Chapter five: Rescue

After being defeated by the vindictive Iris, Dante is saved by the same man who saved him from the lion. But, will Lecs be enough to handle the vicious Iris?

Was I ready to die or was I just accepting the fact that I couldn't save myself? Either way things went I was fully prepared. Fully prepared to die that is. I came into this battle haphazardly and now I was paying the price for not thinking my own actions through. She obviously had more practice with her powers then I did and was better in combat in general. I had the determination while she had the prowess. Looks like she won. Some would wonder why I wasn't attempting to rise against her again. I knew things would end up with me on the ground again. My legs weren't broken but my self-esteem was. And I've hated my life for a while now. Maybe everyone was right. Suicide is a good decision. But lucky me Suicide isn't what I had to resort to. I have a psychotic female ready to burn me alive. Lucky me. A smile finally decided to take over my face.I wasn't going to squirm and try to crawl away. I would take my death like a soldier. So do your worst. Burn me to a crisp if that's what you want. I'll finally be free and it'll be all thanks to you. I guess I should be thanking her but then that'll take the fun out of it for her. My brown eyes drifted up to meet her own red eyes and just a few seconds of staring into them I could tell she was planning how she was going to kill me. 

Watching her get down on her knee in front of me made my heart drop and my body gain some cold tingling sensation. Was this because I actually felt like I would die here? She even had one more thing to say to me. "See you in hell." It's not like I was going anywhere else anyway. She opened her hand and a small ball of flames formed in the middle of it. It looked pretty dense and maybe it would explode on contact or something. I opened my mouth to give my last words of remorse to her but then I saw a foot mashed against Iris' face. This foot smooshed in her cheek and had enough force to not only force her to the side but fling her through the bushes and out of sight. Looks like old Lecs had some practice under his belt. That look of pain on Iris' face was so satisfying to see actually. Lecs took some sort of weird customized fighting stance and watched the bushes closely for any movement from that beast known as Iris. I turned my head to watch the bushes just as Lecs was. And, unfortunately, they were slowly being burned away as the figure of Iris approached through the flames. I was only able to tell by her silhouette. All I could do was watch helplessly as this battle developed. Now standing in front of what used to be a bush, Iris gave Lecs that same creepy stare she did to me. It wasn't really creepy anymore since I felt as if Lecs would destroy her in battle. Easily I may add. 

Lecs though had nothing negative to say. All he did was raise his hood to allow the shadow to hide his face once again. And his old voice came forth once again, except it was in some sort of weird threat to her. " You have once chance to leave peacefully." I would love to label him snarky but I couldn't really say anything. He did catch her off guard with that last hit so I couldn't judge yet if Lecs was going to destroy her easily in this battle or not. All I could do was lay here and watch the preceding battle. What Iris said next confirmed to me that she was not only condescending but she felt she was higher then everyone else. Or at least me and Lecs. " I'll make your end quick. You did only kick me after all." I could basically hear the sigh passing through Lecs' body. The old man reached his hands out of his robe to crack his knuckles, as did Iris. At least she recognized his skill for what it was. I wonder if Lecs has yet to show his full power. Was that all he could do? Or did he have some type of untapped reservoir of strength and power he has yet to show. Whatever the case I was confident this would definitely be an epic battle. With Lecs ending up as the victor of course. The air felt intense as the smell of burning leaves filled the air. Time to finally watch Iris get what's coming to her. Well...not like I hated her just that she freaking burned my hand and probably gave me the chest of a Twelve year old by burning it.

The tension in the air grew as the two began to have a stare down. Or at least attempting to anticipate what the other would do before the battle started. Iris vanished into flames once again, appearing in front of Lecs and throwing a punch. The reflexive old man easily caught her fist. He slowly began to crush her fist. The pain was building up on Iris' face as she lowered to her knees. Then, Lecs brought up his knee and smashed it into her face, forcing her back onto her back. She stared up at him and once again vanished into flames. She appeared behind Lecs and as soon as she did so he turned his body with his elbow flexed, forcing it into her stomach. After doing this I witnessed a painful uppercut to the face. Iris stumbled back and reached up to adjust her jaw, feeling as if Lecs threw it out of place. Luckily for her he didn't but he did break something. I cringed as Lecs effortlessly rushed forward and crashed his fist against her face. She stumbled back as a result and now had a bleeding nose. She reached up to hold it with a pained expression and honestly I couldn't blame her. But something unexpected began to happen. She began to let go of her nose with a weird expression on her face. "Ahhh.....ahhh.." She sounded as if she was going to sneeze. I raised a brow while watching her, Lecs also standing up straight to behold. Without warning she spat the sound of her sneeze with unexpected results. "ACHOOOO!" She yelled, flames coming out of her mouth and nose, covering Lecs' entire figure for a moment. After she was out of air in her lungs the flames stopped, Lecs standing there with his arms crossed as if he was trying to guard against it. Those flames really got to him didn't they? I could see a large piece of his arm, his robe looked even more damaged as a whole and I even saw a few pieces of his head through the hood. She burned some of his robe away apparently.

 Iris now decided to raise her first towards him to curse him. I guess I underestimated her determination in killing me. Oh well. " This could've been simple. But you just had to step in didn't you?" Lecs retorted rather quickly." Need me to get your sippy cup?" I let off a low chuckle to his remark, especially since she was indeed throwing a hissy fit similar to that of a child at the moment. She stomped and got angry, even causing her face to turn red. But I had to calm down to watch the rest of the battle. I was enjoying this a little too much but who cares. I wanted to see a body!....I mean I wanted to see Iris get what she deserved! Lecs spoke once again." This is my final offer: Leave now and no further harm will befall you." Her eyes basically flared up as she clenched her fists. It was easy to tell she wasn't going to stand for this. Plus I think I was regaining my strength so maybe I could help. Iris stomped once again, Fire rising from Under Lecs and encasing him.My face immediately filled with worry as Lecs clenched his fists trying to resist the pain that was coming over his body. Lecs, through his pain threw his hand forward, Iris being snatched into the air as the flames stopped. Now Lecs had less of a robe. More of his old legs were showing and he even had an entire arm showing. Plus, his hood was less of a hood. Bu I couldn't assess Lecs' current physical condition. I had to point out the fact that Iris was being choked by his telekinetic power. He approached her with his hand still out, dropping her. She hit the ground on her knees and held her neck. Breathing frantically. 

I began to rise to my feet as Iris did the same, throwing her fist again at Lecs. He caught it again as he did earlier and without any hesitation or remorse,, he reached forward and pinched her neck. Iris' eyes emptied of all vigor and she fell over, her eyes still half open but empty. Did he just knock her out? Now fully on my feet I watched Lecs turn towards me. A chill shivered down my spine as I watched him lower what was left of his hood, his grey eyes staring into my own brown ones. Then he spoke in that old,raspy tone of his. " Grab the girl and come with me. We will start your training tomorrow." That plan of his....was all of his actions pre-meditated? I wasn't going to question the fact we were training but I would question why he wanted me to grab Iris. She wanted to freaking kill me and we were going to bring her with us? What kind of crazy plan did he have? Could he at least fill me in on it so I could feel a tad more comfy with things? I'll try asking....again." W....Why? Why can't we just leave her here....I don't think her motives have changed just because you knocked her out." My mouth made me sound like a snarky know it all but I didn't care. I wanted to know. Lecs though silenced me with the bone-rattling words he spat at me next. " Do you see what happens to people who don't listen to me?" Was that a threat? Well, either way I wasn't going to go against his request. The old man turned and began to head back to that village we were just at, as I walked after him and bent down to scoop the female into my arms. Hearing foot steps I knew I was being left behind. I stood up straight and looked down at her, feeling as if seeing her in this delicate state did something to me....

But I couldn't focus on that. I had to follow Lecs....Ugh. I directed my steps after the old man as he let his right arm sink into the sleeve once more. His back was too me obviously and I let my mind wander. What kind of training was I going to do? Build up my mental endurance? Read a book? Increase my knowledge or something? And once again my train of thought was broken by Lecs' god-sent answer. " Your training will consist of gaining peace within yourself so that you can control your power. You will be taught all that I and the other Monachus know about this state of mind." That answer sure did come at a convenient time. Was he.....Nah that couldn't be possible. My thoughts were now wandering again and before I knew it my face crashed into his back and I stumbled away from him to keep things awkward. I actually do feel bad for Iris being so helpless right now but what was I supposed to do about it? I guess help Lecs with her while she's in this state. Anyway, Back to Lecs! I raised my gaze to the back of his head and threw my question out to him." What's with the sudden stop?" His head was turned up to stare up at the sky. I saw some type of....figure. Was Lecs staring at it? There was only one thing he had to say to me about this mysterious thing in the sky. " Run."

Of course I had to be the technical smart-mouth so I asked him:" Why?" He turned towards me fiercely, his eyes shining with the vigor of a true warrior. Once again I felt intimidated. " I said run! I'll catch up!"

Author's Note

This is one of the more favorable chapters to me. I feel as if the development was smoother then previous chapters and I was able to illustrate the fight scene more fluently.