Chapter 78 - The Demise Of An Earth Dragon 2/2

---------Sondar POV----------

Me and the others were still running when I felt Liosa and Howy pass me by. They slowed down just enough to tell me Vexsus gave them an order to find and entrap a large field up ahead. 

I was a bit worried about why he would need the help fighting to the point to set up traps, but hey if he needs the help than that's what we are here for. I slowed down the part just enough to talk to everyone while keeping a good pace.

"Vexsus has decided to fight. He sent Liosa and Howy up ahead to set some traps for our enemies. We will encircle the clearing and then once the traps are set off we will rush in and provide assistance where we can. It'll be hard since there is another dragon at play and the other 2 unknown humanoids, but we as Vexsus' friends and family will not shy away from the danger he is facing. WE WILL FIGHT WITH HIM. WE WILL SURVIVE WITH HIM. HE SACRIFICED ENOUGH FOR THIS GROUP AND HE DESERVES OUR HELP, NOW WHOSE WITH ME!"

I got a loud resounding cheer from everybody as one. It swelled my heart with pride and gave me the courage needed to face whatever was ahead of me. 

That was until I heard Vexsus roar.....

I heard him roar the word DIE asloud as he could than felt a pressure unlike any I've ever felt him unleash before. It made us all fall to our knees and even some passed out straight away. My mind blanked because of it.

'If he is fighting something so powerful that he has to unleash such power, then what could we possibly do to help.'

My mind was going down a spiral as first I was concerned about how dangerous it was but then I felt guilty for doubting my friend like that. It was about that time that Konna managed to grab my hand from beside me.

"We... Have to.. Help... Master. He needs.... Us." She said through gritted teeth. 

I stared at her and was instantly hit with awe. This woman who recently my heart has cracked and was slowly accepting, was now on the ground But still she strives and presses on even on her knees to help her master. My heart bumped faster as the anger swelled in me, Vexsus is fighting something that could very well be the end of us, and I'm over here throwing a pity party for myself. 

I nodded to myself and started to concentrate on standing up. It was extremely tough as the further I raised off the ground the more pressure I started to feel. It was almost like the pressure itself was testing my resolve to help my friend when he needed me.

"UUURRRRGGGGHHHHAAAAAAAAAA" I let out a yell that vibrated my eardrums as I used every ounce of energy to push myself up and stand tall.

Suddenly I felt the pressure almost seemed to snap and I could barely feel it any more. I was staring at the clear sky but saw that dark clouds were slowly forming overhead and were crackling with energy. That was when I looked down and saw that the rest of the group was still kneeling.

Konna and the others looked at me with smiles on their faces.

"Go.... Help him..... We will be fine." She said as I kneeled next to her and placed my hand on her cheek cupping it.

"I will, then when I get back you and me are going to sit down and talk through these feelings."

She smiled and nodded with her cheeks turning slightly red.

I gave a quick look to the others before running off towards where Vexsus was. On the way back I passed by a large hell hound zombie and a purple scaled snake. I knew who these belonged to and was looking around for Hannah but was unable to find her, Until I heard a faint pained moan coming from underneath the 2 summons.

"Hannah? Are you under there? Speak to me if you are." I asked with a bit of urgency in my voice. I wanted to go to Vexsus, but if he knew that I left his daughter here to go to his side he would lop my head off without even second guessing it.

I listened closely and in a few seconds I heard a pained breath and then a small voice.

"I'm here, The pressure..... knocked out my doggy and snekky. I fell off and they fell on me. Please help me."

"Shit, ok hold on." I said quickly as I went up and tried to move the two large summons. I was able to move the hell hound a bit but then the snake moved and took up what room was made.

'Shit... If I don't hurry who knows what will happen.'

"Hannah..... I'm going to unsummon them ok? It's the fastest way." 

"Ok..... I'm sorry.... I just wanted to help daddy."

"Honey it's ok. He understands and I'm sure is very happy that you are so grown up. Now hold on this might hurt a little but it'll be over soon."

I stepped back as I molded the Earthen magic to form 2 large spikes that pierced through their bodies and causing a puff of translucent death mana to evaporate in their place. I could have just used the earth magic to make hands to lift them off but they still would have been unconscious due to Vexsus' aura. They were no use and this was faster.

I rushed forwards after the fog completely evaporated and picked up Hannah.

"It'll be ok, I'm taking you to the others and they will take care of you, just hold on tightly."

She grabbed ahold of my armor and held tight enough that her fingers were turning white. Then I focused the magic towards my feet and felt a new connection with the earth. It wasn't just earth like rocks and stone, but the land around me aswell. The plants, the living vibrant life that prospered around me, I was connecting with it all. Then all at once it stopped as a large thundering roar and a giant tremor rocked the land. 

I looked back and saw blue and red flashes of light sparking off a pure red light. If I knew any better I would say Vexsus was using his speed buffs. But I didn't know what the red aura meant. But that wasn't important right now as I turned back around and focused on the life connection. The sounds of life resurged around me and this time I absorbed it almost like an energy and used it to fuel my body and then I burst forth into a full sprint.

The world around me blurred for a moment as my head felt light and dizzy. My eyes were watering from the air blowing directly into them. I slowed down after a minute and found myself standing just in front of the group.

"Sondar? How did you get back so fast and why do you have Hannah in your arms? Is Vexsus ok? We felt the tremor and suddenly the Pressure disappeared. What's going on?" Konna asked as she stepped forth to take Hannah out of my arms.

"I have no idea, the fight is still going but on my way I found Hannah underneath her summons. They fell unconscious and then fell on top of her. I had to kill them to get to her and then I discovered a new power and used it to rush back here. I don't know any specifics other than I now have a connection with life itself."

They all stared at me with awe but I had to cut short and leave again as I felt Vexsus starting to pull on our connection. Well I saw Vexsus, but it didn't feel exactly like him but either way I said a quick bye and turned a blasted off the ground again. I ran as fast as I could without burning through to much of the new mana that was flowing through me. I needed to check my system but right now I needed to get to Vexsus. I could feel a growing anxiety stemming from our connection and I can feel how he is starting to feel pressured.

I was still running but was stopped short by Liosa and Howy running after me and saying how they would join the fight. I could only nod but inside I was worried, I knew they could be strong enough to provide distractions but they were stealth based and more along being assassins instead of face to face fighters.

-----Vexsus POV--------

I was starting to get pressured by Stoney as his red aura was getting more intense as my body started faltering and my knees started to buckle every now and then. I needed to disrupt Desmaros and end his Demon contract magic. I needed my strength back but was fading fast, berserk  had already ended maybe a few minutes after I activated it because of that damn magic. I threw many bullets laced with explosive mana balls but each one was stopped either by Stoney's drastically increased defense or some kind of magical wall that Lizaria had put off with seconds to spare.

I infused a good portion of my power into my throat and spewed out spatial laced fog that distorted the surroundings and was able give me a few seconds of a break while those 3 dealt with my surprise attack.

I felt good now that I knew something worked to get through their defenses. I almost spammed the move to increase the thickness but I felt the distortion was causing some kind of chain effect in the fabric of space around me. It felt like a rubber band was almost pulled to tight and was about to snap. I didn't think it would be a good idea to go ahead and break the reality around me but I put a pin in that to experiment if I survived this.

"We should just leave Desmaros. Whatever he just did is massively effecting the world. I feel like something is about to happen if we keep going. If you look closely at his fog, it's actually drawing in the magic around us and growing stronger. We have to stop fighting and escape while we can." Lizaria spoke quickly while trying to get Desmaros and Stoney to leave. But Desmaros had almost a maniacal glean in his eye as he shook his head with a wide smile.

"This is just another trial from our lord. We cannot leave when we are on the cusp of winning, Look at how weak he is. We are almost there we just need to push a bit more and we can bring back his body for our master." He said with heavy cultist vibes.

I was starting to get creeped out but then the other Vexsus perked up and alerted me that Sondar was heading this way along with Liosa and Howy.

'Shit, they can't be here. These guys are on a whole nother level than us. If it was just Stoney I could win easily but with that Demon's magic, it's to much for me even with all my buffs and passives.'

'Then I suggest saying fuck it and overload the fog and get the fuck out. But I took a look at the fog and like Lizaria said it is actually absorbing the mana around us and growing stronger. It's not dissipating at all and instead is about to start leeching off us.'

"Fuck.... OK screw this.... listen here you 3 If you don't fuck off right now I will overload this fog with my magic and kill us all. YOU ALL NEED TO RUN AWAY RIGHT NOW BEFORE THIS HAPPENS OR ELSE I'LL KILL YOU I'M NOT JOKING." I yelled the last part hoping that the 3 incoming would hear me and stop and run away. I was at the end unless plot armor activates and I didn't want to drag them in with me."

"Ugh, Stoney just go kill those 3 nuisances he just warned thinking I couldn't sense them approaching. We need to come back with atleast something or else Lord Necro is going to punish us again."

I couldn't let them do that so before I saw Stoney bend down to sprint off I went ahead and shot out a overpowered mana bullet towards the fog, And like a vacuum it gets sucked in and the surrounding starts to swell like something was breathing in and out. Then small cracks started to form around us all while me and the 3 were stuck watching as the cracks started to lengthen and bet bigger. Behind the cracks were a landscape filled with reddish purple lightning and blackish sand as far as I could see. 

'VEXSUS GET OUT OF THERE NOW!' 

I heard Gluttony yelling into my head but as I tried to move the earth beneath me was opened up and trapped my feet. I looked up towards Stoney who was just frowning at me.

"If we are going to die, then you are dying with us. Don't think you're escaping."

'Nope'

'Vexsus go ahead and activate our Life burn skill.'

'Are you sure? This will take a good portion of our life away.'

'yea, plus aren't we psuedo immortal? it wont be long before we get the real thing so I ain't worried.'

'OKkkk If you say so activating it now.'

I felt a huge burst of energy as my body swelled up to 3 times my size, easily breaking out of Stoney's earthen grasp.

"HOLY FUCK WHAT THE HELL. LIZARIA, DESMAROS, THIS GUY IS HUGE. WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED!" Said Stoney as he couldn't do anything but stand there and watch as he craned his neck to look up at my face. 

"This is goodbye." I said with a voice that vibrated the very earth with how much power was infused into my body. I shot forth and with a quick tail swipe I sent all 3 tumbling into the crack before I focused and started to draw in the fog into my very soul. It burned like I was trying to absorb the sun itself. Everything was getting blurry and my body was actually melting from the energy that was raging against the very cells in my blood.

'You moron, you just drew in pure spatial energy from the void itself. It's untempered space, that's not magic at all, it's primordial energy that was created from the beginning of everything! I'll try and help you survive but this is going to have long lasting effects. I can assure you that you won't be the same after this. I don't know if you'll benefit from this but something will change.'

Gluttony's voice was now sounding like it was a whisper in my ear as I felt a sudden surge of life being pushed directly into me from some unknown source. I tried to open my eyes but all I could see was a swirling purple vortex even when my eyes were closed. It was causing my mind to space and blank, I was having trouble remembering myself as Images of my life's flashed before me. One moment I was a human named Michael then the next moment I was the dragon I am now, except I was flying through the skies with the same vortex spinning in my eyes as I opened my mouth and unleashed purple lighting infused breath attacks over villages and towns to completely decimate them. 

The me that was flying and destroying everything suddenly stopped and flapped it's wings to keep itself in place as it looked directly at me and spoke in a gravelly broken voice.

"This is all your doing...... You killed your family........ Be better than you are.......... The war is coming and you will be given a choice.." I spoke these words as the world around me started to fade to black.