The Dragon's Bounty

Chapter 20

The group jumped into action. Probos placed a manufactured god totem on the center pedestal, whose eyes began to glow.
Probos laughed. "Good luck." He said with a laugh. And with that, he vanished. A plethora of dark, burly arms came from the totem, shooting straight for the group. Together, they fought the demon to the best of their ability. Khan blocked two arms at once before jumping back and punching them both with a slight jolt of electric energy. Lance flew across the room, a few arms on his tail. He'd blast them with all he had, but did little damage. Dagger made a crude dark matter shield and held three arms at bay, being slowly pushed back against the wall. Kai jet kicked two of the arms off of his shield, making Dagger's load plenty lighter. He was able to bash the arm out of the way. Huey made small platforms of water to block himself, delivering a small punch to the arms while they were occupied with the water. Duros used the tattered cloth strewn around the dungeon to keep the arms at bay using a pulley system on the beams above him. He wove spikes on to his knuckles and rapidly punched the arms.
"I'm not doing any damage!" He shouted.
"Same here!" Huey said.
"I can knock em back but they don't seem to mind." Kai said, tripping and being hoisted up by the ankle.
Lance shot him down. "Same thing's happening to me. They don't seem to care that much when I hit them. What do we do?" Everyone looked to Khan, who began to sweat.
"Why you looking at me?" He asked.
"You brought us together. I know you can lead." Dagger said.
Khan nodded sternly. "The totem, I think that's a copy of the God of War's. Maybe we can use it to contact him, and ask his help with the fight. But I'll need them off of me for a minute!"
"On it!" Kai shouted, spinning around with flaming feet, knocking back a few arms. Everyone held a few arms back, straining themselves to keep them at bay. Khan rushed to the totem and knelt before it, offering up a short prayer. He kept his eyes closed as he spoke, careful to speak slowly and clearly.
"Hurry it up!" Dagger shouted.
"Don't rush me!" Khan replied. He swiftly went back to praying. In a few moments, an explosion of light came from the totem, a strand connecting to each one of them. They each felt a surge of power. Kai was able to blast past any arms in his way. Lance curved and dodged, launching beams of energy at the arms, which screeched when struck. Khan moved as fast as lightning around the room, punching and kicking at the arms. Dagger was able to create more dark energy to use as offense and defense. Huey was able to make complex constructs from water and infuse it with magic. Duros' threads moved faster than the arms could track.
"Hold out your hands, champions!" A booming voice echoed from above. One by one, each stretched out their hands, a colored magical orb appearing in their hands. Each orb became a magnificent sword, each attuned to their power. Kai's blade had a hilt shaped like a phoenix, while Dagger's had dark energy flowing all through the blade, the hilt matching his armor perfectly. Khan's hilt had a blue X shaped guard and a shimmering cyan blade. Huey's was a brown hilt adorned with blue rocks, he knew to be sapphires. He formed a blade out of water and swung it around. Duros wove together a shimmering golden hilt with a baby blue katana edged blade. The blade moved around and extended as his threads did. Lance's sword glowed with a glossy red and shimmering golden hilt. They each smiled when they received their spirit swords. Instantly, they each knew the name of their sacred blades, able to call upon them whenever necessary. As they fought, the booming voice continued to speak. "Now, with these divine blades, you will gain the strength of the gods, without them you receive only half. If these swords should ever shatter, so then will your life energy, and you will begin to fade. There is a final attack embedded in each sword, able to annihilate any enemy, but it will no doubt shatter the sword. So treasure these gifts, and use them to defeat every demon foolish enough to enter the mortal realm."
"You got it!" Kai said, slicing clean through one of the arms. It grew back as a blade and ran Kai through.
"Kai!" Everyone shouted. Kai opened one eye and looked down. His wound was surrounded by flames.
"Well then." He said. He shoved himself off the sword and it filled in with flame before going back over with skin and bone. "Now that's the strength of the gods!" He shouted. He blasted back into the fight. Khan sliced through arm after arm, the production slowing down drastically. Dagger held them down with a bit of dark energy and sliced them all off, being sure not to let them grow back. Huey jumped up and started spinning forward, a sharp wheel of water spiraling over and under him, slicing through any of the demonic arms he touched. Duros swung around from the ceiling, unable to be touched by the arms.
Probos watched from the shadows. "Impossible!" He shouted. Kai spotted him and winked, flashing his signature smirked grin. In a matter of minutes, they had completely taken out the arms. Khan launched forward and sliced the totem in half. Each of their spirit swords dispersed into the air and entered their bodies.
"That was amazing!" Huey shouted.
"I only wish Destiny was here to see it." Lance said, looking to the ground. "I still feel as if I failed her." Khan patted him on the shoulder. Each of them felt a slight pain on a different part of their body. Khan looked at his arm to see a dragon tattooed there. Duros looked to his leg, where his was. Dagger looked down to his chest, while Lance touched his neck. Kai winced and pulled up the back of his shirt, barely able to see the large dragon across his back. Everyone looked at Huey.
"Where's your tattoo?" Duros asked. Huey nervously scratched the back of his head. Everyone began to laugh as they exited the dungeon to find a group of guards on either side, led by the king himself. The king looked into the room to see the destruction and the broken totem on the ground.
"You were summoning demons." He said calmly. The group froze. "For this, your penalty shall be death, immediately! The demonic arts are forbidden by the highest of laws. Guards, seize them." Suddenly, the totem pieced itself back together and flew to Khan, who looked intently into its eyes.
Suddenly, Duros grabbed it and held it above his head. "I'll use it!" He shouted. The totem slowly changed into a transparent jewel. He looked at it intently before sneezing, drooping it to the floor. It broke into six pieces. "Oops." Each piece flew to a different member, each of them vanishing.
"Find them!" The king shouted.
Together, they appeared outside the gates.
"Well, that wasn't so hard." Kai said with a chuckle.
"Well, It's not over yet." Khan said. "It's our job to vanquish every demon in the kingdom, but I'm assuming it won't be easy with a new bounty on our heads." He chuckled and scratched the back of his head.
Duros stretched his hand out. "To teamwork." He said. Everyone nodded and put their hands on top of each other before pointing to the sky with a shout of "Hurrah!" Later that week, six new wanted posters were up, each having their code name on them. The bounties now each matched that of the reward for bringing in a dead dragon. It was then that they named themselves The Dragon's Bounty.

"And that's where the rest of our bounties came from." Khan said with a smile.
"What a tale." Aro said. Kai glanced over at Lance, who had his arms crossed and was propped against a tree. Kai walked over to him, while everyone watched in silence.
"What's up, buddy?" Kai asked nervously.
Lance smiled. "You know, I trusted you." He said. He began adding a little chuckle to his speech. "I thought you were my friend."
"What are you talking about?" Kai asked, beginning to slowly back away.
Lance slowly looked up at him. "But all along, I wasn't able to put the pieces together." He began slowly walking toward Kai. "Your ability is fire. A few days before we met you were in Dandrus, the city that erupted in an explosion of flames. Coincidence?" He stopped and stared Kai straight in the eyes. He narrowed his glare. "As I said, if I ever get my hands on that treacherous rogue, there's no telling what I'd do."
"Lance, Wait. We can talk about this." Kai continued to back away. Everyone prepared to protect Kai from Lance. Suddenly, Lance took off at incredible speeds and grabbed Kai's neck, launching off into the sky.
"You'll pay for what you've done to me!" He shouted.