The Dragon's Bounty

Chapter 25

          Dagger was the first to arrive at the castle entrance, the drawbridge dropped. He spun his sword around in his hand, changing his arm guard to its staff form.
           Khan jogged up next to him. "So what's the story?" He asked. Dagger shrugged. Aro landed next to them, putting a few cracks in the ground. "You got an upgrade." Khan said.
            Aro smiled. "I prefer 'enhancement.'" The knights and Andrew sprinted up behind them. Huey landed beside the group and moved his water blade around. Lance smashed into the ground, a stoic expression on his face.
          "Lance, your wings." Dagger said. Lance nodded.
           Duros marched up into the rear. "Anyone seen Kai?"
           Khan looked at Lance. "You guys went the same direction." Lance stood stoically, staring straight forward.
          "I'm glad you all could make it!" Everyone looked to the other side of the bridge to see Probos there, the table with Emma on it floating behind him, the orb still continuing to grow.
          "Well, hope Kai gets here soon cuz it's about to go down." Huey said.
           Dagger knocked on Duros' shoulder. "What happened to you?"
          "Long story." Duros said, his eyes not moving.
          "Andrew, when did you get so buff?" Khan asked.
          "I'll explain later." He said. Khan nodded and looked back to Probos, who was still smiling.
          "You may have defeated my team, but even as one, you can never hope to defeat me. I have power gifted to me from Almighty, as we lower levels call him. The Great One himself gifted me some of his strength. That is why I was in charge of that group of insolent bugs." Everyone fell into an attack stance, ready for the fight ahead. Probos began glowing with dark energy. His body began distorting and changing, growing to strange proportions. He became a large demonic wolf with four bat wings on his back. He howled into the air, shaking the ground with the force of his voice. "Now, mortals, prepare yourselves for the fight of your lives!" He lunged across the bridge at the group of rebels before him. Dagger put up a magic barrier, only for it to be shattered. "Your dark power is nothing compared to mine!"
           "Then taste some light!" Elliot shouted as he took a swipe at Probos' leg.
           Probos howled in pain as his wound began to steam. "But how?! You were able to penetrate my darkness?!"
           Elliot smiled and motioned to Andrew. "Call it an encouraging song." He said as he jumped out of the way of Probos' spiked tail.
            Khan leapt into the air as his eyes gave off sparks. "Divine Smite!" He shouted, swiping his sword downward. A huge lightning bolt came down and struck Probos in the back. Duros walked forward and punched Probos in the nose, causing him to stagger backward and whimper.
          "His weak spot is his nose!" Duros shouted. Everyone nodded and began aiming for Probos' nose. Aro was thrown aside by a wing, Ethan knocked back by the swipe of Probos' large paw. Probos whipped around and tail-whipped Lance aside. Dagger took a swipe at Probos' nose but was a bit too slow. Probos grabbed him in his teeth and slammed him on the ground.
           Khan punched the side of Probos' head, causing him to drop Dagger. "No one uses my friends as chew toys." He said, pulling Dagger to his feet. Lance charged in with a battle cry, his sword blazing red at the ready. He took a swipe at Probos' face, but didn't seem to do much damage.
          "We need an edge!" Aro shouted, punching Probos in the face before being thrown back by a thrash.
           Alexander looked down at his hand. "I think I've got something."
           Khan jumped in front of him and blocked a tail attack. "Whatcha got?" He asked. Alexander smiled and held his hand out toward Probos, focusing hard on activating his magic power.
           Huey dug around in his pocket before smiling."Use this!" He shouted. He threw an object through the air. Alexander caught it and looked closely at it before the gemstone shot to his chest, melding itself into his armor. He felt a rush of power and held his hand out once again. A large triangle shape began emerging from Probos' side. Probos noticed this and turned to see Alexander. He lunged at him. Khan stepped in front and crossed his arms in an X fashion. As soon as Probos struck him, Khan split the X, sending a surge of electric power forward, knocking Probos a few feet backward. The large triangle finally broke loose of Probos and shot toward Alexander. It entered his hand and Alexander fell to his knees in pain as black lines grew on his face.
           Dagger jumped over to him. "Don't let the darkness consume you. Use it for yourself." Alexander nodded as he fought back the pain and the darkness. Lance turned and sliced Probos' ankle, leaving a glowing red slit.
          "Whatever it is, keep it up!" Ethan shouted, repeatedly stabbing and slashing at Probos' leg before he was kicked aside. Lance flapped his wings to zoom backward before the same happened to him.
          "Enough!" Probos shouted. "You took something from me. I want it back." He looked down at Alexander.
          "Everyone, protect the knight at all costs!" Khan shouted. "But, like, also attack the wolf when you're not doing that." Everyone nodded and jumped into action.
           Huey did his water wheel attack, shredding into Probos' back. "Haven't done that one in a while." He said with a smile. Lance fired beam after beam of energy wherever Probos couldn't see him.
         "Insects!" Probos shouted, biting at Lance, who slashed his face with one of his wings.
          Dagger jumped up and raised his sword. "Screw dark ranks!" He shouted. He launched a downward stroke, slicing Probos' eye. Probos shouted out in pain as he shook his head. Dagger smiled and took another slice, this time aimed at Probos' nose, which was cut clean off.
         "But how?! How are you beating me?!"
           Aro grabbed Probos' ear and looked him straight in the eye with a smile. "We're The Dragon's Bounty, baby." He punched Probos as hard as he could, sending him back into the bridge. Probos rolled over and looked around at all the warriors around him.
           He grinned. "I noticed one of you is missing. You, pixie, I wouldn't think you know anything about that, hm?" Everyone looked over to Lance.
         "Lance, you didn't." Dagger said.
         Lance's eyebrows rose. "No, no. Wait."
         "Did you really?" Aro asked.
         "How could you?!" Duros shouted, punching him in the arm.
         "Guys, he's trying to get under our skin, split us up. There's no way Lance actually did it!" Huey shouted.
         "Huey's right. Look at that smug grin. He's clearly messing with us." Khan said.
         "On the contrary." Probos said. He focused on Lance, a small purple orb floating out from his head. From that orb, a screen appeared. The screen displayed Lance's view on slicing Kai's head off while he knelt on the ground. Everyone looked at Lance in shock.
          "No." Khan said.
          Lance slumped his shoulders. "I did it." He said.
          Andrew grabbed his arms and picked him up. "What were you thinking?!" He shouted. Before Lance could answer, Probos sent out a wave of energy and sent them all flying backward.
          Khan pointed at Lance. "We're coming back to this." On Khan's face was a look of pure disappointment and anger, completely in contrast to his regular smiling self. He looked to Duros. "Can you do Binding Thread in your condition?" He asked.
           Duros slowly shook his head, making the sound of two rocks sliding together. "I cannot move fast enough."
           Khan nodded. "Then I guess we're just gonna have to be really precise. Everyone, hit his eye!" Everyone took aim at Probos' eye as he walked toward them. "Fire!" Khan shouted. Everyone released their magic, Aro throwing a javelin he found on the ground. Each attack hit, causing Probos to move backward as he howled in pain. With both of his eyes out of commission, he decided to revert back to his regular demon form, which had both its eyes.
           He grinned. "So you diverted my wolf attack. But how do you stand against this?!" He spread his fingers around, sending out a beam of energy to each of the ten of them. They were wrapped in dark energy and brought closer to Probos, who smiled. He looked back to see that the dark orb floating above Emma had solidified into a totem. He sent out a pulse to each of them, dropping them on the floor, none of them moving an inch. With the totem, Probos rose into the air as he dropped the table out of the sky, letting it shatter on the ground as Emma lay there, unconscious. He laughed hysterically as he floated into the sky with the totem of darkness emanating with pure power and a low laugh of its own.