247 On the run

"Stay back!!" Auren warned as he rushed to stand in front of her, "do not get any closer!!"

Envy just smiled at him and raised his palms, "Hey, hey, calm down, calm down... There is no need to make this any harder than it needs to be! Let's just think about the current situation real quick, ok?"

The demon began to look around the place and analyze the state the group was in.

"That one can't see anything... That one has a wounded leg, this one is out of power, that one can't fight, you just got your ass kicked by Wrath, and you are still recovering from giving birth not too long ago..." he commented while slowly pointing at everyone there until he stopped at West, "And you can't harm any being unless they raise their hand against you, am I correct?"

Nobody said a word. Envy just listed all of their disadvantages as if they were an open book.

"Which means... You are the only one here that poses anything close to a threat right now..." he mumbled as he gazed at Marcus.

"How do you know all this...?" Marcus asked.

Envy released a soft grin as if he was a little kid, "who knows... The point is... Do you all really think you can face me as you are now?"

Ashley then used Gustav's telepathy to talk with her team [He's right... This is a bad matchup for us... we need to leave!!]

[But... If we leave... He will destroy the temple!! And we will lose our connection with West!!] Lilith noted.

[Evlin is an earth mage!! She can make a new temple in a matter of seconds!! Our survival is more crucial right now!!] Ashley stated.

Evlin listened to Ashley's words and began to shiver a bit. She was wondering if it was ok to use her magic again considering what happened last time with the fight against Wrath but judging from the situation, they didn't have many options.

"Well... what will it be...? Are we doing this the easy way or the hard way?" Envy asked.

Ria then glared at Envy, "I'm having a reunion with my closest friends... And you're interrupting us... Leave... NOW!"

Envy stared at her, "I'm not sure you understand the situation you are in! You see... I'm one of the seven de- Blaaarghh!!!"

Before he could finish his speech, Ria raised her arm and blasted Envy out of the room with a flying golden shield of the size of a door that just bashed the demon against the hole he himself made.

The group watched as Envy was launched towards the sky and assumed a flying motion to recover his position.

"Well... That wasn't very nice..." he commented while raising towards the clouds and then dropping at full speed towards the room once again.

"He's going to attack again!!" Gustav warned.

"Auren!!" Ria yelled while extending her open palm.

"Whoa..." Gustav whispered, "You guys got really good at this..."

"We're stronger when we are together!" Ria commented with a smile, "So what's the plan?"

The group looked at Ashley and Evlin, the two individuals usually responsible for leading the team.

"Should we fight, or run?" Marcus wondered.

Outside, Envy could be seen flapping his gigantic wings against the barrier in an attempt to shatter it.

"You can't run!! If you run I'll be forced back to the divine realm!!" the goddess cried.

"West, calm down!! Evlin can just rebuild your temple later!!" Ashley guaranteed.

"You promise??" West asked with tears in her eyes while staring at Evlin.

"Of course! She can do it with the snap of her fingers! Right Evlin?" Ashley added.

"I'm not asking you! I'm asking her!!" West shouted, "Evlin!! Can I count on you or not!?"

"..." the mage just stared at the goddess with confusion stamped on her face. She started to feel her magic power acting inside of her body, very similar to what happened before she lost her mind.

"Evlin...?" Ashley asked, wondering what was troubling her so much.

The barrier that Auren and Ria created finally shattered as Envy started to charge once again at their position.

"It seems I did not make myself very clear... You guys don't have a chance against me!!" he declared.

The demon waved his wings and small tornados started to take place aimed at Ria's room. The wind started to throw all the objects around crashing against the walls and the ceiling.

"Guys!! We need a decision!! We fight or run??" Daren shouted.

"Evlin!! Can I count on you!!??" West yelled.

"..." the mage did not know how to respond. Her heart started to throb much faster.

"Evlin!! What's wrong!!??" Ashley screamed next.

"..." the mage still did not respond. Her skin became warm.

"Evlin...?" Marcus whispered, noticing that her body was trembling and she would not stop sweating.

"Evlin!!"

"Evlin!!!"

"Evlin!!!"

Something inside the mage began to happen. She found herself back at the white void once again, and just like before, the three shapes of energy started to form itself while looking like her and trying to drag her body to the dark void.

They all moved closer and began to whisper inside her ear.

"Let... Us... Out..."

"Evlin!!!" Ashley screamed one more time.

"SHUUUUUUT UUUUUUUP!!!!!!!" the mage finally yelled.

Her body began to engulf itself with terminal energy and unleashed itself towards the ceiling, completely destroying it.

A huge hole was created on the roof of the temple which surprised Envy and Evlin's group.

"What was that...?" Ria whispered.

The moment she distracted herself, Envy released another blast of wind that pulverized all that was left of the roof.

He then began to fly above them while releasing another soft smile, "So... How about we try this again... I'm Envy, and I'm here to kill you all! Nice to meet you!"

"Marcus!!" Leona shouted while extending her arm.

Marcus understood and grabbed her hand to perform their fusion. Leona's hair turned white and while glaring at Envy, she unleashed the biggest fireball that she could create using her combined full power with Marcus.

Envy just smirked and released another tornado with its wings that scattered the fire back at them with the swing of it.

"Oh, no!!" Ria gasped.

Auren and her rushed to make another barrier to block the fire, but it only lasted for a couple of seconds. Neither her nor Auren were in shape to use their powers for too long right now.

Gustav noticed the situation getting dire, "Evlin!! We need to- Ah!!"

Before he could finish his line, Gustav released a small gasp as he spotted Evlin laying on the bed unconscious.

"Seems like you guys wanna do it the hard way..." Envy noted, "as you wish then..."

The demon created some distance between him and the temple and flapped his wings with his full power to create the biggest hurricane he could.

"West!! Get us out of here!!!" Ashley yelled.

"B- But my temple!!"

"Now!!!"

"Ugh!! Ok!!"

The goddess opened a portal made of golden energy and all the members of the group began to hop into it one by one.

"Sphinx!! We need to go!!!" Ashley screamed to the griffin that was still waiting outside. The golden beast followed her order and jumped into the portal as well.

Every single one of them then reappeared on the location of the temple of the East, which right now was nothing but a pile of ashes and smoke.

"No..." Leona gasped while dropping on her knees.

"Ah!! There you are!!" stated a voice from someone standing in the middle of the smoke. A blond man with flames coming out of his mouth.

"You!! Who are you!!?? What did you do to my temple!!??" Leona cried.

"I mean..." the man whispered as he began to set himself on fire while laughing, "Do I really need to say it?"

"Wraghhhh!!!" Leona screamed as she unleashed a wave of fire at the man.

"Oho!! Thanks for the meal!!" Gluttony said as he just swallowed her flames in a matter of seconds, "delicious!!"

He then took a step back and began to unleash his own storm of fire which was much bigger than Leona's.

The fire mage tried to control it with her power, but it proved to be too much for her.

"Something is wrong... These flames are not obeying me!!" she whispered, "Guaahhhh!!!"

She couldn't contain it anymore and ended up getting blasted away by the fire.

"Dragon flames can't be controlled so easily..."

"Dragon flames...?" Ashley gasped, "You are one of the sins!"

"No kidding!" Gluttony replied while rolling his eyes, "what gave it away?"

The demon surrounded by fire then started to charge another blast.

"West!! Take us somewhere else!! Hurry!!" Ashley screamed.

"W- Where?? All the temples are under attack!!" the goddess shivered.

"Burn!!!" Gluttony screamed as he unleashed his fire breath.

Ashley tried to think of the first place that could come to her mind and ended up thinking about the kingdom where she met Evlin many years ago, "Take us to the city of Greyart!!"

West followed her command and opened another portal for the group to hop into.

They barely managed to escape from the fireblast and landed on top of a sidewalk surrounded by stores and houses with several civilians staring at them confused as they just popped out of a portal and landed on the ground out of nowhere.

"Is everyone ok...?" Daren wondered while helping Lilith stand up.

He looked around and noticed that none of them had any major injuries aside from Evlin who was still sleeping on top of Sphinx.

"Oh, no..." Ria whispered as she looked at West.

Her body was glowing very similar to how Hana did not too long ago.

"My temple is gone..." the goddess whispered as she began to vanish right in front of them.

Ashley watched as the girl disappeared and noticed that her group was starting to trade glances with each other with no idea on what to do.

The gods were gone, the temples were destroyed, Evlin was knocked out, and many of them were injured. To top it all of, Knucker and the demon leaders were after them. Things were not looking good right now.

Marcus returned to his normal form and stared at them, "What do we do...?"

Nobody could come up with an answer.

Ashley noticed some of them staring at her and began to shiver a little, "I have no idea..."