59 Descent To Madness----II

Just when the spider demon struck Elias's open back, albeit barely, the young boy conjured a layered metal shield to protect himself. Of this shield, some crumbs were chipped off, falling to the ground as sediments of a sturdy object.

In his quick wittedness, Elias capitalized on these small objects, turning the useless chunks into the crux of his attack.

"SWITCH !"/ [SWITCH !]

Teleporting so that his back was facing hers, Elias smirked evilly as Tsuchigmo went wide-eyed and her grin was arrested awkwardly, shock smeared all over her face. With nothing between her and the incoming lances, the hardened webs bore holes into her body as she was distracted by the incredible feat pulled off by the young boy.

'BURN THE BOATS!'

Not giving her a moment of respite, Elias quickly spun his body with inhumane reflexes, sending a twirling staff strike to the demon's waist, hoisting her heavy body off the ground and launching her away.

Striking the staff's butt powerfully to the earth as he landed, Elias's glowing figure died down, leaving the boy prey to the fatigue eating at his body.

'The five minutes are up….' He thought to himself panting, letting go of the staff as he limped towards Eset.

Nearing her stationary body, Elias fell weakly on his knees to her side, his body unable to handle the strain of crouching down slowly.

"Eset, Eset wake up. We won… we won Eset" he muttered, tears dripping down his cheeks and staining her small black face.

Taking out a small green vial from his ring, Elias struggled to open the cork, finding difficulty even in steadying his hands to drop the liquid inside it on the owl's many wounds.

This vial was a low grade elixir he bought from a merchant caravan a few years ago. One he was lucky to find, and hard to barter for. But in the end, he got it. Saving it in the case of Drea's illness progressing beyond his meager capability.

"H-Here, I gave you medicine. You'll be okay, right? Y-You'll be right as rain!… You won't l-leave me, r-right?"

Holding back the flood of tears, Elias poured over the liquid inside the vial feebly, dragging the vial across her feathery body as his arms had no strength to hold it over her.

Elias smeared her own blood along with the liquid and some of his tears as he wiped his face with the shoulder of his tattered tunic.

Elias waited with baited breath and silent prayers. He waited for Eset to open her eyes, to flap her wings and land on his shoulder. He waited for a twitch, a flutter of eye lids, anything…

And after much torturous patience, fate finally smiled upon him.

[I won't leave you brother, I promise.] muttered the owl as she turned to face him exhaustedly.

Elias's eyes opened wide, his lips stretching into a huge smile as Eset spoke into his mind softly.

Laughing into the night, Elias plopped his tired body down next to his sister, closing his eyes with a bright smile on his face. [I won't leave you either.]

The two lay their fatigued bodies in silence, hoping to drown the chaotic night with some rest.

Yet the night was far from over.

###

"Oh, Drea. How the mighty have fallen." A condescending voice said.

Standing over a collapsed woman riddled with wounds, a lanky silhouette twirled his vile scythe triumphantly.

"Who would have thought that I, Psythiros, who is so far away from the throne would fell the mighty queen of Fae, Cherlindrea!"

With mockery dripping from every word he utters, Psythiros pointing the crimson blade of his scythe at Cherlindrea's fallen figure. "Watch, queen of Fae. Watch as I decimate every living breath you once tried to protect."

Taking his scythe away from her, Psythiros stretched his arms wide as he whispered reveredly into his own shadow.

"{Sanzu's Harvest}"

A black river of revolting ooze expanded from the darkness of his own figure, covering the earth with its maleficence. Limbs, heads and monsters of many variety peeked out of this ooze clutching at anything above the river, looking to drag down any living being into the depths of this abyss.

Weakly, Cherlindrea raised her head, the greying golden strands of hair falling off her eyes as she looked at the scene with horror.

"I. Will. Not. Allow. It!"

Smacking her palm on the darkened earth, Cherlindrea fought the abominations dragging her down and released her ever powerful Aeter into the ground.

At first, not much happened. On the contrary, her situation seemed to worsen as a huge mass of limbs covered her figure completely, hiding her from any one's sight. But mere moments later, pulses of crystalline energy similar to planetary rings rotated around her, shredding the abominations holding her to into pieces and expanding onto the whole village purifying the vile presence of the demon's spell.

"M-My, my. How presumptuous of me. Thinking that it would be easy to kill you even if weakened." Faltered Psythiros as he scurried backwards watching the queen of Fae stand up with determination.

Their game of cat and mouse ensued much like any night after that, yet with Cherlindrea trailing behind horribly. The protective barrier took much damage, its honey comb structure crumbling with each shock wave as the two battled.

When the night was almost over, the Fae queen released a relieved sigh internally, happy that she had protected the village yet another time. However much to her misfortune, a variable came into play that night, one she had miscalculated gravely.

Sounds of a destructive battle different than her own had reached her, along with pained shrieks and sobbing.

Faltering for barely a moment, Drea missed a slashing energy arc that whizzed past her cheek, and collided with the barrier.

With shocked eyes that narrowed to the size of pin holes, Drea's expressionless face drained of color. Only the festering wound spreading black webs on her cheek indicated that her face was that of a living being's and not a doll's.

"What have I done…." Muttered Drea as she snapped her head backwards witnessing the barrier that lasted twelve years crumble away like sand.

"NOW!" yelled Psythiros in extreme delight "Witness the Cadenza to my rise to greatness. Witness the fall of the Fae queen."

With no barrier to protect the villager's slumber, one by one they exited their houses in befuddlement, overwhelmed by the loud voice echoing in every inch of willow shade. Convening in the plaza, a crowd of villagers chanced upon two opposite beings. One, an amalgamation of darkness and vile horrors, while the other the incarnation of purity and the justice of light.

Both beings were so supremely powerful, that all the villagers felt their knees buckle as a primal urge to kneel and worship the beings arose in their minds.

All the villagers were of clouded minds, from the young'uns to the elders. Their thoughts impeded by either fear or reverence.

All but two.

One, a young boy whose hair burned like the wildest of blazes, and another, a plump woman whose hair like the fertile soils and tanned visage spotted with bountiful brown seeds.

While the boy remained enamored by the divine figure, his chest being filled with a familiar warmth, the woman was different.

She navigated the see of people and reached the forefront, calling out to whom she may have recognized.

"Drea, Is that you? By the gods wh-"

-CRACK

Suddenly, as Teresa was speaking in worry, cracks tore through the fabrics of space in the dozens.

Eldritch horrors sailed the once tranquil air, and terrifying demons stepped out of the cracks near the ground, their hands clutching the rims of the fractures to widen it for their arrival.

"Welcome, to La Finale"