The Seventh Spirit

by Adam-Clay Webb

  Still, before another moment could pass, the black-eyed boy, with a roar of determination and Maximo’s anger, flew up from the ground with sixteen wings of potent darkness, moving up at sound’s speed as he quickly grabbed the swords that had begun to sublime into the black mist, solidifying them immediately. Before Oga could think to react to this unexpected move, Lex, a streak of darkness tailing him, ran one of the black swords through Juventus. A monstrous cry came down from the heavens as Juventus gathered the power of a shadow shell in his right palm instantly. As darkness buzzed about his fist like electricity, he struck Lex with the force of death before the second sword could be delivered, sending him down into the earth faster than he had flown up. Before Lex could think of thinking, he was meters into hard rock, his body making the earth quake tens of miles in all directions. His vision grew hazy and he struggled to hold on to consciousness.

  ***

  “Do it.”

  ***

  Lex felt Maximo’s strength slowly leaving him. “Maximo…” he called softly, struggling to behold the dreadful sight in the sky. The darkness in his eyes finally faded.

  Brother… Lex heard Maximo say in his thoughts. Lex, I’m afraid this might be over already… This sight has triggered dreadful memories. What you now see in the sky is Juventus’ ultimate form. With this transformation, he put up a challenge even to Kizer and Oga… Defeating him… is impossible.

  “Maximo…” the boy muttered. The Icemaker stared up at the massive eighteen winged dragon which slowly descended from the sky. Lex had never before seen such a dreadful, horrific creature.

  Maximo explained to Lex, Juventus must have taken the body of the greatest dragon alive to fight the gods of history… And somehow these villainous men managed to get the spirit to take that dreadful form again…

  Maximo… Have you really given up? Won’t you stay with me even to the very end?

  With a rough, scaly skin of black and silver and a ten-meter-long tail with sharp deadly spikes and platinum teeth that could cut through nearly anything, the beast descended almost gracefully, its eyes black as death. Lex stared up at the massive dragon, unable to move. Its godlike aura had paralyzed him. It had blotted the sun from the boy’s sight, and the sky was now an eerie picture of death.

  “Clover…” the boy whispered, staring up at the dragon with fear he had never felt before. He beheld as the dragon opened its massive mouth wide. He watched dark energy gather in the beast’s mouth, just between the ferocious-looking rows of teeth. He saw energies being pulled from every direction; he even felt energy being pulled from him. He weakened even more as he felt Maximo being ripped away from him and packed into the dense sphere in the mouth of the dragon. The sphere vibrated with might and great energy, hosting the power of several tera bombs.

  ***

  “Excellently done, Oga,” Kizer said, a smirk of satisfaction on his face. This attack was problematic even for me back in the day – at that time it could only be done when Juventus drew dark energy from two of his brothers. He administered this attack when we had destroyed three and captured one… It was his final hope I suppose… Now he’s strong enough to create the Black Sun of Trium on his own… It wasn’t enough to beat me and Oga then… But without doubt... it is enough to erase this continent from the globe.

  ***

  The boy watched in paralysis as the sphere became so dense that its gravitational pull began to wreak havoc on everything around it. Rocks and water, even air, were absorbed into the sphere and converted to dark matter, to a deadly power. His heartbeat stopped suddenly in fright as the super-powerful sphere left the dragon’s mouth and shot down at him with mighty speed. He stared into the lightless face of death itself, and lost all his senses as every square mile of Libson and all its surrounding seas suffered a mighty quake. A frightening darkness swept over everything.

  ***

  Kizer watched almost in awe, seeing the widespread destruction the single attack had caused upon land and sea. “This worthless world does not deserve to see, even to be annihilated by such power.”

  ***

  Lex was still on his back. His eyes were open, but he could see nothing. Am I dead? Is it over? “Maximo…” He peered through the lifting darkness at the faint blue light, wondering if it was the sky he was seeing. His eyes widened and his fists clenched the ground as he realized what had happened. His eyes suddenly became moist with tears which slid down his bloody face.

  Before him were two powerful witches and a focused mindbender. As their dresses fluttered wildly and beautifully in the wind of energy, they held their positions firmly. The hands of Star and Clover had stretched out before them, holding up a bright blue shield. Zen’s index and middle fingers were tightly fixed against her temples as she strained to support the witches’ shield with an equally strong, maybe even stronger layer.

  “Let’s go, kid,” he heard a familiar voice to his left say. He turned his head quickly, looking up at Kyle, who was gripping his sword faithfully. The swordsman stretched his left hand down toward Lex, and the Icemaker grabbed it firmly with a kind of zeal that only such a circumstance could trigger.

  “Hurry up, Lex. This monster won’t sit still for too long,” yet another voice came. On standing, he turned to see the Ionide that had saved his life not long before. His armour was completely renewed, and his unique cells that descended from Kizer himself had already fully gotten rid of his nasty wound.

  Still not finding words, Lex, along with the other five standing in the near impenetrable shield, looked up the skies. What seemed to be a thick bolt of black lightning sped across their vision. The witches and mindbender strengthened their shield and braced for impact as the missile flew down toward them. Like a thunderbolt, the thing jammed down into the earth right before them with mighty speed, further wrecking the already distorted earth and gathering up more dust in the air. A swift black current rippled from the landed object, crawling along the outskirts of the shield. The guardians lowered their shield, and like the others, stared on in astonishment and incomprehension. Still in landing position, kneeling over on his right knee with his right palm flat on the ground, his left arm resting on his upright left knee, was a man clothed in mighty black lightning.

  ***

  Kizer looked down at the sudden gathering, not in fright or surprise, but more in excitement. “Maybe you do deserve to be graced with this power after all,” he said to himself in reconsideration.

  “As expected,” Oga muttered to himself expressionless.

  ***

  “Questions later,” the Magmalian prince said in an aloof tone, slowly rising to a full stand, black lightning buzzing about his body. A chilly sensation rushed through Lex’s body, an energy of extreme cold that felt new to him. He clenched his fists tightly, and opened his palms quickly, instantly materializing two iceballs. For the first time in quite some many moments, he felt no need to rely on Maximo’s strength. The group of heroes beheld the dreadful enemy that was in the sky with greater confidence than fear, confidence in their unity.

  “If it even costs me my life, I can’t afford to be useless in this final fight,” Kyle swore to himself, gripping his weapon firmly, straining to put aside his feelings of inadequacy, inferiority to those he stood amongst.

  “I hope this new power can fill the gap of my old ones,” Azar contemplated, trying to devise a strategy that could make full use of his new abilities. Azar peered up at the black sphere forming in the dragon’s mouth. “To create a tera bomb that easily,” the prince mused. “Clover! Star!” he called out, “Send some mana to meet that sphere and use the reversal spell in unison!” he commanded, “Mind bender, work with the witches – send a wave of force toward the sphere as it comes, but not sharp enough to rupture it and diffuse its power; that would kill us,” the tactician advised. The three nodded in comprehension. “Lex! Mike! Attack at will!”

  “What about me?!” Kyle asked in an obvious tone of estrangement.

  “Your time to strik
e will come. For now, just don’t get killed! Get ready!”

  There was a thunderous, mighty sound as the black sphere was fired down at the readied heroes. Star and Clover sent blue mana up to greet the attack, and Zen did her part with the invisible wave of force. Mike and Lex sent spikes and iceballs at the dragon up high, their attacks passing the incoming sphere narrowly, some being consumed by it as it descended. Azar stretched his hands out toward the tera bomb, and black lightning rushed out from them and blasted the nearing sphere of massive power.

  “Esrever!” the witches commanded in chorus, and in a huge explosion of black and blue, at double its original speed, it was sent flying back up at the dragon. With a roar that shook the earth, the dragon made a swift movement, blasting the returning sphere with its tail, which was clothed in a thick membrane of dark power, a cloak that allowed the easy manipulation and endurance of unfriendly dark matter.

  “Anam Resal!!” Clover fired a powerful beam of bright blue mana toward the approaching sphere, accompanied by Azar’s already ascending bolts of black lightning. In a blinding flash of darkness and brightness, as the entities of raw power collided, a cataclysmic explosion occurred. Zen and Star made ready their shields as equal amounts of power rushed from the point of impact in every direction, toward the dragon and toward earth’s last defenders.

  As the mist of waste mana and residue of dark matter quickly scattered, a woman appeared in a red cloud. “My prince,” she greeted Azar. The man grabbed the golden vial made of zarium from her quickly.

  “Go!” he commanded her, and she shifted away. He struggled to hold the heavy vial of power in his hands. “Little girl, just like before, shield Lex with all your strength!”

  The Icemaker stared at the vial, knowing full well that more power than he housed inside him was awaiting him inside it.

  “All of you! Close your eyes!” the prince gave out. “Star and Clover, fortify the force field!” With closed eyes, the prince burst the heavy vial open. He skated back as he tried to hold his ground. The hellish power rushed out from the vial forcefully and delved into Lex’s eyes. A tense darkness swallowed up the shield as amazing power hastily found its new host.

  A look of slight concern overtook Kizer’s face as he understood what was happening.

  Lex opened his eyes to an incredible sight. He saw a massive army of tens of thousands, maybe even millions of shadowy creatures surround Maximo. He saw Maximo hold his hands up and turn to see the crowd around him.

  “Brothers!” he called loudly, “Join me, and avenge our honour! The lives of our fallen brothers cannot be for nothing!” he declared with a shout. Suddenly, the shadowy army formed into a familiar black mist, which swirled and combined and morphed until it formed two men of darkness that resembled Maximo.

  “Little brother,” Lex heard one of them say.

  “We shall defeat those using Juventus,” the other said. “And when we reclaim Juventus by winning this fight, with his spirit gathered with ours, we four we lay waste to the bastards who killed our brothers and tainted our precious name.” With that, the two brothers of Maximo took the form of the black mist, and fused themselves with Maximo. As the strength and will of his brothers were added to him, Maximo’s form changed into a three-headed dragon, one far more massive than the one Lex had seen while battling Hypno and The Lantern, a dragon even as giant as the one he had beheld in the sky just before.

  Lex opened his eyes suddenly, and a pulse of energy rippled from him, scattering his friends and shattering the strongly layered shield, darkening the whole place. The ground beneath his feet shook, and rocks broke up and rose from the ground and surrounded him. He clenched his fists, a new edition, a new level of darkness in his eyes. A thick cloak of dark energy surrounded the boy’s body, and five hundred and twelve super-thin, slender, sharp, broad wings appeared on him.

  “With the power of my brothers and the Icemaker, Kizer and Oga will be made to tremble in fear!” Maximo declared through him.

  “Imagine that,” Kizer said to himself, staring down at the powerful being with eyes of interest and anticipation. “This one being feels more powerful than the seven Oga and I fought back then… This should be interesting.”

  The dragon fired down another massive sphere, slightly bigger and just as dense as the previous one.

  “But Juventus grows more powerful by the second,” Kizer assured himself, “absorbing the natural energy around him… Not one flower is left alive on that continent, and even the waters are drying up… This battle might almost become comparable to the greatest war in history.”

  The Icemaker jumped, sending cracks miles deep into the earth. With his right fist, he blasted the approaching sphere, which was many times his own size. The sky blackened as the ball of power struck the dragon forcefully, sending him up through the clouds. Lex landed back on the earth half a second later, and rushed to Clover immediately. “Clover,” he called, shaking her. He stood quickly and looked up at the skies. Nearing them just a few meters away was another massive sphere, and further up in the skyward distance was yet another, bursting through the clouds. Damn it! He flew up with mighty speed, meeting half way and blasting the first of the spheres with the might of three Zagans. With wonderful precision, he aimed it at the farther sphere, and the two massive containers of terrible power clashed in a wicked blitz. Without any break time, another massive tera bomb tore down through the clearing darkness. The black-eyed boy flew toward it quickly. The sphere was moving so fast that he hadn’t much leverage and many options with it. He struck it with a powerful roar nonetheless, and deflected it many miles from his friends. It struck and sunk a small cay at the edge of Libson – hopefully no one was fishing there.

  “Tera bombs are dropping like rain,” Lex muttered to Maximo in annoyance.

  It’s best we lend your friends the power to be useful, Lex. We have to defeat the dragon before it absorbs more energy than we are able to fight.

  Lend them our power?

  Hurry!

  Zen and Azar, with all their strength, countered another incoming tera bomb before it reached the ground, making it explode many meters above the earth. The Icemaker rushed down to where Clover was standing. Blue mana was readied about her hands. She stared at him with wide eyes of awe and even fright.

  “Take this!” he told her, and grabbed her wrist briskly. The frightened girl felt a strange energy rush through her. Her eyes flashed black for a moment, then returned to normal. A black cloak of power wrapped itself around her body, and two large, beautiful wings shot out from her back, ripping though her clothes. “Stay alive.” With that, he took off toward the nearby Kyle. Before the swordsman could speak, Lex grabbed his shoulder, transferring a small fraction of his power to his friend. The cloak of dark power came over him, and two black wings appeared on his back. The Icemaker rushed over to Zen and Azar, giving them some of his power, then to Mike and Star, empowering them similarly.

  ***

  “I see,” Kizer said, snickering a little, his hand on his chin.

  ***

  “The wings aren’t for decoration!” Lex told them, then angelled off toward the skies with speed that created an airquake, and mighty winds that would be felt for miles. With enough of the spirit’s skill to keep them alive, the winged fighters flew up quickly, dodging hundreds of black streaks that came down from beyond the clouds. In only a moment, they had surrounded the massive dragon. Black mana enveloped the witches’ hands.

  “Seventh grade mana, wings, strength and speed… to attain all these powers in an instant,” Star contemplated. “These spirits surely wield godlike power… Just how strong then could the gods of history be, who fended earth off from so many?”

  “Anan Resal!” Both witches chorused, sending powerful black mana toward the dragon in the wide circle of heroes, whose names would never be forgotten. Kyle pointed his sword at the beast, and a black beam of power shot out through his sword toward it at his command. Azar’s black lightning could not be easily
outdone, and neither would Mike’s darkened spikes or Zen’s mental prowess. Lex summoned up an instant tera bomb, and at once, the mighty attacks struck the dragon, causing a phenomenal, cataclysmic blast. An incredible pulse of force pushed off Lex and his friends at a terribly drastic force, and they shot off at incredibly dangerous speeds.

  The heavily-winged boy quickly maintained his composure and balance in flight. At a quick glance, he spotted his friends falling dangerously, only Kyle still wearing his black wings. Hm. He speedily flew off to where Clover was, grabbing her tightly, securing her in his arms – she was barely awake. Lex’s many wings stretched out behind him as he flew down to the earth, landing as softly as he could, sending harsh cracks through it. He rested Clover gently, then took to the skies again. He saw Kyle sort of regain control of himself, then glanced up to where the explosion had taken place, seeing a dead-looking man of darkness wearing only six wings. A black mist marked his trail as he was pulled down by gravity.

  With great speed, Lex rushed over to and grabbed the nearby falling Star, and flew past Kyle with her, hardly slow enough for Kyle to see him. Clutching tightly to the woman, he grabbed on to the falling Zen and returned to the earth with them, bashing into the ground and putting them down. The bit of dark power they had managed to use had left them nearly lifeless. Azar, regaining his consciousness, still freefalling but without his wings, shot off to where Mike was falling, black lightning powering his flight and trailing him beautifully.

  The six-winged Juventus shot off toward Kyle with a brisk speed as Oga managed to snap consciousness back into him. A black sword appeared in the demon’s right hand, and he began attacking Kyle viciously. Kyle battled him with his own skill, feeling the dark power fading from him and his wings disappearing. Kyle made another mighty swing at Juventus, the dark coating now totally removed from his sword. Kyle’s eyes widened as the enemy’s sword of darkness sliced right through his metal blade. Juventus drew his black sword back to finish Kyle, who couldn’t possibly dodge. In a flash, Lex grabbed the swordsman, saving him from the strike he was certain had killed him. Juventus’ sword scraped the Icemaker’s back and destroyed many of his wings. In half a jiffy, Lex landed on the earth, putting Kyle down. His wings all evaporated into a black mist as much dark energy was exhausted. The place shook as Juventus landed.