Emrit fell on the ground that shattered into pieces on his landing. There, he placed Mohan down on to the ground and continued walking forward where his two sons, along with Raus Firestone, fought. Arrone, as well as Riot Electura, were still some distance away dealing with the three giants that had come in previously. Though, by now, those giants were almost shrunken into nothing.

But that much didn’t matter to the Lord Stronghold. He looked back to Mohan who nodded in reply. From this distance, her ability would be able to reach him but at the same time, it wouldn’t put her in any real danger. Not that he cared about her wellbeing, of course. He just needed her strength to keep himself from falling apart. As he were now, he would be the same as Eon. Extremely strong as well as very durable.

But of course, he simply wouldn’t let himself be over shadowed by his young son. The boy still had much room to grow. The strange thing about those from the Stronghold family was that while their bodies did grow weaker over time, their strength also grew inversely so. A terrible wicked fate, he always thought.

Emrit took a leap and rocketed himself into the air. He went so far that he could see past the clouds that hovered in the sky. As he descended once more to the ground, he made sure to survey the battlefield.

Eon and Lias were still trying to get the creature’s arm away from the rift while Raus had been fighting with some unknown man. And to add to that, Emrit also made note of the bouncing ball that hopped its way closer to the Rift. The king, too, was on his way to battle.

Emrit smirked. He wouldn’t let himself be one upped by anyone and as he continued falling, he pivoted himself like a missile to aim towards the rift. Closer and closer he came as time passed by and wind rushed along his body. And finally upon reaching the ground, he landed his fist right into the demon’s face to send the monster back into the world of hell.

Wind erupted in a mass to split the skies above in two as Lord Stronghold himself arrived at the scene.

But still, the creature held on to the sides of the rift and sling-shotted his way forward to bare his flaring red teeth at Emrit. The man didn’t even budge as he saw the demon try to bite him like a dog barking out of cage.

“That hurt!” the creature raged as he extended his tongue to spear the man who only motioned himself to the right and grabbed the elongated tongue which, like most of the creature’s body, was nothing but a mass of shadows.

Emrit crushed the tongue easily as the barrier continued to glow around him. He liked this, he liked it very much.

As the shadows dispersed like smoke, the demon pulled back his tongue as more malice seeped into it to heal the damage that had been done.

“You bastard!” the creature continued. “First it was the rainbow boy, then it was that annoying one who’s still hitting my arm and now, here comes another man with brown skin to mock me! Who are you people?”

Emrit laughed, the first time he had done so in many years now. “That’s none of your concern.” He said and pulled back his fist. “But I think it’s about time that you go back into hell.” The man said as he punched the air to blast forth a stormy wind that pushed the demon deeper into the rift. Still, it desperately clung to the sides of the rift.

Then Lias was there to destroy the creature’s left arm while Eon punched the right. And with both arms gone, only the creature’s third arm remained which was still holding the silver man within. But he was forced to throw the man to the ground as he desperately sunk his fist into the ground to keep himself from falling into hell.

And then the creature barred its teeth again, as two new hands made their way out of the rift along with an additional arm that could now fit through the widened break in space. One of those arms sunk itself into the ground as well, and the other struck for Emrit who nonchalantly swatted them away into shadowy smoke.

“You’re resilient, aren’t you?” the man asked as he began walking to one hand that was anchored into the ground.

The man effortless pulled the arm out from the ground and threw it back into the rift. Lias and Eon did the same for the other.

“This time, I’m not going to hold back.” Emrit said and set himself in a stance.

It all happened in the blink of eye. As the creature swung its arms in hopes of clinging on to something, the Lord Stronghold dashed forward faster than the squeak of a bird and before anyone realized, a vortex of wind stretched out its arms and engulfed the world around as the demon was sent soaring far into the depths of hell.

It was over. Emrit looked at the silver man that was now bracing himself against the fury of Raus’ flames. He was all that was left and the Lord Stronghold made his way to that silver man. Whoever he might have been, Emrit intended to find out.

~

Meanwhile, Lady Natura was now standing in front a small rift near the village of Rustal. But she didn’t seem to have any interest in closing it. One of the reasons why she felt this way was because there was no source of bodies to be found anywhere. And secondly, she was intrigued by what she saw within of the rift.

An enormous mass of shadows was blasted into the already dark area. The Lady was able to see this because the creature had glowing red eyes as well as a composition of denser blacker shadows that made its enormous body. That was probably because its malice was more concentrated than the scarce darkness around it. But even so, it was hard to see things clearly even with the little light that peered into hell from the rift in the human world.

The lady decided to enter into the world of shadows and using her light to carry her on a magical path, she ventured closer to the shadow. And from a distance, she began to see another creature hovering in the dark. Perhaps she was able to see these things due to the light that came from the bigger rift which showed signs of a battle within.

And with that light, the woman vaguely made out the silhouette of the Overlord of Hell. The woman dimmed her light to blend into the shadows and immediately began to make her way to the larger rift which she realized would lead her back towards the capital.

She didn’t want to be in here with two creatures such as these. And she had moved too far from the rift that she had used to enter. So now, she skimmed her way along a path of dimmed light towards the larger rift. And when she got there, she let herself fall into the world of humans.

To her surprise, she noticed the Lord Stronghold standing some distance in front of the rift.

“Natura.” The man said. “How did you get here?” he asked.

“I came through the rifts, isn’t that obvious?” the golden skinned woman replied as her brown hair dangled down her back. She continued. “The overlord was in there.” She said quietly as she backed away from the rift.

“What?” Emrit asked with concern. “You don’t mean that he and that thing are working together?”

“I don’t know.” The tall woman replied as she bent down and tore off the bottom of her long white dress. If a serious battle were to occur, then that would just impede her movements. She then used that same piece of cloth to bundle her hair into a top knot. “We should prepare ourselves.” She said as she stood firmly beside Emrit and peered into the rift where she could no longer see anything.

~

“How disappointing?” the overlord sighed as he hovered above the frustrated face of the demon. “And you were the one who threatened to take my place?” the overlord flew with his face down so that he could meet the creature’s eyes.

“Shut up!” the creature reached a long hand of malice to knock the Overlord away.

But Arnos only smiled as he blocked it with a single arm that deteriorated the gooey hand of malice on contact. It faded into black smoke as the creature stretched its neck to try and swallow the Overlord within its mouth.

Arnos yawned as his four front eyes glowed and the creature was repelled backwards by a mysterious force.

“Okay here’s the deal.” Arnos began. “Though you have considerable strength, with the way you are now, you won’t be able to get through that rift.” The Overlord hovered around to inspect the creature, his eyes having been adapted for the darkness. “You’re much too big.” He said as he touched the creature’s face and soon enough, the monster began to fold itself in as the malice that made its body warped into a single spot.

“I can’t have you losing so easily.” The overlord continued to talk as all the malice in the dark cavern began to converge into a single spot. “You’re not a threat to me but you are one to those humans. And while I could destroy them myself, I rather not break the treaty that keeps my people safe.”

The overlord moved closer to the new creature that was being created. “Roy Regelia has something that I want. And I need you to force him to give that to me in return for destroying the rifts.” The Overlord then pulled the creature closer with his right hand and then with a simple throw, the now shrunken creature flew through the rift and into the world of humans. “Good luck.” The overlord smiled and then vanished away.