A Hero With/Out Time

Chapter 21: My Demon Lord (Part 6)

I woke in the passage knife in hand. Marley was staring at me confused. My strength gave way. The concentrated chain of repetitive moments I had planned through and through, never failing to do the exact same as before ended. There was no point. He couldn't die. He wouldn't die. The reason for his words, his dismissal of us, the way he seeming dodged every fatal attack, despite the power Lara and the others held... he was like me. Just as in his eyes I couldn't die, in mine he was the same. How was it possible for the two of us to exist in the same place? Was this the Goddess' sick joke?

"Rain?" Taylor's voice whispered next to me. "Hey Rain, what's wrong."

"We... we can't win," the words fell from my lips loosely.

"What do you mean? We haven't even tried," she shook me concerned.

"I... I," I shut my mouth and thought. He already knew we were here. From his words we had already talked before and in disagreement fought, ending his life. So he chose to face us here where we would be surprised and where we couldn't hurt anyone else. He knew he was enough alone. Just like I was determined to win no matter how many tries it took so was he. The problem now was we were at a standstill and one not in our favour. Think! There needed to be a way out of this. If we ran he would find us. How could we end things here?

I stood up as the others came closer. The fated arena just ahead of us and the Demon Lord waiting.

"Ronalt he's too powerful for us to handle," I spoke firmly, not leaving any doubt.

"Rain... why do you say that?" he was perplexed but held a belief in me.

"I saw it, our deaths." I pointed, "Except Lara's."

"What?" she looked at me shocked. "I'd never let that happen!"

"Ronalt we're all holding her back. If Lara was serious she could handle this alone."

For a moment he looked at Lara and then back to me, "You are correct. I have known for a long time it may come to this."

"Exactly." I turned my eyes to her. Sorry Lara but I'm throwing all my hope at you. I could remember the times I had died before her. The pure power that she was restraining. The power that could blow the world away. She couldn't release it, not with us here. More than that I had a faith in her that I couldn't exactly describe. It went past just seeing her in battle or knowing her as Jane, perhaps it was the charisma of the Hero.

"But-but I," Lara's eyes flashed to each of us. "I need you."

"And we'll be here, just not exactly beside you," I replied earnestly. "Ardent we'll buy you time. Create a barrier where the Demon Lord and Lara can be alone. It needs to be strong enough that no bit of mana can come out. Can you do that?" If my theory was correct, it might be able to stop the Demon Lord reviving before this point in time. Magic had to be in play and without mana there was no magic.

Ardent scratched his chin, "Well yes, I do have something I was saving, but where is he?"

"Waiting over there," I gestured to the open stone room.

"I'm not even going to ask how you know that," he breathed out and chuckled. "It'll take me a minute." A minute would be a long time. Even our longest fight with him so far hadn't reached that long.

Earnest held up his sword, "I can distract him for a minute."

"Leave that to me," I pushed his hand and sword back down. "Please."