Ella, Grover, Jamie, and Austin vs Pestillence, Part 2

"Just a little longer…" Ella replies as Conquest's attack continues inching towards them.

Grover, Jamie, and Austin then begin coughing and choking from Conquest's poison gas, but Ella remains strong, as purple sores form across the bodies of her and her comrades. "NOW!" Ella shouts once Conquest's cloud of gas is upon her and her allies. "Demon Seal!" Ella cries, as she negates Conquest's Cursed Power, but much to Ella's surprise…Conquest's poison gas doesn't go away.

"What's…happening…?" Jamie grunts as she drops to the ground, clutching her neck in agony.

"I don't know…I negated Conquest's Cursed Power, so why isn't his attack going away?!" Ella cries as she drops to the ground as well.

"Because you negated my Cursed Power, not the Cursed Power of my attack!" Conquest cackles as Grover and Austin drop to the ground as well. "And now…your Demon Seal has to recharge! For this blunder…YOU DIE!" Conquest then reaches into his pocket, fishing out a small lighter. "Ah…Pestilence, you cheeky bugger, I figured that you'd have one on ya'!" Conquest exclaims.

"Ella…how much longer…?" Austin grunts.

"Just…a little longer…" Ella weakly answers. "Now!" Ella then cries as she focuses her left eye on Conquest's poison cloud. "Demon Seal!" Ella shouts, and Conquest's cloud of poison begins to dissipate.

"Oh no, you negated my attack, what will I ever do?!" Conquest sarcastically replies as he holds his lighter up and flicks it open. The wick of the lighter sparks, as Conquest's lips curl up into a sadistic grin. "Sike."

"POISON PORES: GAS CHAMBER!"

And then…a giant rush of flames bursts from Conquest's lighter. The four Pro Slayers howl in pain as they're caught up in Coquest's mighty inferno, before falling to the ground, soaked in blood and littered with scorch wounds.

"What…was that…?" Grover weakly asks as he coughs up smoke.

 "This is a technique that Pestilence developed, which I stole from him," Conquest explains. "The poison gas that my body produces is combustible, and despite that girl negating, my Cursed Power, wisps of my poison gas lingers in the air. Thus, I used Pestilence's lighter to ignite the remnants of my poison gas and spark an explosion."

"Conquest is too strong…" Jamie coughs. "How do we beat him?!"

"We need to hit Conquest with everything we've got…" August answers. "We have to kill him!"

"NO WAY!" Ella cries. "This is Luis' dad we're talking about! If we kill Conquest …then we kill Pestilence, too! Luis tasked us with "snapping his dad back to his senses," not killing him!"

"THERE'S NO OTHER WAY!" Austin snaps, causing Ella to flinch. "It's either Pestilence dies…or we die. Which would you prefer?!"

"I-" Ella stammers, unable to find the strength to answer Austin's question. "You're wrong," Ella then answers. "There is one more way."

"Oh?" Austin asks. "Enlighten me."

"I'm going to build up a giant mass of Cursed Power, and use it to nullify Conquest's Cursed Power all at once, and hopefully that will bring Pestilence out," Ella explains. "The tricky part is that you guys will be forced to protect me without help from my Demon Seal."

"So we're banking our key to victory on a hunch…" Austin sighs.

"Austin, are you in?" Ella asks as he turns to face her.

"Why not," Austin smirks. "We've gone through crazier and tougher shit than this."

"Well then…it looks like this is Slayer Hachi's Squad smile battle together!" Grover exclaims with a cheerful smile as he folds his hands behind his head.

"Let's go out with a bang!" Jamie exclaims as she pumps a fist in the air.

"Right," Ella replies as she and her allies turn back to face Conquest.

"Oh, are you done with your little meeting now?" Conquest smirks.

"Let's go!"

A rush of orange and red Cursed Power bursts from Ella's body, as Grover, Jamie, and Austin charge Conquest.

"Oh, coming right for me?" Conquest taunts. "Big mistake!" Conquest then swings his poison-coated katana towards the three Pro Slayers, while extending its blade.

"Wormhole!" Grover shouts as he teleports him and Jamie out of the way of Conquest's attack. After teleporting behind Conquest, Grover and Jamie reinforce their bodies with Cursed Power and prepare an attack.

As for Austin, he furiously taps away at his keyboard gauntlet which causes Cursed Power to flood from Austin's feet, spreading across the ground then molding itself into stationary turrets made out of Austin's Cursed Power. "Gunsmith, Gadgets and Gizmos: Remote Operating Turrets!" Austin shouts as he swipes a hand outwards, causing his turrets to begin firing volley after volley of bullets upon Conquest, countering his attack and blasting the demon with bullets.

"Wormhole: Eight-Bit Zoom-Punch!" Grover shouts as he launches both fists outwards, which teleport away from Grover's body, punching Conquest in the back of the head with a burst of bright green Cursed Power.

"Adaptability: Rubber-Iron Wrecking Ball!" Jamie shouts as she begins spinning in a circle while extending her rubber arms, bashing Conquest with her iron skin.

"Gunsmith, Gadgets and Gizmos: Net Cannon!" Austin then shouts as his turrets all at once cease fire, before each turret then launches out a net of Cursed Power, which all fuse together in one giant net, which then wraps around Conquest, keeping the demon pinned in place.

"I won't let you…TAKE MY FREEDOM!" Conquest roars as a rush of poison gas bursts from his body, sending Grover, Jamie, and Austin flying backwards, and infecting their bodies with lethal toxins, just as before.

"ELLA, NOW!" Austin orders as he coughs up blood from Conquest's poison.

"Right!" Ella replies as the orange and red rush of Cursed Power bursting around Ella's body then moves up solely to her left eye, greatly reinforcing its powers. "DEMON SEAL!"

The poison cloud then leaking out of Conquest's body instantly halts, as Conquest's limp body falls to the ground.

"Did I…do it…?" Ella softly asks as she takes a step towards Conquest, but pauses when she notices the body to flinch.

"Don't…come any closer…" Conquest mutters, his voice muffled due to the fact that Conquest is currently laying face down on the ground.

"Parson me?" Ella asks.

"Come…closer…" Conquest then mutters, a little louder this time. And then, Conquest places both hands on the ground and picks his upper body up. And when he does, Ella's eyes widen. The left half of Conquest's face remains the same, while Conquest's right eye has turned green and purple, like Pestilence. The left side of Conquest's lips are curled up in a sadistic frown, while the right side is curled down in distress.

"DON'T COME ANY CLOSER!"

"COME CLOSER SO I CAN KILL YOU!"

Pestilence and Conquest respectively cry at once.

Ella gasps as she hops backwards.

Slowly, the right Pestilence half strains his arm up, pressing the blade of his katana to his throat. "Luckily…we're right handed…" Pestilence grunts as he begins digging the blade of his katana into his neck.

"ARE YOU CRAZY?!" Conquest cries. "You'll kill us both! Is killing yourself truly worth it to steal my freedom?!"

"IT'S NOT ABOUT STEALING YOUR FREEDOM!" Pestilence roars. "It's about stopping you from hurting my family anymore!"

"I won't…let you…" Conquest grunts as he fights back against Pestilence's reign, attempting to resume full control of their body. But Pestilence holds on tight, and digs the blade of his katana further into his neck, which begins dripping with blood.

"Ella Calia…" Pestilence grunts, his teeth grit in concentration. "I can't hold Conquest back for much longer, and I don't have the strength to kill him myself…I need you to kill him for me!"

"Kill him?!" Ella yelps. "B-but…I can't do that! That'll kill you, too!"

"Don't think about it that way," Pestilence grunts as Conquest knocks the katana out of his hands, which clangs to the ground out of Pestilence's reach. Ella scrambles over to the katana and snatches it off of the ground. "Think about it…as my death being a noble sacrifice to defeating one of the Four Horsemen!"

"I CAN'T DO THAT!" Ella cries. "Luis just got you back, and…I can't bear to see him lose anyone else! Do you know what it'll do to him if you die too?!"

"Luis…knows that killing me is the only way to stop Conquest…" Pestilence grunts. "You didn't look into his eyes when he told you to stop me, but I did! My son…is willing to do whatever it takes for Luis Tramontana to remain as his father, not Conquest! And if me dying is the only way to regain control of this body…then so be it!"

Ella gulps.

"TAKE MY KATANA AND STRIKE ME DOWN!" Pestilence booms.

"I WON'T LET YOU! DO YOU KNOW HOW LONELY I'VE BEEN, COOPED UP INSIDE ALL THESE YEARS, NO ONE TO TALK TO?!" Conquest wails. "YOU KNOW HOW LONELY I'VE BEEN WHEN MY OWN BROTHER ABANDONED ME?!" A rush of poison gas then escapes Conquest's body, but Pestilence counters by releasing his own cloud of poison gas, negating Conquest's. Pestilence then reaches his hand and begins strangling his own neck, while Conquest fights back by punching Pestilence with his hand.

Ella trembles as reinforces Pestilence's katana with red Cursed Power. "Strengthening Wave…" Ella shudders as she brings the katana above her head. "This is…a lot heavier than I thought…"

"ELLA, DO IT!" Pestilence booms.

"NOOO!!!!" Conquest cries.

Ella sniffles, and wipes the tears from her eyes. "I'm sorry…Luis…" she softly says.

Pestilence slowly closes his eyes.

Conquest screams and begs.

And then…Ella swings the katana downwards.