46 Night duel (1/2)
Part 1
Marcus looked dead serious with his last remark. Everyone on Evlin's group was a jumbled mess of emotions right now. The son of their old friend who they all have been looking forward to meeting for a while now just dropped on their door. They should be overcome with joy but instead all of their minds where being bombarded with questions.
How did Marcus found them? Why was he there? What has he been doing all this time? Who was he working for? How much did he know? How much should he know? What was his end goal? What were they supposed to say to him? Why did he want to take away their metal pieces?
”Hey... Are you really his son...?”
Daren got tired of thinking too much and just decided to get the truth out of him.
”If you mean Marceus, then yes... I'm his son...”
”... If that's true then why can't I sense you?”
”Sense me??”
”I was one of Marceus's candidates to be his partner... Me and Lilith... Our connection with him is stronger than anyone else's... Why can I sense the presence of any of his leftover blessed weapons but I can't sense yours?”
”... You were dad's old candidate!!? I see...”
”...”
”Hey... Dad... What was he like...? It's the first time I meet one of his old candidates...”
”... He was an air-head... He never took anything seriously and always tried to take away the tension of the situation on every mission we would go on...”
”I... See...”
Marcus started to look down as if that wasn't the answer he was hoping for.
”He was also my best friend... He saved me in my time of need... And saved many more whenever he would get a chance... He might have been a joker... But he never left a job unfinished... For the sake of protecting the innocents there was no mountain big enough that idiot wasn't ready to climb...”
”Is that so...”
”I don't know what kind of relationship you two had... But if you really are his son... Then know you should take pride in that fact...”
Marcus started to tear up a little bit and tried to wipe his face with both hands.
”Thank you... I- I miss him so much!!”
”...” x 7
”Come on darling, don't cry... I'm sure he is looking after you all the time from above...”
”Y- Yeah... Thanks Mia... Dad is probably watching me right now...”
Marcus finally cleaned his face and took a deep breath.
”... Which is why I can't disappoint him...”
Daren started to talk in the telepathic chat room.
[Everyone... Watch out!!]
Lilith seemed to be in shock. Evlin tried to question what was wrong.
[Daren? Did something happen?]
[I can feel it now... The blessed energy... I can feel it in this kid... It's absurdly huge...]
[I'm feeling too... He was somehow hiding it until now... But I can finally feel the presence...]
Evlin was still confused.
[W- What does this mean...?]
[It means he is getting ready for battle!]
”I'll ask again... Hand over all your metal... I have a duty to complete my father's job... That includes cleaning up the mess he left behind... This metal is too dangerous for anyone but me to use...”
Evlin tried to negotiate with the kid.
”Marcus please wait for a moment! We need this metal to survive the demon kingdom.”
”...!? The demon kingdom? You guys are planning to go to the demon kingdom...?”
”Yes!! We are going there to find out more about the origin of curses...”
”Why would you do that...? Are you trying to find a way to eliminate all the curses in the world!?”
”Actually, we are trying to find a way to curse some of our members...”
”What!!?? Why would you do that?? Curses are the powers that come from monsters and demons!!”
”We know but we need the power to defeat the goddess that betrayed Marceus!”
”...? What are you talking about...?”
”The goddess who turned Marceus into the living weapon berayed these people, and now we are trying to find a way to take her down, and we think the power of curses might be the answer to it!”
”You guys are planning to attack the goddess that made dad into the living weapon...? You are going to attack my mom?”
”Yeah! We nee- ... Wait what...?”
”Seems like I was mistaken about you all... Forget the metal... I'll just exterminate everyone here...”
Marcus raised his arm upwards and his hand transformed into a blade that kept growing until it reached the ceiling and pierced it like it was made of paper. The blade kept growing and growing becoming even longer by the second.
Evlin stared at the massively long blade and met eyes with Marcus.
”W- What are you doing...?”
”My mother is the only family I have left right now... If you are her enemies... Then you are my enemies too!”
The boy proceeded to bring down his arm, and subsequently, the massive blade at the end of it, cutting the building in half and causing a huge explosion.
Part 2
The dust was starting to clear up as the falling pieces of the building Evlin created kept spreading across the forest by Marcus's gigantic sword swing. The group managed to get out of the way in time but many were blasted away by the impact of the sword hitting the terrain.
Many ended up buried under the broken pieces of the inn and were about to suffocate. Gustav started to send a message to everyone's minds and managed to wake them up in time.
[Everyone, get up!!! Now!! We need to move!!]
”Huh... What in the world...??”
Evlin was rescued by Sphinx who was bitting her shirt and removing her from the wreckage.
”Ugh... Good boy... Huh...!? Oh no!!”
Evlin's face turned pale once she saw all her friends knocked out from the blast. She hurried to wake up Auren and the two started to perform healing magic and rewind the wounds of the fallen comrades.
The group was finally back up again and were now staring at the one who caused all this.
”This was a warning shot... Give up on your quest right now and hand over the metal... Or this will be the end for all of you.”