.
- Chapter Twelve -
- The Grand Duke vs The Sylth Knight -
- The Earth's Eye -
The volcanic mound put most mountains to shame and earned its supervolcano status with ease. Its severed peak was at least 10 miles in diameter and spewed a constant stream of dark coloured ash into the sky above it. Within the crater was a lake of flowing lava, churning around in a slow circle with large clumps of cooled magma floating on the surface like small islands; all varying in size. It was on one of these islands, probably big enough for five people stood touching, that a man in head-to-toe armour stood silently.
"I hate the heat." Radoraan muttered.
The armour he wore was a dark blue colour and seemed to flow like it was constructed out of water. It seemed to be skin tight, hugging tightly to Radoraan's muscled body and not one shred of skin was on show. Embedded in the armour at the knees, shoulders, and chest were glowing pink orbs. Similar orbs, although not glowing, were embedded in a curved pattern along his thighs and the sides of his torso, below his arms; more of them decorated the underside of his forearm. A black sash was wrapped tightly around his waist. Three fin-shaped spines ran down the centre of his back, with a matching pair on each forearm. The helmet he wore had a glowing orb in the centre of the forehead, and two wide slits that formed eyes covered with a black glass-like substance. Three fins ran down the centre of the helmet like a mohawk.
Held loosely in each hand were two near-identical swords. Each of them had a wide blade, the lower half serrated while the top half glinted with their sharpness. They both had golden handguards, curved up into the blade with a small pink orb sat at the centre. Both had wood-like handles, of equal length to the blade, distorted slightly like a tree branch with dull orbs looking like they were trying to break free. The only obvious difference between the weapons was that the sword in his right hand had a glowing pink orb at the base, held in small claw protrusions from the wood, while the second sword simply sported the clawed protrusions but no orb.
Radoraan gripped his swords tightly as a larger piece of floating rock passed nearby and he used the opportunity to hop across to it with a controlled leap. As he landed, bending his knees slightly to reduce the impact, two crows appeared from above and gently landed in front of him. While Radoraan looked down at them, a loud cry sounded from above him.
"Land ahoy!" Someone called and Radoraan saw a massive chunk of rock, seemingly torn from the side of the crater, heading for his position.
It crashed into the opposite end of the floating island Radoraan was on and he felt himself being catapulted into the air by the force. Instead of fighting it, Radoraan used the momentum to flip gracefully through the air and land on another island; this one was big enough for a small house. Radoraan spun on his heels, one sword held high to defend while the other was held low for attack, and quickly searched for his attacker. A shadow appeared in the ash above him and he quickly jumped back to avoid being crushed as a rather rotund man landed heavily, causing the island to shake worryingly before coming to a rest.
"I see you are my opponent," the large man said. "Do I know you from somewhere, you look vaguely familiar."
The man stood taller than Radoraan by a head or so and was at least twice as wide, making him look somewhat like a beach ball with arms and legs. His skin was a sickly green colour, with yellowish veins running its length, and had the vague outline of hundreds of different faces. He sported shoulder length white hair and a matching beard around a large mouth lined with multiple rows of teeth. Small black horns rose from his temples and two larger versions sprouted from each shoulder. He was wearing the remains of a white shirt, and black trousers, with a navy officer's coat tied around his neck and hanging down his back. A curved sword with a pommel the shape of a raven's head hung low on his left leg. On the end of his fingers were shiny, black, inch-long talons while his toes were similar.
"Anyway, I am Friedrich Altgraf." He said loudly as the two ravens from earlier landed on each shoulder.
Friedrich may have vaguely recognised Radoraan, although Radoraan was sure it was only the armour he recognised, but Radoraan had known who he was before he had introduced himself. It would have been low form for anyone to fail to recognise the military leader of Spectre. If he believed in luck, which he didn't, Radoraan would curse his; Grand Duke Friedrich Altgraf would be a hard man to beat.
"Oh that's right, you're a Sylth Knight, aren't you?" Friedrich continued.
Radoraan remained silent for a second before talking. "I am the current Sylth Knight, Radoraan of the Coral."
"Coral?" Friedrich said with a strange look on his face. "The one I met said he was 'of the Pearl', so you are named different things?"
Radoraan knew this man was his enemy, but something about the way he spoke made Radoraan want to answer his questions. "When a Sylth Knight is crowned, their object is equivalent to rank, of which there are five; Sand, Waves, Pearl, Reef, and Coral."
"Interesting. So you are the highest ranking Sylth Knight?"
"There are only 3 crowned knights at any one time, but yes, I am the highest currently." Radoraan smiled under his mask; it was a point of pride that he had been ranked above the other crowned knights.
"So this should be exciting then." Friedrich's eyes suddenly erupted with green light and one of the faces on his chest shot forward like a cannon, trailing vaporous green smoke.
Radoraan was quick on his feet and ducked beneath the attack, slicing his sword down its length to sever it in half. However, nothing happened as the face hit the ground behind him before growing into a naked human.
"Of course, a soul." Radoraan growled.
"Indeed, you recognise me, of course, so you should have really expected a soul." Friedrich replied with a grin.
Radoraan ducked a blow from the Soul and hopped backwards to the edge of the island. The Soul stumbled forward with arms flailing and Radoraan simply sidestepped and ducked in behind him, watching as the Soul teetered of the edge and fell into the lava. It disappeared behind the churning, super-heated sludge but a second later it floated upwards to hover in front of Radoraan.
"He's a soul, remember; a little bit of lava won't hurt him." Friedrich called from where he had landed, having not moved an inch.
Radoraan made a noise and then jumped backwards again, this time spinning his swords before slamming their hilts together. As they touched, the empty claw on his left sword closed around the orb on the right and a bright pink light erupted from it. The light slammed into the soul and as if the light was made of little metal shards and the soul flesh, the soul was rendered to pieces before disappearing.
Friedrich frowned and held out his hand, where the pieces of the soul quickly gathered to form a sphere. He lifted the sphere and dropped it into his open mouth, swallowing loudly before dropping his gaze to Radoraan.
"Now that's not very nice, he was going to kill you quickly. I don't like how you could kill him either, how did you do it?"
Radoraan spun his new dual-bladed weapon around in his hands, and the glow from the central spread outwards until the entire weapon was covered in its unearthly aura. He gripped it suddenly and swung it so he was holding it behind his back, one blade over his left shoulder, the other pointing downwards.
"The Sylth Knights are a beacon of hope for all of Abyss, trained and equipped to fight any and all foes; this includes the Necromancers of Spectre. We all carry anti-soul weapons on our persons." Radoraan replied.
Strangely unperturbed by the information, Friedrich simply smiled . "Indeed, now I think about it, the 'pearl' fellow I met before had similar weapons."
Suddenly three souls materialized around Radoraan, all of them reptilian in nature and wielding large spears of bone, and stabbed at him. Radoraan raised his arms in front of his face but otherwise he did nothing as the spears aimed to pierce him from all sides. However, as the soul weapons touched his armour, a flash of pink light erupted again and disintegrated the three attackers. When the green smoke cleared, the pink orbs on Radoraan's armour were now glowing; although he wasn't bathed in any kind of aura like his weapons.
This time, Friedrich looked rightly stunned. Radoraan couldn't help but smile; not that Friedrich could see it. "Oh, did I forget to mention that I'm wearing state-of-the-art armour; built with the same thing in mind as our training, so it is resistant to pretty much everything. Add to that being constructed of one of the hardest substances in the lands and you end up with a pretty impenetrable barrier between the outside world and me." This time Radoraan took the initiative and dashed forward, weapon spinning and ready to attack.
More nimble than he looked, Friedrich leaped away from the attack and landed on a different island in the lava, splashing the red hot liquid towards Radoraan. "It seems I'll have to bring out someone special for you. It's a shame about all this lava, or you'd have more to worry about than just souls." Friedrich's clawed hand pierced into his side and he pulled out a soul-face, its features angry with rage. "Say hello." He threw the soul back to Radoraan's island where it hit the ground and immediately started growing into an armoured man.
His armour was strikingly similar to Radoraan's, except that skin could be seen at thighs, biceps, and neck, and his helmet showed off deadly looking eyes and a grim mouth. In his hands, he held a long hafted trident with tiny orbs dotted the length of the shaft. Radoraan did not need to see the Kraken carved into the chest piece to realise who it was.
"You killed him?!" He said, directing his anger at Friedrich.
"Oh yes, after hours and hours of agonizing pain. He apparently tried to assassinate me, not that he ever told me who had hired him. Look, here are his friends." He spread his arms wide and four more angry looking soul-faces burst forward and landed next to the first man, forming quickly into two more men, and two women.
Radoraan started to physically shake with anger, his hand gripping his weapon beyond tightly while the other clenched tightly into a fist. "Xuul Du, Reng Ur, Rior Dan, Kerra Tu, Lught Va. I will cleanse your souls and free them to give you peace."
"My, you'll have to do more than beat them to free them from my service; in fact, even killing me wouldn't do that." Friedrich said with his slim smile ever present. "Anyway, stop babbling and fight!"
On the final word, Xuul Du raced forward and thrust at Radoraan with his trident. Radoraan deflected the blow with his dual-blade and spun into Xuul's guard, elbowing him in the face with his anti-soul armour. A flash of pink told of the contact but Radoraan ignored it as he stepped back to avoid the thrust of one of Kerra Tu's thin bladed daggers. As Xuul staggered backwards, Kerra took his place and initiated a flurry of lightning fast blows that rained down on Radoraan.
Even he could not block every single blow, but luckily his armour prevented Kerra from injuring him. Even as she continued her flurry, Radoraan saw Reng Ur step in behind him with his mighty war hammer and barely managed to dodge to the side as the weapon struck the ground and snapped it in two. Immediately lava started to seep up through the broken area and the island started to sink. Radoraan ignored his opponents, turned, and leapt quickly to a passing island, turning around again to see the five souls float and land next to him.
Kerra stepped in to resume her attack, but Radoraan ignored her as he deflected a pair of arrows aimed at his eyes; courtesy of Rior Dan. Rior fired another two, but Radoraan sidestepped them and ducked under Terra's renewed attack, slicing upwards through her chest and head as he did so. As his blade severed the soul, Radoraan took one of her daggers and launched it across the island where it took Rior in the face. Unfortunately, the soul dagger could not harm another soul, but Radoraan took the opportunity to roll into Xuul's range and pierce him through the chest.
Lught Va appeared next to him and her long sword pierced downwards with enough force to crack the ground. Radoraan elbowed her out of the way and took her sword in his free hand, launching it at Rior as he aimed another set of arrows after removing Kerra's dagger from his eye socket. This time it took him in the chest and sent him sprawling with its weight. A soul weapon couldn't hurt another soul, but it could still pierce them and cause them trouble.
Lught Va started to attack him with flailing fists but Radoraan simply cut them off and then beheaded her, before leaping across to Reng Ur and dodging the heavy hammer swing before severing his legs and piercing him through the forehead. Radoraan took the heavy hammer in hand and used it to knock Rior back to give him enough time to reach the archer. He quickly sliced through the bow string, rendering it useless, and then pierced him through the eyes. This left the whole team floundering on the floor, apparently useless.
Radoraan turned his attention to Friedrich and leapt across to the island he was standing on. "Your turn, except you'll have much more blood." He started advancing with his blade ready but stopped at Friedrich's smile.
"Oh dear boy, you underestimate me. I am Grand Duke Friedrich Altgraf, General-in-Chief of the Undead Armies of Spectre, and world renowned Necromancer. Don't think a silly 'anti-soul' weapon created by your useless Abyss can counter my summons."
Radoraan started to retort but felt a strong pull on his arm and saw an uninjured Kerra Tu grabbing it and pulling backwards. As he moved his other arm to free himself, Lught Va appeared and grabbed it, pulling it backwards. They started to pull him back towards the edge of the island and while struggling, Radoraan managed to drop his weapon. With a growl he used a burst of strength to reach down for it. However, before he could clasp it a strong arm wrapped around his neck and Reng Ur started dragging him back as well. Rior Dan stepped in front of him and wrapped his arms around Radoraan's waist before starting to push. Against four strong souls, Radoraan started sliding backwards against his best efforts; directly towards the lava at the edge of the island.
He tried to pull forward as his heels touched the edge but suddenly Xuul Du appeared and drop kicked him in the chest. He was knocked clear of the edge and the four warriors started pulling down when he hit the lava. Radoraan felt the heat was over him but still fought to break free of the souls' grip. However, Xuul appeared again and grasped the top of his head, forcing it downwards quicker.
Radoraan roared as the lava rose above his chin, but Friedrich only laughed until the armoured soldier was completely submerged. A minute passed and then the five souls floated upwards before Friedrich summoned them to his hand and returned them to his stomach to recharge their power.
"Mm, if I'd thought about it; I would have kept your body here so I could take your soul to join your kind. Oh well, next time perhaps."
He turned away with a laugh, when the ground cracked before him and suddenly Radoraan appeared, dripping lava from his armour, and latched onto the sword at Friedrich's belt.
"What!" Friedrich cried as the scabbard started to splinter under Radoraan's grip.
"I told you this armour was impenetrable. I'm sweating buckets but still alive enough to keep my promise." Radoraan said and then with another roar, he completely shattered the Grand Duke's sword.
Green energy surged out of it and started to surround Friedrich as he deflated like a balloon and the souls in his body started to leak out. "You have no idea what you've done, freeing all of these souls!"
Radoraan shrugged. "I've killed you." Then he turned and dived back into the lava just as Friedrich cried out and exploded in a sphere of green energy that spread around the crater but disturbed nothing.
Radoraan surfaced next to the island he had been dragged off of and pulled himself out of the lava. "I hate the heat." He muttered as a light appeared above him, he quickly shot out his hand and grasped his weapon just as the light covered him and took him away.