Her six protectors

Chapter 39

Aphmau POV

I find my self in a long hallway, the colour red surrounding me. Why is everything in the nether basically red? I swear that when this is over, I'm going to spray paint this nether fortress purple. Maybe Max's hair while I'm at it.

"Don't just walk in! It could be a trap." Speaking of Max, he comes through the portal. The rest follow behind him.

"He is in the room down there, remember?" I point out to him. "Anyway, lets go." We all start walking towards the double doors cautiously, looking out for any traps. Luckily there wasn't any. I look at everybody, taking my sword out, etching them so the same before pushing the door open. There, my father stands, the darkness surrounding him.

"I welcome you, my daughter. It looks like you brought company too." He stands up as I take a few steps towards him. "No matter though. They can just watch." Suddenly, I hear the faint sound of a forcefield going up, making me turn around to see my friends trapped in a transparent, black bubble. They are all slamming against the side but I cannot hear them.

"Let then out." I glare at him, making him chuckle.

"But why would I do that? We are having father daughter bonding time." He says before coming towards me at an inhuman speed, barely leaving me time to jump out of the way. Unfortunately, I now have a hit along my arm.

"If it's a fight you want, then it's a fight you will get." I glare at him before striking at him with my own sword. He dodges and we continue hitting at each other. I summon my hand and slam him into a wall but he somehow makes it disappear back into the dark heart.

"That is where all of my power is. Perfect. You have saved me years of searching. You have made a mistake even showing me this because I can also control this hand that you own." He grins at me. He stand up from the wall and runs back at me. I don't jump out of the way fast enough, getting the sword through my right shoulder. I turn towards the guys who are now shouting. He pulls the sword back out as I drop my sword from the pain.

"Nice hit, But you won't keep me down for long." I glare at him.

"My daughter, you still have the chance to join me. You can fight beside me and we can rule the entire world together. Maybe even the entire universe." He grabs both of my shoulders, making me hiss in pain.

"I will never join you. Not with that dark aura surrounding you." I glare at him before pushing him away and going to reach for my sword. Unfortunately, he knew what I was planning so he kicked it far away from me.

"Looks like you will just have to die then." He runs at me with the sword. Out of panic, I re-summon my hand and slam him to the ground. "This again? You know I can just control it." He smirks at me before slowly lifting it off of him. I concentrate harder and push it back on him but he is more powerful. All I am doing is slowing the inevitable.

"Father, I will save you. I will purify you." I close my eyes and put more strength into my thoughts. I will purify him, no matter what I do.

"What? How is this possible!?" He shouts, making me open my eyes. The black hand is pushing him down. What I also notice is a white hand also pushing him down.

"I will purify you." I remove the dark hand and let the light hand go to his chest, expelling the darkness from him. The darkness floats up into a cloud above him as my father falls unconscious. I let my hand disappear as my friends run towards us.

"Nice job." Sky tells me, patting my uninsured shoulder while Jin is looking at my other, taking some bandages and wrapping it. Max also takes some out and bandages the cut on my left arm, arose giving me his scarf and looking for any other injuries.

"Thanks. Now we just have to figure out what to do with that darkness." I look up towards the small cloud.

"Somebody needs to absorb it." Barney walks up to it, his eyepatch off. He was probably using his future sight to watch what would happen before it did.

"I will do it." Sky steps up to it. "My role is to protect you all." He tells us.

"If you do it then you may not wake up. It will kill you from the inside and torture you into insanity. Are you sure you want that?" Job informs him, finishing my shoulder.

"Yes." He turns to all of us. "Thank you all for staying with me for all of these years. You are all my family and I wouldn't have it any other way. Please don't grieve over me, just continue with your lives. I'm sorry, but this has to happen. Stay safe and protect Jess." He tells us before turning towards the cloud, slowly reaching his arm out to it.

"No!" I shout, pushing him away before putting my own hand into the cloud. "All of this is my problem. I should have permanently purified it but I failed so I should face the consequences. Since I met you guys, it has been my job to protect you all, not the other way around. By doing this, I can finally do my job. I love you guys so much and I can't split any of you apart! I don't know what will happen but please just don't be sad. I love you guys so much and I am sorry." I say before slowly fanning backwards, the cloud gone.

I open my eyes to see myself in a room full of black and white swirls. So is this where I am trapped for eternity?

"No. This is the area between mine and your conscience. When you absorbed me, you joined parts of our mind." A voice says, the black swirls glowing as it spoke.

"Who are you?" I ask, the white swirls glowing as I spoke.

"I am the source of the darkness. When I use to be human, I was named Cerberus." He informs me.

"The Latin form of Greek Kerberos, meaning 'demon of the pit'. What do you mean when you was human?" I ask him.

"Many years ago, before Irene was even born, I was born and given this name by my father. He wasn't a great person. He murdered my mother and then sacrificed me to the demons, years after abuse. This caused me to have no physical form and slowly become evil. I use to be a good human, always feeding the poor and doing anything I can to help others." He tells me.

"Then what made you want to become evil? What caused you to want to kill everybody?" I ask him.

"Because everybody deserves to die! Nobody in this world is good. The shadow lord helped those who were being tortured or who were forced to become monsters, and yet, he didn't do anything to the humans. Everybody deserves to die except for those who are like me! Killed but alive." He exclaims to me.

"I can agree with you that some of this world is evil, but there is also good. More good then evil actually. You have just been stuck in the nether for too long to see it." I look up into the air.

"Well it is too late for that now, isn't it. We are both trapped here until one is killed. I will slowly be driving you into insanity until we both die." He tells me.

"It is never too late." I tell him.

"What are you saying?" He questions.

"Merge with me. You can watch through my eyes as I go through my life. We can even try finding you a physical body. The second I woke up, you have become a part of me. You are family. So, what do you say?" I ask him.

"You would do that for me? Even with the fear that one day, I could take over and destroy what you love?" He asks me.

"I believe you wouldn't want to do that." I inform him.

"I will accept your offer then." Is the last thing I hear as I fall unconscious.