Chapter Twelve - How to Kill A Demon

Chapter Twelve

The horrifying sounds of my screaming friends echoed in my ears. Unfortunately, my brain was completely unable to register what was before me. The Howler Monkey King looked like something out of a horror movie. Imagine a Giant Ape crossed with a demonic entity, it had eyes all over its body and a huge mouth at the center of its chest.

The eyes pierced into mine, I was frozen. I was numb with fear, the amount of aura I felt was so crippling I had no idea how I survived its gaze. My frozen thought was interrupted by me being knocked to the ground. Alexander laid on top of me as the whip of a vine sailed over the top of us.

Drew was able to snap out of his fear earlier than I had. He was already rolling around like an armadillo dodging vines left and right.

"Get up kid, don't stand in a particular spot for too long," Alexander said with a scoff. Showoff, but I had to say he looked cool. Especially now that he was holding his glowing two-handed silver blade. I wiped off the ash from the burning tree on my skin.

Grace fired rapid bursts of fire, panting between shots. Apparently, Monkey Kong over there wasn't impressed. He swung from branch to branch, avoiding the flaming ones with perfect precision. Drew followed Grace as he tried to catch the howler off guard, but his flames were weak and caused no harm to it. Its skin was too tough.

Luckily the makeshift earplugs we had made were holding up enough to make the howls bearable.

I jumped over a vine that was directed at my legs. Slowly Alexander and I made our way to the group. Drew had already made it to them and was firing fireballs alongside Grace in an attempt to hit the beast. I kept my eye on the king, watching his every swing and attack. With the continual burning of the tree, the branches he could use would grow more and more thin. After dodging another vine attack, I rejoined the group.

"What do we do!?" Drew yelled beside me. It was obvious from the look on his face that his Aether

souls were almost used up. I had seen that face too many times during training. Mostly when he was launching fireballs at my face.

"Claire, Sarah. Move with me," Alexander's face was stern. If it weren't for the monstrosity in front of us, I would have been terrified of the look on his face. A battle-hardened killer who was completely calm in the face of terror.

Claire and the girl beside her gave no objection and followed him around the outside of the oval platform circling around the tree.

They moved swiftly as a group, not hesitating while following Alexander's lead. Claire would shoot a wave of water at the beast whenever she saw an opening. With the tree burning swiftly, the monkey had a more difficult time finding branches to hop onto. Thus slowing its attacks, a considerable amount.

"Do you think we can win this?" Drew asked me, as we avoided the howler's attacks while protecting Grace who was drinking an Aether potion.

"If we get out of here alive, I will give you my answer then," I replied with a smile.

"Come on," Drew yelled and ran forward once Grace was back on her feet, we just needed to distract it for a while.

I ran behind Drew and thought, If you weren't such a dummy most of the time; I would have praised him for being so brave. After I made a resolve to stay alive, Drew and I launched into battle.

We dodged in opposite directions as a vine smacked in between us, the Monkey King had sensed our attack and focused everything it had towards us. This helped the group inadvertently, because

Alexander was sneaking up from behind.

The more we dodged the vine, the closer it got to hitting one of us. Together, Drew and I forged our way closer and closer to the beast, dodging vines left and right. I looked over to my friend and felt a small chill, he wasn't focused like I was. He was smiling, a smile that left me with an uneasy feeling in my heart.

Is he enjoying this that much?

The Monkey King beat his chest furiously looking down on us, Drew and I responded with spells of our own. Drew sent a fireball flying towards his chest, and I saw what was about to happen. He

would jump to the branch directly to the left. I slightly changed the direction of my spell before

releasing my wind arrow. The sound of whirling air whizzed as it launched itself towards the area just above the branch. Just like I predicted, the Monkey King leaped towards the branch. Just as he landed, he promptly received my arrow to his left shoulder.

"Nice shot! At least we hit him," Drew started, " And successfully pissed him off," He rolled under another vine attack, this time the vine was larger and imbued with more Aether. The beast jumped to the ground twenty paces ahead of us and bellowed angrily.

"Drew, his attacks are getting stronger we need to find a way to finish this, and soon!" I screamed.

"Can you cover me? For just a minute?" Drew asked as he jumped away from an attack.

"I can barely stay alive, but why not?" I screamed as I picked up Drew's sword and charged forward, I saw an incoming attack.

"Don't take it head on, use its sides," Alexander yelled in my direction.

As the attack got close, I used the side of the blade to deflect the vine to the floor. The blow was so heavy I almost dropped the sword, but I didn't stop. Two more vines were coming towards me with so much force, that I dodged one and deflected the other. I felt pain in my palms, I wasn't sure I could deflect one more attack.

Before I could touch the floor, another vine came for me. I held the sword close to my chest to shield myself from the impact, it was so strong it tossed me all the way to the back. I couldn't move, but I struggled to stand up; my feet gave way. I lay on the cold floor as I watched the next attack coming for me, I closed my eyes and waited... But I felt nothing, when I opened my eyes Drew stood above me, grabbing the vine with both hands as purple lightning crackled around him. For a split second, I forgot to breathe. Since when could he do that? Just like when we were fighting the Orcs, purple lightning branched out from his body, creating an aura of Aether. It was like it was protecting him. The vine obviously still hurt him, because I could see blood trail down his arm from where he grabbed it.

"Don't die," He picked up his sword and began running towards the monkey king. He gave me a thumbs up and signed for me to watch him. Drew stepped forward, smiled, and breathed in deeply—because apparently, if you're about to fight a giant demon monkey, smiling like an idiot was step one. Purple aura exploded from his body, leaking out of his skin.

Dark Aether surged around Drew, solidifying into obsidian shoulder guards etched with crackling purple runes. Well, someone's been holding out during training. Grace and I stood bewildered; he had never done this before. Drew gave me a smirk and charged. Show off… again. He rolled at incredible speeds as he dodged attack after attack, it wasn't just his reaction time that had increased, his natural speed had as well. It was incredible.

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After dodging the vines that attacked him, Drew came up directly in front of the beast. As he rolled away from danger and fought under the monster he formed a fist and sent an uppercut into its jaw. I stood in awe as I watched my friend literally break the jaw of a giant ape with his bare hands. Even Alexander and Claire froze mid-combat, watching Drew rain blows down on King Kong’s evil twin. Apparently, none of us had expected the skinny guy to punch like a heavyweight champion. The Howler Monkey King sent out a distorted howl and violently whipped vines in every direction.

"Ahhh!" A guttural scream sounded from the other side of the platform. A vine had wrapped itself around Alexander's right arm, it tightened like a snake. The rattling of Alexander's bone echoed through the chamber. He dropped to his knee staring at his now mangled and broken arm. Alexander fumbled awkwardly, using his left arm to drive the sword into the vine, clearly struggling with his mangled right limb.

"You owe me an arm, Leo!" he shouted, half joking, half genuinely pissed off.

"Watch out!" Claire called, leaping and barely pushing Alexander under the sweeping vine. What she had not seen was that the vine sailed directly to the other member of her group. She stood frozen, and closed her eyes, accepting whatever fate had in store.

A crackle of Aether echoed, and suddenly in front of her stood my friend Drew. He pushed her away but was too slow. He was thrown to the side and hit his head hard on the stone floor. The mud earplugs even popped out of his head from the pressure. (Which I thought was kind of funny) I could faintly sense his Aether, so I knew he was okay, but his protective purple Aether dissipated and the amount of concussions he has received over the past couple of months can't be good. Claire's friend, Sarah hobbled over and began performing some kind of magic that I had never seen.

The Monkey King slowly stomped toward his fallen prey. I had no time and needed to save my friends, so I sprinted to Alexander's dropped sword and grabbed it without stopping.

"Hey! That's mine," He yelled, it was insane that he was worried about his sword when I could literally see his forearm bone sticking through his skin.

"I will get it back to you," I yelled as I ran forward.

I grasped the silver gleaming sword with my shaking, sweaty hands.

Please let this work.

Channeling all my Aether into my hands, I felt searing heat travel up my arms and explode into the sword. Brilliant green veins etched into the blade, turning the sword into a blazing beacon—but my vision swam, knees buckling slightly under the sudden drain.

Until now I had only ever tried this in secret before bed at the tavern. I had only come close to successfully using it one time. Every other time, the weapon I use just crumbles to dust from my Aether. I could feel my Aether Soul draining at a rapid rate, which made me feel a little queasy. The Howler Monkey stomped furiously in the direction of Drew's unconscious body.

The girl from Claire's group desperately clung to his arm in an attempt to drag him further from the monster. With no time to think, I let my body take over. And of course, it thought the best course of action was to widely run at the beast. I activated wind slice so the force would propel me forward, it was a great idea, until...

The Howler Monkey turned as if sensing my Aether, released a small croak in contempt, accepted my challenge, and ran toward me. Its green vine extended directly towards my left eye, I couldn't dodge from my position up in the air. I went head-on with the sword.

I sliced through it with ease, but this made the monster even more furious. He wouldn't let another person get close enough to hit him again, so he kept his guard up and continued to attack from a distance. I cut through vine after vine, my Aether reacting with the sword and destroying any oncoming magic it faced. Roll, jump, slash. My senses were in overdrive. The Monkey King desperately sent attack after attack, but it was no use. Even though I had no idea how long it would last, but I was in the zone.

I felt the blade strike something so hard and passed through it with ease. Then a massive surge of Aether erupted from the beast. I spun to a stop, watching in awe at an amount of power that my senses couldn't even comprehend. Brown Aether enveloped it, almost like a deep fog.

Then silence.

I couldn't hear a thing, I stood watching the ball of Aether concentrate further around the monster I was just fighting.

"Hey! Good job kid! I think you killed it!" Alexander yelled, pumping his fists.

A loud roar erupted a few steps away from me.

"Never mind! Do better!" he screamed back.

Thanks for the help, tough guy.

The ground shook as the monkey king stepped out of his Aether ball. Green vines writhed up and down his limbs, forming some sort of living armor. The once broken jaw was completely healed, with no sign of it ever being injured.

Claire sent wave after wave of water magic, but the Monkey King simply absorbed it into his armor, and I swear I even saw it grow. Like the plants were eating her magic.

"Claire! Stop!" I yelled.

"Why? You idiot, this thing keeps getting stronger! We need to kill it," She yelled back.

"I don't know how but it's absorbing your magic and converting it into its only magical power." She eyed the vines steadily but seemed to understand. She stepped back towards Alexander and took a defensive stance.

"Hey, big guy. My turn" I smiled and charged.

He sent two vines at the same time, one high, one low, blocking my roll and jump. My only option was to jump and slash at the same time. Which felt incredibly awkward. Volley after volley I slashed through his vines, slowly moving closer until I was staring into the eyes of the horrid beast. I was more adept at closer quarters so I could easily dodge his punches and launch attacks of my own.

I made a clean slice through the vine armor he wore, followed by a kick to the open spot. Then rolled away just in time to avoid the vine. The monster's anger rose as I continually saw through every one of its moves. I couldn’t believe how much Souls like video games helped me in this situation.

The moment I saw an opening, I ran as fast as I could and drove the sword deep into the ribcage of the monster.

In reflex, the monster swung its arm in full force. I was unable to pull the sword out and dodge fast enough, so I received a blindly strong fist to the chest and was thrown back towards Grace at the edge of the platform. Purple blood stained my shirt and arms. If I wasn't in the middle of a crazy battle I would've thrown up for sure.

I rolled over beside Grace and looked up at her.

"Has your Aether returned yet? Because I could use some help," I wheezed, staring up at my teacher. She gave me a faint smile.

"Remember that magic book I got you?" I rose to my feet.

"Of course. That thing hasn't left my side. Why?"

"Combination magic," Grace called out with a smile on her face. I turned to see Alexander running towards the monster with Drews’ sword in his left arm, I saw his reflex and strength as he swung against the vines.

"The ability to create a powerful magic spell when you fuse two different elemental magic, with the help of two mages," Her eyes glowed a faint red as if she relished the idea of stronger firepower.

I was hoping to get a chance to try this.

"On my mark," I smiled. We took our stances at the edge of the platform, I had just enough Aether for a single spell. Grace grabbed my hand, which made my heart jump a little.

"Wait, not yet," Grace said.

We stood holding hands, our Aether mixing and colliding. The ground where we stood trembled as we channeled our many between us, I felt hot and cold at the same time.

Not yet Leo.

I watched as Claire and Sarah switched between taking shots at the now-grounded beast alongside Alexander. Even though it no longer had a tree to jump around on, and had its ribcage punctured, it still moved with incredible speed.

"Now," I sent all my Aether to my right hand, visualizing the mixing and conjoining of our Aether. Grace and I muttered our chants at the same time while aiming our hands together.

"Spirits of the Wind, grant me your bow. Wind Arrow," I called out with every strength in me.

"Daughters of Chaos, show me your strength, Fire Orb." I watched how the magic arrow enveloped itself with the orb of flames, I could feel the heat emitting from the spell.

"Did I screw up?" I started to say but was instantly interrupted by a swirling arrow conjoining to the fireball. The arrow stuck out of both sides of the orb and grew into something more like a spear. I used all my Aether to propel her orb with my spell.

Luckily, I had read Nym's combination magic so understood the next part of the chant, "Magic combination, Flaming Spear!" We yelled in unison.

As we let go of the spell, it flew faster than I could follow it. I watched as our masterpiece raced towards the Monkey King, moving at an incredible speed. It collided with the beast penetrating deep into its chest. The Howler Monkey King locked eyes with me for a second before giving a soft growl.

All that was left was a leg and an arm from the king as his body was engulfed in a massive explosion of wind and fire. I could see something drop from its body. The entire group turned towards Grace and me with looks of astonishment and confusion. Claire hobbled forward, eyeing me intently.

"What the hell was that, Leo?" her eyes scanned to where Grace and my hands were still conjoined. It took me exactly three seconds longer than socially acceptable to realize I was holding hands with an actual girl—one who wasn't obligated by family ties or pity. Immediate panic ensued.

Keep it together Leo! Code red! Code red!

"It was just a small combination attack I had been studying." I shrugged my shoulders and let go of Grace's hand. I promised myself that I would never wash that hand again.

"Small!?" Alexander coughed, "You have to teach me that! That spell was badass for a kid," Once he regained his composure, Alexander stretched his hand toward me," Hand me my sword!"

I couldn't help but smile as he fumbled around and began telling his group how brave he was during that fight. Showing off his broken arm like it was nothing. His other group member went to work on healing his arm. I dropped his sword by his feet, gave him a wink, and scanned the platform for Drew.

Drew let out a small grumble, he was still unconscious at the edge of the oval platform, mumbling about saving someone and how cool he looked. I picked up my feet and headed towards him, rubbing my hand softly. They burned, the Aether I had been channeling into the sword was steady, but I had obviously overexerted my Aether. Just as I was feeling proud of myself, my legs promptly reminded me who was boss. They turned to jelly, causing me to trip spectacularly over a smoking tree branch, landing face-first into the dirt.

Way to look cool in front of everyone Leo.