Misunderstood Destinies (2)

Jargos was able to rip off an arm of the Bone-Beast. He surfaced and roared out, then dove back down to finnish the job, when he was suddenly thrown out of the water and back into the woods. The Bone-Beast surfaced and ran into the trees to find him

As Layla saw Balthazar come to the surface, she stated, "Like me, you're mortal. And that does mean that, like a mortal, you can't breathe under water for long!" She dragged him down with her and the two started fighting with magic to magic. Balthazar did take some damage to the impact, but it wasn't significant.

Jargos and the Bone-Beast fought on dry land and it seemed to be going poorly for Jargos. His speed and strength out classed the Bone-Beast, but unlike him, the Bone-Beast never tired, and his bones came back to him after Jargos ripped them off. Jargos was on the losing end of the fight

Layla was soon able to grab hold of Balthazar and lock her arms around him so he couldn't swim upwards. Her plan was to hopefully drown him, but the only problem is that she didn't know who's last longer under the water. A few moments went by, and it soon became a struggle to hold him. Lack of air weakened her grip on him, but she held as tight as possible.

Jargos decided that the only way to win was to lose all control, he just hopped he could gain it back. He let loose and slowly faded to into darkness. Jargos went into a rampage, demolishing the foe before him, rending the bones apart and then crushing them into dust in his jaws

Suddenly, Layla felt Balthazar's body drop as if he had lost consciousness. She had to quickly let go of him to get to the surface. When she did, she swam over to the edge and laid back in the grass to catch her breath. Though, little did she know that Balthazar was merely faking. He quickly came to the surface and levitated above the water. Layla stood up as quick as possible, dodging a large sphere by just a little bit that was thrown at her.

Jargos' rage and strength grew as he went wild. Every primal power, every primal emotion, all of it was coming to the surface and soon it looked as if the Bone-Beast would be defeated. But this sense of victory was short lived as the bones flew back to the ocean, Jargos in hot pursuit

Layla quickly fired Light Magic back at Balthazar, though he dodged and ran at her. Tackling her, he took her to the ground and used his body weight and strength to hold her down.

"Funny. I look in your eyes and your age is obvious to me. An adult, possibly in her early to mid twenties. Tell me, your kind never live much farther past their thirties, do they? And your friend? He'll surely live past you."

Layla growled. "And I'll give my life if it meant saving his. Call off your creature, or I will use my strongest magic against you."

"Oh, you haven't yet?"

"Cocky little bas****."

The bones came flying and struck Balthozar, carrying him into the air. He laughed and made a sphere of Dark Energy around him, constructing armor from the bones. Jargos barreled through the trees and launched himself up to tackle the sphere, but the energy threw him into the ocean

Layla stood up, though panting. "Jargos, I think we need a new plan." She laughed a bit. "Someone just doesn't know when to give up."

Jargos swam to shore couching, but roared out and readied himself to jump again. As he did, the sphere burst and Balthozar was in the rib cage of the reformed Bone-Beast. it had an aura of pure dark energy around it, and it was heading straight for Jargos

"N..No!" she yelled out. She heard Jargos' words to her prior to the fight echo in her mind. "I won't let this happen!" Layla ran as quick as she could, hardly able to breathe in the rush. She locked her hands around Jargos' waist and yelled, "Shield!" right before impact. Layla closed her eyes, merely hoping the shield would withstand the blast.

The shield withstood the attack, and Jargos came back swinging as he slashed at Balthozar

Layla released Jargos as he went to attack Balthazar. She was still panting. "... He's strong, that's for sure. Giving me a headache just holding that shield up." Layla took a few steps back to form a sphere in her hand. "I'm activating this power and I'm using everything I've got in this blow. If it fails, we'll have to retreat. One of us alone aren't going to be able to finish him off. Heck, I have doubts even this will stop him. He's barely weakening, and I know that after that blast it'll take everything I've got to use this attack."

Despite being in a rage, jargos looked at Layla and make a gesture that resembled a nod, then lunged at Balthozar. He used his overwhelming strength to fight him off while Layla gathered her strength. He used all of his might to rend and slash and crush the Bon-Beast armor, but It didn't seem to be worth anything

Layla concentrated what of her magic she could into the sphere.

"Jargos, I think I need to say this now. If this attack fails, then this means that we are most likely not meant to fight him and defeat him yet. Both of us were already fighting intensely prior to now, and thus we were at a disadvantage.

In this case this blow does not damage him, we must retreat for another day. I realize that this may disappoint you, but it may be the safest choice. If we are to save the future of Garlan, we must be at full strength. As long as we live, he won't win the war. Maybe the battle, but not the war."

Jargos made no motion to acknowledge her, he just kept wrecking

Layla sighed. She pulled as much of her power into the sphere. Quickly, in a dash, she jumped up into the air after bouncing off a rock at the edge of the lake. "Eat this, Balthazar!" Layla knew she wouldn't have enough reserve to form a shield. She thrust it at the chest of the creature and braced herself upon the explosion.

Jargos was thrown back through a tree when the explosion happened, and fell unconscious.

Layla was thrown back immediately. Without her shield, she had no protection against the blast unlike last time. When the sphere exploded, she felt a burning sensation on her right arm. Thrown back against the ground, she cringed slightly. Sitting up, she realized that she had received some burns on her arm. Layla glanced back to the ocean where the beast still stood firm. "I'm just not strong enough... Da** it...!" She clenched her teeth to stand up and quickly ran to Jargos. "This isn't happening... This can't be happening, da** it!"

"Ha!! This is what the world could muster against me?!?! YOU INSIGNIFICANT BRATS!! You are not even worth my time!!" Balthozar laughed as he disappeared in a cloud of darkness


Jargos remained unconscious and began shifting back down

Layla's anger settled down, though she didn't realize until moments later that hot tears ran down her face. "You bas****..." she worded out. "We'll be back. We always do." She managed to pull Jargos over near the lake. Pulling the bag she put in the hole out, she sorted out the health potions and placed them near Jargos. Layla didn't want them. She washed the water over her arm and clenched her teeth. "I'm just not strong enough. I can't believe this... All of the effort for the final blow and it didn't even scratch him, and instead came back and nearly blew my arm up into pieces."

Jargos' runes began to glow green, and a tendril of energy came from them and pushed into Layla's rune, making it glow green

Layla glanced over to Jargos in surprise, but her expression soon faded. She was just thankful he was still alive. Layla sighed. "Everything I had. Every last bit I had for the final attack." As her rune glowed green, a green aura surrounded her arm.

She wiped her face, though still deeply concerned. Not for herself, but for Jargos and for Garlan. Layla walked over to Jargos and sat beside him. Even though he was unconscious, she still felt better beside him than being alone as much as she wanted to be to herself. Layla pulled her knees to her face and propped her head on her hands. She didn't know how to help Jargos, nor could she transport him. All she could do was wait.

Jargos' mind was a hurricane and it was taking everything he had not to let it get worse. Loosing control like that was the stupidest thing he could do, and now he could barely hold himself together. Balthozar was too powerful and Jargos had even ascended into darkness, but nothing mattered. He didn't even know if Layla was alright. He didn't know what to do