"Ayhan!" Riz, with all her remaining strength, had burned all the vines she could see. Some had been seared but most had been coated with thin sheets of water, giving them protection against her flames.
The reinforced vines moved more violently. They shattered her flaming spear and hammered her against the tree standing next to Ayhan. The impact instantly knocked her unconscious.
"Riz!" Thea hastily cut the vines blocking her way but there were too many for her wind blades. Asuren assisted her with relentless whirlwind slashes. He crushed most of the vines but those that remained intact had pricked his skin with poisonous thorns and greatly weakened him.
Thea freed Asuren from the poisonous vines and caught him before he plummeted on the spiky grasses. She pulled him up on a sturdy branch and checked on his unstable pulse.
"You should return to the cave," Thea advised while catching her breath. She was also at her limit. "I'll save Riz and Ayhan."
"You cannot save anyone," the tall fairy appeared behind Thea and quickly covered her with vines.
Asuren raised his wind blades but vines had sprouted from the branches where he was lying and tightly wrapped around his body.
"Find a way to keep my master alive after the boar seal is destroyed or I will kill your friends," the tall fairy waved his left hand and the vines pulled Thea on a tree right next to Riz. Her remaining energy was being drained but she held on to her consciousness.
Asuren struggled against the vines but his strength was not enough to set himself free.
"You will agree with my plan,"the tall fairy grabbed his chest and his entire body burst with agonizing pain.
He momentarily blacked out. When his consciousness returned, everything around him was covered in darkness, as if he was back in the prison cell deep within his mind. But he was certainly not in that dreadful place.If he was, there would be chains and the Evil Witch would be standing in front of him.
At that moment, he was free, the vines had vanished, his energy had returned, and the Evil Witch was not there.
"What is this place?" Asuren summoned his wind blades. He could feel the tall fairy lurking in the shadows.
"A place not far from your prison cell," the voice of the tall fairy echoed through the dark walls, giving Asuren a terrible headache. "Your mind is a mess but I already found what I am looking for," he appeared in front of Asuren. "Agree with my plan or I will use the puppet curse to make you enter a contract with me."
"Get out of my body," Asuren attacked. His rage was quickly escalating, enhancing his speed and power. He had no idea where his fury was coming from but he needed it.
"You were ready to make a contract just a few minutes ago," The tall fairy summoned a sword covered with thorns and deflected the wind blades. "All I am asking is for my master to live after you destroy the seal," he waved a hand and vines sprouted from the ground. "Why do you want him dead when you are guiltier than him? I hoped you will be different… but it seems that you are as evil as that Nightgloom Witch!"
Asuren continuously performed whirlwind slashes and shattered the vines that tried to trap him.
"You don't want the seals to be destroyed," the tall fairy continued while slashing his poisonous sword. He too was furious and became more vicious. "You want to collect and use them as your weapon. Power is all that you want."
Asuren shattered the poisonous blade with a powerful whirlwind slash. He tried to land a fatal blow, but he only grazed the right arm of his opponent.
Kill him. That is the only way you can save your friends.
Asuren listened and went on with his relentless offensive. He only stopped when his whirlwind slashes cut deep into the arm of the tall fairy. The blood that oozed from the wound made him falter.
"How are you different from the Nightgloom Witch?!" the tall fairy hammered the ground with his bleeding arm.
Red vines sprouted from the ground. Asuren performed another whirlwind slash to stop the vines from trapping him but only a few had been shredded. The rest had finally succeeded in binding his arms and legs and drained his strength.
"Let's call the Evil Witch," the tall fairy wickedly smiled and grabbed his chest.
"Don't…" Asuren tried to warn but the agony of getting dragged back to the prison cell of his mind had drowned his words.
"I can sense a trace of a powerful fairy," the Evil Witch was standing in front of him, smiling ominously. "Finally, you've become a little useful," she knelt and touched Asuren's chest and the agony he was enduring had intensified.
"No…" Asuren tried to remain in control of his body but, with an exhausted mind and body, he could resist the Evil Witch for only a few seconds.
^###########^
Asuren struggled to regain control as his body move under the terrifying influence of the Evil Witch. She summoned a venomous whip to counter the poisonous blade of the tall fairy.
"I will not let you kill my master," the tall fairy summoned more crimson vines.
The Evil Witch only smiled and, with a single slash of her whip, every strand of the crimson vine had been shredded into dust. She waved it again and caught the neck of the tall fairy.
"It has been thousands of years but your power remains the same," the Evil Witch tightened her grip on the neck of the tall fairy but froze when she was about to decapitate him.
Asuren, with all his might, had managed to push the Evil Witch out of his mind and regain control of his body. He dropped on his knees and noticed the tall fairy aiming for his chest with a poisonous blade. His rage had quickly escalated. It helped him summon wind blades and slash at the neck of his opponent.
The tall fairy collapsed on the ground. His wound was bleeding profusely but a satisfied smile curved on his lips. The poisonous blade still pierced his target on the chest.
Asuren tightened the grip on his wind blades and aimed for the heart of the tall fairy. He had to kill the enemy and free his friends before the powerful rage within him had fully dissipated. But his blades had been blocked and then shattered by a cluster of dark crimson vines that soon transformed into the boar seal.
^###########^