Tree leaves shimmered and grass crunched. Many ran through the forests of the valley, clouds covering the sky above. A blinding blur of white and blue headed the front of a pack of several, head glancing back, “Hurry, we need to go faster!”
“Miss Holly we can’t keep up with you, slow down!”
“We can’t afford to stop now, we have to keep going Sora!” Callie yelled out.
“Dammit-”
“Elise will be fine Sora, that’s not what I’m worried about. The Hive are at the barrier, that’s what has me right now.”
Ahead they charged, on and on several minutes away from the mountains in front of them. Holly’s eyes shot right immediately, the sight of wolves leaping in the distance with blue and green skinned individuals below, their moans now audible.
“Damn, and now Wulfn and Zombies. Get ready for combat,” Holly growled out.445Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwDY4N9w5VO
445Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWHgxyJjCBM
A howl of agonizing pain rang out as the light scattered from the blast, Elise holding stance as the light faded, all the fights around now stopping. In the middle of the light stood Azala with many tears and holes in him. His right arm fell off, the left torn in half, his left leg and lower torso gone, a hole straight through the middle segment of his torso with only the sides connecting, and then half of his head gone along with half of his remaining leg. It appeared that only a sixth of him remained.
With a roar he dropped to his remaining knee, black ooze bubbling out and washing away with black flakes drifting off above. Slowly stubs began to form from the wounds, stubs that simply popped with more dark smoke drifting off. At once his shoulders broke off and slopped across the ground, liquefying immediately with a steam drifting off.
“Guh- to think my dark power could be overwhelmed by such a- by such a… by such a, urk-”
“By such a little girl?”
“Grrraaaa-”
With a final roar his body broke apart, fragments of darkness breaking off as his entire body splintered away until nothing was left of him, all rest liquefying. Many looked on in shock, Winston looking at the place where Azala had been, Toby shaking his head. Elise looked to where he had been, then to Toby and Winston, “No one steps over Vulfax like he did and gets away with it. You two are next.”
“I wouldn’t be so sure of that Elise,” came a voice from ahead, a very familiar voice.
All eyes looked up to the ledge behind where Azala had stood many times before. Dustin stood above in the robe of The Hive, looking down upon Elise, “You have certainly come far, child.”
“Dustin,” Elise growled, watching as Dustin jumped up and down, landing right next to Toby.
To the left of Dustin landed another, this one with a midriff shirt and blue jeans and a light-weight coat black in color with red stars. The second individual had long flowing gray spiked hair, bangs spiked ridiculously large extending in front of his face. Dark eyes glowed from behind the hair of this individual.
“So here we have the three dastards who have completely screwed up this valley. At least that’s what I’m assuming since you three have Hive uniforms.”
“Mmm, David was so right, you truly are canny. Speaking of whom, I see you saved the trash. I suppose one man’s trash is a little harpy’s treasure though as they say, am I right? No? Well whatever.”
“I take it that your arrival means that-” Toby began.
“Yep, the barrier is down. We fully corrupted the thing, then watched it explode. Total grass land with an Aztec looking temple standing at the center. Lord Leon ordered me to return though with Shadow and two others.”
Shadow stepped into view atop the ledge looking down with sharp eyes, “The other two went after Holly. We figured we’d deal with this treasonous clan prior.”
“The only traitor of this clan was Azala though to be fair, speaking of whom, Szayel if you would.”
Szayel’s hands quickly clapped together, silver lines stretching from his pupils along his eyes, “Gotcha. Now, rebirth!”
An explosion of darkness appeared before Elise, darkness drawing itself in from every corner of the cavern. Slowly, bit by bit, a humanoid figure formed. With a mighty roar the darkness exploded, liquidizing and then becoming like Azala, “I am, reborn!” came the gurgling wail of Azala.
Azala stomped forward in his mutated form breathing in heavily, as behind him Szayel’s eyes returned to normal. Elise’s eyes grew wide, shaking, her face stretching with her mouth quivering.
“No way, they revived Azala?” came a murmur from the crowd fighting.
“Azala never died, Szayel simply gave him more power to reform quicker,” Dustin commented.
Elise’s eyes narrowed fiercely at once, looking to Azala. They passed from Azala to Szayel, then to Toby, then to Dustin, then up to Shadow who now stood with folded arms looking down. Shadow’s eyes gleamed in the darkness above, “Hmph. Now what will you do Elise? Against a near immortal force, a man who can revive the dead, a skilled fighter, a dark lord, and then myself? What can you do?”445Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡChWA3ZQEF8
