Into the fields of Summer - 101. The First General 3 -reupload

Three hooded figures were slowly approaching us, faces partly hidden behind dark cloth over their heads. Their approach was slow, cautious, measured, yet had an air of confidence at the same time.

My skin was tingling and I suddenly found it hard to breathe, my head was also starting to throb in pain.

I immediately raised mental shields around my team and the newly rescued Anami. “Sarah ... Chase, watch over these three, they’re not fit for combat, let me, August, and Victor handle the rest,” I said to the vampire and werewolf agents of our team.

“Yes sir,” replied Sarah, she’s a skilled agent and an apprentice in Stratos, Chase on the other hand is a deputy at one of the packs in New York.

“Be careful,” I whispered to the rest of our team.

“Something feels off,” Victor remarked.

“I agree, they feel very different,” August said, as he readied himself for combat.

“If my suspicion is correct, I believe they’re demons,” I grimly said.

I can’t believe we’re fighting against real life demons this time around.

The demons were still slowly approaching us, they certainly did not seem to feel threatened by our presence. The hooded figures took their time, their footsteps failed to make any sound in the snow, that immediately told me these three were more than skilled in combat and adept at concealing their presence.

“What do we have here?” sneered the female demon on the left. She was a few inches shorter than me, with a slim build, her voice was filled with vitriol and the deep angry chuckles from her partners were just as disturbing.

“You must have a death wish, entering our domain,” said the male demon in the center. His build was similar to that of August, muscular and large.

“Then it’s a wish we shall give them brother,” said the male demon on the right, his stature was more like that of mine and Victor’s. Hoods still hid their faces but with them now being 12 to 15 feet away from us, I could catch glimpses of their features.

“Hmm, I believe you have something of ours?” said the large demon, as he pointed to the clearly weak and shaken Anami that we’ve rescued.

“They are our friends,” August replied, “They are not yours to claim or own. You will pay for what you’ve done!”

“Hahaha! What confidence, such a fighter, we will show you how weak you truly are, the world is ours for the taking, you are nothing but a distraction,” the female demon said.

The male demon on the right lifted both his hands and purple orbs of energy started to form. The orbs radiated an immense amount of energy, instead of heat, what I felt was a wave of emotion emanate from them, instead, they were full of anger, hatred, and sadness.

The two other demons formed orbs of their own, that only amplified the negative energy in the area.

“Chris, are you okay?” Victor asked with concern, as he noticed me becoming visibly disturbed with the waves of various emotions filling the air.

“Can’t you feel it?” I asked, my voice growing weaker by the second as my muscles slowly lost their strength.

“What do you mean? Chris, get a hold of yourself, we need you,” Victor said.

I immediately formed a strong energy shield around us, and the effect was almost immediate. The waves of sadness and hatred that were starting to consume me disappeared.

I let out a deep sigh of relief, as I started to feel better.

“Ohh, an elf?” said the male demon.

“You would be a great addition to our collection of pets,” added the female demon, as she threw purple orbs towards us.

With a loud thud and crackle, my shields easily deflected the energy blasts.

“Impossible,” remarked the larger demon, as he and the other demon threw their own orbs.

Their four orbs were easily deflected, as the dust settled, there was a look of utter shock on their faces. It’s clear, they did not expect my shield to be that strong.

“Again!” The female demon shouted as she, along with her partners conjured orbs one after another and threw them at us.

Bright flashes of purple light flared into the dark sky as their orbs made contact with my golden-silver energy shield.

“How is this possible?!” came from one of the demons.

The larger demon enveloped himself in a purple aura as he leaped, launching himself against our barrier for an attack. When he made contact with our shields, he was grimacing in pain as he struggled to claw his way through our protective bubble.

The two other demons pulled out small guns and infused their bullets with demonic energy, we could all clearly see, the bullets flash in green and purple light as they fired at us.

The demon clawing on top of our shield was frustrated with his lack of progress and jumped away from us to join his partners. “You’re no ordinary elf!” He sneered.

“Who told you I was ordinary?” I smugly replied, as I conjured whips of bright energy and launched them against the three demons.

The female demon found herself wrapped in coils of my energy, while the other two were able to dodge my attack as they jumped several feet away from us.

The smaller male demon let out a loud guttural groan, as he materialized black flames on his hand.

“Cozak, don’t!” said the larger male demon.

“They leave us no choice brother,” Cozak said, as the black flames started to spread from his hand towards his body.

“This will kill you!” The larger demon said.

“At least I will bring those fools with me!” Cozak said, as a pained expression took over his face.

The female demon continued to resist my coils to no avail, while the other demon conjured green and purple orbs of energy as Cozak built up a large black aura around himself.

“What the hell is happening?” Victor asked from my side.

“I don’t like this,” Chase piped in.

“Just be alert, I’ll handle this for now,” I remarked. “Don’t let your guard down, there could me more of them. Victor use your powers to scan the area,” I commanded.

Victor closed his eyes and after a few seconds he replied, “it’s just us and these three demons.”

August decided that it was time for him to use his enhanced form, he started to bulk up and easily gained 50% more in muscle mass, as his specialized uniform adjusted to accommodate his horizontal and vertical growth. I have seen August transform into his Alpha form before, but it never ceases to amaze me, he looks utterly unstoppable on this form.

The demon shrouded in dark energy formed two black ghostly serpentine dragons with his aura and launched them against us. This attack was definitely stronger than the previous ones, my shield struggled as the black serpents of energy wrapped themselves around our protective bubble. I pumped more and more energy into my bubble but somehow it wasn’t working, I realized we had seconds before my shield would start to fail.

“It’s not going to hold,” I announced.

“We’re ready, don’t worry about us Chris,” August announced.

“As soon as the barrier fails, get yourselves and these three away from here,” I said to Sarah and Chase. “I can give you 2 or 3 additional seconds for your escape,” I added. Sarah and Chase nodded in recognition of the situation.

“Cozak!” the larger demon screamed, as his partner burst in purple and green flames while the onslaught on our shield continued.

The barrier gave way, and the five of us along with the Anami we were able to rescue, were able to escape the large explosion that followed, as Cozak’s magic serpents exploded.

August and Victor immediately launched themselves against the larger demon, while I hurried towards the captured female and started the process of invading her mind for information. Her mental shields were strong, but I’ve dealt with stronger ones, I was not being gentle with my mental invasion and it showed as she writhed in pain. Horror overcame her face as she realized the disparity in skill and power between us, she clearly underestimated me.

I could see August and Victor going toe to toe with the larger demon as I mined information from the female captives. August and my boyfriend worked in perfect sync as they dodged attacks and retaliated with their own swift and powerful blows against their opponent.

I continued to get brief flashes of information from my captive demon, her resistance made it difficult for me to extract a coherent picture. As her resistance slowly gave way, I was able to get more and more information, and what I discovered were not only sickening and disturbing, but alarming as well.

As I started to piece the information together, something in the air changed. There was a smile and look of mischief in her eyes behind her expression of pain, and almost instantly she enveloped herself in black, purple, and green flames. My coils struggled to rein her in but with more energy I was able to keep her under control.

I looked over at August and Victor, their fight was still ongoing, and they seemed to have the advantage. With a swift coordinated attack, They were able to pin the larger demon on the ground. I breathed a sigh of relief as it seemed we had won this battle.

However, my internal celebration was a bit premature, as something drastically shifted in the air.

“You disappoint me!” came from a deep voice in the shadows.

I started to look around but there was no one.

“Master...” whispered the female demon as she continued to struggle, attempting to break free from my coils.

“I have no need for weaklings!” and just like that the female demon and the larger demon pinned by August and Victor burst into purple flames and disappeared into thin air.

“Show yourself!” August shouted as he and Victor stood from their position on the ground.

“Hahahah” a sinister laugh that seemed to come from all directions.

It all happened so fast, but my instincts took over, with almost lighting speed I found myself in front of August and Victor as I conjured a powerful shield in front of us. A powerful blast of purple energy hit us with barely a fraction of a second to spare.

As the dust settled, I checked on how everyone was doing, “are you both okay?”

“What was that?” August asked.

“Thanks, you saved us,” Victor said.

“I don’t know what it was but it’s clear we’re up against someone more powerful than the three we fought earlier,” I replied.

“What kind of luck do we have?” August remarked.

“It’s better this way, I don’t think the other teams could have coped,” I replied.

From the shadows came a man that looked to be in his late twenties. He had piercing blue eyes, and short brown hair. He had an athletic build like Victor and me, and he was wearing tight fitting clothes around his body.

“Who are you?” I asked.

With a smug expression, the demon replied, “Yonthar, pleased to make your acquaintance”

The name rung a bell in my head and I remembered him being the demon general that nearly killed King Ethnar centuries ago.

“I seldom ask the names of those that are about to die, but you three seem to be special,” he said.

“I am Christopher, these are my friends August and Victor,” I replied.

“Christopher? such an odd name for an elf don’t you think?”

“Christopher Stewart Rogers beyn Haldruin, to be exact,” I retorted.

Yonthar’s smile grew wider with my reply. “Ahh, Haldruin? I gather you’re a descendant of Ethnar?”

“I am his great grandson,” I replied.

The demon clapped his hands together and gave out a vitriolic, hearty laugh. “My my... now I see the resemblance,” he said as he continued to chuckle.

“I don’t know if you’ve heard but your great grandfather and I go a long way back,” he remarked as he vanished in front of us and reappeared a few feet behind us. His voice echoed through the air, it almost seemed that he was everywhere and nowhere at the same time.

“I’ve heard stories,” I replied.

“I sense power in you, you are disturbingly powerful,” he remarked as he walked in circles around us. It was as if he was vanishing and then reappearing right in front of us, I could sense this wasn’t visual trickery, but a demonstration of his speed.

“Why have you returned?” I asked.

“Because it’s our time, we’ve waited long enough, and it seems we’ve chosen the right time to claim this world as ours,” Yonthar replied.

“I cannot allow that”

“You can try,” Yonthar smirked as he stopped circling a few feet in front of us.

As a demonstration of his magical prowess, Yonthar stopped the snow from falling, it was as if time stood still, or he was in control of the weather. My senses told me otherwise, he was merely using advanced water manipulation.

“You seem to not be impressed,” he said.

“Are you trying to frighten us with water magic?”

“Haha! You easily saw through me, I’ll give that to you. You’re a smart boy, such a shame that you’ll die tonight. I cannot let you live, you are a threat, a great threat to our plans,” he replied.

With a swift movement he was able to throw August and Victor several dozen feet away from us.

“Victor!” I screamed.

“Relax, they’re still alive,” Yonthar said. “I just wanted to get rid of any distraction, that’s all,”

From the corner of my eye I could see both August and Victor slowly get back on their feet.

“Stay where you are, or next time, I kill you both,” Yonthar said.

“We will not...” August started to reply but I cut him off.

“August, you and Victor stay put, this is between Yonthar and me,” I replied.

“Hmm, you’re trying to protect them, but I have to tell you, I’ll kill them after I kill you,” Yonthar softly said to me.

“I will not allow that to happen,” I replied.

“Fate must be playing tricks on the both of us, what are the odds of you being in my base, I certainly did not expect to fight with a Haldruin so early,”

Out of instinct, I jumped a few feet away from Yonthar as he swiftly punched the ground where I once stood, the concrete underneath cracked and gave way as a small crater formed from his energy filled punch.

Yonthar materialized purple energy spears and launched them at me, which I was able to deflect with my shield.

“Not bad, I did not expect anything less from Ethnar’s kin,” came from Yonthar.

I used water magic to create three serpentine water dragons and launched them at Yonthar. The demon was able to evade the serpents, he swiftly moved around in the air. However, there’s no escaping my water serpents I’ve also cast a spell that made them search for and follow Yonthar’s energy signature.

The demon general threw dark energy orbs against my water serpents and they instantly boiled away.

“My turn,” he announced, as dark spinning disks of energy formed on each of his hands.

“Chris, be careful!” Victor said.

“Quiet!” Yonthar screamed at him, as my boyfriend found himself restrained by purple energy vines.

“Let go of him!” I screamed.

Yonthar threw the dark disks against me, I materialized multiple ice balls to counter the disks but my ice balls seemed to give no resistance against the demon’s disks, I conjured multiple energy balls to intercept the disks, and after multiple attempts the disks exploded into oblivion.

I was about to celebrate but I found Yonthar mere inches in front of me as he launched multiple punches and kicks against me.

I did my best to protect myself by surrounding myself with my aura. I also retaliated with punches and kicks of my own. I’m sure to an observer, we must have seemed to move at lighting speed. That wasn’t far from reality, the air crackled as the static built in the air with our swift movements.

—-

For several minutes Yonthar and I traded blows and the ground and structures around us shook as our energy vibrates through the midnight air.

We both landed on our feet after a tense exchange and Yonthar chuckled, “This is exhilarating, I’ve never felt so alive before, and I’m sure you can give so much more, but I’m afraid play time is over!”

The air immediately felt heavy and the atmosphere was a buzz with waves and waves of demonic energy, feelings of sadness, helplessness, and desperation washed against me. I conjured a barrier around myself but the intense feelings of various emotions continued to plague me.

“Get away from here!” I said to Victor and August, “tell Kalron to tell the rest to withdraw, this place will be destroyed soon!”

“But...” Victor started to protest.

“Just do it!”

“Come on, let’s go, trust Chris on this,” August said as he grabbed my boyfriend and they both made a dash away from me and Yonthar.

Streaks of purple and black energy surrounded Yonthar, the ground under him started to buckle with the amount of pressure coming from him. Bits and pieces of rock started to float in the air as the demon gathered more and more energy by the second.

“You’re the first in a long long time, to have seen the true power of a general,” he said.

Yonthar’s eyes went black, horns started to protrude from his skull, after a few more seconds, a handsome yet demonic Yonthar flew several feet in the air.

The chains within me started to tingle and I felt them loosen their hold on my powers.

I steeled myself for what was to come.

Yonthar was now about 20 feet above me, and he raised his right palm, in the air, a bright dark ball of energy formed on his open hand I felt waves of various emotions emanating from it.

The general gave me a playful smirk as he suddenly disappeared from above me and almost immediately appeared behind me. It was too late for me to react as my body failed to move in time, and I bore the brunt of his attack.

The energy blast threw me against the wall of a building more than a hundred feet away from where I stood, the concrete wall cracked and buckled as I crashed against it.

I writhed in agony as I felt pain all throughout my body.

I did not have time to recover as I found myself on the receiving end of another powerful dark energy blast. My instincts took over, and I was able to deflect the dark energy ball this time around.

The energy blast of the deflected orb hit another building, its walls immediately crumbled from the amount of energy that hit it.

I cast multiple healing and recovery spells on myself, as I expanded my aura in search of Yonthar.

A few seconds later I found the general fifty feet away from me, up in the air preparing for another powerful energy blast. I felt the chains in me give way; I instantly cast a 12-layer Magnus Spell against the demon.

My Magnus Spell successfully intercepted the powerful attack from Yonthar, much to the demon’s surprise. As both attacks met, the darkness temporarily gave way to a bright explosion of light and energy, the ground shook as if large bombs exploded right in front of us.

I did not give Yonthar time to recover as I cast 15-layered Magnus spells on each of my hands and threw powerful energy blasts against him.

The demon was barely able to deflect my attacks with energy blasts of his own. His energy balls failed to fully intercept my attacks, it seemed that some of my attacks were able to damage the demon.

“I call upon the guardians of despair!” Yonthar screamed, as three humanoid creatures made of purple and black energy appeared in front of me.

The three humanoids gave off an intoxicating and sickening amount of sadness, it was as if they were tugging on the saddest corners of my past, images of my mother’s death and my rape started to surface. Regardless of how much I tried to attack the humanoid creatures, I wasn’t able to fully concentrate as more and more of my sad memories surfaced. Then the memories turned to visions of my greatest fears, visions of possible outcomes of my actions, images of sad and dark futures, I saw images of my dad dying, of Victor, the rest of my friends and family dying, images of me being alone, images of my peers rejecting me, it was as if I was being driven insane.

The three humanoid blobs of energy wrapped themselves around me, as they pumped more and more raw sadness and despair into me.

In the corner of my eye, I saw Yonthar with a grin on his face, “I win,” he said, as he pointed a finger at me and a small black energy ball of concentrated demonic energy formed on his fingertip.

A ray of black light shot through the air as Yonthar’s final attack made its way towards me, at that moment I felt the chains inside me break, and a wave of energy consumed me, the humanoid creatures of darkness melted away from me, and with a flick of my hand, Yonthar’s attack dissolved and vanished into thin air.

“How... how is that possible?” Yonthar stammered in disbelief.

With another flick of my hand, I sent a wave of pure energy against the demon, he immediately found himself on his hands and knees, he didn’t even see my attack coming.

“You dare defile me?” I said, my voice echoed through the air. It was as if I spoke with multiple voices, “you dare corrupt me?”

Yonthar stood, surprise written all over his face but the General was defiant. He cast a powerful energy attack at me, the purple energy blast dissipated as it made contact with my aura.

I was awash with energy, I felt more powerful than ever before, it was as if I was on the verge of having a Kumhakta but never crossing the line to the painful insanity that consumed you once you cross that threshold.

“Who are you! What are you?!” Yonthar exclaimed.

“You do not deserve to know what I am!” I replied, I did not know where that came from, my lips uttered those words before I even thought about a response.

Yonthar ambled his way toward me with more and more attacks, all of which were futile, despite his attacks gaining in strength. To any other person they would have been fatal, but who said anything about me being ordinary?

A surge of black energy consumed Yonthar, lightning was now snaking its way around his body, “I will not be defeated!” He jumped towards me and concentrated most of his energy on his right hand, he was attempting to end this with a very powerful punch.

With two fingers, I stopped him, his dark aura vanished and he collapsed on the ground.

“This is where it ends,” I said to him, my voice still not my own.

“If you kill me, my energy will return to the flow, it will only strengthen my brothers and sisters, my demise will only give life to them,” he replied, there was a hint of pride in his statement. He was sure, if he died here, he will be able to seek revenge on me through the other demon generals.

“Who said anything about you returning to the great flow?” I asked. What the hell am I talking about? Somehow, I had this knowledge about something I’ve never heard of!

Yonthar’s eyes grew large with my statement, “what are you going to do?” He said with alarm in his voice.

“Light shall consume darkness,” I replied, as wisps of black, purple, and green energy radiated from Yonthar’s body into mine. I was absorbing him, containing him, his soul will be forever imprisoned within me, preventing him from returning to the flow.

Yonthar tried to squirm away from me but the sheer amount of energy I was imposing on him made it impossible for him to escape.

The demon general writhed and squirmed as he witnessed his very existence vanish into me.

“You can’t possibly contain me,” he said.

I didn’t reply as I accelerated the process of absorbing Yonthar, waves of various emotions flooded me as I absorbed him. What I was doing was a very powerful form of Tashik magic, soul manipulation at its finest.

I found myself breathing a sigh of relief as Yonthar’s soul was safely contained inside me, at that point my chains immediately shot back to life, and I felt restrained again, I fell to my knees as the pain returned to my body.

I collapsed on my back as I looked at the stars in the night sky, I felt an echo of Yonthar’s presence inside me, I had no choice, it was I either kill him, strengthening the other demons in the process, or I contain him, and what other way to contain a demon than cage his soul inside a powerful ocean of energy.

—- 

Victor’s POV

“Chris... Chris!” I shouted as I ran towards my boyfriend. August and I felt his battle with Yonthar from hundreds of meters away, the other teams from our mission were all able to safely leave the compound.

“Chris!” I exclaimed as I hugged my boyfriend, his body was lying on the ground, with Yonthar nowhere in sight.

To my relief my boyfriend let out a loud groan when I touched him.

“Ouch,” he said.

“Oh, thank goodness, you’re alive!” I said as I hugged him tightly.

“Uhm, I’m a little sore there, but yes, of course I’m alive, you didn’t think I’d lose, did you?” He lightly laughed into the crook of my neck.

“You gave us quite the scare for a moment or two, it was as if your presence vanished,” August said from behind me.

“It would take much more than a demon general to kill me,” Chris replied as he nestled into my chest.

I rubbed his back and kissed his head, and as he looked straight at me, I couldn’t help but be surprised.

“What’s the matter?” Chris asked as he saw the look of confusion and surprise on my face.

“Chris, your eyes, they’re glowing purple.”