—The Tower of Disappearance—
At the tenth floor of a dimensional shattered tower. After cutting and blasting through waves upon waves of demons and their Generals. Floors with raining blood, shattering realities and gravity distortions.
Finally... the end comes.
*Crash!
A demon falls, the fabled Beast of the Apocalypse. Its own mouth the size of a manor's doors spilled with green poisonous liquid, the head easily as big as Serdin's throne room is burnt and cracked in various places, with smoke of pure darkness wafting off of it. Its mandibles twice the size of spears looked like it had been rammed by a cavalry, with four shattered and broken thorns connected to the demon through tentacles hang from above, each as tall and thick as the castle pillars.
The end of all things that I had spent my whole life chasing away is finally in front of me.
"Impressive." her sultry voice echoed in the silence of the floating circular platform. And while I loathed her, I still feel the sting of pride at her astonishment. "I admit... this is not what I expected. To think you would be able to withstand this much... let alone prevail. Truly impressive."
Exhaustion suddenly reached out to me. My eyes darted towards my companions and found most of them at the edge of their limits aswell. For all the strength, power, and wisdom the Wizard's Labyrinth have granted us, could it be possible that its not enough?
"However–" my heart froze at her words. "–this is now the end."
.
—.—.—.—.—3rd person POV—.—.—.—.—
.
*Shhslick-!
"...what-"
Elesis Sieghart froze as blood splashed against her cheeks. The taste of iron dipping into her lips.
"The journey to find your father will lead to nothing but failure and despair. Your friends will be in danger, and you won't be able to protect anyone." her own voice whispers.
"No..."
""""Ronan!"""" the shouts of her companions snapped her out of her stupor.
Elesis hastily wrapped her arms around him. Feeling the blood spill through his clothes onto her hands as she steadied him from falling with an obsidian blade impaled through his stomach.
"No more–" Ronan rasped out. "I will not let you do as you please anymore..."
"Oh my dear... you couldn't stop me if you tried." she mocks, but the glint in her eyes showed... anger? "–but in the end, my curiosity is satisfied and the blood spilled is... filling." she then turns her red eyes, shining through her black sclera like a blood moon amidst a starless night. "Be thankful you get to live another day."
In a fit of rage and desperation, the members of Grand Chase attacked with all they have left.
The Demon Kaze'Aze simply laughed and giggled it all away as spells of ice, fire, arrows, kunais, energy beams and even demonic energy splashed against her dress. Crumpling them, and nothing else. Even the bullets unleashed by Rufus bounced off of her skin and the demonic armaments and summons of both Dio and Ley found themselves halted by a translucent purple barrier.
With but a wave of her hand *FWOOOOMMM!!! the wind itself explodes and surges in relentless waves. Kaze'Aze snaps her fingers and then
Then Elesis' heart stilled–
"Look Out!" shouted Arme.
*BANG! –like a crack of thunder, a massive fissure appears behind the Demon. A swirling vortex of darkness and from it, a familiar wave of skeletons surged forth.
"She's trying to escape!" Elesis shouts.
Yet for all her warning, no one could act against her as she sauntered into the fissure and vanished.
Just as the Grand Chase was fending off another wave, a quake erupted and the tower began to shake. *Crack! The loud noise of the walls breaking took their attention.
"The magic holding this place together is.... leaving." the Asmodian, Dio remarks.
"...it can't be... is she truly that powerful?" whispers the mage, Arme. The defeat in her voice gripped everyone's heart at the possibility of Kaze'Aze being powerful enough to truly control such an ancient relic like the tower itself.
"It doesn't matter!" Elesis screams, still hugging Ronan's injured form. "She will get what's coming for her. That much is certain. But–" Elesis stopped with but a whisper from Ronan,
"...comrades over enemies..."
So with gritted teeth, Elesis amended her command. "–for now, we need to move! Let's go!"
Elesis rallied her comrades and hefted Ronan at her back and quickly runs for the exit.
Three floors down was quick and easy. Dodging nothing but falling debris from the walls and the ceiling.
*Fwish! *Fwooom! Two streaks of bluish light erupted from Ronan's hand. They turned to see his magic orb and beam clash against two purple balls, and then *boom! erupted in demonic energy.
"Enemies!" the teams prepared to engage but–
"No!" Elesis shouts, "We have to keep going!"
But her next step was halted as another arrow missed her ankle by mere inches, instead bouncing off the stone stairs. Sensing a certain amount of panic build up at his chosen leader, Ronan reiterates. "...us first, damn them after..."
"Lass! Ryan! Zero! Cut down those in our path." Elesis commands.
The orange haired druid with his axe and the white haired shinobi with kunais hanging off his waist and a katana in his hand nodded. While the green haired cyborg simply drew his sword, Grandark, from his back.
"Rufus! Lire! Provide cover." Rufus twirled his pistol as the Elf, Lire, noct another arrow and let it lose.
"Dio, Ley, Mari. Take care of the more powerful attacks coming our way. Make sure nothing touches the group." Dio nodded, the horns on his head glowing at the demonic power cursing through him while his demonic arm sparked with purple lightning summoning his scythe at hand. Ley huffed and floated inches from the ground as her power surges in contrast to Mari who simply felt the pulse of the geas within her as if providing assurance.
"Jin, Asin, Lime! Breakthrough!"
"Hell Yeah!" Jin shouts, he then charges his Chi and in a burst of speed and strength, leaped towards a large falling debris as he shouts.
"[Dragon Uppercut!]"
His fist tore through the debris and shattering into chunks that Asin decided to further mitigate.
"[Bamboo Swallow!]" Asin turns into a blur of absolute speed, bouncing off from one debris to another, striking at all that remains and shattering them into dust.
"Everyone! Support each other!" Elesis' command brought assurance to the group and together, they practically bouldered their way down the spiraling stairs, floating platform and trap littered hallways.
Reaching the battered door to the bottom floors, Lime swung her Divine Mallet. The giant hammer crashed with a loud *bang! as the unhinged doors were blown off of their rims.
And as Lime steps forward, she slides to a stop. "..oh no..." she whispers.
They peered and saw that the last floor has now turned into a floorless section with a floating platforms serving as the only way out. Made worst by the swirling dimensional rift right at the bottom.
"We can get across." Jin boast with confidence but Elesis grimaced. Her eyes slowly trailed every member. All of them are too exhausted and far too injured made worst by the level of risk their about to undertake.
"...leave me behind." Ronan rasped out.
Elesis' snarled as her face turned to Ronan who's head is draped above her shoulder. "Say something as stupid like that again–" she gritted out. "–and I swear I will punch you in the face!"
Ronan smiled at her and closed his eyes as he leaned himself closer while taking one more deep breath, "...As you command...Miss Elesis..." mumbling as he lost consciousness. Leaving a blushing Elesis who glared at the unconscious boy who unknowingly took a sniff of her neck.
The sound of gears turning suddenly caught their attention. All turned to see Mari, using her technopath skills and with slam of her palm right beside her, a circular platform of interlocking circles of blue and white steel appeared.
The bottom of her boots glowed white and a second later, the jets beneath her soles had activated and with an unfurl of her lone white feathery wing, she rockets forward.
She avoided the first floating debris but a hidden one behind it caught her by surprise. She swirled to dodge, but ended up hitting a floating rock instead.
"""""Mari!!!""""" the group collectively shouts.
Only for her to be saved by a pair of white and black wings. Rin caught the girl in her arms, and with a flap of her wings she rose to one of the platforms landing them both to safety.
*Ting! "Ahk!" Rin yelped in pain as an arrow bounces off of her head, leaving a thin trail of blood.
From the cracked and broken walls appeared various skeletons wielding bows and arrows.
"Taurus!" Ley shouts with a swish of her wrist where a purple portal apeares, a gargantuan black dragon leg slams against the wall. Crushing some of the monsters but also unveiling a large section of it showing more undead, now with purple horns joining in the fray.
Dio flew towards the enemies and started decimating them using his Death Star Scythe. He cut and cleaved his enemies and even throwing his weapon to take them down only for said Scythe to return to his hand.
The others who could attack from a range also helped providing covers and killing as many monsters as they can while Rin and Mari traversed the vast floor moving from one platform to the next, careful to avoid the rain of arrows.
The battle was draining. The Grand Chase expelled more energy and power only for another monsters to take the place of those they take down.
*Click! *Click! "Tsk!" Rufus felt his heart clenched as his pistol ran out of bullets. He then checked his inventory and grimaced at the transparent blue screen with near empty slots.
He had known that the tower was sucking them dry. Rendering them weaker and ill-equipped as they climbed higher by sending waves upon waves of enemies. Not even including the fact that they had to fight these demons in a location so close to the Demon Realm that beings like Gardozen –someone he had successfully defeated several times with ease– had actually posed as a real threat not just to him but the whole of the Grand Chase. Now he is forced to face to full weight of the tower's danger and realized how bad things truly were.
His eyes turned to the others and he could see it. The shake in the arms, the fatigued breath that escape their lips, their collective hunched backs. They were relying on their impressive weapons and skills and what little remains of their own physical strength than their innate powers that had always carried them through thick and thin.
The only ones not fully affected are those of demonic descent. Watching Ley send balls of destruction and Dio unleashed his [Black Space] –a skill that absorbed everything and everyone too close even closer and effectively rendered them to dust at the explosion of dark and demonic energy– surged like purple lightning trapped in a black orb with him as the center sent a wave of relief through him.
The clanking of steel reached his ears and he turned to spiral staircase they had come from. Only to see glowing red eyes in the darkness marching in their direction.
From his inventory, he manifests a red and black gatling-gun in his hands. His Soul Arbiter. Taking aim at the mobs with practiced ease.
"Ravage them Arbiter." his weapon then immediately unleashed a continuous barrage of bullets. The spiral staircase proved insufficient as it crumbled against his Soul Charged weapon. The very stones itself turned into swiss cheese as bullet holes riddled the entire place let alone those unfortunate enough to be within his sights.
Seconds passed before his weapon found itself overheating.
Seeing several more demons emerge from the top floor made him smirk as the idiots rushed down the stairs. He then slings his weapon across his shoulder and walks back to the team. Listening in as the sounds of gultural panic rang through the passage followed by the crack of stone and immediately followed by the thunderous crash of the badly damaged stairs.
"Demons..." 'They can be real stupid sometimes.' he thought.
Returning back to the team, he nodded in approval as the situation seemed to have found rythm in their favor. He could see Rin with her wings unfurled guiding and aiding Mari as the 'Amnesiac Princess' –as Sieghart liked to call her– tried her best to fly over the casm with a gargantuan dimensional swirl just beneath them. His eyes found focus on the two demons that has proven most helpful as they flew around keeping the enemies a bay.
He heard cheers from those around him and noticed that Mari had successfully crossed now using her Technopath powers to create another teleportation platform.
"Finally."
His heart stilled, the hair on his skin spiked and his eyes widened and in a fraction of a second. He hefted his Soul Arbiter and unloaded just as a shadow manifest itself floating at he center of the tower.
His weapon spun with great noise, unloading bullets at unimaginable speed and as the last round left the chamber of Arbiter he fought the urge to gulp down whatever it was that was lodge in his throat.
Floating in the center is a familiar purple dress that hugged her womanly curves, slightly crumpled but undamaged. Purple hair that curved into two horns and red eyes within black sclera that reflected her red lips. She held her serene expression till her eyes landed upon them and from a sweet smile, her lips widened to a predatory one.
"You..!" Elesis gritted out. Glaring at the woman who looked down at them with such pride and confidence.
"Yes~~ Me!"
Kaze'Aze returns and she seemed far too excited for their liking.