In the distance, a familiar bridge split down the middle came into sight, but along with it came ash and a putrid stench of unknown origins.
A flash of lightning bounced off the chasm walls in a myriad of patterns, sending a chill down Elijah's spine. No words were escaping his mouth, but only thoughts as he came into view of the situation with a completely blank face.
Novius, who was on the opposite side of the cavern of Elijah, was weeping in anguish — expending large amounts of mana that were sent at Damir in the form of lightning tendrils.
Raylen had mountains of sweat dripping down his face from overheating his body, Theon's hands were a light shade of purple and blue, and Alexia had her hands stretched forward holding a torrential barrier of wind currents with clothes that had practically burned off her body.
"ELIJAH! HELP!!!"
The scream of Alexia put Elijah's body and mind into full gear. His eyes gazed towards Damir, who had just sent a large ball of fire towards his friends. However, the ball of fire somehow disappeared, and was sent right back towards its origin.
BOOM!
"Yo-you're alive!! HOW?!" Damir said these words, and instantly created a veil of flames that wrapped around his body.
The moment Elijah landed on the stone floor of the cavern directly in front of Damir, his bare feet excreted a large amount of water that evaporated when coming into contact with his flames. "Before we start, was this your plan all along?"
"You are nothing more than a liar who dares to hide his power from Astraea!!"
Somehow, Elijah was able to feel a sensation of repulsion within his words, and slowly stumbled backwards.
Fear was inside of Elijah's head from the increase in heat. How would he get past someone engulfing their body in mana more powerful than his? The only option was to either use physical weapons, or magic that transcended the limits of the difference in magical power.
Great balls of fire were lobbed towards Elijah, alongside several beams of fire which he redirected with a portal aiming for the water fall. Elijah's body flew in every direction possible, hoping any spell that made it to the other side was blocked by the combination of fire's opposing elements.
The idea was to not alert anyone, and not cause destruction for his friends that he believes to have fallen down below… Damir had seen his powers, but did not in the slightest change his emotions.
The eleven year old boy was a flaming statue that didn't seem to have life inside its soul — burned to a crisp by its own hatred.
"WHEN YOU ARE USING YOUR MAGIC LIKE THAT, YOU CAN'T MOVE AN INCH RIGHT?!" The words of the angelic figure were made to be loud to make sure the newly-born devil could hear them.
The plans of Elijah switched into a spatial slash thrown at the ceiling above Damir. Rocks and dust came tumbling down to the ground blocking a large portion of the entrance. With swift movements, Elijah flew to his friends in an attempt to guarantee them safety.
"Quick! Grab onto me! I will fly two of you at a time to the top!"
Alexia pointed to Raylen and Novius who were in the worst of conditions, and quickly, Elijah set Novius and Raylen on both his shoulders, and flew to the uppermost cave. Extremely small amounts of mana was coursing through his shoulders, with small amounts of pain exploding into different sections of his shoulder.
Once returning, he followed suit with Alexia and Theon, and even conjured a small amount of healing water to move about in their bodies.
"Stay here, I'm going to go look for everyone else, and take care of Damir…"
Elijah's words caused Alexia to grab his arm tightly just as he was about to leave.
Tears were streaming from her eyes alongside her blackened golden hair that was partly covering her battered face. All it took was a single sentence from her soft and shaky voice, to push Elijah into a fit of exasperation.
"Th-they are de-dead…"
Stoicism had always been a strong suit for Elijah. No matter what situation arised, he was able to keep a calm mind while figuring out the best solution possible. However, within this new body and world, his mind was in shambles. His motions were practically uncontrollable to the point he was diagnosing himself with bipolarism after every beast encounter.
The blackened body of Damir had made his way out of the rubble alongside the sound of muttered words escaping his body. Damir had obviously gone mad, and resumed his assault with several fire beams in the shape of an arc.
Elijah perfectly swallowed one of the beams into a small portal conjured within the nick of time, exploding every bottle of water within his spatial storage.
Swinging underneath the bridge in an attempt to block the next attack, Elijah found himself struggling underneath the weight of a falling bridge.
Below him were a few kappa's coming to join the fun, but were later surprised by their heads disappearing one after the other. Slowly, Elijah's mana capacity declined into dangerous levels, and did nothing but keep a straight face while emptying his spatial storage.
"I have to kill him!" Elijah motivated himself while coming to even ground against the devil.
Seemingly so, there wasn't much life left in Damir's body. Slowly, the tips of his fingers began to disperse into ashes. Yet, his will was strong, and sent an area-of-effect flame wave out of every crevasse of his body. Any protruding part of his male body was burned into ashes directly after his clothes had revealed his blackened body.
Elijah only smirked as he stepped through a pearlescent and translucent-rimmed portal. The sides of his black and navy blue hunter uniform had been burned to a crisp, but did not affect the emotions of Elijah whatsoever.
After appearing behind Damir, a simple and lazy wave of his hand caused Damir's body to topple to the ground.
Bam!
The slow crawl of inevitable death and Damir's hoarse and mysterious voice was radiating a feeling of corruption.
"You must die…"
"You must die…"
"You must die…"
Elijah's eyebrows twitched with him hearing the mutterings, and followed with Elijah stepping over Damir's body.
Damir once again witnessed Elijah's face come into his view. His chin was turning to ash as it dragged against the floor, alongside hands and arms that dissolved with every attempt at motion.
Elijah knew that Damir had long been done for, but was confirmed when a subtle purple and black energy began pouring out of the shoulder socket. When it left, the rest of the body became one with the ground.
Poof!
An ethereal purple energy slowly made its way down the chasm with Elijah staring directly at it. A few cracking noises resounded from the rubble behind him, but Elijah paid it no mind as the sight in front of him made him think of something terrifying.
Crunch!
An earthen spike was lodged into Elijah's back, directly underneath his left shoulder. Screaming was the only option Elijah thought of with the superstition of who had stabbed his back.
However, before he was able to wash his body with healing water magic, another set of footsteps appeared before his very eyes. Fredric unearthed himself from the ceiling, limping with every stride. He jumped across the gap after creating a dirt staircase underneath his feet, and finished his final act with an earthen spike gripped tightly.
With Elijah's arms now entwined by Trey behind him, there was no escape.
Suddenly, a faint translucent and pearlescent rimmed portal took shape in the form of an oval directly in front of Elijah in the nick of time. The very second Fredric landed on the ground, he found himself unable to stop his momentum — plunging the earthen spike directly into the back of Trey.
"Sorry Trey, but this is what you deserve…"
"AHHHHHH!" Trey released his grip and earth magic holding Elijah's arms behind his back, and slumped to the floor in despair. The sight of something unexplainable made him go silent.
Elijah was not finished, and only continued with the intense pain of his heart just barely being missed.
The portal quickly disappeared as Elijah swifty rummaged through his spatial space to grab his dagger. His hands were immediately seared from the fire beam he had swallowed earlier, yet still managed to return a stab to the back.
SHINK!
A true and deadly chinese fire drill had just occurred, with Elijah slouching on top of the backs of Trey and Fredric after falling to the floor. There was no need to worry about any magic being casted as pain was clouding their mind.
"WHO PUT YOU UP TO THIS?!" Elijah had wanted Trey to answer as he hoped this boy still had a sense of passion for life.
"You can't… stop them. They tell me… that… you must be… killed." Fredric's voice was hoarse and filled with agony, and visibly injured with a wound cauterized by pure dirt and rock.
"WHO! TELL ME WHO WANTS ME DEAD!"
Trey was squirming underneath the pressure, and succumbed to his feelings. He had always thought Elijah was a good person, someone who frantically put his life ahead of others.
"The Eternal Twin…" Were the last words that came out of his mouth.
Fredric had used all the strength in his body to shift and twist the thick stone spike around Trey's chest cavity. The air in his lungs was expelled with a deathly sigh.
The question was, should Elijah kill Fredric. Should he indulge in his desire to kill the boy engaging in despicable deeds?
"I am nothing more than good… Benevolent, even… What is so bad about ridding the world of evil?!" Elijah muttered while he sat still on top of their backs.
An extremely small amount of mana ran from Elijah's core, and slowly made its way to his entire arm. The idea of being cautious was nowhere in his mind, resulting in an earth-shattering punch.
BOOM!
The neck of Fredric disappeared, along with everything below it following suit. Where there used to be the heads of two innocent young boys who only got dragged into something terrible, was a dent in the blood painted stone.
Stillness and silence radiated through the chasm once the echo of the impact dissipated. The bloody boy who was straddling the limp bodies of his prey was speechless from his own actions.