Chapter 5 - Into the overlord's kingdom

Evan was the first to attack with his clouds from a distance, sending the hardened fists to attack a giant shadow wolf that stopped in front of them. It hardly did anything and the wolf continued charging at the wagon. Next was Blyke who sent a charging beam of lightning straight for the wolf's mouth, which had been opened to display its terrifying red teeth. Smoke came from its mouth as Rill then sliced at the beast with water as the wagon dashed by it. Of course, it wouldn't die. There was far too much malice here and soon the dark substance sunk into the wolf and healed its wounds.

Next came two giants from each side and Maya was the first to intercept the one on the right. Her power allowed her freedom like no other and it was for this reason why she was called the greatest Aerite since the first ones. And with her magnificent winds, she slashed and slashed at the giant's foot until it fell to the ground, right on its face.

Teya, on the other hand needed some help on her side. Though she tried her best, her flames would not go any further than a few meters away from her. "Damnit!" she yelled and seeing her dismay, Lelita took it upon herself to channel a beam of golden light to target the creature in its eye. It groaned in pain as it covered its right eye that had been shot and then in a rage, it continued to charge at the wagon. But not before Evan conjured a cloud to wrap around its foot and hold it in place for a mere second or two so that the wagon could to get away.

They were also numerous other smaller human like beasts striking at the wagon from the sides as the group dashed through the malice filled area. And it was Silva who had been slicing away at these small creatures as they went on at incredible speeds.

And all the while, Marcus was shooting shards to the front, clearing the way for the wagon to proceed.

"My, oh my. How strong you all are?" Skull jones yelled as he continued to laugh. Whether that was from excitement or fear, Evan still couldn't tell. But that wasn't too much of a concern for him. So he returned his attention back to beasts that sought to hold them in place and to counter, the boy conjured more clouds to keep them away.

But despite all that, he couldn't help noticing that Teya could not shoot her flames. Not only that but it always formed a shape of a ring around her or in that one case when Blyke tried to hit on her, her flames would form multiple rings which would come together to create a dome to shield the girl. Her power was most likely defensive in nature and for that reason, it would not be much use in long distances. But Evan thought about another use for it and he asked the girl:

"Teya, do you think you could make a ring of fire around the wagon?"

Teya looked at him and said. "Well, probably." She then said with a sad tone. "At the very at least, my power should reach that far."

"Then do it." Evan replied as he shot a fist towards a small creature that had slung itself on to the side of the wagon.

Then Teya did as she was told and a ring of fire surrounded the wagon as it went on. With that around it, Evan and Silva had not more need to strike down those beasts that emerged from below and tried to grab on to the cart. The blade -like flame would deal with them.

"Keep it going." Evan ordered and then looked to the sky above where a great black bird was diving towards them.

Lelita shot another beam towards its wing but that didn't stop it and the creature continued still. Then it was Maya who blew a great wind towards the monster who flapped its wings as it came to a halt. With such strong wings, it would be hard to come any closer. And then Lelita continued to shoot more beams of light until the creature crashed into the ground below.

Then, a huge clawed creature dug its way out from the ground and appeared right before the cart. Rill, in response, swung a watered tentacle around the mole-like creature's leg and pulled it to the side, flinging the creature out of the carts way. Evan noticed that when the blue haired boy did so, his other hand had sunk into his side to compensate for the length of the tentacle. But when the elongated arm returned to him, his other arm soon grew out.

They could see light now. Almost they were there, and yet they were so many beasts waiting in their path. They kept on fighting and eventually they emerged out of malice to ride forward until they were at a safe distance away. Then, they stopped near a cluster of trees and vines, somewhere in the middle of the barren landscape that they were now in.

They were all exhausted by now and panting heavily. Each one of them was lying down in the cart (though in Evan's case, he lied comfortably in a cloud.) and sought to catch their breaths. Though Blyke was quick to recover as he gulped down some water and immediately took out a few sandwiches that had been prepared for him.

"Well that was fun." He said as he munched into the bread.

"Shut up." Teya said as she continued gasping.

"Oh common, it wasn't that bad. Right Evan?" Evan too had recovered somewhat and now he was drinking some water while he sat up on his cloud.

"Shut up." Evan replied the same.

Soon, the others too caught their breaths and began to eat while Skull fed the horse. Whatever it ate, Evan didn't know and neither did he care enough to find out.

~

Marcus got out of the cart and walked through the small cluster of trees to the other side. There he could see the majestic red kingdom of the overlord. It had walls surrounding it that must have been at least fifty meters high and on those walls were demons posted on watch. They were also those demons that flew around in surveillance, as well as the two enormous blue ones that stood in front of the gates.

If someone were to try and break into there, it would be quite a pain. And that person probably wouldn't return alive. But luckily, the group shouldn't have the need to invade the kingdom. Since they were here as representatives of the humans, attacking them could mean war. And even a demon lord wouldn't want that.

~

So off the group continuing towards the kingdom through the remaining barren lands. As they did so, they noticed several flying demons eyeing them well while preparing themselves to attack at any position. But thankfully, they got there in one piece. Whether that was from sheer luck or if the demons actually saw the crests on their coats, wasn't something that they knew. Regardless, they were thankful.

And when they arrived at the Kingdom's gate, Marcus hopped out of the wagon and walked up to the big blue demons in front of him. Though they weren't as large as the malice composed giants, they were much more muscular and unlike the malice beasts, they had a solid form. In other words, they would hit much harder.

Evan watched from afar as Marcus continued to chat with the creatures and eventually, the man returned as the huge gates opened and the guards stepped aside. Then, at a much slower pace, the horse moved onward, pulling the wagon into the kingdom.

The inside was much like a typical medieval kingdom with the exception that everything was redder and had a demonic twist to it. One such twist was the abundance of one ugly statue that decorated the streets and buildings all over. When Evan asked about it, Skull Jones replied with his usual manic demeanor. "Well, well, a good eye you have. Those statues are that of the first demon lord and consequently, the first overlord of hell. The current overlord is actually that demon's twenty second grandson. A line which you might think short but you have to remember that a demon lord's lifespan is much, much longer than a typical human."

And with that brief history lesson, the wagon continued. Things were going quite smoothly and it would have been nice if it continued that way. But sadly, a red fire soon descended from the skies and aimed itself at the wagon. It had reached so close to the group that if not for horse who blazed in flame himself and dashed forward, the wagon would have been all but destroyed.

Following that fireball came another demon who wore a pair of crooked glasses along with a rather nice suit that he dusted off as he landed on the ground. Then without even asking questions, the demon dashed forward into the wagon and sliced his hand for Marcus' throat. This time, it was Rill who saved the man by pulling him backwards and then sending a fist of water to the demon's face. He barely flinched for a second before he struck another fist. But Marcus was now ready and sent several shards into the demon's body. Then, Evan engulfed him in clouds to send the demon floating into the sky. Next was Maya and Lelita who sent slashing winds and beams of light, respectfully, towards the demon in the sky.

But despite all that, the demon appeared behind the wagon with his hands casually held behind his back. He had moved so fast that Evan hadn't even seen when he dashed to the ground. And as for the cloud the boy had conjured, it was now gone entirely. How the demon had done that, Evan didn't know.

"Well aren't you humans rather intrusive." The man said grimly. "I don't know why you're here but do know it means death." Then from the man's hand emerged a cloud that was now filled with malice and formed into a fist. This time, there was no saving the wagon as the fist slammed into it and shattered the cart into pieces. But not before, all of its passengers jumped out to safety.

"Hold on." Marcus pleaded. "We're am-"

The demon didn't listen and the darkened cloud only came towards Marcus who was saved by Evan who pulled him away using a cloud of his own.

"How's he doing that?" the boy asked. "I'm fairly certain that he's using my Gift." As the boy said that, the cloud soon dispersed like smoke from a fire.

"I don't know." Marcus said. "But it doesn't seem as though he can use it forever." The man said as he rained shards down on to the demon, who held a hand out in defense. Then a milky like substance encapsulated the shards and they disappeared from view. And without even moving a muscle, the demon returned the shards, now filled with malice, towards the two floating in the air.

Evan gritted his teeth and made a wall of hardened clouds in front of them, successfully blocking the attack.

"Pesky ability." The demon said. "I suppose I'll deal with the others for now." He continued and then focused his attention on the remaining Gifted who were still on the ground.