[Silverraptor]

Paladin Academy: Part 36
-Cast-
Mangosta
Kurama

Spoiler

Ice shards were scattered around the floor. The ground was broken up in several places from what looked like horrendous blows. Mangosta and Kurama were staring at each other with murderous glares. Kurama was panting slightly. Even with his new power, it just wasn't enough to hold down the Demon King. And judging by the size of the craters the Demon King punched out, all Mangosta needed was one clean blow and it was all over for him. There had to be a way to defeat him.

Mangosta flexed his wings angrily.
"This has certainly gone on long enough! I'm long since done with this game of ours! Now hold still and DIE!!!"
Mangosta quickly flapped into the air again, then dropped down with incredible speed. Kurama turned to run out of the way. As he did so, a layer of ice quickly appeared on the surface of the ground in front of him, allowing him to skate quickly away. The blow from Mangosta however was close enough that the shock wave caused Kurama to lose his balance and slide on the ground for a ways. He didn't have long to lay down when he felt the ground tremble from the Demon King's charge. He reacted by placing his hand flat on the ground. A pillar of ice shot up from the ground and rammed itself squarely into Mangosta's chest, stopping his advance. The Demon King roared with frustration as he swung his hand, shattering the ice pillar.
"You can't keep this up forever! Eventually your powers will fail you! I will kill you in the end!"

Kurama stood up, panting. Mangosta was right. Every time he called upon his power, he would get more and more tired each time. His eyes flickered over to the great stone chair where Viola's crystal lay.
"So far, you're not doing a good enough job. Is this really all that the Demon King has to offer? I guess my realm really has nothing to fear if you're supposedly the best."
Kurama didn't know what made him taunt the Demon King like that. Especially since the Demon King could kill him at any moment.

Mangosta's eyes narrowed dangerously.
"That's it! I'm in the mood for some deep fried paladin!! Horrahhh!..."
Mangosta open his mouth wide. A torrent of intense hot flames shot out of his mouth straight at Kurama. Panic struck Kurama as he instinctively called up an incredibly think layer of ice in front of the flames. Loud sizzling and cracks were heard from where the flames hit the ice. Steam quickly filled the room. He kept adding more and more layers to the ice, but the flames were melting through too fast. Mangosta then exhaled a greater burst of flames at the ice and then stopped.

Mangosta smiled slowly as the steam started to clear. The ice wall was quickly running water all over the floor. A great big hole in the middle was the most noticeable feature. Large amounts of steam was coming out of it, making Mangosta smile even more.
"Now do you see paladin? That's the end of you."
He slowly stepped around the wall of ice to see the charred remains of the pest that annoyed him for so long. He waited for the steam to clear first, as it was still obstructing his view.
"So, how does it feel to have lost? To have failed all that you were charged to defend and let down the one you cared about most?"
The steam quickly cleared.
"And now, you are nothing more than... huh?"
There was nothing but blacked rocks and pools of water on that side of the wall. Mangosta stood there puzzled.
"Where is the body? Surely the flames weren't hot enough to vaporize him completely. So where is..."
Mangosta froze. He whirled around to see Kurama running for his throne chair. He quickly let out a roar of anger and chased after him. How could he have forgotten about the crystal?!

Kurama was running as fast as he could. If he could only get there before the Demon King caught up, maybe he could still succeed. But as he got nearer, he realized the arm rest was a lot higher than he was. With everything he could muster, he jumped up for it. An ice step quickly raced up to his foot, allowing him to give himself one more push upwards towards the top of the arm rest.

It all played out in slow motion as he flew up towards Viola's sword. He could see her crystal glowing from the hilt, as if it was calling out to him encouragingly. With surprising amount of grace, he swept his hand through the air and managed the grasp the hilt of Viola's sword. Almost immediately however, something incredibly heavy crashed into him, breaking the stone chair as it did so. Kurama tumbled sideways before directly impacting a wall. He slid down to the ground, too dazed to prop himself back up. He could just barely register that the armor on his left side was broken in. He could see blood beginning to pour out of it. But what disappointed him the most, was that the blow caused him to let go of Viola's sword, having it to fly randomly through the air.

A great large hand grasped around him tightly, forcing him up the wall. He soon found himself at eye level with Mangosta. He could see his reflection in the eyes of the Demon King. He look exhausted and defeated, even to himself.
"No mistakes this time."
The Demon King raised his other hand. The claws were prominently facing outwards, ready to slice him apart.
"This has certainly gone on far too long. Now its time to die."
A bit of flame escaped the sides of his mouth as he breathed outwards.
"Good bye, paladin."

The hand swung around, there was a terrible yell of pain, and Kurama fell to the floor.