Chapter 583: Attendants' Armageddon
It wasn't long after the disappearance of the four powerful auras around the castle disappeared when Malice felt that all of her attendants were gone. There weren't any one left among the four.
"Your friends killed my attendants," Malice muttered. "All of you killed us. My attendants, my knights, my people. That doesn't seem fair to me."
"There weren't even anyone inside the castle when we arrived," Elliot reasoned. "Now, tell me. Where is my mother— your daughter?"
Malice was unresponsive. She just stared into the oblivion like she was lost in her mind, not even responding to the shaking of the castle as an aura among the four returned.
"They're back?" Elliot asked. "What happened, Malice? Your attendants are back, why?"
"Armageddon." Malice grinned. "When all four attendants are killed, their bodies will merge and form a powerful force, similar to the Behemoths uses. They sacrifice their souls and grant great powers to one of them to get revenge."
Elliot wanted to warn his friends about the Armageddon, but he still has to find his mother. He was lost, but then he trusted his friends. They could handle such enemy as long as they group together and fight.
"You should have at least left one of them alive," Malice chuckled. "I can't even stop Armageddon. The last one a couple of years back were won by my Vassals who lost half of their number. How can you win this one?"
"We're strong enough to handle ourselves, Malice," Elliot said with full confidence as he brandished his sword and raised it at Malice. "We're not just some nobody."
Using an instant cast of his Hasty Aspire, Elliot launched himself from ground and spun as he reached Malice. The gained momentum and force of his spin allowed him to strike a powerful blow, leaving the woman no other choice but to cast her best defensive skill.
"So you're a close combat fighter," Malice grinned. "Such a bad match for me."
She conjured a short sword and rushed towards Elliot. The boy reacted on time, blocking the multiple slashes the woman struck in mere seconds. Her movements were powerful and each strike was polishee, making Elliot raise his guard even more around her.
She's not the Queen of Hell and a candidate to become an Absolute for no reason.
Malice stepped back and held out her free hand. A black ball of energy appeared in front of her palm before it launched beams that were all approaching Elliot.
"Enhanced Lotus Blast!" Elliot cast, firing the eight initial petals to block the beams while he saved the final strike. He sneaked out behind Malice and wrapped his sword with the bright pink energy before launching the final lotus.
"Predictable."
Malice wrapped herself with a black shadow, blocking the explosion from the attack completely. She was perceptive and can handle both short and long ranged combats, which was disadvantage for Elliot who mostly battles in short-range.
"This is bad," Elliot grit his teeth as he watched the black energy that Malice wrapped around herself slowly dissipate. "She's strong."
"Of course, I am!" Malice yelled. "And that lowly Sariel reall thought that he had me in the palm of his hands. He was an idiot. A giant, stupid, blind idiot who only thinks through is chest and not his mind. He even pretended to be my daughter's daughter, not knowing of the curse I put on myself."
"You're a woman who I cannot stand with," Elliot said. "Your principles, how your mind words, and most especially your actions are wicked. And not in a good way. You use the people around you without any remorse. You let them die, you let them bleed, and you let them lose their souls just so you could gain your own wants."
"Why, of course!" Malice laughed. "That id why I reigned over Hell for centuries. Because I know that I am capable and I am the pinnacle of power. If I was too weak, I would have perished hundreds of years ago. But no. I remain still, I remain in my position because of my so-called principles and wickedness."
"Your reign ends here, Malice." Elliot wrapped is sword with his energy. "Just like the prophecy. I will end you."
Malice laughed. She clutched her stomach as she continued to loudly laugh at what Elliot said. She shook her head in amusement, sighing right after.
"Why would you think that the prophecy is true?" Malice asked. "Do you think I believed it? That hoax was nothing more than the thousands of prophecies before it. There had been tens of people who tried, thinking that their prophecy was true and that they would finally end me, but no. All of them perished. And not in a good way, I might add."
Before Elliot could respond, Malice fired another round of her beams at him. She wasn't giving him a chance to respond as she kept on attacking with her fierce strength.
"She's fast." Elliot said as he dodged every attack. He couldn't cast any skill because of the intensity and the number of attacks. If he even lost one second of focus, it could cost him his limbs or even his life. "What do I do?"
Elliot could only defend and dodge the attacks. It was bad enough that he didn't have a defensive skill that could block a large area like Hope or skills that create large areas of attacks like Connor or Lance.
He was really the least likely to have any of those from among his peers. All he had were skills that enhances his physical attributes and his skills that could fire certain attacks, but not wide enough to cover him from the severity of the number of attacks that Malice was using against him.
"What are you doing now?" Malice chuckled as she continued his rain of powerful beams at Elliot. Her beams seemingly follow the boy as he moved and they were targeting him non-stop. Elliot didn't even have the time to rest for even a second.
"I have been watching you, you know," Malice said. "From the moment you gained power, to all of your journeys. I have my eyes laid on you. I watched you like a hawk, wondering what's so special about the so-called prophecized boy this time? What is he like and what could he do?"
She shook her head and smiled. "Then I realized you're just like the rest of them. You think you're so special because you won a few battles, but have you ever won a war? Have you tilted the tides of the war by your skills and not just your luck or the help of your allies?
"Have you even fought in a large war? A war for extinction and massive destruction? Have you, boy?" Malice asked, growling. "Answer me, Elliot Max. Have you fought wars?!"
Elliot grit his teeth and took a chance. As a second of pause from Malice's seemingly endless attacks came open, he launched himself from where he stood. In under a second, he cast several layers of Hasty Aspire, increasing his speed tenfold.
He gripped the handle of his sword as he prepared to swing. He was halfway there and he continued to stack his Hasty Aspire to increase his speed and power even further. He wanted to end the battle. He wanted to see his mother.
Malice and his followers have done a lot of evil. She has been destroying lives for centuries and killing people, even her daughters, for her own gain. She was a bigger evil than anything Elliot has ever seen before.
And he wanted to end the evil.
—
"What in the hell is that?!" Connor yelled as he ran for his life along with his other friends.
After Ed decapitated Corazon, her body suddenly twitched along with the bodies of the other attendants. Their bodies glowed before being sucked into Corazon's body and combined to form a single body.
The four met up at the first floor where Ed was. After Connor and Hopes battle, which left the floors of the castle to be destroyed, moving to the first floor was easy.
They watched as the light from the four bodies mix and spin around to form a sphere that has a pitch black color. The sphere had a slightly sharp edge at the top, making it oddly shaped like an egg.
"That's an egg," Lance whispered. "Why would an egg be formed from their bodies?"
Before anyone could respond, a humanoid hand cracked the egg and pierced through it. The hand was black in color and it had stitches all over it. The nails were red, long, and sharp that it looked more like claws than nails.
Another hand popped up, and another. Until eight hands pierced the egg. It let out a screech before the egg fully shatters, exploding and leaving only a tall humanoid silhouette behind. It hovered in the air for a few seconds as the smoke around it covered its entire figure.
When the smoke cleared, the creature showed its face. Red blood eyes, pitch black skin and a grin that sent shivers to everyone's spine.
"Hello," it spoke.