Slowly, Hermes' foot left the floor.
He started ascending.
No, the cloak's size became bigger as it absorbed more darkness. Raising him upward.
A chill suddenly enveloped the town. Pressure pressed on everyone, from the WGDS building.
Every gaze lifted up, gulping as they saw the inky darkness, rising like a wave over the town. A small head atop it all.
For a second, every action stopped in E town, just to look at this figure, even the monsters looked up.
"Enough" a voice boomed over the town, like the voice of God.
A look of relief appeared on the citizens of E town's faces. To them this darkness which seemed to draw in every light, trapping it forever was their savior, their Exarch.
But to everyone else, it was absolute terror.
A faint smirk appeared on Thorne's face.
Sure he had never seen something like these monsters.
His gaze flickered to them, it was like they were a mass of elements, thrumming with power. Which was continuously building up.
But he knew as long as Hermes was here. Any intruder would be wiped out, even if it was God.
And any resident of E town would agree with him.
Hermes spread his hands, the darkness pushed him even higher—dangerously close to the artificial stars.
Let's clean this up.
He dived.
Darkness surging behind him like a raging ocean.
The flame inferno instinctively turned to face the approaching darkness.
E town lit up blue as it surged, as if challenging the darkness.
Boom
A shockwave spread as the darkness fell on the fire.
For a minute, the two locked together, struggling for dominance.
Then the darkness stopped fighting. It slid around the fire, cutting off a part of it, absorbing it.
The inferno roared, guttural, a sound which no human could describe. But it was a roar of pain.
The darkness crawled over it, rapidly cutting off pieces. Absorbing them.
The inferno raged, blue flames surging even higher in an attempt to burn off the darkness.
Yet it failed miserably, the darkness spreading further absorbing more parts of it, converting it into more darkness.
The darkness grew with each absorption, while the flame shrank.
But it kept burning, unwilling to give up, its edges turned purple.
Thorne gulped, feeling his throat parch, water leaving his body, sweat instantly evaporating.
He leapt back, dodging an attack from the ice monster.
His gaze flickered to the darkness.
Finish this fast.
The fire flared one last time, in defiance, like a dying star.
Yet the inky darkness swallowed it the next second, snuffing it out of existence.
The darkness moved, forming a large round, black orb over E town.
Trembling with instability, like it would blow any second.
But then it shrank a bit.
The next second, its size rapidly reduced. Turning from the size of a huge boulder to a tennis ball within seconds.
Hermes appeared out of nowhere. The small orb floating in his palm.
The darkness around the orb flared like a fire. The next second the entire orb transformed, turning to a small burning ball, made of black flames.
He nodded satisfactorily and tossed it into the pitch black darkness of his cloak.
His gaze moved to the ice monster.
It was locked in combat with Thorne.
No, he was trying to distract it, keep it from interfering with Hermes and the fire.
But he was barely holding on.
At this point each step of the ice man froze the entire area.
Each swing, a crescent ice wall emerging. And worst of all, the ice monster was slowly learning, unlike the flame giant.
Thorne leapt to the left, avoiding a crescent ice blade. A massive wall forming where the blade landed.
He tried to move out of the way as the ice monster pointed its hands at him. But his leg didn't move.
Looking down, his eyes widened. His leg was completely encased in a thick block of ice.
He crossed his hands in front of him as multiple spikes shot out of the ice monster's hands.
Teeth clenched, ready to be turned to a porcupine.
But then the pain never came.
Rather a thick darkness appeared in front of him.
He breathed a sigh of relief and turned to Hermes descending behind him.
"You look like shit." Hermes burst into laughter.
Thorne grimaced and pulled his leg free.
"What did you expect bastard?" He mumbled, moving away.
Hermes grinned, about to make another statement.
But his smile turned upside down.
He looked on, wide eyed as ice crept over the darkness wall. Freezing it.
"Intriguing," He scratched his chin.
"This would have been tougher, but fortunately…"
He flicked his hands, darkness formed around it. But it turned to flames, black flames.
I have this.
His grin stretched wide as he transformed into a dark wave again. Except this time, the darkness appeared to be flames, black flames, burning.
The ice monster quickly placed both hands in front. A gigantic ice wall materializing in front of the surging flames wave.
Boom!!
The wave collided with the wall, cracks forming.
Tremors spreading through the ground.
The wall held.
Frost spread to the darkness, trying to freezing it, but it melted, and the flames surged higher.
The darkness thrummed.
Pulled back and slammed into the wall again.
Pushing it, cracks spiderwebbed through.
But it held.
The ice man groaning, ice rushing out of its outstretched hands.
The darkness moved back once more.
Surged upward.
Forming a gigantic wall.
For a few seconds nothing happened, silence reigned.
Then the wall tilted, falling over the ice monster.
Spreading its hands, an ice dome instantly formed around it.
But the darkness covered everything, the dome and all.
Then silence ruled, nothing happened.
For two hours Thorne stood outside the darkness.
The other enforcers with their anima drawn, observing, waiting for whatever emerged, enemy or friend.
But there was no change until eventually the darkness stirred, then it started shrinking, slowly, then rapidly.
Forming a whirlpool, which spiralled towards a point.
Hermes' arms spread, accepting it into his cloak, no sign of the ice man.
He looked at Thorne, flashed a smile.
"You owe me now," he mouthed.
Staggered, then his eyes closed, his body tilted sideways, hitting the ground with a thud.