241. The Pope (I)

Mike raised up his sword, dancing in between the wild tail alongside Snow. Both were in perfect synch, jabbing, crossing, and even disappearing out of sight. Dairen had summoned up a swarm of skeleton from the ground right after, startling the priest and priestess.

“We are under attack?!” One of the priests yelled out in confusion and fear.

Panic raced across the group. They quickly huddled around in a tight circle, summoning up a light barrier around them. Their voices chanted out loudly and with vigor, hoping that the God of Light would listen to their pitiable plea.

The skeletons completely ignored them, heading straight at the giant demon snake. Each one of Dairen’s skeletons were powerful on their own. Even with a simple flick of the snake’s tail, none of them broke apart. They grabbed hold of the demon snake’s tail, holding it in place.

“Did you see that?” One of the priestess asked. She lowered her hand, surprised at what she saw.

“Sis! Don’t stop with the barrier!”

“What? Oh?!” The priestess raised back her hand.

When the priest and priestesses saw this strange behavior, they couldn’t help but be baffled at this outcome.

“Who's controlling the undead?”

“I don’t know, but I’m glad that they are on our side.”

“I agree.”

An angry priest yelled back, “Are you out of your mind? All undead creatures are a blasphemous being. Whoever dares to bring back the dead in such a way is considered an abomination!”

The voices of the people understood what the angry priest meant. “He should be eradicated with the demon!”

“I agree. Such things can turn on us!”

People shouted out in concern.

Snow, who was busy fighting, heard their discontent. The snake smashed its tail at Snow, throwing Snow towards the crowd. She stopped herself with Black Wido, sliding across the ground with Black Widow in front of her. Stopping just a few inches away from crashing into their barrier, she let out a grunt.

“Saintess, you must destroy the undead too!” The priest shouted, warning her of the possible danger. They were shouting and chattering like annoying children behind her. “We have a necromance among us. This could spell trouble! You must kill the necromancer!”

“Shut up!” Snow growled. She angrily spat back, disliking the priest who ordered her what to do, especially when fighting against the demon snake. “Don’t you see how it's helping?!”

“But-”

“Enough! Dairen is our ally. If you guys speak another word about killing him, I’ll make sure that I leave you behind!” Snow spat. She wasn't happy that they were putting Dairen down.

Immediately, the priest went silent. His mood darkened. Even his hand tightened into a fist, but he didn’t say anything. All he could do was keep the barrier around them in place.

A few priestesses sent out a few spells around Snow. A light glow surrounded her, healing her body. Snow glanced over towards the two sisters, who were praying diligently. They opened up their eyes, noticing that Snow knew it was them. Both blushed as Snow nodded her thanks.

A slight glow of joy appeared on both the sister's lips as they gave her a thumbs up to keep fighting.

A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

Nobody had anything else to say to Snow. They couldn’t fight against such giant monsters, and even the soldiers that were with them could barely keep up with a fierce fight. Everyone stayed back to allow Snow, Mike, Levian, and Dairen to continue the fight.

Snow burst forward, Black Widow dangerously glowing green. Everybody who was in her vicinity could feel the dangerous allure of the poisonous blade and shuddered at the thought of what it could do to them if it touched them.

In a zigzag motion, Snow dodged one after another at the spats of poison aimed at her. The demon Snake felt the danger of Snow and did not want her near.

Levian dashed across the Demon Snake’s back. He jumped up onto its head with a few jumps, reaching to the top. He raised his hand as a swirl of black and red energy became a mass of a big ball. Seconds later, he slammed it into the monster’s head.

A crackle of energy turned vicious as it sparked out in a heavy tornado-like power, drilling into its head. With a loud hiss, the snake thrashed around, trying to bulk Levian off its head.

“No, you don’t.” Levian snapped. He pulled out a dagger from his hand, smashing it into the crevice of its scales. He grabbed a hold as tightly as he could, trying not to get thrown off. The energy on the demon Snake’s head became wilder and vicious.

A blast of dark arrows was sent flying from the side, smashing into the side of the demon snake’s face. It threw the demon to the side, causing it to fall onto the ground. Large openings were created from that one hit.

More and more skeletons swarmed around the demon snake in the hope to pin it down.

Snow and Mike took this chance. They couldn’t have gotten any better of a chance.

Both rushed in, sword drawn, smashing into the opening that Dairen had created. Black Widow happily lapped up the blood of the demon’s blood, sucking in every lick as it could. The blade glowed creepily green, becoming more and more potent as seconds passed. Mike’s blade beamed out yellow electric sparks, electrocuting the demon’s brain.

The two clashing energies were too much for the demon snake. It struggled, thrashing around in the hopes of overcoming the pain, but eventually, it couldn't take any more. It let out its last dying hiss and went silent.

Both Snow and Mike were breathing heavily, but they weren’t tired. They looked at each other, smiling at their achievements.

“Nice one.” Mike pulled out his sword, shaking it once to throw off the black blood. “It’s definitely not going to get up again after that.”

Snow pulled out her sword. She could tell that Black Widow had become even more powerful than before, giving its own auric glow.

“You as well.” Snow smirked, pleased that they have succeeded. She was glad that Mike, Dairen, and Levian were finally back. To know that they had her back when fighting made her feel a bit more relief. She wasn’t a hero that could protect everyone. That was impossible. Having an extra pair of hands to help was what was needed. Plus, she couldn’t win the war alone.

With a sizzling hiss, the body of the giant snake started to dissipate. A foul smell of rotten egg followed right after, making Snow and Mike frown.

Eventually, the whole body dissipated, leaving behind a large black gem. Snow walked over, picking up the obsidian gem that glimmered like night. It was a dazzling beauty that the longer one looked at it, the more entrapped they felt.

Even Snow could feel the pull of the gem that was calling for her to use its power.

Dairen stepped out from behind Snow, pulling her out from her gaze.

“Here.” Snow threw the gem at Dairen.

Reaching out, Dairen snatched in the air. “What?”

“You’ll need it more than either one of us.” Snow reassured him. She then pulled out another from their storage, throwing a second one at him.

This time, Dairen fumbled, trying to juggle the two.

“Two?”

“Just one, but the other one was from a different monster.”

“Wait, you don’t need them?” Dairen was shocked at her generosity.

“Nope.”

“Thanks.”

Dairen's eyes glimmered with excitement at the new power that he was given. “I’ll take good care of them.”

“How did you guys get caught anyway?” Snow asked. For all three of them to be hung upside down completely boggled her mind.

“We killed the monster that we were fighting, but after that, another group of powerful demons overwhelmed. Then we got ambushed and knocked out.” Mike spoke, disappointed that he was easily overcome. “Somehow, when we woke up hanging upside down.” He shrugged his shoulder.

“I thought we would have been killed.” Dairen had said honestly. “Even my underlings weren’t enough.”

Snow was taken aback by his statement. To be overwhelmed to the point of his own skeleton not being able to fight back was shocking. Dairen was a one-man army in himself, and it meant something to be taken entirely by surprise.

Silence dangled in the air. Snow didn’t know what else to say.

He then sighed.

“Well then, it seems we are done with that.” Levian walked over whimsically. He wasn’t too bothered by the fight or being hung upside down.

They have walked back to the group of priest and priestess, who finally pulled down their barrier.

“Snow,” Levian called out toward her.

Snow stopped. They lingered behind before they went to the group. “Yea?”

“You know what to do, right?”

“What do you mean?”

“Kill the Pope.”

“Are you sure this is the right choice? How could he have possibly opened the gate?”

“He’s a demon, and yes, I highly recommend it.”

“I don’t know. I don’t feel like this is the right thing to do.”

“Who cares if it's the right or wrong things, he will destroy half the population of the city of Atlantis and continue to kill more!”

“Your vision is only one of the many possibilities. I can change him.” Snow raised up her hand. She didn’t want to murder the Pope.

“No, you won’t.” Levian had said, shaking her head. “It won’t happen.”

“How are you so sure?”

“Because you tried it once, and it didn’t work.” Levian turned his back on Snow. He started to head straight toward the Pope. “If you won’t do it. I will.” in seconds, he disappeared and reappeared in front of the Pope.