Chapter 11: Turning the Tides
In the ruins of Gatharham's Town Square, Samora stood before Dred with Tiafell, Nadia, Cirris, and Mirya watching from behind cover. As the sun set further, it was growing increasingly dark. The Witch held her broom above her head, the cleaning tool shun brightly and transformed into a white staff. It was lined with many gemstones along its length, truly a beautiful weapon. With a shout, she jammed one end into the ground, which caused several fireballs to scatter from the top. The flaming spheres flew into lamp posts, igniting them and illuminating the area.
"Afraid of the dark?" Dred was amused. He clenched the red blades in his four hands. They had black vein-like patterns that moved throughout the weapons as though they were alive.
"I only want to see if you look as disgusting as Father claims, you're even more sickening!" Samora answered with a venomous contempt in her voice. "Tell me Dred, what is it that this Trista wants with my children?" she asked, unaware of his true intentions.
The demon let out a low growl. "Fine, I will share this much with you. We needed the twins because of their latent magical potential. We were going to syphon it and then use that power to shatter the barrier that surrounds the Endless Forest."
"Why? What is in that forest that any of you could possibly want? Wait, no..." her mouth hung open.
"Tiafell. We needed your spawn so we could destroy that damned barrier and get him. But here he is, he may as well have gift wrapped himself for us! He has saved us years of work by leaving the forest on his own!" he laughed.
"What does she want with Tiafell?"
"You would have to ask Trista, but I have my own use for him as well. Only he will get the chance to ask her what she wants with him. The rest of you are going to meet your end right here. You will burn with what's left of this deserted town, and then I will take the halfling with me!!!"
"He was sent by that Trista bitch? When I get my hands on her.." Nadia growled.
"He called me 'halfling', after calling me a 'half demon' earlier. Why does he keep saying things that?" Tiafell pondered as he watched with an uneasiness growing from within.
Dred swung his red blades, sending red waves of energy toward the witch, which were dissolved by an invisible barrier in front of her. He then flew around to attempt to strike Samora from her right side, but a wall of stone rose from the ground to protect her. She leapt above the wall and cast a bolt of lightning from her staff, landing a direct hit on the demon. He grunted as he attempted to stab her with one of his many blades, the arm stretching quickly. She mounted her staff and flew out of the blade's path, but all of Dred's arms stretched and whipped in different directions, aiming at Samora from different angles. Though not easily, she was able to float around the incoming attacks. One that came close to hitting her struck the protective barrier surrounding her, putting a crack in it. The demon was following behind her, his long stretching arms continuing his failed attempts to hit the elusive target. As he hacked and slashed at Samora, the town around them was being destroyed further. The witch cast a lightning bolt from her weapon that hit a building, causing a chunk of it to fall with Dred under it. He flew out of its way but was struck from behind by an energy ball from Samora, an attack similar to her son's. He fell and hit the ground, then another chunk of debris landed on top of him, pinning him down. The witch used gravity magic to increase the weight of the object to try and flatten him.
"She's got him!!" Nadia cheered.
Dred roared as he was being crushed, with Samora increasing the pressure. The demon's arms twisted upward so he could slice the debris into small chunks, freeing himself. He flew quickly to Samora and slashed at her. The barrier protecting her shattered but she was able to fly back in time to avoid being cut, with her hat being clipped. She flew away from him to get some distance, but the monster chased her, swiping at her once again.
"You are beginning to annoy me, bitch!!" Dred yelled.
"He's gotten faster and stronger, drawing this battle out would be certain death. I need to properly restrain him long enough to use that spell!" Samora thought to herself.
"I don't care what she said, we have to help her!" Cirris told the others.
"But how? We can't keep up with that! Look at how seriously he's fighting Mom, that means he was toying with us! What can we do??" Mirya replied.
"We'll strike when Dred least expects it. I have a plan, listen carefully!" the four of them discussed Cirris' plan as the battle waged on.
Deciding to change tactics, Samora stopped flying and dismounted her staff. She raised her weapon to block one of Dred's blades. She was holding him back with both hands on her weapon, but the other blades were moving toward her. Before they hit her, various debris from the area appeared and shielded her.
"I'm disappointed Samora, but also not surprised. Your father was much more powerful than this when he was your age. The apple has fallen far from the tree" he mocked.
"Actually Dred, I have not lost any confidence that I can defeat you. As a matter of fact, I have you exactly where I want you!" she smirked at him.
"What..?" the demon was confused. He heard a rumbling from the ground beneath him. Before he could react, sand, rocks, and fragments from the street rose and surrounded him, encasing him inside a cocoon of earth with his arms sticking out of the sides. Ice formed at the base of the cocoon and spread until it, as well as Dred's arms, were frozen solid, leaving only his fingers and blades unfrozen. Samora cast lightning from her staff onto all four of Dred's metal blades at once, which amplified the voltage and ran throughout his body. His loud pained screams were heard from inside the cocoon. As his hands went limp, the blades fell onto the ground with loud clangs. They burned away almost immediately, seemingly unable to exist outside of Dred's grasp.
"That should hold him.." Samora spoke quietly as she began a long, detailed incantation. A mixture of white and gold light formed around her; the aura danced like flames.
"Cirris, is that..?" Mirya wondered.
"No doubt! It's holy magic! She'll destroy him with that for sure!" Cirris cheered.
"Holy magic..." Tiafell whispered to himself. He had never seen holy magic used before. The books he read about it claimed that it was incredibly difficult to use but it was the most effective magic against demons.
"That's why she trapped him inside all that earth. The incantation for holy magic takes a long time. I hope he'll stay trapped long enough for her to use it" Cirris added.
"That magic is just as effective against vampires. I hope I'm never on her bad side" Nadia said nervously. They watched anxiously as Samora continued to chant. The holy aura intensified as the moments passed.
"She should be close to finishing! Finish him, Mom!" Cirris yelled.
A very loud roar was heard from inside the cocoon, then it and the ice surrounding it shattered, Dred had broken free. He slammed his upper right fist into Samora's face, sending her to the ground and breaking her focus, ending her incantation. The holy energy surrounding her vanished, but Dred paid a price for it. The hand that he punched her with was burned away, with the stub turning white.
"Was that your plan? To eradicate me with holy magic?" he chuckled. "It was a good effort; it will be days before I can grow this hand back." He raised the stub that used to be his upper right hand. "But your only chance of defeating me has failed!"
Samora got back onto her feet, her cheek was red from the punch, but her confidence was what took the most damage. Dred was right, that was her one shot, and he would not allow her another chance to cast holy magic. Without it, she would not be able to defeat him. Though she was determined not to show it outwardly, she knew this was a fight she could no longer win. Blades reappeared in Dred's three functional hands.
"Shit! Alright, Mom really needs us now! Everyone knows what to do!" Cirris commanded. Tiafell, Nadia, and Mirya quietly left while Cirris gathered energy into his right hand, forming it into a ball that slowly grew larger.
Dred sighed. "I'm disappointed in you, Samora. Your father was a powerful wizard, but it seems that he didn't squirt any of his potential out when he fucked the whore that turned out to be your mother."
"My mother was a powerful witch herself. You dishonor her, and I will not stand for it!" Samora fumed as she raised her staff. She pointed it forward, sending flaming rocks at Dred, who sliced them away with quick slashes of his blades. Samora knew that she was only delaying her defeat. Her last hope was that the others escaped and left her behind. Maybe they would reach her father's tower, and he would be able to help them, to train them so they could succeed where she failed.
As her attack continued, she saw flaming purple bats whizzing by her, an entire colony was flying into Dred, causing him to flinch with collision. Every bat exploded upon impact in small fiery purple blasts. He was using his blades to shield himself as there were too many for him to cut down. Samora looked to her left and saw Nadia standing by her.
"Nadia? What are you doing? I told you to take cover!"
"Not a chance! We came here to help you, we're not about to let this pendejo kill you!" the vampire declared, continuing to pummel Dred with flaming bats.
"Vampire whore! I'll cut you down!" Dred shouted. He was able to free one of his blades, the lower right one. He pointed it forward and thrusted it at Nadia, only for his blade and hand to drop to the ground with a heavy crash. "What?? I can't move my hand!" He tried to lift his hand, but it was so heavy that he couldn't move it at all.
