A Different Dance

The stench of brimstone wafted from the monstrous fiend that towered over Valor.

Then suddenly, one of its huge mace-like hands slammed down. Valor dodged, though the shockwave from that spiked fist hitting the ground still knocked him back a few steps.

He had no time to recover. Two more blows thundered down, and the Light Warrior planted his feet and gripped the thick haft of his mighty greataxe, managing to parry the blows, turning them aside with roars of exertion.

The demon shrieked with frustration, continuing to rein down blow after blow with its four bulbous spiked fists. The ones Valor dodged struck the mosaic floor tiles, shattering them, others smashing the long fine dinner tables to kindling, throwing food everywhere. All the other spectators in the Great Hall murmured or cried out in fear, pressing themselves against the walls as far from the demonic fiend as they could get.

After only several minutes, Valor was already sweating, his arms sore from the constant jarring of turning aside the monstrous strikes. Honestly, he wasn't certain how the haft of his axe continued to hold together. Thick as it was, this kind of beating should have splintered it already. But it held, and so did he. Still, the monster that had been Sumpter Baigan was relentless, bellowing and shrieking as it attacked, its fists causing thunder when they missed, harrying Valor even more than the ones he parried. He was locked on the defensive without a single chance to strike his own blows.

Scrapes and bruises accompanied Valor's soreness, though sudden ribbons of greenish-white light suddenly entwined about him. A pleasant smell, like that of freshly cut mint, wafted to him with the mellow lights and he breathed it in. His soreness eased, his fatigue lessened. And he bellowed out a tremendous roar of his own as he knocked away another of the monster's blows before twisting the mighty axe in his hands and slicing a horrendous slash deep into one of the demon's hammering fists.

The creature reared back and roared in pain and Valor took that as an invitation to press the advantage. He ran up and hacked a deep gash in one of the monster's thick forelegs. A spray of brackish black blood spattered across his dress uniform. Again, he felt naked without his armor, but there was no time for such foolish pangs, he had to stay focused. Besides, he knew he wasn't fighting alone now.

IIIIIIIIII

Sana-Lynn still could not believe how any human could possibly be strong enough to turn aside blows from that huge towering fiend, but quickly shook her head. Her Cure spell had been a simple one, her mind still fighting off the terror that the monster emitted like a cloud of poison. Its dark aura filled the Great Hall like a miasma, an invisible presence with substantial weight...

The ocean does not bow... it flows. It does not succumb... it dissolves. It cannot be broken... it is the breaker.

The girl's hazel eyes narrowed. The very sight of the monster filled her with affront. It was an insult to all life! She took another step forward, speaking beneath her breath. Another Cure spell twirled about Valor where he fought with all his might to batter at the disgusting fiend as it battered at him. The crook of Sana's staff glowed as she wove it before her almost as if in slow ritual dance, motes of radiance floating about her, her blond hair flying free of their bejeweled nets, lifted on the lights of her conjuring.

Beside her in awe, True shook away his own fear, nodding to himself as he pulled the rim of his red hat down. He knew he couldn't get anywhere near the fight between Valor and fiend without being crushed to a pulp, so he sheathed his rapier and held out one white-gloved hand. Under his breath, icy blue runes encircled his wrist and several fist-sized shards of freezing ice coalesced about his outstretched arm. He could feel the cold from his own magic, before he willed the ice forward, and the frosty shards struck out like arrows shot from a bow. They flew unerringly at the huge fiend whose attention was diverted...

Yet it mattered not. Even without its direct attention, the creature's molten eyes flared, and the small shards of ice melted to simply splash against the monster harmlessly.

True clenched a white-gloved fist, not bothering to contain an oath. "I cannot believe it!"

"You call that an Ice spell?" came a mocking voice from behind. True whirled to see a short black-robed figure moving up to his side. The figure's pointed, wide-brimmed hat marked her nearly as much as her concealed face, only her glowing eyes visible. She was limping slightly, clearly in pain. "Back, you clumsy red fop, this is not your fight, nor have you the power to aid in it."

True Herring frowned, but gave a slight bow and backed away. "Of course, Lady Magus." The black mage gave no acknowledgement to his acquiescence, instead firing a glare at Sana as the other mage stood entranced, utterly focused on aiding Valor where he fought.

It galled him to admit his impotency in this matter, but True backed away for the Light Warriors.

IIIIIIIIIII

Robin Magus growled. The sickness inside her was getting worse. One of her potions had alleviated the pain a bit, but had not rid her of it entirely, and it had come on, making her wince with every step. It was from that damn ghoul licking her, she was sure. Still, she had kept on through force of will, and stood here now taking in the situation. Yes, the insolent warrior, Valor, was keeping the monster at bay and forcing it to focus on him. Their clashes where titanic, the sounds of their battle rumbling throughout the Hall. The fiend was wounded, but it remained undaunted. It was also clear that whatever the idiotic white mage was doing was keeping Valor on his feet despite the pounding he was taking. Obviously, however, a stalemate had been reached.

More offensive measures were needed.

Robin nodded, her eyes glowing furiously. The girl planted her feet shoulder-width apart and held her charred black rod before her horizontally. "Watch me now, you red fop. This is how you summon the power of ice..." Frosty blue runes suddenly flared about her like a mantle and freezing cold filled her immediate space to the point that flakes of snow swirled in the air. "This... is the Blizzard."

Lines of frosty blue power came together to solidify into several shards of ice as big as True Herring himself, and then suddenly blasted toward the monster. They tumbled end over end, hurtling at the fiend. Valor saw them coming and leapt back just as the creature turned its head, its glowing red eyes widening in surprise.

Three huge shards struck the monster with such force that they knocked it off its hooves. It crashed back, crushing several tables that had yet to be molested, tossing debris every which way. Amidst a pile of shattered ice and splintered wood, the monster managed one hoof, shaking its head, but the icy spell was not finished. Robin continued to work, and soon the monster found the air about it growing chill as ice formed on its body, trying to impede it. The fiend bellowed in outrage and locked its glowing red gaze with Robin's eldritch yellow one.

Now the battle became mental, both forces trying to gain on the other. The demon summoned a haze of heat to melt the ice, causing thick hissing steam to billow around it, even as the air continued to cool and freeze.

Despite her growing sickness, Robin locked her eyes on the fiend's, putting all her will into sheathing the monster in ice.

Sana-Lynn suddenly turned toward her, concern on her face. "Robin, you are poisoned!"

The black mage snarled: "Shut your mouth, lesser mage, I am concentrating!" Yet, the pain caused her to lurch, and the demon smiled, roaring as it broke through the ice. The black mage was suddenly knocked back, as if she had taken a physical blow.

In full fury, the monster stood, howling terribly, until everyone in the Great Hall was forced to cover his or her ears. The fiend then looked about, suddenly focusing on Sana and took a lurching step before Valor moved to intercept.

Yet before the warrior had even gone two steps, someone else entered the Great Hall. "Outta the way, you slow sons of bastards!"

With a prodigious leap over the mages' heads, Gantz came down on his feet, and darted toward the fiend like a blur, a wicked smile on his face. He ran low, hands out at his sides, his long knives clenched in his fists. He looked up to see the monster snarl at him before its giant fists began to rain down. The thief started to weave; duck, slide, twist and leap, and none of the blows hit nor even fazed him before he was running up one of the demon's arms to stab the creature through one of its red glaring eyes. He then jumped far back in a long twisting leap before landing near the others.

The monster writhed and twisted in pain, its arms flailing wildly as black blood spurted from its ruined eye. It bellowed and shrieked and screamed.

Gantz's smile vanished as he saw the creature go into frenzy. He was certain that his vicious stab would have killed it. It should have killed it.

But the fiend was far from killed. With no one in range it just started attacking everything near it, charging wildly and forcing people to scatter as it barreled into walls, pummeling the worked stone murals with furious blows that shattered the surface.

Aria Loftlan was struck with a shower of stone debris and flung back, two others crushed, as the thing rampaged.

"Mother!" Valor cried out in fury. The noblewoman lay unmoving under a plume of dust and debris and the boy's sapphire eyes suddenly glazed with tears.

The fiend was unstoppable now, tearing at everything wildly, crushing all in its path. People screamed and fled toward the open double doors behind the Light Warriors, before the monster turned and charged them.

Yet it did not go unchallenged. Valor found a feral bellow rumbling up from the depths of him, as he counter-charged, his furious blue eyes locked on the monstrous gaze of the fiend.

"Valor, no!" Sana yelled, but it was no use. The two of them were hurtling headlong toward each other, both crying havoc at the top of their lungs. Valor ran and suddenly leapt up as the fiend pounded toward him, the two great forces colliding with a thunder that shook the entire keep.

His brown and silver hair flailing, Valor flew through dust and debris, his face bleeding, his body bruised, as he brought his axe around with the might of wrath and slammed it through the monster's head. The fiend's skull exploded and it was flung back bodily to crash against the far wall with enough force to crack its surface.

Soon after, the thing's corpse slumped to the floor amidst ruin and debris, slowly dissolving into flecks of darkness that dissipated in the dust-filled air.