ESS END: A thoughtful battle and…Divine Cheating?!! Part 4 of 5.

““…Heartbreaker]!””

PUM!

“ACK—!”

Despite bracing for impact, Xol couldn’t help but yelp in pain as both burning fists struck him in the same place, his chest, and turned it into the ham of a mighty knuckle sandwich! But that was not all! Not at all! As the attack unleashed by both Euphemia and Charles was more than just a slightly harder punch!

It was a blow like no other! One that focused all their mix of ki and mana—their aura—into their fists and detonated it! Delivering major damage not only to the outside of Xol’s body, but also the inside, as their aura and its devastating unravelling properties reached deep into his chest on impact and wreaked havoc on its true target as it detonated, just like its name implied!

Such was the power that belonged to one of the Way of the Gentle Fist’s most ungentle trump cards that its impact alone shook the whole valley. But most importantly…

“Ngh…you…damn mort…als…”

“…”

“It’s over, Xol.”

…it brought Xol to his knees. Truly. Utterly. Deservedly. And in such position, he could do nothing but curse at the mortals now looking down at him as he clutched his chest and gasped for air. Two stayed silent and watched over the one who didn’t. It wasn’t like her to do so after all.

“Iss it…? Urk…”

But before she could say anything else, she was beaten to the punch by none other than Xol, who, between gasps for air and painful coughs, met her gaze with his own and grinned as he began his…revelation.

“Can you really…nghh…ssay that when you know nothing of the coward you are fighting for? Becaussse that isss…what you’re fighting for…a coward’s plight! Cough…urk…”

“What?”

Xol grinned as he was met with Euphemia’s sharp response and even sharper gaze. It seemed that she had bitten proverbial bait.

“Hehe…you heard me, Little Princess. The perssson you…gn…oh sso gracioussly sssaved…the perssson for whom you sstarted all of thiss...iss nothing but a coward. A coward you know nothing of…! Tell me…isss he truly worthy of the amount of trussst you’ve given him? Because I wonder if you would have done all thiss had you known what I know thanksss to the ‘bond’ I ssshare with him…”

“…”

Silence. Xol couldn’t help but revel in it, savoring every second that our dear Princess seemed unable to come up with an answer for his questions. He especially enjoyed seeing how her expression had started to slowly change into a worried one.

Thus, he pushed on while ignoring the two very important and old details behind Euphemia. ‘Details’ that seemed quite calm despite the apparent situation. Wink-wink.

“I know thingsss about him that you don’t, Little Princess. Thingss that he didn’t tell you despite the many chances he had to do sso. Nassty sstuff from his past in the Front but alsso about what he did tell you. Like…did you know that his little ‘sstunt’ led to much, much grief? And I don’t mean his deliciouss friends feeling bad for him and his losst arm. No. No, no, no. I mean the village they were ssupposed to protect. The village that I made ssure to raze to the ground. People and all.”

“…”

Silence. Again. And yet, that was the best answer for Xol, whose grin and enjoyment had become bigger off of it. There was also the fact that this also gave him the time he needed to complete his plans. So of course, he went in for more.

“Of courssse, you could sssay that I wasss to blame, and I wass. But…that iss only half of the sstory. The reaction to hisss action. He thought he could sshut me down like he used to do in that battlefield. Instead, he failed. I was there for him after all. I wass prepared. Not unaware. And yet…he sstill tried and doomed his beloved comradess the moment he did. Because by trying to ssave him, they let their formation fall apart. Oh, their dessperation…it was ssweet like honey.”

“…”

“Sstill, rather than doing their duty and protecting thosse pathetic villagers by driving me off, they sssaved him. They even teleported him out of my reach. Truly, it wasss an impressive wasste of their precious resources. Specially by a pathetic group of ‘veteranss’ who were lauded asss Starss, heh. Foolsss…all.”

Not satisfied with ‘simple’ enjoyment, Xol added mockery to the mix as he sardonically talked about those he fought in the past. Yet…underneath that, he also mocked our dear Princess for inadvertently dooming herself and her companions by letting him keep talking.

And keep talking he did as his tone grew heavy with killing intent and his serpentine lisp slowly vanished.

“And what do you think he did after that? After he was told that obviouss lie about everything that happened? He ran away. He ran, and ran, and ran, until he couldn’t take another ssstep. He abandoned it all rather than properly face the consequences of his actionss. If he had, none of usss would be here fighting. And those villagers wouldn’t be facing the same fate as the ones he already damned.”

“…”

And what–I ask you dearies–did Euphemia do in response to all of…this? To this cold truth? This threatening declaration? Well…

“Heh.”

“…?”

“For all your power, you really are a fool, aren’t you?”

…she chuckled, fufu~. She chuckled before shaking her head and shooting back at him with words that stung. Words that made Xol’s held back wrath start to boil over. After all, this mortal just kept making a mockery of him time and time again. The tricks. The hurt. The siccing of two experienced Slayers on him. The shame of being made to kneel before her. And now, she hadn’t been worried at all over his words. She had just tricked him again and was mocking him for it.

“Why?” he asked as he strongly gritted his teeth.

Yet this seething question only helped Euphemia’s case as she proceeded to further stab him with words.

“The fact that you are asking says it all. Despite knowing of my value to your Masters, you understand naught about me. I survived a draconic siege, unlike many others who deserved it as much as me. I know all too well that unless a miracle happens such things are never victimless. Never. And Kori knows this too.”

Poignant words.

“Truly, what were you expecting? That I would be shocked? That I would despair over what you revealed? Or that I would be angry at Kori, my trust broken? Hehe, if so, you are sorely mistaken.”

Mocking words.

“I am not angry at him, nor am I shaken by your words. After all, I do not need to know someone to want to help them. To do all this. I do it because I want to. That is who I am. Besides, he will tell me the full story when he is ready. And if he does not, that is fine too. In fact, what you told me only served to make me trust him even more.”

Puzzling words.

“What…?”

Puzzling enough that they made Xol blurt that out without a second thought, it just…didn’t make sense to him. While he couldn’t care less about how mortals bonded and the things that came with that, he was sure of the buttons he needed to push in order for his prey to do as he wanted, to have them season themselves before devouring them.

That was how he hunted. How he grew stronger. How he got so close to becoming a proper Dragon Lord, lesser no more. And yet, here he was, unable to get what he wanted from the mortal before him and looking even more like a fool in her eyes. Eyes that dared look down at him with something that Xol—a Dragon Lord—never thought possible to be the object of...

“I see…so you truly cannot understand.”

Pity.

“You…! How dare you pity me…?!” Irate, Xol tried to get up as he roared at Euphemia only for his legs to fail him, making him fall to his knees again as soon as he did, earning himself nothing but more shame.

“I pity you because you have never experienced what lies beneath your words. You have never known that kind of trust. Of cherishment. Being fought hard for, saved, and given a chance at a peaceful life by being let go. They are all wonderful things that are given to those we love. And if his friends went that far for him, then who am I not to trust him like they did? I will go as far as to say that he already made his choice and has helped deal with all of the ‘pets’ you sent to the village. I’m certain of it.”

She wasn’t certain. In fact, despite her confidence, our dear Princess had no way of knowing how things were going in the village, especially now that she was completely focused on Xol. But that was fine, she had a good feeling about it.

“As if that coward could—"

“Go on. Check.”

“You…”

Good enough for her to dare the Dragon Lord kneeling before her to confirm it for her, much to his chagrin. He wanted to end it all. He wanted to erase this mortal before her so much. Make her feel his wrath for daring to make him fall even lower than before by pitying him. He wanted to consign her and her companions to the endless madness of the many, many Dark Spirits he commanded.

“Hrnn…”

But things weren’t ready yet. Just a little more. He just needed to endure it for a few moments. Nothing more. So, he forced himself to do just that and did as he was dared to. He checked on his ‘pets’ through the bond he shared with them, expecting to find them destroying the village while dealing with whoever the Princess left to protect it.

“…?”

Instead, he found…nothing. Silence. Something was wrong. The bond he had with the ones he had sent to the village was…gone. They were all gone. But how? How did they do it? Furthermore, how did they do it so ‘silently’? How did they stop his Savage Spriggans from alerting him as they died? And who could have done that? Those and more questions raced through Xol’s mind as he tried to understand what happened.

“…!”

Then, he felt it. A…tug inside his mind. A very particular one at that. It was both surprising and familiar. It was also…the answer. And it made him smile.

“Hehehe…it seems that you were right, Little Princess. Our mutual friend did just as you said and more, for he shall arrive here shortly. And with a heart ready to aid you against me it seems. It is a shame that it will be all for nothing though.”

“And why is that?”

“Oh, Little Princess,” he paused, a sinister grin appearing in his face before continuing with a tone heavy in glee and killing intent. “Because he will only arrive to watch you all die.”

AS SOON AS HE DECLARED THAT HIS BLACK MANA SURGED FROM HIS MANGLED BODY AND WENT GRRRRRROOOOOOOOOOOOOWWSHHH!! PUSHING AWAY THOSE CLOSE TO XOL AND CRACKING THE GROUND AROUND HIM WITH A MIGHT THAT WAS THOUGHT SPENT!

IT WAS TIME! NO MORE WAITING! NO MORE GAMES!

RUINATION WOULD FALL UPON THE MORTALS WHO HAD MADE HIM KNEEL AND NO ONE WOULD BE ABLE TO DO ANYTHING ABOUT IT!! AND SO, THE SURGING MANA FLEW NOT OUTWARDS, BUT UPWARDS, TO THE SKY ABOVE THE SKY AND TOUCHED WHAT HAD BEEN ACCUMULATING THERE ALL THIS TIME!

THEN HE BELLOWED, “COME!”

BRRRRROOOOOOUUUUUNNNNNNNNNNN!

AND THE SKY ABOVE THEM SHOOK WITH THUNDER AS IF ANSWERING HIS CALL! NO! IT WAS NOT THE SKY, BUT THOUSANDS UPON THOUSANDS OF DARK SPIRITS WHO BUZZED IN UNISON BECOMING AS LOUD AS THUNDER AND AS DREADFUL AS A NATURAL DISASTER! ONE THAT WAS ONLY WAITING FOR ITS MASTER TO LET IT WREAK HAVOC ON THE SURFACE!

“DESCEND AND SWALLOW THEM WHOLE MY [DARK NIMBUS]!!”

The order was given! The sky parted! And in its place the conjoined form of the many Dark Spirits showed itself to the gazes of everyone who dared look up! It was a massive dark maw. A hungering void. A calamity of madness that was about to possess the entire valley and swallow them all.

“““...”””

Yet…something was wrong. Despite gazing upon such a calamitous thing, there was no despair in their eyes. Not in the veterans’. Not in the Princess’.

‘Why…? Why aren’t they despairing?! Why?! Why?!’

And that was driving Xol close to the edge, his mind flooded with nothing but that.

It was then that Euphemia pushed him over said edge as she, who had been looking up at the approaching dark maw, glanced at Xol, smiled, and gave him the answer he was so desperately seeking.

“You were not the only one buying time, you know?”

“...!”

Xol’s eyes went wide. It had finally dawned on him that he had been fighting against just half of the companions our dear Princess had brought with her. No…he had been made to, forced to focus on them and them alone from the very beginning. All so he wouldn’t notice where Sistina and the rest had gone and what they were about to do.

“Kori may not have told me everything about himself, but he told me enough about you. Your powers. How you fight. How you carry yourself. All things that helped us prepare for you in ways you clearly never even imagined.”

All the slights, the humiliation, the tricks, even letting him talk as much as he did, it was all in service of…

“No…that’s…!!”

…what was happening before his very eyes. Three sky blue pillars of light rose from different faraway parts of the valley and created a dome-like barrier large enough that not just covered the area where the Dark Nimbus was descending, the area where they were, but the valley in its entirety.  Yet its power lied not in just stopping the Dark Nimbus’ descent, but in purging it from this world as its holy light burned away every single Dark Spirit that touched it.  And once one burned, they all burned.

“[Purging Sanctuary]. A holy spell meant to stop any corrupting forces from breaching an area by purging them. Corrupting forces like your Dark Spirits.”

“How…?! No mortal should have enough mana to do something of this magnitude! Let alone sustain it!”

To this, Euphemia smiled.

“You’re right, three people wouldn’t be enough to do this. We were even expecting it to be more of a short-lasting localized deterrent for your Dark Spirits rather than a massive all-encompassing  fatal counter. That is why we waited until you tried to use whatever dark trump card you had involving them.  As for how…how else? They prayed. They prayed wholeheartedly while using their mana as a catalyst all this time. And this is the Goddess’ answer, hehe. I guess she doesn’t like what you’re doing either.”

“That…! That damn…Goddess!!!”

Fufufu~~, now that’s the expression I was so looking forward to. That anger and frustration. That powerlessness. That screaming at the heavens before raging at the ground with head hanging low and gritted teeth. I loved it then. I love it now. He thought he had won only for victory to slip between his fingers yet again. And it was aaaaall his fault.

Why? Because if he hadn't justified my empowering the spell to that magnitude by gathering so many Dark Spirits in one place, I would’ve just done as Euphemia and the rest expected and left it at that. Especially as I knew full well that even if things became difficult here and there, they could still handle him on their own. Buuuuut, he did gather so many of those bad things there. So…take that you dummy!

Now, a certain lovely someone may call it a deus-ex machina, and I’d proudly say guilty as charged, fufu~. After all, answering such pleas and bestowing such power at the right times is part of my job, of my being there for them, for you…for all who live and love this world of ours.

Oh, but this doesn’t mean that I handed victory to our dear Princess with that. No.

In fact…

“Once again, it’s over Xol. You are done.”

“No. I am not. You and yours may have suppressed my body’s healing…made me kneel…purged my Dark Spirits from this world…but I still have one more thing at my disposal. I thought that I would not need it to deal with you. To my shame, I was wrong.”

…there was one more hurdle yet to be overcome.

“If it’s your fragment of Kori’s mind weaving magic, I can assure you that all of us have a will strong enough to resist it.”

“Heh, that is where you are wrong, Little Princess. For you see, there is a blind spot in your precious plan. That fragmented power you believe not strong enough to pierce your wills?”

One that they couldn’t expect to know when Kori himself knew naught of it.

“It grows stronger the closer I am to him. And he is quite close, that brave fool!”

“““…!!!!”””

Not even an instant later, Charles and Fen jumped at the exclaiming Xol to finish him off before he could do whatever he was about to do.

But it was too late.

“HA!”

Xol raised his head and released a pinkish wave of magic from his head at his enemies, his humiliators. And as it washed over them, Euphemia turned in the village’s direction. There she saw him, Kori in his scarlet armor reaching towards them. She smiled. Then everything turned to black.

To be concluded…NEXT WEEK!!