[Melas] Chapter 118: De-escalation (Patreon)

Estia stood over us. Her arms were folded. She looked down at us with less animosity than before. In fact, she looked rather curious. Her eyes seemed to twinkle, like the stars in the night sky, except instead of gleaming a dull white, these were a bright gold.

“Melas, is it not?” she asked, still standing up on the rooftop. “I have heard about you. You have made waves throughout the Infernalis with what you did. To think that the daughter of the Fiend would betray us after we saved her and offered her our protection. It is… almost a twisted joke, really.”

I bit my lower lip. I wanted to snap back at her— tell her I didn’t betray the Dark Crusaders. But that would confirm my identity. I simply shook my head. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“You don’t?” She tilted her head up. “That’s odd. I could’ve sworn that I heard Karna shouting something about that back there. You were, weren’t you?” She glanced over to the side.

My heart jumped as I saw Karna leaping over the back wall. He landed without so much of a sound. His bow was drawn as he aimed it my way. “I did,” he grunted, his face seething with anger. “You’re a traitor, Melas. You know what you did.”

There was nothing I could say. Not to him. I only felt… oddly guilty. I had always known Karna would be upset about my actions, but to this extent? Anything else I could say would be an admission of who I was. I stayed silent as Gennady took a step back, almost hiding his hands behind his back.

“Goddess grace us! What is going on? Why are you two doing this?” He played the fool extremely well, but it wasn’t enough. No amount of talking would stop either of the Dark Acolytes now.

“You know, I hate liars,” Estia said, her hands dropping to her sides. She bent over to a crouch, eyeing both of us with a sinister look. “Since you’re both so insistent on your innocence, why not prove yourself? Take off your mask, Melas.”

I glanced between both the Demon and the Goblin. Their magic was flaring up. It was almost overwhelming. I felt a shiver run up my spine. My mouth opened.

“I—”

“Close your eyes, lass!” Gennady called out as he threw an object in the air.

I blinked, and both Estia and Karna stared at the object. Their eyes grew wide before they spun around. There was a split-second where the object hovered in the air. I expected to see a bright flash of light, even through closed eyelids. But the Dwarf grabbed me by the arm and took off running.

There was no light. Instead, a plume of gray gas shot out. A smoke bomb? We reached the black wall at the end of the alleyway, and Gennady nudged me.

“Up!”

“Got it!” I pointed at the ground, and a spell circle glowed. The earth shot out, slowly, a pillar of stone and brick carried upward. We crested over the dark wall as I glanced back one more time.

And I saw a glint. A black bolt, glowing with dark energy, flew at me, faster than I could react. The world stopped. I would die here. This was it. After all I’ve been through in this world, I was going to be killed by this Demon.

The arrow vanished. I stared on as nothing struck me across the chest. “What…?” I didn’t know what just happened, but I took the opportunity I could. I ran and leapt after Gennady, landing in the streets of Jahar’taw as a figure exploded from the smoke.

It was night. Most people were asleep, too exhausted to do anything from their long day at work. But this was the second largest city in the world. There was always bound to be someone out and about in its roads, even past midnight in a lesser populated area of Jahar’taw.

A pair of drunkards stumbled along the walkway to our left. A group of factory workers, probably just leaving their late shift, walked down the middle of the road. A single car was parked outside of an opposing alleyway, with a couple sitting within it. A few Goblins were hiding at the very edge of the backstreets. They were the first ones to see Gennady and I tumbling through the air.

I tucked my back and rolled, while my Dwarf companion just landed with a heavy thud. How his knees survived that fall, I would never know. Instead, the two of us just carried on running. We nearly bumped into the pair of drunkards.

“Oi, watch—” one of them started, only to pause when a dark shadow passed over him. They both rubbed their eyes, before dropping onto their knees. “Goddess… what?”

Estia was flying through the air above us. She had black wings sprouting from her back. They were ethereal, almost translucent, and she soared above Jahar’taw, uncaring of all the eyes she drew.

Karna was running on the rooftops beside her. He looked her way, speaking. I could only catch brief phrases of what he said.

“...Apostle Estia, we will attract—”

“Then let them come!” the Demon roared. She spread her hands wide as spell circles formed all around her. A hail of black arrows came down at me. They weren’t like the first one which was brimming with power. These were weaker, and yet, probably Tier equivalent to a Tier 3 spell each. “I shall show these puny Dwarfs the might of the Dark Crusaders!”

Death and destruction rained down from above. I brought a hand up, creating a barrier and holding it over me like an umbrella. It barely managed to repel the first volley of Estia’s arrows. What came next wasn’t as simple to defend against.

Fire wreathed itself around both of Estia’s hands. They formed discs which she tossed down at me. They swerved through the air, aimed straight for Gennady and I as we ran as fast as we could.

I pointed a finger at one of them, barely managing to dispel it, while Gennady tossed a Cluster Bomb up. The various blasts of the explosive managed to disrupt these discs, detonating them while they were still in the air. But more and more came, and only my Fracture Side allayed our demise.

The blasts resounded all around us. It shook the earth. It shredded the peaceful night streets of Jahar’taw. And it drew the attention of the guards our way.

A pair of Dwarf guards turned a street corner, running our way. They were accompanied by a Golem each. They called out something as they pointed our way, raising their rifles—

And a single flaming disc shot out their way. Their eyes grew wide. They hurled themselves out of the way, but the Golems were slower. It blew apart the Golems like they were made of paper. The Dwarf guards didn’t pick themselves up. They only stared on in fear as the Demon flying over us continued giving chase.

I raised my hands out to the side, conjuring two Frost Javelins. They streaked through the air, the very first counter attack I launched against Estia. As I expected, it was fruitless. The Demon blasted apart the first one the moment it flew out. She knocked aside the second like it was nothing, before bringing her hands together, creating a massive ball of fire.

“Grand Fireball.”

She held it over her head as it shone brightly, just like a miniature sun. Then she threw it down at me as I paused for a moment to stare.

“What are you doing, lass?” Gennady tried to yank me aside, but I stood my ground.

My mind had been racing with me the entire time I ran from Estia. I tried to fight back. I tried to flee. Both options were a waste of energy, weren’t they? After all, if I just accepted my death— I’d be free from all my suffering. And that, for good or bad, was not allowed.

Once again, the spell winked out of existence. The flames just… ceased to exist. Estia frowned as I crossed my arms.

“What’s wrong?” I taunted her. “Is your magic that weak?”

Estia narrowed her eyes. Then a mad grin spread across her face. “Do you really think your Dispel Magic will save you?” Bringing her hands together, she clapped and a spell circle flashed behind her. Its lines slowly intersected as this overwhelming spell came into existence.

Gennady tugged at my arms. “She’ll kill you—”

He is interrupted as a pair of ethereal chains were shot out. They nearly caught Estia within it. But the Demon flew out of the way just in time. She spun around, blinking.

“What…?” Then she paused. She stared in the direction the chains came from. She hovered in the air for a moment, mouth hanging open.

I glanced in the same direction. She really is watching me at all times, isn’t she? A cloaked figure stood on a faraway rooftop. But I knew who it was. I could tell from her obsidian black skin, a shade darker than Estia’s.

Elara.

“Who is that—” Gennady started, but was cut off by a guttural scream.

“You!” Estia bellowed, turning her attention towards Elara. A flurry of spells shot out in an instant. She directed all the fury at the other Demon, no longer even paying attention to Gennady and I.

Her magic tore down homes and ripped apart the streets of the city. But Elara just teleported out of the way. My protector now stood atop a tower, and Estia gave chase.

“What’s going on?” Gennady blinked.

I grinned. “Using my problems to deal with my problems. It’s smart thinking.”

“You’ve gotta tell me what’s going on later. Right now, duck!” He pushed me to the ground as an arrow landed where I stood.

Karna strung his bow as he stood at the edge of an alleyway. He wasn’t alone now. Goblins stood with their bow and arrows, each shining with magic, appearing from the side streets and back alleys.

I clicked my tongue and pointed. “Annihilate.” A red ray of brilliant energy shot out their way. It bore through the brick walls of the buildings around them. Most of the Goblins, Karna included, managed to duck under the attack. They could sense the power of the spell.

It was what I used to defeat that Werebeast back in Qala’taw. Since it was a variant of the Annihilation spell— a weaker, scaled down, and slightly altered version I created— I decided to name it a simple “Annihilate”. Not that the etymology of my spell names mattered right now.

It was a distraction. I knew that single spell wasn’t enough to deal with all these Goblins. I forced them back. They had to dodge out of the way. And that let Gennady and I run.

“Into that alley!” I called out as I heard shouts and screams in the distance. Explosions from Estia’s incessant barrage of spells against Elara. To my surprise, Elara didn’t attack the other Demon. Not even a single spell.

I couldn’t even speculate as to why that was.

I spotted more guards streaming down a junction after us right as Gennady and I disappeared into a dark alley. I heard the sound of gunshots— saw the flashes from the mana bolts— as they fired at the Dark Crusaders. A few of the Dark Crusaders stayed back to deal with the guards and Golems.

Karna ignored them. He was followed by a few other Goblins. They seemed like Acolytes. Mahir was amongst them as well. They didn’t just loose bolts and arrows our way. They used spells— they threw Fireballs, flung Wind Blades, used earth magic to try and block our way.

I made a sharp turn around the side streets. I countered their spells with my own, bringing up walls that would at least take them an extra moment to scale. Gennady dropped Cluster Bombs, the multiple detonations from the objects putting a bit more distance between us and our pursuers.

But Karna was relentless. He leapt through the blasts of a Cluster Bomb, his bow nocked and loosing an arrow trained for my head. There was no magic there. I thought I could have dispelled it— but no. Was it some sort of trick? He definitely had something planned with it, because it forced me to shift my barrier to my back.

His arrow bounced off the translucent shield. He shifted his aim up, towards the sky, and I was about to brace for the attack as I ran out of the alley back into the streets—

Then a heavy metal boot impacted my side. It sent me flying through the air for a moment, before I came thudding back down to the ground. Gennady blinked— and leapt back as a sword came for his head.

I gathered myself, trying to stand back up and see who attacked me. I froze at what I saw. Instead of more Goblins and Dark Crusaders— or even Dwarf guards and Golems— I saw Humans dressed in decorated armor. They bore the banners of the Holy Xan Empire embedded in their shoulder plate.

Three of them stood before us. And they raised their weapons, pointing at myself, Gennady, and the Dark Crusaders.

“Holy Knights, raise your swords, your shields, and prepare for battle! The heretics are wreaking havoc in the city— protect its citizens and slay these fiends!”

Author's Note:

Chaos, just as i love it. gib thoughts!