CHAPTER 91: CHAPTER NINETY-ONE: THE FINAL SHOWDOWN.

Earlier~~~

"That must be Damien. We have to go help him." Lio called out to Elyria who was tending to Elena’s scratches. Although they were bloodless, she knew the implication of leaving a bruise untreated especially on a human’s body.

So you’re the one that hottie’s head over heels for huh.

Elyria looked at her face with false disdain.

Not bad.

"Who...who are you?" Elena said weakly, trying to sit up but Elyria pushed her down gently.

"You’re in no position to stress yourself right now, princess. You’re very weak."

But Elena wasn’t having that.

"No...no I must run. If I don’t—he’ll... he’ll take me back—"

Lio, who had been scanning the perimeter for any signs of danger, walked hurriedly towards the two girls on the floor. He had almost reached them when a loud bomb was heard thousands of kilometers away from where they were.

Lio knelt down in front of Elena and took her hand. "Princess, princess?" he called out, shaking her slightly.

Elyria smacked his hand away. "Don’t shake her." she hushed him harshly, pushing his hand aside roughy. "Can’t you see she’s unwell you moron?

Lio made a slightly enclosed claw sign with his hands as if threatening to scratch her. He sighed hopelessly.

"You know we can’t stay here. This battle is important to him as much as it is to us. We have to help him."

"I get that but where do we keep her? She can barely move."

He got up and looked around briefly. "Come with me."

Lio slid his arms below her knees and lifted her effortlessly. His wings unfurled behind him and in a second, he was in the air with Elena in his arms.

They flew farther into the forest until Elyria couldn’t take it anymore. "Where exactly are we going?" she asked impatiently, flapping her wings harder to keep up.

"Be quiet." he hushed and Elyria hissed at him.

I know I saw a cave here somewhere...aha!

Lio dove downwards without warning, finally finding what he was looking for.

By the time they landed, a wide-mouthed cage stood before them.

"This is perfect!" Elyria squealed.

"Great. Let’s move her in."

Lio gently took off his coat, laid it on the ground and placed her on it. Elena untied her scarf and used it to cover her feet.

"Now we can go."

"Wait!"

"What now!?" Lio groaned out, getting irritated.

Elyria drew out her sword and wrote in the air with it. A blanket with a faded shade of grey made of fire appeared after she sealed the writing.

The blanket covered the mouth of the cave then turned invisible the second it landed on it.

"Just in case." she said with a smile skipping with her arms swinging beside her before twirling in the air. Lio watched as she flew away, swirling around like an actual, pampered princess.

He checked in on the sleeping beauty one more time that shot himself into the air too.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Elena woke up an hour later to loud sounds around her. She held her head in her palms, shaking it gently as if to chase the aching away.

It worked. Not completely but to a manageable amount.

She looked around her then checked herself. Her mind blanked out for a while before everything started rushing back to her. Elena got up quickly, buttoning up the great coat that covered her body.

Better.

She had only taken three steps when a familiar face appeared before her.

The face she had loathed with her entire being.

Severin.

Anger rippled furiously through her as memories of his betrayal flashed like lightening in her mind.

Out of nowhere, her magic went haywire again and a blast of magic launched out of her palms. The blast hit him square on the chest and Severin was thrown out of the cave, spitting out blood from the blow.

But Elena didn’t care. Not even by an inch! This man had made her life hellish than hellfire itself. He had to suffer.

She was completely overtaken by mad rage that her entire body swirled with light. Her soft, gentle personality was far gone and was now replaced by a sheep with a rifle.

Her hand stretched out again, about to fire another one when something sharp struck her on the side of her neck.

Her concentration faltered, causing her to return to her normal self.

Behind her was Severin, holding her up as she was about to fall. Elena snatched herself from his grasp and turned around.

She slapped him...

Hard...

"You venom worse than a serpent!" she spat out, slapping the other side of his face. She was about to slap the other side again when Severin caught her wrist.

"Control yourself, princess. You’re still getting used to this."

"Don’t touch me you demon!" she shrieked and the anger fueled her soul again.

A massive fight broke out between the two.

Elena, completely blinded by rage, fired uncountable hits at Severin. The werewolf easily dogged these hits effortlessly as though he were fighting with a baby elephant.

"I’ll make you pay—"

Severin who had been languidly mocking her raging blows dragged her to himself in a second.

Immediately, a ball of fire descended right where she had been standing, causing a massive hole to appear on the hard, forest ground.

Elena’s eyes cleared again after the ball had landed. The sound re-echoed over and over again and she lost her concentration.

"What was—"

"No time. We have to move now." Severin said. He spun around for some seconds before transforming into a full werewolf.

He flipped Elena onto his back and dashed deeper into the forest to avoid the fire.

More and more heavy sun-like balls landed with a thundering thump on the forest ground each one more. The balls set everything ablaze, spreading far and wide like a bat in the day time.

Severin ran and ran faster than ever into the very heart of the forest. They ran for almost an hour without so much as a shirt break. The fire just kept spreading mindlessly that it almost caught up to them.

The moving flame was right at the back of Severin, ready to overshadow them in its heated embrace when he leapt onto a falling tree, used it as a stepping stone before landing a few miles away from it.

By the time he reached the end, the fire had already stopped.

Dear god! This animal had rounded the entire palace under half an hour!

Severin swirled around as his paws touched the ground, positioning himself in a questionable stance: his back was lowered, his eyes were fixed on the incoming flame, his fangs were bared and his paws gripped the ground firmly.

He was in battle mode.

The flames kept rushing towards them at an insane speed but Severin didn’t move.

"Severin we have to go!" Elena screamed at him, trying to force herself off his back but she couldn’t.

Did he trap her on his back?!

It got closer...

"Severin do something please!"

And closer...

"Why are you doing this just freaking move!"

And closer...

*Scream*

Bam!

The fire was extinguished within a heartbeat.

Elena peeled her eyes open.

I’m in the air... floating?

She could very much hear herself but couldn’t feel her body.

Everything, everywhere was just so...light.

Elena descended from her high slowly and gracefully. The fire was gone.

No.

She had only pushed it far away from them.

What...what am I?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Cacophonous roars from the summoned dragons filled the air after a few minutes. The screams from the humans upon seeing the dragons glide down heightened and they began to run away from it, towards Lio.

"What are you doing?! Get back here before that fire gets out!" Elyria screamed, trying to coax the people but no one was listening to her.

Who would? That was a freaking dragon!

Screams filled the air human and dragon alike merging into a sound so dreadful that even the gods might have turned away.

One by one, the ancient dragons answered, ripping through the clouds, their roars shaking the very bones of the earth.

They circled in the sky, enormous wings blotting out the sun.

Below, chaos reigned.

Villagers ran aimlessly across the burning streets, their cries lost beneath the roaring behemoths. Children clung to their mothers as everyone ran to save themselves from the apocalypse.

"It’s the end of the world!!" they cried out.

"Take them! Take everyone you can find and flee to the mountains!"

The dragons roared in answer.

Their wings unfurled, and the skies turned into a flurry of motion. Elyria darted downward, sweeping through the smoke-choked city. She flew low over the rooftops, her power radiating in waves that extinguished the smaller fires around her.

"Everyone get on the dragons! Now!" she cried.

Terrified villagers looked up in awe as titanic dragons descended among them. One by one, people were lifted onto the dragons’ backs: men, women, children, the elderly, the wounded. The air was filled with the sounds of wings, wind, and desperate prayers.

No one obviously trusted a dragon but it was either that or be scorched alive.

Elyria led the charge, guiding the dragons as they loaded hundreds then thousands onto their broad, scaled backs. Each time a dragon took off, the earth shook beneath its wings, scattering embers and ashes.

She didn’t stop. She flew all over Zerathane, gathering as much people as she could possibly find. A dragon was big enough to carry at least three thousand people and didn’t carry any less.

The minute the dragon descended at a particular location, she had to stop the people from pushing one another just to get on.

Every moment she spent saving people was a moment that Lio stood alone against that seething sun of death.

By the time she’d gathered nearly every survivor, her body trembled from exhaustion.

Elyria had rounded the whole of Zerathane under thirty minutes.

Her silver armor had dulled to gray. Her palms bled from gripping her sword too tightly.

Finally, the last dragon took flight, its wings shimmering with orange fire, carrying away the final cluster of refugees.

Elyria turned in midair, her heart racing.

"Hold on, Lio. I’m coming."

And in the middle of it all, Lio stood.

His hands were raised toward the heavens, his face contorted in strain.

A massive sphere of fire, as bright as a miniature sun, hovered right in front of him, threatening to break through the barrier he had set up.

His magic formed a shimmering barrier around the infernal mass, keeping it from devouring the city entirely.

Each breath he took sounded like thunder. His wings had long since vanished; the power he was channeling demanded everything he had.

This was because he was using both his soul energy and his demon’s under pressure.

"Lio!" Elyria called from the sky, her voice sharp with fear.

He didn’t respond. His eyes were unfocused, burning faintly with golden light.

The barrier trembled. Cracks of light darted across its surface.

If it broke, everything every living soul within Zerathane would be obliterated and the dragons still hadn’t gotten to the mountains yet.

Elyria’s heart thudded painfully. She spun to the dragons behind her, shouting over the roaring winds.

The moment she got to the palace gate which was quite from distance from where she was, a roar of energy erupted from the ground. A blazing shockwave rippled outward so hot that it turned the nearest buildings into molten stone.

The blast threw her backward like a rag doll. She slammed into a cracked statue, coughing, the air searing her lungs. For a heartbeat, everything was soundless. Then, she heard it—the deep, guttural groan of the earth splitting apart.

The ball of fire expanded violently.

The heat was unbearable.

The hot wind was sharp, slicing and furious.

And through it all, Elyria’s voice broke through.

"LIO!"

Boom!

A great earthquake shook the whole of Zerathane greatly as the massive ball of fire exploded.

The ground rippled like water, toppling towers, uprooting trees, and flinging houses into the air.

Shops and homes were uprooted from the ground by the massive wind and flown to wherever it landed.

Elena forced herself upright, her wings folding protectively around her body as she pushed through the storm of desert air. Her feathers ignited, glowing like burning moonlight. The air smelled of smoke, burnt stone, and blood all at once.

The wind finally stopped and everything stilled. Immediately she noticed it, she drew back her wings and ran towards him.

When she reached the epicenter, her eyes widened in horror.

Lio laid there, face down amid the ruins, surrounded by scorch marks and burnt clothes.

The great ball of fire was gone. Only a massive crater remained as a testament to it. The barrier had held just long enough for him to blow up the ball with a fist full of power.

Elyria landed beside him, her knees hitting the cracked earth. She reached for his shoulder, trembling.

"Lio... Lio, it’s me," she whispered.

No response.

His chest moved faintly: he was breathing, but barely.

She turned him over and gasped.

His entire back was burned from the neck to his torso. His skin was blackened, muscle torn and the mark that once adorned him, the dragon tattoo was almost completely gone. Only the upper part of the tattoo remained and it was the serpent-like body ended abruptly where the tail should have been.

The dragon was incomplete. It’s tail had vanished.

And without the tail, the symbol of wholeness was broken.

Elyria’s vision blurred. "No..."

She traced trembling fingers over the burned skin. The tattoo shimmered weakly, flickering like a dying ember.

"Don’t you dare leave me," she said, her voice shaking. "Not you too."

His eyelids fluttered open.

"Elyria...?" His voice was hoarse, weak.

She nodded quickly, holding his face between her palms. "I’m here, Lio. I’m right here."

He coughed, blood spilling from his lips and onto her arm but she didn’t care. "Did... did they make it?"

Elyria swallowed hard, nodding again. Her heart squeezed in pain at the sight of him as tears fell down her eyes.

"They’re safe. The dragons took them to the mountains."

Lio smiled faintly, eyes glazing over. "Good... Then it was worth it."

Elyria held him tighter, more tears falling down her cheeks.

"Lio, please," she whispered. "Don’t you die on me."

"I’ll try not to," he breathed, his lips curving into a faint smirk. "But... no promises."

Elyria smacked him on the arm.

"That hurts you dummy." he cried out, feigning pain.

She laughed through her tears, brushing his hair from his face then leaned in and pecked him gently on the lips.

"You’re impossible."