Flames of the Past #8: The Cost of a Hero (Ninjago Fanfiction)

Chapter 33

Everywhere they looked, Sleete's magic flourished. They thought they'd already seen the extent of the Dark Lord's power, but nothing previous compared to what they were experiencing now.

From above, Ronin slipped into R.E.X.'s cockpit and began shooting at Sleete. His bullets made dents in the Dark Lord's shadowy shield that only filled again. A crackling tendril shot into the sky and struck Ronin's aircraft, causing it to spiral out of control. Ronin struggled to retain control, and from the ground, Lloyd watched Laurie fall over as the magic consumed R.E.X.

"Laurie!" he gasped out. Readying his sword, Lloyd ran at Sleete, but the Dark Lord needn't even look at him for another tendril to swat him backward. The green ninja skidded over the grass, choking for breath. The world was knocked out of focus and he looked downward, feeling himself for injury.

Instead, he found his Deepstone armor had ripped in half.

"Lloyd," Kai breathed as he appeared at the green ninja's side, "are you okay?"

Lloyd looked up at his brother in horror, and Kai gasped as he saw his armor. "Oh, no," the red ninja whispered. He whipped around to face the others. "Wait—don't!" he called.

But Cole was already being flung backward by Sleete's magic, followed another moment later by Jay and Nya. Their Deepstone armor cracked just like Lloyd's and Kai observed the battlefield, watching the stretch of the dark power attack their allies left and right. "He's ridding us of our protection," he said.

The entity rattled with Sleete's hysterical laughter. "What to do now, ninja?" he cooed. "What to do?"

What to do? Kai wondered frantically. Their numbers would be useless if they couldn't shield themselves from dark magic. He looked around at the battle, watching the Alliance falter under Sleete's shadowy presence, when only seconds before, it'd been triumphing over their enemies. "We need to take out Sleete," he concluded. "We need to get rid of his magic."

Lloyd heaved himself back to his feet, his armor swinging at his sides. "How? We can't even get close to him!"

Kai stared at the crackling mess before them, at the striking tendrils, at the sparking blades of magic. Step too close and they were shot backward. But the center was what they needed to get to. What they needed to study. Just like... "It's the orb," he saw. "He's put himself inside an orb—just like the one underneath Shillvaron." He turned and placed his hands on Lloyd's shoulders. "We couldn't get close to it. But you could. Your elemental power protected you."

Lloyd's eyes glowed with remembrance, then darkened again. "But my element's gone."

Kai cursed to himself and looked back toward Sleete. "Then I'm fresh out of ideas."

"Use whatever you got!" Marissa commanded as she appeared beside them. Her arms stretched toward Sleete and her fingers swirled with dark magic. "If weapons aren't working, use your powers!"

She blasted the orb and it broke, revealing a clear path to Sleete for a second before it closed up again. Immediately, Kai sped closer and shot fire from his palms. Jay, Zane, and Nya quickly joined in, while Cole broke up the ground underneath the Dark Lord. With six elemental powers tearing through it at once, the orb couldn't regenerate itself fast enough, and Lloyd could see Sleete clearly again.

"His weak spot!" Kai shouted at the green ninja. "Destroy it!"

Lloyd would have to break through the Dark Lord's heavy armor first. Raising his sword, he ran through the messy shadows and toward Sleete.

"Hurry!" Marissa grunted. "We can't hold it—" She broke off with a gasp as she was attacked from behind, shoved to the ground, and her magic withdrew from Sleete's orb.