Y VS Aaron and Macy
Axl and Lance VS Dragon

+ Ruina and Clay's moments
+ Back to base

KNIGHT'S SIDE :

Aaron and Macy were facing Y. The knights could see that the girl had nothing to defend herself with apart from her powers. They had to be careful, even if the girl didn't seem to want them dead.

"Who are you and why are you working for Ruina?" Aaron asked, pointing his crossbow at her. "Where's Clay?"

"That's a lot of questions, don't you think?" The young woman sighed. "And for your trouble, I can't answer any of them, especially the last one." She smiled a little. "But don't worry, his mother is taking good care of him-" She stopped talking when she dodged an attack from the green knight. "You seem upset..."

"Ruina isn't his mother. It's Wanda Morrington!" Macy said. "And we're going to bring her back to the light side! Ruina's no good, you shouldn't be working for her."

"I'm not working for her. It's not like I have a contract. I can leave them whenever I want." Y shrugged. "But your young wizard is quite impressive. So young and so much magic. But Ruina is his mother, good or bad. What right have you to take back a child from its mother?" She smiled.

"You kidnapped him yourself!" Macy growled. "Then tell us where he is!"

"Mmh... It's heartbreaking, I don't feel like it. And don't even think about trying to follow us. It's already failed."

"Then we'll make you!" Macy ran towards her, shaking her mace.

"Wow! Why is that big lizard so angry?!" Lance shouted.

"I guess he didn't get his four o'clock!" Axl said as he ate a knuckle of ham he had in his pocket.

"Yeah, let's try not to become his four o'clock then! I don't want to end up like your knuckle of ham!" Said Lance. And a knuckle of ham was ham, which was pork...and which could mean Hamletta. But of course, Lance wouldn't lose Hamletta for the world. Yes, how ironic. To be a glittering knight who loves a pig who loves mud. Where's the logic in that? But who cares about logic?

Lance used his spear as a pole to project himself high up and attack the creature in the face. He managed to hit the creature, which seemed even angrier.

"You just pissed off that big ham, Lance!"

"Thank you, Lance! I hadn't noticed that!" The white knight was then surprised when the dragon took the tip of his spear, taking Lance into the air, and then shaking him. "Ooooh! I can't see!" His head was spinning, clutching at his spear as he was shaken from all sides.

"Drop your spear, Lance!"

"Never! That stupid thing won't get me!"

Axl understood Lance's behaviour, and shouted, "I'm coming then!" He ran and raised his axe, striking it right into the dragon's chest.

RUINA AND CLAY'S SIDE

Ruina was outside as monsters brought a rabbit in front of them. Young Clay took it in his arms, stroking it and looking towards his mother.

"Why have they brought a rabbit? Do we need one?" Asked the confused young boy.

Ruina nodded, "I'm going to teach you how to defend yourself."

Clay blinked, "With a rabbit?"

The witch shook her head, keeping her patience in check. She needed Clay for his master, but he wasn't just a monster either. Clay came from her after all. "This stupid creature is going to be our experiment. We're going to test your powers on it." She smiled wickedly. "Whether it's killing it, torturing it, hurting it.... To defend yourself from others, you have to be ready for anything, even to take the life of your attacker." She declared with evil intent.

Clay raised an eyebrow, "But...isn't that so bad?" He looked at the poor animal, still unaware of the danger that was soon to come.

"Come on, son, it's just an animal here. Don't tell me you don't want to try what your mother is offering."

Clay seemed to tense a little, but shook his head, "No, of course not. I'll try it, mother. What should I do?" He asked. It wasn't as if he wasn't used to following orders and rules. In the old days, he followed the "Code of Knights" so well.

"Put that thing down already, and stand by my side."

The young magician left the rabbit on the ground and returned to his mother's side.

"You're going to learn to throw lightning, Clay. You've already learned fire. This is the next level." she smiled. If her son could throw lightning at people, electrocute them... That would be effective. "You concentrate your energy, you have to feel it through your body as it circulates. You concentrate it and you throw. I'm sure you already know how to do it if Y's already shown you a bit."

Clay nodded a little, and looked at the rabbit. He looked at his right forearm, which held his magic, and then he looked at the animal again. He was trying to concentrate the energy creating electricity. But it wasn't really having the desired effect.

It still took time to master such complex magic. Lightning was not an easy element. If you didn't want to kill yourself with it, you had to be careful. But the young magician had a modicum of talent, and at least nothing serious had happened.

Ruina put her hand on his shoulder and smiled, "Keep trying. Close your eyes and feel the energy flowing through your body. You need good concentration and lots of practice to master lightning."

Her son soon tried again. He was a brave and courageous young man, not afraid of effort and training. Even as a child now, he was still as brave as ever. And Ruina was proud of that, even if she had several intentions with him.

She spent several hours with him, advising him on the best postures and gestures, and he was already better able to master his lightning shots. The witch was delighted.

"Now, Clay. The final stage..." She pointed to the rabbit who couldn't get away and run because of the monsters. "Throw a lightning bolt at him."

The former knight looked at the animal and raised his hand to channel energy, before throwing a bolt of lightning at the rabbit, which was directly electrocuted. Clay was startled, pulling his hand away and wondering if this was really the right thing to do, but then again, Ruina was there to give him confidence.

She put both hands on her son's shoulders, "That's good, Clay." She pronounced his name properly. "That animal may be suffering but if you imagine it's an enemy...Then it gets what it deserves."

The young child nodded, hesitating. "Is there no other way to punish our enemies? Our enemies have to suffer...Can't we just make peace with them?" Asked the young child innocently, which made his mother a little annoyed

"Come on, Clay. Our enemies are never going to understand what we're doing this for. They're going to keep trying to destroy us and stop us. We can't trust them. If we let them, they'll tear us apart and I won't be able to protect you anymore, son."

She looked at her son. She had to put him with them, no problem. And him being with them without even a potion was fine. But the young magician's heart was so noble that the witch had no easy way of making him believe what she was saying. The best argument she could give was that she was his mother and he should trust her.

Clay looked at her and took it for granted, then looked at the rabbit who was shaking with electricity and not feeling well. He sighed a little, looking at his hand as if wondering if this was really the right solution. With a little regret, he cast another lightning bolt at the poor animal, feeling its heart ache.

Ruina smiled at this.

FROM THE KNIGHTS

"Have you reached the base yet?" Y asked the commanders of the Monstrox army.

"We're almost there! Fred replied.

"Idiot! We're not there at all!" Pola smacked him on the head. "We've still got miles to go."

Y sighed as she had to teleport to avoid Macy and Aaron's attacks, and honestly, those knights had a lot of willpower and energy. It was quite incredible for the girl. If these knights were Clay's friends, the boy didn't have bad company. To have friends who do everything for you, who accept you, who fight for you. That was now rare to find.

"Alright, hurry up, I don't feel like staying with these knights."

"Roger that!" The two monsters laughed to themselves, thinking they'd pulled off another good mission. Soon, Monstrox's army would be great.

The girl then looked at Macy and Aaron, and saw the two knights attacking her at the same time. She narrowed her eyes and stopped them by paralysing them with her magic. They could still speak, but their bodies no longer responded. "Enough is enough, this is not the way to win. Your bodies are wearing thin, you can't have unlimited strength." She stepped towards them. "Your friend is safe. Why are you trying so hard? This witch may be manipulative, but Clay is not going to die. He has such a kind heart that in the end, dark magic won't be able to reach him indefinitely."

"Shut up!" Macy shouted. "It doesn't matter if Clay is himself or not, we'll come and deliver him! No one is telling him what to do! I will not leave him in your clutches!" She screamed, as she tried to move to go against the magic.

"Don't try to fight it, you're hurting yourself for nothing." She said calmly as she called her dragon back to her side. "You look pretty fearless to me...For a princess..." Y smiled as she looked at Macy. "Then I want to see what you want... The next town we attack will be Suzville. So let's try to come up with a plan to stop us."

Y then touched the dragon and it spread its smoke around them.

"Hey, don't you dare leave!" Macy screamed as she managed to destroy the magic control that was applied to her body. She ran with her mace to strike Y, but when she did, her weapon hit nothing but smoke and the princess soon realised that their enemies had disappeared. The smoke was gone in a matter of seconds... "Ah! Why?!" Macy slammed her mace into the ground. "I have to save Clay...!" She fell to her knees, shedding a few tears in despair. "Clay..."

Aaron and the others came quickly to her, as Aaron put his hand on her shoulder. "It's okay, Macy. We'll stop them. We always do." He smiled at her.

"I hope so, Aaron... I hope so..."

FROM THE MONSTERS

All the monsters were hard at work building armour, weapons and vehicles from the metal they had managed to obtain. Monstrox saw all this with a big smile on his face, already thinking of the moment when he would defeat that cursed Merlok.

"Hurry up! I'm not waiting another lifetime to see my enemy crushed! I want my army ready as soon as possible! Do you hear me?"

Unlike all these workers, the generals were rather at play. They played cards to amuse themselves. While Pola kept winning, Fred saw a glimmer of hope when he had a joker. He smiled, raising his hand with the card to the sky, "GREAT, I WIN-!" He stopped speaking as a bolt of lightning burnt his card alive. His mouth seemed to stall as the next second he reacted quickly and quickly threw the card into the air to avoid burning himself. "AAHHH!!!" He stood up quickly. "WHO DID THIS?!" He shouted, as Pola sneered.

When he saw the culprit, he suddenly seemed silent. It was Clay... Fred knew he couldn't take it out on the higher-ups, so he behaved like a statue and turned back to Pola stiffly, before sitting down again.

"I won!" Pola shouted with a smile, laughing in her brother's face.

Y sighed, as she returned from her mission. "Having fun, I see." She came up beside Ruina and Clay, absorbing one of the attacks coming at her and sending it skywards. "So, is he a fast learner? Lightning isn't easy and it's dangerous."

"Don't worry, my son is strong enough." Ruina said with her arrogant, proud smile.

"Hmpf, if you say so." Y shrugged. "You should go let Clay rest. He needs it." She looked at the witch out of the corner of her eye, who didn't miss the look.

Ruina nodded, and took Clay in her arms. "Come, you will go and rest and regain your strength." She led him into the bedroom and laid him on the bed, offering him a glass of "water" before bed. "Here, you need to hydrate."

Clay nodded and drank the glass, before lying down in bed. His mother put the blanket over him, to settle him down and make sure he slept well. She stroked his hair carefully in a motherly way, smiling as the effect of the potion continued to work. And with the addition of one more dose, all was well... Memories replaced...