7 Custody battle (2/2)
[Aarghhh!! This Daren is boring!! Bring the old Daren back!!!]
Daren finally managed to knock the last member of the thief squad and returned to look for the egg.
”That room!”
He started to charge towards a room where he could feel the scent from the egg leaking. As he moved to open the door a wave of energy came out of the room and knocked Daren back against a wall.
”Guahh!”
[Daren! Are you ok?]
”Ugh... Yeah i was just surprised... Not the worst hit i got today...”
A man stepped out of the room wearing a dark green robe covering his body. His face was that of a glasses wearing teenager with black hair making an extremely angry expression. He was holding his hand as if making a ”Stop” sign and smoke could be seen coming out from it.
[I think we found the mage...]
”Good... I've been wanting for a chance to punch his stupid face!”
[...]
”You're not gonna try to solve this ”peacefully” are you?”
[... No, I'll hear his story later... Let's kick his ass for now.]
The mage took a good look at Daren and started to talk.
”What am i looking at exactly...?”
[Ohhh!! We are doing hero and villain trash talk! Hurry Daren, give him a good response!]
”I'm here to take the egg back!”
[Oh man... Was that the best you had?]
”It can talk...?”
Daren rushed towards the mage and punched him in the stomach, sending him flying across the room.
”Man that felt good...”
Suddenly another wave of energy was released towards Daren, but this time he was prepared. Daren moved his eyes towards the origin of the beam and noticed that the mage was completely unharmed.
”You are a very powerful beast... You will make a great pet!”
[He doesn't have a single scratch! Even from a silver-powered lion punch?]
”... Did you just gave a name to my attack...?”
A circle of energy started to appear in front of the mage glowing with a strong red light. The mage whispered a few words and another wave of energy was released towards Daren. Marceus re-forced his defensive power and covered every single bit of Daren with silver armor. Daren crossed his arms and took the energy beam head on, except this time, something was different.
[Hot! Hot! Hot! Get us out of here!!]
”Argh!! ok!”
Daren was surprised. For a moment it felt like he could feel Marceus's pain. Was that another side-effect of making their connection stronger? Before he could organize his thoughts another energy beam was lunched, but this time it was colored with a light-blue. Daren dodged the attack and noticed that the area he was a second ago had turned into ice.
[He can control the elements? That is so cool!!]
”Focus!!”
[Sorry!]
The mage lunched another beam, but this time the beam had a orange color and was directed towards the ground. The earth started to rise and suddenly a huge humanoid figure begun to come out of the ground.
[He can make a golem!]
Daren looked at his opponent for a moment and a thought hit his head.
”... Marceus... That's not alive is it...?”
[Huh... No, it's just a doll that he is controlling...]
”So we can go all out?”
[Yes!!]
Daren started to concentrate and begun to change the shape of the armor on his claws. Because of how easy it is to end a life with a sharp object, Marceus and Daren always tried their best to avoid using blades during fights. But this was a especial occasion. The opponent was just a moving object, there was no need to restrain themselves. Daren started to sharpen his claws and begun to move like a lightning.
The golem tried to punch the two but Daren's fast claws shredded his fist as if it was made of paper. The second fist tried to squash the lion man but Daren begun to spin like a chain-saw cuting the hand off the arm.
The mage Tried to send more energy to re-pair the golem's lost members but Daren just kept cutting it off at even greater speed. He then started to try and create even more golems around Daren to try and capture him but they all kept getting destroyed in a matter of seconds. Daren and Marceus always tried to restrict themselves and avoid taking a life needlessly, but if there was no need to hold back, the two truly were completely invincible.
The mage tried his last desperate move and started to surround Daren with a storm of magic circles, each one with a different color. This was a bad situation. He was planning to release every single one of his beams at the same time. Daren could probably survive but the thieves that were scattered around the building would definitely die, not to mention the egg was still on the room behind the mage.
”Alright that's enough!”
Daren realized the situation and charged towards the mage with his super speed grabbing him by the throat.
”I assume you can't spell-cast if you can't cast right?”
The mage tried to speak but Daren's claw was holding his neck too tightly for any word to come out.
”Say goodnight!”
Daren slammed the mage against the floor knocking him out completely. He then proceeded to check inside the room and finally found what they were looking for.
[Gustav, tell the leader of the village that we have succeeded!]
Daren grabbed the oval object of the size of a wine barrel and carried out of the building.
”Let's bring this baby back to it's parents!”
Part 3
After that, things went incredibly smoothly. Somehow Ria managed to gather enough energy to open one last wind-scar, but only Daren and Marceus needed to enter it this time. They delivered the egg as fast as possible and rushed back towards the village with Daren's super-speed.
The group stayed on the village for the next three days to make sure the dragons had indeed stopped their daily attacks.
They also confirmed what everyone except for Balden had already figured out. The mage that had stole the egg was using it to attract the parents and force the village to hire him for protection. It also seemed like he had some kind of ability that allowed him to absorb the energy from the egg to boost his spells. Now that the egg was returned even Auren could easily knock him out.
The rest of his gang were arrested alongside him and all were put in the same cell. That was a great opportunity for the gang members to take out their frustration on their old boss. Many screams were heard that night.
The group felt satisfied and started to prepare to return home, but Lilith suddenly decided to bring out a topic.
”So... Is it official then?”
”What is...?”
Marceus and Daren looked at her confused but the rest of the group knew what she was talking about.
”Daren! He is going to be your official partner right?”
”Oh yeah that... ”
Daren and Marceus had already had that discussion. They realized that having a ”official” partner wasn't that big a deal after all and decided to just ignore the whole thing altogether. Marceus was about to tell that to Lilith when Daren started to talk.
”It really means that much to you Lilith...?”
”Sorry it's just... I always felt like i was betraying my duty for refusing to be your partner so when i saw you two together...”
Ria started to talk as well.
”It's the same for us too you know...”
Daren and Marceus looked at her surprised.
”We all were waiting to see Marceus finally reaching his full potential! Something that he could never do with any of us...”
Marceus looked at Auren and Gustav. It seemed like they both also felt that way. It looked like finding the definitive partner meant more to them than to Marceus himself. He always tried to avoid the topic because it felt like he would be playing favoritism and making the rest of the group feel like they were below the person chosen. But from what he saw, the fact that he hadn't chosen someone yet was making the candidates feel like they had failed him.
”Marceus... Choosing someone doesn't mean having to ignore the rest... Everyone will still be your family and will still aid you in helping you reach your dream!”
”...”
”Let's go to the next step! What do you say?”
Marceus made a smile.
”Alright then. If you guys think we have played around enough already... Daren... ”
Daren and the rest remained quiet waiting for the moment the entire group had been waiting all these years.
”Will you marry-”
Before Marceus could finish his line Daren punched him in the face sending him flying backwards.
”Aaaargh!! I'm such an idiot!! Why did i think even for a second that this guy would ever take anything seriously!??”
”Daareeen!!! You can't deny our love!!”
”Shut up!! Just drop dead you useless trash!! Why did that dumb goddess had to choose an idiot like you??”
”What's that about me being a dumb goddess?”
Silence filled the atmosphere. Everyone looked behind them as they realized a beautiful woman wearing an amazing dress floating above the ground. Marceus looked at her and started to talk.
”Nice to see you again miss.”
”Its been a long time my champion!”