Chapter Twenty Nine: Challenge
So few, so few left thought Buffy as she looked around her. Only three magic users: Willow, Prue and Phoebe. The two senior slayers: Buffy herself and Faith and only three others: Angel, Rona and Caridad. Everybody else had now gone. Miraculously everybody who survived was uninjured apart from minor cuts and bruises.
The two dragons, in their dying frenzy had accounted for everybody else who had survived the previous fighting. Some had been taken out by direct blows from the dragons, especially their powerful tails but by far the most of them had been under some of the many rocks which the dragons had knocked from the surrounding rock walls.
After searching frantically and unsuccessfully for Dawn Buffy had been in shock. She had kept repeating to herself over and over: She's in a better place, she's in a better place. She's happy, she's really happy now. I should know.
Buffy stood up from the rock where she had been sitting and walked over to where Angel was standing next to Willow and the Halliwells.
"How you doing?" he asked.
"I'll be OK," she replied giving him a brief hug. "Anybody remember what comes next?" she asked as she broke the embrace. Does it matter she thought? Each attack is worse than the last. Can we survive horde number six and if we do what about number seven?
"From what I recall the last two 'Hordes of Hell' are a bit of a mystery," said Willow from her seat wearily slumped back against a large boulder. "Number six is 'The Masters' and number seven 'The Nameless' whatever all that means."
Faith said nothing from her position a few yards away keeping watch. She didn't feel like taking part in the conversation, any conversation, at the moment. She'd passed through grief and was now very, very angry. Whatever this First Evil was it had taken away nearly all of her new friends.
What Faith really wanted was to have her friends back again. Willow, Xander, Giles, the old gang had always been Buffy's friends, not hers. In fact even before the business with the deputy mayor Faith had not been close to any of them. Now she had had friends of her own and they'd been taken from her. She was therefore looking for payback. She just wanted to have something in front of her that she could kill or at least damage in a big way.
"I think there's more going on here than we realise," said Angel.
"What do you mean," asked Prue.
"I saw Darla get hit by some of those boulders that the dragons knocked down," he said. "She didn't dust, she faded."
"So what does that mean?" asked Buffy.
"I don't know," said Angel. "But she wasn't destroyed the way vampires are destroyed so maybe she was redeemed. Maybe by fighting here with us, with the forces of light, she redeemed herself."
"It's like I've been saying, they're all in a better place," said Buffy.
"OK," called Faith. "But we're still in this place and we've got more visitors coming."
Everybody stood up and grabbed their weapons. Prue, Phoebe and Willow held hands ready to work together to use whatever power they could still summon. Astral Prue didn't appear. After her previous exertions Prue wasn't sure she was strong enough to summon her astral self again so soon and anyway she felt she needed to see what they were up against first.
Everybody moved forward to get a good look at the three figures that were approaching.
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Two others were watching the approaching figures. Glory stood in the rocks high above where Buffy and the others were gathered and carefully studied the approaching newcomers. Jasmine stood silently beside her doing the same thing.
This was the moment of decision. What Glory really wanted to do was destroy Buffy and her remaining friends before going back home. The trouble was that killing Buffy would only help The First and would probably mean Glory never went home. Glory realised that helping The First was the last thing she should be doing. Glory had no intention of setting up The First as her master which was why she had decided to act differently.
Jasmine glanced briefly at Glory before returning to her study of the approaching newcomers. Jasmine thought that Glory would probably do exactly what they had agreed but she was unsure of what Glory intended to do afterwards. She could probably rely on Glory to act in her own best interests but she was not confident that Glory always knew what those were. Oh well she thought. Time will tell.
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The three approaching figures looked like humans except for the fact that they were flying. They were each standing on small platforms which were carrying them forward without any visible means of propulsion. The figure in the middle was female, the other two male. All three were wearing armour and carrying weapons.
The three newcomers landed at the edge of the cliff, walked forward and stopped. They were all very tall and looked to be completely human. The right hand individual, a black skinned, black bearded, heavily muscled character drew a large sword from over his shoulder and strode forward two paces.
"We are The Masters," he shouted in a loud voice. "This is our realm. Who comes to challenge?"
"What is this," asked Rona. "WWE with swords?"
"We're just here to guard the Hellmouth," said Buffy. "We're here to make sure it stays closed. We're not here to challenge anybody."
"But I am," said Glory as she landed from a leap from far above brandishing a sword of her own. "You look like my type," she said smiling at the bearded warrior. "Soft and cuddly."
"So am I," said Jasmine who arrived a moment later. "I'll take on mister sour face. I'm sure I can cheer him up, one way or the other." Jasmine's remarks were directed towards the other male newcomer a Viking-like character with a winged helmet and long blond hair. Just like Glory Jasmine brandished a sword of her own.
What Glory and Jasmine knew but Buffy and her allies didn't was that 'The Masters' were a type of Hellgod themselves. Glory and Jasmine, by defeating their opponents could each gain what they wanted. Glory would gain enough power to return to her own realm. She would be able to do this without having to rely on Buffy's people to find a way to send her home and without being dependent of the doubtful goodwill of The First Evil.
Jasmine intended to take up residence in this hell dimension. By killing one of the resident Hellgods she would create a vacancy and at the same time gain sufficient power to become a force in the dimension. Both Glory and Jasmine had decided to take advantage of what was a rare opportunity to take on a single opponent. An invasion in other circumstances would almost certainly have failed as it could have meant trying to take on all three Hellgods at the same time.
Jasmine's opponent now pulled a large double headed axe from a sheath on his back and swung it around a couple of times to loosen up. He then made to move forward only to be stopped by a signal from his female companion.
"Before the fun begins who challenges me?" she asked. "There must be three challengers and two must win or you will all be destroyed." As she said this she produced her own weapon, another sword, but this was black and immediately burst into flame, a jet black flame.
Buffy stepped forward but was pulled back by Faith who now strode forward. "I challenge," she said holding the troll hammer high above her head.
"Faith!" said Buffy once again starting forward but Willow held onto her arm.
"Let her do this," said Willow. "With that hammer she's got as good a chance as you and we're gonna need you at the end."
"She's right," said Angel. "You have to be here for the last fight."
As Faith, Glory and Jasmine moved forward to fight 'The Masters' all six of the contestants disappeared.
"Hey," said Rona. "I thought we'd at least get to watch."
They did indeed get to watch however as Phoebe pointed out that all six fighters had appeared on the plain below.
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At first it was not apparent to those watching who was winning the individual combats because all six fighters started cautiously. They were all dealing with unknown opponents. As time went by however all of the fighters speeded up. Suddenly Jasmine was hit a terrific blow by her opponent and knocked end over end a considerable distance. This contest was far from over however as Jasmine was immediately back on her feet and trading high speed blows once again.
Buffy and the others watching were quite clear that they wanted Faith to win her contest but were less clear in their feelings about Glory and Jasmine. Had they really changed sides and if so would it last? What would they do if they won? Would Buffy and her companions have to fight them next?
Meanwhile Faith's only concern was dealing with her immediate opponent. The woman, if that's what she was, was proving to be a difficult proposition. The sword gave the woman much greater reach than Faith had with the troll hammer. Faith found herself spending most of her time using the hammer defensively to knock away the sword.
Certainly Faith hadn't fought anybody this tough since the last of her fights with Buffy. In fact since Faith hadn't had the troll hammer when she fought Buffy this woman might just be tougher she thought.
Other problems for Faith were the speed of her opponent and the fact that she seemed able to anticipate Faith's every move. Landing a blow on her was proving to be next to impossible. At the same time Faith had already been singed a couple of times by the burning sword and appropriately it hurt like hell.
Until her fight with Buffy, Glory had never even considered the possibility of fighting and losing to anybody or anything. She had learnt differently and now she was using that experience to good effect. Glory's first instinct was to charge forward and simply destroy her opponent. She resisted that urge and concentrated on wearing him down and making sure he did no damage to her. Glory had in mind coming out of this fight not just with a win but unharmed and at full power. She knew that after this fight she might very well have another contest on her hands.
As the fight continued Faith gained familiarity with the style of her opponent. It was a style she knew very well but the odd thing was she didn't remember facing anybody like it before. Suddenly she realised what she was seeing. She's fighting me the way I fight other people. I wonder if the other 'Masters' are pulling the same trick she thought.
Faith made another attack, only this time she had switched the troll hammer quickly to her left hand to take her opponent by surprise. Only it was no surprise because the move was countered and Faith found herself dodging the return thrust of her enemy's sword.
Faith had deliberately attacked in an unusual manner, unusual for her that is but it hadn't taken her opponent by surprise she realised, not even a little bit. She's reading me she thought. She's not just copying my style she's reading me. I bet she thinks she's very clever. Well its time to change the rules.
Meanwhile Jasmine seemed to be getting pummelled. She hadn't been able to land a telling blow on her opponent but had taken a few herself. Although she continued to have her usual smile plastered on her face she was no longer feeling her usual cheerful self. For the first time she began to doubt the outcome of the contest.
Jasmine was suddenly down and Buffy and her companions watched as the 'Viking' character stepped forward to finish the fight with his sword. His blow never landed however as he was hit by the troll hammer hurled by Faith. The blow stunned the 'Viking' and he was still stunned as the fast recovering Jasmine took his head off with her sword.
This left Faith unarmed, or rather only armed with the knife she pulled from her belt, to face the armoured woman. Faith rapidly backed away from her opponent, dodging, weaving and feinting to throw the knife. The thing was thought Faith, would Jasmine now return the favour and help her or would she just watch what looked to be an unequal contest.
"You cheated!" screamed Faith's opponent as she advanced, sword held high ready to end the contest.
"Yeah," said Faith. "So sue me. I know some lawyers who'd be glad to take your case."
The armoured woman continued to advance and Faith continued to dodge, aided by the fact that she now knew what she was facing. Faith decided her best bet would be to get inside the guard of the other woman and take hold of her sword. She stepped forward to do this and then did something completely different by delivering a high kick to the head.
Faith's rapid change of mind had taken her opponent by surprise. She'd managed to think fast enough to negate the other woman's ability to read her. The problem was she'd not managed to knock down the other woman who had also kept her grip on her sword. Faith had however taken second prize because she was now closer to the fallen 'Viking' than her opponent. She immediately took advantage by rushing over to the body and picking up the troll hammer once more.
Faith had no time to wonder what Jasmine was doing or where she had gone. Whether Jasmine would have helped Faith or even Glory would never be known because soon after she killed her opponent she had disappeared. Buffy and the other watchers didn't know whether Jasmine had pulled the disappearance herself or whether it was a consequence of winning the contest.
Meanwhile Glory continued her battle with the black bearded Hellgod. Glory never had a very deep well of patience to begin with and she was now becoming more and more frustrated. Everything she tried was countered. She sped up and her opponent sped up, she stood and traded blows and her opponent did the same and gave as good as or better than he got. She tried high leaps and twists but found her opponent ready to counter with moves of his own. Overall Glory found herself taking more and more punishment and she was unpleasantly reminded of her fight with Buffy.
Suddenly everything happened at once. Faith managed to work a little space and hurled the troll hammer at Glory's opponent. At least that's what her mind said she was doing but at the last moment she hung onto the hammer and let it go in the opposite direction where it hit the armoured woman full on. She was taken completely by surprise as she had read Faith's first move.
Faith's opponent fell like a stone, the impact increased as the woman had been leaping forward to take advantage of Faith's original intention. Faith immediately followed up with her knife to deliver a killing thrust.
At the same time Glory's opponent clearly had some awareness of what Faith had done to Jasmine's Viking because he moved to dodge the hammer that he thought Faith was throwing at him. This was his one mistake as he had to momentarily divert his attention from Glory. Glory took full advantage and drove her sword into his face ending the third contest at the same time as Faith completed her victory.
Like Jasmine both Glory and Faith now disappeared. It wasn't the same as the fading away that had happened to the earlier casualties however but nevertheless they were both gone. Buffy half expected Faith to reappear back on the cliff top but as she continued to wait this didn't happen.
"Where do you think she went?" asked Rona. "Do you think she's alright?"
"You don't think she's being punished for breaking the rules do you?" asked Caridad.
"What rules?" asked Buffy.
"I don't think there are any rules," said Willow. "Except winning. If she hadn't won we wouldn't still be here."
"Waiting for the 'Nameless' to turn up next," said Prue.
"Is that what that is then," asked Rona pointing to the horizon.
Slowly advancing over the horizon towards them was a black cloud which rolled along the ground and began to occupy more and more space as it advanced.
Despite the strong wind that Prue and Phoebe conjured up the black cloud kept advancing towards them. It was clearly not in any way a normal cloud because it advanced steadily against the wind. As the wind seemed to have no affect at all on its progress the Halliwells stopped their efforts.
"Looks like this is it all right," said Buffy. "The question is, is it the cloud itself or something that's hidden in the cloud that we have to worry about?"
At that stage Prue noticed the familiar signs of her sister having one of her visions. "Phoebe! What did you see?" she asked.
"It wasn't so much a vision, more a message," said Phoebe.
"Did it tell you what's coming?" asked Buffy.
"No, I'm afraid not," said Phoebe. "The message was on the lines that we've got to get through this... this whatever it is. As long as one of us makes it through then the Hellmouth stays shut."
"That's pretty well what the prophecy said," commented Willow.
Everybody turned back to watch the approaching cloud. It was continuing to move forward slowly. It was now entirely over the horizon. It was sufficiently large to cover the whole balcony area on which they were all standing but not much larger.
Willow stood with the rest and watched the cloud continue to roll forward along the ground. She still felt exhausted but she hadn't done any spells since helping destroy the dragons. She felt that she could perhaps do one more spell before she was completely drained but certainly no more. But would spells do any good against this enemy? She couldn't see how weapons would be any use but what would be effective?
Buffy stood next to Angel with her Battle Scythe in hand. Angel was armed with a sword. He gave Buffy a quick hug and then stood aside far enough to be able to swing the sword freely. Buffy gave him a quick smile and then turned back to look at the cloud.
"Don't you think we should go down there?" asked Caridad. "The speed that thing's moving we could stay out of its way like forever."
"Yeah," said Rona. "It seems to be getting slower and slower. Maybe it's running out of steam. Can clouds run out of steam or do they run out of cloud?"
"We can't let it get past us," said Buffy. "We're here to stop anything getting past. It or whatever it's hiding might be able to reopen the Hellmouth."
"I wish it would just get on with it," said Prue feeling as tired as Willow. "Let's get this over and done with."
Prue's comment sparked a idea in Willow. "I think I know what it is," she said.
Everybody turned to Willow. "I think it's The First Evil," she said. "I know that's what it's called but it's not a name, it's a description not a proper name. I think the Nameless is The First and that's why it's taking so long to get here."
"I don't follow Will," said Buffy.
"It's playing games," said Willow. "The First always plays games, mind games. It's trying to scare us, scare us into running away or worrying about what's coming next."
"And what do you think's coming next?" asked Phoebe.
"More mind games," said Willow. "It'll try to use all our fears, our guilts against us. It'll try to drive us mad or have us kill each other."
"Or get us to reopen the Hellmouth," added Prue.
"But we've already shown we can deal with fear," said Caridad. "Or we wouldn't still be standing here."
"There's a lot of different sorts of fear," said Angel who was remembering when The First had targeted him a few years before. "Fear of death, yes we've faced that. But there's fear of failure, fear of loneliness... I won't go on."
"Well I fell guilty just by being here," said Rona who received stares from the others. "I mean why me?" she continued. "All those others have gone but I'm still here. They're as good or better than me. Why am I still here?"
Buffy took Rona's hand and looked her in the eye. "We all feel like that," she said. "It's normal. But we are here, nobody else, just us, so it's up to us."
The cloud suddenly picked up speed and surrounded them cutting off everybody from everybody else. Everybody not only lost sight of the others but sound of them as well. Everybody was suddenly alone.