Chains of Corruption

You suddenly see yourself standing in a white room, naked. You look around and see Mara dressed in flowing transparent robes, golden jewelry adorning her neck and arms.

"Am... am I dead?" You ask hesitantly.

Mara smiles and says, "You are on the verge of death. Iliya is not to be underestimated, but I believe you can defeat her."

"How?" You ask, "Even with all the power you gave me, I'm still about to be killed, and, everyone else..."

You wipe away tears of frustration and Mara says, "Your friends are alive. Iliya created an illusion to catch you off guard and take the crystal. There isn't much time, so I must explain quickly. The crystal you possess can be corrupted and in return, grant Iliya even more power, but that is not the only use for it. It has the power to weaken the demons considerably with it's holy magic, or, it could send you and your friend back to where you came from, but its power is limited to only one request, so you must choose wisely."

Damn, so it's save Gwen or save Thanos?

"Isn't there another crystal or something I could use after I kill Iliya?" You ask.

Mara shakes her head and says, "I'm afraid I only made one. I could make another, but it would take a very long time and I am not strong enough, which brings me to the next subject." You stare confused at the goddess as she continues, "Iliya has corrupted this body beyond salvation, so I want you to destroy it."

"What!? I can't kill you, you're the goddess of this world, the people need you!" You plead.

Mara laughs softly and says, "Sweet child, if you destroy this body, I would be free to take on another form. I could never abandon my children when they needed me most. Iliya locked me in her dungeon to keep me from being reborn. It will take quite a while for me to regain my powers once I am in a new body, but in the mean time, I can transfer my remaining power to you. I'm sorry that you and your friend got mixed up in our world's problems, but now you are the only one who can stop Iliya."

You smile and say, "Don't worry, as long as I can save Gwen and kill Iliya, then all of this will have been worth it."

Mara smiles and you say, "So... how do you want me to do this? I don't want to hurt you or anything."

"My pain is but a pittance compared to those who have lost their lives to Iliya. Strike me down as you would anyone else." Mara says calmly.

Even though she's telling you to do it, you still feel guilty as you raise your sword to the beautiful, smiling goddess.

"I'm sorry." You whisper as you close your eyes and pierce Mara's chest.

You quickly withdraw your blade and the sound of the goddess choking on her own blood doesn't help your guilty feeling at all. You catch Mara before she falls down and gently lay her on the floor. Mara raises her trembling hand and caresses your face, before taking a final breath and then she goes limp. The goddess lay there motionless for a moment before she begins to glow. Her body bursts into golden lights that converge to form a sphere.

You hear Mara's voice saying, "Thank you for freeing me, my champion. Take my powers and stop the demons, the rest is up to you..."

Her voice fades away and you sit there for a moment hoping you didn't actually kill her. You touch the sphere and an incredible power flows through you uncontrollably. You feel like your going to lose consciousness when suddenly, you blink and you are back with Iliya, who is inches away from you. You grab her hand and squeeze as hard as you can, completely crushing Iliya's wrist. She pulls back hard but you don't let go and her hand tears off at the wrist.

Iliya smiles and attacks you with her wings. She stabs and spins around trying to hit you, but you can see her movements clearly now and dodge them with ease. Her hand regenerates and she lunges for you, but you grab her wrist and crush it again. You pull her in and grab her neck with both hands. Iliya's wings attack from either side but you quickly rip them off of her before trying to strangle her again.

"I don't need to breathe, silly human." Iliya says and you squeeze even harder until you hear something crack.

You release your grip and pummel Iliya until she is a bloody mess lying on the floor. You get up and Iliya begins to laugh.

She stands up and says, "This pain is exquisite, I feel like I'm in heaven!" Her wounds are almost healed already and she seems to teleport behind you and says, "Let me share this ecstasy with you."

You slash behind you but she disappears and stabs you from behind. Her wing retracts and slams into you, knocking you down. Iliya pounces on top of you and you grab her by the throat and hold her back as she wildly claws at your armor, missing your face by inches. Her tail rears up and stabs you in the stomach as your free hand drives your blade into her chest.

Her attacks slow but don't stop, and you keep stabbing her as she does the same to you. You cough up blood and don't know how much more your body can handle. Iliya is focused on stabbing you with her tail and doesn't have time to react when you pull her close and smash your head into hers.

Iliya sits straight up and finally ceases her attack as you slice halfway through her and release electricity to finish the cut, splitting the demon in two at the waist. Her torso hits the floor and Iliya moans as her legs reattach themselves and you get to your feet. Iliya laughs as her appearance starts to change.

Her face becomes more demonic and spikes grow on her arms and legs. Iliya's wings become incredibly large and several tendrils made of her dark energy sprout from her back. Her eyes turn completely black and her mouth becomes a mess of long teeth that almost look like she's grinning.

You don't know what kinds of tricks she has in mind, but you want to bring the fight away from your injured comrades. You leap up and use magic circles to boost yourself up to the top of the tower. Iliya is close behind and comes to a stop mid air, her massive wings blocking the sun from view.

"I really wanted to feed your power to my slime, but I think I'll just kill you now." Iliya says in a distorted, ominous voice.

"Go ahead and try you bitch, I'm not going down without a fight!" You yell as Iliya roars and swoops in.

You slash hard and sever her foot as she tries to grab you with her claws, but on the next pass she deflects your sword away with her claws and spins around sending her wings crashing into your shoulder. You lose your footing and Iliya rips your sword from your hand and throws it off of the tower.

You hold out your hand and a blade made of pure white light appears. Unlike the monstrosity last time, this blade is elegant and slender. It faintly glows gold with a hint of Mara's power surrounding it as you grasp the handle and point the blade to Iliya. She laughs maniacally and charges in again. You cut off tendrils and limbs alike but they just regrow in a few seconds.

Iliya pushes you back to the edge of the tower and says, "I think it's time for the hero to die now, don't you think?"

All of her tendrils pierce your body and you try to scream in pain but end up coughing on blood instead.

Iliya wraps her arms around you and pulls you close as she lifts off into the air and says, "This is what happens when you defy me. If you had just submitted yourself to me, this wouldn't be happening. Your friends might have lived as well, but now I'm going to kill them all!"

Iliya drops you high above one of the vats of black slime and laughs.

As you fall, you hear Mara's voice saying, "Champion, if you wish to return home, I will use the crystal to send you and your friend back."

You think of everything that's happened and say, "No, I promised I was going to stop Iliya, so use it to destroy the demons. As long as I save Gwen and kill Iliya, nothing else matters."

"I see, thank you for your sacrifice champion, all of Thanos will be in your debt, but the crystal alone will not kill the demons." Mara explains, "It will severely weaken them and negate all dark magic. Use this time to kill Iliya before she can regain her strength. We are all counting on you, champion. Pierce the crystal with your holy sword to unleash its magic."

Mara's voice fades away and you throw the crystal into the air.

You slice through the crystal as Iliya swoops in and screams, "Nooo!"

A blinding white light explodes out of the crystal and you can't see or hear anything for a few moments. When you finally regain your sight, you see that you and Iliya are near the ground now and you both slam into the stone walkway, causing it to crack around your bodies.

You dizzily look up and try to get to your feet, but you look at your arm and see that it is bent at an odd angle and definitely broken. You wearily check yourself for more injuries but besides what Iliya did to you, you are alright, you think. You struggle to your feet and slowly make your way to Iliya, who is still lying face down and motionless.

You bend down and grab her by the hair and her eyes snap open. She swipes her claws at you and they tear into your armor. You stumble backwards and try to get to your feet. Iliya looks like she is injured and her wounds aren't healing anymore either.

She spits up blood and says, "What the hell is going on? What did you do?" You laugh and Iliya walks over to you and says, "What the hell is so funny?"

"I'm not really sure what just happened, but I think you're going to be a lot easier to kill now." You say with a smile.

Iliya looks down at her wounds and says, "You don't look so good yourself. All I have to do is kill you and then I can regain my strength. Easy enough."

You feel like you don't have any magical power left and you breathe heavily as the pain from your battles begins to set in.

You walk over and pick up your sword sticking out of the ground and say, "Like I said, I'm not going down without a fight, so stop talking and let's end this."

Iliya smiles and charges you attacking in quick succession with her wings. You block the razor sharp wings but even after being weakened, she is still very strong and pushes you back slowly. You are running out of options and without Mara's blessing you are forced to rely on all the training you did as preparation for this moment. You try to read her erratic movements and see an opening, so you strike. Iliya's wing is severed and she screams in pain as she staggers backward.

"What's wrong Iliya? I thought you enjoyed pain?" You taunt as you slowly close in on her.

"Shut the fuck up you bitch!" Iliya says clutching her wing as it sprays blood all around her. "This is your fault, I'll kill you for this!" Iliya roars.

You try to push her further hoping to create an opening.

"You already said that but here I am, still alive, and standing over a cowering demon." You say.

Iliya is furious as she stands and says, "I'm going to rip you apart and bathe in your blood!"

Just a little more.

"Maybe you numbed yourself to pain with your magic, but right now you're feeling the pain that humans feel everyday. The great demon Iliya, you're nothing more than a common animal now, just like the rest of us." You say looking down on the demoness.

Iliya snaps and lunges at you at full speed. She attacks wildly with her claws and her remaining wing, but there is no technique behind it, only raw power, which makes it easy to read her movements. You got into her head but you still need to be careful, her attacks could easily kill you at this point. Iliya gets even more enraged the more she misses you and roars in frustration. You block her claws and spin around, slashing her along the way. Iliya blocked your attack but her wing is now badly hurt and she can't lift it very high anymore.

"It hurts doesn't it? This is what you put all those people through!" You yell.

Iliya laughs and says, "And I'm not going to stop, not until all of you fucking humans are dead!"

Iliya attacks with her claws and you block most of her strikes, but one hits you in your injured arm and you are sent flying into the tower. You crash through the wall and struggle to get to your feet as Iliya approaches. Iliya leaps towards you and you stumble backwards.

As Iliya comes into range, you quickly duck and slash as hard as you can. Your sword cleanly slices into Iliya's torso and makes it's way down to her naked pussy where your blade exits her flesh and her body tumbles past you and into a wall. Your wounds are hurting badly and you feel lightheaded as you return to your feet and approach Iliya.

Suddenly, she lunges forward and you barely manage to put your sword between you two. Iliya leans in and presses her tongue hard against your blade, slicing her tongue like a snake's as she laughs and grabs hold of your blade, crushing it in her hands. Her bloody hands drop the pieces of your sword to the ground and she smiles at you. You pant in exhaustion as Iliya slowly gets up. You step backwards and trip on some rubble, falling down to the floor.

Iliya gets on her hands and knees and crawls over to you and says, "Do you have any last words for your friends before I kill them as well?"

You look at her cold blue eyes and say, "Yeah, sorry it took so long."

Iliya screams but you slam a piece of rubble against her head and she falls to the side. You quickly roll on top of her and smash the back of Iliya's head until there is a large hole in her skull and a pool of blood around you. Not wanting to take chances, you back away and find what's left of your sword. You return to Iliya and stab her over and over until you are too tired to even lift the broken sword. You sit against a wall with a good view of Iliya in case she gets up again, but she doesn't.

A long while passes and after you're sure she hasn't moved, you remove your breastplate and inspect your wounds. You are bleeding in several places that Iliya stabbed you and your arm looks mangled. It doesn't really hurt that bad and you suppose you are going into shock. You feel cold as the sounds of distant fighting and roaring fires slowly fades away and you close your eyes. '

At least I know Gwen will be safe, the others will make sure of that.' You think as you begin to go numb. 'I hope that the people of this world can find peace now. I hope Gwen can forgive me for leaving her all alone after we just rescued her, but I can't really do anything about it now. I'm gonna die here next to this demon, in this hellhole of a factory... Why did it have to end this way?'

Chapter 33: Requiem

"Come on honey, we have to get dressed now." C.C. says as Gwen looks around unaware of why everyone is getting dressed up.

"It's so sad that Gwen is still like this even after Iliya is gone." Kira says with a sad look on her face.

"Yes, but she's alive, and with any luck, hopefully her memories will return one day. You have to look at the bright side, Mika sacrificed a lot for all of us." Priscilla responds.

Gwen pops her head through a sweater and C.C. says, "There we go, now let me fix your hair and we'll be ready."

Astrid walks in and says, "Aren't you ready yet, the funeral is in an hour. We're gonna be late."

"Almost, just a second, ok there! Now we're ready to go." C.C. says patting Gwen on the head.

Kira, Priscilla, Astrid, Vivienne, Gwen, and C.C. board a carriage and set off into town. They arrive at a small house and Kira and C.C. get off and go inside.

"Hey, how are you feeling? We're all going to the funeral today, for Iliya's victims, if you're up for it, you could tag along..." C.C. says.

You sit up slowly and say, "Yeah, I feel like crap, but I want to go. A lot of those people died so I could face Iliya, it's only fair that I go and pay my respects."

C.C. helps you to your feet and Kira says, "We're gonna take her to the funeral doc, be back later!"

The doctor shakes her head and waves you off. You climb into the carriage and are reunited with everyone for the first time since the battle with Iliya. It's been three days since then and you've been recovering at a local doctor's home in Valen City.

When you woke up, Kira was right by your side and told you about how the demons lost their power and were almost completely wiped out after you killed Iliya. You learned that although everyone sustained serious injuries, all of you made it off of the island alive. As the carriage bumbles down the road, you look at Gwen and wonder what Iliya did to her while she had her captive.

Gwen is very sexual now but she has the intelligence of a child and can hardly even speak. The only thing that gives you hope is that she remembers your name and seems to love being around you. The carriage arrives at the funeral and you slowly get off with help from Priscilla.

You make your way into the crowd of people and silently listen as a priest talks about how it was their time. You can't help but think that's bullshit. Iliya was responsible for their deaths and she paid for them with her life. It doesn't bring them back, but at least she can't hurt anyone anymore. You wonder how you could have done things differently, maybe saved more people.

Priscilla puts her hand on your shoulder and says, "What's done is done, we can't change it no matter how much we might want to. All we can do is move forward and make sure this wasn't all in vain. Cheer up, you did something amazing, you should be proud."

"I know it's just..." You begin.

Astrid cuts you off and says, "Quit moping, celebrate your victory and honor the dead."

"Yeah! You saved Gwen and our whole world too! You should be happy!" Kira adds.

"You're right, I guess I have earned it." You say with a smile.

"That's the spirit, now you watch your girlfriend for a minute, I have to pee." C.C. says as she leads Gwen to you and flies off.

Gwen looks at you and smiles warmly. Seeing her like this almost brings tears to your eyes and you hug her tightly.

Gwen hugs you back and says, "M-mika..."

"That's right, I'm right here and I'll never leave you alone again, I promise." You say.

You hold Gwen for a few minutes and then break the embrace as the priest reads off a list of the dead. After the funeral, you head back to the doctor's house to rest.

C.C. says, "I'll bring Gwen by tomorrow, so you get some rest and feel better, ok?"

You smile and say, "Thanks for taking care of her for me C.C."

The succubus shrugs and says, "Maybe I'm just doing it so you'll owe me and have to work for me..."

You both burst out laughing but your wound starts to hurt.

C.C. says, "Sorry, I'll see you tomorrow Mika, sleep tight!"

You lay down on the mattress and think, maybe this won't be so bad after all. The demons are gone and the corruption has stopped spreading. Maybe the people can even go back to how they used to be. You and Gwen are stuck here now unless Mara contacts you again, but ever since the fight with Iliya you haven't been able to use magic at all, which is why you aren't back on your feet like the rest of your friends. Oh well, after everything you've been through, trying to race your way across continents and fighting battle after battle, you are enjoying the peace and quiet of Valen City.

Sometimes things happen that are out of your control, but you still have to make it through somehow, and you feel glad that starting a new life in Thanos is a much smaller undertaking than slaying a demon queen. The doctor checks on you before she heads upstairs to her room for the night and you blow out the candle lighting the room.

You take a deep breath and think that no matter what life has in store for you from here on out, you can handle it even without your powers, because you've made friends here that will last a lifetime. The moonlight pours in through the window and lands gently on your face as you close your eyes and fall asleep wondering how your life will unfold from here.