Chapter 79

**Merianna**

“My Lady, we should get moving.” Zerial said hesitantly as he glanced at my still fuming expression. Matters weren’t helped by the fact that Thyrion didn’t seem to have any intention of letting me go anytime soon. And I was too weak to try and fight him off.

“I don’t want to.”

“Please, My Lady.” He seemed agitated, like he wanted to get me out of there as quickly as possible. Not like that was new.

“Noch might need our help.” I insisted stubbornly.

“That’s what we are here for. You, on the other hand, can go back to Nelia and get treated.” Thyrion said, while indicating Raska and Arasule. It seemed like Ela had already taken Jasnine away, since they both were nowhere to be seen.

“But still!”

“Come now, don’t be a mumpsimus. I know you have some personal issues with Dermon, but I’ll take care of him for you.” He retorted.

My eye twitched in irritation. “I’m not a mumpsimus! YOU are! You seem to have a tendency to dive into anything that you know is wrong!”

“I do not!”

“Where’s Noch’s staff then?” 

He clamped his mouth shut and frowned disapprovingly down at me. Raska and Arasule on the other hand, both started laughing even though Noch and Dermon were fighting furiously close by. A gust of strong wind blasted past us, which caused us to become serious again.

“This is the first time I’ve seen a fight so intense.” I said, while staring at the battle. And it really was intense. Noch was switching between long and close range combat so frequently that I could barely keep up with his pace. Dermon seemed to be holding up and deflecting his attacks as soon as they were about to hit him. It was nothing like the fight they had in that village not too long ago. But to think that being merged with a demon would change his capabilities by this much. It was mind-boggling.

“This is normal for us, who are a bit older.” Thyrion said as he also looked closely at the battle. “Noch is a special case though. Out of us all besides Fog he’s one of the strongest among witches, considering his age.”

“Age…” I mumbled to myself. That reminded me again of the images I saw just a while ago. Somehow they were clearly triggered by Dermon’s circle, but why, and how? I sneaked a glance at Hezerial, who seemed to be keeping a sharp eye on our surroundings and the battle. He was uncomfortable and clearly didn’t want me anywhere near this area. He knew something. I would have to ask him later when we get back to the Order.

I nearly fell as the earth rocked under our feet again. It seemed like Noch was now gaining the upper hand again. He had pulled out his staff and was bashing something into the ground with it. Although I couldn’t see what that something was, I knew that it must’ve been Dermon that was being pummeled.

“Ouch, that looks like it must hurt.” Arasule piped up from behind.

“It looks like this is as far as Dermon can go against Noch right now.” Raska added.

I had to agree. It looked brutal. I didn’t want to be anywhere near the business end of Noch’s staff. Each blow felt like one of Nana Ara’s explosive spells going off underground. My eye caught something emerging from the other side of the treeline. It had gotten darker now as the sun was setting and heavy clouds had moved in as well. It had gotten hard to make out details in the dim lighting. Squinting my eyes, I was able to make out a figure in a dark dress.

I was about to ask the others who that figure was, when it suddenly sprinted towards Noch with incredible speed!

“Noch!” I yelled in warning. He managed to catch sight of the incoming figure and braced himself against the incoming blow. The hit sent him tumbling in our direction, but he was soon able to land on his feet again, not too far from our little group.

“What are you doing Junnie?” Noch asked calmly. His tone was low and angry.

*That was Junnie?* The dust settled again, and I was able to see Junnie bend down and pick Dermon up from the crater he’d been pummeled into.

For a second, I was confused. I couldn't wrap my head around the fact that Junnie was currently helping the enemy. Just when I had thought that she was a friend worth keeping.

The cold stare that landed on us was nothing like her usual happy smiles and warm gazes she always shared with us. It made me realize that she could have been fooling all of us from the beginning, like I had speculated. I guessed it… I knew it…

But it still hurt.

I couldn’t believe how much it hurt to have it confirmed right in front of me. No more games, no more laughs, no more jokes. That was clearly never going to happen again from now onwards. That realization made my heart sting.

“Sorry Noch, but I couldn’t stand by and watch anymore.” Junnie replied nonchalantly, while propping a bruised and battered Dermon up on his feet.

“Have you been fooling us from the beginning?” He asked next, as the grip on his staff tightened.

Junnie smiled coldly down at us. “Maybe? It certainly wasn’t a recent thing. I can tell you that much.”

My chest tightened, and my eyes started to burn. Who knew that I would feel like this because of Junnie? Junnie, of all people. Selfish and pushy Junnie. Irritating to a fault, Junnie. Clingy Junnie…

I caught her glancing our way and her eyes locked briefly with my own blurry vision, before I saw them twinge and turn away again.

“Why are you here Junnie?” Dermon grunted out as he straightened himself out again. Junnie held him tightly around his waist to make sure he didn’t fall over.

“I’m here to help you, my love.” Junnie said matter-of-factly. She smiled up at his face with a look I hadn’t seen before. She looked like she saw no fault in him whatsoever, like he was the only thing that really mattered to her.

Dermon didn’t have that kind of expression when he looked down at her with his black eyes. “Help, you say.” He said with a glare that could freeze the ocean.

“With anything you want and need.” She confirmed. She was completely unaffected by the look he was shooting at her. Was she thinking that his frosty glare was meant as a look of affection for her?

“There is one thing I need from you right now…” He leered with a dark grin. “Give me some of your energy.”

Junnie smiled back at him lovingly and clasped her hand in his. “However much you need is fine with me.” She said while stepping in to hug him.

All the warning bells were going off in my head. “Noch.” I breathed desperately as my eyes shot to him.

He was a fair distance away from us, but his eyes still shot over to me. He heard me, but he frowned and slightly shook his head. He wasn’t going to do anything. No one was going to do anything. Why did I want to do anything about this? She clearly betrayed us. Who knows for how long this had been going on? My gut was right. Painfully right…

Dermon had clasped her in a brutal hug, and claimed her lips savagely. As I watched Junnie in Dermon’s grasp, I couldn’t help but wonder if she ever really understood what she had gotten herself into. Did she really understand what Dermon was involved in, or was she just blindly following him because of her feelings for him?

It became clear as I saw her skin starting to darken and shrivel. Staring at the change her body was going through was more painful than I expected. Dermon was literally sucking her energy right out of her. That didn’t mean her natural energy that she could regain over some time. He was also tapping into her soul’s energy, the very thing that kept her alive and that marked her as a witch.

Junnie seemed to notice this small fact a little too late. She had probably thought he only meant the energy that she accumulated naturally, and not this. At this stage, she was already too weak to do anything about it. She struggled weakly against his grasp as he kept her locked against him. Her skin was now turning gray, and even though her body’s shape and size didn’t change, she seemed to get smaller as I watched in horror. The aura she always carried wherever she went was turning into nothing but fuel for a beast.

It only took a matter of moments for Dermon to finish, and for Junnie to have gone completely limp. With a sigh and a grin, he grabbed her behind the neck with one of his hands and threw her away from him.

I didn’t need to look at her to know that she was dead. Any being that could sense energy knew that there was no saving what had been cast aside by that hand. Even a lump of hunted flesh had more vitality in it than her body did at that moment.

“I always knew that you were a self-serving piece of shit asshole Dermon. Glad to know that didn’t change.” Noch sneered.

“Not that it’s any of your concern now, is it?” Dermon retorted back with that sickly sly grin of his. His bruises and other injuries were all completely gone, as if they hadn’t existed in the first place.

“You’re right, it isn’t. Still doesn’t change the fact that the mere sight of your face still eggs me on to kill you though.” Noch lunged at Dermon with more force than I’ve seen him use before. The force he hit Dermon with sent a wave of visible air blasting through the area.

The fight had turned into a brutal hand to hand battle. Noch wasn’t even bothering to use his staff as he traded blows with Dermon.

“Did Dermon steal Junnie’s technique?” I asked as I kept my eyes on their fight. Dermon did seem to move in the same way that Junnie moved when she was fighting.

“I don’t like what that could imply, but maybe.” Thyrion answered as he looked at their blows with a frown pulled down sharply over his eyes.

“Not quite.” Zerial replied with an equally severe frown. “Demons can absorb a person’s soul energy, and for a while, be able to harness the power or technique that they absorbed as well. After a while, they burn through the energy and won’t be able to use it again. Normally, under full manifestation, they would be able to harness the power indefinitely. But, since they are not made to roam this mortal realm and the veil is still standing strong between the realms and dimensions, it makes it harder for them to keep what they have gained.”

“Would that still hold true in Dermon’s case? He’s now merged with a demon, isn’t he?” Raska asked from next to me. Her expression didn’t look any better than the rest of ours.

“That is hard to answer as there have not been any such instance I had been a part of. The heavenly records might have an answer, but I am not able to go and search for them.” Zerial answered bitterly.

“This is going to be one tough situation to solve.” Arasule pitched in as well, then seemed to shoot glances around the area and cursed. “We need to get out of here quickly.”

“What do you - AHHH!” I screamed as I felt something latch onto my ankles again. Thyrion tugged me away from the spot and Zerial immediately slashed at the dark hands that had emerged from the ground again.

“They’re all over the place.” Raska gritted out as she also threw her gaze over the area.

“It seems that Dermon did more than heal himself with Junnie’s soul.” Zerial bit out as he pulled out another sword and positioned himself against Thyrion’s back. Thyrion moved me around until I was flush against his back, snugly squished between him and Zerial as they both held their weapons at the ready.

Things were getting a lot crazier than I had thought they could ever get. I hoped like hell that this was the worst of it…