Your legs snap into position. Your hands become as solid as iron. You hold onto the sword as a knight of hell attacks. You block his blow, then reply in kind. He manages to dodge, but not without a small graze to his chestplate. An imp lunges at you, but you cut its head off.
Several more of the creatures rush. You swing your sword about haphazardly, in wide arcs, cutting through the rows of monsters and leaving behind bloodied pulps and mangled corpses that used to be hellish creatures. Dots of dark imp blood now adorn your dragonbone armor. You look up at the two knights of hell still there, waiting to fight you, but they do not strike yet. They stand their ground, shoulder-to-shoulder with each other, both bearing swords. Why are they not attacking?
Galiel laughs. "Excellent. I'm impressed," the Duke in black armor claps his hands, one in armor, one without. "Why not improve the game a little? Make it more interesting
~!"
Galiel, still sitting at the railing, begins humming a melody of some kind. For some reason, you recognize it vaguely. Perhaps it's popular, not from his world, but from yours. Galiel snaps his fingers. As the crackling sound spreads across the hall, another demon appears.
Red smoke gathers at the center of your vision. The knights of hell brace themselves, only to be blown away by an explosion of huge fire. A giant, red, fiery mist fills the middle of the hall. From it, emerges a beast you've never had the displeasure of facing before.
A two and a half meters tall, red devil. He has black horns and glowing red eyes. The demon's eyes glow maliciously and stare at you with bloodlust. He has teeth as sharp as razors and he has more of them than you have fingers on all limbs. With just one bite, he could rip you to shreds. At the end of his hands, are sharp, long talons. Rather than these talons being fingernails, his fingers actually turn into them halfway through. He appears to carry no weapons, but his body should count as a weapon on its own. The brutal demon has more muscles than ten lumberjacks lumped together. On his midriff, he wears a large, brown leather sash made out of some kind of fur, and a belt that pins it to his chest that has several skulls on it.
"Meet Dernael. He's a friend of mine... a servant?... a slave. He's a slave."
Dernael roars, shaking the room. He proceeds to charge wildly in Leona's direction, throwing random imps aside and across the room. He runs into your mother and punches, only to find his fist split in half by a slice from Excalibur. Dernael falls onto one knee before Leona beheads him with the sword.
"Are you not entertained?" your mother spits out blood, turning to Galiel.
"That was dull," Galiel snarks. "You didn't give him a chance."
"I don't have to give him a chance," Leona gathers her legs and leaps wildly into the air. Her armored form flies toward Galiel, who leaps back in her direction, aiming slightly above her. The two meet in midair, only for Galiel to flail his armored hand around Leona's back.
You don't know what happened. Only when the two of them land, do you realize.
Galiel, still not looking back, grins. "Ha. I don't have to give you one either."
A wide hole opens in Leona's back, pouring excessive blood. With shock in her eyes, your mother falls down from the railing, only to be caught in your arms, barely, just before she hit the ground. Excalibur is released from her hand and it lands near the two of you.
The first thing on your mind is to take a healing tonic and heal her wound, but your adventuring items are upstairs. She'll bleed out soon. Leona has, from what you read, anywhere from forty-five seconds to one minute of life left. You stare with tears as your mother bleeds out in your hand, incapable of speaking from the damage the demon dealt with only his hands. Your mother, who you perceived to be unbeatable, was put down by a fiend like this? No. No way. There is no way. That's impossible.
"Art... or... ia..." Leona mutters, laying her hand on your cheek.
"And you call yourself a Baragar?!" the demon turns with a grimace, yelling in outrage. His tone has pride. "I expected that to hurt you, not take you down! I've fought the real Baragar, I know what he was made of! You're nothing like him! Just imitations!" he clenches his fists, furious and bewildered.
Galiel growls. "I'll burn this mansion. And I'll kill you both, and then your relatives. This... this... pathetic family is unworthy of carrying His blood."
Flames sprout at the edges of every wall and every column. The deep, crimson fire grows tall very quickly. It covers every exit and every window. Escape should be impossible unless you use ice magic to extinguish the flame. And even then, you can't leave Leona here.
Galiel begins walking in your direction, but he stops, surprised about something. "What? Who's that?" he looks up, above the railing. From the place you're standing in, you can't see who's up there.
Suddenly...
T-BANG, T-BANG, T-BANG!
A trio of sharp, large projectiles fly at Galiel. The demon, as stalwart as always, blocks the projectiles by merely flicking his cape in front of them. The cape turns into an inky, magical shield, and devours the projectiles, decomposing them into mana before your very eyes, as glowing black particles of what used to be swords evaporate into the air.
"Swords?" Galiel exclaims.
Suddenly, another warrior, clad in a black, fluttering outfit, flies at Galiel with a fearsome velocity. With a staff in his hands, he forces Galiel to block. Cervitou! Cervitou, holding Galiel in a lock, turns his masked face slightly to the side. "Help the Baragars," he barks, as an order, before Galiel knocks him off-balance. The two proceed to fight.
Suddenly, a familiar face jumps down from the floor above. You are met with the face of Oshha Tavish. Tavish runs up to the two of you, then examines Leona's wound. Without even a greeting, a permission, or an explanation, he lays his hand on your mother's bloodied back.
"What are you do––" you begin, accusingly and angrily, only to be stopped by a white light coming out of Tavish's palm. Before your very eyes, the blood that poured out of your mother's wound literally winds back inside of her body, forced by Tavish's magic to return to Leona's circulatory system. And then, the light intensifies, and its heat sears the wound closed. There is still a scar, however.
"Cervitou will handle the rest," Tavish exclaims. "I can't handle wounds this big, but I stabilized your mother."
"When did you learn healing magic?"
"I began practicing two weeks ago."
"Yes, but I think there's something more important to take care of," Tavish jerks his head in the direction of the fight.
Galiel and Cervitou are fighting each other. The two warriors have as much speed and force as the duel between your mother and Galiel. Cervitou swings his staff time after time, and every time he does, a blue, glowing blade of hot magical energy forms at the tip. It appears that blocking it is impossible because all Galiel does is dodge the tip. When he blocks, he only blocks the wooden, long part of the staff that Cervitou is holding onto. Regardless, Cervitou is a very skilled, fluid duelist. More than you expected, and definitely more than you could have imagined. He fights with prowess rivaling the greatest Elven warriors.
"We need to extinguish the fire," you caution Tavish, realizing the flames are still burning away the mansion. The only reason you'd have thought to say that is because the otherwise clear air is slowly causing you to cough, and the clear, easily visible hall is slowly becoming flooded with thick, black smoke near the ceiling.
You lay down your mother on the ground carefully. Tavish nods. "I know a few basic water spells."
Tavish runs off in the direction of the left, while you go right. The two of you proceed to extinguish the flames, using water and ice respectively. Tavish points his hands at the flames and shoots weak, if potent streams of water from them, while you cover everything in a thin sheet of frost that makes the fire weaken until it is gone.
Cervitou manages to hold Galiel to a standstill for several minutes. You constantly hear sounds of weapons clashing, but you can't intervene.
Cervitou huffs. "You're well-trained."
Their weapons clash against each other several times before Galiel replies.
"I am the Constable of Hell, the First Duke, and a Demon General. I'm not like any other of the pathetic overlords, black mage."
Cervitou waves his arm across the space in front of him. As he does, ten, large, glowing balls of pure, yellow-white light materialize as his hand passes by. With another gesture, he sends them forth after Galiel, who jumps back only to discover the balls are tracking him. Galiel stops in place. His shadow and cape merge suddenly, creating a huge wall of darkness in the middle of the room. As soon as the balls hit it, they are consumed by it. After that, the darkness grows weaker until it is once again but a shadow and a cape.
"I've noticed that." Cervitou, once again, blocks a leap attack from Galiel and the two continue their fight. "What you don't know is that I'm not like any other pathetic black mage, constable."
Cervitou jumps back, his outfit fluttering through the air. Mid-air, he turns into an inky cloud of darkness.
Galiel does the same, waving his cape across his body and turning into a sooty, pitch-black mist. The two clouds fly at each other, then materialize back into mage and demon. Galiel and Cervitou clash in midair, with Cervitou now wielding a sword, materialized out of the same, dark substance.
The fight soon turns even more brutal and impressive. The two of them begin to use spells regularly while clashing their weapons, turning it into a breath-taking duel between two, incredibly powerful entities. Neither of them seems remotely grounded, even though Cervitou is mortal by all definition. Theirs is a fight of demigods, operating on a whole different physical plane from you. The two of them fight at speed and power outmatching even your mother. Cervitou could become a famous man of adventure, or hero had he really wanted it. Not only has he magic, combat skills, and prowess in many other fields, but he is also a true man of the renaissance, capable of nearly anything you can think of.
You've seen him cast magic the likes of which is beyond you, even though he has a broken soul. You've seen him fight a Duke of Hell to a standstill. You've seen him surpass even Leona, who, up to this point, you thought of as an immortal hero.
Cervitou's blade manages to go through Galiel's defense and cuts off a small chunk of his helmet, uncovering his face. Much like a human, he has two eyes, however they are glowing red. He also has a wide, somewhat monstrous mouth, with huge jaws and many, small, sharp teeth.
"You're getting cocky, but I like it," Galiel smiles sadistically. "I haven't had this much fun in years!"
Galiel swings his sword, this time, with all the might he has. The force of the blow is so hard that the negative pressure in the air generated by his sword creates a small whirlwind in the middle of the room, blowing your hair back strongly. As Galiel's hit connects with Cervitou's chest, the latter is blown away, unable to defend.
Cervitou hits the wall after flying across the room. He's... unconscious.
Galiel takes his time and slowly walks in Cervitou's direction. One, slow step after another. He appears to be ignoring you, Tavish, and Leona.
You don't know what to do. You're frozen still, incapable of moving. You can only observe, in shock. This demon has defeated not only your mother but also Cervitou, who has shown himself capable of surpassing even her - a deed you thought to be impossible.
Galiel is a meter away from Cervitou, who is sitting with his back against the wall. Galiel stops.
"In the end, you're just another sad black mage. You are filthy. Perish!" Galiel rises his sword above his head, preparing to swing. But, before he can...
A growl catches him off-guard, as Ria bites into his shoulder with powerful teeth. "Aghh!" Galiel drops his sword in pain, then haphazardly grabs Ria by the head, wrestling her away from his left shoulder with his right hand. He throws her out the window in rage.
"Bitch..." Galiel mutters in fury.
Suddenly, Cervitou springs up and stabs Galiel in the back, killing the demon. "GET JUKED, LOSER!"
Cervitou rips his mask off, to reveal a grin of victory and a joyful laughter. "It was a part of my plan all along! You got played."
Cervitou is, very uncharacteristically, celebrating a victory.
Galiel turns his head to three-hundred and sixty degrees, looking directly at Cervitou for a moment. You hear a mean snapping sound. The demon commited suicide as to not have to bleed out.
"D-damn you," Galiel spoke, with a last of his breath.
Galiel's body breaks down into black particles of mana, then fades away. Ria slowly moves back into the room through the window she was thrown out through, helping herself with her slowly-developing wings. She lands in the middle of the room, then walks up to Cervitou, smells him, plays with him for a few seconds; probably recognizing him from the time she was still an egg, and she returns to the garden.
...
Cervitou lets himself fall on his back, completely exhausted from what you can read from his body language, then he continues laughing. "See you in hell,
overlord," he mocked, putting emphasis on that last word. While Cervitou is still lying down, he puts his mask back on, then turns into an inky cloud of darkness. This cloud flies over to your mother's unconscious body and solidifies back into the robed, black mage. Cervitou casts some kind of healing spell, as evident from the white light. Cervitou takes Leona, scooping her up in his arms and carrying her over to you.
He gives her to you. "Bring Madame Baragar to her room."
As soon as you grab your mother's body again, only capable of carrying her thanks to a bit of subconscious enhancement, you snap back into reality.
"What... was that?"
"What do you mean, Artoria Baragar?" he returns to his cold voice.
"Oh, damn it! Don't pretend you don't know!" you bark. He's so irksome! "You were so happy just a moment ago!"
"Yes, but now is not the time for celebrations. That fight, believe it or not, cost me all of my mana. I must go into the forest and gather ingredients for a mana potio–– actually, no," Cervitou reconsiders what he just said, then steps back and sits down in the middle of the room. He just sits down there, cross-legged.
"What are you doing?!" you yell at him from a distance. Both you and Tavish stare in awe.
"Meditating. It's good for your soul and for mana regeneration. I will stay here like this for a few hours, then begin repairs of the residence. Do not bother me."
His lack of mana explains why he could fight with so much power. For a moment, you thought power like that was normal for Cervitou, but it seems he spent all of his mana over these last few minutes, emptying all of it into enhancing his body so he could have a chance against Galiel.
You sigh and carry Leona upstairs, while Tavish remains with Cervitou. Cervitou briefs him on what just happened, as it seems Tavish had no idea that what Cervitou just manhandled was a Duke of Hell.
***
Leaving your mother's room and closing the door, you meet Tavish again, just outside.
"That was pretty crazy. What did Galiel want?"
"Entertainment," you scoff bitterly, but then, you turn milder. "Also, I'm impressed. You're turning into a real mage."
"Yeah, Cervitou is a great teacher. In just these few past months, he taught me the basics of the Elemental, Healing, and Spirit magic. And I'm also good at Magical Theory, plus, my Enhancement and Conjuration is at least twice as good as before."
Is Cervitou really this good at teaching? "Amazing."
"Anyway, think Galiel will come back?"
"Didn't Cervitou kill him?" you bleat.
"It doesn't work like that. Cervitou only killed his body. Exorcisms, or destroying a demon's material form does nothing to his soul. He'll just go back to the Nether and heal back up in a few weeks, then he'll be as strong as he was now. To destroy a demon, you need the correct purification ritual, or a weapon enchanted with said ritual. It will burn their soul and destroy them permanently."
"I see," you nod.
Suddenly, your tummy starts making sounds. You're still hungry and you want to finish dinner, but you doubt any of the staff is still in the mansion.
"You're hungry?" Tavish asks, surprised.
"Of course! He interrupted dinner, and since the staff is gone, I can't do much. I'm going to die like this."
"D-die? Do they starve you in here?!" Tavish jumps back, even more surprised.
"No!"
...
"So, you like to eat, huh?"
You blush in embarrassment, staring at him with an irritated look. "Y... .... ...no..."
Tavish stares blankly.
"Yes..." you admit to being a glutton, shamefully.
"I can cook something for you if you want."
"Pfft. You?" you fold your arms. "What would
you know about cooking?"
"Apparently more than you, since you're complaining about starvation ten minutes after you had dinner and you're not capable of taking care of that yours––––" Tavish drops a truth-bomb, but you stop him.
"OKAY, Fine!"
Tavish sighs. "I'll get to it."
He leaves you alone in the corridor, going down the stairs, probably in the direction of the dining room which is connected to the kitchen.
Well. This was an... exciting... day. A lot happened today. First, you did some cardio training, then you had breakfast, then you did some weightlifting, sparring, and strategy training, then you had dinner, and then a Duke of Hell stormed your mansion.
You should find yourself something to do. You definitely can't train in these conditions. You should probably take the rest of the day off.
(Choose up to 3.)
[] Check up on your mother.
[] Check up on Ria.
[] Bother Cervitou.
[] Bother Tavish.
[] Go and try to find the staff. Where did they escape? You should tell them it's okay to go back in.
[] Write a letter to father and Roland to tell them of what happened. They should be informed without further ado.
Mana: 194/200
Calendar: 1005-10-16
Time: Afternoon
