Chapter 22: The Arbiter's Maze Part Two - Icicle Summoning and The Soul Arbiter!
Level V - Deception
Surprisingly, the trio were not in a room, but were at a confined open space with grey skies and clouds looming over the horizon.
"Oookay...That is not what I have expected." Chris frowned.
A heavily armored Undead with a green aura, skeleton pauldrons, a large sword, and a large skeleton shield spawned out from the ground. The Undead has two horns and its a jagged sword.
Morphology: Undead General
Description: Undead Generals are powerful foes who appear throughout the Kingdom of the Dead. They are equipped with large swords granting them high attack power, and huge shields which enable them to defend themselves from attack. A serious threat when surrounded by other enemies, they can be dangerous when alone too.
Easiest way to destroy them by attacking from behind as their shield are made of strong, unknown metals that completely block attacks.
"The Rider has come!" the General roared.
One Lich and two skeleton archers spawned from the ground.
Death summoned three ghouls once more, luring the General and the Lich while Death rolled towards the archer and killed it, thanks to Harvestor Revenge.
Chris slide behind the gap between the General's legs and unleashed a flurry of slashes, with the ghouls attacking and luring the General in front. Death unleashed a powerful charged shockwave on the General's side, killing it.
The Lich summoned two skeletons, but Death and Chris managed to leap away and allowed the ghouls to lure the Lich and skeletons. The ghouls exploded in the enemies' faces, staggering them while giving Chris and Death an opening to freeze and kill them easily.
"I have to admit, your ghouls make things that are hard, easy." Chris praised.
"I'm the one of masters of necromancy. No one except the rulers of Hell could match up to me." Death boasted.
"Who are the rulers?" Lifebane wondered.
"Samael, Lilith, and Lucifer." Death replied as the team entered the west portal.
"Lucifer and Lilith I know...I mean, Lucifer IS the Devil and Lilith is the bride of Lucifer herself. But Samael? Who's that?" Chris wondered, just as Death summoned the ghouls to fight the three skeletal archers in the next room and head for the Undead General.
"He's the Blood Prince and the second in line to assume the throne of hell, he's one of the most powerful demons as a result. His powers are enough to rival even Lucifer himself, and he has a very cunning personality just like I do." Death frowned as he froze the general using the Harvestor Revenge.
"The Devil Lucifer is, in all commonsense, powerful. For that Samael to be as powerful as the Devil...that's something." Chris frowned.
After the team destroyed the enemies easily...
"West." Death said.
Three Liches awaited the team.
Death summoned three ghouls towards the left, rolled on the right towards a Lich and froze it with Harvestor Revenge. Death managed to finish it using a flipsaw attack.
Chris managed to impale one Lich from its back, did an overhead smash, unleashed a powerful uppercut, froze it, and did a baseball smash towards locked gates. The ice prison disintegrated, killing the Lich. The ghouls managed to slash the Lich enough time to kill the latter with a triple mini-explosion.
"Then again...against monsters like these, your ghouls certainly helped." Chris praised.
"I did promise to teach you necromancy, or at least the art of summoning troops. Thing is, you got the gist of it." Death replied as they head towards the North gate.
"I don't follow you." Chris wondered.
"Ice Skeletons, get it?" Death replied.
"My Project Tundra to create ice and construct skeletons, right?" Chris wondered.
"That and using the arcane powers in your Project Tundra's rune that Kako blessed you with, and there you go." Death replied.
"It's not easy, I suppose?" Chris wondered.
"It is difficult for people who are just into arcane magic. But as long as someone is able to master arcane magic and control a certain medium well. For example, I have mastered arcane magic and have a medium, necromancy. You said that you have been in intensive training with Project Tundra during the two years since the Kako's incident, right?" Death spoke as he rips off the head of one Lich with ease and did a Harvestor Revenge in the other.
"Yes, I do." Chris replied.
"Your mastery of ice and arcane magic should allow you to create troops and control them. That, I can teach Alito too." Death nodded as he stepped aside just as the Lich was about to strike Chris.
Alito powered down from Lifebane and shot out after the uppercut to the Lich took effect. "Really?"
Chris managed to launch a huge uppercut and kicked the Lich to the other side of the room.
"Well, you both have earned my respect for your resilience. So I should help you out some, right?" Death replied. "Summon your elements first!"
Chris closed her eyes, twirled her hands, and the rune in her left eye glowed as she summoned two big ice towers. Alito summoned a powerful wind barrier as her rune in her right eyes glowed, signifying Project Ventus's activation.
The Lich summoned its two skeletons to the fray.
"Do whatever you can to visualize a skeleton!" Death shot out.
Chris's Project Tundra and Alito's Project Ventus glowed as they scanned through the Skeleton's vital statistics, body parts, attacks, weak spots, and movements.
Using the data, Chris and Alito used their arcane magic, which they mastered over the two years since the Kako's incident, to manipulate their elements in quickly constructing skeletons.
Chris's ice towers shattered as she weaved her hands in an intricate fashion to bring forth the icicle fragments together into a skeleton!
Alito compressed the air around her, forming a transparent skeletal outline with skeletal features.
Both women are able to use their experienced mastery of their Project Programmes and Arcane magic to create their skeletons before dodging the Lich's skeleton assault.
"Nice..." Alito's eyes widened.
"I have to admit...that's impressive." Chris nodded.
Chris and Alito commanded, "Attack!"
Thanks to the strong arcane magic and elemental attributes of both Chris and Alito, the skeletons they created managed to charge and shattered the Lich's skeleton within several heavy strikes.
"Yes!" Alito gave Chris a high-five.
"It's always nice to learn new stuffs." Chris simpered as they proceeded to destroy the Lich.
"I thought it's going to be hard. Thanks, Pale Rider." Alito replied, thanking Death in the process.
"People only think that summoning troops are for necromancers because it's common for necromancers like me to do summoning. The truth is - summoning is nothing special. People who have mastery over arcane magic and the element that he or she specialises in should have no problem doing that. In fact, our world has many of those; it is just that most of them happen to be necromancers. I met supernatural beings over the years who can summon lightning elementals and fire elementals too, yet people still think that summoning are for necromancers only. I don't know...some terms people used to generalize something..." Death replied.
"Stereotype?" Chris wondered.
"Yeah, that." Death gave a grunt. "That aside, constant usage of summoning and defeating enemies will allow you to gain experience in summoning more of them. Don't say I do not let you know."
Five more level down Isolation, Revulsion, Inversion, Benediction, and Ascension...
"So...this is it. The Soul Arbiter waits in the next room." Chris exhaled deeply.
"Let's end this maze..." Death frowned.
The trio entered the final area as a light blue undead with heavy armor that has skeleton ornaments and white highlights around its armor and boots. Its left held a skeleton-shaped gauntlet and his right held a large, skeletal blade with a skeleton's jaws for a hilt. Its shoulder pads are two bone dragon's heads.
"A thousand years, the crown has lied. It's true owner cast aside. The kingdom ruled by hate and fear. You will regret coming here..." the Soul Arbiter unleashed a huge overhead smash that Death, Chris, and Alito managed to dodge past.
Morphology: Soul Arbiter
Race: Undead
Armor: Heavy
Attack Type: Melee
Description: According to the brief description of Argul, the Soul Arbiter used to be his most loyal Dead Lord, serving him even after his death. The Soul Arbiter is an extremely powerful Dead Lord. Attacking with powerful blade blows and energy slams. Though powerful and quick, his combo last only seconds and will have to recover afterwards. Attack him after he finishes one of his moves.
"Fight first, talk later!" Death commanded.
"Right!" Chris and Alito nodded as they summoned their ice and wind skeletons each.
Death summoned three ghouls and successfully lured the Soul Arbiter to them. Chris, Alito, and Death moved behind and unleashed three powerful projectiles of ice, wind, and charged shockwave towards the Soul Arbiter.
The ice, wind skeletons, and Death's ghouls ran towards the Soul Arbiter and delivered many brutal slashes. Their claws tore through the Undead's flesh at a fast rate, sparing no mercy at their assault.
The explosions they released staggered the Soul Arbiter giving Death an opening.
Death swiftly did a Harvestor Revenge, impaled the Soul Arbiter's armor with his possessed scythe, and threw the Undead to the other side of the battlefield. Chris impaled
The Soul Arbiter quickly recovered and slammed his blade on the floor, summoning several skeleton warriors.
Current Condition: Soul Arbiter is now in invulnerability period. Current Weapons are unable to damage him - destroy summoned enemies.
Death responded by summoning three ghouls once more to lure the other half of the summoned troops and the Soul Arbiter.
Death rolled over to two skeleton warriors and killed them with Harvestor Revenge. He then swiftly teleported over to another skeleton warrior, impaled the skeleton's chest, and ripped it to shreds.
A skeleton archer shot two arrows at Death, but the Pale Rider evaded towards the side, teleported straight to the skeleton archer, and swiftly tore through his spine. His eyes glowing with glee as he grunted in satisfaction at seeing the bones scattered across his feet. He gave no qualms about it, he enjoyed every minute and second of killing enemies beneath his feet, even if they are easy to slay.
Aside from people he respected, his siblings, or anyone whom he needs for interrogation, he had never had qualms of killing smaller characters to satisfy his brutality, or to get what he wanted.
Chris and Alito kept their distance and unleashed powerful projectiles towards the remaining skeletons on their sides. With their summons and Death's ghouls, they tore through the Arbiter's summons easily.
Enraged, the Undead released a huge burst of energy to knock the trio down, but they managed to stand their ground.
Summoning another three ghouls, Death commanded them to strike the Soul Arbiter and unleashed several-charged shockwave with his Slice of Death, while Alito transformed into Lifebane.
Staggered, the Arbiter did not notice Chris coming behind him. The Icy Maiden slide past the gap beneath the Arbiter's legs, drove her Lifebane down the Soul Arbiter's back armor and with a shout, threw the Undead into a cold, piercing icicle tower. Death's ghoul ran towards the Soul Arbiter and exploded right in his face!
Frustrated by his repeated attempts to land a hit, the Undead summoned another skeleton troop, completely covering himself with a barrier once more.
Chris shattered the icicle tower that she summoned to pierce the Arbiter and used Lifebane to conjure a huge wind, shooting the icicle shards past the skeletons by their head and killing them.
"Talk about a brain-freeze!" Chris simpered.
Death unleashed two more shockwave just as soon as the Arbiter's barrier faded. The Undead roared and slammed his sword once more, summoning an Undead General.
Current Condition: Arbiter's frustration has placed him on overdrive. He's able to move even with the barrier on. The Undead general is also able to block any moves head-on with the exception of high-impact moves. Separate them - they moved in pairs.
Death summoned three ghouls once more, distracting the Soul Arbiter.
"Magnetic Ride Dampeners set at maximum. Maximum Strength - Engaged; Damage absorption and damage increase at the ready. Applying Project Tundra's signature element - Ice."
Chris's eyes glowed as she roared and charged towards a blocking Undead General, creating a high impact collision that threw the General off to the other side of the wall.
Chris plunged her Lifebane into the thick armor of the Undead General and, ignoring any pain from the Undead's burning aura, ripped its spine out with a loud crack.
With the Arbiter's barrier gone, Death unleashed another shockwave as he brought out his Possessed Scythes, merged it, and clashed the Arbiter's sword with it.
Death knocked the sword off the Arbiter's hand handily, knocked the Arbiter's jaw with the hilt, unleashed an uppercut, and kicked him brutally in his stomach.
"Enough, Arbiter! We are not here to kill you!" Chris shot out.
The Undead snarled. "Why is it that you are here, besides the Chancellor sending you to kill me?"
"Who the fuck is the Chancellor? Argul sent us here, not the Chancellor or whatsisname!" Chris shot back.
The Soul Arbiter's blue eyes widened as his battle aura died down and Death stood down.
"M...My Lord sends you here?" the Soul Arbiter frowned.
"Yes...and he wants you to read this in the last Arbiter's Maze scroll." Alito sighed as she gave the Undead General the scroll.
A few minutes later...
Reading the Scroll, the Soul Arbiter fell to his knees and lowered his head down in shame.
"I never knew...Never knew that My Lord would be alive, encased by the prison of ice brought by the betrayer. If that is what my King wants, release from the madness that he had suffered from eons on end...then so be it. I am deeply sorry for the early assault; I thought the Chancellor sent the three of you to erase Me." the Soul Arbiter bowed.
"We're not. But why does Argul sent us here? For what reason he wants us to know about you?" Death asked.
"Argul wants you to know how he's betrayed. You might think that the King is just mad and deserves killing, right?" the Soul Arbiter asked.
The trio nodded.
The Arbiter shook his head. "No...He was driven mad by the Chancellor and the Lord of Bones."
"What?!" Chris and Alito's eyes widened.
"Why didn't the Charred Council know about this?" Death demanded.
"Because no one would believe me. The Lord of Bones made it such that My Lord was driven insane by his power and paranoia, but only I knew the secrets behind how My Lord went insane. It is a simple trick, but it was well enough to push My Lord over the edge. This is why the Chancellor and the Lord of Bones are so determined to destroy me for millennia on end. I have no other choice but to hide in my maze." the Arbiter sighed.
"What was it then?" Death asked.
"My Lord appreciates his Dead Lord's services, which is why he grieved a lot when they were killed one by one as the days as the weeks goes by. When My Lord demanded to know a reason why, the Chancellor and the Lord of Bones convinced him that it was an ominous sign of the Four Horsemen's eventual arrival." the Soul Arbiter explained, took a deep breath, and continued.
"Too consumed by grief at his closest members and Dead Lords dying mysteriously, My Lord eventually became insane and started indulging in odd behaviours. This gave the Lord of Bones an excuse to rebel against the formal Dead King. The Lord of Bones and the Chancellor have a smirk on their face that I just cannot trust, but I cannot find any evidence against them yet. However, a day before the King's fall, I stumbled upon a slightly opened door to the Lord of Bones's room and I discovered that his plan was to kill the Dead Lords one by one, trick My Lord into insanity, and destroy him when the time comes." he explained.
"I assume it's too late by that time?" Death asked.
"Yes...the Lord of Bones found out about my trespassing and he exiled me before I could do anything. Year after year, I attempted to break out of my home and attempted to report the case to Charred Council with the evidence I got but...the Lord of Bones's troops are always at the ready to capture and execute me. They are strong, and I can do none to stop them." the Arbiter sighed.
"To be honest, you're really strong." Chris praised, "So why didn't you..."
The Soul Arbiter shook his head. "I might be strong, but the Lord of Bones is stronger. I've exhausted all my solutions, even trying combating the Lord of Bones once, but he has a charm that helps him neutralize attacks even when he's stationary - I can't get at him. Since Corruption began infecting the Dead Plains, I have retreated home. Corruption is strong, and will consume even the dead."
"How invincible is the Dead King?" Chris wondered.
"During my futile battle with the Lord of Bones, he boasted that he is able to defeat the Four without the Seals behind them." the Arbiter frowned.
Death clenched his fists, anger rippled through his veins into his forehead and his eyes. "So...the Lord of Bones accused the Four of making Argul mad, even when we have nothing to do with the travesty that will potentially hurt the Balance in millennias to come...right?" he hissed.
"Yes." the Soul Arbiter bowed, just in time to be grabbed by the collar by an angry Death.
"Your Lord of Bones threatened the Balance and even accused me, and most importantly, my brothers in doing something that we didn't! Take me to your Lord of Bones!" Death swung the Soul Arbiter to the other side of the portal.
The Soul Arbiter could see the ominous figure looming towards him as the he tried to recover.
"Please, I have no means to get there! But I have enough power to send you to Serpent's Peak, where you can find the Eternal Throne!" the Arbiter pleaded, just as Death nearly silted the Arbiter's throat.
Chris and Alito rushed over to tend to the Arbiter's injuries using ice and wind.
"A wronged king killed by a false king and the latter used this power to convert it into a rule of hate and fear?" Chris asked.
"Yes..." the Soul Arbiter nodded.
Chris crossed her arms. "But we need him to reach the Well of Souls. Ostegoth told us that."
"Screw the Dead King; we will find other ways to get to the Well of Souls without his help!" Death hissed.
"But he's virtually invincible if you never ride the Power of the Seals, remember?" Alito recounted.
"Damn it..." Death sighed.
Chris, Death, and Alito wrapped their brains to see if they find another solution.
Chris, being the calmest of the three, said, "Soul Arbiter, do you notice anything unusual in the Kingdom of the Dead, aside from the Corruption, from your home?"
"Yes. All but three Dead Lords are dead - Basilieus, Phariseer, and Adjudicator. All three were forced to serve the Lord of Bones against his will after the rebellion, but lately they have disobeyed the Lord of Bones for some reason."
Chris racked her brains for a while; while Death was wondering, what the Icy Maiden could be thinking.
Chris's light bulb lit up...prompting a smile on Alito's face, yet a puzzled look from Death.