The Eternal: A Boxed Set (World of Ga'em Book 6)

by Dhayaa Anbajagane

  “No!” I leapt up, at a speed I had not seen before, and smacked my swords into each other, forming a cross. “SWORD SHIELD!” I yelled. A shield of transparent light formed around the two swords, and I held it up, against the beam.

  The blast struck my defense, and broke through it. The golden light thundered into me and I smashed into the wall yet again. I slumped to the floor a second later, and my body was left aching. My eyes lifted up, and widened, watching as another beam of gold surged towards the two.

  My hand lifted up, helplessly. Freya can’t survive that.

  The Death Lord stepped before her, and moved his hand. A wall of darkness shot from the ground, connecting the ceiling and the floor. The golden light struck the barrier and an explosion sounded. My gaze pierced through the smoke. Freya and the Death Lord stood as they had before, completely unscathed.

  The attacks cancelled out.

  “Ahh, the Death Lord,” Horace muttered. “How are you enjoying your human-self now?”

  “Shut up,” the Death Lord said.

  He chuckled. “You know me well enough to know I won’t.”

  The Death Lord thrust his hand up. Shadows sprung from Horace’s sides and shot up to his face. The hadn’t even risen up to his waist when they suddenly faded away from sight.

  “Oh dear,” Horace said. “Seems that didn’t work.”

  My eyes widened. I knew what that attack was. Osulier. The shadows were supposed to consume the target. This was the first time I’d seen them unable to do that.

  Just how strong is Horace?

  “Very strong,” Nyx said. “You need to get into Dragon Fusion.”

  There needs to be someone to protect Freya.

  “Yes. You. Get into Dragon Fusion. Acnologia is no good defending her on his own. And after this set of exchanges it should be clear that you’re not doing any good either.”

  I grit my teeth. Fine. I stood up.

  The Time Lord walked forward, with each step thudding into the surface. I strode up to him, my eyes focused on his helmet, on the golden eyes shining within. Gyleona still laid against the wall, with her eyes closed. A sliver of red sat in her health bar, but nothing more. But as an Eternal, she didn’t really have much to worry about. Resurrection was convenient.

  Most of the time.

  “Oh?” Horace looked at me. “You seem quite confident for a man that was just battered around.”

  “I have my reasons.” I put my hand up. “Dragon Fusion!”

  Acnologia burst into a stream of light, and the lines swirled around me. My blood boiled, and my breathing constricted. I stared at the Time Lord, and my eyes throbbed with every beat of my heart. Mechanical sounds sprung from my armor, and a second later, a helmet formed around my head.

  A dragon-shaped helmet.

  The Time Lord clapped. “Very fancy!”

  I shot at him, holding my weapons tight. I spun around, slashing twice into his neck, with a much faster speed than before. Shockwaves blast from the impact points, and surged through the chamber, throwing small pieces of debris into the air. Horace brought his hand up, but I quickly stepped onto his shoulder, and pushed myself back onto the ground.

  I looked at his health bar, and then frowned. Still full. Did it even move?

  “Not as far as I know,” Nyx said. “Even Dragon Fusion mode doesn’t put you above him.”

  I used my Analyze skill on him one more time.

  DING!

  Name

  Horace Zentheniel

  Race

  ???

  Level

  ???

  Can’t even see his level.

  “He’s still much stronger than us,” Nyx said.

  How much stronger can he be? My fists clenched. With Dragon fusion I’m easily in the low 1700s. And he’s STILL unreadable to me?

  “You seem perplexed, Diablo,” the Time Lord said. “Has your Analyze skill not provided you with enough information?”

  I grit my teeth.

  The Death Lord stepped up to me. “Diablo, we must take him together.”

  “You’re not strong enough,” I said. “I’m not strong enough.”

  “Which is why we take him together.”

  “How wonderful.” The Time Lord thrust his hand forward, summoning the golden beam for yet another time. I took a step out of the way, and then realized who was going to get struck down if we weren’t.

  Freya.

  I swiveled around, placing myself right before her. “Uher!” I yelled. A dark phoenix rose from the ground, and surged into the incoming attack. But the shadowy form I summoned simply dissolved away within the light. It wasn’t even a faceoff.

  I quickly lifted my swords up, activating my Sword Shield skill. The shield of light formed, and instantly broke when the attack came in, just like before. The attack thudded into me and I fell to the ground, aching. I breathed heavy, and turned my attention to my health bar.

  Thirty percent. That was all I had left. And that was clearly not enough.

  The Time Lord stepped forward, now standing right before me, with his jade-green eyes staring down at my form. “This is quite deflating. I’d expected our battle to last much longer.”

  His form flickered, and his fist crushed into me a split-second later. I went crashing into the side wall, cratering deep into it. My breath left my lungs and I gasped, with my eyes wide in pain. The Time Lord surged up to me, and shot his fist at my stomach yet again. A fury of punches surged into my body, pushing me deeper and deeper into the wall.

  Flashes of darkness shot from behind the man. The Death Lord was attacking him, but the man in gold didn’t even turn around. We were just flies standing before a giant. The Time Lord pulled back and smashed into me one last time. The wall cracked, and sections of it broke down. I dropped to the floor, and a ton of rubble fell around me.

  I glanced at my health bar. Five percent.

  “Ahh, that was satisfying,” Horace chuckled. “Now—” He turned around, facing the Death Lord. “How bold of you to attack me.”

  I looked around dazedly, at the fuzzy forms of gold and black. A red-skinned elf stood before me, peering into my eyes, but I couldn’t react to her presence.

  Wounds and cuts decorated my body, and blood flowed out of them. The red trickled down my arms, coating my hands. I rubbed my fingers against each other, feeling the slick liquid between them.

  I smiled. It had been a long time since I felt the sensation of blood. I didn’t realize how much I’d…

  My chest thumped. Missed it?

  Fire blazed through my limbs, easing my pain. The rubble on my body fell away and I stood up. I swayed for a second, but Freya caught me, helping onto my feet.

  “Zoran, we need to leave,” she said, and I could hear tears in her tone. “You can’t handle this yourself.”

  I shook my head, still too weak to speak. I looked ahead of me. Flashes of gold came from around the Time Lord, and I could make out the Death Lord’s form on the ground beside him, scrambling around like a mouse against a lion.

  “He’s going to love that reference,” Nyx chuckled.

  I smiled, and gripped my two swords, ignoring the pain in my wounds. I held them up, with the tips pointed right at the Time Lord.

  “Bladestorm?” Nyx asked.

  I shook my head. That isn’t going to work. I can’t depend on my skills now. I shot forward, heading right for his legs. I slashed into his armor, and rose up to his torso. He jerked around, with his eyes looking for me. I swung against his chest, and used the rebounding force to rise up to his head. My leg swung back, and I kicked for all I was worth.

  Horace went stumbling into the wall and the section cratered. The roof destabilized, and rocks and boulders thudded down, cracking the floor. My eyes looked to the gaps in the ceiling, and searched in the darkness beyond them.

  “Magma?” Nyx asked.

  Don’t think so. I diverted my attention back to the Time Lord.

  He chuckled as he stood back up. Hi
s health hadn’t reduced at all once again. Nothing I did affected this man.

  “That took me by surprise, Diablo,” he chuckled. “I have to—”

  A spark of gold flashed before him, and he gasped out loud. Arcs of golden lightning sprung between his body and the floor. His breathing hastened, and he dropped to his knees, clutching his chest.

  I blinked. What the hell?

  His health went down, not fast enough to kill him, but fast enough to bring us closer to doing just that. I leapt at his form, my blades ready to strike. The lightning struck me, frying me inside my armor. The bolts exploded into my chest and I went flying back against the wall.

  Damn it. I pushed myself back onto my feet. I couldn’t feel my jaw, and a few of my fingers, but otherwise I was okay.

  “What the heck is going on with him?” Freya asked.

  “Get back.” I stepped in front of her.

  The Death Lord stood beside me. “What do we do, Diablo?”

  “Attacking him seems impossible,” I said. “That lightning is attacking anything near it, including him.”

  “Do we just let it keep striking him then?”

  I looked at his health bar. “Sixty Percent,” I said. “That’s how much he last left. That lightning has only been going on for like thirty seconds, and it already got rid of so much. It’s best we—”

  The Time Lord screamed out, and stepped onto his feet.

  A sphere of jade-green surged out of him. And the next thing I knew, I was crushing through the mountain rock, being forced between a jade-green light, and every stone in the structure. My vision shook, and my body twisted as the glowing orb pushed me against the rocks.

  A second later I was flying through the air, outside the mountains. My body stumbled onto some surface, and I rolled all the way to a stop. My muscles ached, and my bones…

  Well a few of them weren’t exactly intact anymore.

  Dusty winds brushed my face. I blinked, clearing up my vision. Dark sands were around me, with darker skies rising up from the flat horizon.

  I’m back outside. I pushed up, sitting myself up. Pain tore through my arms, but I bore it. I couldn’t let discomfort rile me. Not now.

  I glanced to the side, and my eyes widened. Freya and the Death Lord were a few feet away from me. How the hell did they get out here too?

  The elf was on the ground, unconscious. Her health had gone down to just 10%, but even then, flashes of relief burst through me. I didn’t care that she was low on health. She was still alive.

  The Death Lord was conscious, with his eyes blinking. But he stayed still. Must have broken a couple of bones too.

  I looked over, at the mountainside.

  Only, there was no mountainside.

  A whole section of the volcano was gone, completely obliterated by whatever attack Horace had used. Laughter echoed from the sky and a man in golden and green armor descended.

  He’s flying? I blinked.

  Sparks of lightning still shot from his body, but he wasn’t bothered my them now. Rather, they seemed to have become a part of him.

  That can’t be good.

  “Apologies, Diablo.” He floated up to us. “That was unexpected feedback from one of my transfer spells.”

  I understood nothing of what he said, other than that it was something that should worry me. My legs throbbed now, and I nearly stumbled. My shins are broken too, aren’t they?

  “Well, not both of them,” Nyx said.

  Great.

  “It seems you’ve been quite defeated already,” Horace said. “That’s unfortunate. And very disappointing. I didn’t even get to show you my favorite trick.”

  He snapped his fingers. A bell sounded, and an arc of golden light struck into the lake of magma underneath him. The molten rock bubbled, and humanoid forms rose out of it. I gazed at them. And then I froze.

  Each one was covered in armor of white, with golden streaks decorating the surface. Their helmets were all pristine white as well, and were shaped like a Dragon head.

  I gasped. “No…”

  The Time Lord chuckled. “Oh yes.”

  There before me stood an army.

  An army of Markus Goodfields.

  An army of Dragonborns.

  ***

  CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

  Power surged from the army before me. A power that I had not felt in a long time.

  “Diablo, this isn’t good,” Acnologia said.

  I grit my teeth, looking at the thousand men before me, each one adorned in the very same outfit—white armor, and a dragon-shaped helmet. A sword-handle peaked out from behind their shoulders. Markus used a serrated blade, didn’t he?

  “Yeah, he did,” Nyx said.

  The enemy men were all lined-up in neat ranks, forming a triangle within the delta, completely filling up the lake of molten lava. A dull mental pressure sunk into my mind, pricking my consciousness.

  The Time Lord hovered above the army. An aura of gold emerged around him, sending light into the skies.

  “Surprised?” he chuckled. “Did not expect to see an army of Dragonborns did you?”

  I clenched my fists but said nothing. The army ranks shifted, moving forward through the lava, albeit at a pretty slow pace. I used my Analyze skill on the first few of them.

  DING!

  Name

  Markus Goodfield

  Race

  Human Dragonborn

  Level

  1279

  He’s stronger. Much stronger.

  “How did Horace get all these people here?” Nyx asked. “A duplication spell?”

  I’m not going to worry about it right now.

  Freya and the Death Lord stood behind me, even more silent that I was. Freya’s face especially was twisted and frozen, with many emotions rising to the surface, and yet being forced down.

  “Not saying anything?” The Time Lord floated down to right above the army. The pressure in my mind increased, but I could still bear it. For now.

  “What are you doing, Horace?” I stepped forward, closer to the moving army. Their ranks changed from a triangle to a proper rectangle now. Fifty men stood in the first line, with all of them leveled close to what I had seen before.

  “What am I doing?” the Time Lord chuckled. “Reinforcements of course.”

  My hands clenched into fists. “Why is a dead man your ‘reinforcements’?”

  “You of all people will know the power of the dead.” He thrust his hand down, and a blast of golden light shot at me.

  I put my arm out. “Uher, Tritus Oceanus!” A Dark Phoenix rose from the surface, striking into the incoming attack. The bird dissipated, just as it had before, but I was ready for that. A blast of water surged from my palm a second later, and struck the golden blast smack in the middle.

  But it dissipated as well.

  The water turned into steam on impact, and the golden attack surged through it. The strike punched into me, pushing me down to the surface. The ground cratered, and I collapsed within it.

  Pain tore through my body yet again. A reminder that a few of my bones had snapped apart. I wasn’t even sure I could stand up now. But I had to. There was no other choice.

  “That wasn’t even that strong a strike, Diablo.” The Time Lord descended down to the ground now. His feet touched the surface and a wave of golden light pushed out from the contact point. It surged through me, but did nothing.

  And that was suspicious.

  A blast of darkness shot from behind me, and thudded into Horace. He went sliding back a few inches, but was unhurt.

  Horace chuckled, looking beyond me. “Your attacks have improved, Death Lord,” he said.

  I pushed myself off the ground, tilting my body back onto its feet. A shooting pain rose up my legs, like lightning had struck my bones. I gasped out, with my heartbeat thudding.

  Focus. I stared at a spot in the ground, and the sensations faded away. For now. I took a step forward, cautious, but no pain struck me.

 
“If you’ve become numb to pain, that’s a problem,” Nyx said.

  Footsteps approached. The Time Lord walked up to me, with his army following him from about fifty yards behind. “You seem troubled, Diablo,” he said. “Surely, you’re not unfit for battle, are you?”

  I smirked. “You sound almost scared that I will be.”

  “Are you certain of that?”

  Footsteps sounded yet again, but this time from behind. Freya and the Death Lord stood on either side of me now, with both staring right at the Time Lord.

  Panic filled me. She isn’t strong enough. He’ll pummel her.

  “But she’ll pummel you if you tell her that,” Nyx said.

  The army stood right behind the Time Lord now. I felt a tingle on my arm—the urge to test how strong of an attack these men could take. I jerked up my hand. “Uher!” I yelled.

  The Dark Phoenix rose before me and surged into the men. Their health sunk fast, but stopped at about 60%, and the bird dissipated. That was all the damage my attack had done.

  “I wouldn’t do that if I were you, Diablo,” the Time Lord said. “We don’t know how the timelines will change if you kill them.”

  My eyes widened. “No,” I whispered.

  Horace laughed. “That reaction was brilliant. And to answer your statement, yes.”

  I clenched my fists. “You brought them all from different times. Back when he was still alive.”

  “Indeed. Most efficient way to build an army of one dead guy.”

  “You’re playing with powers beyond your strength, Horace.” My tone rose.

  “You really think so? I’d presume the Time Lord had full authority to mess with such things.”

  “What the hell did you do? Just time travel to every second in the past and capture the Markus Goodfield in there?”

  “Exactly,” he said. “I was afraid some paradox would catch up to me, but there has been none so far.”

  Damn it.

  “So, the three of you versus us, eh?” the Time Lord chuckled. “Three against an army. How amusing.”