The Forsaken Hero

Aqua’s words sent a shock through me, my tail giving a startled flick. I stared at her, heart racing, eyes wide. She was an inquisitor, yet offered to fight a demon alongside me? Forget me trusting her, how could she possibly rely on me? I was a demon in their eyes, no different than this evolved demon before us.

The shriek of steel shattered my thoughts, the demon suddenly looming over me. It brought a bladed arm down, smashing heavily into the blad ward. A small ripple surged across the ward’s barrier, a noticeable chunk of my mana dispersing.

Fable let out a cry and leaped at the demon, snapping his jaws shut on a large blade and dragging it away. Blood leaked through his canine lips as the infernal steel cut into his flesh, but he showed no indication he felt pain, tightening his grip and slamming the demon into the ground. The demon let out a shrill groan and flailed about, slicing through the wolf’s hardened fur, leaving long, jagged furrows in his flesh.

”Fable!” I cried, Aqua forgotten, running forward. ”Restoration!”

The two giant creatures grappled in a storm of flashing blades and fur, approaching them seemed like suicide. I ran forward regardless, rapidly weaving the fourth-circle life spell. Every time the two monsters met, blood poured from Fable’s flesh into rivers, dying his silver fur. A stray blade glanced off the Blade Ward, causing me to stumble a few steps back, but gritting my teeth, I pushed through and managed to lay a hand on Fable’s hind leg.

The wolf howled as he was bathed in soft, green Life Magic, his life and energy restored. He brought a heavy paw down on the monster, sending it into the forest. The demon passed through the trees as though they weren’t there, only to have them come crashing down, split into dozens of pieces.

It was impossible to tell whether Fable had even damaged the demon, but as it picked itself up, the silver core blazed furiously, blades whirring about it in a veritable storm of steel and magic. An insidious glow leaked from the ball of light, lacing through the gleaming steel. My scalp tingled, goosebumps crawling down my arms, as it took a step toward us, finally revealing its full, fifth-level abilities.

I glanced up at Fable, grateful to be in his towering shadow. Soft, green light continued to flicker over his wounds, knitting his flesh together, hardened, silver fur sprouting in the gaps. The inquisitors had left their marks as well, and it would take several seconds until he was in full fighting condition. Seconds we didn’t have.

The Blade Demon charged forward, a hellish, whispering tempest of death. Moving without thinking, I ran in front of Fable, desperate to buy him the time he needed, and cast a fourth-circle spell.

”Fire Wall!”

A blistering wall of flames erupted from the earth, forming a semicircle hedging in the demon’s approach. The meadow withered before the intense heat, blackening for nearly a hundred feet in all directions. Unwilling, or perhaps unable, to be stopped, the demon ran straight through the fires, letting out a pained squeal, a grating sound like rusty hinges.

The fire flared around the demon, curling in and out of its skeletal-like appendages, licking the silver core. The demon faltered for a moment, then its unearthly scream raised in pitch, and it burst through the flames. Its body hissed and groaned, gleaming red like iron in a blacksmith’s forge. The silver core’s light flickered like a candle in the wind, withdrawing in on itself until its light returned to a steady gleam. The orb was noticeably smaller, the demon’s soul within shivering with pain. As it turned toward me, blades raised, its movements looked a tad slower, its aura less suppressive.

But, even if it were slower, the difference was negligible from my perspective, weak as I was. Carried by the momentum of its charge, the demon trampled forward, filling my vision with whirring blades. I cried out, summoning a few Aegis wards, but the fifth-level monster crashed through them with ease, barely slowing as it brought the point of its limbs down on the Blade Ward.

The heavy impact filled the air with a gut-wrenching crack, a long spidery line tracing over the barrier. A small shockwave leaped out of the collision, tousling my hair and stirring the leaves on the far side of the meadow. I tried to run, to dodge its next attacks, but I felt so slow and sluggish. My mana was low, perhaps a third remaining, but it was my child-like physique that held me helpless. The demon continued its assault, blades whistling through the air like a summer shower, and it was all I could do was focus my mana into the Blade Ward, restoring whatever damage the demon inflicted in its assault.

”Xiviyah!”

I was dimly aware of a girl’s voice, taught with apprehension. It was the inquisitor, likely scared the demon would claim her glory. Leera had mentioned catching me was some sort of final test for her so that she could receive the full mantle of inquisitor. But if that was her goal, then the rest of her behavior felt off, lacking any sort of investment. If capturing or killing me wasn’t her goal, then just what was she plotting? What more could they do to hurt me?

Distracted by my fears, I missed the change in the Blade Demon’s soul. A sudden burst of power swept down one of its limbs, sheathing it in silvery light. Infernal mana pulsed along its length, filling the air with a deafening hum. My eyes widened as the blade descended, dragging eddies of vicious wind blades behind it. A fifth-level magical technique!

Fable cried out, his roar weak with desperation, struggling to his feet, but it was too late. The tip of the demon’s blade slammed into the blade ward like a rock into a tranquil pool. Ripples of mana swept out of the impact, countless fractures webbing through the spell with a sound like shattering glass.

As the wind blades swept in, scouring what little remained of the barrier. The translucent barrier shattered, breaking my control over my mana, and I cried out, a vicious stab of pain twisting in my soul. Blinking away tears, I fell back, a coppery taste in my throat, landing heavily on my knees.

”Fable,” I croaked, knowing it was useless.

The demon wasted no time hesitating, several of its blades flying at me at once. They filled the air with gleaming steel, flecked red with the inquisitor’s blood. I braced myself, waiting for their bite, when a glorious bell-like ting rang out in the meadow.

I stared up in shock, my teary gaze filled with blurs of blue and white. It was...Aqua? The inquisitor stood over me, cloak whipping in her aura, appearing small and vulnerable before the massive Blade Demon. As the blade fell, a strange power welled up in her soul, coursing through her veins and erupting from her clenched fists.

Letting out a cry, she punched forward, meeting the demon head-on. I flinched, expecting the blade to sheer through her hand and wrist, but it came to a stop, shivering a scant inch from her knuckle. Before it could react, she stepped to the side, bringing her other fist down on the flat of the blade. Water flowed from her palm, encircling the blade. There was a metallic crack, and the top half of the blade corroded, curling with rust. Aqua struck again, and the ruined metal shattered, raining down in a hailstorm of metal shards.

”Get back!” Aqua cried, releasing a flurry of blows.

The demon stumbled away from the onslaught, bringing the remaining half of its limb up before the silver core, as though it were looking at it in disbelief. Ignorant of the Aqua’s words, I stared at her back dumbly. She had saved me. An Inquisitor saved me.

Large, strong jaws clamped around my cloak, firmly pulling me away. Still hollow with shock, I felt Fable’s warm breath tickling my neck, an anxious whine in my ears. For some reason, he had shrunken in size again, merely ten feet long, though his injuries were fully recovered.

”Fable?” I asked distantly, trembling uncontrollably. He met my eyes with a steady, golden gaze. ”She...saved me?”

He barked, dropping my cloak in the process. The noise sent a shock through me, and I blinked rapidly, shaking my head. Aqua still fought the demon, though her initial advantage had waned, and blood leaked from countless small cuts in her armor.

Letting out a metallic roar, the demon’s blades swirled like leaves before an autumn gale, bearing down from every angle, cutting off all paths of retreat. I turned away, feeling a sudden wrench in my stomach as it seemed she was about to die. I waited, tail trembling, for the sound of her scream, of her blood splattering across the flowers.

A horrible keening shriek split the air, making me flinch. I turned to see her weaving through the storm of blades, her body lithe and nimble, flowing like a river around rocky rapids. Whenever its blades plunged into the ground, missing her by a hairsbreadth, her fists flashed out, striking solid blows. Great arcs and loops of water trailed from her movements, white with foam, forming brief visages of dragons before landing against the demon. Instead of splashing off the glossy steel, it soaked into its soul, smothering it. The demon’s movements slowed, the silver core flickering with light, steadily growing smaller.

I watched the fight, my lips parted in a soundless breath. Aqua moved as gracefully as a dancer, flowing from one stance to the next, always a step ahead of the whirring blades. As she unleashed more magical techniques, which seemed focused on suppressing the demon, her soul blazed with an intensity rivaling Soltair. Just who was she?

Suddenly, the demon let out a cry, its soul lighting up again. A silver glow fell over its body, and a dozen blades tore free, streaking autonomously into the air. The demon’s core trembled with fury, and its aura intensified, driving us all back a step. As it slammed a blade down toward Aqua, I fell against Fable’s flank, still weak from the engagement, tail twisting nervously. She leaped aside at the last second, alighting beside us.

”Looks like it’s getting serious,” Aqua said, tossing her short, brown hair and flashing me a smile. ”What do you say we take it together now?”