Chapter 35: Alliance

"All right, now I’m tired... Where in the world is she?"

Zuru breathed out tiredly. "Would you just calm down..." He looked around again, now worried. "I’m sure she’ll be here any minute."

"We left my beautiful SKAR back there like you said... Yet she hasn’t shown up. Look, we don’t have time."

Zuru was getting fed up. He was about to fire back a reply when...

Boom!

A piece of plank was suddenly thrown at McCoy. McCoy flinched at the sudden attack. Before he could even gather himself, hell, before the plank thrown at him could land on the floor, someone was already flying towards him, their legs sweeping forward for a brutal kick.

McCoy’s eyes widened. He threw his hand over his head as a last, desperate hope of defence. That, however, was what saved him.

The kick landed on his hand. His head was protected, yes, but the force behind the attack sent him crashing heavily to the floor.

"Come on, Zuru, let’s go!" Sarah called as she rushed forward, grabbed Zuru by the hand, and hurriedly began pulling him away.

Zuru had been too shocked to react at first. Somehow, he had thought it was Cirella attacking them. But it was Sarah.

Now, however, he understood what was at stake.

"Hang on... Hang on!" he bellowed, pulling Sarah backwards.

"What are you doing? Let’s get out of here before he captures us again!" Sarah shot back, pulling him harder so they could run away.

"Sarah, stop!" Zuru bellowed. This time, he forcefully pulled his arm free from her grip. "He’s on our side."

At that, Sarah abruptly stopped. Her gaze darted from her brother to McCoy, who was now scrambling to his feet and adjusting his monocle back into place.

"What?!"

Zuru let out a deep breath. "I know what’s on your mind right now..."

"No, you don’t!" Sarah shot back, her chest rising and falling erratically.

Zuru’s shoulders slumped. "Would you just calm down?" he sighed.

Sarah stared at her brother in disbelief. "Wha... I should..." She let out a crazed chuckle.

"Zuru, he nearly stoned you to death! Stoned us to death!"

"Well, we robbed him first!" Zuru’s voice rose too, but apparently, it came out much louder than he had intended.

Silence settled between them first. Then Sarah gave a slow, bitter nod. "Wow."

Zuru exhaled, tilting his head backwards. "Look, I didn’t mean it that way, okay?" His voice softened even more as he calmly walked towards Sarah.

"You know I would never do anything that would harm me, but most especially you... J-just trust me on this, Sarah. McCoy wants to help us. Just hear him out."

Sarah closed her eyes for a brief moment, then opened them again. Her expression had softened a little. "Fine... But that doesn’t mean I’m trusting him."

"You don’t have to," McCoy cut in sharply. The pride and arrogance that his tone always carried were completely gone, and Sarah noticed it. She just didn’t buy it.

"I mean, I wouldn’t blame you." McCoy stepped a little closer. "But there’s no time to talk about personal matters when the young High Prince needs our help."

"Hang on," Sarah cut in, as though she hadn’t heard him clearly the first time. "The young High Prince... You’re not talking about Star, are you?"

Zuru’s gaze dropped to the ground, and his lips pressed together as though he were struggling to find a way to answer without hurting her any further. McCoy noticed his reaction and immediately caught on.

"I’m guessing you didn’t know either."

"What, that he’s a demon? Well, yeah," Sarah replied flatly.

Zuru raised his head. "Sarah?"

"What?" she shot back, her voice suddenly sharp with indignation. "You saw him yourself, didn’t you? You saw how he killed all those soldiers without showing the slightest respect for their lives! Those people were brothers... friends..." Her voice faltered, and tears began gathering in her eyes. "Fathers."

Tears welled up in Zuru’s eyes too, and he quickly lowered his head again, unable to bear the pain in his sister’s voice.

Sarah sniffled, then shook her head. "He lied to us... yet again. About everything. Who he was or what he was." She shook her head again, doing her best to hold herself together. "And it hurt... It truly hurt!"

Silence washed over them again.

This time, however, McCoy calmly stepped closer. In truth, he was in a hurry, but a moment like this deserved to be given its due respect and time.

"I know I’m the last person either of you trusts." He nodded. "But it looks like you could use a hug," he added, his voice carrying a tender edge that finally sent the tears streaming down Sarah’s face.

"God..." she sobbed as she rushed forward and threw herself into McCoy’s arms. Zuru, too, broke down and cried bitterly.

"Hey," McCoy called out with a cheerful smile. "Come in here." He went ahead and joined the hug himself.

"I never believed anything could change me until I met the young prince," he began, his voice quieter now. "Someone cursed with the most deadly demon, yet still selfless and kind enough to show compassion even to people who called him filth."

He held the siblings a little tighter. "I know he’s lied to both of you, his friends, the very people who had come to trust him. But I’m willing to bet that even that was another way of being selfless. He probably thought keeping the truth from you was the only way to protect you."

"It surely can be a bit too overwhelming," he added thoughtfully. "Losing your parents to monsters like him... But trust me, Star is just a lost kid, cursed to his present state and looking for a family that will accept him. Let us, therefore, return his selflessness and be there for him."

He drew another breath before delivering the final words with quiet conviction.

"Because now, he needs us the most."

Sarah’s heart softened at his words. She buried her face against McCoy’s chest and clung to him more tightly, her fingers curling into his clothes as the tears continued to fall.

For a moment, she let herself believe that perhaps Star hadn’t meant to hurt them, that perhaps there was still a part of the boy she had known buried beneath the monster they had witnessed.

She wasn’t ready to forgive him, not yet, but she couldn’t bring herself to turn her back on him either.

She might have stayed in McCoy’s arms a little longer, but then she felt an imposing presence approaching them, one so heavy that the earth trembled beneath its steps. Instinctively, she opened her eyes and saw the dark luragon approaching, its blue eyes pulsing ominously.

She quickly broke away from the hug in pure panic.

Zuru was slightly shaken by her sudden movement too, but when he saw that it was SKAR, he let out a snort.

"Yeah, it’s on our side too."

...

Dante’s scream tore through the night. He felt the darkness of the Soul reaper coursing through his entire body, reaching into places no ordinary weapon could touch.

A tremendous surge of green energy had engulfed him. Even the chain in Vehitoshi’s glowed brighter.

Vehitoshi pulled harder.

But something was wrong.

He was pulling much harder than expected, yet nothing was happening. He planted his feet more firmly against the ground and poured even more strength into the pull, but the result was the same. He wasn’t feeling the familiar surge of energy that accompanied an extraction, nor was he feeling the exhaustion that came with expending energy.

’This isn’t possible,’ he muttered.

He looked from Dante to the chains. Then he closed his eyes and turned his attention inward, examining his own energy first. He had enough fuel. He then turned his attention to Athrax.

That was when he noticed it.

At the end of each chain, where the connection to the curved blade was established, something was missing. A spherical piece of metal. And Athrax needed every piece for the technique to work.

’No, no, no, no!’

But...

"Ha... ha... ha..." Dante laughed weakly, blood seeping from the corners of his mouth. He slowly lifted his head towards Vehitoshi. "You have all the power in the world, yet you’re still weak."

Those words struck Vehitoshi like a hammer to the head.

The veins around his eyes turned blood-red, his glare sharpening with murderous intensity. "Perhaps I can’t rip out your soul," he muttered, "but I can still rip out your heart!"

The smile on Dante’s face vanished, replaced at once by pure panic.

But Vehitoshi wasted no time.

"Yah!" He flicked the chain forcefully. The force rippled through its length, driving the curved blade already buried in Dante’s abdomen even deeper, its tip advancing agonisingly towards his heart.

"ARGH!" Dante screamed, his body convulsing against the wall as blood burst from the wound.

Vehitoshi didn’t even hesitate. He did the same to the chain in his left hand, forcing the other blade upwards until it, too, pierced into his heart.

Dante’s scream grew even louder.

Vehitoshi only glared at him. He could feel the faint, relentless beating of Dante’s heart against the blades.

He tightened his grip on the chains once more.

"Goodbye, King."

He raised his hand, ready to pull out Dante’s heart, but...

SHRRRAAAM!

A torrent of ice came hurtling towards him.

The attack struck Vehitoshi before he could make the pull. Ice surged over his body, swallowing him beneath a mass of freezing crystals. But the beast didn’t stop. More ice piled over itself that by the time the beast finally stopped, Vehitoshi was completely buried beneath a mountain of ice.

McCoy immediately pointed towards Dante. "Skar! Come on, atta boy! Don’t let him escape!"

Skar immediately turned its head towards Dante and sent a stream of ice hurtling towards him.

However, Dante painfully lifted his head towards McCoy and flashed him a bloodied smile. "Its back."

McCoy’s expression changed. "What?"

At that very moment, a tremendous roar of flames ruptured through the air as Dante’s Phoenix finally burst out of the eternal void at incredible speed. Before the ice could slam into Dante, the enormous beast shot towards him and struck him first.

They were swallowed by a roaring explosion of flames. When the flames finally subsided, both Dante and his Phoenix were gone.

"Damn it!" McCoy clenched his fists, his face twisting with anger.

Meanwhile, Skar landed and lowered itself so Sarah, Zuru, and McCoy could climb down.

Sarah looked up at the mountain of ice and let out a long, troubled exhale. "Do you think he’ll survive?" she asked, her voice tinged with worry.

McCoy looked at her, then turned his gaze towards the mountain of ice. Dante’s escape still burned hot in his stomach, but Sarah’s question brought his attention back to the more immediate problem.

He was about to answer when Zuru’s yell reached them.

"I found the ring!" he called out, brandishing the golden ring he had picked up from where Star had taken it off earlier.

Yet he stared at the ring with a raised brow. "Are you sure this is it? I mean, look at the size of this thing."

Sarah turned towards him immediately. "Yeah, it has to be it. I’m sure. I’ve seen it glow whenever he gets angry. I think it keeps the demon within him at bay." Her expression faltered slightly. "Although, I would have been more certain about it if he hadn’t lied to me."

"Fine," Zuru mumbled as he scurried back towards them, the ring still in his hand. He glanced at the mountain of ice, then back at the tiny object. "How exactly do you suggest we put this around his finger? We can’t wait until this entire mountain melts. That could take days, and by then, the villagers might have gathered around. That’s a risk we really don’t want to take." He frowned. "I’d say we break it down."

As if the ice had heard him, a sharp crack rang out from within the mountain.

CRACK!

"Uh-oh!"

Sarah instinctively stepped back, while Zuru tightened his grip around the ring.

McCoy’s eyes widened as he watched the cracks spread upwards, branching in different directions until they reached the very tip of the enormous structure.

BOOM!

The mountain of ice exploded outwards, sending enormous chunks flying in every direction.

Skar immediately rushed forward and positioned its body between them and the incoming debris. Zuru didn’t even know how to express his gratitude. He was just so glad the beast had decided to protect them.

Meanwhile, as the chaos settled, Star stood at the centre of the shattered ice.

His head was lowered, his long black hair hanging over his face. He remained completely motionless.

The only sound that broke the silence was the faint metallic rattle of the retreating chain as it retracted into his forearm.

Then, the green glow surrounding his body gradually began to recede.

A moment later, his eyes returned to their crimson glow, signalling that he was no longer using any of his manifestations and had returned to his ordinary demonic state.

But when he lifted his eyes towards them, Sarah felt her legs wobble beneath her. All her fear came rushing back at once. It was so overwhelming that she couldn’t move.

McCoy, however, was seeing him for the first time, and somehow, he began to question whether he had made the right choice in coming to this battle.

Zuru, on the other hand, swallowed hard. "I think he’s mad."

But Skar was already too terrified to think straight. The moment it sensed Star’s hostility, it reacted instinctively, sending ice racing towards him.

"No!" McCoy yelled, but it was already too late.

Vehitoshi moved immediately.

As the ice came rushing towards him, he dove sideways to evade the attack. He stretched one hand forward, and crimson matter gathered in his palm, rapidly taking shape until it formed a massive hammer with a thick, cylindrical head.

Still in mid-dive, he twisted his body around, redirecting the momentum of his movement into his outstretched arm. Then he swung the hammer with tremendous force.

The hammer slammed into Skar’s side.

BOOM!

The impact sent its enormous body hurtling away from them like a projectile.

Thirty long seconds passed before a distant crash finally reached their ears.

DOOM!

The three could see dust rising at the far edge of Yunbuck Village.

Zuru felt goosebumps rise across his skin. "We’re all gonna die!"

Vehitoshi landed on the ground and skidded to a halt, his feet carving through the earth before he finally stopped. He raised his head and looked at the three humans standing before him.

Without hesitation, he launched himself straight at them.