My sights were narrowed on a singular target, and a fury the likes of which I'd never felt before consumed me as I sought to destroy this fucker. Currently I felt like all of my raw anger, all of my rage, was being channeled into strength, and I was letting it run fucking wild.
"I WILL KILL THE DEMON! I WILL PROTECT MY LIZ!"
These words echoed through my mind like a mantra, and it was all I could focus on. Liz wouldn't be safe until the demon was destroyed. If I killed it, I was sure she'd be okay. She had to be. I didn't even want to think about losing her. The thought of that just pissed me off even more, fueling my rage, and I shot towards the cocksucker with all of the force I could muster.
He tried to cross his arms in front of himself, as I was moving much too fast for him to dodge, but it wouldn't matter. He fucked with the King, he hurt MY Queen, and I would make damn sure he payed dearly for that. The feeling of his bones breaking from the force of my blow was one of the most satisfying fucking things I'd ever felt. The sound of my impact, and his subsequent high speed flight through the air was like music to my ears.
I didn't let up after that, and I darted back towards his bitch ass with a vengeance. He had just hit the cave wall, and the impact had completely blown the wall open, almost creating an expansion to the room we were in. He was just struggling to pull himself up when I reached down to yank him up. I gripped his chest plate, my fingers digging into the metal and completely through it as I hauled him up high, dangling him in front of me.
I had to stare up to look him in the eyes, but it almost seemed like it was the other way around given the genuine shock and fear I saw in his eyes. He opened his mouth, but he could go and fuck himself if he thought he was gonna say a goddamn thing to me.
"What are...GAH!" He said, only to be cut off as I punched him in the gut, sending him flying back out into the main room of the cave.
I ran after him, overtaking his speed with ease. Appearing right in his path, a perfectly timed kick struck him in the back, causing him to grunt in pain, blood and spittle flying from his mouth as he was launched upwards. He flew towards the cave ceiling at an impressive speed, and I leapt upwards with so much fucking force that the ground buckled and cratered beneath my feet.
I appeared above him, and his eyes opened wide as he neared me. My right fist crackled with red lightening as I drew it back. All of my fury, all of my pain, all of my grief, it was all channeled into this one punch. I'll hand it to this asshole for being so resilient, but it wouldn't be enough. Liz's bloodied form played through my thoughts, and I gritted my teeth, and my fist glowed even brighter as my blue lightning joined the red.
"FUCKING DIE!" I shouted with so much force that the air shuttered.
I struck, my fist impacting with his chest. A loud boom echoed throughout the cave, and shockwaves split from the point of impact as he was sent flying back towards the ground. Visible trails followed in his wake as his flight path broke the sound barrier, and when he struck the ground, he did so with the force of a tank being dropped from 20,000 feet in the air. I flew down, landing about 10 feet away from him, the ground shaking from the impact and the ground beneath me cracking and erupting with debris.
I stalked towards him, each of my foot falls heavy with purpose, and each step cracked the ground under each foot, making the very earth tremble. I reached him, and I was both satisfied with the state he was in, and also furious that he still had the fucking gall to be alive. There was a basketball sized hole in the chest, and the ground around him was soaked with bright red blood that burned and sizzled as it met the surface of the cave floor.
He coughed, causing a shower of blood to fly from his mouth, and the look in his eyes did make up for him daring to still breathe, but only a little. He looked as if he couldn't believe that someone like him could be reduced to this, like he was finally staring at his own mortality. He actually looked like he was going to beg, to try to plead for his life, but I was fucking having none of that.
I dropped next to him, and grabbed a fist full of his hair. He grimaced and gurgled a scream as I lifted his head, pulling him close so our faces were mere inches apart. My eyes must have sent a message, as I could feel them crackling with my energy. The last thing I saw in his eyes was the fear and realization that this was the end for him... and then I fucking hit him. His head rocked back, slamming into the cave floor, his head cratering into the ground.
I punched him again, and then again, and again after that. I kinda lost myself in my rage and anger for a while there as I continued to smash his fucking face in, and I felt his bones break beneath my fist. I felt hot blood cover my fist, I felt flesh being mushed underneath my blows, and I heard the loud squelching noise of fleshing being rendered into paste as I didn't let up. My vision literally turned turned red as I kept hammering away at him.
Then, I felt something. Emotions, pleading for me, and begging me to stop. My vision began to clear as recognition began to set into me. I felt soft hands on my face, and I heard a woman's voice, laced with concern and a sadness so heavy it helped clear the rest of the fog from my brain. My vision was filled with more red, but this time it was in the form of a beautiful woman with fuzzy ears and a tear stricken face. I blinked.
"N-Nadia?" I asked, and she sobbed in relief as she threw her arms around me.
"Sid, it's done. He's dead, so you can stop... please Sid, Lizzie... she..." Nadia said, more sobs escaping her, and the reality of what happened came back in full force.
"LIZ!" I yelled, my anger now fully replaced with immense fear and concern.
I took a quick glace at the demon lord to make sure I wouldn't have to deal with him anymore, and yeah, he was really fucking dead. His head was no longer a head, and more like a bloody and meaty omelet. Fucking good. I scooped Nadia into my arms and quickly ran over to where Liz was, with Rya already next to her. My heart felt like an ice stake was being driven into it. Liz was still breathing, with Rya sobbing over her as she held her hand. We needed to get her out of here and...
"Oh god... no..." I said, the blood in my veins running colder.
Through my bond with her, I could feel her, and moreso, I could feel the life in her body slowing ebbing away. She was... dying, and she was completely out mana, so even if she could use her power to heal herself, she couldn't right now. The reality of that also set in, that we wouldn't be able to get her anywhere in time to save her, and my mind began to spin.
I put Nadia down, falling to my knees next to Liz. Life was going so fucking good! It was so good, and now this? I cupped her face with my hands, and her eyes moved to look at me, and the movement was so weak, it drove another spike into my chest. Still, there had to be something that could be done.
"What can we do?" I asked, and Rya looked at me, tears falling like waves.
"I don't know... I don't know... I don't know..." Rya said, repeating the words, becoming more choked up each time, "She's out of mana. She can't absorb anymore... not like this, and she doesn't have any kind of regeneration... the healing salves aren't even working! I don't know Sid, but I can't lose my baby!" Rya screamed the last part, her grief overwhelming her as she began to shake, and she stroked Liz's hair, "She's lost too much blood... we won't get her anywhere in time. WE SHOULD HAVE NEVER COME HERE!"
I couldn't disagree. I promised to protect her, and I failed. I fucking failed! Tears fell down my own face as I struggled to come up with a solution. This was just as much my fault as anyone else's. Things might have gone differently if I hadn't let my fucking ego take over so much... then again, the demon would still be alive if I hadn't...
"GODDAMN IT!" I screamed, the words coming out harshly as I choked on the words.
I was a God right? I should be able to do something about this, right? Come on goddamn it, what can I do? I hadn't really played around with my mark as much as I should have, so I checked that again, only to almost break mentally when I saw how close to death's door Liz was now.
"NO, I WON'T LET THIS HAPPEN!" I yelled, as I dove in more thoroughly than ever before.
There had to be more that I could do. My instincts urged me to check my bond, so I did just that. This bond connected us in many more ways than I knew, and I cursed myself for taking it for granted for so long. I could feel their emotions, feel their likes and dislikes, their tolerances for certain things, and even affect their minds to a certain a degree, and it worked the other way as well to a point.
I held my hand over my mark, unsure if that actually mattered or not, but I still did it anyways.
"Sid...?" Nadia asked me, and the pain in her voice almost broke me, but I had to push on.
"Nadia, I might be able to do something, but I need to concentrate, so please..." I pleaded, and she looked hopeful once again, as she just sat by Liz's head and began to stoke her hair.
"You hear that Lizzie, you'll be just fine." Nadia said, and while she couldn't stop herself from crying, she at least had more hope in her tone.
Fuck, I was in the same boat. Today was a really goddamn emotionally draining, but there was one thing I was certain of. Liz would not die. Neither of my girls would be taken away from me. I promise you that.
"Sid... if you can do anything... please." Rya added as she tried to control her breathing.
She didn't have to tell me twice as I nodded, and dove in. I pushed my connection with Liz further than I previously had before. I felt everything once again. The pain, the fear, the acceptance...
"NO! LIZ, YOU ARE NOT LEAVING US!" I screamed, and her body twitched.
I pushed even deeper, willing the bond to connect me not to her mental state, but her body as a whole. Perhaps I could share my regeneration with her, or fill her mana back up. Something inside of me told me I could do something along those lines.
My vision flashed, but only for a moment, and as I came back to myself, I actually smiled. It would have been really fucking nice for this power to activate before we entered this goddamn cave, but at the same time, I couldn't complain too much right now since I knew I could save Liz. The other two noticed my expression, and theirs became even more hopeful. I continued delving deeper, now with some more knowledge of what I could and couldn't do.
I had always known on an instinctive level that I could do more with the bond my girls had with me, but I'd been afraid to delve deeper into it as I didn't know much about it. I'd been worried it would negatively effect them, but thanks to what I just saw, it helped me realize something. This was my fucking power, and it did the shit I wanted it to do. I wasn't going to get anywhere if I didn't try. I am apparently a God, right?
I dove into my bond with Liz, and with a simple act of will, it expanded, showing me more than it ever had previously. Before, I could feel things. Pain, emotions, and more, and recently, it had expanded to me somehow being able to mentally communicate with my girls in some way. And there was that weird shit with Nadia helping with the smell. All questions for later.
Now, when I focused in on Elizabeth, I could actually see her now, or more so, her body. I could focus in on what I needed to focus on, as my brain worked to immediately pick out the problems wrong with Elizabeth. First and foremost, I was able close off her pain receptors, so I did just that, and her breathing actually slowed down a bit, and a soft wheezing sigh came from her.
"Hold on just a bit longer Liz, I've got you." I said softly as I did my best to reassure her, hoping she could hear me.
Next, I was able to highlight and map out her mana veins, and sure enough, they were dry as a bone. She used all of her mana keeping me in fighting shape, and I couldn't help but feel guilty about that. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to share my body's regeneration with her, as it seemed to be my body's natural regeneration, but there was a lot more I could do.
Using the information from my vision, I found I was able to focus my mana into my bonds with either of my loves, causing my body to rapidly generate new mana that would then be transferred into them. I wasn't truly sure how the fuck it worked, but it did indeed work, so fuck it, I'll take it. I'd figure out the hows and whys when Liz was safe and healthy. The visions I had were very useful for helping me understand more about my abilities, even if I didn't understand when they decided to trigger or not.
As I filled Liz up with mana, I had to do it gradually. My vision had showed me the best way forward, but it also showed me the wrong ways as well. In many of them, I collapsed many, if not all of Liz's mana veins by accidentally overloading them. Liz gasped as mana began to fill her.
"That's it. We're almost there." I said gently as I continued to fill her with mana, albeit slowly. I was not done just yet. She was currently too weak and not lucid enough to heal herself, but that's where my next step came into play.
Through my vision, I learned about something that I could do that would not only help her now, but continue to help her moving forward. This time, as I focused on her, I did so with her core. It took a lot of concentration, but soon enough, I could see it. The inner workings of her core, the power inside of it, but most importantly, the untapped potential within it.
As I observed her core from the inside and out, I was fascinated by it. The core seemed much bigger and more vast on the inside, as the core itself was no bigger than her heart, but the core itself was like a small expanse of pocket space. It was also something I wanted to explore more once we were out of here.
Green color filled the inside of the core, with a small hint of red and orange here and there. This was her magical power, both in terms of healing and fire, although her fire was incredibly weak. Now though, I could actually change that, although that wasn't what she needed at the moment. I focused on her ability to heal, and taking a deep breath, and also sent mana directly into her core, specifically targeting the green energy.
Liz twitched underneath me as a green glow began to shine from the wound in her chest. Nadia and Rya gasped in the background, but that's all I heard. I was too focused, and after this was done, it would all but ensure nothing like this would ever happen again. As I filled her with more mana, the green energy inside of her core also began to shine brighter, before the color expanded, filling more of her core with its power.
The first thing that changed was her overall capacity of mana, which was always a welcome boon, but not what we needed. The second thing, which was far more important, was her healing capability increasing by at least double of what it previously was. The third, and most important thing that happened, was what she needed most right now. Self regeneration. Her body would now passively use her own mana to heal herself at an accelerated rate, and the moment that happened, the wound went from slowly closing to closing completely almost insantly.
Liz and Rya stared in disbelief, and I began to cry in relief as her breathing normalized, and she began to stir almost immediately. The bond told me she was pretty much in perfect condition. In fact, she was in a better state than she ever had been previously, and once I saw the strong new energy of her core stabilize, and her mana veins were completely full once again, I brought my full concentration back to what was around me.
Liz gasped as her eyes flew wide open, and she sat up abruptly, clutching at her chest. She was breathing hard, but her face showed shock and awe, rather than pain. I'll admit that I began tearing up like a newborn in full now. Today was a really fucking bad day for my heart, to put it lightly. Liz looked around at all of our tear stricken and relieved faces, and the smile she gave us was honestly the best thing I've seen in a long time.
"That really sucked... can we not do that again?" Liz asked innocently, and it made Nadia and I bark a horse laugh filled with all of our relief, while Rya let out a grateful sob as she clutched her to her chest.
Nadia grabbed the sides of my face, turned it so we were face to face, and she kissed me fucking HARD. I returned it for a few seconds before she released my lips, and stared into my eyes, her eyes still wet as tears continued to trail down her face.
"I don't know what you did, but... but..." She said, but she was stammering as her emotions were still running wild. Hell, mine were too, so it looks like we had to ride this out. I rubbed her back affectionately.
"Our Liz will be okay." I said, as I turned to see Rya still clutching Liz hard enough that I think she was turning purple.
I wanted nothing more than to hold Liz right now, but this was her mother. That was her right, first and foremost. I was just... so fucking relieved she was okay that this was enough for now. I knew I loved her and Nadia, but this truly confrimed for me just how much. If anything ever happened to them... I knew I wouldn't be the same ever again. Eventually, Rya released her, and cupped her cheeks in her hands.
"I'm so sorry baby. This was all my fault. I almost lost you... I-" Rya said, choking on her words, and the level of emotion this woman was showing was unlike anything I'd ever seen from her before. She truly was a good mother.
Liz placed her hands over her mother's and smiled gently at her with glistening eyes.
"This was no one's fault. We literally couldn't have known there would be demons here. I've never even seen one in person before. If anything, it's just really unlucky. Plus, I mean, imagine what could have happened if we didn't come here. If Sid hadn't stopped him. Besides, I'm fine now. I feel better than I ever have." Liz said, and she finally turned to lock eyes with me, her eyes filled with such love and joy that it instantly made my eyes water.
Rya sniffled a few more times, but eventually she just nodded, accepting Liz's words for now. She kissed Liz's forehead, and then pointed her towards Nadia and me.
"I love you... now, go on, I won't hog you." She said, but she still seemed reluctant to let her go.
"Love you too, mom." Liz said, and she turned to us with open arms.
Nadia and I didn't hesitate, as the moment Rya let her go, all three of us pretty much crashed into each other. We were all sorts of tangled up with each other. Liz had an arm around my neck and Nadia's as we both showered her with love. Nadia rubbed her cheek against Nadia head while I just held her to my chest. We all let out deep sobs of relief as we just basked in the feeling of one another. My shirt was soaked with tears at this point. Today was a fucking day, man.
Eventually, Liz leaned up off of my chest, and I've never moved faster in my life as I met her lips with my own in a deep and passionate kiss. Both of us trembled as we reassured one another, not with words, but our actions. Everyone came out alive, and we would all be going home safe. Liz released my lips, and then grabbed Nadia by the back of the head and did the same to her. Now, I know I shouldn't be getting turned on at all at a time like this, but I mean...
Liz and Nadia's kiss broke, both of them breathing heavily, and Liz's voice trembled as she said, "I love you both... so much."
"Love you forever." Nadia replied with a sniffle.
"More than you can even imagine." I said as I hugged her close again.
As I held her, everything that happened replayed through my mind. Yeah, it had ended up okay in the end, but it was too close of a call. I was arrogant in thinking that I was always going to be the strongest. Liz almost died, and I couldn't help but feel partially to blame. I promised her I'd protect her, and I let her down. I-
"Stop." Liz said, and I blinked, and looked down at her. The look she was giving me could smelt iron.
"What?" Was all I could reply, and Liz just sighed as she cupped my cheek with her right hand.
"I don't know how, but I can pretty much hear what you are thinking right now like you're talking out loud." Liz said, and I just blinked again. I had forgotten in the moment that we could do that now.
"Me too... and it's not fair for you to blame yourself. Look at everything you did to protect everyone. To save Lizzie. No matter what you think, you're our hero babe." Nadia said.
These two were too fucking sweet. Liz wiped away fresh tears from my eyes as she smiled at me. I swear I've teared up more today than I ever have in my entire life. Love, trust, warmth, dedication, happiness. All of these things and more I could see in their expressions and feel through our bond. It calmed my racing thoughts.
"Sid, they're right. Everything seemed lost, yet you found a way. You fought one of the most powerful types of demons from the hells, and you came out on top. Hell, and that's after you killed two greater demons. So, if they say I can't blame myself, then you can't blame yourself either." Rya said from the side, and the smile she gave me was filled with genuine affection.
I lowered my head and just nodded. They all had a point, and it would do me no good to beat myself up over this any longer.
"Also... you wanna tell us about that snazzy red lightning?" Rya asked after a brief pause.
I opened my mouth, then closed it again. I really didn't know, but I felt like I could do it again. I also felt like my power had once again grown by leaps and bounds. Nadia spoke up before anyone else had a chance.
"I also really want to know about that, but... can we get the fuck out of here first? This place sucks and I'm hungry." She said, and none of us could hold back the laughter that erupted from all of us.
I helped my girls to their feet. Nadia grabbed my left hand, and Liz grabbed my right. Liz's other hand was stolen by her mother as we all walked side by side towards the exit. It was time to go the fuck home.