"
A Succubus quickly caught Lyra, as she writhed in pain. She looked overlooked on a distant roof, watching Kalika and her group.
"
"
"
The women around her gasped, shocked as the looming dark vines encased the pillar of the castle.
Still writing in pain, Lyra slowly picked herself up and growled, watching Kalika get crowded by her companions. "
********
"Kalika!" Donovan rushed to Kalika, pushing past a few bewildered guards. "I…I thought you were dead for sure."
Zelak patted Donovan hard on the back. "Of course, she wouldn't be dead," he berated.
Irritated Donovan turned and poked Zelak hard. "Y-yeah- but I wasn't expecting her to crash through that huge hand thing!" he stopped, then turned back to Kalika. "B-but wait. Where did you come from anyway?"
"D…Don't worry about it," Kalika said. She glanced back to the castle balcony that was decimated and then the massive cave pillar that towered over them with black vines that grew out rapidly. Unsure herself, a cold sweat ran down her face. "How did I get out?"
The ground shook, and a familiar demon stood over her. She looked up, half surprised. "Bjorn… Your… Standing again."
"I am. But we don't have time for idle chatter. That black sludge monster can return at any second, and unless you know magic, you should get somewhere safe like Charla and Cyrus. Your dagger will be useless here."
Suddenly, the ground shook and cracked beneath everyone, and from the dark crevices a ginormous black hand, once destroyed, now reformed. Is slammed into a city guard, crushing him.
"Move! Now!" Bjorn, push her aside.
Annoyed, Kalika pushed back. "Like hell I'm running, I got a bone to pick with that bastard Zorbian!" She raised her hand, expectantly, but conjured nothing.
Once again, the hand whirled and poised to slam its fist into the ground.
Acting fast, Donovan grabbed the collar of Kalika's shirt and pulled her away, and braced himself.
Smoke filled the air, and Donovan quickly pulled himself up with a shaken resolve, "K-Kalika, I know you can't die, but you have to be careful."
"You don't think I know that!"
The large hand raised, with stone and rubble clattering to the dented pavement, ready to claw at Kalika and Donovan.
With his pipe at the ready, Donovan unleashed a full blast of fire onto the hand, shocking even Kalika.
From behind, Bjorn followed in tackling the stem, holding the hand. He dug his bare claws into the sludge, reading his own torrent of fire into the huge sack of sludge. "Hold it there!" Zelak shouted.
With his fire-enhanced chain sword, he slashed and ripped, showing the same results as Donovan and Bjorn.
Donovan clenched his teeth tighter. "Damn, I don't get it! How is it stronger than all those other sludge monsters we killed!?"
The hand bubbled, surprising everyone. But sensing danger, Bjorn jerked away as spikes erupted from the sludgy stem of the hand. He raised his hands, only for his hand to hurl its full weight, forcing Bjorn to catch it and Donovan to cease his attack.
It slammed Bjorn deep in the ground and hovered just over Kalika and Donovan. The hand itself bubbled, and the black lines beneath did the same.
"Crap!" Donovan pulled himself and Kalika out as the Spiked erupted like a mouth ready to consume. Inside, Bjorn Bore the cuts and piercing of the spikes with fury, surged fire into the hand again.
Guards, with a thin veil of hope, charge in, attacking the hand with a flurry of magic attacks of wind, water, fire, earth, piercing and cutting away at the menace.
Livid, Kalika looked back at her hand, still attempting to conjure any semblance of magic in her palm. Irritated, she raised her hand and pointed at the sludge. Her hands shook, with confusion taking hold. "Why isn't it working!!?"
Once again, Donovan spewed a torrent of fire onto the top of the hand as Zelak attempted to slash through with everyone's every, barely showing any signs of progress.
With the weight increasing, Bjorn plunged deeper into the ground and spikes. Blood oozed over his large, white, and red shoulders with no signs of stopping.
Kalika clenched her fist and locked her gaze with the fight. Soon, a hand touched her. Should and with a fury, she spun and found Cyrus, offering a vial.
"Ch-Charla! What are you doing here!?" Donovan exclaimed.
Kalika turned as she saw Charla feed Donovan a small green liquid vial. With labored breathing, Charla opened another vial filled with blue liquid, but stopped short of feeding it.
"These vials will help you recover your energy," Cyrus explained. "Perhaps you'd like some, too, Kalika."
"Hey, Cyrus, you said you were going to take yourself and Charla as far from here as possible!" Donovan shouted.
"I did. But I couldn't stand and do nothing. And it just so happened that your friend felt the same."
Donovan glanced back at Charla and took the vial with his free hand. "O-okay. Fine. But if you wanna help, go and support everyone else."
Charla, with her new orders, flashed across the plaza, feeding vial after vial to the guards and passing another to Zelak, who continued his barrage of attacks.
Charla soon turned back and snatched the bag of vials from Cyrus. He sighed, defeated, and watched as Charla continued working on Donovan's order. "Reminds me of my old days." He muttered. With a deep breath, he turned back to Kalika and offered the green vial to her again. 'So, how about it. It should help you a lot if you're going to fight."
"And how is that going to help?" Kalika said. Kalika, with a deepening focus, clutched and poised with her arm, still attempting to manifest the magic within her. "Unless it can help with me using my magic, you should stay out of the way!"
Curious, Donovan glanced back. "You're trying to use that dark magic again?"
Kalika tensed and glared at the black hand, attempting to crush Bjorn. "I need to. If I don't, this entire city will be destroyed, and everyone will die."
"What do you mean?"
The ground towards the castle, cracked and splintered apart. A strong miasma oozed out, and from the ground, the castle and the pillar, cracked straight down the middle like an egg. Adn from within a darker darkness, oozed from the pores of the cracks and bubbled with ill intent.
From inside the pillar, a new black hand emerged, widening the crack, and slowly pulled out a massive, black demon with pure white eyes.
It slinked out from the nest of the cracks and the hand, once crushing Bjorn, pulled away, retreating to its owner.
"What the hell?" Donovan uttered.
Kalika clenched her teeth and grimaced at the sight of the castle-sized sludge giant with a faint brown glow in its chest.
The guards with the tiny thread of hope severed, fell to their knees. "
Bjorn, with his wounds healing, glared at the black giant that slowly marched toward them.
Zelak, like the guards, dropped his sword at the sight. Unable to look away with a growing reverence for the behemoth. "
"KALIKA…" The giant roared. "KALIKA!!!!"
The city shook, and the giant took another step forward.
Panicked, Kalika clutched her wrist tightly, unwilling to look back up at the looming threat.
"Ehehehehehe…."
Kalika glanced back and saw Donovan's chuckling as he, too, looked at the giant monster.
"Hey, Kalika. I don't know about you, but it doesn't look like the odds are against us…" Donovan said.
"To hell with this." Kalika broke into a sprint, running towards the giant.
"Kalika! What are you doing!" Donovan shook, glancing from Kalika to the giant, who took one step closer to them. Hearing no response, he pushed his fears down and chased Kalika, leaving the shellshocked Cyrus behind.
Bjorn watched as Kalika dashed ahead with Donovan following. He growled, letting the last of his wounds heal. "Damn it! What are they thinking!?"
"Kalika! Donovan called. "What the hell are you doing?"
"What do you think, Zorbian's after me?" Kalika turned her glare to the giant. "Hey Zorbian! You're looking for me! I'm over here!"
"I don't think that'll-"
At once, the white eyes shot down at Kalika and Donovan. Its hands reached down, and at once, Kalika turned left, into the last street, and back into the city.
The giant's hand broke through the stone building with ease, reaching as if grasping at the pavement of the street behind Kalika and Donovan.
Annoyed, Kalika glared back at Donovan, who still followed with panic. "Why are you still following me, you idiot. He's only after me!"
"That's all the more reason to follow. I'm not going to let that Zorbian thing take you! Not if I have anything to say about it." Donovan quickly gazed back, watching as the giant turned to follow them.
"Well, that thing is after you, alright. Do you have plans?"
"No."
"Seriously! By the time it's morning, that thing can level this entire place."
"I already know that, but… I just need more time to-"
Massive fingers slammed into the streets and scraped towards Kalika and Donovan, crushing deeper into the ground.
"C-crap!" Down here!" Donovan shouted. He gestured into an alley and led the way down the winding paths as more of the buildings behind were crushed and smashed to rubble.
"Damn, that Zorbian thing really has it out for you, doesn't he? Does he really want you that badly?"
"What do you think. The bastards. No better than Rakon or Lily. They want to keep me around like some trophy and use me!" Kalika glared back at her and wrenched her fingers. "And only I can end him with his-!!"
Kalika gasped, and her eyes widened, remembering his words of 'severing their connections'. "Did he take away my only way to use magic?" She stumbled and fell to her knees.With clenched fists, she sneered and sprinted on. "There's gotta be something I can do! Something! Anything!"
"Donovan!!"
"Huh?" Kalika and Donovan glanced up, discovering Charla running across the roof over them.
"Charla? What are you doing here!?" Donovan questioned.
Charla, with crazed eyes, glanced back and hopped away as the sludge giant cleaved into the buildings with ease, barely reaching Kalika.
"
"Turn around?" He repeated.
Suddenly, the giant's foot slammed over their only exit.
"Shit!"
With its looming presence, the giant reached its hands down. The buildings cracked from the weight, and to Donovan's shock, Kalika kicked him.
In an instant, she was grabbed and crushed in the palm of his hands.
Donovan could only watch on as Kalika was brought into the air and taken. He stumbled back to his feet and ripped open his pouch of supplies, spilling crystals, a book, and a red knife. Desperate, he raised his pipe, firing off torrents of fire at the giant. "Hey! Ugly, let her go!!"
Fire pointlessly filled the air, and his heart slowly sank as the giant stepped over him. "D…Damn it!"
"Donovan?" Charla peeked her head out from the roof. With her shaken breath, she jumped and watched as he fell to his knees at a complete loss. She watched as his gaze drifted down. With the colors of guilt permeating. Unexpectedly, a dim yellow rose. With a new hope on the horizon.
Donovan, acting quickly, grabbed and pocketed the book and a few crystals and tore his pouch from his waist, using it to wrap the knife.
To his surprise, Charla presented a clear vial. "
Donovan took the vial in hand. "I'm not the one who's going to need it… But… Charla. I need your help."
********
Kalika, in the grasp of the giant, was shaken and slammed into the buildings below like a hammer. Each death became bloodier than the last, with the giant eventually pounding his fists into the cave pillar.
Each strike killed and cracked the stone foundation until the giant punched through the entire pillar, slamming Kalika back into the core's chamber.
The buzzing of the core drew Kalika's attention as the giant pinned. She tensed and attempted to break free.
Suddenly, the full weight of the giant's hands pressed Kalika deeper, forcing her to screech out in pain. She coughed black blood and gasped for breath as the giant inched her closer to the barrier.
"D-damn you." She wheezed. "I never should've trusted your word for a second back when you first spoke to me. You're no better than the so-called brother of you- AARRGHHH!!!"
Her bones crunched, and her strained breathing stopped. Seconds later, she once again revived with a gasp of breath, still within the grasp of the hand.
The very chamber rumbled with the echoes of Zorbian's deep voice. "I WILL DESTROY EVERYTHING… YOU… THIS WORLD… CASSELL… YOU WILL SUBMIT… AND YOU WILL DO MY BIDDING!"
"I refuse!!"
Kalika screamed in pain, getting crushed like a grape. She awoke with the phantom pain lingering in her mind all the while, the giant brought closer to the barrier.
Unexpectedly, she heard her name called from a distance.
"Donovan?" She listened, hearing the subtle explosion of magic and the sloshing of the giant's sludgy body.
"FLIES. ALL OF THEM," he crushed Kalika again. "THEIR PITIFUL ATTEMPTS WILL ONLY QUICKEN THEIR DEATHS."
"No!" Kalika wheezed. Within her dying gaze, she glanced at the barrier above, fading into the darkness of the void. She lingered much longer, once again drowning in the void.
"Foolish child. Always trying to use a gift without understanding it first," a man said.
Her senses rippled like a drop entering water. A sense of refined clarity rose again as the faint, familiar presence, far from her, came closer. Orbs filled her mind, then the shapes formed.
"Now go. And learn of your gift."
Her mind thrust forward. The weights she once felt, gone as she propelled back to life. Her new perspective, once again, looked over the city with the giant racing for her in a panic. Beyond him, she saw Charla hug Donovan tight and, with her help, launch from a stone pillar below, carrying a bag in the grasp of his hand.
"Kalika! Catch!!" Donovan threw his bag, the spilled-out crystal, the red knife, and a vial of clear liquid from inside.
"That idiot. He came all this way up here to give me all this?" Kalika grabbed the load, giant's landing on the giant's shoulder. His feet sank into the sludge, and the crystals in her arms lost their colors at once.
She glanced back down and watched as Charla kicked Donovan into the air, feet's before being rescued by Zelak in the air, and Bjorn with his water below, catching Donovan. She sighed, relief washing over her as she calmly looked back at the grey crystal, pooled in her arm, and the newly broken vial that drenched her arm. "Gift? I wonder…"
Using its other hand, the giant moved to smash Kalika at once.
Focused, she grabbed the red knife from her and jumped from the giant's shoulder and stabbed into its chest, sliding down.
She dug the knife deeper, stopping at the center, and with her other hand plunged it into the giant's chest.
From below, everyone watched in shock and bafflement as she entered the sludgy black giant.
Suddenly, the monster writhed in pain, and echoes of pain surged throughout the entire city.
Desperate, it plunged its own hands into its chest. But in a matter of minutes, the giant began to melt. Slowly, its feet puddled, flooding into the plaza, followed by its body and arm that left everyone knee deep within the remains of the monster.
Confused, Donovan looked around. "What… What happened…? Did we… Win?"
Bjorn bumped Donovan on the shoulder and pointed towards the castle. And to his shock, Kalika stood, touching a large crystal, exhausted and wet.