46 Night duel

Part 1

Marcus looked dead serious with his last remark. Everyone on Evlin's group was a jumbled mess of emotions right now. The son of their old friend who they all have been looking forward to meeting for a while now just dropped on their door. They should be overcome with joy but instead all of their minds where being bombarded with questions.

How did Marcus found them? Why was he there? What has he been doing all this time? Who was he working for? How much did he know? How much should he know? What was his end goal? What were they supposed to say to him? Why did he want to take away their metal pieces?

"Hey... Are you really his son...?"

Daren got tired of thinking too much and just decided to get the truth out of him.

"If you mean Marceus, then yes... I'm his son..."

"... If that's true then why can't I sense you?"

"Sense me??"

"I was one of Marceus's candidates to be his partner... Me and Lilith... Our connection with him is stronger than anyone else's... Why can I sense the presence of any of his leftover blessed weapons but I can't sense yours?"

"... You were dad's old candidate!!? I see..."

"..."

"Hey... Dad... What was he like...? It's the first time I meet one of his old candidates..."

"... He was an air-head... He never took anything seriously and always tried to take away the tension of the situation on every mission we would go on..."

"I... See..."

Marcus started to look down as if that wasn't the answer he was hoping for.

"He was also my best friend... He saved me in my time of need... And saved many more whenever he would get a chance... He might have been a joker... But he never left a job unfinished... For the sake of protecting the innocents there was no mountain big enough that idiot wasn't ready to climb..."

"Is that so..."

"I don't know what kind of relationship you two had... But if you really are his son... Then know you should take pride in that fact..."

Marcus started to tear up a little bit and tried to wipe his face with both hands.

"Thank you... I- I miss him so much!!"

"..." x 7

"Come on darling, don't cry... I'm sure he is looking after you all the time from above..."

"Y- Yeah... Thanks Mia... Dad is probably watching me right now..."

Marcus finally cleaned his face and took a deep breath.

"... Which is why I can't disappoint him..."

Daren started to talk in the telepathic chat room.

[Everyone... Watch out!!]

Lilith seemed to be in shock. Evlin tried to question what was wrong.

[Daren? Did something happen?]

[I can feel it now... The blessed energy... I can feel it in this kid... It's absurdly huge...]

[I'm feeling too... He was somehow hiding it until now... But I can finally feel the presence...]

Evlin was still confused.

[W- What does this mean...?]

[It means he is getting ready for battle!]

"I'll ask again... Hand over all your metal... I have a duty to complete my father's job... That includes cleaning up the mess he left behind... This metal is too dangerous for anyone but me to use..."

Evlin tried to negotiate with the kid.

"Marcus please wait for a moment! We need this metal to survive the demon kingdom."

"...!? The demon kingdom? You guys are planning to go to the demon kingdom...?"

"Yes!! We are going there to find out more about the origin of curses..."

"Why would you do that...? Are you trying to find a way to eliminate all the curses in the world!?"

"Actually, we are trying to find a way to curse some of our members..."

"What!!?? Why would you do that?? Curses are the powers that come from monsters and demons!!"

"We know but we need the power to defeat the goddess that betrayed Marceus!"

"...? What are you talking about...?"

"The goddess who turned Marceus into the living weapon berayed these people, and now we are trying to find a way to take her down, and we think the power of curses might be the answer to it!"

"You guys are planning to attack the goddess that made dad into the living weapon...? You are going to attack my mom?"

"Yeah! We nee- ... Wait what...?"

"Seems like I was mistaken about you all... Forget the metal... I'll just exterminate everyone here..."

Marcus raised his arm upwards and his hand transformed into a blade that kept growing until it reached the ceiling and pierced it like it was made of paper. The blade kept growing and growing becoming even longer by the second.

Evlin stared at the massively long blade and met eyes with Marcus.

"W- What are you doing...?"

"My mother is the only family I have left right now... If you are her enemies... Then you are my enemies too!"

The boy proceeded to bring down his arm, and subsequently, the massive blade at the end of it, cutting the building in half and causing a huge explosion.

Part 2

The dust was starting to clear up as the falling pieces of the building Evlin created kept spreading across the forest by Marcus's gigantic sword swing. The group managed to get out of the way in time but many were blasted away by the impact of the sword hitting the terrain.

Many ended up buried under the broken pieces of the inn and were about to suffocate. Gustav started to send a message to everyone's minds and managed to wake them up in time.

[Everyone, get up!!! Now!! We need to move!!]

"Huh... What in the world...??"

Evlin was rescued by Sphinx who was bitting her shirt and removing her from the wreckage.

"Ugh... Good boy... Huh...!? Oh no!!"

Evlin's face turned pale once she saw all her friends knocked out from the blast. She hurried to wake up Auren and the two started to perform healing magic and rewind the wounds of the fallen comrades.

The group was finally back up again and were now staring at the one who caused all this.

"This was a warning shot... Give up on your quest right now and hand over the metal... Or this will be the end for all of you."

Evlin was standing in front and glanced at the looks on everyone's faces. This was the son of their dear old friend who had passed away and they sincerely were hoping to welcome him into the family with open arms, but he just made a declaration that was impossible to ignore. They all were thinking the same thing.

"Marcus... Whatever it is that you think you're doing... You are wrong..."

After Evlin, Daren tried to speak as well.

"That woman is not your or Marceus's friend! She betrayed him and turned us all into statues for two-hundred years... She used him, and she is using you too!!"

"... I made a promise to my father..."

"...??" x 7

"I told him that he could rest in peace... And that I would carry his burden from now on..."

"Marcus, listen!!"

"I will finish the mission he left for me... No matter who stands in my way... If you really are planning to go to the demon kingdom to find a way to hurt my mother... Then I'm stopping you all right here!!"

[He's not listening anymore... Is everyone ready?]

[Ready] x 6

[Then let's do this... We came too far to leat the temperament of a fourteen-year-old stop us now!]

Daren changed into his black lion form, Lilith drew out her sword, and Evlin changed her crossbow into gauntlets and injected herself with healing magic to boost her speed and strength.

Marcus observed their resolves.

"So that's how it's going to be..."

He took a deep breath, turned both of his arms into blades, and briefly spoke again.

"Come!"

Evlin, Lilith, and Daren started to charge towards the silver-haired lad.

Part 3

Marcus's speed was on pair with every single one of them. Evlin would try to hit him with her gauntlets, Lilith would attempt to slash him with her sword and Daren continued to try to grab him with his claws. Unfortunately, the small boy was not only as fast as them, he was also extremely skilled and agile as well.

Lilith's sword would be parried by his arms every time she tried to hit him. It appears that Marcus was immune to her future sight so she couldn't predict his moves and was just attacking wildly. At one point Marcus managed to land a hit so heavy that Lilith was about to fall, but before she could, Marcus grabbed her by holding her sword with his left hand.

"You have a lot of guts trying to attack me with my own father's metal. I'm taking this back!"

As he said that, the hand that was holding her sword started to glow. Once the light was gone, the sword had completely vanished.

"He absorbed it!!"

Marcus proceeded to strike Lilith's arms and legs and repeated the process with the rest of her armor.

"Lilith!!"

Daren tried to strike the boy down but it was too late, Lilith's entire armor was gone leaving her in her regular clothes and several bruises.

As Daren kept engaging in battle with Marcus Evlin released a telepathic message.

[Ria, he's going to try and steal all our metal!! Open a portal and send it away!! Hurry!]

[But... I already used my teleportation once today! I only have two more shots!! If I leave and return, we won't be able to escape!!]

[Ugh!! That's right!! Then go secure the metal and be on standby!! We will create an opening and try to rush to your side as soon as we get the chance! Be ready to bail us out!]

[Understood! Everyone!! Help me gather the metal!!]

Lilith stood up and left the battlefield with struggle. As the group kept trying to reunite the remaining metal Evlin and Daren were keeping Marcus distracted.

Daren would keep unleashing a barrage of attacks at the boy with blades coming out of his arms, but his metal was simply too durable.

"You will never get me with these weak attacks... Just give up."

"Shut up!! I can't believe you're making me fight the son of my best friend! How did that idiot raise you??"

"Raise me??"

Marcus swung his sword and opened a massive injury on Daren's chest.

"Guuuaahhh!!"

"My dad didn't raise me!! The only time we spent together was seconds before he died... I was left alone with only my mother to take care of me, and even she had nothing but her mission to talk about..."

Marcus jumped on top of Daren and started to stab him on several parts of his body.

"I didn't have friends! I didn't get to play! I was told that my purpose in life was to be a killing machine from day one!!"

"Guuaahh!! Ghhraaah!!"

"I dedicated everything just to take over after my father... And now you want me to just turn a blind eye because of some stupid grudge you have with my mother? You, who took away the time with my father that belonged to me?? You who had what I never had?? The chance to see him and speak with him every day?"

Marcus raised both of his arms and fused them together into a massive blade.

"My father doesn't need you anymore... I'm more than enough!!"

He started to bring down his sword and almost cut Daren in half but he was stopped at the last moment by a blast of raw energy from Evlin's crossbow.

"Buaghh!!"

Marcus was blown away giving Evlin time to rush to Daren's side and apply healing magic on his body.

"His blade... It hurts so much!!!"

"You don't need to talk Daren, just go back to your regular form and join the others..."

"Evlin you can't beat him on your own..."

"I know... But I can stall him on my own..."

She then sent a telepathic message to Gustav.

[Gustav, send Auren to help Daren... He can't fight anymore...]

[Understood! What's the plan Evlin?]

[Same as usual...]

Marcus stood up with eyes boiling with anger. He locked target on Evlin and started to walk towards her.

"Sphinx!!!"

Her golden griffin finally joined her side and using recreation magic, the two merged together into one being.

Marcus was now staring at a slightly taller Evlin covered in golden fur with two giant wings coming out of her back as well as a lion tail from her behind.

[I'm going to punch him in the face and take him down!]