Chapter 10

Arestasia's team had reached the tall castle. Behind them were a trail of dead goblins, black wolves, and Xadows. Dawnni had collected the souls of each one.  

"It feels like each time we kill an evil creature, it gets easier and easier." Lupin said.  

"That's what training does Lupin..." Arestasia said sarcastically as if she was talking to a small child. 

The team continued forward inside the castle and walked into a large circular room. There were cylindrical cages hanging from chains from the ceiling, the cages had skeletons in them. Skull-shaped torches lit up the room as they were scattered along the walls. 

"Really eerie..." 

"Oh! What a pleasure for you to come!" a female voice said.  

The voice echoed throughout the room. Suddenly a metal gate burst through the ground and continued upward, blocking the path from which the team had entered. A black liquid droplet fell from the ceiling and fell in the middle of the floor. The tiny puddle it had made suddenly increased in size, creating a black puddle that nearly took up half of the floor. 

"Rupert! Come darling!" the female voice called out. 

Suddenly a beast with magenta fur started to rise from the puddle. Its giant claws pulled itself up. It had an enormous mouth that bore viciously long black teeth, stained with a green liquid. It opened its one eye and glared at the team. Fortunately the creature couldn't pull itself all the way out of the puddle. It let out a mighty roar in frustration. Some of the green liquid flew from its mouth and hit the chains of the caged skeleton, melting it. The cage suddenly fell from the ceiling and crashed beside the creature. 

"And he's full of highly corrosive acid... What's next?" thought. 

The beast's giant red eye suddenly blasted a beam of arcane energy towards the team. The team quickly jumped out of the way. 

"Damn it..." 

Suddenly a light-skinned woman in a beautiful black silk dress appeared in front of "Rupert". 

"Do you like my pet? He likes to play with his food before he eats. I hope you don't mind." she said sweetly.  

"Who are you?" Arestasia yelled. 

"My name is Zephalia Tasile. And I will be the one who will stop you from reaching Lord Glast this evening!" 

"Glast? Could she be referring to the 'evil power'?" Dawnni thought. 

"Rupert, now you play nice! Mama has some errands to run."

Zephalia snapped her fingers and disappeared with a purple flash. Rupert looked at the team and roared with ferocity. 

"Well, looks like I can only go ranged with this creature." Lupin said. 

He drew two blades from his sides. The blades began to extend as it glowed a bright blue. 

"Obviously, the eye must be the weak point. Dawnni, get me in the air!" 

Dawnni raised his hands in the air and yellow square-shaped platforms appeared in random locations. Lupin quickly hopped on each platform until he was above the creature. Suddenly the iris and pupil of the creature split into two, one staring at Dawnni and Arestasia, and one staring upwards at Lupin. 

"That's just gross..." 

Lupin slashed towards the eye, releasing a sharp wave of blue energy. The monster closed its eye and the sharp wave ricocheted back at him. 

"Whoa!" 

Lupin jumped backwards to another platform. Arestasia extended her sword to its whip form and jumped onto the platform and the monster's iris and pupil split into three. 

"There has to be a way to keep it's attention off of one of us." Dawnni exclaimed. 

Rupert leaned its head back. Dawnni could see the lump of acid-bile coming up through its body. 

"Come to my aid: Tichi!" 

Dawnni was shrouded in a blue aura. Rupert quickly leaned forward with its mouth open and blast a ball of condensed acid. Dawnni directed his palm to the projectile. 

"Reflected Redemption!" 

A giant green force field appeared around Dawnni. The ball of acid circled around it and flew right at Rupert's eye and struck it. The acid burned right through its eyelid, leaving the eye unprotected. The creature's eye turn blood-red. It roared in agony, flailing its head around as it tried to hold itself up with its arms. Lupin began to continuously slash at the eye with waves of energy. The monster roared each time it was hit. 

"This is too easy!" Lupin yelled. 

The monster fired a ball of acid at Lupin. Lupin quickly leaped onto another platform. The ball of acid continued on and crashed into the wall, leaving a giant melted hole. Arestasia swung here sword and slashed it at Rupert. She then quickly pulled it back making the tip of the blade crack at the eye with a loud pop. The sound made Dawnni shudder. The eye was sliced in half. It roared as it reached for its eye with one claw, making it lose its grip with the other. The monster began to slowly sink back into the black puddle, roaring in agony. The puddle quickly evaporated. 

"Rupert?! Rupert?!"  

Zephalia's voice echoed throughout the room. Arestasia and Lupin jumped off of the platforms and the platforms slowly faded away. Zephalia suddenly appeared in front of the team. Her beautiful emerald green eyes were filled with despair. 

"You...you injured my poor darling!" 

A tear fell from her eye. 

"I'll destroy you!" 

She held her hand out and a black rapier suddenly appeared in it. Dawnni drew his shield. 

"No...I just want you..." Zephalia said as she glared at Arestasia. 

"La Peine Congelés!" 

A white circle appeared under Dawnni and Lupin. The circles glowed bright and then encased them in clear ice, leaving them completely immobilized. 

"You were the one who hurt my baby!" 

"You were the one who sicced it on us!" 

"I'll be sure to torture you thoroughly before feeding you to Rubert!" 

Zephalia readied her sword. 

"Just try it honey..."