The Devourer of Worlds (Chapter)

The thirty-first chapter of the Crusaders of the Constellations novel, it is about the battle between Ranald and the Devourer of Worlds, with his friends arriving to help.

## Story

Ranald tried to hack the Serpent into pieces with the axe. But its blades passed through the Devourer's misty body as if it were air. "Hahahahaha," the Devourer laughed. "You have no powerssssssssssss, yet you want to pick a fight with me?" He shot a dark energy ball at Ranald, who dodged the projectile but was grazed by it. "There's no way you can defeat a creature who yearns to bring the universe back to chaos," the Devourer said. "Whether you like it or not, I will fight you to the end! And my friends will help me as they promised!" Ranald yelled as he switched the axe with the whip and cracked it. A wave of air from the whip hit the Devourer of World's misty body and dispersed it.

But the black mist making up the Devourer's body merged together again and it slithered at Ranald, hoping to eat him. Ranald dodged, and used the whip to thrash the creature. The creature shot lasers from its red eyes, hitting Ranald. Baby Little, being an angel trapped in the stuffed toy, healed his companion with his heavenly powers. Ranald then stood up, gave Baby Little some candy he brought with himself in the trip and punched the Devourer's misty body, but to no avail.

"Let's face it, little golden boy. I gain power from negative thoughtsssssss. And those kinds of thoughtsssssssssss coming from everyone you know, and especially you who wasssssss mocked by everyone in your youth sssssssssssstrengthen me..." The Devourer of Worlds mused, "Isn't that amazing?" Ranald stopped punching, backed off and watched as his opponent's body started to solidify. The Void Serpent's mists coalesced further into scales as black as the void, and hard as steel. His head once solidified, grew two fangs as sharp as swords, dripping with venom. The Devourer is as big as a space squid and 1000 meters long, and he stared at Ranald hungrily, contemplating eating him.

"Maybe you are the Golden Griffin prophesied to ssssssssssseal me away again along with the Sssssssssssilver Deer? Ssssssssssshe's not here now, ssssssuch a pity," the Devourer mused. "She promised to arrive here and fight with me, as well as the others!" Ranald cried. "If you are the Golden Griffin, prove it to me. Then, I can take you as sssssssssseriously as I can," The Devourer mocked, slithering around Ranald and his schoolbag. "I don't need powers to defeat you! All I need is my skills, my martial arts, and my friends, who will be with me!" Ranald said. "Ah, I understand your foolishnessssssssssss now. Your friends have powersssssssssssss, unlike you. It's ssssssssssssomething you are aware of, making you feel inferior to them. How about I ssssssssssssssssswallow you, and you can ssssssssssssssssee for yourself if they will keep their word?" asked the Devourer as he opened his mouth wide to swallow Ranald...

The doors to the Devourer's hall swung open, and King Athos, the staff, and the students barged in. "No one touches my friend!" Phrixus yelled as he threw his hammer, which burst into flames, at the Devourer's head. The Serpent groaned in anger at having his dinner interrupted, giving Ranald a chance to escape his coils, and reunite with his friends. "The villains are all done with. Now this danger noodle is going to be next!" Delmare said to him. "Right. You're not alone. We're all in this together!" Mayari said as she readied her arrows. "You sssssssupersssssssssss came to sssssssssave your token normal. Now you can join him as my dinner before I eat your worldsssssssssss!" the Void Serpent cried out. He unleashed void energy balls at the students, who used their powers to counter them. Ichiguen and Phrixus used their powers of water and fire to scald the Serpent's body. Kibahime and Roka fired flames at the Devourer's body as the serpent roared and tried to escape.

King Athos and the staff did their best to land blows on the Devouring Serpent, with the Hall Leaders helping Ranald and Mayari fight the monster. Bai Tu was fast, and he used his super-speed to dodge and land punches and kicks on the Serpent. Azar, Orcus and Asclepius sent Kagutsuchi, Kerberoar, and the robot snake against the Devourer of Worlds. "Ssssssssssssssuch amazing teamwork...but I ssssssssssee that there is an imbalance of power. The golden-haired boy and hissssssssss girlfriend only have trinketssssssssssssss that give them alternate formssssssssss and powersssssssssss. Everyone has powerssssssssssss that they are born with. Ssssssssso...sssssssssshall I level the playing field?" the Devourer asked. He reared and spewed a green gas from his mouth that filled the hall, blocking everyone's vision. "AAAAAAAA! I'm going blind!" Bai Tu screamed. "Don't panic Just stay still, and hopefully the mist would disperse," Delmare said, hugging the albino boy. Ranald urged everyone not to make any movements, lest they hit each other. Fu Xing and Aguila flapped their wings to disperse the fog of the serpent. "I can't execute my Heaven Mistral Wing move! What is happening here!" Fu Xing said. The fog dispersed, and the students were left drained. Even King Athos and the staff felt sluggish in movement. Delmare swung her sabre Ocean's Wrath, but no water wave came out of it. "That's cheating," she angrily said.

"This is the Negating Fog, dearssssssss. And I am doing thissssssssssss to make your golden-haired buddy feel good about himssssssself. Ssssssee, you are magical beingssssss from other worldssssss, while he and the girl are from a world where people with powersssssss are rare. They only have powerssssssssssss when using their trinkets to transsssssssform, unlike you. So Golden Griffin," the Devourer of Worlds spoke as he turned his head at Ranald, "How do you feel now that your friendsssss can't use their powerssssss like you?" Ranald had no idea how to answer the serpent that devours worlds. From his time at AWCU, he has been struggling with his anger at super-powered beings for having powers unlike him, and his Golden Griffin Warrior form for taking credit he thought he deserved, hence why he refused to work with them when he started training with the twelve guides. But he thought of Baby Little's words, his guide's care for him, his friends going with him to Earth to help him raise funds for his Earth parent's church on Christmas, and his Dreamland parents explaining to him for the umpteenth time that he cannot choose whether he can live on Earth or Dreamland. But here is a malevolent serpentine entity removing his friends' abilities to use their powers with the faulty reason that he would be happy if they are like him - powerless. He focused on the good times he had with his guides who taught him martial arts, his friends and King Athos who taught him the ways of the dimension warriors.

"No. In fact, my friends have powers, yet they taught me many things. They taught me that kindness, bravery and other virtues are more important than having powers. And even if they have them, they used them to help the other dimensions. I use my other form for final battles, and for rescues only. SO give them back their abilities!" Ranald said. He rallied his classmates to land blows on the Devourer of Worlds despite having no superpowers. "That's cool!" Phrixus stated as he used his hammer to hit the serpent's head. The other students used their fists, claws and horns to attack the monster, and Kibahime and Roka, forced into their animal forms, attacked with their natural weaponry. "Boss, at least we can still fly," Aguila said as he and Fu Xing flew to the monster and raked his back with their talons. The Devourer of Worlds thrashed at them, injuring several of them in the process.

As Athos and the staff gave healing potions to the students, the Devourer told Ranald that he can remove all the supers from Earth if he would surrender the golden locket to him. "Isn't it all you want? For the superssssssssssssss that bullied you to be removed from your life, and for the people who look down on you to dissssssssssappear? And for you to take all the credit insssstead of your Golden Griffin Warrior form? Then no one with powersssssss can bother you anymore. Jussssst hand me the locket, and I will fulfil it," he hissed.

Ranald thought about the serpent's offer to remove all humans with powers from Earth. If he gave the golden locket to the Devourer of Worlds, he would be powerless and remain a regular human forever. But the Devourer would be a thousand times more powerful if he possessed it, and with the powers of the Ra alternate form, the Serpent can easily defeat all superheroes of Earth. And when all supers are gone, he would destroy all regular humans, Ranald included, all of Earth's life, and then swallow the planet. In short, If Ranald gave into temptation, he would get what he wanted, but doom himself, his homeworld and the universe to the Devouring Serpent in exchange. That's not something a true hero would want to happen. "NEVER!" Ranald shouted at him, "I will never give the locket my parents gave me to a being like you! You would remove all super-powered people from Earth so that you would devour it, right?!" "

"You guessed my motivationssss. And since you refussssssed to comply, I will leave you to die here!" The Devourer called the Boogie-man, and a figure with a black cloak and a horned mask arrived at his side. "That's the Boogie-man you told me about, right?" Phrixus whispered to Ranald, pointing at the figure. "Yes, dumb sheep," the Boogie-man replied, "When I am done with your friend, you will be next!" "That's right. Oh Boogie-man, fight the boy for me. The poor sod did not want to give up his locket and the powers that come with it, so I would have to go to his world to eat as many negative thoughts as I can to become more powerful enough to eat it!" the Devourer said as he formed a portal to Earth. Ranald was shocked that the Void Serpent would want to eat his home planet, Earth. "No way you are eating me and my friend's home," Mayari said as she shot arrows at the Boogie-man and the Devourer of Worlds. The arrows bounced off the Serpent's hide, while the Boogie-man used his Fearsome Mien to deflect the arrows. One planted itself in front of Ranald, who pulled it up and gave it to Mayari.

"Are you sure that you can defeat this Boogie-man?" Mayari asked Ranald. "Hope so. I want to know what he did with the spirit of my Earth Dimensional Mate," he answered, as he turned to face the Boogie-Man in a fight that would test him and his limits.