Chapter 3: Karuxal and the Siege
An arrow whistled through the air, heading straight towards the front line of the Mhaldorian defense. The arrow was followed by a multitude of other arrows, cultivating into a shower of projectiles that rained upon the front line. The attack had begun, and was highly organized, as the Shallamese mages summoned large storm clouds, using lightning as a weapon against the Mhaldorians.
"RETURN FIRE!"
A thousand arrows shrieked back at the Shallamese front line and a few hit their targets, but many were rejected by a magical barrier. Mhaldor had no mages, and they had no options left other than to swap volleys of archer fire and hold the lines. Shallam charged, and the battle was at full throttle. Even Lord Sartan and Lord Pentharian could be seen fighting, off in the distance on the southern horizon.
Dariel was in the middle of all of this, and slew as many Shallamese that he could see. However, the Shallamese knew who he was and many surrounded him in an attempt to overwhelm, but Dariel's broadswords swung in a perfect arc, slashing through the armor of the weak foot soldiers of the City of Light. His actions were almost mechanical now, his anger and passion poured out through the slaughter of his enemies. Pretty soon, the foot soldiers were paralyzed by the daemonic malice shown through the blood on his blade and the psychotic red of his eyes, falling easily.
A daemonic miasma began to surround the dark knight as he slew more and more, and expanded as each victim fell to his blades. Even arrows and the mage's lightning were deflected by the evil aura surrounding the dark knight. In the midst of battle, he was unstoppable. Unfortunately, a retreat was called, as the other sides of the front line were broken quite quickly, and Dariel had to withdraw to the second line with many of the other Mhaldorians.
Just then, two brilliant, luminescent dragon wings shimmered over the battlefield. Karuxal had arrived. The holy dragon was a gargantuan beast, with every part of its body shining a stunning light worthy of the sun itself. This dragon lord would not be easily defeated, especially by one person. In fact, the whole of Mhaldor seemed to not be able to stand a chance against the giant dragon.
Dariel, however, was a leader, and could not show fear. He gritted his teeth and prepared, knowing that defeating this dragon was going to be his last shot at his hopes and dreams, his last shot at life itself. His strength was the only thing that could save him now. A large battle cry erupted from his lips and a stone gargoyle landed before him, allowing him to board. Dariel's mount took flight with the dark knight as its rider and headed straight for the dragon.
Karuxal saw the small figure coming at him, also taking notice of the large miasma surrounding the figure. Not too worried and overconfident of his own power, Karuxal flared his nostrils and breathed a blue fire of holy power straight at Dariel. However, the pure evil of the aura that surrounded Dariel practically absorbed the fire and even expanded. Unfazed, Karuxal flapped his enormous wings and flew straight at the dark knight in an attempt to strike him down. However, the gargoyle was agile and dodged the claws and tail of the dragon, allowing Dariel to slice into the dragon's underbelly with his broadsword. An unholy screech exploded from Karuxal's mouth, but he turned around and faced Dariel again, obviously not down for the count. Dariel grumbled, knowing that one of the best opportunities to take down the dragon had passed. Now Karuxal would fight less carelessly and not underestimate the power of the dark knight. But Dariel had something else up his sleeve, a hereditary ability that was passed down through his family line.
Damn it…I can't waste this ability on a situation like this…but…I have no choice.
Dariel stood on two feet on top of his mount and drew a ceremonial dagger from small sheath on his belt. With a defiant roar aimed at the dragon, he slowly aimed the dagger and poured his own essence into the blade. The evil miasma around him was also drawn into the dagger. Next, Dariel used the dagger to cut his left palm, leaving a few drops of blood on the blade. He held the dagger with his left hand and jammed the base of the hilt with his right, all while aimed at the mighty dragon.
"With my blood, I sacrifice a portion of my body and spirit to Lord Sartan, in order to slay this giant beast! Let this dagger be the blade to eviscerate and let my essence cleave the skies in twain! You, dragon, will not survive this!"
With a thrusting motion, Dariel projected his essence in a form of a dagger headed straight for Karuxal. The dragon was wide-eyed, sensing the immense power of the essence, seemingly straight from Sartan Himself, and only had enough time to create a holy barrier between the essence and his own body to try to soften the blow. In that single strike, the combined essence of both Lord Sartan and Dariel cleaved straight through the dragon lord, destroying both the body and spirit of Karuxal, disallowing any future resurrections. As the soldiers of Shallam looked up, they saw their great beast slain by but a single warrior, and the ensuing retreat could not be faster. Even Lord Pentharian felt the awesome might of Dariel and made a hasty retreat as well.
Dariel had done it; he had won against the beast for Lord Sartan and for Mhaldor. As he landed on the ground, his vision faded to black and all he could do was smile a wicked smile.