"Did you really believe I wouldn't know you would come here to save her? Go ahead; Try to save your beloved daughter. She's your last memory of Gravar, right?" he asked through a malicious laugh, shaking Devyr like a child would a new toy. Her legs flailed loosely as he did so, her grunts of protestation a mere gurgle under the pressure around her throat.
"We were friends once, Kalia. Consider this a final favor," he shouted angrily, shaking the weak hegraphene. "But you're no friend of mine," Athar's alternate voice resonated through the hall from all directions. Nexis began to laugh as he recognized it. "Oh? What have we here? Did you bring your little frie-..." his question was cut off as his forearm was suddenly severed and Devyr was missing from his grasp.
"Ah, I see," he regarded his arm curiously before using dark mana to regrow the lost part of his limb. "Were you only here to rescue your daughter? That's a shame; I expected more of a fight from you, Kalia," he said with disdain.
Looking back to the far side of the center of the Hall, he noticed Athar was holding the weak hegraphene in his arms, tracing the back of his hand across her faceplate.
"How quaint," Nexis said sardonically as he moved down the stairs toward the pair. The creatures immediately beside him cowered away, never looking at him directly. "I see you've grown stronger, alternate. When did you get so strong?" he asked, his heavy footfall belying his size. Athar didn't answer, focusing all his attention on Devyr.
"It's okay, I'm here now," I heard him say softly, caressing the cheek of her faceplate as Nexis moved behind him. "Athar, he's…" Devyr wheezed, loosely lifting a finger in his direction. "It's going to be alright," Athar reassured her, prompting Nexis to tilt his head in curiosity.
"Tell me, boy, are you insane or just delusional?" Nexis asked, spawning a minor maelstrom of violet and green mana in his hand as he walked. "Both, fuck-ass," Athar's alternate voice sneered with a malicious grin. Unphased by the response, Nexis coldly launched the sphere in Athar's direction, but he didn't bother to move out of its way.
A mana blast filled the Great Hall, kicking up the light coating of ashen dust that had permeated the citadel, and cracking the nearby pillars. Many of the creatures near it were immediately plastered onto the sickly green walls or sent flying to the far end of the Hall.
Nexis raised an eyebrow in confusion, only to find Irun glaring and panting heavily before him.
Holy fuck, I thought, realizing what their part of the plan was.
"I see Kalia's training was not wasted on you, after all," Nexis lifted his head imperiously, reading another pair of spells. "I must admit, I wasn't expecting you to pull something like this. You might have blocked that one, but I doubt you can take another," Nexis scoffed and tilted his head to glare at Irun beneath his brow.
"You're right, I can't, but then again, I won't have to," Irun grinned, forcing a stream of blood out of the corner of his mouth. Just as Nexis tilted his head in curiosity, Kalia and Buruz attacked him, barely missing their target as he dashed away in the nick of time. Kalia materialized before him, her eyes glowing a bright scarlet as she swung her blade encased in Wraith mana.
She continuously attacked him from all sides, reappearing at different angles using her movement technique and slicing whenever she felt she had an opening. With each attack, she shifted her weapon into an axe, a spear, and then a scythe, hoping he would be caught off guard.
Nothing was working, and my nervousness over their battle increased exponentially.
Nexis grinned, deflecting blow after blow from her, while simultaneously sending out a myriad of spells aimed at Buruz. He did all he could to defend Irun and the others as they escaped.
"Ah, there you are, Kalia. A pity we couldn't stay on amicable terms," his booming voice echoed throughout the Great Hall. She only responded with another barrage of attacks aimed at his neck and torso, which he dodged or deflected with mana. As he spoke, he glanced at the creatures below, who were all engaged in combat with the altered hegraphenes, their numbers dropping rapidly.
"Well played, but it won't be enough," he sneered, sending out another massive pulse of dark mana. The pulse grew to an incredible size, likely encasing the entirety of the citadel, as I could feel the shield around my core straining against the pressure it caused.
Most of the creatures who had been waiting for him coughed or whined in agony, as blood poured from the corners of their mouths and eyes.
Ysevel, are you alright? I gritted my teeth. I'm alright, but I never would have imagined he'd be this strong, she mentally grunted. We have to help her, I urged, noticing that not one of Kalia's precise attacks had landed. We have to wait until she gives us the signal to move in, remember? Ysevel responded, her anxiety matching my own.
I could only sigh knowing she was right.
Kalia and Buruz attacked in unison, each strike was perfectly timed with the other's, but Nexis' flawless defense against the barrage was nothing to sneer at. Again and again, their blows were deflected or moved just out of reach of their target. Kalia aimed a blow at his neck, but felt a tendril of dark mana pull her hand away just in time for it to be diverted above his head.
Damn it, we can't hit him like this, Kalia sent us, deflecting a spike of violet mana aimed at her torso. You might need to move sooner than expect-... her words cut out as a spell bludgeoned the back of her head faster than she or Buruz could react.
It slammed her into the ground, making a crater where she landed. Buruz, on the other hand, was sent flying against a nearby pillar, crashing through it and destroying it entirely.
Kalia! Buruz! I mentally shouted, feeling my fears slowly becoming reality. I nearly stepped forward, but Ysevel put a hand across my chest to hold me back as she shook her head. I looked on in horror as Nexis gently floated to the ground, the cacophony of the dying creatures around him being of no interest to him.
"You fought well, Kalia," his feet gently touching the ground, creating a small crater beneath them. Kalia shook her head as she struggled to get back to her feet. Black streaks of blood poured from beneath her faceplate and above her eyebrow as she prepared to defend herself against the incoming mage.
"Unfortunately, it will not be enough to stop my plans. You and your kind have served me well over the past millennia, but now it seems your usefulness to me has ended," he glared at her from beyond a tilted chin, spawning another pair of maelstroms in each hand nearly three times the size of the one he'd sent toward Athar. Kalia spat a wad of black blood near her feet beneath her faceplate, raising her sword in
In the few, precious moments that existed between him launching his spell, and Kalia's almost inevitable death, I noticed Ardrin had been tampering with the runes, using one of the hegraphenes to help him shift the kataki to reform a handful of runes just as a swarm of creatures began moving in their direction.
Ysevel, you have to defend Ardrin. I'll help Kalia, I sent quickly, feeling the scarlet mana surge through my body as my irises flared brightly. Kalia hasn't landed a single hit on him, she cautioned without needing to finish the rest of her sentence in the following heartbeat. I could only watch as Nexis' grin shone in the grim light emanating from his spells.
In that moment, hesitation would mean defeat.
I can't let her die like this. Not here; not now. I love you, I sent quickly with a thin smile before leaning into the space between Kalia and I. Without me needing to look at her, I knew Ysevel was already on the move with freshly spawned phantoms, feeling everything I did through our connection, but I couldn't see the expression on her face.
I formed my kataki blade and drew the one Maikell made me, lacing it in Wraith mana just before I reached Kalia's position. Nexis was mid-cast when I appeared before my unlikely instructor, battle-sister, and friend. In that moment, I knew I only had one thing that could possibly counter the massive maelstroms that seemed to be rotating slowly before me.
"Sunder," I swung, feeling the weight of both swords equally tugging on my wrists, shoulders, and back as I honed the mana to their edges as tightly as possible.
The twin globes of malicious mana before me split in half, as a pair of scarlet arcs sliced through them. Each part of the remaining mana scouring the ground beside me, killing a score of monsters behind my opponent.
His eyes opened widely, genuinely surprised that I was still standing after his attack. I could feel Kalia's unspoken gratitude, relief, and fear seep through, but I had no time to pay attention to the feelings she sent me.
"Ah, now you look more like the old me," he regarded me curiously, tilting his head forward. "You must be a descendant of mine, though I do not know your name," he said with interest as he recovered from casting his spell. "Nor will you," I glared at him from beneath my brow, readjusting my grip on Maikell's sword.
"Oh? And why not? Your name will be written throughout the annals of history as the one who saved Kalia of the Iron Plume Clan from certain death. Do you not want to be remembered?" he raised an eyebrow. I found it hard to focus on whatever he said, as his face was still identical to Athar's, save the white, suspended hair.
I know he's taken over Athar's body, but wasn't his hair ashen in the painting? Does that mean he's not at full strength, or is it just something else? I asked myself, trying to avoid looking too obviously at Ysevel as she helped protect Ardrin from a few Thran and a handful of daemons, blood of all different colors soaring through the air around her.