71 Dungeons and Dragons: The Epic Battle

Diana slowly opened her eyes to a chilly breeze and the ground nearly a kilometer below. Suddenly, Jurie's emotionless face filled her vision, startling her.

"Diana's awake." Jurie said. Tommie and everyone had been tied up against the outer towers. Elfie had a huge fear of heights, so when she woke up a few moments later, she screamed incredibly loudly.

"Get me down! Get me down!" She begged, terrifiedly looking down at the ground.

"Be careful what you wish for," Reben, who sat with his feet hanging off the ledge above her, said. All Seven Ministers were there, five of them sitting on the five outer towers and watching the restrained heroes. Dillie and Adimia stood by Divol's, who had fallen asleep, side as usual.

"Reben, don't do anything stupid. Divol said not to kill them." Rauba told him off in her reserved tone.

"Should we wake him up?" Dillie asked Adimia.

"Yeah," They exchanged a brief moment of silence, "Well, what are you waiting for?"

"You want me to do it?"

"You made the suggestion,"

"But I wouldn't be able to handle it if he went 'good morning'" She put on a cool and charming voice.

"You think he'd say that to anyone?" Adimia asked, snapping her back to reality.

"Fine," She frowned and lightly shook Divol. He woke up quickly yet calmly, letting out a tired sigh.

"Good morning," He said – Hig told Paley to say that to mess with Dillie.

"Eek!" Dillie squirmed away from him in blushing excitement.

"You've bought them." He stood up and walked toward the edge that faced Tommie, who was still asleep. "Wake him up," He ordered Amasha and created a path of ice to walk on to Tommie. Amasha dropped down, digging into the tower wall to stop his momentum, and lightly slapped Tommie across the face.

"Divol…" Tommie muttered weakly. For some reason, he felt drained, as if he'd been exercising for hours.

"Where is the Vamali's Staff?" Divol asked, approaching carefully.

"Who knows?" Tommie smirked.

"Where is it?" Divol jerked forward and grabbed him by the cheeks, showing slight anger for the first time.

If there was ever a good time to use Dark Magic, it would be now, Tommie thought. 'Come on!' he put all his focus into creating a pitch black ball, but it didn't work. However, unbeknownst to Tommie, he had managed to use it. For an extremely brief moment, he'd emanated a slither of Dark Magic that made Divol jump away in a panic.

"It's inside you," Divol had seen the Vamali's face for an instant, and it made him feel fear.

"Why did you kill them?" Tommie bluntly asked.

"Divol!" Higorius gritted his teeth, "I beg of you, do not kill them. They are innocent. I am the one who hatched this scheme." That was his last-ditch attempt since the odds of them getting out of there alive were now less than 1%.

"I'm not planning on killing any of you," Divol replied, reaching his hand out to Tommie, "A thousand years ago, I killed your ancestors, Tommie." A shocked silence filled the air, "I wanted their Time Magic to go back in time and save my mother from the spirits who killed her. But their power only allowed them to peer into the future.

Once I slaughtered them all and absorbed their souls, I felt their Time Magic rush through me. But I could not go back in time. I couldn't even peer into the future. I figured out later that they had to use the Sage Arts to use it. It was too powerful to be wielded by a normal human. That is what leads me to this moment; to give you an offer. Join me, Great Sage."

"I will never join you, Divol." Tommie's voice suddenly began echoing and changed into a similar but older tone. Divol recognized it and stepped back in retreat.

"Dommas?" He called out, and Tommie's face grinned.

"Not quite," Tommie's voice distorted. "It is all of us." His eyes twitched erratically, and his body began emitting a deep white light.

Divol realized that all the Sages of Plece were speaking through him. He felt Tommie's mana surge. The Sages of Plece hadn't been meditating simply to peer into the future. They'd been transferring their mana and souls into the future, all into one man, Tommie Kailece, The Great Sage.

However, there was one other presence within him. Something that could not have come from this world, and Bacha felt it slowly weaken her plant bindings.

"Divol!" She cautioned, but he had already thrown a giant spike of ice toward Tommie's head. Tommie's eyes stopped twitching and widened for a moment before he released an explosion. The blast was so strong that the air it displaced became visible.

Bacha was jerked back by the explosion and lost focus, slightly releasing her plant bindings around everyone else. Diana and Claudia managed to take their swords out and cut through the plant roots, but Elfie and Higorius were still stuck.

After freeing themselves, the twins jumped to the other two – using Strength Enhancing Magic to jump farther – and sliced them free. Bacha regained her concentration and tried to bind them in a net. But Claudia and Diana quickly cut the net apart before it could trap them.

"What's with this strength?" Diana asked, noticing that her body had taken a faint white glow. It was happening to the others too.

Divol, who had been thrown against his throne, stood up and faced the smoke which Tommie was emerging from. A luminescent, water-like white line flowed from his silhouette in the smoke to the others.

Finally, Tommie's face emerged from the smoke, twisted by rage, and his battle with Divol began.

"Dragon's huff!" Adimia swung his sword, using a spell similar to Dillie's Konzan (A slash of air that she creates with a swing of her sword), and sent a wave of extremely dense air their way. Diana jumped off the tower wall and created a barrier to protect Higorius and Elfie as Claudia charged Adimia.

Elfie climbed the tower, gripping the tiny spaces between the bricks on her way to the top, and supported Claudia and Diana with her arrows. "Enchant: Fire Magic: Exploding Arrows!" She didn't care why, but she felt she could enchant her arrows herself.

Claudia dodged a downward swing from Adimia and thrust her sword into his stomach, managing to pierce through his armor and slightly into his abs. He grunted and lugged his Dragonslayer up at her; she dodged again, empowered by the strange white glow; he used his momentum to spin around and attack her again, but even that attempt was evaded.

"Divol! The Great Sage is giving them power!" He shouted as Claudia's sword neared his face. Diana had also jumped onto their tower, but she went for his chest. Luckily for him, Reben and Amasha came just in time and slammed the twins away with their swords – they would've cut them in half had they not used Protection Magic.

Dillie stood by Divol's side as Tommie came out of the smoke and sprinted toward him. Divol, cautious, threw his hand up, creating a wall of ice to block Tommie, who just broke through it with ease. But Divol had predicted that and threw an avalanche of icicles at him.

Higorius began climbing up the tower slowly, and Elfie helped him up as he reached the top. He felt that his magic had gotten stronger and could now instantly heal Diana and Claudia as they fought.

"Inferno," Rauba's voice echoed from behind them. They turned around to see her floating in the air in her big rose ball gown; enormous flames came their way from her outstretched hand.

"Higorius!" Elfie took Higorius and jumped off the tower, grabbing onto the ledge of another. The flames enveloped the entirety of the top of the tower they were on, continuing on for a hundred meters above the others.

Diana and Claudia were matching Reben and Amasha in both strength and speed. If it wasn't for Adimia, who was now using his Fire Magic sword and Water Magic sword, Claudia would've probably sliced Reben's head off.

Tommie dodged all the icicles Divol threw at him with ease and moved forward to blast him with Fire Magic. His spell exploded into a large ball of flames, but it didn't hit Divol, who had dashed behind him after evading it.

Tommie turned around in time to block Divol's Ice Dagger with his hands coated in Protection Magic. He thought he was using the Sage Arts, but that wasn't the case. Divol's Dagger slipped through the Protection Magic and pierced through his hand, making him groan in pain and fall back. His body stopped emitting the white light, and he fell down, having passed out.

"Get the rest of them," Divol ordered Dillie as he held down Tommie's seizing body.

"Got it!" Dillie readied her greatsword and began walking toward Elfie and the others. Their magic boost had run out after Tommie fell unconscious, and they all retreated to the outer tower Elfie and Higorius were on.

"Wind Art: Fengsu," Dillie said lethally and bolted forward as fast as the wind. Her long, great sword shrank to the size of a normal blade, which she swung with such speed they couldn't even see it. Fortunately, Higorius had put a Protection Spell on all of them so instead of being sliced in half, they were hurled into the air away from Divol's castle.

As they hung in the air just before plummeting to their demise, Elfie passed out from fright. But they weren't going to die yet. Divol still wanted them to join him.

"Net of ivy: Sleep!" Bacha created a giant net of plants again. This time, they were coated with sleep-inducing poisonous spikes. Diana and Claudia tried to hack the plants away, but Teerom and Jurie stepped forward on the central tower and cast an enormous gravity spell on them.

"Fall," They said emotionlessly, making them all plunge toward the ground.

"Rauba," Divol called, and she nodded, flying down with them and placing a Protection Magic spell on them. They landed, destroying the ground into craters where they fell, but they were mostly fine apart from a few broken bones. Tommie and Elfie had both snapped back to consciousness upon impact with the ground.

Divol created a path of ice all the way to the ground and slid down on it with the other Ministers.

"I give you one more chance." Divol began, "Join me, and together, we can have everything. Any luxury you want, simply name it, and I shall provide." He reached his hand out once more at the weakened heroes.

"You make a tempting offer… But we will never turn to the dark side!" Higorius fought.

"Your sense of good is strong." He paused, taking a hard look at them, "How naïve. You really would sacrifice the chance of having anything you want whenever you want for your idiocies? Your morals? There is no such thing as morality. Good and evil are mere ideas created by the majority, hence you believe in it."

(Paley doesn't actually think this. He's a strong believer in the notion of good and bad, but he can be extreme at times)

"You're just taking your anger out on innocent people! Just because a few bad spirits killed your stupid mother doesn't mean the world has to suffer for it!" Elfie barked.

"What did you just call her?" Divol's face darkened and his eyes glowed a deep scarlet.

"I called her stupid! She's the one who decided to have a half-breed scumbag!" Elfie tried to press his buttons, but she took it way too far.

Divol, enraged, turned into a Black Spirit. His body became a pitch-black essence - his soul's darkness. And his eyes turned into wisps of red that gazed into the farthest depths of Elfie's soul. She felt like her insides dropped out of her body. Pure fear had her frozen in place like a statue.

The pitch-black essence gathered itself and turned back into flesh. "Have it your way," Divol stepped forward and grabbed Elfie by the hair. "I will start with The Great Sage." He threw her into the tower, "Then, the old man. Then, the twins. You will hold them each as they pass their final breaths. Then, you can tell me what it's like to have the one you love die in your arms."

"Teerom. Jurie." Divol glanced at them, and they put them all under the Gravity spell again. "Don't worry. At least I make it quick and painless." He pressed his palm against the back of Tommie's head.

"Please… At least let them go!" Tommie begged, salivating all over the ground as his cheek was pressed against it, but Divol didn't listen.

"You had your chance. I will kill you all."

"We'll join you!" Higorius pleaded desperately, throwing away his morality for them.

"You lie."

"I don't wish to work for you, but I will. We all will. Spare us, Lord Divol!"

"Divol…" Jurie cut in, "The knights that we called are here." She pointed into the distance. Thousands of knights covered the sky, riding their flying monsters. They all had the Moon Church's crest (A big crescent) on their left chest plates.

"Well, what do we have here? That annoying Negie is back for more." Dillie stepped forward, grinning as she spotted Negie with the High Knights – Paley's apprentices – by her side leading the army.

"I will spare you all, but you must work for me of your volition. Rescind your morals and embark with me to eternal joy."

Tommie was about to retort, but Higorius talked over him. "Yes! Thank you, my Lord. If I could, I would've kissed your feet!" He said with slight sarcasm in his tone.

"If you try betraying me… I'll just show you." He strode past them and toward the knights. Dillie stepped back, disheartened, as he stretched his hands out. Two colossal blue magic circles appeared, one on the ground, and the other, about a kilometer high in the sky.

The knights' rides all froze, staring in dread as the magic circles were activated.

"Empire of Ice," Divol said coolly, and everything went quiet. Then, enormous thin spikes came from the ground and grew in height until they reached the magic circle in the sky. It happened with such speed that the majority of the knights couldn't react in time and were impaled by the spikes.

Everything within twenty kilometers had become a city of ice spikes. And in the middle of it all, Divol stood with an unbothered expression, icier than his spell. He breathed water vapor as temperatures plummeted below freezing.

But he wasn't done.

He put his hands up, and after a few moments, a pitch-black essence traveled to him from all of the dead knights. He was absorbing their souls. (Spirits can't actually absorb souls.)

"None of them should be alive. If they are, they'll freeze to death." He said finished devouring the sea of souls.

"What about us?" Higorius asked, feeling his already frail body begin to shiver from hypothermia.

"I'll keep you warm." Rauba used a Fire Magic spell to heat everyone, prioritizing the other Ministers. She couldn't, however, warm their hearts, for they had frozen with fear at the enormous display of power before them.

"Why did we ever think we could beat him?" Claudia shivered as Divol's gaze shifted back to them.

"From now on, you are my Sages. Any objections?" He asked menacingly.

"N-None, my lord." Claudia, weak-heartedly, said.

"Claudia!" Diana called sternly.

"What!? What else can we do!?" She retorted, making Diana fall quiet. While all that was happening, in painful silence, Tommie was trying to desperately call the Sages of Plece into his body again. But they weren't coming.

In the Void of Time – a pitch-black, endless, empty landscape – hundreds of men and women in robes stood around an azure magic circle.

"Kaleice! Let us through!" One of them yelled at a blonde man who looked a lot like Tommie - Dommas.

"He's not ready," Dommas replied, gritting his teeth tensely.

"That doesn't matter! The Darkness will consume everything if we don't act!" The Sage argued.

"I said he's not ready!" Dommas yelled, "We have to give him time. If we all pour our souls into him now, he will die."

"I understand that he's your ancestor, but-"

"It's not because of that." He interrupted, "He is the only Great Sage we'll ever have. We must wait!"

The Sage clenched his fist, about to let his anger overtake him, but he backed down and joined the other Sages, who were just as impatient as him.

"I will never join you, Divol!" Elfie shouted, trying to stand up against Teerom and Jurie's Gravity Magic spell.

"Elfie!" Tommie tried to stop her, but she had already gotten Divol's attention.

"I hate you. You and your mother can go rot in hell!" She purposefully struck at Divol's mother.

He quietly marched to her and grabbed her by the hair. "You are just an archer. Do you think it'd be any trouble for me if you died?"

"Not at all… But I hate you either way."

"You are so annoying. But whatever, have it your way." He threw her head to the ground and prepared to throw a large ice spike into her.

"No! Stop!" Tommie begged.

The Sages of Plece watched through Tommie's eyes in dread.

"How is he still not ready?" The Sage that was arguing with Dommas earlier asked. Time stopped just before Divol's ice spike pierced Elfie. But only in the Void of Time.

Loud, malicious footsteps approached from somewhere in the pitch-black fog around them.

"Do you need assistance?" A horrendous creature emerged from the fog. It was huge and shaped like a human. But it was the farthest thing from a human. It was a demon.

"What the hell!?" The Sages panicked.

"It has horns… Why is such a thing…" Dommas stared in such abject terror he couldn't muster a single movement. Its legs were like that of a goat's but monstrous. It had regular human arms and torso, but it was far too muscular. It had large curved horns coming from its head. But the worst part of it was its eyes – the way that it stared into your soul, hungry for your flesh.

"I can help you," It said in an abhorrent tone.

"We don't want help from a Vamali!"

"Hahahaha!" It laughed throatily before walking past them with a loathing calmness, "I wish you were flesh and bone so that I could've devoured you. You all look so delicious, especially that young boy over there. He just looks so sweet." The Vamali showed its giant, razor-sharp teeth and licked them.

"What your Great Sage needs isn't time. It is rage." It made its fingers turn into claws and pierced them into the magic circle, pouring its Dark Magic into it. The magic circle cracked, releasing a bright white light; now, they witnessed everything in normal time under its claws.

"Tommie…" Elfie reached her hand out to him as he watched wide-eyed, "I love you." She gave a weak smile as Divol's Dagger entered her side.

Silence.

"Pour into him." The Vamali ordered and the Sages of Plece all flew into the magic circle.

"No! We can't!" Dommas begged.

"Feel free to stay behind." It grinned maliciously and jumped into the magic circle too.

Tommie's body erupted with mana. Teerom and Jurie's Gravity Magic spell vanished, and so did some of the ice around them; it just disappeared. Tommie was using Dark Magic. But his body was emitting the same white light from before.

"Divol!" Negie and Paley's apprentices shouted and approached them on their flying monsters. She'd protected them all from Empire of Ice's spikes.

"Is that him?" Libon asked, disturbed by the enormous amount of mana emanating from Tommie.

"Whose side are you on?" Tommie asked, his voice echoing, as he and Divol walked towards each other. The black marks of the Sage Arts appeared on his body as he became The Great Sage.

"I-I think we're on yours," Homar said.

"Good," He clashed with Divol, who struck first with a Dagger of ice. He dodged and blasted him into the central tower through all the ice spikes with a Firebolt. Quickly, he rushed to Elfie bleeding out on the ground.

"Nice look." She said cheekily, referring to his pupilless eyes, "I can't see your eyes. You look freaky."

"You're fine, right?" He began healing her with intense Healing Magic on par with Spirit Healing Magic.

"Dommas… You frustrate me." Divol walked towards them, slowly becoming a Black Spirit. He could sense all of the Sages of Plece's souls inside Tommie. As well as the Vamali.

"Divol. We'll beat the crap out of you." Tommie transferred some of Sages's power to everyone else. They all took on the same white glow and immediately attacked the Seven Ministers.

"I don't know what's going on, but I'll fight!" Elhom shouted and attacked Reben with Libon and Tugas.

"Amasha! Assistance!" Reben called out as he parried Elhom's sword and dodged Libon and Tugas – who was a Water Mage.

"On my way!" Amasha threw his sword at Libon's head, nearly slicing it off, and then tried to dropkick them.

"Adimia…" Claudia called Adimia to a duel.

"Claudia..." He stared at her with hints of empathy.

"You used to be such a good person. What happened to you?" She asked as Diana joined her side.

"The world." Adimia charged them with his Fire and Water swords.

"Guess we're left with the scraps." Bacha and Rauba flew toward Homar, Ketto, Iji, and Ott; Dillie had already proclaimed her prey.

"Negie. I see you've come to try steal him from me." She said, menacingly dragging her greatsword along the ground as she approached Negie, who marched towards her calmly, wielding a great battle ax.

"Not try… I will have him all to myself." Negie replied.

"I'd like to see you try!" Divol's right-hand-woman and the strongest Great Knight under the Moon Church clashed – their battle immediately shook the ground.

Divol prepared a spell as he approached Tommie, who had finished healing Elfie.

"I'll go help Higorius." She said and was about to run to support Higorius who was fighting Teerom and Jurie, but Tommie grabbed her hand, and his pupils returned as he became himself again.

"Was that true?" He asked.

"You have no idea how much." She quickly hugged him and sprinted toward Higorius, shooting her exploding arrows at Teerom and Jurie.

Divol's body was now half-White-Spirit and half-Black-Spirit – one side was pitch-black, and the other was pure white. He threw a bunch of ice at Tommie with frightening power, but Tommie manoeuvred around it to him, blasting him with a ball of Dark Magic.

It burned through Divol's spirit body, creating a hole. though he regenerated it quickly. They then rushed each other with incredibly powerful spells – Tommie using Dark Magic – for a whole five minutes. Tommie kept erasing Divol's Ice Magic with his Dark Magic. But it still wasn't strong enough to beat Spirit Magic.

White Spirits are already incredibly powerful, but Black Spirits were magnitudes stronger, and Divol was both.

Diana and Claudia were repelling Adimia's continuous relentless attacks. He was fighting both of them at once, using his Fire Magic sword on Claudia and his Water Magic sword on Diana.

"Who knew Tommie would be so strong," Diana said and lurched forward, trying to stab Adimia. He dodged and countered, but Claudia hit his sword away. Both parties retreated, staring each other down.

"You two have gotten way stronger." Adimia praised, sheathing his swords and taking his Dragonslayer off his back.

"Maybe you've just gotten weaker." Diana mocked and charged him with Claudia behind her. She struck first; her attack was blocked, but Claudia followed up and weaved her sword around Adimia's Dragonslayer, slashing into his shoulder plate.

Surprising them, he spun around and slammed his Dragonslayer into Claudia's side, knocking her into Diana and hurling them both into an ice spike. They quickly got back up and countered a follow-up attack from him.

The impacts from the clashing of Negie and Dillie's great-ax and greatsword were so strong that they destroyed the ground. Negie was the one on defense; Dillie kept swinging her greatsword relentlessly, adamant about not giving Negie a chance to strike back.

"This time, I will defeat you, Dillie!" Negie blocked an attack and quickly spun around, lodging her axe into Dillie's side. She was using Enhancing Magic's Arts like Diana and Claudia with their Sword Arts, but hers were on a completely different level, boosting her strength and speed until every hit practically became an explosion.

Dillie was the polar opposite; instead of strength, she relied on her speed, moving with such quickness that she became a blur. She could dodge Negie's attacks with ease but couldn't hit with enough strength to damage her fatally.

But slowly, she chipped away at Negie's armor. Even though it was incredibly straining to stay in her Fengsu Art, she wasn't letting up and continued barraging Negie with attacks. (During battles, in real life, the person who's currently winning just rolled a lucky number – or they're the hero of the story)

"He's mine!" Negie shouted, claiming Paley, though Paley thought she was referring to having Divol's head.

"Hahaha! As if I'll let you have him!" Dillie wedged her sword in a gap under Negie's chest plate and broke it off, exposing her skin. "Let's see how strong your Protection Magic is!" She grinned and tried to thrust her sword into Negie's chest, but it barely even reached her skin before it was deflected away by a yellow barrier.

"It's pretty strong." Negie smiled back at her and blasted her away with her great-ax.

Tommie and Divol's battle had taken to the air. Divol was sliding on bridges of ice whereas Tommie was boosting himself with flames; they looked like two comets brawling in the sky. Tommie had calmed down now after healing Elfie.

"Come on, Tommie! Is that all you got!?" Divol shouted over the deafening spells they used.

"Nowhere near!" Tommie shouted back – Ponna tried to hold back his laugh, because, in real life, Paley tried to shout, but ended up being too embarrassed to actually do it.

They fought; fire against ice; Dark Magic against Spirit Magic; attacking each other ruthlessly.

(Note for the reader: A real fight between Dark Magic and Spirit Magic would be much larger than this.)

They were now around a kilometer away from the Tower of Hell. Tommie managed to break through Divol's ice defenses and grabbed his head, dragging him across the sky while constantly letting the Dark Magic pump into Divol's head.

Little to Tommie's knowledge, he wasn't the one using Dark Magic. It was the Vamali within him.

On the ground, many individual battles were going on. Most of them were turning to the heroes' side, but there was struggling incredibly. It was Libon, Elhom, Tugas – they couldn't get a single good roll.

They kept charging Reben and Amasha but were hit away before they could even begin to make a dent in them. The power they got from Tommie wasn't enough to help them fight two of the Seven Ministers.

"We've only done it once… But let's try it anyway." Libon began.

"No. We can't. It's incomplete!" Tugas argued.

"Do we have any other choice!?"

"Tugas. Let's just do it." Elhom took Libon's side.

Nova gave them an option to choose two numbers. He'd then roll two twenty-sided dice, and if one of them landed on a number they chose, they'd get to use an ultimate ability. Libon nodded at Elhom and Tugas before declaring 2 and 4. Elhom and Tugas' lucky numbers.

"Here we go," Nova said suspensefully and rolled the dice. They rolled for way too long before finally landing on their numbers. The first one unfortunately landed on 17. They crossed their fingers as the second dice rolled around and cheered when it landed on Tugas' lucky 4.

"Aww, lucky!" Amasha pouted in frustration.

In the game, they held hands and began emitting a blinding yellow light as they spun incredibly fast, merging into a large knight with three arms.

"Transformation Magic: Mega-Knight!" Tugas' voice shouted with pride – this is his real magic type, Transformation Magic, letting him change the physical attributes of his and other people's body parts at will. But it takes enormous skill to use which is why Tugas never uses it. Because he can't.

He was the brain of the Mega-Knight. Elhom was the right side, and Libon was the left side. The Mega-Knight had four arms, Libon and Elhom controlling two each.

"COOOOOL!" Amasha and Reben gleamed with awe at it.

"Mega-Knight! Strike!" Tugas shouted and all four arms generated swords with Elhom's magic, Earth Magic. They rushed Amasha and Reben, attacking them with incredible speed and power.

"Taste the power of the Great Noble Trio!" Libon's voice came from the left side.

"Coooool!" Amasha and Reben parried their attacks, trying to get in hits of their own. They used Fire Magic, but their flames were blown away by the wind generated by the Mega-Knight's attacks.

Rauba and Bacha were fighting Paley's remaining apprentices: Homar, Ketto, Iji, and Ott. Bacha attacked first, throwing long roots from her hands at them to trap them. All of them, apart from Ott, managed to evade the roots, and Homar sprinted on them toward Bacha, somehow keeping her balance.

Rauba followed up by hurling a large wave of scalding flames at them. They all put up a barrier, protecting themselves from the burn, and continued toward them.

"Crap! They're stronger than I thought!" Bacha created a plant shield to block Homar's attack, but her sword cut through the plants, and she redirected it by thrusting it at Bacha. "Rauba!" She yelled for help, but Rauba was busy with Ketto and Iji, as well as Ott, who was catching up to them.

"Poison Ivy!" Four thorned plants came out of Bacha's back (a lot like Doc Ock). Her skin turned green, and her veins became visible and looked like black plant roots. Her irises became a gleaming green as she used her Plant Arts – she's mimicking Transformation Magic, but she doesn't know what that is.

She attacked them with her thorned plants, hitting Iji and Ott. The thorns pierced their sides and secreted a poison into them that paralyzed them immediately.

"Spinning Fury!" Homar used her signature Enhancing Magic spell and spun incredibly fast with her swords stretched out, cutting the roots apart before they could touch her.

"Homar! Watch out!" Ketto warned about Rauba, who had created hundreds of magic circles and prepared to barrage Homar with Firebolts.

"Protect me, then!" Homar used one of the remaining ice spikes as footing to jump forward and continued spinning. Bacha made more plants come out of her back and tried to reach through the spinning blades.

"Moons dammit! Catch!" Ketto jumped forward and blocked Rauba's firebolts with a strange pink barrier. Rauba gritted her teeth as Homar cut through Bacha's plants and stabbed her through the heart – there is no blood as Madella wouldn't allow it.

"Bacha!" Rauba called out, still keeping in her shy tone.

"And Return!" Ketto used his Bounce Magic to make all of Rauba's Firebolts bounce back at her from the barrier.

"Crap," Was Rauba's last word before she was defeated by her own flames.

Teerom and Jurie conjured up balls of Gravity Magic and threw them at Higorius and Elfie. They were easy to dodge, but if you did happen to be hit by one, your body would be sucked into the circle and crushed inside out.

The area where their battle was taking place was full of large holes in the ground where Gravity Balls fell.

"Enchant: Fire Magic: Exploding Arrows!" Elfie drew three arrows, "Tri-Shot!" She shot them all with incredible speed, but Teerom and Jurie smashed them to the ground with their Gravity Magic.

"Who knew that those two would be Ministers. And they both use such a rare Magic Type…" Higorius mumbled to himself.

"They're really meant for each other, eh?" Elfie said sarcastically, "Help me out, Higorius!" She shouted, quickly stepping out of the way of a Gravity Ball.

"Sorry! Enhance: Strength!" Higorius boosted her strength.

"Quad-Shot! Double-Shot! Quad-Shot!" Elfie barraged them with arrows – this was her Archer Arts. Despite having Higorius' Enhancing Spell on her, Teerom and Jurie's Gravity Magic was too strong for her arrows to reach anywhere near them.

"Confine." They said dully and created four visible dark purple walls that caged Elfie and Higorius.

"Not good," Elfie said.

"Crush." They closed their palms together like alligators snap their jaws shut.

Tommie and Divol's battle had now moved to the Tower of Hell. Divol got the last hit on Tommie and sent him flying into his throne. He jumped from his bridges of ice and threw thousands of icicles at Tommie, who was trying to recover in the cloud of debris.

Tommie canceled them all out with his palms, where the Vamali was releasing Dark Magic from. With every use of Dark Magic, the Vamali would destroy bits of Tommie's mana; now, there wasn't even enough mana in Tommie to perform even a simple spell. The flames carrying him through the air vanished, but Dommas kept him in the air with Air Magic.

"At the end of the day, I am a Spirit. I am thousands of times stronger than you." Divol said and landed in front of Tommie, "Besides, it seems to me that that Vamali is eating you."

"That doesn't matter. I'd do anything to defeat you. I've seen what you've done…" Tommie panted. His body was at its limit.

"Gouen? Or did the Sages show you everything?"

"I saw their memories. I've seen the millions of people you've sent into despair."

"And what about the thousands of people who decided to join me? They're happier than they've ever been."

Tommie knew he couldn't refute that. It was a fact. The thousands of Knights and Mages working under Divol lived luxurious lives full of joy and pleasure.

"Their joy is built on death. Joy is meaningless if it's at the cost of someone else." He gritted his teeth, trying to muster some mana.

"I offered them all to join me. They all refused. They all died." Divol said bluntly, grabbing Tommie by the neck. "I offered you all to join me. You all refused. Now, you'll die." He threw Tommie off the tower; he landed on one of the bridges near the bottom.

Elfie was desperately trying to stand up against the gravity "Higorius! I might die, but you know what, I at least got to tell Ponna I love him!" Elfie shouted; no one, not even Diz herself, realized that she'd just said Ponna instead of Tommie.

"What're you doing?" Higorius asked, he'd been pinned down against the ground, and his already fragile bones were being crushed.

"Luneia, watch over me…" Elfie struggled a deep breath, "Archer Arts…" She attached six arrows to the string and drew it as far back as she could. Her and the Sages' mana spilled out, creating long golden ribbons that spun around her like a calm whirlwind.

"Purify…" The ribbons of mana all wrapped around the arrows, merging them into one large mystical, gold arrow.

"Arrow of Faith!" She released, and the arrow shot forward at full speed, ignoring the enormous Gravity they were under. "Explode!" She shouted vigorously once it reached Teerom and Jurie. They watched blankly as it created a blast of blinding light that swallowed them. But it didn't kill them.

"What happened?" Jurie asked, her emotions having seemingly returned.

"I don't know. I'm just happy that you're okay." Teerom hugged her tightly.

They looked at Elfie, who was barely standing. "Welcome back," She said before falling face-first onto the broken ground.

"Elfie!" Higorius forced himself up and began healing her before himself. Teerom and Jurie rushed over. "Can we help?" They asked.

"Can you use Healing Magic?"

Teerom and Jurie shook their heads.

"Then, no." Higorius gritted his teeth, focusing all of his mana on healing her. He took a great sigh of relief when she snapped to life and coughed intensely. "You really are one hell of a pain in the butt." He laughed.

"Help!" Homar called out from the distance; she and Ketto were carrying the poisoned Iji and Ott.

"Hold on!" Higorius tried to rush healing Elfie, but he felt the Sages' mana fade away and fell to his knees weakly. "No…" He looked at the Tower of Hell. It was oddly calm. There were no signs of either Tommie or Divol.

Diana and Claudia felt it too. They'd managed to damage Adimia quite a bit, tiring him out, but they too were absolutely exhausted. The Sages' mana leaving them left them in an even worse state.

"Tommie…" Diana mumbled and watched the Tower of Hell.

"Looks like Divol's is about to beat the Great Sage." Adimia began walking over to them, lugging his Dragonslayer along, "Once he absorbs his soul. There shall be none left that can challenge him." He zoomed forward and struck Claudia, blasting her away.

He grabbed Diana by the head and shoved her onto the ground, readying his Dragonslayer to cut into her head. Claudia jumped straight back in despite now being severely injured since she couldn't use strong enough Protection Magic against Adimia.

She cried out and tried for Adimia's head, but he hit her sword away with his hand, continuing on with executing Diana.

"Claudia!" Diana screamed; her heart sunk when she saw the feral look on Claudia's face.

"Beast Magic…" Claudia growled. "Abomination…" She jumped forward, ditching her sword, and slammed her palm into Adimia's face. There was such strength behind that attack that it managed to knock Adimia away.

Fur began to grow all over Claudia's body. Her face shifted and looked slightly like a cat's. She shed her armor, revealing that she'd become a black-furred human-cat monster – she looked like a much more frightening Mewtwo.

"Claudia, no!" Diana shouted. Claudia was using a restricted Magic Type, Beast Magic. The Fourth Quimnia, Manoha Buul, is said to have used that spell – Abomination - to win her final battle against the demons, though no one knows what her Abomination looked like. Beast Magic is forbidden for a good reason; it can turn the user into a monster permanently.

But only if you turn into a powerful monster. Dillie's mother, Shun, uses Beast Magic, but she never transforms into anything to dangerous. The main animals she transforms into are cats, squids to mess with Dillie, and birds to go places quickly.

Megora was a huge fan of Manoha, having heard her autobiography hundreds of times from the librarian. Hence why Claudia can use Beast Magic.

Adimia sprinted back toward her and swung his Dragonslayer at her, but she dodged with incredible speed and rammed her clawed paws into his side, tearing through his armor with ease.

He dropped his Dragonslayer and drew his two swords, realizing he could no longer just overwhelm her with strength. He had to match her in speed now. But even then, she was way faster and stronger than him.

She jumped above him, evading a double swing, and rushed him with hundreds of kicks in a minute. Adimia struggled for air as she continued beating his face to a pulp. She stopped, pinning him down with her weight, and roared into his face to assert her dominance.

"Claudia…" Diana reached her hand out, trying not to fall unconscious from the head injury Adimia gave her when he smashed her against the ground.

"I'm okay, sis…" Claudia said in a deep, raspy voice and stepped away from Adimia. "I just need," her voice returned to normal, but she was breathing heavily, unable to catch any air, "I just need a rest." She fell to the ground.

"Claudia!" Diana mustered the strength to half-stand and dragged herself to Claudia, who was naked but still had some fur conveniently covering up her breasts and privates.

"I'm sorry, Diana…" Adimia began.

"Sorry won't cut it. If she dies, I will never forgive you!" Diana gritted her teeth.

"She won't die. She's too strong." He grinned, "It was a great fight. Truly."

Negie and Dillie's battle had taken them incredibly far away. They'd been blasting each other until they were outside the Empire of Ice. The armor on Dillie's left arm was gone, leaving a destroyed shoulder plate.

Negie's entire chest plate was destroyed, and her great-ax had a few cracks in the bit. Dillie's greatsword was made of steel strengthened by Divol's Spirit Enhancing Magic while Negie's great-ax was made by human hands.

Their battle was incredibly even. Negie wasn't even using the Sages' mana.

(In real life, their battle was so matched because they kept having similar rolls)

"Dillie! This ends today!" Negie shouted and charged her.

"Agreed! The winner gets to have Paley!" She shouted back and sprinted back at her. They met in the middle and swung at each other - Negie with inhuman strength and Dillie with incredible speed.

Their weapons collided, generating an enormous shockwave. After a moment, Dillie began rapidly hammering her sword into Negie, who managed to block all of her attacks despite being magnitudes slower than her.

"Vishalot!" Negie used her simple Enhancing Arts to power her great-ax into Dillie's side. She was only twenty-five, but she had the natural talent to use Arts to their full extent.

Dillie groaned and jumped away, dislodging the great-ax from her side. (Again, there is no blood here) "You're good." She tried to catch her breath and took a break from using her Wind Arts.

"You know what… I should've listened to you. Let's end this right now." She lugged her greatsword up and held it above her shoulder, pointing it at Negie.

"Agreed," Negie said confidently and readied her great-ax. They both used their strongest spells. Negie gathered up the mana around her (No human can actually do this). It turned visible and red as it reached her, and when she absorbed it, she took up a strong crimson glow.

Dillie too had been rounding up the mana around her. Hers became cyan as it approached her. They both put most of it in their weapons, which were now shapeshifting. Dillie's greatsword became a regular katana-like blade, and Negie's great-ax became a normal battle-ax with cool patterns on it.

They dashed forward towards each other.

"Negie!" Dillie bellowed.

"Dillie!" Negie roared back at her.

"Negie!" They were about twenty meters away from meeting.

"Dillie!"

They both cried out like animals when they met. Their weapons collided first, and for a moment, they were perfectly still; Negie and Dillie were at equal strength. An enormous wind ensued, knocking even the dirt out of the ground.

Even their mana clashed – it was a clash of red and blue. They struggled, trying to overpower each other. Negie wavered for a second, but then took the battle back and pushed Dillie back.

Eventually, their weapons shattered even with the massive amount of Enhancing Magic on them. Their destruction sent out a wave of dense mana, mostly Strength Enhancing Magic, which evaporated even the ground.

The explosion of mana left behind a giant crater with them lying in the middle, panting as their lungs desperately tried to suck in air.

"Hahaha, It was a damn draw." Negie laughed with Dillie, in real life, they'd both decided the winner of the final clash with a six-sided dice. Negie chose the numbers 2 and 3, and Dillie chose 1 and 5. The dice had landed on 4.

"We shouldn't leave things like this up to chance." Dillie turned her head with great strain to look at Negie. "The competition rages on," She held her hand out, and Negie grabbed it.

"The competition rages on," Negie agreed. They both looked back up at the sky, trying to rest.

"But I'm gonna have him in the end."

"We'll see about that."

Tommie had fallen unconscious on the bridge, not even feeling Divol land on him.

"No fate can stop me." Divol produced an Ice Dagger and thrust it at Tommie's head.

"Awaken, Great Sage." An enormously malicious voice called out to Tommie. He snapped to consciousness, but he couldn't move. In fact, nothing was moving at all. With a distorted vision, he saw Divol above him, thrusting the Ice Dagger into his neck.

"Ah!" He screamed and realized he *could* move. But not in the real world. He turned and saw that he was in a strange pure white land.

"Tommie…" A familiar, comforting voice called out this time. Tommie turned back around to find Dommas, his ancestor, and a horrifying creature standing before him.

"I-I-Is that a-" He stuttered, pointing in terror at the Vamali.

"Correct," The Vamali replied. "I am a Vamali!" It gave a disgusting laugh.

"Tommie. I'm so sorry. To win this battle… you have to die." Dommas said with guilt.

Diana crawled to Claudia, who lay on the floor, barely alive.

"Claudia. I'm here," She said, putting her arm around her sister affectionately.

"Sir Adimia. Allow us to help you," Two voices said from behind Diana's line of sight. She effortfully turned and recognized the two High Knights they'd fought on the way to the Tower of Hell.

They had emerged from between the ice spikes and were approaching the weakened twins with their swords drawn.

"Wait! I remember you!" Diana had a desperate look, "You're not with him. Divol is just controlling you!"

"No, he is not," The female knight snapped.

"But he is! You held back when we fought before." Diana argued.

"That? We were just tired. We had been training the whole morning. For Lord Divol." The male knight said, holding his sword above Diana to execute her once they reached her. The female knight was going to kill Claudia.

"What…" Diana was incredibly shocked by the revelation. She realized how powerful Divol's words could be.

"You will not touch them," Adimia ordered.

"Lord Divol would want us to-"

"You will not touch them. That is a command." He struggled to his feet and drew his Magic Swords. "Or do you wish to challenge me?"

"Adimia…" Diana watched him battle to stay awake.

"You're exhausted. We'd win." The female knight readied for battle.

"Want to try me?" The determined look on his face made her hesitate.

"We shouldn't." The male knight put his hand on her shoulder.

"I know. Even with injuries like that, that man could annihilate an army." She replied, "It doesn't matter anyway. Divol has killed the Great Sage."

"Huh?" Diana felt her heart sink at that.

"…Tommie?" Claudia said in a raspy voice. She had become half-awake upon hearing those words.

"No… No, he'll win. I'm sure of it." Diana clasped her hands, praying to Luneia.

"There is no point in praying to your stupid Priestess. Divol is victorious. And he will reign supreme above all."

"Oh, Luneia, our holy priestess, bring salvation to our souls. Please save my friend!" Claudia too prayed.

"How pathetic-" The female knight was interrupted by an enormous eruption of Dark Magic on one of the lower bridges in the Tower of Hell.

"What the hell is that?" The male knight stared in awe at the concentrated beacon of Dark Magic reaching beyond the sky.

"I once used to be a good man," Adimia began, "but I have fallen. That boy. Tommie. Even to Divol's temptations, he's immovably righteous. He is a hero" He fell to his knees, "I believe he can put this right. I believe in him."

"Tommie. Give me your body." The Vamali demanded. Tommie fell silent for a moment, but then grinned at him.

"No way in hell. I'm taking yours." He sprinted to its left, looking to Dommas, "My Ancestor!"

"It's Dommas!" Dommas replied and ran to the opposite side.

"What do you think you're-"

"Sage Arts!" They both yelled and began absorbing the Vamali, turning it into a pitch-black essence.

"Tommie! You will die! Are you sure about this!?" Dommas called out, transferring the essence into the ground.

"STOP!" The Vamali roared.

"I'm sure!" Tommie replied and absorbed the Vamali's Dark Magic. He could now use it himself. "I'll use all of it."

"You better win." Dommas said, beginning to fade away.

"Thank you, Dommas. My ancestor."

"Good luck, Tommie. My descendant." Dommas quickly hugged him and faded away. The white around Tommie turned black; he smiled to himself as he regained consciousness.

"It's been fun, everyone. But this is where my journey ends. At least I'll have saved the world." He grinned and returned into the real world. Divol had been knocked away by the colossal amount of Dark magic shooting up into the sky.

"Divol!" Tommie shouted firmly, "Why did you do this?" He felt the Dark Magic within him eating away at him.

"…Because I deserve everything." Divol stood up, his calm demeanor turning into fury, "I deserve everything!" He shouted and charged Tommie.

"No… You deserve nothing." Tommie gathered up all his Dark Magic.

"Spirit Magic: World of Ice!" Divol put his hands forward and blasted Tommie with a huge amount of mana, creating a blue laser that turned everything it touched into Ice.

Tommie responded by blasting him back with all of his Dark Magic. They both screamed, their clashing beams of magic creating such incredible winds that the towers around the began to collapse.

The bridge below their feet crumbled, but they stayed in the air, putting everything into one last attack. Slowly, Tommie's Dark Magic overpowered Divol's Spirit Ice Magic.

"No!" Divol yelled, "No!" He turned back into full human form, "I can't lose!" He groaned and managed to hold Tommie's Dark Magic back for a few moments. "Who are you!?" He realized that victory was impossible for him.

"I… I'm The Great Sage." Tommie replied icily, and completely overwhelmed Divol. Everyone on the ground cheered for him, apart from Dillie and some of the Ministers.

"Fate…" Divol mumbled as the Dark Magic reached him and swallowed him whole, "I hate it. I hate the idea of fate." He said, reflecting Paley's actual opinion. Everything went silent for him as the Dark Magic overwhelmed him.

Tommie won.

"Tommie," Elfie stumbled toward the Tower of Hell. Everything had calmed down. The laser of dark Magic had dissipated. The only thing left was a devastated landscape with the Tower of Hell having crumbled to pieces.

"Elfie! You mustn't move." Higorius tried to hold her back, but she pushed him away, tearing up as she called Tommie's name.

"Tommie!" She cried as a horrible feeling rose up inside her. "Tommie, please!" She continued meandering toward the lower bridge Tommie and Divol had fought on.

"Elfi-" Higorius was going to chase after her, but he felt a familiar presence. Familiar presences. "You're here…" He desperately looked around him, trying to find them – trying to find her.

"Madella!" He called out and she revealed herself as she flew past him. She wore her usual warm smile, except it was full of pain and sorrow.

"Tommie… How did you do it?" Divol asked, materializing into his human form on the ground.

"I don't know. I kinda just did it." Tommie tried to laugh but it turned into a violent cough.

"You're going to die. You knew that, didn't you?" With great effort, he sat up.

"Yep, I did." Tommie felt the agonizing emptiness within him. He had no mana in him, not even Unbound Mana. He was cursed by the Vamali's Dark Magic.

"I can't believe it. You're insane-" Divol paused as he felt Madella's presence drawing near. He snapped his head around, seemingly having all of his strength back. "M-Mom?" He called out and struggled to his feet. Miserably, he held his head as he started to hear a melody that she sang to put him to sleep when he was younger – Madella actually sings this for some of the orphans.

"Mom!" He cried out, losing balance and falling backward. But he didn't fall. Madella caught him and gently set him down, his head on her lap. She could touch him.

"It's really you…" He looked up at his mother's upside-down face.

"I'm sorry, Divol. For everything." She said, dropping her tears onto his face.

"No… I'm sorry." He held her cheek, "I was consumed by my rage. I hurt so many people. I'm sorry." He helplessly tried for her to forgive him, but it was futile. She had already done that. He was her son, after all.

"I forgive you, Divol." She stroked his black hair.

"Where am I going to go?"

"Somewhere where no one can hurt you. Where no one can hurt us." She smiled and they both began to fade away. She could only survive in the Graveyard Fields. Though, she no longer had any reason to live. "I love you, Paley." Madella was actually holding Paley on her lap like that in real life.

"I love you, mom," Paley replied, genuinely smiling at her – though, his eyes barely changed from their usual coldness. Still, there he was, surprising everyone with a normal smile.

"Tommie!" Elfie arrived at the scene, seeing the last fleeting parts of Divol and Madella. She saw Tommie lying weakly on the opposite side and ran over to him, ignoring the burning tiredness she felt.

"Tommie! I'm here. I'll help you. Hold on. Higorius is a bit slow, so you gotta wait. Don't worry, we'll help you. We'll help you!" She spoke so fast she started to slur her words.

"What are you even saying, stupid?" Tommie laughed; it was an incredibly fragile laugh.

She knelt down and touched him, finding his pale skin to be freezing. "Your skin…" She held her hand over her mouth.

"D-Don't talk. I'll help you. I'll help you." She repeated desperately, but she knew he was dying. She even checked his pulse, just to make sure, but it was waning.

"Elfie… I need to tell you something," With the last of his strength, he held her hand suddenly, "I love you."

Both Elfie – and Diz in real life – blushed intensely at that.

"W-What are you saying!?"

"I love you. I don't think I can be clearer than that- oh, wait. I love you so much. That better?" His jokes stabbed at her heart.

"…I love you too. I love you so much too." Her head dropped onto his chest, and she sobbed.

"That's great. That's really really great. Absolutely fantastic. Shambalicious, if you will. I just made that up! I made that word up! Hahaha!" He laughed the pain away.

"Stop doing that… Stop it, stop it! You can't go. Please." She begged.

"I can't feel my insides, Elfie. They're not there. I don't even know how I'm talking. But I'm happy that I can talk and hear. I just wish I could feel your embrace for a bit longer." His grip weakened on her hand as he passed away. In peace. And a hero.

Elfie stared at him in shocked silence. Then, she screamed. She screamed as loud as she could from anguish. "TOMMIEEE!!"

Adimia, Reben, Amasha, and Bacha were all bawling their eyes out at the tragic end of Tommie's story.

"What a great ending!" Nova wiped his tears; he and the others were sobbing too. Everyone was apart from Paley and Madella, who both stood up and stretched in unison. Paley sighed and made his way upstairs.

"Where are you going?" Dillie asked.

"I'm cheeked up for the night. I'm just going to lie down for a bit." He continued into the second floor. Dillie and Negie glanced at each other before racing each other to follow him. Bacha too rushed right behind them.

Diz approached Ponna, who'd begun talking to Nova. "H-Hey, Ponna." She tugged at his sleeve, "If I really was in love with you, would you love me back?" She asked, squirming with nervousness.

"Is that a confession?" Ponna asked.

"N-No, Of course not-" Diz was interrupted by one of the most unexpected things that could've possibly happened. Ponna kissed her on the lips. Everyone's mouths fell open in shock.

"Does that answer your question?" He asked dreamily, but she continued to relentlessly beat him up.

"Why would you do that so suddenly!?" She demanded as she kicked and punched him to the ground.

"Ow! Ow! I'm sorry!" He begged and she stopped.

"Come here," She picked him up and kissed him again. Madella covered Amasha's eyes, and Jurie covered Rauba and Reben's eyes.

"Hey! I wanna see!" Amasha said.

"You're too young," Madella replied.

Jurie caught Teerom glancing at her awkwardly. She realized he'd been thinking the exact same thing as her.

"Well, that was one hell of a way to end our last DnD session." Nova laughed awkwardly.

"Agreed," Ponna said, and everyone giggled.