Legend of Parocaav II: Against the Darkness (rough draft)

Chapter XXXIV: Wrath of the Reaper

Grimm laughs out maniacally as the skies grow ever darker. It doesn't take long before the island is completely enveloped by darkness as if it were in the middle of the night. Tao runs into town, commanding everyone to evacuate their homes and to retreat to the center of the island. Drayk immediately draws his sword and rushes at Grimm. He is unable to get close though, his body is deflected by the darkness.

"You will now see my full powers, Bringers! Now is the time you see the true extent of Shadow Magic!" Grimm yells with excitement.

Roku covers herself in a veil of pure light and attacks Grimm, weapons drawn. The light shields her from the darkness and she gets close enough to slash at the reaper's black robes. He vanishes into the shadows and attacks at the Bringers from all directions with his scythe. All they can do is block the strikes, they cannot tell where he's coming from. Even Grimm's laugh echoes from all directions. The scythe tears across Roku's arm as she tries to dodge.

Blood drips down to her fingertips from the wound. She grasps it with one hand while still holding both her blades. Roku continues to block other strikes while healing herself. Drayk closes his eyes and attempts to sense where Grimm is. To his surprise, he senses him all around. An exact location cannot be pinpointed. He is still able to sense when the strikes are about to happen, just not where the reaper is hiding.

"Face it Bringers! Shadow Magic is beyond you!" Grimm laughs, "Leon never could control it either!"

Frustrated, Roku sends out an electric surge through the darkness. It spreads throughout the darkness and electrocutes even them.

"That won't do Riinah! I am everywhere and nowhere!" Grimm roars out in laughter.

The area gets so dark that the Bringers of Hope cannot see anything before them. Now, even the noise of the island has disappeared. The waves crashing against the shore, the sound of the crowd fleeing the beach, all of it silent. Drayk realizes that they are no longer on the island. Where they are at, he is not too sure of, but he knows they have left the normal world. Now, the Bringers cannot even feel the ground beneath their feet. They're completely suspended in nothingness.

Sparks slightly light up around Drayk as he blocks a strike from the reaper's scythe. He's not able to move much so he's stuck floating in one spot, but he can still protect himself. Roku blocks a strike as well and she uses alchemy to electrify her blades. They put off enough light for her to be seen. Drayk envelops his blade is fire to put off some light as well. Grimm's laugh echoes from all directions as he strikes at the Bringers of Hope continuously.

After several minutes of dodging and blocking, the Bringers are starting to grow frustrated. They have never been so on the defensive. Grimm is just toying with them at this point. Drayk comes up with an idea to free themselves from his grasp. A desperate but viable act, he opens a portal using Cosmic Magic. He concentrates really hard and the portal grows to envelop himself and Roku.

"Nice try Drayk!" Grimm shouts out in laughter, "You need more than that!"

Drayk feels himself losing control of the portal, it's becoming more and more unstable. Suddenly, it implodes then explodes out in a violent eruption. It hits Drayk and Roku, burning their flesh and clothes. Roku casts a healing spell, but it is absorbed into the darkness around them. They cannot heal here and the Bringers are growing more tired with each passing moment. Soon, they will be at the mercy of Grimm, exhausted and unable to continue the fight.

"He's.... letting us drain ourselves dry," Roku pants, "We have.... to stop expelling.... energy."

"This is the coward's way out of this Grimm!" Drayk yells.

Grimm does not reply, just simply laughs. His laugh starts to echo louder and louder. It's not long before it's so loud it pierces their ears. It gets to the point they cannot even hear themselves think anymore. All goes silent and Grimm's scythe slashes at Drayk. The scythe moves so fast it appears as if there are twenty of them or more. Drayk cannot compensate for all of them and gets slashes over and over again. Blood squirts out from the slashes while he screams out in pain.

Roku watches in horror, feeling helpless and not able to interfere. Drayk looks as if the life has been sucked right out of him, blood dripping from several wounds. Anger overcomes Roku, more angry than she has ever been. She can feel her power intensifying and had body heals itself on its own. Images of her vision pass through her mind. They go deeper in detail than she remembers and she realizes the extent of her power from the Goddess.

Roku yells out as loud as she can as her body glows bright white. It gets so bright that it turns the dark realm into a solid white empty space. Grimm now stands out who can't find a shadow to hide in. The light around Roku intensifies even more and bursts out in a massive explosion. The blast shatters the realm into oblivion and even destroys most of the town back on the beach. A giant crater is now where the beach was. Water rushes into it at every rise of the waves.

Drayk's body is sprawled out several yards away and Roku is floating above the crater, still glowing white. Grimm's robes are sizzling with steam pouring from them. His hood has been burnt completely away and his skeletal head is showing. Smoke is rising from his eye sockets and he finds himself unable to move momentarily. He shakes it off and envelops himself in a shroud of darkness. Once it disappears off his body, he is seen with his robes fully intact again. His eyes glow red from underneath his new hood.

Roku attempts to heal Drayk with a spell, but Grimm absorbs it into darkness as he did before. Drayk's breathing is starting to weaken and he loses consciousness. Grimm summons his scythe and strikes at Roku again. She clashes her blades against his weapon with intense speed. Her anger is still at top level and now she is starting to feel worried about Drayk who is bleeding out just a few feet away from her. Grimm is not letting her get close enough to heal him. If she wants to save Drayk, she has to make this quick.

"Settle down now Riinah," Grimm laughs, "I'm just getting warmed up!"