Alex growled as the snake grew wings and seemed to adapt against his attacks. He cast another spell, creating a dozen
magical troops. The soldiers were created by an advance technique, but Alex doubted they would last long against the beast. Still, they should be able to hold it off for a while, as they could shoot and manipulate electricity.
As the dozen warriors attacked, he placed his hands together and began chanting a holy prayer. A golden ball, about the size of his fist appeared between his hands. Alex continued chanting, and slowly, but surely the ball of pure light magic continued to grow. When the ball of light energy reached to a point Alex could not control it, or when the last of his summoned warriors fell, he would unleash the ball of pure, concentrated light energy.
The beast began to fight with the animated soldiers, fiercely tearing them to pieces and freezing them in dark glass. Suddenly, a flash of powerful blinding light blasted it and it screamed in pain. But the cold of the room soon began to overwhelm the light, and the basilisk was left intact. It was, however, badly injured, and collapsed, coiling up into a ball and hiding its burned face beneath its body. The creature made no further movement aside from some occasional spasms of pain. Alex could attempt to reengage the beast, or proceed to the final room. Either way, time was running out, Mickal would soon be unstoppable, regaurdless of what he did, he was wasting to much time!
-----------
Mickal's mere presence bent the beams of energy away now, they could not even touch him, and his body and produced horrible snaking tendrils of dark energy which sought out life to sap. Already they were moving outward in every direction, aiming for civilization. Soon they would reach the town, and then the elven slaves, and then D's home. Soon, nowhere would be safe to run or hide! D and Hoods would be running out of spells at this point, and being so close to the creature felt like standing in a freezer, even with sheilds on. The ground around them was an alien landscape of ice and obsidian which spiraled ever upward into wicked towers. The whole world would be like this if they could not stop Mickal! Time was almost up!
Alex used the summoning spell again, and left the solider to surround, and attack it with bolts of lightning if it arose. As for himself, he ran to the final room. He could feel in his heart things were worsening, so he used all his speed to get to the door, and into the final room to stop whatever dark things were taking place.
The door gave way and Alex entered the room, and found a chamber much older than those around it. In fact, this may have been the reason the mansion was build here. Hundred of chains hung from the walls, ceiling and floor, all wrapped around a hanging central...something. Whatever was in the center of it all was completely hidden in a cocoon of chains. Large black wings hung out from either side of the chain coffin, and blood dripped from each link. A Circle of magic surrounded it, siphoning its energy out to Mickal. The circle could not be erased or destroyed, not quickly enough to stop him. The only way to stop his horrible rein was to either destroy the chains and release the source...or alter the circle and channel the power into himself.
Could Alex's humanity survive the darkest magic? Dare he attempt to control what even now threatened to end all life? Could he do it correctly or in time? Dare he release the original possessor of the darkness? Would he release one monster in an attempt to stop another? Alex was out of time, he had to do something, and he had to do it NOW!
As Masters of Magic, our mission is to bring balance to an unbalanced world. Evil outnumbers good, as the natural state of the heart is evil. It is easy for one to take the choice of evil, rather than good. To be on the side of good, one's heart must be strong, and unwavering. A Master of Magic never wavers, never hesitates. They act on their feelings, and their duty. Their mission, to balance the world, by weakening evil, and giving strength to good.
Those were the words D told him, as he was tortured. He told him the first Master of Magic uttered those words to his apprentice. She would then pass on those words to her apprentice. And so on, and so on. This was the mission of the Master of Magic. To balance the universe, by bringing in good to weaken evil.
Alex did not hesitate as he began his spell. He would alter this dark circle, and take in whatever beast lied inside! He doubted he would live through it. But he would rather die, than know you endanger the world, or rather, endangered his girls... His three special girls, the girls who caused him so much pain and joy...
"Tiff....Lillia....Neko..." Alex looked up at the dark chains and held his hands high as he began to alter the circle. "Do your worst, oh great darkness!" he yelled as his eyes glowed cyan.
Suddenly, Alex was plunged into Darkness. The sensation was not unlike falling into a pool of ice water all at once, and his soul nearly froze. But something shielded it, something...within the blackness. The energy funneled into Alex and overtook all but his very soul. His body changed, his magical power burned away to nothing, the all consuming darkness took it all for its own, and Alex knew pain like never before. He was nearly one with the evil, he could not see, could not sense. Blind, numb, deaf, a worm, a snake, nothingness. Several times it threatened to overwhelm him, and each time it was turned back, but by what, Alex could not know.
And then he was changed....
--------------
Outside, D and Hoods would be at the ends of their strength. The overbearing power of an apocalyptic seal could not be denied. Mickal was about to simply finish them off, using his new found terrible powers, but suddenly...they ceased. He retained what power he had, but no new power came to him. A spire of black energy erupted from the tower then, and
Alex ascended into the sky, his form changed by the dark power. A huge basilisk followed behind him, and coiled protectively around Alex, hissing at Mickal. The Basilisk was a symbol of the dark power, and it chose Alex over mike, it chose balance over chaos, as it was tasked to, as was its nature.
But Alex was barely Alex any longer, his soul just barely able to hang onto its mortla tether. For now he retained his will and sanity, but that could change at any moment. He would need to work fast if he wanted to defeat Mickal before the darkness overtook his soul.
"...Who is that!?" D asked the blue orb.
"Your apprentice. Though, on a risk of sounding cheesy, it seems the apprentice has surpassed the Master," Hoods commented.
Alex did not hesitate, as he charged forward and fired a bolt of black lightning at Mickal. Instead of hitting him directly though, the bolt shot into three separate parts, one going around his left, the other his right, and the final going over his head. All three were aimed at his back, and whether or not they hit mattered little to Alex. The giant being delivered a powerful right hook, one that had a powerful black flame appear over it, that burned with the concentrated power of a dozen blue suns.
Mickal was not so easily bested, and his own black tendril shot out to destroy Alex, stopping his lightening and moving to intercept him. But the Basilisk move before him and took the blows, crying out in pain and falling from the sky as its life force was sapped. But Alex had arrived and his primary attack landed, shattering Mickal's barriers and striking home. The shadow beast screamed a terrible inhuman sound and punched back, crushing Alex between its chest and fist, its punch being just as powerful, and yet cushioned by some unknown force.
Alex groaned as the punch hit him, but this only raised his will to fight. A black glow took his hands, and suddenly a large spiked mace appeared in his right hand, and a giant, round shield in the other. Alex brought the mace down upon Mickal, but it did not matter if it hit or not, as the mace would suddenly explode with shrapnel shooting out of explosion, though Alex was able to save himself, D, and Hoods with his shield.
Whether saving the other two was on purpose, was unknown.
The explosive force of the mace knocked Alex away from Mickal and ripped into the shadowing tissue of his opponent, shearing off large chunks of flesh. Mickal cried out as he bled streams of darkness into the ground.
Take back the power...
Mickal turned back toward Alex and struck out with his fist, which became a huge bladed arm, trying to slice Alex in half.
Take back what was stolen...