-----Thirty deminites fell dead at Attragon’s feet. They were victims of Fallen soldiers who confidently marched through the Drekis legions, driving the deminites and hunter-killers back.
-----As Attragon had expected, the Fallen were nothing like the Sentinels which the Drekis Empire had been used to fighting so far. For the most part, they seemed to care nothing for each other; each of them had joined the Fallen for a personal reason. There was no fear or concern in their murderous eyes. These villains were prepared to enter the fray without any limits, without any convictions—and the only thing that mattered to them is that they were alive at the end of it all.
-----That kind of imposing tenacity had given them equal footing—if not an outright advantage—with the deminite’s disregard for their own lives. The Fallen were wildcards with an insidious collection of powers distributed among them; some brought enchanted weapons to the battlefield and cleaved reptillons in melee combat; others shrugged off deminite fireballs and retaliated with telekinesis, energy beams, or advanced weaponry.
-----Another thirty or forty minions fell by Attragon’s side. The weapons and attacks that claimed their lives also streaked across his armored body, but they did nothing to deter him. While the lesser minions scurried away, he motioned forward like a hardened giant.
-----Attragon stood alone now. All of the deminites and devonox had retreated; no doubt they were trying to regroup somewhere else. For the lesser minions it was probably a smart choice to run—they were no match for the Fallen. But Attragon could not bring himself to flee. He was an embodiment of war, a creature who represented every aspect of the never-ending conflict. What courage or valor could be found in fleeing from ones enemies? Especially enemies that one did not fear.
-----Six Fallen were the first to approach him. Intrigue was clearly planted on their faces; here they had chased every deminite into the distance, and now one armored figure stood before them. Attragon did not know them, and there was no reason why he should. They were a generic lot; a swordsman, some kind of wizard, a silver-haired gunman in a trench coat, and a vampire were among the group. Such typical foes; they were so common that it almost amused him.
-----He held his left hand out and extended his fingers as if to greet them. They advanced; three coming in from the front, two from the right, and the rather maniacal looking swordsman from the left.
Fire began to gather in Attragon’s palm. It was an intense flame, burning with hatred and malice.
-----“I can feel it,” Attragon bellowed. His foes could not see his illuminating grin behind the helm; it had been a long time since he had felt the agitation, the tension of war. “You all long for battle! I can sense apprehension in this flame…anticipation. What are you waiting for?”
-----The swordsman lashed out first. He cackled like an idiot and swung his weapon with the apparent skill of a sloth. If there was anything impressive about the man at all, it was his fleetness; he had crossed the distance between them in under a second and was already in mid-swing. He was a half-second away from connecting.
-----And he was a half-second too late.
-----The flame in Attragon’s hand had been formed into a blazing axe. The double-sided weapon of battle seethed with a fury that should have burned through any armor, but Attragon’s hand held the weapon steady. He made two motions in the time it took the swordsman to make one; the first cleaved the novelty sword that the fool wielded, and the second cut through the man from shoulder to hip.
-----The man barely had enough time to release his archetypal last words; the flames bursting out from the smoldering cut spread, engulfing his entire severed body and taking it away from this world.
-----“That’s it…” Attragon provoked them.
-----A dark-haired woman with an excessive amount of gothic makeup came at him from the right, an oversized hammer in her grip. She swung the bludgeoning tool at his head, but he caught it with his right hand.
-----The vampire attacked simultaneously; objects that looked like moving shadows surfaced from the leech’s long black cape and shot towards Attragon. They became something like long spikes or drills, but Attragon parried them with his axe of fire. His other hand clenched down on the woman’s hammer and broke the top half off.
-----“…Feed your appetite for battle, for blood,” Attragon continued. He threw the hammer remains to the ground and grasped the girl by the neck. The silver-haired gunman fired two blaster pistols at him, but the beams merely sparked against his armor.
-----“And so you feed me!” He clenched his fingers around her throat until he felt his thumb push her windpipe against the back of her neck. Her limp body was thrown behind him as he moved forward. Blaster shots failed to slow him down.
-----Attragon swung his left arm as if to throw the fiery weapon, and in that instant the part of the flame which formed the blades broke off and spun forward like a flaming disc. The shot landed in the gunman’s forehead; the blades dug deep into his skull and sent simmering heat straight into his brain. The blaster fire ceased.
-----The others surrounded him; they jumped at him from all sides—they were filled with bloodlust and indignation. It was absolute bliss.
-----Two axes of flame formed, one in each of his hands. The armored warrior made one spin; the speed of his motions blew the air away from him. When the vacuum receded, Attragon stood with his weapons at his side; the three Fallen lay dead.
-----Many more awaited him. There was an entire frontline that had just barely witnessed his power—perhaps some of them would wish to test their dark powers against his own. There was such anger and aggression among them; it was absolutely beautiful. Every one of their vile thoughts and violent impulses gave rise to a power within him. It wasn’t just their dark sides either. The courage they displayed by standing their ground, and the strength that they brandished in battle—he also fed off of those things. The things that gave them strength also gave him power. Their rage became his rage. Their tenacity made him immortal.
-----A crowd of warriors charged at him; the death of their comrades meant nothing to them. The mob of Fallen cultists unleashed a flurry of attacks, all of which blended together into an indecipherable mess. Cracks and tears appeared in Attragon’s armor—blood spattered on the ground behind him as pieces of his flesh were ripped off. His entire right arm was blown away, and explosions knocked him from one side to the other.
-----Their efforts, while visually impressive, were useless. Their lust for battle had already given him too much strength; the power that they had used against him in all of their murderous glory had empowered Attragon more than harm him. His arm grew back, flesh reappeared over his wounds, and his armor was refurbished.
-----Attragon raised both hands into the air, brandishing a blazing axe in each. The flames became brighter, and the center of their form became bright blue. He swung both arms back and then circled them around to thrust the tip of his axes towards the enemy. Large waves of fire parted from the weapons; the waves slithered towards the Fallen diagonally, crossing each others path and forming a giant burning ‘X’ across the ground. Both waves engulfed the frontline of Fallen warriors and began to expand. Shrill screams broke out among the children of the void.
-----“Burn!” Attragon yelled. He lifted one axe to the air and a pillar of flame rose up and collapsed on top of the Fallen soldiers. Many of their warriors were already suffering from an unending immolation, but the crashing pillar increased the devastation, blasting several of their kind into the air.
-----A second group charged from the side. He could see the passion in their eyes—it made him even stronger.
-----“Come! Bring me your battles and your strife…and I will show you the true fires of war!” He imagined that the Fallen were all too familiar with such bantering. No doubt they had never listened to a single word he said, but that didn’t matter. His words would be of no good to the dead.
-----He slashed towards them with both axes, and the area around his enemies instantly combusted. A few stalwart champions and would-be darklords managed to stumble out of the raging fires, but the rest were burned to ashes.
-----The Fallen began to scurry about as Attragon sent wave after wave of fire into their ranks. They backed away from him, and he followed like a hunter after its wounded prey. Deminites and other minions rallied behind him, roaring as their new general struck down the enemy.
-----“You are the Fallen,” Attragon sneered as he advanced. “You are the power that even the Sentinels cannot smash. Where is the dark power of the void that you worship!? You flee before me, but I know that there must be some among you who can provide me with more entertainment than this!”
-----A sea of the Fallen parted before his eyes, and there in the open space that they had formed stood a single man. He had a cold, stern face and dark hair that fell over his eyes. A long cape flowed in the wind as the stranger began to walk towards Attragon.
-----From that moment it was obvious that both fighters would face each other in single combat. Their respective armies stayed behind them while they neared, their eyes locked.
-----The two of them stopped ten feet from one another. Attragon stood head and shoulders above the man, but there was no fear or apprehension in his eyes.
-----“So you are willing to challenge me,” Attragon said amusingly. “What is your name?”
-----“You wish to know my name?” the man spat back, sounding almost disgusted.
-----“If we are to fight one on one, if this is to be a duel, then I wish to have the name of my opponent.”
-----“A duel?” The man scowled. “How old fashioned. I’ll take you and your entire army by myself if I have to.”
-----“Such vigor! But your power only helps to better my own. I shall be enough to put you down.”
-----The man smiled, but it was a dark smile. It was an unnatural look for the stranger, and did not fit his grim countenance. It was an expression of eagerness and ambition more than anything else. “If that is what you think, then you may know that my name is Dreiden Adonis.”
-----“The urban legend among the Sentinels,” Attragon laughed. “Very interesting. We shall see just how much power you have! I am called Attragon, and I am a general of Lord Drekis!” He took a battle stance, spreading his arms out as his blazing axes formed.
-----Elsewhere, the battle raged on another side of the island. Kaas, the Avatar of Darkness, led his forces through the battle as the terror beasts in the sky brought the fifth barrier down.
-----Dollarcorp machines began to fall, and Drekis minions spread towards the Tower. Four barriers still stood between them and the obsidian spire; Kaas was determined to never let them reach the fourth shield.
-----The appearance of an immensely powerful being had changed the tide of the battle. Of course, the tide had swayed more times that Kaas cared to count, but this had been a much more devastating revolution. It was a single person whose power had crushed the Dollarcorp weapons. Kaas had witnessed the creature take down large groups of Fallen, so there could be no denying his identity.
-----Drekis! He had come just as Devyn and Zalrafel had surmised. The Avatar of Chaos himself! If such a monster were allowed to unleash his power unchecked, there would be tremendous casualties.
-----A sense of determination overtook him. The dark Avatar swung his sword violently as he cut a path through the deminites. Each pitiful creature he cut was consumed by shadow and dissolved.
-----“You bore me!” Kaas uttered as he took off the head of a devonox. “Bring me your master. Have Drekis stand before me!” If he could take down Drekis, or merely keep him occupied, then the rest of the Fallen stood a chance of destroying the remainder of the minions.
-----Dozens of deminites hurled fireballs at Kaas to no avail. The Avatar of Darkness raised Dorchadas Laan, the darkness sword, into the air and let his opponents cower at the ominous sight. He brought the sword down with a thunderous cry, splitting the ground in front of him up to quarter miles distance. The bedrock collapsed, swallowing swarms of deminites into dark chasms.
-----The creatures who had surrounded him were no where to be seen. They had scattered like the cowards they were. The smoke from his previous attack cleared, and a single figure stood before him.
-----Kaas gripped Dorchadas Laan with both hands, believing that his enemy would be the Chaos Avatar. However, when the smoke cleared he found only a frail, middle-aged man standing there. He was much more human looking than the other creatures that followed Drekis; he had a jagged chin and slightly pointed ears. The color of his skin was unseemly, as if he had no life flowing through him. A large golden staff was in his hand.
-----“I tire of pointless battles,” Kaas boomed. “Bring Drekis before me!”
-----“Such audacity,” the man replied. “If you meet Drekis, it will be him that comes to you.”
-----“If he shall not face me, then I shall carve a path to him, starting with you.” He pointed the tip of Dorchadas Laan at the man. Kaas could see that his opponent was dressed like a traditional wizard with a red robe and a black mantle. Such a person had not been present in the ranks of Drekis’ minions that Kaas had faced. This one was unique.
-----“You shall do no such thing,” the wizard sneered. “I know who you are, Kaas! You may be the Avatar of Darkness, but the power of Chaos flows through my veins. I, Relinqiest, shall erase you from this world.”
-----“Prattle.” Kaas uttered. Dark, armored hands raised Dorchadas Laan as red energy sparked across the top of Relinqiest’s staff.
---2---
Extension
-----A cascade of light shot out from Tim’s body, becoming a translucent flame that seethed around his figure. The dim caverns of Drekis’ hive were suddenly illuminated. He clenched his father’s sword with both hands; the glowing blade was surrounded by the same furious fire, only it seemed to be even brighter and more furious.
-----“You heard me! Let her go!” He shouted angrily. Short waves of energy flew out in all directions, creating small bolts of electricity that snaked around the darkstone pillars of the massive chamber. Everyone else in the room could feel the energy as it passed them by; it was an enormous power, but it was different from the strength that Drekahnis had demonstrated.
-----Shinsuke and Tiara were able to sense a kind of emotion behind the power, as if it were conveying natural feelings to them; there was a notion that the power could be gentle, even endearing—but it was as if that softness had been betrayed. Now there was only rage.
-----Drekahnis watched the fireworks with an eager smile as he held Raea in the air with him. His slithering tentacles still clutched her tightly, and the bladed edges of the snake-like vines were only inches away from her neck. “You’re losing your composure. So then, this girl does mean something to you—how interesting.” The coils tightened.
-----“I swear…” Tim cried out, gasping for air, “If you harm her…”
-----“Idle threats.” Drekahnis cut him off. “I doubt you even possess the mental capacity to wield that weapon.”
-----Tim drew the sword closer to his body, pulling the hilt to his hip while pointing the blade towards Drekahnis. The energy around his body became focused; it was no longer a large flame, but instead a condensed field of blue light that perfectly outlined his form. The sword, too, focused its energy; the blade became the center of all brilliance, and the metal turned bright white. It was as if the sword had become pure energy.
-----“Will you risk it?” Drekahnis questioned amusingly. He held Raea’s dangling body out in front as he levitated towards the ceiling. “You don’t even know how to control that power do you? What if you release a blast like that one in the frozen wastes?”
-----Tim hesitated for a second. His skin was starting to look like a ghost’s.
-----Shivers ran up Raea’s spine like a horde of spiders crawling around her neck. She could feel the slimy tendrils curling around her; she felt the cold blades press against her neck. “Tim, don’t.” She whispered, afraid that the movement of her throat would invite the sharp edges.
-----“Raea!”
-----“Get away…he’s only using me to get to you.” Her voice became hoarse. The tentacles around her waste were becoming too tight; her chest felt caved in. It was hard to breathe.
-----“Yes, run away!” Drekahnis said. “Show your little wench what kind of hero you really are!”
-----“Shut up!” It was Lexington Miles who jumped into the air, his body surrounded by the swirling winds of the Swift Rune. His actions took both Tim and Drekahnis by surprise, but the Chaos Avatar erected a barrier around him and his captive. Lex swiped at the tentacles that bound Raea to him, but he was knocked back by the power of the force field.
-----Drekahnis laughed off his efforts. “That old trick again? Haven’t you realized that there’s nothing you can do to harm me rune sorcerer?”
-----Lexington landed in a crouching position and turned his attention to Tim. “Don’t listen to him! You have to attack him now!”
-----“What?” Tim said, his eyes still full of fear as he looked at Raea.
-----“He’s afraid of your power!” Lexington shouted. “That’s why he’s trying to hold you down—don’t let him!”
-----Uberman was in no condition to get any closer, but he thrust out an arm and shouted across the chamber, “Lex…are you sure about this?” Uberman believed that Lex’s assessment was correct, but that still left Raea in danger while Drekahnis held her as a hostage.
-----“You’re a nuisance,” Drekahnis groaned. One of the tentacles around Raea’s leg uncoiled itself and lunged at Lexington. The nimble Reaver managed to jump back just as the whip smashed into the darkstone.
-----There was a brief moment during that attack when Drekahnis’ eyes had left Tim. He had focused on Lexington for just one second, and this gave Tim a moment of opportunity. With both hands he thrust the blade towards Drekahnis as if trying to pierce his chest. The enemy was twenty feet away and hovered over fifteen feet in the air—he was well out of the blade’s reach. However, a sword-shaped beam sprung out from the weapon, as if the gleaming blade had physically extended.
-----The sword beam crushed the barrier instantly and impaled Drekahnis through his chest. Before the enemy could even utter a word, Tim moved the sword and the beam moved with it; the shining light carved through Drekahnis’ interior, moving from his chest towards his right shoulder. With one quick motion Tim severed Drekahnis’ arm and all of the tentacles with it.
-----Raea crashed to the ground. She was stunned and shaken, but otherwise unharmed. The dying skin that was wrapped around her began to loosen and she took a much needed gulp of air.
-----“What is this…?” Drekahnis asked. He stared intently at the massive crevice in his torso. A collection of blue flames burned away at his insides, while more of the mysterious fire surrounded the stump that had once been his arm. “You’re certainly more creative than your father, I’ll give you that.”
-----“Get away from her Drekis, or Drekahnis, or whatever it is you want to be called! Your fight is with me.” Tim challenged him. Once again he brought his sword close to him, hoping to recreate the same attack.
-----“Brave words from someone who had a lucky shot,” Drekahnis laughed. The lines around his face darkened. “I wonder…if seeing this woman in danger infuriates you this much, what will happen if you see her die?” His other arm stretched out into a thick tentacle, and the hand grew out into a scythe blade.
-----“No!” Tim thrust out the blade, creating another sword beam. The laser strafed across the chamber, but Drekahnis swiftly moved around it and dived towards Raea. She tried to move out of the way, but the dead tentacles around her body weighed her down.
-----The scythe blade fell, but Raea and the tentacle husk had been moved away. Lexington carried her over his shoulder as he sprinted across the hive and joined with the other heroes.
-----“Damn you!” Tim growled. The light around his body became brighter. His feet carried him across the ground with such speed that the onlookers had trouble following his movements. The sword was raised above his head and brought down with the intention of cleaving Drekahnis, but the enemy was fast as well. By the time the blade fell, Drekahnis was gone, and the weapon smashed the darkstone floor beneath it, leaving several cracks.
-----“How dare you try to harm her!” Tim continued to snarl. “I’ll kill you!” He turned to the side and saw Drekahnis standing there. The blue flames around his wounds were beginning to die.
-----“Futile.” Drekahnis spat out. The scythe lashed out at Tim, but some kind of instinctive reflex compelled Tim to counter it with a horizontal slash. A flicker of bright light filled the chamber, and most of Drekahnis’ arm exploded.
-----“Such rage!” Drekahnis said, licking his upper lip. He severed his own arm so that the blue flames couldn’t spread; his limb then reformed as a normal hand. “But I’m afraid that you can’t defeat me with anger! That kind of power doesn’t suit you boy!” He pointed a finger at Tim and shot a bright red blast of energy.
-----Tim stood his ground as the massive energy beam surged around him. He held his sword in front and watched as its azure aura deflected the chaos power, forcing it to curl around his body. There was a large explosion behind Tim, but it didn’t faze him; in fact, he was completely unharmed.
-----The young Sentinel sneered and charged at Drekahnis again. He slashed left and right, but Drekahnis darted to the opposite side, leaving a faint blur behind each time he moved.
-----It was strange, but Tim felt that it was easier to follow his movements with each evasion. He was beginning to perceive Drekahnis as if everything was in slow motion; he could see exactly where he was moving to. He motioned to strike to the left, and as Drekahnis moved away, he abruptly changed his footing and struck to the right.
-----Without any resistance the sword carved Drekahnis’ torso, splitting him in half. His legs were lit on fire and dropped to the ground, but his upper body hovered in the air.
-----“It’s over!” Tim yelled as he raised the sword above him. He sliced Drekahnis in half once more, this time vertically. The two halves were set aflame and fell to the side of the legs. Tim made one more swipe at the remains, causing an ocean-blue explosion that shook the hive.
-----“I need the power to finish him off,” Tim whispered to himself. “Everyone is counting on me…the Queen is counting on me…Khazan…” the smoke cleared around him, and Drekahnis was no where to be seen. Only ashes remained.
-----You ask for power again?
-----That voice! It was a familiar voice; the one that had come from the sword. It was different from the times that he had heard it before; no longer was it a jumbled mess of voices or a deafening roar. This time it was clearly one voice, like that of an elderly sage, and the sound was more level.
-----‘Who’s there?’ Tim found himself answering with his thoughts.
-----You already know the answer to that question. She has told you.
-----‘Why are you speaking to me!?’
-----Your power is being manifested through frustration. It is rage that drives you, not any other form of commitment.
-----‘Don’t tell me that. What was I supposed to do in that situation? I may have been angry, but I called upon that power because I needed it to save her.’
-----“Tim?” Captain Khazan cautiously approached him, noting that the blue energy around his body was still present. “Are you alright?”
-----“The kid’s just standing there dumbfounded.” Cortelloni stated.
-----“I don’t think he knows what he’s done.” Shinsuke added.
-----Of course they couldn’t hear the voice. Only he could. The others must have thought he was crazy.
-----Your desire to save someone does not require anger. You must be in control of your emotions, for they affect your will.
-----‘What are you talking about? Speak clearly for once.’
-----The sword that you hold is not really a sword. Did that not become clear to you when the Queen told you that it was a reflection of your interior strength?
-----‘Not really a sword?’
-----The weapon is a representation of your will. It was a creation, a physical manifestation of your own power. It is through the sword that your will is focused. Your memories of your father led you to believe that his power lied in his sword, so when that power passed on to you, it naturally remained in the same form as his weapon.
-----‘You mean…it’s not an heirloom? I created it in the image of his sword?’
-----If you give in to anger and murderous rage, regardless of the reasons or the motives—if rage becomes your motivation, then the power of the sword becomes rage; it becomes murderous. When that happens, its power becomes indiscriminate; it could drive you to do horrible things—to forsake everything you hold dear.
-----‘Then what am I supposed to do?’
-----You must learn to call upon a different kind of willpower. Addressing a conflict out of anger will only lead down the path of corruption; you will lose sight of why you desire the power.
-----‘Tell me!’ Tim shouted in his head. ‘I’m tired of this vague advice. Just tell me what I need to know!’
-----It cannot be achieved that way. You are the one who is asking for this power; you must be the one who determines how it shall be used.
-----Tim was ready to retort, but he could sense that the voice was gone. Again he snapped back to reality, and found that most of the heroes from the group had surrounded him.
-----“Are you alright?” Captain Khazan asked again.
-----The aura around Tim’s body dimmed slightly, but the sword still gleamed. He took in a deep breath before replying. “I’m fine.”
-----Tiara surveyed the area with a few quick glances, “I don’t sense him anywhere. He’s gone.”
-----Toc Darkone let out a disappointed groan, “That was all rather anticlimactic.”
-----“Do you realize what you’ve done,” Raea said giddily. “Tim, you’ve killed Drekis!”
-----“Or half of Drekis,” the Unsubtle reminded her. “If what he told us is true.”
-----Raea began to run towards Tim in a celebratory fashion, but he spun around and pushed her away. “No!” He shouted. “He’s still here, you have to get away!”
-----She gently rubbed the part of her shoulder where he had pushed her and gave him a little scowl, “What did you do that for? You reduced him to ashes.”
-----A dark cloud unexpectedly lifted up from the ground and surrounded the burned remains of Drekahnis. The ashes lifted up off of the ground, circling around wildly in the cloud. Deep laughter filled the hive, followed by an all too familiar voice, “How very perceptive you are!”
-----The dust cloud began to take a humanoid shape, then slowly solidified into a new, unscathed Drekahnis. He snickered as the last remnants of his body regenerated.
-----“Impossible!” Lara announced. “How could he return from that; there was nothing left of him?”
-----“I didn’t even sense a presence,” Shinsuke added, “it’s like he just returned from death.”
-----Drekahnis waved a finger in Tim’s direction. “You’ve been hearing voices haven’t you? I’m sure they’ve told you how useless it is.”
-----“I don’t need anger to defeat you!” Tim retorted. “You’re a threat to every living person on Khazan, and I’m a Sentinel now, a hero, like my father before me. It’s my duty to defeat you.”
-----Toc Darkone approached Timothy’s side and forged several constructs of ice in front of him. “You had your chance boy. Now I shall take control of this battle.”
-----“That kind of offensive force won’t work against him,” Tim warned. “I have to be the one to fight him, I know it!”
-----“He does have a point Darkone,” Lex interrupted. “His power seems to restrict Drekahnis’ regeneration, if only for a while.”
-----“Perhaps you’re necessary to deliver the killing stroke,” Toc replied, “But that doesn’t mean I’ll sit back and be your damned audience.”
-----“We all came down here for a reason,” Uberman jumped in. “We’ll fight him together as we planned, but we’ll need that sword of yours Tim.”
-----Lexington cracked his knuckles and tightened his head band. “Alright then, let’s see just how far this guy’s regeneration takes him.”
-----Drekahnis’ body was suddenly enveloped in a red light. “This has become quite tedious.” His arms stretched out and formed into a collection of weapons and spiked appendages. “You people just don’t get it do you? Even if you possessed the power to kill me, you can’t.”
-----“And why is that?” Toc asked curiously.
-----“Because I am an extension of myself, remember? I am also on the Fallen Island, fighting with the servants of the Void. In this state, I cannot die unless both of my selves are destroyed at precisely the same time.”
---3---
Connection
-----Eric Melazai stretched his arms out and laid back. His legs dug into the soft, warm soil of the royal gardens as his body began to relax. Maya Reichard was resting there with him, but Eric was suspicious of her. She usually didn’t follow him around this much; rest and relaxation wasn’t exactly in abundance for them, and Maya typically spent her free time soaring in the skies with her Pegasus.
-----She now rested there with him, in the royal gardens of Axia’s palace. The massive garden was essentially the front yard of the castle, and was open to the public. It had the appearance of a quaint park, with a large lake to the side and a walkway that was decorated with flowers. There was even a hedge maze, which had been constructed on a whim by princess Aliana. Eric still didn’t know why that girl insisted on it being there; it wasn’t even necessary to pass the maze in order to access the castle. It was a side feature at best. The princess probably used it as one of her many escape routes for avoiding her nagging attendants.
-----The two apprentices of the Powers were near the main road that curled around the garden and approached the front door. A large patch of grass filled the center of the circular road, and in the center of that grassland was a decorative fountain that sprayed water from six jets. It was not as extravagant as the fountain that was inside of the palace, but it was nice and relaxing.
-----Eric was sprawled out on the ground, his head and shoulders propped up against the cement foundation of the fountain. Maya sat on the edge of the foundation, swaying her left hand through the cool waters.
-----“Alright, what is it?” Eric finally broke the silence that had lasted almost twenty minutes.
-----Maya nervously came to attention and looked as if she were trying to recollect rehearsed lines, “Well, I just thought it would be nice for you to have some company. You always head off to be alone whenever you take a break.”
-----Large, cascading clouds fluttered through the sky overhead; they were moving at a surprising speed, as if the planet was agitated. The sight distracted Eric for a moment, but then he snuck in a glance at Maya and saw that she was staring at him intently. She had a smile on her face—an honest smile, but it was all a little too convenient. “Did the Queen send you here?”
-----She shook her head.
-----“The Princess then?”
-----She shook her head, emphatically this time. She looked so damned cute and innocent.
-----He sighed as he turned his attention back to the clouds. “Then it’s you then.”
-----She gave him a frown and placed her hands on her hips, “Forgive me for caring a little. You don’t make it easy to be your co-worker…or your friend.”
-----“Elven intuition then?” he asked. Her pointed ears perked a little at the comment. “Or is it really that obvious?”
-----Maya could see him grinning. “I know how you feel. But you can’t go around thinking that you have to make a difference everywhere at once. What you’re doing here at the palace can help the Queen immensely.”
-----“I can’t help it if I’m bored,” Melazai laughed.
-----“Spare me,” Maya rolled her eyes and began to twirl a strand of blue hair around her fingers.
-----“Look, don’t you ever feel like it’s not enough? This, I mean—protecting the Queen.”
-----“Are you…”
-----“I’m not suggesting that being a body guard is a sad profession,” Eric immediately countered. “I just feel that, sometimes I’m not doing enough. I should be out there Maya, fighting along with everyone else. You want to fight too, right?”
-----“Of course I want to do everything that I can,” Maya answered, “but the Powers were very clear when they gave us our assignment. All we can do right now is make sure that Axia’s army is prepared to fight when the time comes.”
-----“So useless,” Eric muttered. The sun was beginning to move over his eyes, so he titled his head and shaded his face with his hand. “You and I both know that battle in Axia is inevitable. The Khazan military and GrayMalkin’s forces in Xaelon haven’t made any headway, and Araelis is too small to stave off Drekis for long.”
-----“You need to have more faith in the people of the nexus. Everyone else wants to fight just as hard as you do; everyone else wants to make a difference. If the Queen’s mission succeeds, then the war will certainly end.”
-----“Right…” he said softly.
-----“That’s it isn’t it?” She quickly unraveled the hair strand that she had twisted around her finger. “You wanted to be on the team she sent.”
-----“I still don’t understand why she didn’t send us. Our power could have done some real good down there.”
-----“Maybe,” she leaned over, crossed her legs, and rested her chin in her palms. “But we have to trust in that silver-haired fellow. Ms. Relissan swears that he will be able to put an end to all of this.”
-----“That poor kid,” Eric looked off to the side. “I don’t care what kind of power he has, or what kind of mysterious destiny he’s supposed to fulfill…no one should have to carry that kind of burden by themselves.”
-----“You seem prone to run off and do just that,” she said, giving him a knowing smirk.
-----“Nice, real nice,” he chuckled as he turned his head towards her. Movement caught his attention; beyond Maya he could see princess Aliana leaving the palace doors, seemingly in a hurry.
-----“Staring at my legs again?” Maya said with a frivolously smug tone.
-----“Wha…cut it out!” He retorted; he pointed past her legs at the princess, who was already upon them.
-----“Mr. Melazai,” the princess chirped in with a joyous expression, “I guess you and your associate share my tastes for getaway spots.”
-----“Getaway spots?” Maya raised an eyebrow.
-----Eric laughed deeply, almost like a cough. “Our little princess means to say that she’s snuck away from her attendants again. I guess I was right; you like to go hide in the maze don’t you?”
-----“Waste not, want not,” Aliana gestured towards the hedge maze. “I spend enough hours everyday in my life dealing with royal duties. Really now, a young woman has more important things to do without having to worry about smug attendants and rich nobles following her around.”
-----“I’m surprised none of the staff has quit,” Maya said, “They must all get rather frustrated with you.”
-----Aliana waved the issue off with her hand, “It’s as much a break for them as it is for me. I just like to be alone sometimes—escape the everlasting social life of royalty. You know what I mean, don’t you Eric?”
-----Melazai just turned his attention to the clouds and closed his eyes.
-----“Oh,” Aliana closed one eye and gave Maya a long wink, “You’ve been talking with him have you?”
-----“Tried to,” Maya shrugged.
-----“You worry too much,” Aliana told him. “You’re only hurting yourself if you spend your days and nights contemplating the problems of tomorrow.”
-----“So I’m supposed to forget about all of the big issues…not plan ahead?” The sarcasm in his voice was unintended; he really was curious to know what she meant.
-----“I’m just saying to look forward to tomorrow, not worry about it. If you have something to strive for, then the problems you encounter will work out in the end.”
-----“That’s cute,” Eric replied. “I knew you were optimistic princess, but still. I don’t think the world out there works in that ideal fashion.”
-----“It doesn’t have to necessarily,” she folded her hands behind her back and stared at the stampeding clouds. “It’s just important that you think that way. Internal strength is half the battle.”
-----Melazai pondered her words for a moment, but he was distracted by the clouds. Their speed was increasing.
-----“The sky is restless,” Maya said. “I sense great unease around Khazan; the planet wishes to tremble, but it’s too afraid to shake.”
-----As an elf, Maya was gifted with a natural connection with nature. Many elves could communicate with the spiritual life that was embodied by the plants and natural forces of a small area. Maya, however, was an exception person; her status as an apprentice had elevated her well beyond the ranks of the elder sages of her race, and she possessed the ability to look into the feelings of the entire world. It still threw Eric for a loop when she personified the nexus though.
-----“The power of chaos is everywhere,” Aliana whispered, becoming serious. “I wonder how…he should only be…” a sharp pain shot through her head. She gripped her temples and kneeled over like her entire body had suffered from the pain.
-----“Princess!” the apprentices both shouted. Eric jumped to his feet.
-----“What’s wrong Princess?” Maya asked, holding Aliana’s shoulders. She tried to raise the princess’ head and look into her eyes, but she was resolutely holding her head down.
-----A bright light enshrouded Aliana’s head; it was a mixture of red and blue energy which surged together, as if in conflict. “No…no!” She shook her head violently; her breathing became erratic.
-----“Princess…Aliana!” Eric gently placed his hands over hers and rubbed the side of her head. He could see the energy around her face, but he couldn’t feel it.
-----“This isn’t good!” Aliana spat out with some effort. “Tim’s in danger, they all are; I can see it.”
-----“You can see what?” Maya cupped the princess’ cheeks and watched the red and blue lights fade away.
-----Aliana, still gasping, looked back at the palace gates. “I have to speak with my mother, right now.”
---4---
Explosive Battle
----- Attragon lurched forward, holding both of his fire axes behind him. His massive body sprung forward, leaving deep indentations where his feet fell. He lumbered at first, but his pace quickened.
-----In fact, he became much faster than he should have been considering the heavy armor he wore. The odd way that his speed picked up in bursts made it difficult for Adonis to calculate a time of arrival, and before he knew it the Drekis general was right in front of him.
-----Both of the flaming axes crossed each other as the armored general released his first attack. Adonis had been caught off guard by Attragon’s movements; or at least, it seemed that he had. Dreiden had failed to erect any manner of defense; he was standing there rather passively, hands at his side.
-----Adonis had to admit that his enemy’s strange advancement had been more rapid than he had anticipated, but he was able to see the attack coming. A very small jump, using very little of Adonis’ leg strength, was enough to evade the attack and create a twenty foot divide between the two.
-----“Rather nimble.” Attragon commented as Adonis finished jumping back. He sounded rather amused by the whole ordeal. He sprang forward again, even faster this time; each leap he made covered twice as much ground as the last. One fiery strike followed the next. From the left, the right, and from above, his assault continued.
-----Adonis avoided each swipe, again with nonchalance. His reflexes had been honed when it came to melee combat. It was a simple matter of taking a single step; that was all it took. He moved with precise timing, right down to the very second of each strike. He also didn’t move very far, choosing instead to step just enough to avoid the axes by an inch or less.
-----The foray continued for some time, but Attragon was no fool. He knew by now that Adonis was not someone that would falter before a direct attack, and his efforts were not out of desperation or frustration. Each passing second gave Attragon a chance to study the way that his opponent fought. After all, battle was no mere contest of strength. There were specific styles and movements, things which represented the mental prowess of the combatant.
-----Adonis was easily avoiding the slashes, but Attragon had yet to see him even attempt some form of counter attack. So far the urban legend had maintained his speed without any sign of fatigue; he wasn’t fast enough to leave after-images, but he did leave a short, translucent trail. An average fighter would be fooled by such a trick, but Attragon had dealt with similar abilities before. He lashed out his left arm and swung his axe to the left. It was an awkward strike, a little slower than usual and utterly predictable. Dreiden would easily avoid it, but that was what he was counting on.
-----As expected, Dreiden moved to the most logical position—exactly where Attragon was swinging his right axe. The blazing weapon was almost at his neck; Attragon could almost feel its intense heat searing the Fallen’s skin.
-----A deafening sound shook Attragon off-balance. Flames jetted out from the armor around his right arm; smoke blurred his vision.
-----Adonis crouched down and propelled himself forward with his right foot. He rushed shoulder-first towards Attragon’s chest, but he was only twisting the right half of his body to gain momentum for his punch. His right arm struck like a rocket; the punch immediately dented the heavy armor around Attragon’s mid-section. That area was where the armor was strongest, and yet Adonis’ fist had caved it in with one blow.
-----Attragon’s feet left the ground as he soared under the influence of the punch. He was far too heavy to fly very far, and his weight buried him over two feet into the ground when he landed. His right arm was gone, armor and all. That damned man had somehow made his limb explode without the aid of a blast or weapon.
-----Angered but undeterred, Attragon recovered instantly. He sat up and lashed out with his remaining arm; the blades of the axe flew out and became spikes of fire that darted towards a surprised Adonis.
-----The urban legend didn’t have time to avoid the attack this time. With no other options, he crossed his arms in front of his face and took the assault head on. Streaks of fire curved around him in all directions when the spikes collided; he was literally bathed in flames.
-----When the fires ceased, Adonis was still standing there, arms crossed. The long black sleeves had been burned away, but his arms were only slightly smoldered. He waited a while, as if taking a deep breath, then uncrossed his arms and gave the Drekis general a scowl.
-----“Good! Very good,” Attragon bellowed as he stood up and leaped out of the small crater. “I can see that you are one of the finer warriors among the Fallen. I shall enjoy slaying you.”
-----“With one arm?” Adonis said coldly. “If you’re so confident about that, then attack me; your words mean nothing.”
-----“How true,” Attragon mused as he ran forward. “Actions speak louder don’t they?” He raised his remaining axe as he sprinted towards his target, but some invisible force prevented him from advancing. It was as if some strong, ethereal wind was pushing him back, but there was no wind traveling in his direction. It was Adonis! He was using some kind of telekinesis to hold him back.
-----“That won’t work against me!” Attragon boasted. He swung his weapon and created a wave of fire that snaked towards Dreiden with great alacrity.
-----Dreiden pointed a finger at the fire wave and then motioned it to the side; the wave followed his motion and curved away from him. Oddly enough, the redirected flame smashed into several Fallen onlookers; Dreiden obviously cared little for them.
-----Adonis then pointed an open hand at Attragon, and the war general felt a strange grip around his neck. An unperceivable strength gripped his body and lifted it up; he could barely move. Suddenly his left arm exploded. Several more explosions rocked his body, blasting chunks of flesh and armor away.
-----“You’re no challenge for me,” Adonis grumbled. With a flash of his eyes he evoked another explosion, this time destroying the head and helm of the general. Still unsatisfied, he targeted the body with more explosions, until at last only a pile of armor strips remained.
-----“He killed him!” a Fallen among the crowd shouted.
-----“Barely any effort at all…” another one added.
-----Dreiden ignored their comments; they were the musings of low level Fallen.
-----Something began to stir among the rubble. The slivers of armor, which had been horribly charred by the explosions, were polished clean. A mound of sickening flesh sprang up from the pile and became to spin around wildly; it was like a tornado of skin and muscle. The pieces of armor were carried up by the twirling object and began to orbit it. The flesh then arranged itself into a large human form, though it was devoid of any specific details. The armor began to connect to the flesh, filling in the spaces like they were puzzle pieces. Helm, greaves, mail, and all were made whole again.
-----“I killed you.” Adonis said. There was no surprise in his voice or in his eyes. It was more like he was telling Attragon that he was violating the rules.
-----“As you can see I don’t die very easily. War and battle are what feeds my existence; it is absurd to think that I could die while participating in one.”
-----“I’ll test that,” Adonis held a hand out in front of his eyes; the fingers grew out and became claws.
-----With both arms returned to him, Attragon reformed his weapons and ran forward. It was a charge not unlike his previous attacks, but this time he jumped high into the air when he got within fifteen paces of his opponent. He loomed high above Adonis and pulled his arms together; both axes joined into one, forming a single large weapon that burned like a diminutive sun.
-----Orange colors washed over Adonis’ face as the heavy combatant neared, but Dreiden could still make out the shadow of his falling enemy. He jumped back just as Attragon’s feet and knees bore into the ground; the axe came next, striking a few feet away from Adonis.
-----However, the intention had not been for the axe to cut Dreiden. This time, Attragon released an explosion of his own—the area where his axe fell burst apart, sending volcanic ash and car-sized chunks of blasted rock everywhere. The shockwave blew into Adonis, pressing against the full length of his body. Small traces of fire burned his hair and thick smoke clouded his lungs, but it had been the concussion which had blown him away.
-----The Fallen onlookers watched as their urban legend was hurled from the smoke, sent flying uncontrollably across the terrain. His body bounced off of the ground with each impact; it rolled and spiraled down short hills and across jagged stones. He looked truly lifeless.
-----But not long after the rolling of his apparent corpse ceased, he rose up and wiped the chalky smut from his clean-shaven face. A casual gesture of his hand moved a patch of hair to the side.
-----The explosion, especially at that close range, should have broken all of his rib bones. If Adonis could recover from an attack like that, then he wasn’t just another tough fighter; Attragon knew that he was dealing with superb willpower.
-----Attragon’s left hip detonated. Pieces of armor and bleeding flesh littered the ground, then quickly began to collate. It was almost as if Adonis had tried to return the favor with his attack, but he had stopped with just one explosion. The war general uttered an annoyed growl, only to follow it will deep laughter. “This is amusing. It must be aggravating for you…to know that you possess the power to destroy my body on a whim, and yet you cannot finish me off.”
-----“Maybe,” Dreiden responded dryly, “but you’re in the same position. You’ll never finish me off with such mundane flames.”
-----“I’ve yet to reveal all of my secrets,” Attragon announced. “This standstill won’t last forever!” With that, he swung his combined axe in Adonis’ direction; over fifty feet now separated the two, but the axe relinquished a concentrated heat beam with swirls of fire dancing around it. By the time Attragon completed the swing, the beam had already strafed Adonis’ location and made it erupt. Dreiden’s image disappeared in a tower of flame two stories high.
-----It was a beautiful sight to see the fires claim the land, but something was wrong. Attragon did not instinctively feel the flames touch his opponent. The sensation was different depending on the situation and the opponent, but he always knew when his infernos crawled upon his opponent’s skin.
-----Putting himself in Adonis’ position, Attragon tilted his helm up to gaze at the sky, and sure enough Adonis was there, soaring like a raven. A closer inspection showed that he was not flying, but had leaped in the air as Attragon had done; in fact, he may have gone even higher, if only to show Attragon up in that regard.
-----He was insulted that the great and legendary Dreiden Adonis would think that a tactic which he was all too familiar with would work against him. He raised his burning axe and aimed where he fell.
-----An unexpected change in Dreiden’s motions occurred. Through telekinesis or some other, unknown power, Dreiden’s rate of descent drastically increased. His free fall well exceeded the natural influence of gravity.
-----Attragon tried to pick up speed to adjust, but a set of explosion occurred at the joints by his elbows. They were small explosions this time, just powerful enough to disconnect his arms. His fiery axe and limbs dropped to the ground just before Adonis himself fell within arms reach.
-----Dreiden plowed his right arm through the surface of Attragon’s armor; his fingers were still as claws, and they made four deep gashes running from the base of Attragon’s neck to the edge of his loins.
-----“Insufferable wretch!” Attragon shouted out. His hands started to fly back to him, but Adonis had already prepared his next attack.
-----The Fallen’s left hand stretched out into something that bore a resemblance to a tentacle, but it was solid; the large spike elongated until it pierced Attragon’s chest and impaled him from one end to the other.
-----Without hesitating between attacks, Adonis changed the part of the spike which was protruding from Attragon’s back into an anchor; with this he tugged on Attragon armored body and pulled him forward. He lunged in at the same time, thrusting out with a knife hand. Powerful claws, aided by Dreiden’s unnatural strength, crushed the metal lines in front of Attragon’s helm. The attack carried through and impaled the general’s head.
-----Still in mid-jump, Adonis pulled his hand up, ripping Attragon’s head out of his body—helm, face, spine, and all. He spun around as he did this; simultaneously he pulled the anchored spike out of Attragon’s chest, and as he completed his spin he delivered a fierce kick to the headless body.
-----The body was hurled about lifelessly for some distance; part of its torso had actually been ripped out by his spiked appendage. As this happened, Dreiden offhandedly threw the head and dangling spinal cord behind him.
-----His attack now finished, Adonis folded his arms and watched the body intently. “We’ll test the limits of your so-called immortality.” He whipped his elongated arm and tossed the hunk of torso to the side, then returned the arm to normal.
-----“An excellent strategy!” The booming voice came from the severed head behind him. “This time you separated key areas of my body, hoping that the distance between them would hinder my revival. Your reputation precedes you Mr. Adonis.”
-----Dreiden glared at the bloody helm and it burst. The explosion consumed the entire head—nothing remained.
-----When he turned back to face the body, the headless armor had already stood. Adonis had half expected this to happen, but his attack had been the most logical manner with which to test the nature of Attargon’s regenerative abilities.
-----The gaping hole in the armor’s torso was filled in. Skin began to grow out of the sundered neck, and a brand new helm grew out of the severed armor.
-----“Even his armor regenerates!” A Fallen soldier said.
-----“Silence!” Adonis decreed loudly. “Your mindless insights are beginning to irritate me.”
-----“Let us continue,” Attragon suggested, now fully regenerated. “However, this time we’ll try something new.” He spread his hands out and the outline of his armored limbs began to glow a bright white. It was a different kind of energy that he evoked, nothing at all like the infernal fires that he had been using in his weapons.
-----The air around the two combatants became unnaturally chilled. There was no freezing wind or any other weather phenomenon that could explain it; the area had simply become cold.
-----Numerous bodies formed around Attragon. At first they were white and translucent like phantoms, but as their humanoid bodies formed they became more colored and solid. Ghostly skin became flesh, and medieval swords appeared in their hands. They all had the appearance of a normal human, and were as diverse in facial features as humans tended to be. The only ghostly aspect of their being that remained was the color in their eyes; it was no natural pigment that filled in their irises. Each one wore simple armor garments that were also medieval in design.
-----“Spirits of the dead.” Attragon said at last. The summoned humans began to walk forward. There was no awkwardness in their gate; they ran forward with Olympic speed. “They are the regretful souls of those who have died in the innumerable wars this multiverse has been host to. Every one of them is driven by vengeance, and they bow to my orders as soldiers obey their commander.”
-----“This is all you have to offer?” Adonis waved an arm and all of the warrior spirits vanished in explosions. Although the war general had called them spirits, there was no doubt that they had taken a physical form upon being summoned. In all likelihood they were stronger than normal humans and their blades were enchanted, but Adonis didn’t feel like wasting time with fodder.
-----“I haven’t even started.” Attragon responded. Bright light engulfed his armor, and twice as many war spirits gathered around him.
-----“You can summon as many of them as you want,” Adonis decreed, “I’ll destroy them all just as easily.”
-----“These spirits can do more than just attack you directly,” Attragon said. Rather than explain any further, he gave out an order in a foreign tongue; the war spirits scattered in every direction at their general’s command. The individual spirits stopped by the corpse of a Fallen warrior and dived into them as they would a pool of water. Their flesh phased into the flesh of the corpses—they fused together and became one. The tarnished bodies of the Fallen who had died in battle came to life again.
-----But this time they glowered at their fellow Fallen with bloodlust in their eyes. They gathered around Attragon and smiled devilishly.
-----“Now you witness their true power,” Attragon said. “They now possess the bodies of your own comrades, and they wield their powers as if they were their own.”
-----Adonis released that awkward, contemptible smile again. “This should be entertaining. An excuse to ravage the bodies of my fellow Fallen.”
-----“How perfectly sadistic you are!” Attragon laughed out loud. He pointed towards Adonis and all of the possessed Fallen began to converge on the dark-haired man.
---5---
Chaotic Destruction
-----Kryler Daisheki dived underneath a reptillon’s sword and rolled past several deminites. The maniacal Fallen swerved as he came to his feet and beheaded three minions with one spin of his dai-katana. His heart was pounding with an unimaginable thrill; for every Drekis minion that surrounded him his heart would increase its pounding. His silvery hairs stood on edge; his teeth grinded against one another in excitement.
-----It was pleasure. Pure pleasure if what this deranged youth felt on the battlefield. His lust for blood knew no bounds. On the field of war, he often forgot who he was, why he was fighting, and that his own life might be in danger. There was nothing but the anticipating of bloodshed—a compulsive compassion for the moment when his blade slid into his opponent’s flesh.
-----Within the ranks of the Fallen he was a wildcard. The members of the council respected the unchecked power he wielded, but glared in disapproval at the way in which he used it.
-----Dreiden Adonis often carried with him the rumor of being a threat to both friend and foe, but if there was any one person who would undoubtedly slay his own comrades in the chaotic fray, it was Kryler.
-----In this scenario, however, he was an asset. Like a wild, ravenous dog he was unleashed by his masters; into the pit of enemies he ran, seemingly unaware of the screeching cries he emitted as swung his katana at everything in sight. Thick pockets of blood continued to form at his feet. He weaved, spun, and danced around, killing reptillons and deminites with simple strokes of his elegant weapon.
-----He loved how easily it cut them down—as if they were all warm chocolate.
-----A devonox reared its ugly head, apparently angry over the rampant death of its brethren. These brutes were Kryler’s favorite victims, at least among the creatures that he had encountered thus far. The devonox’s were strong, but incredibly slow and dimwitted. Kryler would play with them for a few seconds—revel in the frustration that filled their eyes when they failed to hit him for the eighth time. When he finally decided to end it, their bones cracked with such a delightful sound; the poor beasts even lumbered about, helpless to prevent their own death.
-----This particular one looked to be more of the same, but Kryler never tired of the same, good old-fashioned entertainment. Originality was dreadfully overrated.
-----The monster strolled forward, claws ready to lash out. Kryler stood his ground, holding his katana off to the side and beckoning the creature to approach with his other hand. He was practically salivating as the monster neared.
-----A disturbing motion flew overhead, and suddenly the devonox roared in pain. A sharp, spiny figure had jumped on top of the immense beast’s head and driven long, protruding spikes from its hands into the devonox’s eyes.
-----It was the contemptible mutant—Sycher. That lowly creation of professor Vizeman had stolen his prey…and he had probably known it too. Kryler imagined that the fiend was smiling now; Sycher pulled his jagged, bladed arms out and tore the devonox’s head out with them.
-----“You dolt!” Kryler shouted. His voice had an extremely high pitch when he was in battle. The excitement consumed him from head to toe, inside and out; he was like a different being altogether. “That creature was mine, and you knew it!”
-----“Ha! There’s no ‘I’ in team,” Sycher scoffed as he landed. He dared to show his back to Kryler as he dusted his hands off. As Kryler had surmised, he had very much enjoyed taking one of Daisheki’s targets away from him.
-----“Team? I don’t need to hear about teamwork from the Fallen, and certainly not from a degraded mutant like you!”
-----“Your words are the only things with any weight,” Sycher snapped back. “There’s no point in your childish desires; all that matters is that our enemies die—it doesn’t matter who kills them.”
-----“You know not to take my prey!” Daisheki roared, waving his sword left and right. “There are thousands more of the things around the island; get your own and leave me be!”
-----He felt a murderous presence behind his back. A lone deminite had crept up behind him while he was busy arguing with the mutant. Daisheki was prepared to turn around and parry the deminite’s claws, but by the time he changed his pivot foot the minion was already dead. A large humanoid, brimming with muscles the size of Daisheki’s head, had smashed the deminite with enough strength to literally flatten it into the bedrock.
-----“Resho…” Daisheki muttered under his breath. “You too? Stop interfering with my fights!”
-----“Your recklessness is no longer necessary,” Resho boomed as he adjusted his sunglasses. Vizeman’s prize creation had removed his leather jacket and shirt in order to showcase his inhuman musculature. “We shall show you what true warriors are made of.”
-----“What is the meaning of this!?” Kryler yelled out. If he didn’t kill something soon he was going to start ripping his hair out.
-----Resho fiercely pointed a finger at Daisheki, “You brought this on! You challenged us back in the Tower; you believed that a natural such as yourself could defeat perfected creations like us! Adonis spared you from the fate of fighting us, but we will still settle this.”
-----“We’ll destroy the Drekis minions with such efficiency that you’ll look tame by comparison!” Sycher added.
-----Kryler grinned widely. “Is that how it’s going to be?” He licked the blunt side of his katana. “Very well. I’ll kill more of their lot than both of you put together!”
-----The three of them continued to press their attacks. They stayed in the same area, never straying too far from one another. With each kill they jokingly announced their count and went on to slay the next minion.
-----Resho, with his nigh-impervious body, physically blocked gun and laser fire from hunter-killers; meanwhile, Sycher traveled around at speeds that could not be traced by human eyes; he disappeared in a blue one second, then appeared behind his enemies the next. The numerous blades that adorned his body extended out and attacked simultaneously. Between the number of weapons and his swiftness, Sycher was able to strike a single enemy twenty times in one pass.
-----Needless to say, Kryler spread out from the two of them and attacked his own quarry. He was still within sight range of the two mutants, and his keen ears kept track of their kill count as they feverishly declared them.
-----Daisheki then realized that there were fewer enemies now. Oddly enough, the Fallen Island was still teeming with the demonic creatures. For some reason, the minions were moving away from his area.
-----In human adversaries this was to be expected; he had killed over a hundred of their number without taking so much as a scratch; it was only natural that people should flee from that kind of power. However, he had come to know at least this much about the Drekis legions: they knew no fear. They displayed an awareness of an opponent’s superiority, so it was not as if the monsters were too stupid to feel fear, but nonetheless they entered battle without concern for their well-being. If the deminites were clearing out now, there had to be a very good reason for it.
-----A much larger creature strolled into view. At first Kryler thought it was another devonox, but this creature was shorter and leaner; its skin, if it could be called skin, was a smooth, oily black, and its draconic form was surrounded in a short aura of smoke.
-----Whatever this creature was, the deminites were fleeing away from it.
-----“What is this?” Kryler said with a hint of interest. “A sea of cowering monsters part so a lone animal can march towards the slaughter?”
-----“I am Drekis,” the creature bellowed. A dark aura abruptly flooded the area. It was barely visible, but it was definitely there. Kryler’s breathing became heavy, and his eyes started to burn.
-----“Move aside,” Drekis commanded. “I have business with your leaders behind the barriers.”
-----“As if you could tell me what to do!” Kryler charged with his katana held in front of him. “The council will acknowledge my greatness when I take down the mastermind behind this attack!”
-----“I do not wish to waste my time,” Drekis boomed. He made a strafing motion with one finger. As soon as that was done, Daisheki’s sword broke in half. There was no cut, no pressure, no force. The katana had come undone; the blade had been separated.
-----Kryler stopped in his tracks, gawking at his broken weapon as if his own manhood had been stripped. “My sword! What have you do…”
-----Drekis backhanded the youth across his face, sending him wheeling over the island surface while sprays of blood flew out of his nose.
-----The maniacal Fallen lost consciousness momentarily, but was awoken by thunderous footsteps. Resho was standing over him, looking down at him with disappointment.
-----Sycher had jumped in front of Daisheki and faced Drekis with an amused smirk. “This is Drekis? I was expecting someone taller, more imposing.”
-----Drekis was still moving closer. His movements were strange, as if he were gliding gently above the ground. Several wavering tentacles lashed out from Drekis’ lower body, but several quick swipes from Sycher’s blades disconnected the tendrils.
-----“Is that all a Chaos Avatar has to offer?” Sycher taunted. “A few lowly tentacles are no match for me.” He sprang off of his feet and became like a spinning cannonball that was hurled at Drekis.
-----Just as a collision was about to be made, Drekis disappeared. He was no where in sight.
-----Sycher landed and unfurled himself into a standing position. “Impossible! Even if he’s faster than me, I should be able to track something!”
-----Drekis reappeared in front of Sycher at about the same distance that had separated them before. “You bore me lab-rat.”
-----Resho quickly cracked his neck to one side and rotated his shoulders. “Dematerialization. Be careful Sycher.” His tone had no compassion; it was more like he was giving advice to an impatient child.
-----Heavy sprays of light illuminated Sycher’s bronzed skin and all of its bony scales. He slowly uncurled one finger after another and then tightened them into a tense fist; a long spike, nearly twice the length of the actual limb, sprung out of his forearm. “Sorry to bore you. Let’s make this more interesting then.” Before he even finished speaking the spike grew out, like a lance that stretched out to touch the horizon.
-----As Sycher had predicted, Drekis did not disappear this time. The spike had flown out at incredible speed, and Drekis would not have predicted a melee weapon to be capable of such an extensive attack.
-----But Drekis did see the spike’s approach; in fact, he caught the tip of the spike with his bare hand and forcefully held its jagged edge at bay. That kind of stunt had crossed Sycher’s mind, but he had been confident that anyone who pulled it off would lose a hand in exchange for their life. From where Sycher stood, Drekis didn’t appear to be in pain at all; the sharp edges of the spike also seemed to have no effect on the convulsing fingers that gripped it.
-----“That will be all.” Drekis said the words with a quiet, sincere voice. A faded white glow wrapped around his hand; like a virus it spread from the slick fingers to Sycher’s elongated lance, and from the lance to Sycher’s arm. Soon the whole of Vizeman’s creation was wrapped in the ghostly glimmer.
-----The hardened shell of Sycher’s exterior began to visibly break down. Fragments of scales and curved spikes broke away from his shoulders and turned into golden dust. The rest of his body followed suit; his head, his torso, his legs, all of it was converted into some kind of sparkling sand which filtered through his fleshless bones. The dead skeleton that was left behind crumbled to the ground, a faint trace of the white light still wrapped around its joints.
-----“You will pay for that transgression!” Resho roared. It was not a vengeful voice that had carried itself over that immense battlefield. Neither Resho nor Sycher had been programmed by Vizeman to have any inkling of care for one another. They had merely moved and acted as brothers on account of their relationship to the professor; they had been two of kind among the throngs of Fallen. Yet Sycher’s death inspired no sadness or indignation in the mighty Resho. If anything, it was an insult to the Vizeman family that one of their kind had been killed…an insult that stained their reputation. It was Resho’s duty to affirm the standing of the professor, not to avenge Sycher’s death.
-----Of course, the reasons would not have affected Resho’s action. For duty, or for his own personal enjoyment, Resho stormed ahead and steadily picked up speed. Like a raging bull he tore through the space between them and reared his muscle-bound arm. Drekis made no move to avoid or block the impending blow.
-----Unimpeded, Resho put all of his strength behind the punch and struck the Chaos Avatar in the chest. The initial strike shook the entire island; hundreds of deminites that had formed a half-circle around their leader collapsed when the tremor passed beneath them.
-----Although he had put enough force into his punch to create a crater that could fill a castle, Resho was noticeably stunned to find that Drekis had not moved an inch. It was not that Drekis had shrugged off the attack; it was quite the opposite. Resho’s blow had crushed the shadowed exterior of Drekis’ body; his fist had plunged deep within and stopped just short of ripping through the other side.
-----Resho found it strange that he had encountered no bones, no vital organs of any kind. Worse still, the damage he had inflicted didn’t seem to bother Drekis at all.
-----Like a growing shadow Drekis abruptly loomed over Resho. The thick, greasy internal liquids in his body ensnared the Fallen’s arm and kept him from moving away.
-----“Why do you persist?” Drekis questioned. His right hand put Resho in a choke hold. “Is your lot in life to waste my time?” Resho may have been shorter than Drekis at the moment, but he was as wide as a tank and just as heavy. Despite this, Drekis had no trouble with lifting Resho’s colossal body up until the two of them locked eyes.
-----Resho tried to spit out a response, but the Avatar’s grasp was too tight around his neck. His arm, still lodged in the cavity of Drekis’ chest, was stretched out.
-----Drekis held up two fingers with his other hand, pressed them tightly together, and evoked a series of red sparks that circled around his fingertips. He strafed his fingers out as if to unleash a whip; a flash of red light followed. Nothing appeared to have physically touched Resho, but his arm unexpectedly broke off at the shoulder. As if the rest of the body didn’t matter to him, Drekis threw Resho at Daisheki’s feet. The brute shook the island again when his giant form slammed into the rocks.
-----“Go!” Drekis commanded, pulling the disconnected arm from his flesh and melting it into nothingness with a display of power. “Tell your council to drop the remaining barriers and stand before me. They should know that if they refuse, then it will only be a matter of time before I force my way through the shields. Let’s not drag this on any longer; we’ll decide the fate of this battle master to masters.”
-----Daisheki couldn’t help but notice that Drekis was only talking to Resho, who was now struggling to pull himself out of the indentation he had formed upon landing. Many things infuriated Kryler, but being ignored was at the top of the list.
-----“Have you forgotten about me!” Kryler screamed. “I’m not done with you yet!”
-----“No Daisheki,” a groaning Resho sat up under the power of his one remaining arm. “We are no match for this one. Leave it to the council.”
-----“So you’re giving up?” Daisheki said with a crazed look in his eyes. “That’s perfect! I’ll prove that I’m superior to you genetic freaks.” A violet light emanated from his broken blade.
-----“What do you hope to accomplish with half a sword?” Drekis hissed, slowly pressing forward. Three tentacles jetted out from the smoke-like aura around his body.
-----“Die!” Daisheki cried. He swung his sword and a wave of energy blazed a trail through the ground. The three tentacles were caught in the blast and vaporized. “Die! Die! Die!” He repeated the word louder each time.
-----Drekis calmly watched the energy streak across the ground and raised a hand as if to signal ‘stop.’ The energy parted into two separate waves which actually curved around Drekis’ figure, forming a perfect circle. When the two waves met each other behind him, they joined back into a complete blast and continued onward. Drekis clearly didn’t mind the fact that Daisheki’s attack went on to slay dozens of his lesser minions.
-----A large crack in the surface of the island stretched out from Daisheki’s feet to Drekis’ position.
-----“That’s enough!” Resho boomed. He grabbed Daisheki’s arms; his one hand was large enough to constrain both of Kryler’s limbs. “You can’t beat this one. Retreat behind the barrier.”
-----“Mind your own business!” Kryler retorted, but by the time he could utter his stubborn response Resho had already grabbed him by the back of the neck and started to drag him backwards. “Stop it! How dare you; let go of me this instant!” He flailed his sword around like an infant, but the halved blade did not cut Resho’s skin.
-----Drekis allowed the conflicted pair to drag themselves away. They didn’t matter to him; he could have killed them in an instant like he had their companion, but they were not important enough to chase down.
-----Besides, another battle required his attention.
---6---
Suspicions
-----Covered in blood and sweltering mud, Tundra passed through the final barrier and approached the base of the Tower. As he expected, Soyokaze and Zalrafel watched the ensuing battle with great interest. Marc Dollar sat in the back of his exaggerated vehicle, barking orders into radio devices as he watched the Eversor take down another terror beast.
-----The icy Fallen never saw the council members turn their heads or swerve their eyes, but as he neared he heard Zalrafel’s ominous voice.
-----“Why have you returned Tundra?” Zalrafel inquired. “You have not been given any orders to return to the Tower.”
-----“Spare me the lectures please,” Tundra coughed the response up. “What was I supposed to do? The rest of my unit got wiped out.”
-----Devyn closed his eyes and smiled. “And you come crawling back with all of that blood on you.”
-----“I’ll have you know that this in not my blood!” Tundra retorted. “And it is not my failure either. Where is Blitzkrieg?!”
-----“Blitzkrieg? Why are you concerned with him?” Zalrafel said.
-----Tundra clenched his fists. “You know why! That Nazi fool was supposed to support our unit. With his speed we could have crushed our way through their front lines, but he never even showed up.”
-----“You’re surprised?” Devyn said coolly. “He’s not the only one. Alexander Shadowcast has also failed to show himself.”
-----“Still,” Zalrafel looked towards the top of the Tower, “We at least know that Shadowcast is unreliable. Blitzkrieg, however…it is unlike him to be absent when he is summoned.”
-----“That is true,” Devyn admitted, still showing no sign of concern. “It is also unlike Seryko Rheomyr to ignore the will of the council.”
-----Tundra let out a perturbed roar. He began to lash out at the space around him, but there was nothing for him to take his anger out on. “Shadowcast…Rheomyr! Those cretins!” He marched towards the Tower, his hands shrouded in a deep blue mist.
-----“Where are you going Tundra? Their absence means little to us in the end—stop wasting your time and ours.” Zalrafel stated.
-----“Something isn’t right here!” Tundra shouted back. “I’m going back to the Tower to check things out.”
-----Devyn shot a glance at Tundra’s back and folded his arms. “Let him go. We should focus on Drekis.”
-----“I know,” Zalrafel said. “It would seem that Kaas is about to get his chance.”
---7---
Emergency
-----Aliana Relissan wasted no time in bursting into the throne room of Axia palace. She threw open the large redwood doors and gazed down the wide, golden hall that was lavishly decorated with a red carpet path. At the end of that expensive walkway was the jewel-encrusted throne, where her mother sat.
-----While the government of Axia sounded like a Monarchy, it was actually something closer to a democracy. Her mother held the title of Queen, but her rule over the people of Axia was not absolute. To the left and right of the red carpet that ran down the middle of the hall were several small tables and matching chairs; there were ten sets in all, five on each side. These chairs were the appointed seats of the ten ministers, each of whom were entrusted with representing the will of the people in regards to a specific matter. There was a minister of war, a minister of commerce, a minister of law, and many more.
-----Together they formed a ruling body that conversed with Queen about every major decision in Axia. It was Amanda Relissan’s sworn duty to make the best decisions based on the unanimous ideals of the ministers. Although, to be honest, it was rare for things to work out so delicately; many of the Queen’s final verdicts were reconciliations of conflicting ideas among the ministers.
-----At this hour, none of the ministers held their seats. There was no planned meeting, and the throne room was empty save for three people: Amanda, who sat on the throne; Aliana, who briskly ran to her mother’s seat; and a woman that Aliana had never seen before, who sat on a lavish chair in front of the throne.
-----This new woman sat facing the Queen and did not turn around to address the new presence in the chamber. Aliana ran ahead of this woman, but could not stop her curious mind from looking at the stranger’s face.
-----She was a strikingly beautiful young woman, no older than twenty years of age. An ambiance of warmth was generated from her presence; it was as if the gentle sweetness of her personality was plainly visible. Her long hair was a very light strawberry red; in fact, it was more accurate to call it pink. The cherry locks fell to her waste, but there was a tail of hair that been formed by a golden band that was wrapped around her hair. Unlike most woman, who wore their hair tails behind their head, this girl had her tail formed at the side so that it fell over the left side of her neck.
-----Her clothing was just as striking as her beauty. Meticulously arranged, her costume had at least four different parts that overlapped one another. Her long, slender legs were covered by a rather short, dark blue skirt, but her top was a light blue shirt with a dark blue cloth that decorated her shoulders, almost like a separate skirt that was worn around her neck and stopped just before her breasts. On each shoulder was something that looked like a round, smooth crystal, possibly a ruby—though the red color was too dark to be a typical ruby. Dropping down from her neck was a short red cloth that she wore like a kind of tie, and all of her outfit had a gold-colored trim on the edges.
-----Altogether, it gave off the appearance of a military outfit, though certainly no military would pay the money necessary to decorate its soldiers in such extravagant attire.
-----“Mother! I must speak with you this instant!” Aliana insisted. She bowed apologetically. “I’m sorry if I am interrupting something, but this is urgent.”
-----The Queen nodded towards the guest. “Excuse me for one moment.” She crossed her legs and pressed her back against the throne. “What is it Aliana?”
-----Aliana was panting; the images she had seen had taken a lot out of her. Even though it was impossible for them to directly effect her in a physical sense, the sensation had made her feel exasperated. “I have seen Tim…Timothy and the others down the Endless Caves.”
-----A look of dread flowed over her mother’s tireless eyes. “You actually saw them?”
-----Aliana took in a deep breath. The beautiful guest had stood and placed her hand on the princess’ shoulder.
-----“What is it princess?” She asked with a soft voice. “Do you mean to say you physically saw them?”
-----“It was out in the courtyards, by the hedge maze,” Aliana elaborated. “I don’t know why, but I was able…”
-----“Yes,” Amanda interrupted. “It is possible for a connection to form between the two of you; that is, if he has begun to use his power.”
-----“What is it you have seen?” The woman eagerly asked. “Is Drekis dead? Have they succeeded?”
-----“I saw something terrible,” was the princess’ response.
-----“Is Tim still alive!?” The Queen immediately gasped.
-----“Yes, I saw him there, with all of the others. But Drekis…he was there—only I could sense that there was something wrong with it all. I think…that Drekis has split himself.”
-----“Drekis can split himself?” The girl said, looking at the Queen.
-----Amanda stared at the floor grimly. “Damn him. I didn’t stop to think that this might happen.”
-----“I don’t like being left in the dark,” the woman insisted on knowing what the Queen knew.
-----“Drekis has most likely divided himself to at least two locations. That would explain why the power of chaos seems to have grown across Khazan. Doing so has afforded Drekis another defense; we can’t kill him unless both of his selves are destroyed at the same time.”
-----“And the boy you’re counting on,” the woman said, “even if he can destroy Drekis, he can’t be in two places at once.”
-----“Tim is in danger.” Aliana added. “They can’t defeat him now, not like this.”
-----“This is bad,” Amanda said, biting the edge of her thumb. “We can’t afford to lose people like Uberman and Captain Khazan, and certainly not Tim. We have to get him out of there.”
-----“Drekis won’t let them escape.” Aliana said.
-----“I know that. But perhaps we can send someone there to help them get away.” The Queen looked at the guest with endearing eyes. “Will you help us?”
-----“I’d like to do whatever I can,” the woman responded, “but it took your group the better part of a day to navigate the Endless Caves. There’s no way that my people could locate them before…before it’s too late.”
-----“No, I have something else planned,” The Queen replied. Her eyes beamed widely as she palmed her fist. “How rude of me, I haven’t introduced you to my daughter. Aliana, this is Sylvia Moonshael, a member of the Telrah from Evangeles. She’s here as an ambassador, representing Evangeles in the fight against Drekis.”
-----The princess was surprised to hear the words. She had never imagined that a citizen of Evangeles would be dressed so lavishly; then again, if she was a member of a church organization like Telrah, then it made sense.
-----Evangeles was the State-Kingdom to the North-East of Axia. It was a sovereign land which primarily governed itself; like Axia and the Vizeon Republic, it was one of the few places on the nexus were the President of Khazan did not hold direct authority.
-----As the name subtly implied, Evangeles was a holy city of faith. It was a land of religion, home to countless beliefs and creeds. Religion was an odd thing for the people of Khazan; in the past, physical or otherwise scientific proof had confirmed the existence of high-level entities who played the role of the God or gods that a particular religion worshipped. In this way, many religions had their faiths confirmed as logical beliefs.
-----But not every religion’s deities had been confirmed. The people of these unconfirmed faiths were often criticized for their beliefs, and despite the open ended laws of Khazan which granted freedom of religion, they were largely treated as strange and eccentric outsiders.
-----The State-Kingdom of Evangeles was created as a home for these people. The religious nation, as it was often called, was not primarily made up of any one faith. The people and their differing tenets coexisted because no single faith could claim to be the majority. However, there was one organization that was largely respected and known throughout the main continent.
-----That was Telrah. It was an unconventional religious organization that was less like a church and more like a political government; in fact, they primarily acted as the government body for Evangeles. The various citizens of Evangeles approved of their governance because of their unequaled tolerance for conflicting beliefs. The Telrah had no specific tenets; instead, they believed that a reconciliation of all the religious faiths across the world would yield the one true understanding of the universe. To that end, they approved of all religions, of all gods, and of all opinions.
-----Sylvia Moonshael represented the most powerful members of the Telrah, known simply as the Faithful. These were normal human beings who had achieved supernatural powers not through mutation, technology, or magic, but through sheer faith. It would not be too inaccurate to say that they were superhuman simply because they believed themselves to be. Scientists have forever been perplexed by the Faithful, dubbing their abilities as a form of mind-over-matter, but even elder psychics will admit that their power is much more complex than anything that could be derived from willpower alone.
-----“What would you have me do?” Sylvia said confidently.
-----“There is only one other person I can think of who could go to them and be of enough help to guarantee their survival,” the Queen began. “I wanted him to be a part of their team from the start, but he was busy elsewhere. That man is the Avatar of Light, Tanin.”
-----Sylvia nodded approvingly. “Where can I find Dragoon T?”
-----Aliana sighed nervously. “I’m afraid he’s still in Arael.”
-----“The last communication from Arael said that they were under attack from a Drekis army,” Amanda said. “No doubt he’ll be busy fighting off the enemy there. However, it is imperative that we gain his aid.”
-----“My envoys and I can make the trip to Arael in less than an hour!” Sylvia said with a bright smile. “I can promise you that. Once we find Dragoon T, though, it won’t be any easier to navigate the caves. We still face the same problem of how to find them before it’s too late.”
-----“Not a problem at all,” The Queen shook her head and smiled at her daughter. “Aliana has a strong connection to Tim, one that could almost be described as psychic. The details are unnecessary at this point, but if you can bring me Tanin, and if we combine the powers of my daughter and one of my bodyguards, its possible for us to send the Avatar of Light directly to where we need him.”
-----“I don’t understand completely, but I trust in your judgment Lady Relissan.” Sylvia bowed in respect and ran for the door with haste. “I will waste no time! I will bring Dragoon T to you within the hour.”
---8---
Breach
-----Vincentzo’s hands clawed their way through a pillar of smoke as he approached the Northern border of Arael. Large fireballs fell around him and sent nearby soldiers rolling across the enflamed roads. Vincentzo was too late to make a difference; the enemy had already come—their fangs and claws were posed to tear through the guardians that protected the freeway entrance into the city.
-----The deminites in the Aigonis’ army had already exceeded the sorcerer’s expectations; with a cunning that they had not displayed in the previous battles, the deminites split themselves into two equally important divisions. One of these groups had charged head first into the Northern border guard, quickly forcing a situation of intense melee combat. The second group remained at the rear of the Drekis army, where three of four of their lot combined their fireballs into a single burning sphere. It was as if the legion of chaotic beasts possessed magical catapults; their combined flames were hurled with a high arc, rising into the air and falling like a shooting star.
-----The bombardments fell well behind the city lines, though not too far into Arael as a whole. Vincentzo knew that the deminites were capable of throwing their attacks farther; he could see that they were casually throwing their projectiles with no care as to where it landed. As far as the wizard was concerned, the accursed demons were toying with him.
-----Long range cannons and gun turrets positioned along the border of the city gave the soldiers and heroes support, but the terrain had been changed to better suit the Drekis legions. When the mine field had been detonated, the large open field had become a wasteland of craters. Altogether, it could be considered a giant depression of at least thirty meters deep at its center.
-----The delicately placed gun turrets had a hard time focusing on the enemy when their numbers poured themselves into the depression and out of sight. Moments later, the bloodthirsty minions would crawl out of the pit in huge numbers. The mysterious aura of the hive guards which somehow inspired greater strength and speed among the lesser minions was clearly at work. The gun turrets, despite their rapid, continuous fire, could not destroy all of the deminites before the creatures could reach the soldiers.
-----Maiinverno had dispatched orders to have the Eastern and Western border guards converge on his current location; after all, the relatively small northern guard would be no match for the endless storm that the enemy hit them with. It could be mere minutes before they smashed themselves through, and there would be no wall to hinder their breach of the city.
-----Arael’s frontier was technically marked with something that could be called a wall, but it was not the same thing as the militarized wall that surrounded—or rather, had surrounded—the destroyed city of Xaelis. Araelis merely possessed a brick wall that was no taller than a human, and they had been placed there only to enclose the backyards of the houses along the borderlines.
-----The Drekis minions needed only to smash through the modest brick foundations, or pass through the several free way roads that led into Arael, and then they would be able to destroy everything that Maiinverno had worked so hard to build.
-----Unfortunately, it would take a few more minutes for the other border guards to flank the enemy, and there was no guarantee, with the enemy having evaded the mine field completely, that they would still be able to pull off a victory.
-----Vincentzo sneered at the thought as a nearby house burst into flames. It was a personal insult to Maiinverno’s character that he, a destined king among kings, should have his first domain crushed in its youth. Even if they survived this battle, how would the people be able to look up to him again?
-----Of course, evacuations had been in order long before the battle had started. None of the borderline housing had any occupants. However, it was increasingly becoming more difficult to ferry civilians out of cities. At least three primary Drekis armies now moved across the Khazan main continent, striking at different cities in different State-Kingdoms. The military could only afford so many transports to carry the bystanders away, and there was also the problem of where to take them.
-----Half of the time, the civilians who were shuttled to the “safety” of another city had to be uprooted again once that city fell under attack. Although it was necessary for their safety, it was understandable that the people responded to the constant evacuations with disdain. In the case of Arael, Vincentzo had been forced to divide his people, sending some on aerial transports to Khazan City, while others were still being loaded into ground transports at the southern edge. In particular, this latter group was greatly vexed, for there were no cities of great importance south of Arael. Their only hope of salvation was to sneak through the occupied territories of Zel’Mier and then traverse the unforgiving central valley in hopes of crossing into Axia.
-----Maiiverno ran towards Moraelis Street, a road which broke off from the main highway and ran straight through the middle of Arael. It was the primary entrance to the city, but Vincentzo found it odd that the Drekis armies were concentrating most of their efforts on this location. If anything, it would be even more troubling for the border guards if they had spread out and leapt over the brick walls.
-----Still, the border guards didn’t seem to be a problem for the deminites. By the time Vincentzo reached his destination he witnessed a line of Khazan Rangers be trampled by fiery demons. The deminites bodies were shrouded in a crimson glow, and flames flickered from their tongues and clung to their claws.
-----“Disgusting, preposterous vermin!” Vincentzo thrust out his chest, “I am Vincentzo Maiinverno, leader of this city, and I will not let lower class monsters like you claim my land!” The words were wasted on the lesser minions, for despite occasional demonstrations of cleverness, the deminites and reptillons did not understand Khazanian speech.
-----The young wizard pointed all of his fingers to the sky, “Infernal Devil…gaze up from the underworld and claim these fools for your eternal fire!” The spell created a giant hand in the sky that was forged from deep red fire. The long, emaciated fingers of flame descended on Vincentzo’s foes and seized them with one grasp. The burning palm managed to swallow ten deminites and seven reptillons with one clench, and by the time the spell was over the enemies had been reduced to cinders.
-----Several fireballs were sent at the wizard, but Maiinverno defended with a magic field of energy. “Damn their persistence.” The trail of flames that were left on the ground gathered up into the form of a serpent; amber eyes stared down at the wizard. It was easy to forget that the mindless deminites were capable of such elaborate tricks.
-----With a wave of his hand, Maiinverno focused the spherical field around his body into the shape of a medieval knight’s shield. The serpent plunged into the wizard, but broke into pieces when it crashed into the obstruction.
-----“Soft voices of mana, gather within me and become my breath of dissent,” Maiinverno uttered the words while pointing an open palm towards the advancing frontline. A wide gust emanated from Vincentzo’s location and began to push the enemy monsters back. It was not a particularly dangerous spell, but the gale force was strong enough to make the devonox’s and tankers drag their feet through the ground as they struggled to overcome the opposing wind.
-----A military commander grabbed onto his helmet and waved for his fellow soldiers to follow him. “Retreat to the wall! Everyone take positions around the cannons!”
-----The soldiers were just beginning to fall back when a large, mechanical leg came down near Vincentzo’s side. The wizard was distracted by the sudden appearance of the mech, but the wind spell carried on without his concentration.
-----The mech was not a humanoid one; or rather, it was not human shaped outside of the fact that it possessed two arms and legs. The main body of the machine was hunched over and supported by two very large, animalistic legs. Together, the mech looked like a metallic tyrannosaur. The area where the head would be supported a large cockpit where the pilot controlled the machine. It was Joe Big GUNNS, a member of the Sentinels council.
-----The two long arms of the mech moved out, focusing large cannons that took the place of hands at the enemy ranks.
-----Vincentzo glared up at Joe, though it was unlikely that the pilot had seen him. “Can’t the military spare any more forces!? We need reinforcements.”
-----“Arael isn’t the only city under attack right now!” Joe shouted over the noise of battle. Bright lasers flashed from the mech’s arm cannons, passing over the heads of the Drekis frontline and crashing through targets that were in the distance. “We have our hands full with Morisato City right now, and we can’t forget the effort in Xaelon that’s still going on.”
-----“That’s unacceptable!” Vincentzo groaned. “We’re Sentinels for God’s sake, and this is how our civilized government responds to us in our time of need.”
-----“Quit complaining!” Joe snapped. “People are dying around you to protect your city!” The tops of the two arms flipped open and dozens of small rockets flew out of the metal limbs. They scurried high into the air at first, and then their powerful flares fizzled out and they fell like lifeless birds upon the enemy.
-----Vincentzo looked at the many explosions that wrecked the deminite’s frontline. Of course, Joe was right—it was improper for a man of Vincentzo’s standing to give disrespect for the soldiers that were here…but still. “Can’t you give orders to the airships and mech squadrons…at least do something to bye us time?”
-----Joe shook his head. Round gun emplacements on the shoulders of his mech spun and unleashed an unperceivable gush of bullets. “We have confirmation of those flying creatures and fighter crafts approaching Arael from the West. They’ll have their hands full protecting the city from the air—let’s face it Maiinverno, the ground is our responsibility, and we aren’t going to receive any more help.”
-----“Damn, unfair…” Maiinverno thought out loud as several more mecha gathered around them. These machines were Mobile Police MARS units.
-----“The Western and Eastern border guards have arrived!” a woman’s voice chirped through one of the mech’s communication speakers.
-----“It’s about time,” Joe sat back in his chair. “Officer Chase, please meet up with the Western forces and try to fend the enemy off for as long as you can. As for the rest of you, meet up with the Eastern border guard and try to flank the enemy. I’ll be honest with you all…it’s risky. We may not be able to hold them off for long—if it looks like you’re going to be overtaken, you evacuate, understood!?”
-----“We’ll do our best!” Chase’s voice was heard one more time. The MARS 550 unit headed out first and was soon followed by the other units.
-----“I’m sorry Maiinverno,” Joe said after a short pause. “But you’ll have to accept the fact that Arael may fall.”
-----Vincentzo’s eyes darkened. He began to walk forward, his gaze trained on the ground. “I won’t let my people down. These are my people, do you understand that. They aren’t Khazan’s responsibility, they’re my responsibility, and I won’t let some backwater beasts ruin my kingdom.”
-----“Valor and risking ones life for a cause is one thing,” Joe shouted out from his cockpit. “But the Sentinels don’t condone dying out of recklessness.”
-----“Being a Sentinel…” Vincentzo whispered, “is not the only part of my identity.”
-----“We have every intention of winning this war,” Joe affirmed. “But we have to choose our battles. Arael may fall now, but we can take it back once we regain the advantage; you can rebuild your kingdom Maiinverno!”
-----“I hate rebuilding,” Maiinverno muttered. “It’s like a dull repetition of your life.” He walked to the front of his weary army and stared at the nightmarish deminites that charged through the Moraelis entrance.
-----Lightning sparked around Vincentzo’s left hand, while bright flames gathered around his right. “I’ll show you whelps a spell that’s a favorite of a colleague of mine. Lightning of Judgement, eternal fires of punishment, come together…” his palms clapped together with tremendous force, and a mixture of fire and electricity warped around him. “And form my lance! ThunderFlare!”
-----A gleaming, prismatic lance shot out from the wizard’s hands. The eerie light that bathed the projectile engulfed the deminite army, and thousands of cries were heard as the lance bore through the ranks and progressed without any sign of stopping.
-----It looked as if the spell would continue on forever, but then it halted. The magic that Maiinverno had expected to tear through the center of their army exploded halfway through. A pillar of lightning and fire swirled up from the epicenter and expanded.
-----Several soldiers who stood around Maiinverno began to clap and holler. It may not have been Vincentzo’s most powerful spell, but it was better suited for dealing damage to large area. It was also a very flashy spell, for none of the soldiers had realized that the lance had not carried out its intended effect. The soldiers cried out for a repeat, but an exasperated Maiinverno only watched the area where his lance had exploded.
-----The detonation had cleared a large circular area of all lesser minions, but a single familiar form stood at the center. The vaguely reptilian body, with its pearly white scales and vampire bat wings, held a large metallic shield that glistened in the sun. The individual monster began to walk forward, and all of the lesser minions remained at the sidelines.
-----The shining shield which had repelled the ThunderFlare spell began to twist and contort into a new shape. The StarBlade once again became a long halberd with a particularly large axe-blade.
-----“Aigonis!” Vincentzo shouted. “You coward…hiding behind your army!”
-----“Are those the only insults you have for me, wizard!” Aigonis hissed back. The frontline deminites parted in order to make a path for their master. “I was not the one who was hiding—I was waiting for you.” Zekruel’s eyes were closed, but he pointed a slender finger in Vincentzo’s direction.
-----“You’re looking for me?” Vincentzo smiled. “Well, as I am the most powerful person around here, I’m sure you knew it was necessary to take me down before you could ever lift a finger against my beautiful Arael.”
-----“My, aren’t we cocky,” Aigonis snickered. “You are the appointed leader of this State-Kingdom; that alone is enough reason for me to seek your death. The demise of Vincentzo Maiinverno will guarantee that the land of Araelis belongs to Drekis.”
-----“This is fitting then!” Maiinverno replied, his arms at his hips. “We’ll decide this like true men! Call off your army and leave the citizens of Arael out of this. The two of us will fight; if I win, then your leaderless army must recede in defeat, but if you win, then I concede that all of Araelis is yours.”
-----Military soldiers began to murmur amongst each other.
-----Another Sentinel who was present among the defense forces yelled out: “We can’t let the future of an entire city be decided by such outdated methods! Maiinverno, this is not your fight alone.”
-----“But it is my fight to finish!” Vincentzo responded without turning. “What do you say Aigonis; are you up to the challenge of facing my greatness in single combat?”
-----“Greatness?” Aigonis chuckled and struck the ground with the blunt end of the StarBlade. “How naïve you are. Even though I could crush you in single combat, honor is something that is secondary to victory.”
-----In an instant a cloud of dust rose up from where the StarBlade had hit, and when the dark brown haze had returned to the earth, two new figures stood at Aigonis’ side. It was the young swordswoman and the titanic man that he had seen from the rooftops of the palace.
-----“This will not be a battle!” Aigonis hissed. “It will be a…onslaught.”
---9---
All Consuming Darkness
-----Relinqiest shifted his eyes as he focused the glowing ball of light at the edge of his staff. He had expected Kaas to charge forward with the kind of blood thirst and aggression that darkness would entail, but the Fallen Avatar stood his ground, holding Dorchadas Laan in front of him.
-----Their battleground was unusually quiet. All followers from their respective sides had cleared the area; battles raged on as far as the eye could see, but Relinqiest and Kaas had their own private arena.
-----The ground was uneven, and largely populated with jagged rocks that would spire off in every direction. Several large trees with dark grey wood loomed overhead, casting a set of opaque shadows over the combatants that refused to let any light shine upon them.
-----“Is there a problem?” Kaas’ deep voice passed over the shadows. A strong wind flew over their heads and brushed the lime-green leaves off to the sides. The shadows swerved and shrank, but they refused to leave the ominous figure who stood in their darkness. “I recall you declaring that you would erase me from this world.”
-----“Such pestering confidence,” Relinqiest’s raspy voice sliced through the thick air. He rested his staff on the ground and held it parallel to his body. The ball of light hovering at the top of the staff rose up and split into four separate spheres of energy. “Let’s start with the basics.” With one gesture and not so much as a single spoken incantation, the dark wizard inspired the four energy globes to scream towards the Avatar of Darkness.
-----Kaas wore no shield, but was adorned in full body armor that had such a dark violet hue that it appeared black at first glance. Relinqiest expected Kaas to avoid the spell and, in doing so, demonstrate a degree of his speed and motion.
-----However, Kaas extended his sword arm and held Dorchadas Laan so that its shadowed blade was tipped sideways. The four globes struck the seemingly blunt sides of the Darkness Sword, but in an instant their brilliance faded and the globes disappeared.
-----Relinqiest raised an eyebrow, “My spell, what did you do to it?” The Avatar of Darkness had not deflected or resisted the spell in the conventional sense; the spheres had made direct contact with the sword, but soon after their collective energy somehow seeped into Dorchadas Laan.
-----“Your standard tricks do not amuse me,” Kaas said, letting out something akin to a sigh. A familiar crackle of light coursed through Dorchadas Laan as he pointed the blade at Relinqiest. “Are you trying to test me wizard? The only thing that you are testing is my patience; show me your full power!”
-----Arrogant Whelp. He invites me to attack? The wizard’s brow furrowed and a circle of light formed around his feet. Some kind of wind shot up from the circle, causing the robe and mantle that he wore to wave about. With a sharp cry and bloodshot eyes, Relinqiest thrust out his staff like a sword. The ground in front of the wizard erupted as a much more powerful projectile lurched out from the staff and sped towards Kaas at a speed that could not be perceived by human eyes.
-----Kaas saw the projectile, the large bullet-shaped construct of red light. Its energy was violent and wild, to the point that streams of red spewed out of the bullet from all sides; the spell was ready to burst.
-----With lightning fast reflexes that left every observing deminite frozen in place, Kaas spread his feet out and swung at the spell with Dorchadas Laan. All that was seen was a flash of silver in the air, and spell came apart like a popped balloon.
-----The Dark Avatar smiled brightly as if to laugh, but the taunt never came. “You wanted to know how fast I was, correct?”
-----Relinqiest did not see the movement of Kaas’ legs, and the strike with the Darkness Sword had been nothing more than a blur to him. Despite that, there was something that he knew for sure. His spell, the Incendiary Flash Bullet, had been drawn into Dorchadas Laan’s blade. A trace of the bright red light still gleamed alongside the sword’s edges.
-----The Incendiary Flash Bullet was a spell capable of melting down a city block in an instant. It was impossible for any man, even an Avatar of Darkness, to bash the attack aside without receiving a devious surprise. But Kaas had not struck the spell down, his sword had absorbed it.
-----“I can tell by the look in your eyes,” Kaas raised Dorchadas Laan with one arm; red light flashed up towards the sky and an unnatural light flowed around the cold steel. It was the light of Relinqiest’s magic. “You’ve figured it out. As you can see, using force against me is useless.” He swung the sword as if to cut the wizard in half, but they were still thirty paces away from each other; the red aura of spell energy that had enveloped Dorchadas Laan flew out of the blade, as if the sword was disposing of unwanted garbage.
-----The magic vaguely resembled the flash bullet, but was more closely shaped like the sword that Kaas carried. Still, there was no doubt about it—Kaas had channeled the spell through his sword and returned it to the caster.
-----A translucent bubble appeared around Relinqiest just as the sword shaped projectile came upon him. The force field staved off the attack, but Relinqiest was unprepared for the strength of his own magic. Dorchadas Laan had not only reflected the spells that it had accumulated, but had corrupted them with its own darkness. To some extent, Kaas’ strength must have been added to the original attack, or else the wizard should have had no trouble with blocking his own magic.
-----Although he was unprepared for the additional force, Relinqiest held up the force field and regained his balance after falling several steps back.
-----Declaring the fight to be over, Kaas sped towards the wizard with strides that could have carried him over rivers. His sword dragged in the air behind him, but was instantly pulled forward as soon as the distance was covered.
-----Relinqiest could have sworn that he had only blinked once during his recovery, yet Kaas was in front of him and he had barely noticed the rush. His skin became a pale green, and then his physical form faded into nothingness when the sword was swung in his direction.
-----The Avatar of Darkness threw out his right foot and shifted his stance, immediately cutting off the kinetic motion that he had built up in the rush, and turned to the side where he lashed out with Dorchadas Laan.
-----The wizard reappeared, falling back as he did so. The tip of the Darkness Sword had just barely missed his forehead. A burning sensation scraped away at the skin even though the blade had never touched. His eyes as white as egg shells, Relinqiest slowly stepped away and muttered some nonsense.
-----“That won’t work,” Kaas boomed. “I have experience in dealing with teleporters.”
-----“I see,” Relinqiest snarled through his nostrils. His skin returned to its normal hue as he wiped a wrinkled hand across his forehead. “Then it would be best if I ended this right now.” A white glow enveloped his form, and a thick atmosphere of phosphorescent mist circled around the base of the golden staff.
-----“You bore me mage,” Kaas sneered.
-----“Then I’ll show you something a little more entertaining,” the wizard responded. The wisps of mist swirled up to the top of the staff as it was raised high. The mist floated away from the staff that it had clung to; in the air it began to coagulate into one area, condensing itself into a blob. The muddy ball expanded into something like a cloud, then began to take on a human shape. Relinqiest smiled as his spell was completed. “If using force against you won’t work, then I’ll use something unconventional.”
-----The specter which now appeared above the wizard was a whitish grey phantom dressed in the attire of the grim reaper. His body, and even the long scythe that he carried in his arms, were transparent, though the hood over his eyes masked the skeletal face. The spirit had the upper body of a human, but its lower body was a thin tail, like a snake.
-----The ghost flew into the air, whip-like tail rattling side to side. Its unseen eyes looked down at the Avatar of Darkness as it’s back brushed up against a branch. All of the leaves instantly withered away and the branch darkened. The entire tree lost its color, and all of its lush greenery faded into decay.
-----“The spell of the reaper,” the wizard boasted. “It is not a magic of force; it simply brings natural death to those who touch it or its weapon.” With that, the specter spiraled towards Kaas, swirling around as it funneling itself towards the target.
-----Kaas avoided the first dash, allowed the ghost to sail by as he readied Dorchadas Laan. At once, the ghost circled around like a boomerang, its scythe in mid-swing. The Dark Avatar kneeled under the slash, then brought his sword up and bisected the apparition.
-----The ghost appeared to laugh and pull itself together, but then its form deteriorated into the mist that it was born from. Clumps of vapor wandered off, and the fearsome reaper withered like a dying flower.
-----“The reaper!” Relinqiest gasped with a clenched fist. “It cannot be cut with any sword.”
-----“Your ignorance is insulting,” Kaas bellowed, holding Dorchadas Laan out as if to showcase the weapon. “This is not a normal blade; it is an embodiment of darkness, of destruction. You phantoms are nothing but fodder.”
-----The wizard sighed and grasped the round tip of his staff. “You are a vexing man Kaas. I suppose I did not give you the credit that you deserve; very well…I should have done this from the start.” The staff flashed for a second, then vanished.
-----“Is this the end of your parlor tricks?” Kaas mused. “I wonder if you can even evoke those spells without the aid of your staff.”
-----“I’ve had enough of that damn confidence of yours. I don’t care if you’ve fought the Avatar of Light or demons of the underworld; I am in a different league altogether!” Fangs grew out over his chin and his face elongated. Wrinkled skin became smooth and black, legs thickened, and arms grew out. The red robes were torn apart as muscles rippled across his torso. His head speared towards the clouds until he was taller than all of the trees around him. Spires grew out of his shoulders and jetted outward, forming a series of spikes that trailed down his back. His fingers burst open to reveal foot-long claws of white ivory, and his face, with its long, forked tongue hanging out, rearranged into the head of a serpent.
-----Wide legs lifted the demonic dragon to tower over the Avatar of Darkness. Kaas, already a figure of some stature, only came to the demon’s knee, yet he was unfazed by the nightmare who had grown before him.
-----“Behold!” A deep, echoing variation of Relinqiest’s voice emerged from the serpent. “My true form, the product of chaos magic.”
-----“Not impressed…” Kaas uttered, running towards the demon at full speed. Jagged rocks broke apart under the thunderous crashes of his heels.
-----Relinqiest arched his back and pointed a pallid claw at the Dark Avatar. An explosion erupted from under Kaas’ feet, intercepting his charge and cindering the ground to a depth of five meters. A trail of ash was swept into the sky.
-----“As a human, I could not follow your steps,” Relinqiest snarled through a set of triangular teeth, “But as a chaos demon I am you superior to you in all ways.”
-----A startling voice came from above. “You are nothing!”
-----Kaas, well above the demon’s head, fell upon the serpent before its greenish eyes could find him. He bore Dorchadas Laan into the wizard’s right shoulder, splitting it apart down to the torso.
-----The dragon flailed back, his right arm dangling lifelessly. Kaas moved to continue his attack, but Relinqiest’s body became emerald green and disappeared.
-----“Running away?” Kaas asked. The demonic wizard reappeared a few meters away.
-----“Curse you…” Relinqiest moaned. His gripped his lifeless arm. “Why…why can’t I regenerate from this wound?” The power of darkness burned at his wound, constantly disintegrating any new flesh that tried to fill the crevice.
-----“The fact that you’re a demon,” Kaas said, “or that you use chaos magic, is irrelevant. You can be many things, but in the end you can best be summed up as…a weakling. I may be the Avatar of Darkness, but I do not rely on that title to give me strength. You rely on others like Drekis to give you your power; without it you would be nothing more than a third rate sorcerer…”
-----Relinqiest quickly lashed out his arm and a wide death ray spewed out. The red energy scurried over the land, melting the rocks that it passed over, but when it reached Kaas it was drawn into Dorchadas Laan. The sword absorbed every last vestige of magical power without any sign of stress or overloading.
-----Kaas crossed his sword arm in front of his chest; red energy swirled around the Darkness blade. “…And that is why, someone like you…”—he unleashed a horizontal slash—“will never be able to defeat me!”
-----The reflected death beam smashed through Relinqiest’s force field. Sparks soared around his body as ebony scales broke away from his chest. “Damn…I will not be defeated like this. Not here, not like this!” He spread his fingers out and flame continually emerged from his palm. The fire, like a dragon’s breath, expanded towards the Dark Avatar; as it approached, the flames began to circle inwards and were sucked up into Dorchadas Laan.
-----An ominous glow appeared at the back of Relinqiest’s throat. “I’m not finished yet!” His jaw unhinged and a focused beam escaped the fanged maw.
-----Kaas swung his sword like a bat; the breath ray and the Darkness Sword connected. The ground quaked and a nearby tree toppled over. Though his feet were being dragged back, Kaas showed no sign of effort as Dorchadas Laan greedily swallowed the energy.
-----Lightning then jetted out of the crevice in Relinqiest’s right shoulder. The violent bolts stormed up above and then crashed on top of the Avatar of Darkness. Kaas tilted his sword towards the sky and the electricity flowed into the blade.
-----“You can’t defend yourself forever!” Relinqiest shouted. He waved his hand and a beam of searing plasma strafed through Kaas’ location. The beam did not strike Kaas himself, but cut through the ground that he was standing on. Moments later, the line of ground burst into a wall of flames.
-----“Ha! Try to absorb that into your accursed sword!” Relinqiest laughed.
-----“You talk too much!” the voice came from above. The Avatar had leapt into the air again! Still drifting through the smoke filled air, Kaas made a slice with Dorchadas Laan and relased a bolt of destructive power.
-----Relinqiest’s own power, aided by the inhuman strength of the dark warrior, shattered his teeth as the bolt crashed into his serpentine mouth. His lower jaw was severed off, and the back of his neck blew apart; the bolt had torn through him.
-----The demon stammered, still alive despite the mortal blow to his head. Blood poured down from the stump that had once been his lower jaw; still, he managed to cleanly curse Kaas’ name.
-----Magical energy still swirled around Dorchadas Laan. Kaas landed gracefully and raised the sword above his head. With one swing, he launched a sword-shaped laser that cut through the demon’s left shoulder and then burst apart, destroying most of the left half of Relinqiest’s body.
-----All of the strength in Relinqiest’s massive body vanished. Beaten and broken, he fell to the ground, trying desperately to make use of his right arm. His body now looked a science experiment gone wrong, a horrible mutation that writhed in pain. It was time to put the poor creature out of its misery.
-----“How does it feel to be destroyed by your own magic?” Kaas asked as he stepped towards the wounded beast. A slight trace of magical power crackled along the edges of the Darkness Sword.
-----The wizard had entered the battle with an air of confidence, certain that he would prevail. Now he looked pathetic, a helpless creature that was afraid of death. What kind of Chaos Lord could Drekis possibly be if this was the best that his elites could offer? Kaas held out Dorchadas Laan for a short while, allowing the sickening eyes of the bloodied serpent to look upon the instrument of its demise. He swung the sword down and unleashed all of the remaining energy that it had consumed. A wide blast crashed over the area and drowned it in a massive explosion.
-----“This is the end.” Kaas peered through the fading smoke, expecting to see the severed remains of the demon. Instead, he gazed upon a new figure. Relinqiest squirmed behind this new opponent, looking more frightened of him than he had of Kaas. This new beast had protected Relinqiest, but it was clear that he was no servant. Looming up above the Dark Avatar, the draconic monster smiled as the smoke cleared away. His body, completely unharmed by the attack, surrounded itself with an aura of dark fog. It instantly became clear to Kaas who his opponent was.
-----Drekis started to walk forward, his body soundlessly sliding across the rocks, and then he hissed, with great pleasure: “For you.”
End
Next:
War of Drekis
Chapter 20
Onslaught
|