Chapter 17

Nuclear wiped a bead of sweat that had somehow gotten on his eye. They were all sweating, and not from the exertion. They ditched their cloaks and any extra clothing they were wearing for the night and continued their advance. They were long past any noise and now all that was present was the soft clanking of padded armour and the sound of footsteps on concrete. Now that the demons are dead, the mage-lights slowly started to dim again, until they were only slightly brighter than candles.

As they were walking, another noise made itself heard over the sounds of footsteps. A low humming, like that of an idle engine. The hallway they were in curved, making it difficult to see where the sound was coming from. The various rooms attached to the hallway were empty - again covered with the grey substance, along with what seemed to be ash. The air was still and reeked of burnt wood and flesh.

Finally, at the end of the hallway stood a large double door. Triple the height of an average man, the hallway ceiling had to curve upwards to reach it. The doors, made of metal glistened with the same grey substance that covered the walls. Nuclear and Mat walked up to the doors and started pushing. The door gave way at once, causing a puff of dust to float gently to the floor.

"I was waiting for you". Slayer stood in the centre of a large dome room. From the apex of the room hanged a large chandelier of mage-light. They burned with the intensity of an LED torch, lighting up the room completely with a white light. Due to the nature of the chandelier, Slayer was in the only spot in the room which was dark. All that was defined was the blade of a longsword, poking out of the darkness. A sinister weapon, with flamberge-like waves and a deep fuller. He put up his hand beside his shoulder and summoned a flame, illuminating the side of his face. The non-knights stood back while the knights stood in a semi-circle, facing Slayer. Nuclear, Shadran, Celes, Chip, and Mat.

"Attack!" Nuclear shouted and they all rushed towards the dark spot. Before blade could strike flesh, the horned figure was enveloped in flame and teleported ahead of the party. Slayer lifted his hand, which was aflame, and shot a fireball the size of a small car. The knights jumped to the sides, avoiding the path of the flame. The heat emanating from it was like lifting a grill hood after letting it heat for a while.

Celes was closest to Slayer and he got to her before she could get up. With momentum, he pushed his blade to the ground, straight at Celes. She rolled away. Slayer turned around instinctively to Shadran, who was running at him. He pulled his blade out of the ground and swung it at him. Shadran ducked under the blade, which went upwards. Before Shadran could attack, Slayer used his other hand to summon a wave of heat, powerful enough to cause an explosion, throwing Shadran back. Slayer turned back to Celes, who was stood up. Hearing the sound of running behind him, Slayer teleported behind Celes and struck her shoulder. Not a permanent wound, but she wouldn't be able to use her sword again for now.

Now Chip, Mat, and Nuclear were circling Slayer, who was walking backwards. Just as he was about to fire another fireball, a flash of fur dropped from the ceiling, dropping Slayer to the floor. The knights were shocked for a moment as what seemed to be a human bunny started to punch him in the face. After about 7 hits, Slayer put his hand on Tapu's chest and ignited an explosion. The bunny flew backwards, leaving a trail of smoke and ended up on the floor. Her surprise attack was not in vain. The knights were upon Slayer now, and two had already restrained his arms. Nuclear pushed the flameberge away and stood over him. Just as he was about to plunge his sword into Slayer, when, as expected, he teleported. Nuclear looked up and around while Mat and Chip shook their hands.

Slayer was again standing in the middle of the arena, this time moving his hands in a sphere around a ball of flame, which was rapidly becoming bigger. Celes was sitting down, clutching her shoulder and Shadran was lying still. The dome was silent, except for the humming and the sound of fanning flames from Slayer. Nuclear and the other knights did not move. They just watched as Kalimos and the others snuck up behind Slayer.

Kalimos tapped Slayer's shoulder, and then punched him as he turned around. The ball of flame dissipated into a puff of smoke. He fell towards the floor, where Moozor and Mouzyy walked up and stabbed him before he could react. Slayer's experimentations with demon magic meant that his body started to decay on death. Slowly, chunks transformed into ash and fell into piles, until only his armour was left. The chandelier's lights slowly died, plunging the battlefield into a dull dimness.

While Nuclear and the other knights checked on Shadran and Celes, Mouzyy and the others checked on the stranger. It seems that the explosion singed the bunny, but no more. Landing, however, seemed to have broken a few bones.

"Wait... this looks like Pablo's bunny..." Moozor observed. "See that black mark on the back of the ears?". He flicked the ears so that the mark was visible.

"What happened to Pablo?" Mouzyy asked.

Once they constructed rudimentary stretchers for Celes and Tapu, they left the base. Using a different exit this time, as the main one would be too difficult to scale. They began their journey back to the holy council just as the sun was rising. Birds chirped, unknowing of the battle that had taken place. The Land of L1 was safe.

The End.