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Chapter 50: Tainted Faith The moment I stepped out of Leafre's boundaries, I started to feel agitated. "Blood......" I murmured. Alexis heard me. "Artemis? Is something wrong?" she asked. The others turned around. I felt a sudden longing for blood to drink. "Must...drink...blood..." I mumbled, louder this time and held my hand up, my palm facing a Rash. It flew into my hands and I opened my mouth...... An arrow bomb exploded on the back of my head and I blacked out. I quickly stabbed the Rash with my sword. "What the heck was that?" Sevin asked, terrified. "Dark energy flows around this place now. The town's okay, it has a barrier, but once we stepped out, the energy agitated Artemis's demon mind. I don't think she should go out from now on." Jakito explained, staring at Artemis. Her ears were pointed now, and six buds were popping out of her back. Probably her wings. I quickly carried her back to the inn and laid her on our bed. "Good thing you knocked her out, Kagome." I smiled. "So what now? Artemis makes up more than half of the team's firepower, and if she's gone, we'll have a hard time." Sevin asked. "Doesn't look like we have a choice. Those monsters are more powerful than normal, and if we don't search today, they may be even stronger tomorrow." Kagome sighed. "Good point." I said and we stepped out of the town again. "Urgh......" I started to feel sick. "Bear with it." Jakito said and we walked out together. I woke up on my inn bed with a bump on my head. "You need to stay put. If you go out, the energy in the air might turn you into a full demon." the Phoenix warned. I stared at my reflection in the bathroom mirror. My ears were still pointed. When I reached my hand to my back, I could feel six small buds of bony skin. "But, the others......" I mumbled. "If you follow them, you might as well just hand yourself over to Saevio. You'll put them in greater danger if you go out." the Dark Dragon said. A few minutes later, after anxiously pacing up and down the room, I was struck with the desire for blood again. "Something's not right." the Dark Dragon muttered. My skin started to bubble. "The energy is spreading into the town!" the Phoenix shouted. I gasped as the buds on my back burst and my wings unfolded themselves. My skin became scaly again, but this time, it was black coloured. "If you're a full demon, all Saevio has to do to control you, is slap an Akasha Charm on you, willing or not." the Dark Dragon explained. I concentrated, but I couldn't turn my body back into human form again. I squealed as a tingling sensation shot through my hands and they turned into claws. I quickly opened the room's window and tumbled out, unfurling my wings on the way. I soared into the air with a quick flap of my wings. The town wasn't looking too good. The trees were turning brown, and a few monsters were running around. A Rash the size of a Balrog was no exception. All of the monsters seemed to acknowledge my arrival and turn around. They didn't attack me. I stayed silent. The first notion that came into my mind was to tell them to leave the town alone, then another one came to tell them to keep on rampaging. "Leave the town alone. Do not attack." I hissed, but what came out of my mouth were growls. The monsters seemed to understand though. They left the town alone. "The demon tongue." I breathed. I took off through the air to find the others. The Phoenix and the Dark Dragon were abnormally quiet. Suddenly, I noticed a small commotion in a valley and I swooped down. Two massive Black Kentaurus were stamping the ground and creating lots of smoke, but I could see through it. Five figures were running around the Kentaurus's legs. I held out my right claw and a giant scythe appeared in it. It was several times my body size, yet I could hold it with just one claw! One swift swing lopped off a Kentaurus head and another neatly placed one cut the other one in half. I landed in the valley and ran forward to check on the figures. I heard someone coughing and Alexis stepped out of the smoke. "What the heck?" she stared at me. "I was worried about you guys." I explained and turned towards the corpse of a Kentaurus. "Incinerate!" I commanded, holding out a claw. The corpse vanished in a furnace of black flames. "You're......" Alexis gasped. For some reason, she seemed smaller. "What?" I asked. "Bigger..." she replied. I looked at myself and gasped. I was a few feet taller than Alexis now, but for some reason, I hadn't noticed my Dark Armis being ripped. "Its the magic in the air. Those Black Kentaurus's growth were also accelerated by it." Jakito blew away the smoke. "Uhoh." I gasped. Kagome's left foot was crushed and blood was leaking from it. She was howling in pain. Jakito healed it effortlessly. "Thanks." she smiled. "Don't mention it." Jakito replied. Not like him to say that phrase...... "Look, we don't stand a chance against those monsters now. We'll have to let Artemis take care of them." Sevin stared up at me. It felt weird, being the tallest in the party now. "Any ideas?" Alexis muttered after an hour of moving through the forest. By now, I was almost as big as a Balrog, and I was holding the others in my hands, flying over the Minar Forest. Also, my Dark Armis had been completely ripped. I felt powerful. Real powerful. "I think the energy might be coming from there." I pointed at a snow-covered mountain. Only, the snow was black. The others started throwing up. "Bleaargh!" Alexis vomited over my hand, and I could have sworn her ears were becoming pointed. "I can't......" Jakito panted. He had turned back into his demon form in front of a surprised and vomiting Kagome. "If we don't get out of here soon, we're all going to get tainted by the energy......." I explained. How did I know that? "Okay, hold on tight." I closed my fist tenderly and flew upwards to the peak of the mountain, only to get stopped by two massive reptilian monsters. "Hold...... Ahh. Queen. Go on through." they bowed as I flew past. "Weird." I mumbled. There was a pulsing black crystal on the very tip of the mountain, but it was surrounded by a barrier. Even I couldn't get through it. I opened my fist and was instantly shocked. Alexis had small wings growing out of her back! Sevin's wings were turning black and Kagome was having a bit of a fingernail crisis. Jakito didn't seem to be affected, but he was already a demon. My entire body started to pulse the moment I laid my claws on the barrier. Another pair of wings shot out of my back painfully, and I felt my skin harden. I clenched my free hand into a fist and smashed through the barrier, shattering the crystal. "Saevio, you bastard......" I started to fall, and something landed on my hand. A wind blew over it and my body started to shrink. The reptilian guards I had met on the way up tried to catch me, but I crashed into them and squashed them under me when I landed on the ground. I fainted. |
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