Chapter 26: Inferno to Ash
Tai focused his magic into the blade of his katana, Azure Wind. As luck would have it, metal made a fine conductor of magical energy, and his parting gift from his mentor Refla, Azure Wind, was nothing less than a master piece. Tai felt as though he could channel an endless current of power through the blade without having to worry that it might break.
From left to right he swung the sword horizontally. A bright blue crescent of energy shot toward the oncoming wave of undead warriors. Ice cascaded around their skeletal bodies bringing the vast majority of them to an abrupt stop. The few that avoided the attack continued to surge forward, only to be met by the cold steel of Tai's sword. As it turned out, head's were much easier to decapitate without flesh to surround and protect their necks.
To his left Paige continued to march slowly yet steadily backwards, using her magic to wreak havoc among the skeletal ranks. Her pistol was held out in front of her in both hands. Any skeleton that managed to escape her continuing barrage of explosions was picked off with a head shot. Constantly hitting moving targets in such a small area as the head was an impressive feat not lost to Tai. "Nice shooting!" Tai yelled in encouragement as another skull burst into fragments, the rest of the body dropping to the earth. "I think you might just be a better shot than Flare!"
A smile flashed across her mouth as she kept her focus on the advancing enemy. "He's good?"
"He's good," Tai confirmed sending another crescent of ice magic into the horde. "Much better than me anyway, but I doubt he could make as many consecutive headshots as you're doing."
"Oh, and what are you doing watching my shooting technique? Don't you have zombies to fight?" she said teasingly.
Tai felt his cheeks go slightly red. "Um, well, you know. I'm good at keeping my eye one my surroundings during battle."
Paige laughed briefly before her face grew serious. "But I don't think my shooting's doing enough to stop them. We're losing ground."
"Yeah," Tai agreed. "We are." A quick swing took a skeleton in the chest, shattering its ribs and sending it flying back. Paige was absolutely right. They had been on a slow retreat since the fight began. Holding the line they were not, but at least they had been able to significantly slow the undead advance, giving their friends time to fight their own battle.
"I'm wearing down Tai," Paige said her voice sounding not only weary but a touch desperate as well. "I'm not sure how much longer my magic can hold out."
Again Tai sent a crescent of ice magic into the nearest skeletons. This one weaker than the last. She was right on that account as well. They were losing ground at a quicker pace as their magic was slowly being exhausted. "They can't last forever!" Tai called back. "There's only a limited amount of corpses on this island, eventually they'll stop coming and we can help Flare and the others!"
The fight going on behind them was raging on in full force, and Tai could only speculate on what was going on by the sounds, mostly explosions, a little bit of ringing that sounded like steel on steel but different somehow, and was that gunfire? It was a little hard to tell with Paige's own explosions drowning out some of the noise.
As Tai began recharging his blade the skeleton closest to him staggered drunkenly before falling to the earth in a heap. Tai withheld his attack as he watched the other skeletons fall into the same pattern. First they would stagger, and then they would fall. Unmoving. Defeated?
"What's going on?" Paige asked as she ceased her explosive onslaught.
"I don't really know," Tai admitted. "Maybe Xavius's spell ran out…or…Flare killed him?"
Within moments the undead threat had unexpectedly ended, the last of the skeletons collapsing onto a pile of its fallen comrades. Tai turned toward the fight behind him, his eyes widening in alarm. "Dammit! Flare!"
Paige spun around and gasped.
"Can you hit…it?" Tai stammered.
"Not at this distance, I'd be just as likely to hit Flare," Paige answered.
"Dammit!" Tai swore as he broke off into sprint. "Dammit all! Don't you die, Flare!"
Once or twice in his life Flare had been wrong.
Once he had thought it would be a good idea to skip class with Tai, that had landed the two of them in trouble not only with his teachers and the people at the orphanage, but with Gina as well. Another time he had thought that by singeing Xavius a little bit with fire magic he was the proverbial cat scratching the dog on the nose. No, he had been wrong there too. Giving the sorcerer a nice deep cut with a razor sharp katana? Now that made him the proverbial cat. Only instead of being ripped to shreds by a dog he was being simultaneously crushed and strangled by something that had only a few seconds ago appeared to be human.
After his initial surprise attack Flare had gotten in two more cuts before the first began to close. It wasn't just a rapid healing of the flesh, that would have been troublesome enough, but instead the area around the wounds had changed. Changed from regular looking human skin to something black and shiny, like polished steel or glass. The same look as Xavius's hair and eyes.
The blackening didn't stop at the wounds though, it spread across the sorcerer's entire body. Around that time his - no - its limbs began to elongate into writhing tentacles. Several others burst forth from the thing's abdomen, and in short order the nightmare that had been Xavius had Flare wrapped up in its powerful limbs. Crimson Eon hung useless to the side; Flare's right arm was pinned to his body by a black apendage that was squeezing him tight enough that his ribs threatened to break. Flare had been lucky enough to get his left arm up to his neck before a second tentacle could fully makes its way around his head, keeping him from being instantly strangled. This way Flare was only being slowly strangled.
More of the tentacles wrapped around his body crushing him even tighter. Desperately Flare reached for his magic only to find that it was being blocked. Skin to skin contact with the nightmare was doing something to his ability to call forth magic, suppressed it in some way Flare didn't quite understand. It was like trying to pick up his sword only to find that its weight had been multiplied many times over.
Not being able to move, able to use magic, able to even breathe, Flare felt a wave of panic and despair falling over him. His vision began to grow dark. Soon what he could see had been whittled down to a thin tunnel. In that tunnel was a nightmare that had been, or perhaps still was Xavius. A nightmare that was only moments away from forever ending his life.
Thunder clouds swirled above the battlefield. Randall knew the limitations of his own magical strength, and if he wanted to have a chance at doing any real damage to the beast he would need an outside energy source. Xavius had said that its natural armor caused magic to have little effect, but from the fight so far, it appeared to Randall that physical attacks had no effect whatsoever. Having little effect would actually be an improvement.
The magical attacks Randall had used so far had been as ineffective as his physical ones, so he began to gather the nearby clouds together, condensing them into a miniature thunder storm. Now that the extra energy was gathered all he had to do was call it down. Raising the Masamune above his head he reached out with his magic into the heart of the storm. A bolt of lightning tore down from the heavens slamming into the outstretched magical blade. Randall's own magic joined with the outside power causing the Masamune to glow like a small star.
With a howl of fury Randall swung the blade down towards the beast. The bolt of energy that erupted from the Masamune's blade was less lightning and more like raw power. The flash of impact temporarily blinded Randall so that he couldn't immediately see the results of the attack. Once is eyes readjusted he realized that the beast had been tossed nearly twenty feet through the air and was now flat on its back.
"Randall kill beast?" Wroff wondered out loud.
In answer to the caveman's question the hulking red monster pushed itself to its feet. Alive, but not unscathed. Across its crimson chest it bore a jagged crack a foot long that glowed with an inner silvery light. The beast's alien howl was different than before. Higher pitched. Pained.
"I hurt it," Randall said more to himself than his companion, "and if it can be hurt it can be killed."
Raising the Masamune above his head he prepared to gather the last of the storms power. His initial attack had used up most of the power already, but with any luck he could gather enough to puncture the injured area. This was their last best chance at achieving a death strike. The beast began to charge him, warbling a cry of pure rage. Randall started to reach out to the storm once again, when the beast suddenly staggered to the side.
Randall paused. This was unusual. Not that he had a very good idea on what usual behavior for this kind of creature was, but the way it staggered around violently shaking its elongated head as though trying to shake off a bug was somehow wrong. The beast stopped its erratic shaking, becoming suddenly very still. Then it turned its head to its right, away from him and Wroff, and let out another alien cry of rage. The beast broke off into one of its too fast charges in that direction, forgetting Randall and Wroff completely.
Looking in that direction Randall saw the beast's target. Flare was entangled by a swarm of tentacles originating from a body that looked vaguely human in shape. The core of the creature was the height of a human and towards the top its shape narrowed down to what could have been a neck before widening into what could have been a head. There were no features where the face would have been, just a smooth surface. The whole of the creature was a deep black that shimmered coldly in the sun. The body did not have defined legs, but instead had a swirl of root like appendages fixing it to the earth like a gnarled tree from the depraved mind of a lunatic. From its trunk several tentacle like limbs extended outwards, all of which were wrapped around Flare, violently crushing him to death.
On the blade of Flare's sword, still gripped in his right hand, was the dark red stain of fresh blood. Seeing the blood caused Randall to understand the bizarre scene. Flare had managed to hurt Xavius, probably severely, instead of dying the sorcerer had transformed into the creature that was now killing Flare, but Xavius had lost power either because of the wound or the transformation. That loss of power had caused him to lose control of the beast, which decided to seek revenge on the one responsible for enslaving it.
Fail safes must have been emplaced on the creature, because before getting a third of the way to its destination the beast began to sink back into a circular crimson hole, much like the one it had come from. The beast was no longer a threat, but if they didn't get to Flare fast he would die. Randall started that way and stumbled. With a curse he realized that his ankle was twisted, he could still stand and walk on it, but he'd never make it to Flare in time.
Wroff was already sprinting to Flare's aid, but their fight with the beast had lead them further away from the fortress, while Flare's own battle had pushed him and Xavius down past the structure's far end. Randall was unsure of whether or not Wroff could cover that distance with enough time to make a difference. Likewise Tai and Paige were running from an angle almost perpendicular to Wroff's, but they were even further away than the caveman.
Reaching his magic back into the storm Randall considered sending the bolt of lightning down onto Xavius, but quickly decided against it. That would just as likely kill Flare as it would help him.
Then Randall saw another figure moving. Having regained consciousness the white haired form of Kyui Wara moved like a blur toward the transformed Xavius, slowing briefly to dip down and pluck a single scimitar from the ground. Randall almost sent the last of the storms energy down on the assassin, but he noticed something. Flare was not a threat to Xavius, so it would make no sense for Kyui Wara to go straight for the sorcerer if his intention was to lend aid. Instead he would have intercepted Wroff, and after cutting the big man down moved in to stop Tai and Paige.
Kyui Wara was not moving in to help Xavius. He was going to attack him, and he was the closest and fastest by far. Flare's best chance to survive was the assassin.
Randall made a decision as the man he hated most raised the single scimitar above his head and leaped in to attack. Every part of Randall's being wanted to strike the man down. To kill him and get his vengeance once and for all. Instead he sent the assassin aid. A lightning bolt containing the last of the storm's useable power shot down from the heavens onto Kyui Wara's scimitar, charging its blade with elemental fury as he drove it down into their common enemy.
What little remained of Flare's eyesight dwindled further. All that remained was a vague shape that was the nightmare creature, nothing but an image blacker that the rest of the dark void his eyes vaguely recognized as light. Then there was a flash so brilliant that Flare thought for a moment that something inside him had snapped, that the abomination before him had broken his body is some irreparable way. Was it his back? His neck? Was this simply the light people claimed that you saw before you died? If Flare was dying he wished that his life would hurry up and flash before his eyes. Then at least he'd get to spend a little bit more time with all of his friends before it was all over, a little bit more time with Gina…
The flash of light broke through some of the darkness, illuminating the form of a man. A man with long hair who held a curved sword that was wreathed in lightning. The curved blade hit the nightmare on its right side, coming down in the area that might have been were Xavius's shoulder and neck would have met.
There was an immediate sensation of relief as the crushing pressure around Flare's body and neck relaxed. Flare pulled in a harsh, desperate, painful, rapturous breath, and felt his body sing in relief. As air filled his lungs flooding his body with sorely needed oxygen his vision began to creep back. The muddy edges of darkness pulled back allowing Flare to better watch the white haired man, who he now recognized as Kyui Wara, viciously fight against the tentacles that were now targeting him. Time slowed to a gelatinous crawl. All he was aware of was the assassin's savage fight and his own fight. A fight where he was helpless to do anything but breathe. A fight to stay alive, where every breath, no matter how small, was a joyous, painful struggle.
The struggle became suddenly and dramatically easier as the pressure around his neck unexpectedly vanished. Sucking in as much air as his lungs could hold Flare swiveled his now free neck to his right where he saw the looming form of Wroff prying nightmarish tentacles away from his body. Blood dripped from several large cuts running down the caveman's chest, and his muscles strained with all of their impressive might. His face was set in savage mask of fury, and he looked to be growling, although, all Flare could hear was the thunderous beating of his own heart.
From his peripheral Flare noticed a glint of motion, followed by a release in pressure around his abdomen as a tentacle went slack and dropped away. He turned toward the glint's direction and saw Tai hacking relentlessly at the mass of tentacles. Then Flare noticed that he was dropping. Being lowered to the ground as his friends freed him from nightmare that had come uncomfortably close to extinguishing his life.
He dropped unsteadily to his knees, wobbling and avoiding total collapse only by the aid of Paige who had materialized next to him. The glistening black mass now focused its efforts on the newcomers, deciding that Flare was no longer a substantial threat. A shimmer ran through the nightmares black surface. Flare blinked and continued to stare at it as Paige helped him to his feet and lead him away from the monster's reach.
The shimmer ran through it again, and Flare froze in place. It was preparing something, and he was willing to bet that he didn't want to know what that something was. Everyone was too close to it. After a third shimmer Flare understood just enough of the magic at work to realize that everything in its immediate surroundings would die when a fourth shimmer came. There was no time to retreat. It was about to kill them all. The nightmare would kill them. Xavius would kill them. Unless Flare killed it, killed him, first.
Crimson Eon weighed heavily in his right hand. Looking down Flare realized that he had had such a death grip on the weapon that it hadn't fallen from his hands.
Praying that his legs wouldn't give out like the jelly that they felt like, Flare lunged forward, breaking out of Paige's grasp. In one clean movement Flare drove his katana through the black core of Xavius's inhuman form. "Everyone!" he barked, surprised by the strength of his own voice. "Get back! Now!" From his peripheral he thought he saw the forms of his friends and allies begin to move. If they were too close he'd end up killing them, even if Xavius didn't. "Farther!"
All of the magic that had been suppressed by the grip of Xavius's black tentacles was back at his command. Without the time to waste he tossed subtlety to the wind and poured every last ounce of his power into Crimson Eon. The sword's steel blade drank the power up, focusing it into a single point.
The fourth shimmer began.
Flare released his power.
The flash of lightning and crash of thunder brought him to his senses. Refla pulled himself off the ground and forced himself into a standing position, ignoring the sharp pain that cut through his left leg. Next to that it was easy to ignore the throbbing of the rest of his battered body.
In front of him a monster the color of midnight was killing one of his students. Refla watched as a group of people swarmed the monster and freed its victim. The three men, including his other student and the white haired man he had just fought, battled the monster's flailing limbs as a young woman with short blonde hair helped Flare retreat.
Then, without warning Flare lunged straight back into the monster, running it through with his katana. The young man shouted something that wasn't quite discernable from the distance, but from the tone was easily identified as a command. The four people surrounding the monster fell back, and then with increasing urgency moved even further away.
The next instant a pillar of solid flame connected the earth with the heavens. Its radius was just large enough to completely engulf Flare and the monster, but it easily rose several hundred feet into the air. Refla absently wondered if anyone on the mainland was watching the display, wondering what it was that they were looking at. A wave of air pressure tossed Tai and the others backwards, leaving them to franticly scramble away from the inferno. An understandable reaction by Refla's humble estimate. The air around the blazing pillar was distorted by waves of heat causing the whole scene to shimmer with a dream like quality, and the heat was intense even at Refla's distance. The others had a very limited set of choices. Scramble away or be cooked.
Refla squinted at his student's impressive display of power. He himself hadn't been able to use magic for decades, but he still remembered the incredible high that came along with being able to summon such hellfire down on an enemy. The pillar of flame was uncomfortably bright, like looking directly at the sun, but he made himself watch his student's handiwork.
The pillar raged for only a matter of seconds before vanishing completely leaving the two combatants standing on a patch of scorched earth. At first glance it looked as though the situation had not changed. Flare was still in the same position with his sword through Xavius's inhuman body. Its tentacle like limbs stood still, holding the exact same pose they had been in before the flame. It was almost like a frozen slice of time. There was a difference though. The sun no longer glinted off of Xavius's black form. The glossy black of polished steel had been replaced with the flat black of charcoal.
Flare dropped to his knees, keeping himself propped up by sticking Crimson Eon's blade into the blackened earth, as the devastated body of his enemy crumbled to ash.