Journey of a Betrayed Hero- Volume 2

by Brandon Varnell

  “Oh? I see you two are finally ready to begin our final showdown?” Lust licked her lips. “You don’t know how long I’ve been waiting for this, hero. Ever since our battle in Tallus Caelum, I haven’t been able to get you out of my mind.”

  “I’m not sure if I should be flattered or disgusted,” Jacob said.

  “I’d be flattered,” Durandal added.

  “Shut up, D.”

  Lust shuddered as a warm blush lit her pale cheeks and her breathing grew heavy. “You don’t know how long I’ve been waiting to feel these emotions again, to feel alive again. Come, you two.” Her lips splitting into a grin that showed off her pearly whites, Lust gestured for them. “Come and make me feel alive!”

  Jacob rushed forward, Durandal singing as he swung the blade faster than the human eye could blink. It was blocked by Lust. However, the force of his swing was powerful enough that she was lifted off her feet and sent sailing through the air. Jacob didn’t hesitate. He leapt after her.

  Appearing above her in a burst of speed, Jacob swung Durandal again. Lust cackled as she, once more, blocked his attack. Since she was flying horizontally to the ground, she was slammed against the floor, which cratered underneath her.

  Jacob didn’t have anything stopping him. He continued soaring through the air. He flipped around, landing on his feet and skidding across the floor. In that time, Enyo had finished chanting a rather long incantation.

  A large wall of dark matter appeared above the crater. Tendrils of energy like arcs of lightning skittered across its crackling surface. On her command, the wall fell, slamming into the ground, crushing the floor, and then exploding with a terrific howl that reminded Jacob of damned souls screaming in agony.

  Did that kill her?

  It didn’t. Laughter erupted from within the explosion of energy, which dispersed seconds later as a powerful gust of wind and energy burst from the center. Lust, her clothing torn and blood running down her head, wore the largest grin that he’d ever seen. It was a joyful grin, a spirited grin, the kind a child might give when they were having fun.

  “Yes! Yes, that’s it! This is the feeling that I’ve longed for! More! Give me more!”

  Lust raised her hands into the air as though preparing to conduct an orchestra. Roots erupted from the ground, large and thick, twisted and gnarled, they plowed through the floor, ascending higher and higher before they broke through the roof. Then they came back down to crush him and Enyo.

  Jacob didn’t think. He just acted.

  His body enhanced, he moved across the floor, weaving between roots as he grabbed Alice, Freya, and Kindness. The wall before them was gone, demolished during Enyo’s fight with Lust before he had arrived. Jacob threw all three of them outside.

  He turned around. Enyo was trapped by several roots. He could see occasional flashes of her as she launched blades of dark energy, slicing roots apart with every swing. Up above them, standing on one of the roots, Lust laughed down at them both.

  “That’s right! Fight! Struggle! Let me see your determination burning brighter than ever before I snuff it out!”

  She talks a lot. Has she gone insane?

  Jacob launched himself into the air, high above Lust, and then descended right toward her. Durandal sung as it sliced the air. His attack, which would have cut the woman in two, was blocked by a hand. The root underneath her cracked, but she did not budge.

  “Why, hello there,” Lust said with a smile—right before she smashed a glowing ball of energy into his face.

  Jacob yelped as the light blinded him and burned his skin. He felt the air in front of him shift and leapt back. A cool breeze struck his skin. His shirt had been torn.

  Rubbing his eyes, Jacob landed on the ground and blinked several times. Sixteen roots the size of the columns that once stood in this hall met his returned vision.

  “Partner!”

  “I know!”

  Jacob slid his feet apart and swung Durandal. Twenty-six cuts were made in less than a second. A blade of energy erupted each time he attacked. The roots were sliced apart. Sadly, just as he assumed the danger from them had passed, those sliced up chunks ignited and flew at him.

  “HA!”

  Swinging Durandal down, Jacob generated an incredible gust of wind. What remained of the marble floor was ripped apart, the flames were snuffed out, and the projectiles were scattered to the winds.

  On the other side of the Great Hall, a white flame expanded across the room, engulfing the roots. Light magic. The flame enveloped the roots, purifying them. The roots broke apart, crumbling into ash, which blew away on the wind.

  “Oh, dear.” Lust placed a hand on her cheek. “You destroyed my darlings. Now what should I do? Oh! I know!”

  Lust pointed a finger at Enyo and lightning burst from the tip, traveling at her faster than she could react. Jacob threw Durandal, infused with his energy, in front of Enyo. The lightning changed course, attracted by the new magnetic focus.

  Bereft of his weapon, Jacob slammed his fist into the ground. A large pillar jutted up in front him. He kicked it, sending the object flying at Lust. It was destroyed, naturally, but Jacob had used it as cover to close the distance between them.

  Giggling as she spotted him, Lust swung her blade, unleashing a torrential wave of dark magic. With his left hand, Jacob punched at the attack, releasing his own energy to cancel hers. Pain flared in his knuckles, but he ignored. Jacob closed the distance, and then struck Lust, impaling her with his hand.

  Lust turned into mud.

  “What?!”

  Agony seared into his back. Blood dripped onto the floor. Gritting his teeth as he pushed past the pain, Jacob rolled across the floor, leapt back to his feet, and spun around.

  Lust stood behind him, grinning as she licked his blood off her fingers. “Delicious.”

  Jacob grimaced. This woman was enjoying herself far too much. He was no longer even sure why she’d started this war. Nothing she did made sense. It was like she was doing all this purely for her own amusement.

  A shout resounded behind Lust. “Don’t. Touch. My. Man!”

  Lust turned her head. She received a face full of white magic for her trouble. The orb, a type of condensed ball of light, smashed into her and sent the woman flying. She screamed in pain as she tumbled along the ground, rolling across the floor until her back smashed into the steps that lead up to the dais.

  Enyo rushed up to Jacob. “Are you all right?”

  “I’m fine,” Jacob said. Indeed, his back wound was already healing thanks to his Linked Energy Manipulation.

  “I’m glad. I thought… I was worried when I saw her attack hit you.”

  Jacob wasn’t sure what kind of attack it was, though it must have possessed some impressive cutting power. He’d encased his body in a layer of energy. It was enough to stop most attacks, be they magical or otherwise.

  “Don’t worry,” he said. “I won’t leave you.”

  Enyo smiled.

  “That was a good hit,” Lust mumbled as she climbed to her feet. Her left cheek was swollen and bruised, and blood dripped down the corner of her lips. Despite this, she was smiling. “I wonder where this power was before? Does standing by the hero’s side give you more strength? Perhaps I should seduce him to my side and see if it does the same for me.”

  “Sorry,” Jacob said, setting himself into a narrow sword stance. “I’m not into old hags.”

  Far from being upset by the insult, Lust laughed. “We’ll see how long that strong front lasts. I’ll enjoy breaking you.”

  “Not if I have anything to say about it,” Enyo said before she started chanting. “Fuvis. Nubilus. Displodo.”

  An explosion of dark energy erupted beneath Lust’s feet like a gout of flames. There was no heat. Black magic wasn’t actual fire. It just acted like fire.

  Jacob rushed forward, grabbed Durandal where it was impaled into the ground, and pulled it out. By then, the flames had dispersed when Erica swung her hand out, but Enyo was alre
ady in the process of finishing her next chant.

  “Nox. Umbra. Dissulto.”

  A small sphere appeared in front of Enyo, rapidly growing until it was nearly half the size of a human. Enyo pushed the sphere forward. Despite how large it was, it shot across the Great Hall like a cannonball, slamming into Lust, who created a silver barrier in front of her. The ball exploded. Dark particles burst everywhere like the dying embers of a fire.

  Enyo had already finished her next chant.

  “Nox. Umbra. Moltus. Imperium.”

  The particles of darkness floating around Lust suddenly shifted. Lust eyed the dozens of tiny marble-sized orbs with amused arrogance. She didn’t get the chance to speak because the spheres shot forward seconds later. They came in at different angles, different times, and different trajectories. However, they all had one common goal: to riddle her full of holes.

  Jacob stood on the sidelines, watching. It quickly became apparent that these marble-esque creations of dark matter weren’t simply projectiles. When one of them missed, it would curve around and attack again. When Lust put up a barrier, it would move around the barrier and attack from a different angle. Enyo was controlling them.

  He glanced at Enyo. Sweat poured from her forehead, and her breathing was ragged. She’d hunched her shoulders in concentration, left hand outstretched as if it was the control being used to move the spheres.

  She won’t be able to keep this up for long.

  A technique like this required a lot of concentration, more than most people had. Enyo was strong-willed and had an incredible capacity for magic. Her innate talent and dedication allowed her to succeed where most failed, but even she had her limits.

  “Get ready,” he told his sword.

  “I’m always ready,” Durandal shot back.

  The spheres eventually stopped. With a final gasp, Enyo was forced to release her technique. Lust wore a malicious grin. She raised her hand, tendrils of lightning arcing from her fingertips as she prepared an attack.

  She’d never get the chance to release it.

  Jacob stomped on the ground, creating a large quake that knocked the woman off balance, forcing her to cease her attack. He then rushed forward. The gap between them was closed in a second.

  He attacked her with a quick thrust that was dodged. This didn’t discourage him as he spun around and launched another attack to cleave her right shoulder to her left hip.

  Lust leapt backwards. Jacob followed.

  “Such forceful attacks,” Lust moaned as if experiencing ecstasy. She moved left. His slash was dodged, but he changed the angle of his swing and sliced a long cut along her arm. “You don’t go easy, do you?”

  “It’s not in my policy to go easy on women when they attack me and my friends,” Jacob said. “An enemy is an enemy.”

  “So rough and straightforward. I like that in a man.”

  “Then you’ll love this.”

  Jacob dug into the ground with Durandal and pulled it into an upwards slash. Rocks and dust flew into Lust’s face. She shrieked as it got into her eyes, causing her to stumble backwards as and raise her hand. Not one to miss out on this opportunity, Jacob tried to cut her head off her shoulders.

  Lust caught Durandal. It tried to shock her, but somehow, Jacob was the one who ended up being jolted when something like lightning traveled through his body.

  “You’re fighting dirty,” Lust said, her voice still laced with sexual overtones. “Dirty fighting is bad. I think you need to be punished.”

  Jacob leapt backwards as Lust swept her hand at him. A gust of wind tried to push him into a wall, but he cut through it with Durandal. Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed Enyo finishing her chant and sent a return attack at Lust. She blocked the wave of energy and laughed.

  “Is that all you’ve got, hero?”

  Jacob said nothing. He didn’t need to. Enyo was finished chanting.

  Lust never saw Enyo’s attack coming until it was too late.

  Blood splashed against the ground. Lust looked down, blinking at the golden spear piercing her chest. She looked up at him, and then turned her head toward Enyo.

  “You should remember that I’ve already figured out how your magic works,” Jacob said. “Steal might be a powerful magic that allows you to take the powers of others, but there’s a limit to how much power you can take, and the more you use other people’s magic, the more stress you’re placing on your mind. After all, that magic you’re using wasn’t originally yours.”

  “Ah ha. Ah-ah-ha-ha-ha!” Lust’s laugh was lyrical despite the blood trailing down her mouth. “So during the time between our last battle and now, you’ve created a countermeasure. You force me to use as much magic as possible, making my mind lag, and while I’m distracted, the Dark Lady attacks from behind. Bravo. Very good. However, don’t think this means you’ve won. The fun is just getting started.”

  Lust tapped on the ground, which started to rumble. Pieces of soil crawled along the ground, congealing together like droplets of water that increased in size. A flat piece of earth soon became a hill. The hill became a head, then shoulders, and then arms and hands. Like a skeleton climbing from the abyss of the underworld, a massive monstrosity of dirt and rocks seemingly climbed out of the ground. It loomed over them, a gargantuan figure casting the world in shadow.

  It was a golem.

  “I didn’t know she had that kind of magic,” Jacob muttered.

  “Now then,” Lust said, sitting on the golem’s head. “Let’s see how you handle this.”

  The golem raised its hand. Jacob jumped back. The golem slammed it into the ground where Jacob had been standing. Cracks appeared along the already fragmented earth. Jacob hopped backwards several more times, slicing apart those rock shards that the attack kicked up.

  On the golem’s other side, Enyo created a massive spear of dark matter, which she sent hurtling at the golem—only for the spear to be smashed apart by a giant fist. Enyo was then struck by that same fist. Her scream sent fear racing through Jacob’s heart. He couldn’t do anything for her, however, because the golem had turned back around and tried to make a pancake out of him.

  Jump left. Leap right. Roll forward.

  The golem’s hands were like the hands of an angry god. It crushed the ground wherever it landed, creating a hand shaped imprint. Gnashing his teeth together, Jacob waited until the hand landed next to him again, and then he slashed at it with Durandal. He felt a moment of resistance. Sparks flew. Then, like a knife cutting through a slice of cheese, the hand was sheared off.

  “Marvelous!” Lust crowed. “To think you can cut something that’s been infused with nearly all my magic! Truly! You are the greatest hero I’ve seen!”

  This woman…

  She wasn’t even taking this seriously. Just listening to her praises pissed him off. It was like she was mocking him.

  “Obscurim. Opscurum. Obscuritas.” A chant echoed around the room. “Exidio. Excisio. Exscidium.”

  A wave of dark matter rushed over the ground, enveloping the golem up to the waist. Jacob leapt into the air as the rock-like creation wobbled precariously, the flames eating at its legs. Descending upon Lust like an avenging angel, he thrust his blade out, creating a giant beam of condensed chi that was shaped like Durandal.

  “Hmph!”

  The beam splashed harmlessly against a barrier. At the same time, the golem stamped on the ground, creating a massive gust that somehow snuffed out the intense black fire.

  Seeing the mocking smile on Lust’s face as she stared at him from behind the shield, Jacob snarled and poured more energy into his attack. Cracks appeared. They spread across the barrier, increasing with every second. Jacob’s attack petered out before it broke. However, he had landed on the golem by then, and a single slash of his blade shattered it.

  Lust was still grinning as she created a dark blade of energy once more, though he noticed it was fizzling. She was running out of magic. As they clashed, their blades striking together, Eny
o created a massive spear out of light. While Jacob kept Lust occupied, she launched the spear at the golem.

  The spear pierced the golem through the chest. It stumbled forward, throwing Jacob off. He flipped around and landed on his feet. Looking up, he watched as the golem broke apart, crumbled like a house of cards, and created a huge cloud of dust that obscured his vision.

  When the cloud dispersed, Lust was nowhere to be found. He looked left. Then he looked right. It was as if she’d disappeared. Frowning, he glanced at Enyo, who looked as confused as he felt.

  A shadow appeared on the floor behind her. Fear raced through his veins when Lust emerged from within the shadow.

  “Behind you!” Jacob shouted.

  It was a testament to her trust that she didn’t turn around to look. She leapt away instead, to avoid whatever potential attack was coming her way. This allowed her to avoid impalement. Sadly, it didn’t stop her from getting hurt.

  Blood gushed from a wound that opened on her left side, drenching her clothes and legs. A gasp emerged from her throat as she fell to her knees. Her hands came up, holding the wound, crimson pouring between her fingers like a river.

  Lust grinned as she pointed a hand at Enyo. Lightning sparked along her fingertips as she chanted. Time slowed.

  In desperation, Jacob threw Durandal with all his might. The sword arched through the air as it soared at Lust, who batted it away with contemptuous ease. As the sword spun through the air, Enyo, with one last surge of strength, leapt up, grabbed Durandal, and, ignoring the pain that came from touching it as sparks flew off the handle, plunged the sword into Lust’s chest.

  The lightning skittering across Lust’s hand died. She lowered it to her side, slowly, almost calmly. Looking down, she eyed the blade sticking in her chest, at the blood running down her body, staining her black dress. She looked up at Enyo, who had taken several steps back, steam wafting from her now burnt hands.