I have five seconds before they come after me. Maybe.
A glint shone from below, and a blast of darkness shot up at me. I threw my swords before me, forming an X with the blades. The darkness struck into them and pushed me back up, hurling me against the ceiling.
I dropped back to the floor an instant later, and managed to land on my feet.
“How did that feel, Diablo?” the Dark Lord stood before me, and an arm extended out. A flame of black emerged before his palm and I immediately shot to the side.
A blast of darkness thudded into me anyway and I went flying to the back wall. What the heck? I blinked. Didn’t I dodge that?
“Y-yeah,” Nyx said. “What just happened?”
The Dark Lord walked toward me, taking his time with his strides. I charged forward, with my footsteps flying over the stone. I hurled myself into the air, and twisted around as I came down to him. Two sword strikes, locked and ready. He had nowhere to go.
A split second later, I landed on empty ground and my attack cracked against the stone floor. What the heck?! I stood up, looking at my blades. My attacks don’t land now?!
“Something odd is happening,” Nyx said.
“I sense magic at play here,” Acnologia said.
It has to be. I turned to the Dark Lord, who stood twenty yards from me. “What are you doing, Azmuth?” I asked.
“Whatever do you mean?” He put his hand up, and a flame of darkness emerged before his palm once again. I leapt to the side and shot forward, ready to strike. His hand moved, faster than it was supposed to, and the blast sunk into me once more, throwing me against the side wall.
I brought myself onto my feet.
“Diablo, what’s going on?” Nyx asked.
My jaw clenched. “Horace,” I said.
The Dark Lord shot a look at me.
“Horace is helping you, isn’t he?”
He chuckled. “Who is this Horace you speak of?”
Damn it. I shot to him. Sword strikes and blasts of darkness flew between us, with me being the one who got hit multiple times. Anger coursed through me. Why can’t I just land a strike on him already?!
I swung hard, but the Dark Lord vanished, just as he had for the twenty times before this. A blast of darkness struck me yet again, and I flew into the wall once more.
I need to be faster. I grit my teeth. I need to hit harder.
“Diablo, do you want to unlock that?” Acnologia asked.
I looked at the Dark Lord, at the Death Lord, at Freya’s fallen form, and at the four other Eternals I needed to take out.
My fists clenched. Do it.
“Limiter Off.”
Flames coursed through my blood, and heat exploded through my body. My teeth clenched, and my fingers curled into fists. The veins along my arms throbbed, and the ones around my neck pulsed. My muscles all tightened, and I kept my gaze on just the Dark Lord, for everything around him was just a hazy shadow now.
The voices drowned away, as did the sounds of breathing and footsteps. I was alone.
Alone with silence.
Alone with rage.
I shot forward, with a speed faster than before, and my sword slashed into the Dark Lord. He went flying back this time, and cratered into the wall, but I chased after him, striking him ten times more, pushing him deeper into the stone, before he could even attempt to pull out. The scratch in his chest widened, and I struck it another ten times before I tossed my sword in the air.
The Dark Lord’s eyes followed the weapon. My fist clenched. Sucker. I slammed my hand right into the break in his armor, punching about twice before sticking my arm out and grabbing the falling sword. The Dark Lord put his hand out now, and I shot out of the way. A blast of darkness surged out of his palm, but it was unable to hit me this time, and struck the wall behind instead.
“Impressive,” a voice chuckled.
I froze, and my veins throbbed even harder than before. You. My jaw clenched. So, it was you all along. I knew it.
“Indeed, Diablo,” the voice said. “I did not think you would notice me stopping the time around you that easily.”
You need to work better on your skills then, Time Lord. You’re slacking.
He chuckled. “I will take that into account.”
The Dark Lord shot at me, but I simply charged at him, slashed hard, and sent him up into the ceiling. He dropped back to the ground a second later, and I slashed at him again, sending him all the way to the far wall this time, into one of the craters I’d already made there.
The Death Lord and the two Eternals fighting him all stopped at the sight of the overwhelmed Dark Lord. Their faces turned between me and the fallen man, all in silence.
What the hell are you planning, Horace? You’re scheming with the Dark Lord now?
“Not at all,” he chuckled. “In fact, he’s the one scheming with me.”
I grit my teeth. I should have realized you were behind this. These Eternals are all from the past, aren’t they?
“Calm down,” he sighed. “They’re all obscure. It’s not like anyone is going to miss them.”
“Why are you helping him?” I muttered.
“That is an interesting question.”
I shot forward, at the two Eternals fighting the Death Lord, and slashed into them both. Blood flowed from their cuts, and their bodies slumped to the floor. The heat in my veins turned intense, and my hands shook, invigorating more the more blood I saw.
Answer me, Horace. I slashed at the already dazed Dark Lord and sent him back into the crater in the wall.
“Now, now, Diablo,” Horace chuckled. “You’re just being mean to him. Let’s raise the playing field a bit now, shall we?”
A bright golden light sunk into the room. The Dark Lord rose from the floor, and hovered in the air. His golden armor glowed brightly, and runes of jade-green emerged onto it.
My eyes narrowed. The same color scheme as that devil.
“Ahhhh.” Azmuth dropped to the floor. “Thank you, Horace.”
I shot at him, and swung hard. The Dark Lord moved swiftly, and in an instant, he had his hands around both my blades, holding them still. I tugged hard, but I couldn’t even budge now.
“Amusing.” He let go of the weapons, and kicked me straight in the chest. I shot through the air, and crashed into the floor. Stone and mud threw up in the air as my helmeted head dug into the hard surface.
I lifted myself up, just in time for the Dark Lord to launch another kick against me. This one landed at my side and I went flying into the walls. I dropped to the ground, with my armor trembling against the cracking stone. The heat in my veins only grew with time, and my vision reddened.
“Diablo, we’ve been in Rage mode for too long,” Acnologia said. “We need to stop now.”
I don’t give a damn. I stood up. Keep it going.
The Dark Lord emerged before me and punched, sending me to the wall. He came after my form, and unleashed a fury of punches into my chest, crushing me deeper and deeper into the cracks.
I lifted my swords up in defense, but he was too fast for me to block. I tried to open my mouth, and speak a word, but my voice didn’t emerge.
The Dark Lord’s punches rained pain onto me, pushing me harder against the stone. Cracking echoed from my body, and yet I couldn’t even tell which bone it was coming from.
The rage had blinded my sense of pain.
The strikes kept increasing, both in intensity and in strength, and I stood there, taking them all. I coughed, spitting blood just as he landed a series of blows to my stomach.
My vision began to fade away, and the sounds of punches grew faint in my ears. No, no, no. I can’t fall unconscious now!
And yet, that’s what my body was doing. I had people I needed to protect. Things I needed to take care of. I couldn’t fall unconscious here of all places.
A chuckle whispered into my ears.
“I see your future, Eternal,” Horace said. “Blood. Torture. Undeniable Death.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
Blood trickled down my arm, and slid between my fingers. Punches sunk into my body, and my armor creaked as strike after strike surged through it.
“Can’t do anything now, can you?” the Dark Lord launched an uppercut to my jaw. My head threw back, and thud against the stone wall.
I glanced at Freya, at the Death Lord, and then raised my shaking hand into the air. “Ceebros,” I whispered, just about managing to actually utter that word.
Darkness rose from the floor and surrounded me. I fell through it, like the liquid black had swallowed my body in. My chest heaved as I sucked large breaths of air into my lungs. My arms hurt, my legs hurt. Every part of my body hurt. If something wasn’t broken yet, then it was close enough to being so.
The ground was cold beneath me, and was colored with the very same darkness of the skies above. My knees shook as I stood, but I managed to keep my balance.
“Diablo.” A voice spoke.
The Death Lord stood a yard away, and his robes of black almost melted into the darkness.
“Zoran!” Freya ran to me.
I put my hand in the air. “I’m still…healing.” My voice was weak.
The elf stopped, and narrowed her eyes. And then she nodded. “What is this place?”
“Frozen Night,” I said. “It’s a spell I use to create an additional space outside of the reality we live in. Time is null in here. We’ll be safe for as long as I can keep it up.”
“How long can you keep it up?” The Death Lord asked.
“My mana is already half depleted,” I said. “If we need to have a solid chance at defeating the Dark Lord now, I need at least 25% left. So, we have maybe five minutes in here.”
“Not enough time.”
“It’s the best we have.”
“You broke through your seal, didn’t you?” Freya asked.
I nodded. “Two of them.”
“How much stronger are you now?”
I swiped the air with my fingers and my Ga’em menu slid down. I opened up my Stats menu and looked at my screens.
Name
Zoran Diablo
Level
1562
Health
23950
Constitution
2395
Mana
28340
Intelligence
2832
Stamina
19090
Endurance
3119
Strength
2518
Dexterity
2108
Agility
4013
Wisdom
3561
Charisma
1004
Luck
34
Freya leaned over my shoulder. “What the hell?” she gasped. “You’re past Level 1500?!”
“It doesn’t mean anything,” I said. “The Dark Lord is still stronger than I am.”
“Oh.” Her voice softened.
“But with rage mode…” Nyx said. “I don’t know. Maybe you could be stronger.”
“With both Dragon Fusion and Rage mode you will certainly be much stronger,” Acnologia said.
We just tried that out. It didn’t work out well.
I put my finger on the screen and swiped, letting a new set of information fill the screen.
Name
Zoran Diablo
Race
Eternal
Abilities
Resurrection
Spirit King
Re-animator
Fear Uprising
Living Nightmare
Resistances
All Arts
Class
N/A
Alignment
???
Titles
Phantom Lord
Undead Emperor
Necromancy Demon
Master of Ikarius
Lord of the Night
Reputation
Infamy Level 10 - “The World shakes in your presence”
“Wait a second,” Nyx said, his voice shaking. “What happened to your alignment?”
I frowned. Question marks.
“That is worrisome,” Acnologia said.
We don’t have time to discuss this. If it isn’t something that can help me in this battle, then we shouldn’t bring it up.
I went back to my screen. I quickly noticed that I’d gotten two new abilities and a new title. Lord of the Night, I thought. I tapped on my new abilities and the info screens popped up.
DING!
FEAR UPRISING
You can now summon an army of shadow warriors—Valdar—to aid you. The strength and number of warriors depends on the user’s level. Currently you can summon 200 Valdar, each of Level 700. Additionally, enemies within a range of 50 yards will be afflicted with a fear status effect. The strength and duration of the effect depends on the level difference between you and the targets.
DING!
LIVING NIGHTMARE
Any attack performed in utter darkness will recover your health by 0.1% of the attack’s damage. Any attack performed in utter darkness will recover your Mana by 0.1% of the attack’s damage.
This is useful. I closed the screens.
DING!
A Ga’em prompt screen popped up in front of me.
Congratulations! You have obtained a skill.
Dual Wielding!
It’s about time you got this skill. The art of two blades has been passed down through many millennia. You are now one of the Dual Wielders as well..
Effect 1
Attack increased by +5% when active. Defense reduced by same amount
Effect 2
Agility increased by +5%
Congratulations! You have learned a new skill
Earth Arts!
The language of the ground is rarely spoken by those that walk over it.
Effect 1
. Defense increased by +5% when using Earth Arts.
Effect 2
Dexterity increased by +5% when using Earth Arts.
:
Congratulations! You have obtained a skill.
Sword Shield!
The crossing of swords can be stronger than just a shield. You can now use both your swords to form a shield.
Effect 1
Health recovery increased by +1% when using shield.
Effect 2
Mana recovery increased by +1% when using shield.
I’d already expected to obtain the Dual Wield skill, and the rest were not that useful for me at the moment. My special abilities however, took the cake. If I was getting out of this mess, it was going to be through whatever they let me do.
“You look like you’ve found a way,” Freya said.
“Do you remember the Valdar?” I smiled.
Her eyes widened. “No way.”
I nodded and then looked at the Death Lord. “How are your injuries?”
“None.”
I turned back to Freya. “Yours?”
“I’m better, but definitely not one hundred percent.”
“Very well,” I said. “Once we go in, follow my lead. Leave the fighting to your forces.”
“Our forces?” the Death Lord asked.
“You’ll see,” Freya said.
“What about the Dark Lord?”
“We need to break down his suit,” I said. “That’s the only way.”
“The Eternity Armor is legendary class equipment. It’s impossible to break.”
I pointed to a dent in my armor. “So was mine.”
He said nothing.
“So that is what you have planned.” A chuckle spoke into my mind. “Getting rid of the present I gave Azmuth.”
I jerked my eyes through the darkness. You’re not supposed to be here. My chest tightened.
“But I am,” he said. “And I found something very interesting.”
Damn it. I cursed.
“Don’t worry, I’m not going to sto
p you.”
I frowned. What?
“It’s not like your plan will work anyway. Why must I meddle in it then?”
“Zoran, you need to save your mana,” Nyx said.
Acnologia, don’t turn off the limiter till I ask you to. I put my hand in the air. “Ceebros Break!”
The darkness around us melted away, and we were back in the chambers once again. The Dark Lord stood in the middle, and the four gold-robed Eternals were around him.
“So you finally came back from hiding,” Azmuth chuckled. “I was starting to think you’d never show up.”
“I’m sorry we kept you waiting.” I shot to him.
The Dark Lord blocked my strike right away, as expected. I turned around and swung my foot at his face. He threw his arm up, blocking my kick. I let my free hand swing Dearthsoul, and slashed the weapon into his chest.
He went sliding across the floor, and stopped five yards away. “Well done.”
“That isn’t even the start of it.” I put my hand in the air. “Oskis, Erkiela, Uher, Osulier, Tritus Oceanus, Peona, Rivorka, Beltair.”
A flurry of spells burst into the air, creating colors and forms that meshed together as they hurled to the Dark Lord. I didn’t spend another second looking at him and closed my eyes, concentrating.
I need all the time I can get.
I imagined the energy within me lower into the ground. I imagined it spreading through the surface, occupying every last stone available.
“You think that will stop me Diablo?!” the Dark Lord yelled.
Damn it. I opened my eyes, and held my swords up in the air, forming an X. A layer of light covered them, forming a temporary shield, and the Dark Lord smacked right into it. I pulled the blades away the moment he touched the light and instantly spun around, kicking him in the chest. He slid across the ground yet again, this time further than before.
The Eternal: A Boxed Set (World of Ga'em Book 6) Page 94
