A guttural shriek, raw and unholy tore through the shattered remnants of the city. It erupted from beneath the creature's discarded blindfold revealing a monstrous visage. Three eyes, two of them a swirling vortex of black and blood-red, fixed on a golden orb without a pupil, burned with an ancient, furious light in the center. Its face, once obscured, now contorted into a mask of pure, unadulterated rage and defiance. As if fueled by its own fury, segments of its colossal wings began to deepen into a gruesome, arterial red and rivulets of crimson liquid, thick and viscous, wept from its newly uncovered eyes.
The ethereal white flames, which had initially been a protective shroud, now intensified, coiling and surging with renewed ferocity, threatening to engulf its entire form. The air around it crackled, thick with the scent of ozone and burning sanctity.
"Hahahaha! A real challenge!" Sieg's booming laughter cut through the cacophony of destruction. He burst from the rubble of a demolished building, shrugging off dust and debris as if they were mere inconveniences. His voice, vibrant with the thrill of battle, carried across the devastated landscape. "My master, I ask that you and the others join me in arms! I have no clue what this creature's weakness could be, but I hope you will join me in this glorious fight and bring it down so we may all grow stronger for our next challenges!" With a practiced motion, he drew a pair of well-worn axes, their sharpened edges glinting even in the dim, ash-choked light and hurled them with incredible force at the flaming, angelic horror. They spun end over end, twin streaks of steel against the searing white.
"Any ideas, Chio?" John's voice was tight with urgency, his gaze unwavering as he watched the creature. The axes Sieg had thrown either melted mid-air or were batted away with contemptuous ease. Ash's barrage of magical projectiles, usually so effective, met a similar fate, impacting the creature only to be partially consumed by the hungry white flames, their energy absorbed or dissipated. John observed the grim spectacle, the creature seemingly growing stronger without its blindfold, yet simultaneously suffering significant harm from its own intensifying flames.
Chio, ever the calm strategist, narrowed his eyes, his brow furrowed in deep thought. "It appears to have grown stronger without the blindfold, yes, but those flames, my lord, they seem to be harming it quite a bit now as a drawback. It should, theoretically, burn itself to death, but I fear not before destroying everything around us and possibly bringing us down with it, even if we are doing small amounts of damage." A grim prognosis.
"Damnit," John muttered, his hands clenching at his sides. The reality of their predicament was stark. Sieg's weapons, Ash's magic – all met the same frustrating end. What was worse, the creature was slowly but inexorably making its way towards their group. Aria and Ivy's magical attacks, while precise, barely seemed to slow its terrifying advance. Lucy, pragmatic to a fault, had seemingly already fled, a decision John couldn't entirely fault, given the overwhelming odds.
John's gaze swept over his companions, then returned to the angelic abomination. A lone clockwork construct, a mechanical sentinel of intricate gears and whirring clockwork, bravely approached the creature, attempting a desperate strike. It melted upon contact, dissolving into molten slag and steam within the infernal heat, but not before its metallic claw scraped against the creature's robe, tearing a small slit. Through the rent fabric, John caught a glimpse of something unsettling: a large, disgusting mass of pulsing black flesh, disturbingly similar to the growths on its back. A small, almost imperceptible cut was made before the clockwork's destruction.
The creature's roar intensified, a sound of amplified fury and agony. The eye stalks on the black mass on its back lengthened unnaturally, writhing like sentient tendrils and the various mouths that studded them began to scream in unison: 'Kill! Kill! Kill!' The sound was a physical force, causing the very air to vibrate, blurring their vision. More and more mouths, with their own grotesque eyes, rapidly formed on the lengthening stalks. The eyes on its head, which had just been revealed, began to change, fusing into one colossal, central orb before popping out of its skull entirely. It now floated above the creature, glowing with a malevolent black light and a single, crimson cross for a pupil.
"There." Chio's voice, though still calm, held a note of triumph. He pointed, his keen eyes focused. "That black mass, my lord. It seems to be extremely sensitive! That is what you must target!" John acknowledged with a sharp nod, a dangerous resolve hardening his features. The chaos suddenly made sense; a crack in the armor, a glimmer of hope.
Quickly, John began to bark orders, his mind racing, weaving a desperate, daring plan. "Saya, keep a distance and go over to help keep Angel safe. Hope, you need to buff me with everything you've got and keep me healed and if possible, throw any barriers you can around me. Ivy, can you do earth magic? Aria, are you able to use some kind of ice or water magic that could temporarily deal with its flames?" He needed to know their capabilities, their limits.
Aria, her face set with determination, responded, "I can do some Ice magic, my master, but I don't think it would have much effect on those flames; they appear to have a holy element to them. I think I should rather use my own flames with a bit extra. It would leave me a bit weakened for a few hours afterwards, but it may work to temporarily counter for a few seconds." John gave her a pensive look, weighing the cost, then nodded. A few seconds might be all they needed.
Hope, ever the supportive one, chimed in, "I could try to give you a bit of an anti-flame buff, my lord. It can't protect you for long and you will still feel the heat, but it should at the very least give you a few seconds of protection and I will keep buffing you while trying to keep you healed as best I can. And Ivy can use earth magic to a degree, but it would depend on what you need done. If it's to hold that thing down, I don't think she can."
"Good." John's voice was firm, decisive. "Aria, you can try your flames; hit it when I give you a signal, so start preparing. Ivy, I'm going to need you to create a platform ramp for me with its end as close to that thing's bottom mass as you can. Ash, help Saya protect Angel but launch the biggest attack you can on the opening I'm going to give you. Hey, Sieg! Get the biggest blade you have and be ready to chuck it at me on my mark!" He yelled the last part, earning a fierce grin from Sieg and a volley of confused looks from everyone else, their faces betraying their apprehension about the risky strategy.
"My lord, maybe we could use the clockworks or statues to do so for us. I can already see what you're planning and it's too dangerous!" Chio protested, his voice strained with concern, the strategic part of his mind appalled by the self-sacrificing nature of John's plan.
"We already lost one," John said, his gaze hardened as he gestured to the smoking remains of the clockwork. "We aren't going to lose anymore and I doubt it will help. I also don't see you coming up with anything better, no offense, but this is our best course of action." Without waiting for Chio to respond, John broke into a sprint, his chains rattling behind him like a chorus of agitated snakes. Angel, who had been huddled with Saya, looked up, her face tear-streaked, a fresh wave of fear washing over her.
The gem on Ivy's staff pulsed with a deep, earthy brown light. With a grunt of effort, the asphalt of the destroyed ground began to crack and heave, the very earth rising up in front of John, forming a crude but sturdy ramp angled sharply towards the monster's exposed weakness. As he raced forward, a cool, protective sensation spread over him – Hope's anti-flame buff taking effect. He ran as fast as he could, his heavy hammer already swinging, gathering momentum. With a mighty roar, he launched the hammer with every ounce of force he possessed, aiming for the angelic creature's head, a diversion.
With a casual, almost dismissive swing of its mace, the creature easily knocked the hammer away, sending it spiraling into the distance. But John had anticipated this. He used the distraction, leaping into the air, much lower behind the creature, propelled by his own momentum and the urgency of his mission. At his signal, Aria let loose a torrential stream of deep blue flames. They erupted from her, a vibrant, cold fire that engulfed the angelic creature. It shrieked anew, but this time in genuine agony, a sound of piercing pain. The creature's white flames seemed to writhe and fight against Aria's blue ones, two opposing forces of elemental power locked in a titanic struggle before both seemed to explode outwards, blasting one another back and creating a critical, albeit fleeting, gap.
In that precious moment, Sieg, with a guttural roar, hurled a massive, heavy blade towards John. John, without hesitation, extended two of his larger chains, their metallic links snaking out to grasp the hilt of the incoming weapon. He allowed himself to be pulled by the sword's immense force, a human projectile, slamming directly into the pulsating black mass. The impact was sickeningly visceral. With the sword embedded, John's many smaller chains lashed out, stabbing forward and ripping into the vulnerable flesh like a demented sewing machine, stitching in and out, tearing, gouging. He pulled the sword arm back, then thrust it forward again and again, carving out the biggest hole he possibly could with the aid of his relentless chains.
A deafening, soul-searing cry of pain erupted from the creature's many mouths. Its white flames, now a manifestation of pure, unbridled agony, grew wildly violent, expanding outwards and engulfing it once more. Aria's blue flames were overwhelmed, pushed back, consumed. Hope's anti-flame buff, now stretched beyond its limits, failed catastrophically. John plummeted, the intensifying heat making his skin blister instantly, the extreme burning pain forcing a scream from his throat. But even in torment, his will held. He forced himself off the black mass, rolling on the ground away from the inferno, his body screaming in protest.
"Ash, now! Try to aim for where I attacked!" he yelled, his voice ragged with pain, his eyes fixed on the wound he had created. He watched as a large red streak, imbued with destructive magic, twisted through the air, impaling deeply into the black mass, tearing even further into the ragged wound John had made.
The white flames, now imbued with the creature's own essence, came into contact with the black, viscous blood oozing out of the wound. It was like a drum of fuel thrown onto a raging fire. The inferno grew in intensity, seeping into the wound they had made, causing the black mass to bubble, bloat and swell grotesquely. The creature shrieked, a prolonged, dying wail, as it began to burn from the inside out. Flames spewed from its mouths and eye hole, a terrifying internal combustion, before it slowly, agonizingly, fell to the ground. Its head remained raised for a moment, still screaming, the many eyes within the mouths on the stalks bursting and melting as flames blew out through them, their final silent screams twisting into smoke. Its colossal wings, now charred and broken, began to detach and fall from its back, crumbling to ash. The large, glowing eye that had hovered above its head now detached as well, falling from the sky to roll uselessly upon the ground before fading to nothing.
"Hahahaha! Now that was a battle! My master truly knows how to bring the most action that will make us stronger!" Sieg roared with laughter, his face beaming with the exhilaration of victory. He strode over, easily picking up the battered John and carried him back towards the others. Hope's healing magic immediately began to soothe some of the agonizing pain, the blisters shrinking, the seared skin mending, but the phantom pain still coursed through his form, causing small muscle spasms. The exhaustion was profound.
He caught sight of Angel, still trembling. "I told you, Angel," he began, his voice tired and laced with lingering pain, yet softened for her. "I won't lose anyone else if I can help it. And you won't be losing us, at least not that easy and certainly not to an overgrown feather duster with skin problems." He tried to joke, a strained smile on his lips, only to wince as she tackled him in a tearful embrace. Gently, despite his own discomfort, he rubbed her back, holding her softly, reassuring her that he was still here, still breathing and wasn't going anywhere. The cost had been high, but they had endured, together.