Chapter 148: Final Battle
The doors flew open and a burst of magical energy emerged with them that threw the party back through the air, sending them skidding along the ground of this arena within the Abyss, half-stunned and powerless to resist. They had not anticipated this sort of reaction – had expected to see only Irenicus – and so when the mage did stride out calmly from behind the doors, all they could do was pick themselves up achingly and bear their weapons in a vaguely aggressive posture.
"I grow weary of these battles, Irenicus," Harrian groaned, gripping the Equaliser and giving it an experimental swing. "Though it is quite ironic. I swore I would hunt you to the very Hells if necessary… and, well, here we are."
"Indeed. Here we are," Irenicus agreed, nodding slowly as he folded his arms across his chest. "This is an undeniable final reckoning. Whoever wins returns to the land of the living, with a soul and a life. Whoever loses… dies. And heed my words, Bhaalspawn – to die here is to cease to be!"
"No more platitudes, Irenicus!" Jaheira shouted, clutching her scimitars impatiently. "You have much to pay for, many deaths on your hands that must be avenged. You shall not flee again – there is no escape! Here you die your final death!"
"I grow tired of chasing you across the realms, wizard," Anomen said, his voice both angry and weary. "Know that the light of righteousness has reached you, and there is no darkness great enough to extinguish it. Even for a foe as formidable as yourself."
Reynald raised the Warblade in a solemn salute. "I have no personal vendetta against you, Shattered One. But one who has committed your crimes cannot be allowed to live on. So… die," he intoned solemnly.
There was a grim silence for a few moments, until Imoen's whisper permeated it, echoing all around the arena. "This is our last stand, here in Hell," the mage said quietly, simply, and with much less drama than her companions. "We fall… or we win."
Irenicus' features twisted into something that vaguely resembled a grim smile, though it sent shivers down Harrian's spine. "Very well. Come, Bhaalspawn… it is about time we settled this, indeed." He raised his hands dramatically, and they crackled with magical energy. "In my time here, I have realised that the creatures of the Hells are not to be feared. They can even be used!"
The party sprang forwards even as Irenicus' body shifted and changed, the limbs lengthening and skin reddening to turn into the form of the Slayer. Beside him, portals swirled into existence, and a trio of Glabrezu emerged, roaring and spitting. This distraction was just enough to allow the Slayer to raise magical protections, and so when Reynald's Warblade finally came down in an aggressive blow, it bounced off harmlessly.
"The demons!" the Fallen Knight bellowed, his voice echoing oddly behind his helmet. "We can do nothing here!" He whirled around to block the downwards swing of the horned arm of a Glabrezu, and the demon hissed in pain at the contact of his blade.
"Imoen! Get those defences down!" Harrian shouted, also dashing back to neatly sidestep a slash from the second demon. The Equaliser flashed dangerously as he stabbed in retaliation, and crackled when it came into contact with the creature's flesh – for the sword would indeed be at its most dangerous when fighting evil like this… or, similarly, if it were turned against the most righteous paladin of the world.
"The Slayer's not doing anything!" she yelled in return, one of the arrows from the Gesen Bow deflecting harmlessly off Irenicus' protections. Ignoring Harrian's instructions, she decided to focus her efforts on the more present danger of the demon, the third of which Anomen and Jaheira were tackling ably.
A Lower Resistance spell was directed at Harrian's Glabrezu, allowing the swashbuckler's subsequent attack to pierce the demon's skin painfully. It let out another roar, one which was cut short by, ten seconds after the first spell, a second ball of energy shooting forward to hit it.
Harrian had, at this point, raised his sword for another attack, spurred on by the success of his last, and brought the Equaliser down with full strength in a blow aimed at the torso of the Glabrezu. He almost fell over, therefore, when Imoen's second spell reduced the creature into dust and his sword flew harmlessly through the air to embed itself in the ground.
His sister's successful whoop caused him to look up as he yanked out the Equaliser, a smirk on his face. "Disintegrating a denizen of the Hells?" he shouted over the roar of battle, a euphoric feeling rising within him. The adrenaline was pumping as a result of this hectic fight, the importance of the battle was making his head spin, and he could feel his soul so close. It was agonising, the way it was just out of reach, but at the same time spurred him on, gave him extra strength to struggle forwards.
Imoen smiled to herself slightly as she shifted to fire an arrow at Reynald's Glabrezu, even as she heard Anomen's victorious "Take that!" and the one he and Jaheira had been battling fell to the ground, dead.
Felling the third demon with all five of them focusing on it was far less difficult, and it went down with a vicious slash from Reynald's sword shortly, the last of the defenders Irenicus had summoned to fight then.
At last, all eyes turned to focus on Irenicus – or the Slayer – who had now shifted to move his claws through the weaving of an incantation. Behind the four fighters forming the frontline, Imoen quickly mimicked it, raising her own protective spells. She knew full well that she would often be a primary target of an enemy mage, just as they would be her primary target. Once there were protections from the weapons of the warriors, it because a wizard's duel.
The protections, however, didn't stop Jaheira's scimitar from flying through the air and hitting Irenicus on his apparently undefended back. The Slayer staggered a little, but hardly reacted to the blow, merely continued with its casting to raise another shimmering barrier.
Harrian's eyes narrowed, and he glanced at the ground around them cautiously, stepping away from Irenicus. "A Mislead spell!" he shouted urgently, and they all shifted back. "Anomen!"
The cleric hardly needed more prompting than that before he too had raised his hands and cast a True Sight spell. The air before them flickered for a moment disconcertingly, the Slayer they could see flashing in and out of their vision, before disappearing altogether. Two feet to its left, the real Irenicus, still in the Slayer's form, was visible.
Spell protections still present, he launched through the air at Harrian, who was ready with the Equaliser to deflect the blow instantly. Although it was clear that Irenicus intended to kill the Bhaalspawn and finish the fight that way, Harrian's own intense familiarity with the body the mage wore levelled the playing field.
They were both moving fast as they shifted away a little from the group, Irenicus' spiky limbs flying through the air at an intense and possibly over-exerting fashion, Harrian's own, slightly more conservative movements nevertheless bringing the Equaliser up to parry each incredibly speedy blow with ease. The Bhaalspawn's fleetness had never been in question, for he had an innate agility and speed that was equalled possibly only by Imoen in the party, but here he was going beyond that. With every swift blow from the Slayer, a beast which was faster, stronger, and tougher than any human or demi-human in the realms, Harrian matched it move for move.
He knew exactly which spikes along the arm were best for an overhead slash, where the delicate bits of flesh were, just where each foot would land with each bound of the Slayer's, possibly better even than Irenicus himself knew. It was a body he had worn before, and even though he had rejected the power and darkness of it, all of them doubted it had ever left his mind.
A quick spin took Harrian away from a thrust forward of the Slayer's arm, and he returned that with his own slash that caught Irenicus' shoulder viciously. This was a pattern they had settled into; Harrian avoiding as many of the Slayer's blows as he could, then retaliating with a smaller attack that would nevertheless eventually bring Irenicus down.
Only it was a pattern that was about to be broken, as the arm that had been slashed moved through a vicious uppercut that caught Harrian on the chin. There was a ferocious crack, Harrian's head snapping back painfully, and the swashbuckler was sent flying through the air by the tremendous strength that had to have been behind the blow. He soared across the arena as if he were a doll that had been tossed aside, hit the huge pillar in the centre with another sickening crunch, then slid to the floor and moved no more.
There was a long, painful silence as the party waited, too stunned to move, frozen in place. Their eyes flickered from the prone Harrian to the Slayer, waiting for some reaction.
Slowly, the Slayer came to a halt, and as they all watched, Irenicus shifted back into his original form. Ignoring their astonished gapes, the mage took a deep breath, his features even harder to read than usual behind the shimmering magical protective barriers. "It is done," he intoned at last, solemnly, his arms folded over his chest. "It is over."
Another stunned silence greeted his words, the party too astonished to react, assimilating his words exceptionally slowly.
Then Jaheira, her face an expressionless mask, raised her two scimitars calmly, gave Irenicus a cold nod, then launched back into the fray. There was only a split second of hesitation before the other three members of the party hurtled after her, sword, flail and bow upraised.
Wait a minute, Imoen thought as she pulled back the string of her bow, knowing it would do little good. If Harrian's dead and has lost his soul for good… then why is Irenicus still here?
This thought was made rather hard to take to its logical conclusion by Irenicus waving his hand at a spot just to his left, and another portal rising through the ground to deposit another Glabrezu in the middle of the fray.
A curt nod from Jaheira sent Anomen to detach himself from the battle with Irenicus and launch himself at the demon, all three heads of his flail flashing in the dim light of the arena. The creature barely had time to react, and thus the weapon thudded into its back within seconds of its arrival. Then it turned to face Anomen, and the fight was indeed on.
Harrian can't be dead, Imoen's mind raced as she tried to focus on all that was going on, or this fight would already be over. Irenicus is just trying to… jar us. So he can eradicate us before moving on to Harrian.
It's working.
She wracked her brains as she focused on Irenicus, an unidentifiable spell splashing harmlessly over her own magical protection. She needed to bring the barriers down so Reynald and Jaheira had a hope in the Hells of killing the mage, but which? A simple Pierce Magic wouldn't do all that was needed here.
Then she stepped forwards, hands upraised, her eyes flashing with a similar shade of gold that Harrian's eyes had shifted to, and she ran through the incantation to cast Khelben's Warding Whip.
"Take that, Irenicus!" she shouted gleefully as the spell flew through the air, over the heads of the Jaheira and Reynald as they fought, and smashed into the mage's shimmering spell protections, doubtless to bring them down.
Doubtless, she thought. But as she watched in absolute horror, frozen in place, the shimmering barriers flickered for a minute… then strengthened, repelling the ball of energy she had just cast and sending it back into her direction.
Spell Turning… that'll teach you for not paying enough attention to the books back at Candlekeep, Imoen had time to think as she watched the spell come back and smash against her protective barriers.
Bang. Down went her Globe of Invulnerability, the impact knocking her off her feet.
Bang. Down went her Spell Deflection.
Bang. Down went her Spell Immunity.
She had only just started to pick herself back up to her feet, rueing the day when she'd given up lock-picks for magic tricks, when Irenicus' voice sounded through the arena, deep and imposing and chanting the incantation to a spell she knew to fear… especially when he pointed at her.
Finger of Death. And she'd managed to achieve the height of stupidity and bring all of her defences down.
It seemed as if the others recognised the spell also, for Jaheira went into something of a frenzy, battering her scimitars futilely against Irenicus' protection to magical weapons. Reynald, calmer than Jaheira, had the presence of mind to strike with his unenchanted short sword, which he had pulled out. It slashed across Irenicus' back, distracting the mage, but far too late.
Three flail heads wrapped themselves around the skull of the summoned Glabrezu, felling the demon, and were not removed as Anomen, calmly and confidently, took a step back into the path of the spell. There was no ceremony to the action, no shouting or screaming, or leaping frantically across the arena. He just placed himself in between Imoen and Irenicus, arms spread out, body stance defiant.
The magical energy hit him on the chest and he collapsed on the spot – he did not fly through the air like Harrian, did not slowly keel over… he just went limp and fell with a clatter and a thud.
A cold, sick feeling sank to Imoen's stomach as she saw Anomen collapse, icy waves running through her limbs and slowing them down even as a hot flash sparked in her chest to counter it, a mixture of fear and rage joining together and consuming her whole body. And behind that fear and rage was a bleak blackness, a dark that was greater than her, than any of them.
Irenicus is a gnat. Destroy him at your leisure, an empty voice echoed through her head, a voice she'd never heard before but was yet intimately familiar to her.
F-father? Imoen didn't know why that flitted across her mind, why the voice of Bhaal within her could even be considered as 'father', but right then, with the rage and the fear humming through her… it was right.
Harness your power! Use it! Destroy him!
I… he's too powerful.
Another surge of darkness rose within her, and she staggered a little at the force of it all, the sheer hatred and venom her Bhaaltaint contained. She contained. And within her, within the taint, was a strength and a power she didn't know she'd contained.
Here are the tools, daughter. You have borne them all along. Now use them.
I…
Reluctance and fear settled in her belly for a split second until she suddenly found her eyes forced to stare first at Harrian, who was only just now staggering to his feet, healing potion in hand, then at Jaheira and Reynald, battling away valiantly but futilely, then at Anomen's completely prone form.
He is dead. He has been murdered. Irenicus has killed him.
I…
Daughter, avenge that murder!
A scream, harsh and painful, ripped from her throat as she whirled around, magical energy crackling from her hands, weaving together and strengthening into a bright ball of power until she launched it at Irenicus.
The mage's previously imperious expression faltered as he saw the energy flying towards him, and as it crashed against his protections, this time it was not reflected. The magical barriers keeping him safe from the rest of the world flickered for a few seconds… then collapsed.
There was a harsh, hollow silence filling the arena as everyone stared at him, Reynald and Jaheira too stunned to strike…
…until a whistling noise was heard and a throwing knife embedded itself in Irenicus' neck, blood spurting out at the impact. The mage's eyes grew wider, and a strangled sort of noise escaped from his lips as he staggered…
…only to be struck by a pair of scimitars slashing across his chest, the broad blade of a claymore running through his belly, and another two throwing knives singing through the air one after the other to plant themselves solidly in his back.
Irenicus stared, raising a faltering hand to one of the slashes in his chest, and he staggered to turn around and gaze at Harrian. The swashbuckler was looking rather the worse for wear, blood running down one side of his face from a vicious cut on his forehead, two empty healing bottles on the floor by his feet, his left arm hanging at a useless angle, his right hand holding a fourth throwing knife plucked from his bandolier. But his golden eyes were glowing, and his expression wore a note of triumph.
"I… you've killed me," Irenicus gasped, eyes wide, before his legs gave out from under him and he fell to the floor with a thud.
Another long silence followed as they all stared at each other with disbelief. This one was only broken when Imoen noticed the heavy, ragged, metallic-sounding breathing that was coming from Anomen's body.
She dashed towards the fallen cleric, skidding down to her knees beside him as he raised his hands weakly to the helmet that hid his face. She was there first, however, pulling the helm off his head and helping him to a sitting position. "You're not dead!" she almost squealed with delight, throwing her arms around him.
It was only out of luck that he was able to rest a hand against the floor to brace himself so he didn't fall back again, and he was clearly too groggy to react too distinctly to Imoen's enthusiasm. "No, my lady… it seems as if Helm granted me the fortitude to resist the spell…" the cleric replied weakly, grinning a little.
"It is just as well," Reynald said brightly as he grabbed Anomen by the shoulders and hauled him to his feet once Imoen had pulled back. "We cannot do to lose any more of our comrades. Now maybe we can leave this abysmal place?"
All eyes turned towards Harrian as Anomen shifted off to retrieve his flail. The swashbuckler was staring at Irenicus' body, Jaheira by his side, the druid having clearly tended to him with a healing spell. Harrian closed his eyes and took a deep breath, waiting.
"Anything?" Imoen asked anxiously, eyes flickering from Irenicus to her brother nervously.
There was a long pause, then a rush of air seemed to fill the arena, and a slow smile tugged at Harrian's lips. "Yes," he mumbled brightly, and a low chuckle escaped from him. "I have… I feel… it is…" He opened his eyes, which now seemed to be a slightly lighter shade of gold than they'd been seconds before, and grinned at them. "Alright. Let's leave this hell," he declared mischievously, then raised a hand and clicked his fingers.