Speed Is King

The horror that had started to bloom in Rak'Tharos' heart exploded forth in a frenzy that gripped his entire soul and permeated every single nook and cranny!

Terror!!

Pure, unadulterated terror!!

SNAP!

Something seemed to snap in Rak'Tharos' mind at that moment and he started to blabber unintelligibly through Elliot's vicious barrage of punches.

A strange aura began to permeate through his body, but it was weak and didn't amount to anything in the few short seconds it appeared.

As quickly as it appeared, it was gone.

After that, Rak'Tharos went completely limp.

The fight was over in that instant.

The rescue mission was a success! Elliot had turned the tables around in two short weeks, and returned to do to Rak'Tharos exactly what he did to him before.

A complete, one sided beating!

However, Elliot's mission was never merely just rescue.

It was vengeance!

After a few minutes of punching, Elliot had pumped in so much of his Darklight Energy into Rak'Tharos that he was able to crush every single bone and organ in his body with just a single thought!

And not just that, Rak'Tharos' head was also completely deformed.

Gone was his magnificent lion head.

Elliot's vicious punches had broken all the bones of his head into many pieces and it had flattened very considerably with blood flowing out of his eyes, nose, mouth and ears.

His mane was completely sticky with blood, mucus, the remains of two splattered eyeballs and a little bit of brain matter.

But despite the horrific damage that Elliot had inflicted on him, Rak'Tharos was still alive!

The life force of an Emperor level beast was truly strong and tenacious.

After Elliot stopped punching him, Rak'Tharos moaned lightly.

And the strange aura that appeared and disappeared earlier, appeared once more.

*-*-*-*-*-*

While Elliot was beating up Rak'Tharos, Jessica had immediately went to Jennifer and whisked her away as far away and as fast as she could!

Although she was confident that Elliot would be able to defeat Rak'Tharos completely and very quickly, she didn't want to risk any collateral damage on Jennifer.

Afterall, fights at such high levels could easily get out of hand and destroy their surroundings!

"Jess!!" Jennifer hugged her sister tightly and was hugged back even more tightly in return!

"Jenn! Sorry we took so long to rescue you!" Jessica cried out while sobbing in relief and happiness.

"Noo.. noo.. Thank you.. So quickly…" Jen sobbed as well and was so emotional that she couldn't even manage to form complete sentences!

Both girls stopped talking at that moment and just let their emotions out by crying and hugging each other for a few minutes!

Both took great comfort and satisfaction at the fact that they could hug each other once more, and the fact that they were both completely unharmed.

All of their longing, yearning and misery for the past two weeks slowly disappeared from their minds and into archived memory.

Firmly locked in a rarely opened section called "Bad memories: things to forget."

But just as they were about to finish their crying and start talking to each other, a strange aura appeared and made its way towards Jennifer!

Blink!

Elliot appeared as well.

On his left hand, gripped casually by his neck, was the limp, near death body of Rak'Tharos.

Elliot was frowning deeply as he stared at the aura that had settled above Jennifer's head, and was swirling slowly.

"Big bro! You're done already??" Jessica stared at the dying Rak'Tharos in his hand and gasped softly in surprise.

"Big bro!!" Jennifer let Jessica go and started to run towards Elliot.

Elliot couldn't help but smile through his frown at the sight of Jennifer safe and sound.

However, before Jennifer even took three steps, a loud cackling laughter suddenly sounded in their ears.

It was Rak'Tharos!

"Hahahaha!! You're truly amazing, little boy. To be able to exceed my powers as an Emperor when you're still at the King level! Amazing! I have to admit, I have lost the fight. But too bad for you… You've lost the war before you even began!

You see… Your precious little sister… Jennifer… Belongs to me!! Her body is mine!! Body Takeover Arts!! GOLDEN POSSESSION!!"

With that, the strange aura that was above Jennifer dove straight into her head!

"NO!!" Elliot roared in horror and immediately blinked to Jennifer's side.

"Jenn!" Jessica cried out.

But before Elliot could appear next to Jennifer, a wild scream of agony sounded from Rak'Tharos!!

"AAAHHHHHHHHH!"

Whoosh.

Elliot appeared next to Jennifer and grabbed her hand as he looked at her anxiously.

For all of his power and abilities, there was absolutely nothing he could do against such a strange technique!

He had no idea how to get that strange aura out of Jennifer, or even protect her mind against it.

Thankfully, that Rak'Tharos was screaming like a pig being skinned alive. If he was screaming that way, the Jennifer was probably going to be alright.

Jessica quickly made her way to Jennifer as well, and they stood that way for a quick moment, their hearts pounding hard at the strange scream of agony which Rak'Tharos was emitting.

Whatever happened, both Elliot and Jessica would immediately react to the best to their ability.

They would not let any more harm befall Jennifer!

As it turned out, their vigilance was for naught.

Rak'Tharos was, quite literally, in his last gasp.

"What is this power? What is this suppression? Blood… bloodline suppression?? Impossible! You got the blood from me… how could your bloodline suppress mine? Impossible! No! Nooooooo! Nooooooo…"

His voice slowly faded away. And then…

Poof.

A small puff of white smoke rose slowly from Jennifer's head.

Elliot immediately captured a little bit of it in a vial and stored it carefully.

A light breeze blew and the small puff of white smoke disappeared into nothingness.

And that was it.

Elliot couldn't believe it. "Did he just… fail to take over your mind and… Died in the process? What did you feel, Jen? Are you alright?"

"I am alright, big bro. I did feel something trying to come into my head, but when I resisted it lightly, it just… crumbled? I don't know. It didn't get anywhere close to my mind though." Jennifer said. "It is... over?"

Like Elliot, Jennifer couldn't believe that it was over too!

A part of her was extremely glad, after all, it was her most fervent prayers being answered at that very moment.

However, another part of her couldn't help but feel that Rak'Tharos had gotten off way too easily!

"Did he suffer?" Jennifer asked Elliot as her eyes traveled to Rak'Tharos corpse which now sported an outrageously flattened head that looked extremely horrifying.

"He did. And it is enough. Jen, look at me." Elliot gently turned his beloved sister's head around to let her focus on him.

"Let your hatred go. Keeping it in your heart would be like keeping poison. Now that he's dead, let him and his poison go with him." Elliot said softly.

Jennifer looked at Elliot and felt a huge torrent of all sorts of emotions surge through her heart. Her mind agreed with him, but her heart was still in rebellion.

She hated! She hated Rak'Tharos with a burning hatred that seemed to fill every single nook and cranny of her soul! And now... He's gone? Just like that?