Smurfacolypse Chapter 73: The Dark Tower Part 2

Upon reaching the second floor the stone stairs the Smurfs had used to ascend floors crumbled before them. The once well-crafted stone steps with a life expectancy of thousands of years now lay a pile of dust and rubble before their very eyes leaving a behind a drop to the first floor that perhaps not even Clockwork Smurf would survive.

"That could be a problem later Hefty…" Farmer pointed out with a hand gesture aiding his words.

"Don't fall for their scare tactics. Their numbers are growing weaker, and we know how to kill them." Hefty said.

"So then their desperate?" Falconer asked.

"Exactly." Hefty said with a nod.

"In the end they're not so tough after all." Archer said.

"Nothing is stronger than the bond Smurfs in arms share, and our cause is greater than any. Steer clear of their tricks and always remember your training. I'm sure if we Smurf our heads together in the end we will find a way back out of the tower." Hefty said.

The Knights collectively nodded and they turn from the ruins of the staircase to face complete darkness, but just like on the first floor this one began to instantly light up by way of magic torches on the wall that lit themselves on fire as though they knew there was living things in the room that needed light to see. This room was a throne room with enough space in between to form a sizable arena. To provide further perspective as to just how sizable this room is, its size compares to that of the average living room in a modern human house. However, everything in the room was scaled to accommodate Smurf-sized beings, and this would be a common theme throughout the structure.

Once light filled the room another demon was revealed sitting atop a throne of bones guarding a spellbound staircase. A demon wielding a club with jagged bits of metal protruding from it in every direction sat on his throne. He was dressed in black tattered Smurf clothes with metal chains attached to the pants. Recognizing the demon and realizing they had little time to spare, Clockwork Smurf closed the distance between himself and the demon with a swift sprint. The Smurf then leaped approximately five meters towards the throne with his arm extended, his fingers were closely aligned and his hand stretch out. He jabbed his arm forward like a spear towards his opponent's throat, but the attack was blocked. The demon was able to block and suspend Clockwork's wooden body in the air with his club, preventing the attack and causing Clockwork Smurf to land just in front of the throne on his feet.

"You dare attack me as I sit on my own throne?!" The demon hissed.

Clockwork did not answer, but instead readied his fists in a fighting stance for battle.

"You cocky son of a bitch!" The demon yelled as he leaped from his throne to confront Clockwork Smurf.

Clockwork gave the demon no second to prepare before he sent a skull cracking right hook to the creature's jaw. The demon screamed in protest as his head tilted back involuntarily. The creature's jaw was destroyed, and was rendered defunct. Clockwork's punch had grotesquely deformed his opponent and made a part of his body entirely useless. However his opponent simply grabbed the damaged jawbone and violently popped it back into place with a sickening popping noise. The remaining fangs popped out of the lower jaw as though they were parts of a cheap plastic toy rather than bones with flesh around them. Mere seconds after the creature had performed first aid on itself a new set of fangs rapidly grew from the newly formed gums. Before Clockwork's very eyes his opponent had recovered from a permanent life altering injury effortlessly, and without feeling pain.

Clockwork patiently waited for his opponent to strike as he battled without fear. Something the black hearted are unaware of is that Clockwork is only a machine. The demon swung his club at Clockwork only for the wooden Smurf to block the weapon with his forearm. Clockwork then would deliver a punch to the Demon's gut before quickly punching it a few times in the face inflicting heavy damage with each attack. His opponent collected himself before once again swinging his club, but this time aiming for Clockwork's chest. The Club struck Clockwork's torso and did very little damage much to the frustration of his opponent. Clockwork tried to strike the demon in the chest with a quick punch but the attack was avoided, the demon then displayed extraordinary speed as he appeared as just a blur for a brief moment before reappearing behind Clockwork. Clockwork was then struck in the head with all the might his opponent could produce causing him to actually physically fall forward onto the ground.

Clockwork hit the floor of the arena face first after being hit by the full force of his opponent's attack. The wooden Smurf laid there for ten seconds. Hefty and the others weren't entirely sure just how much damage Clockwork would be able to sustain before he was destroyed. The only Smurf that knew such things was Handy. However that didn't change the fact Clockwork just suffered a blow powerful enough to shatter the back of a Smurf's skull and cause either immediate death, or severe brain damage followed by death. The jagged metal shards sticking out of the club scraped against Clockwork's obsidian armor as the demon continued to bash Clockwork as he lay on the ground. These specific ten seconds were hard to watch for the knights. Clockwork was unresponsive and his body was taking a beating. Under the armor was a wooden body built around mechanical parts. Clockwork's inner workings are delicate and with each attack from an opponent this powerful Clockwork risks sustaining internal damage that could render parts of his body useless, or even worse it could cause him to malfunction and enter a frenzy through which friend and foe are attacked indiscriminately.

After being unresponsive for ten seconds Clockwork quickly rolled out of the way of his opponent's club and stood back on his feet. The artificial Smurf then raised his fists and assumed his stance once again without saying a word.

"I have no idea how you are not dead." The demon said.

Clockwork did not respond.

The demon shook his head and then rushed towards Clockwork with his club in the air ready to strike. Clockwork dodged the attack by sidestepping to the right before quickly punching his opponent in the ribs causing several of them to break on the right side of the demon's ribcage. The most frustrating thing was that as they fought their opponent's gradually healed, but in a way it tested their power. Clockwork followed up the punch with another strong right hook to the chest sending his opponent back. Clockwork knew as well as the other knights that damaging the opponent's torso gave him greater chance of damaging the heart his opponent needs to exist. Fortunately this attack gave Clockwork the opening to unleash hell on his opponent's torso with a flurry of brutal punches. His opponent was being struck in such a way that despite the fact that he doesn't feel pain his body is flinching allowing Clockwork to attack quickly.

Clockwork's opponent began to attempt to pick up speed as he tried to bob and weave past Clockwork's punches. Eventually his opponent was able to adapt once again not caring at all for his own physical condition. The demon ducked at just the right time to avoid Clockwork's punch and then ended the combo by striking Clockwork in the leg causing Clockwork to lose balance. However Clockwork quickly caught himself and leaped backward creating a distance between himself and his opponent that was approximately 2 meters wide. Take note this the only amount of space Hefty allowed the knights to have during their last one on one training, and since the battle's begun clockwork has been almost restricting himself to these two meters giving his opponent barely any breathing room considering Clockwork's speed.

The demon was blinded by fury such that it couldn't comprehend how Clockwork was escaping his attacks seemingly unharmed. There were many contributing factors as to why Clockwork wasn't sustaining exterior physical damage. Clockwork's armor thin as it was is sustaining him, but when Clockwork suffers blunt force trauma of this extremity it risks knocking his inner workings loose. Inside Clockwork right now some of his inner workings have been dislodged, or are at risk of being dislodged. Clockwork was going to fight until he died or was incapable of doing so because that was the vow he took as a knight. He was not about to complain that his body was falling apart under the armor and tag himself out. That's simply not how a death match works. Therefore damaged as he is becoming, Clockwork must still fight for as long as he may stand.

After a brief stare down the match continued and Clockwork rushed in for another right hook, but by this time in the battle his opponent had learned enough about his moves to know what was coming. The result was Clockwork taking a bat to the head with such force he was physically sent flying backward. Clockwork hit the ground in a heap with a thud. Clockwork's head had rotated a hundred and eighty degrees and the armor protecting his wooden neck was destroyed and his head was bent at an unnatural angle. At last Clockwork was showing signs of physical damage.

"Clockwork doesn't look so good…" Farmer said as observed the battle with the other knights.

"Hefty you have to do something!" Sweepy said.

Hefty's heart was beating a mile a minute as he observed the battle. The adrenaline coursing through his system was intense. Hefty wasn't sure if he was loving this or hating it. The demon was laughing hard at Clockwork's mangled body. He was sure the end was near for Clockwork. If Clockwork were a normal Smurf he'd be dead, but as his opponent approached Clockwork his cocky grin faded when he saw the Smurf's body twitch. Clockwork slowly rose to a sitting position. The Smurf then grabbed his head and jerked it until it returned to the angle it was meant to be at. As he adjusted his head it rattled implying multiple lose components were simply swishing around in his head. His opponent would not give Clockwork the opportunity to stand. The demon quickly drew back his club and smashed Clockwork's head in with such force the limb was sent flying. The knights watched in horror as Clockwork's metal components shot out of his body and littered the floor. Clockwork's head rolled across the floor towards the knights and then stopped, Clockwork's headless body then fell motionless.

"I did it! I did it! He's dead!" The demon exclaimed excitedly.

"Hefty! What do we do what do we do?!" Sweepy asked.

Hefty was taking his time to come up with a strategy. The demon was circling Clockwork's body and admiring what he had done as though he had finished a work of art.

"That's funny… I don't feel any stronger." The demon said.

The demon walked towards Clockwork's headless body and when he got to it he nudged it with his foot. His eyebrow raised as he examined the body.

"What… the hell? A machine?" The demon said.

Then before anyone in the room could mentally prepare themselves the headless body of Clockwork Smurf sat up and grabbed the demon by the throat much to the creature's shock. The body crunched the creature's throat shut and held him in place while the right arm jabbed itself into the demon's torso breaking apart the ribs with ease and grasping the demon's heart as though it were an apple. The creature struggled which only made pulling the organ out even easier. Clockwork's headless body pulled the demon's heart out of its chest, and squashed it in its palm like a water balloon. Then just as with the last Black Hearted the souls of all the Smurfs he had killed ascended from the damaged heart towards the heavens, and the demon's body returned to the corpse of a Smurf.