily. "So...... how do we beat that demon?" Lopez stared at the demon circling around the Fidelo Needle, for of course, it was the highest building in Kerning. "No way we can get to it without transport, and going up the Needle is too risky." I said thoughtfully. "LOOK OUT!" Lacus screamed and dived aside. "Wha...?" I looked forward and saw another jet of black flame. "We won't survive this time......" Roy said gloomily. I got in front of them and held up my sword. "I'll make it happen." I whispered and launched myself into the flames, sword pointing straight forwards. Impact was silent, and surely lethal, if it hadn't been for the power of the sword. My body began to vibrate along with the sword. A few seconds later, the flames disappeared, sucked into the sword. I then gave it a mighty swing. The flames reappeared, shooting out of the sword and towards the demon. This time, it was gold-coloured fire. The demon narrowly dodged it, but the sheer force of the attack caused one of its wings to disintegrate. "Fingers in your ears!" Mei Ling shouted. Everyone stuffed their fingers in their ears as another deafening sonic shockwave shot through the city. Glass shattered and a few buildings collapsed. All of us managed to find cover, except Lopez. The poor guy got hit full force by it and was thrown into the air, writhing. "LOPEZ!" Roy yelled, but his voice was drowned out by the demon's scream of pain. Lopez has hit so hard, he was thrown a few kilometres into the air. Surely, we would find him in another city, if he still lived. The demon suddenly appeared in front of us, hovering in the air with just one wing. "Uhoh." Lacus squeaked. She was the first one to get hit by the demon's claws. Her body was flung into a nearby building. Mei Ling was next, slammed into another building. Roy was thrown high up into the air, and he landed with a sickening crunch right in front of me. However, just as it raised its claws to attack me, I saw a figure materialize beside it. "Stop. Enough for today." it spoke. The demon hesitated for a second, then melted into the darkness along with the other figure. I was left untouched. The others were probably either seriously injured, or dead. The latter was not an option I wanted to think of. |
|
Click here to return to our homepage Make Us Your Homepage
For IE users only. |