Chapter 19

Maya heard the great doors slam closed behind her as she passed into the throne room, and she knew that her friends would not be able to get in. She pushed them out of her mind for the time being, knowing she needed to be focused in order to leave this place alive. She strode purposefully across the floor. There were no gihox in the room, but more importantly there were none of those horrible, animated statues. Her mind inadvertently wandered back to the corridor outside, and her friends facing down those stone monsters. She forced herself to think only about the task at hand.

''Your past sins have finally caught up to you,'' Maya said, stopping before the great dais. ''Your army is routed, and your fortress will fall in short order. You will be called to account for all the terrible things you've done.''

''I've lost the battle, that much is undeniable,'' Malice said dryly. ''But the war has only just begun. I just had a vision of the future, where the world cowers before a regime that none dares question.''

''Your lies don't impress me,'' Maya said, pressing her knuckles together and bending over slightly. ''I challenge you to a kairu battle.''

''I'm going to enjoy watching you die,'' Malice rose from her throne and dipped a similar bow. ''Challenge accepted.''

The clouds above the great fortress began to gather and the wind picked up, making them swirl. A bluish glow lit up the sky and bathed the chaotic battle below in its radiance, and the fog drifting in the courtyard reflected the glow. The banner hanging from the tallest spire flapped like crazy, and streaks of lightning flashed in the background. Thunder rolled ominously, adding to the din of the battle.

Maya lifted her x-reader. ''HARRIER!'' she shouted, and then she roared as the power of her signature monster surged through her form.

''FANARLOKI!'' Malice bellowed, and then she felt the power of her dragon flow through her, making her feel unstoppable.

Maya fell into a fighting crouch, legs wide apart and slightly bent for balance, and she clutched her quarterstaff tightly. She took a deep breath, then exhaled, surrendering to her instincts and her reflexes. It was either to due or die now, and she intended to do the former. Malice grabbed the front of her cloak and tore the garment free, tossing it off the side of the dais. The cloak fell to the floor, and the dark spirit slowly walked down the steps, a wicked grin plastered across her dark face. That smile turned into a vicious snarl then, as she launched herself down the rest of the steps and charged at Maya.

xxxxx

Ky leaped back and sucked in his belly as Zane swung at him, and the shadow sword swished across mere inches from his flesh. He planted his feet firmly and deflected another one of Zane's attacks, sparks flying as the two blades met. He followed his parry up with a thrust aimed for the chest of his opponent. Zane darted back, but caught his heel on a corpse and stumbled. Ky did not hesitate to capitalize on the advantage, and he surged ahead with an over the shoulder chop. Zane threw himself the rest of the way to the ground, and the plasma sword hit nothing but air.

Ky was about to end the fight with a well aimed thrust, but Zane grabbed a handful of dirt and flung it in his face. The kairu champion instinctively squeezed his eyes shut and looked away to prevent the dirt from getting into his eyes. He realized his error almost immediately, as he felt an impact against his ankle, tripping him over. He landed heavily on his back, the impact blasting the air from his lungs, and his sword fell from his grasp. He reached for it, but a foot stomped down on his wrist, pinning his arm to the ground. He looked up to see Zane towering over him, a maniacal grin on his green face.

''Our feud ends today,'' Zane proclaimed, raising his sword for the killing blow.

Ky raised his free hand even as the sword came slashing down, and a beam of acid shot from his palm. Zane cried out in agony as the acid splashed across his face, and he dropped his sword in favor of clutching at his injured visage. He stumbled back, the acid burning his hands even as he held them to his face. Ky felt the pressure on his wrist go away, and he reached over and grabbed up his sword. He staggered to his feet and turned to his enemy, who was screaming and clutching at his face.

''You're right, Zane,'' Ky said through gritted teeth. ''Our feud ends today.''

Ky burst into a charge at his opponent, plasma sword poised over his shoulder and glowing fiercely. Zane must have sensed he was in danger, for he lowered his hands, and Ky could see the ruin of his face. The skin had melted, with bits of flesh hanging and dripping from the front of his skull, leaving the red, raw mess beneath visible, and that was in turn interspersed by the white of bone. His good eye had by some miracle escaped harm, and how that eye widened in horror at his charge. Ky could see his own reflection there, could see himself swing the red sword across.

Zane stopped screaming as his severed head flopped through the air, blood gushing from the stump of his neck. The corpse crumpled to the ground, and the head rolled about in the dirt before stopping, its dead gaze settling on Ky. The kairu champion stumbled back, his plasma sword vanishing into thin air. He leaned forward with his hands on his knees, and he stayed like that for several moments, gathering his thoughts after what he had done. He also felt very drained.

Ky straightened and ran into the black fortress.

xxxxx

Maya twirled her quarterstaff left and right and forward and back, picking off the vicious jabs and deceivingly powerful kicks Malice snapped her way. She was doing an excellent job at defense, but she had not managed to get a hit through the dark spirit's defenses. She could feel frustration welling up inside her, but she smothered it ruthlessly. She would just have to be patient and wait for her opportunity to strike. That opportunity came sooner than she would have thought. Malice gave a pained grunt and instinctively brought a hand to her chest, beads of sweat forming on her brow.

Maya was not about to waste so perfect and opportunity, and grabbed one end of her staff in both hands and swung mightily. The pole smacked Malice hard on the shoulder, and with a grunt she fell to the floor. Maya twirled the staff in front of her and retracted it, intending to stab with it, but she never got the chance. The dark spirit pressed her hands against the floor and sent her inner kairu into it. Maya was about to stab when something ceased her leg from behind. She looked back to see what had caught her, and her eyes widened in horror when she saw what it was.

The floor behind her seemed to be partly solid and partly liquid, but that was not what had drained the blood from her face. That honor belonged to the huge hand that had appeared from the floor, and it clutched her leg with terrifying strength. It was the hand of a gihox, but this particular gihox was obviously no longer alive. The skin of its hand was gray and blotched by rot, and it was missing several fingernails. The head appeared out of the floor, the bloated face of a gihox. One eye was in the process of rotting, but the other was an empty socket, with a purple light blazing inside.

Maya beat at the hand repeatedly with her quarterstaff, but the zombie did not let go of her leg, and just squeezed all the harder. She saw to her horror that another gihox zombie was rising from the floor a few feet away. This one was particularly hideous, for the front of its skull had been torn clear off. Malice was getting back to her feet, and Maya knew that she did not have much time. She took up her x-reader and held it up above her head, and she was enveloped in a shroud of green energy. When it dissipated, she had assumed the form of harrier, her signature monster.

Maya rose into the air on flapping wings, and the zombie holding her leg was pulled out of the floor, and it dangled from her leg. She flew across the throne room, then banked hard toward the other zombie. She upturned her wings on the last moment and used her claws to slash the wrist of the zombie holding her. The zombie crashed into its somewhat less than alive companion, and they fell in a heap to the floor. ''HEAT BEAM!'' she shouted, and a red beam shot from her hand, striking the zombies. Their silhouttes could be seen within the beam, but only for a moment, for they were turned to ash.

Maya suddenly felt a sting in her chest, and her features twisted into the avian equivelant of a pained grimace. She clutched at her chest as she hovered in mid air, flapping wings sending soft gusts through the room. The pain began to subside, but then froztok was hurled through the great doors to the room. His violent arrival was accompanied by a spray of obsidian shards and pices. A flying shard slashed across her face, drawing a line over her right eye, though the eye was luckily spared from harm. Boomer hit the floor with a crack and slid to the base of the great dais, where he reverted back to human form.

Maya paid the gash on her face no mind, but looked from her friend to the hydrax statue that was slowly walking toward him. The stone monster was chipped and cracked in many places, and it was missing one head, but it did not care. Cat stood behind the statue, shouting curses at it even as she fired shot after shot into its back. Maya dove at the statue, and it tried to knock her out of the air, but she twisted and dodged the attempt. ''SEISMIC SHAKE!'' she cried, slamming into its chest, and cracks spread from the point of impact. With a lot of noise and a cloud of dust, the statue crumbled into rubble.

Maya looked to the where the great doors had been, and noted with dismay that more statues were entering the throne room. She felt drained, and knew that the stone was affecting her. Suddenly she heard Cat scream, and her gaze swiveled in the direction of the sound. The fire-haired woman stood very still and very rigid, and Malice was grinning over her shoulder, one hand pulling back her head, the other holding a serrated knife up to her exposed throat. Maya narrowed her eyes threateningly but did not advance, for she had no doubt the dark spirit would put the knife to deadly use.

''You are so impractical,'' Malice chuckled. ''Letting sentimentality stand in the way of doing what needs to be done.''

''And you're full of apathy,'' Maya snapped back. ''You don't care about anything or anyone besides yourself.''

Now it was Malice who glared threateningly, and she slapped Cat across the forehead with her free hand, the knife poised a breadth from her throat. But then a muscular arm darted around the dark spirit, ceasing her knife holding hand in its iron grip. Malice felt her arm wrenched away from the throat of her intended victim. She looked over her stretched shoulder to where Boomer glared pure murder at her. She tried to resist, but he was much bigger and stronger than she, and he picked her up and heaved her across the room. She slammed hard into a wall.

The statues came on then, taking slow and thunderous steps, the ground shaking beneath their feet. Maya knew she could destroy the statues, but she knew too that if she did that, her energy would be greatly depleted by the time she was done. Her hesitation only lasted for a moment, though, and she prepared to throw an attack. But she never got a chance to do it. There came a shout from the door, and a beam of orange plasma smashed into one of the stone monsters, hurling it into three other statues beside it. The statues smashed together and broke apart into rubble.

Maya looked to where Ky stood with his arm extended in the doorway, smoke wafting from his fingers and a smile on his face. She smiled back and then she turned her attention back to the remaining statues. With the whole team here, they could destroy the stone monsters and still have a chance of defeating Malice. She spread her wings and raised her hands, and a stream of red energy balls burst from them, eating away at the statues and collapsing them into piles of rubble, sending a cloud of dust into the air.

''You can't win, Malice,'' Ky exclaimed, pointing at the dark spirit. ''There are four of us, and only one of you.''

''There may indeed be more of you,'' Malice said. ''But I hold the ultimate advantage, for I'm not affected by the stone.''

''We'll just have to beat you before our energy is depleted,'' Ky said as he jogged over to his friends.

''I trust you gave Zane a kick for me,'' Boomer said.

''Zane is dead,'' Ky said, and there was no pride in his voice.

''What?'' Malice quipped from across the way.

''Zane is dead,'' Ky said again. ''Slain by my own hand.''

Malice fell back against the wall, but the wall felt distant to her, as did the rest of the room and the people in it. She shook her head violently, her mind denying the truth of what she had just heard, needing to think that Ky was lying to her. But the manner in which he had spoken had conveyed the truth to her, beyond the shadow of a doubt. Tears welled up in her horrified purple eyes, and it became more difficult to breathe. Zane had been more than just her lover. Her relationship with him had been her only link to her humanity, and with him gone, that link was severed. Now she was alone, with only her anger and her hatred for company.

Now there remained only the beast within her.

Malice sank to her knees, and let out a howl that beat at the walls, and she saw the world as if through a screen of red. She wanted to kill everyone and everything upon this miserable earth. Without consciously knowing it, she started transforming into the dragon, the monster that now mirrored her soul. A pair of great, leathery wings sprouted from her back and spread out behind her, even as her bone structure began to change. She wanted to destroy entire cities and lay waste to the land about. Her teeth became fangs and her fingers grew hooked claws, and horns sprouted from her changing skull.

''I hate to say it,'' Maya began, ''but I doubt we have enough energy to beat her.''

''Boomer and I still have a little kairu left in us,'' Ky said. ''We could share our attacks and kairu energy with you, Maya.''

''Okay,'' Maya said. ''It's worth a try.''

Cat watched them from the side.

The two boys took their positions in front of Maya and joined hands, then Ky held his x-reader out toward her. A look of intense concentration came over his face, and then he and Boomer were wreathed in a shroud of bluish white energy. That energy jumped off them and onto Maya, and it swirled about her before she absorbed it. Maya closed her eyes when it was over, and felt the combined might of metanoid and froztok coursing through her great wings and mighty limbs, and she could feel their attacks at her beck and call. The boys sagged to the floor, with just enough energy left to stay conscious.

''Use it well,'' Ky bade her.

Maya nodded, then she raised her arm above her head. ''PLATINUM HARRIER!'' she cried out, and tiny bits of shiny metal appeared, swirling in the air about her. The pieces of metal were drawn to her, covering every square inch of her flesh, and then they were hurled in all directions, revealing her ultimate monster, clad in gleaming armor. She threw back her head and opened her beak, letting out a mighty roar that was partly her own voice, and partly the screech of a bird.

Malice completed her transformation and opened her fanged maw, purple light growing within as she prepared to unleash her attack.

''RIGHTEOUS LIGHT!'' Maya shouted, reaching out with her right hand, and it began to emanate a brilliant glow. ''PLATINUM BLADE!'' She reached out with her other and grasped at the air, as if she were clutching a weapon. A magnificent sword appeared in her waiting grasp, and she held it up before her. She slid the palm of her glowing hand across the flat of the blade, and the brilliant glow was transferred over to it, making it shine like the sun itself.

Malice unleashed a beam of purple energy from her open maw, the attack fueled by all her anger and hatred.

''RIGHTEOUS BLADE!'' Maya shouted, pointing the shining sword at the dragoness, and loosing a beam of brilliant white energy her way.

The attacks smashed together with tremendous force, and the very ground beneath their feet trembled from the titanic confrontation. The white beam inched toward the dragoness, but then the purple beam pushed back even harder. The air in the throne room started tingling with raw power, and lights flashed black and white. Maya dug her claws in and poured every ounce of power she could muster into the powerful attack. The floor right under the beams cracked in fissures, and stray tendrils of pink energy shot from where the beams met, chipping the walls and ceiling.

Cat huddled against the wall, covering her ears from the noise.

Malice thought of her dead lover, putting every ounce of her power behind the purple beam, ruthlessly driving it forward. But the white beam pushed back with equal ferocity, and so the dragoness fought harder, only to have Maya redouble her own efforts. She thought of her prison within her own mind, and the years that had been stolen from her, and she channeled that boiling rage into her attack, driving the purple beam to within several feet of Maya.

Maya watched the spot where the beams met come closer and closer, until it was a few inches from the tip of her sword. She closed her eyes and thought about all the death and destruction that Malice had brought into her life. She thought of the gihox, and the blanket of crows that covered the battlefields when the fighting was done. She imagined the stench of death and the stench of corpses being burned on a pyre. She opened her eyes and looked past the clashing attacks, to the insane gleam Malice's reptilian-looking eyes, and she knew beyond the shadow of a doubt that this monster could not be allowed to walk the earth.

Maya felt herself getting light-headed from kairu expenditure, and her arms were growing numb from the punishment. Then she felt the sting in her chest, and this time it was more severe than on previous occasions. Sweat beaded on her beaked face as pain rolled over her in waves, threatening to drown her. With all the strength she had left she roared a final cry of rage and defiance, and the beams slammed into Malice, engulfing the dark spirit in a torrent of brilliant white energy.

Malice felt the white energy dance over her scales, and she let out a wail that was partly her own agonized scream, and partly rumbling thunder. Those screams only grew louder as cracks started to appear in her flesh, brilliant white light shining through. More cracks appeared, spreading across her form. Her screams beat at the walls, as the cracks widened, widened until she was barely visible for all the white light pouring out. Her screams reached a crescendo, and then they were drowned out by an explosion of light that rocked the fortress and hurled everyone in the room back against the wall.

Silence fell.

The churning clouds above the fortress stilled and went back to normal, and the wind died down to a light breeze.

A tendril of bluish white energy pirouetted gracefully through the room and dove into Maya where she lay on the floor, and the pain in her chest ceased. She took a deep breath, and somehow felt whole, somehow felt complete. She struggled to her knees, her vision swimming, and she looked to where Malice had been. There remained nothing of the dark spirit, save for gray ash scattered across the floor. She smiled a disbelieving smile, for it was finally over.

Malice was no more.

Then she fell back down into unconsciousness.

To be continued...

I hadn't really given much thought to how it would feel to kill Malice off. I've been working with this character for more than two years now, and while I always intended to kill her off, it still feels weird that she's just gone. Well, at least she went out with a bang (metaphorically and literally). The epilogue will come soon :)