“How did you get here?” I said, pushing myself to my feet as she pointed Caliburn at me, causing flames to dance along its edges.
“It is simple really.” She smiled, revealing a mouthful of teeth that dripped lava. “I walked.” She nodded at me before gesturing back toward where I knew our town to be. “My entire army has walked.” She shrugged. “That is why the Empress has brought Five through this way.” She gestured at the breach behind me. “To hit you from both sides. Even know my mighty army burns your allies to a crisp while Five deals with your pathetic Archangels.”
“But we should have had another day,” I said, eyes flicking to the horizon.
“But we should have had another day,” she mocked before throwing her head back and laughing at me. “You have only what the Empress has given you. Do you really think the Destroyer and his angel know so much?” She shook her head. “I thought you were intelligent.”
Pushing myself to my feet, I couldn’t help but feel a bit dumb, but more than that, I was just angry. The Empress thought she could box us in, thought she could win by assaulting us from two sides? Well, she was about to have another thing coming.
“Finally.” She dropped into a fighting stance, both hands gripping Caliburn tightly. “Come and meet your end, Builder.”
“Yeah, okay,” I said right before I dropped a tornado on her head. As the swirling wind slammed her down into the ground like a rag doll, causing Caliburn to slip from her grip, I darted forward.
Her left hand shot up, shattering my tornado, I snatched Caliburn from the air and did the dumbest, most intelligent thing I could think of.
I used the spell steal ability in the Archangel of Envy’s armament. Up until now, I’d been using the Remorseless Chain of Envy to give me Dred’s healing ability, but I didn’t do that now. As Three began to rise, I directed the power toward Excalibur, drawing the one ability I needed more than not dying.
As Immortal Blow replaced my healing ability, I drove Caliburn straight into Three’s chest. The tip of the weapon burst out her back, and her mouth opened and closed like a dying fish.
“How?” she coughed, spattering my face with blood as I tore the blade sideways, splitting her practically in two.
“Well, you know what they say.” I redirected Caliburn, driving it back into her and taking her head off her shoulders. As her head bounced across the ashen ground, and the raging fire around us died away, I nodded to her glassy-eyed head as it stared lifelessly into the sky. “The best defense is a good offense.”
Then because I was a paranoid motherfucker, I used Caliburn to hack her into a billion pieces before burning them to cinders with hellfire.
“Well, that’s odd,” I said as I stared at the remains of Three. As the last of her body burned away, I found myself looking at a glowing black crystal heart. Three lines were etched into its surface, and try as I might, I couldn’t seem to destroy it with fire nor with Caliburn.
Moving closer, I reached out toward it, and when nothing happened, I brought up its stats.
Essence of Dark General
Material: Gemstone
Grade: S
Contains the essence of a fallen Dark General.
“Whoa,” I said, hefting it. Even now I could feel the burning fires of the General within. This hadn’t been present before when Dred had absorbed the others, but maybe it was because I’d killed this one? Maybe using the Absorption ability in Excalibur destroyed the Essence? I wasn’t sure, but one thing was certain, I didn’t have time to figure it out now.
Pocketing the Essence, I dashed forward toward the town.
40
All around me, angels and demons fought shoulder to shoulder against the armies of lizard men, beholders, and everything else the Darkness threw at them. More monsters poured in from all sides, besieging our tiny town even as our people fought not to lose ground.
Moving through the fray, I danced through them, my blade singing a song of death as I moved toward my target. In the distance, I could see both Lucifer and Michelle facing off against Five. They were both bloodied and beaten, but definitely not finished, and while Five looked no worse for wear, I was sure the two had given as good as they’d gotten.
Even still, it was time to up the odds a bit. Flicking open Michelle’s stats as Lucifer delivered a right cross that knocked Five from the sky and sent him hurtling toward Michelle, I quickly upgraded the Archangel of Justice’s stats to two hundred.
Michelle’s body seemed to blur with newfound speed as she lashed out with Rhongomyniad. Her eyes went wide as she was unused to her new strength and speed, and because of that she nearly missed Five completely. Only, since she was so much faster, she managed to redirect her spear, driving it straight through Five’s back. As the tip of the weapon punched through his chest, Lucifer came down like a comet, slamming her dagger into Five’s face.
The blow split the General’s head in half, but even from here I could see him healing much like how his brother Seven had. That was no good. Even though both their weapons could mortally wound the General, his healing ability made me unsure of how we could kill him unless we could completely vaporize him.
Five lashed out then, his body contorting around the weapon impaled in himself as he drove his hands outward, slamming his open palms into Michelle’s chest. The blow sent her hurtling backward, tearing across the landscape.
Lucifer attacked again, but this time, tentacles drove her back, and while she managed to lop off more than a few, the bits that hit the ground liquefied before rejoining Five’s body. A moment later, he was standing once more without even a hair out of place.
“Hey, jackass,” I cried, drawing his attention. As his eyes turned toward me, he seemed to stop.
“How could you be here?” he asked, hands curling into fists.
“I killed your brother and Three.” I shrugged and pointed Caliburn at him. “Now, I’m here to kill you.”
“You what?” he cried, right before he launched himself at me with reckless abandon. Unfortunately, doing so left him wide open. A magical spear slammed into his side, tearing open his gut and spilling his entrails across the ground. His feet tripped over them, tearing his guts free of his body, but even now I could tell it didn’t matter. He’d just heal.
His own flaming katana lashed out at me, and as I sidestepped to attack, the flames singed my flesh, and unlike before, they didn’t heal because I’d traded the ability away.
Cursing, I stepped back, dodging the next attack as I used Caliburn to create some distance between us.
“You’ll pay for what you’ve done, Builder,” Five snarled, slashing at me again, and this time, I stepped in, blocking his blow, and leaving his side exposed.
Lucifer wasted no time, darting in and taking a chunk out of him with her dagger, Carnwennan. As black blood spurted from the General, I shattered his knee with a quick kick that dropped him to the ground.
He was already recovering even as Michelle drove her spear through his throat and twisted it violently. The General tried to scream, but I cut that off with a slash from Caliburn.
“We’ve hit him so many times, but he doesn’t stay down,” Lucifer huffed, glancing at me. “He should be dead.”
“I know, it’s that stupid healing ability.” I glared down at the General, unsure of what to do.
“How did you beat the other one?” Michelle asked as Five lashed out with his tentacles. Once again, they were lopped off, but like a lesson in futility, they drifted back toward the General once more.
“Dred absorbed him.” I touched Excalibur. “But then he left with Sathanus …”
As I said the words, a bad feeling settled over me. Where the fuck were they? Both Dred and Sathanus should have been back by now. I touched the Mark of Wrath, and as I did, I felt Sathanus stir.
“Arthur, I’m still helping Dred. It will be a bit. If I move him, he might die.”
“Fine,” I said, my eyes flicking back to Five as he started to rise. “We need to d
eal with this asshole. Can you two deal with the town? I have a great idea.”
“Okay,” Lucifer said, hefting her dagger and rushing off toward the other side of the battlefield. “Don’t die.”
“I’ll do my best,” I said, grabbing Five by the throat and slamming him into the ground. As his skull cracked open against the ground, Michelle touched my back with one hand.
“Be careful.” The Archangel of Justice had already launched herself into the fray by the time I moved to look at her. That was fine though. I had my own things to deal with.
Gripping the Ark in one hand, I slammed it down into Five’s gut. He screamed as his flesh began to bubble, all his healing suddenly focused on the burning Ark buried within him. Good. That would buy me time for my patented Very Bad No Good plan.
Grabbing the general by his stupidly long hair, I took off running.
A half-hour later, I found myself standing in front of one of the dungeons Ten had chased me out over a week before. It was a relatively weaker one, and I’d managed to get to the boss right as Ten appeared and beat me like a naughty puppy. This time, however, there was no General to keep me from completing it.
I barreled inside, Five locked in a headlock while I retraced my steps back to the boss, shouldering through the dungeon’s enemies until I came to the boss room once more.
Like before, the boss was a massive black dragon with teeth the size of swords. The giant creature unfurled itself from atop its mound of gold and glared at me.
“Have you foolishly come for my gold once more, Builder?” it asked, getting onto its giant feet and revealing the altar for the dungeon that had been hidden beneath its bulk.
“Not even sort of interested,” I replied.
“Then your life will end in a flurry of fiery agony.” The dragon reared back, mouth opening wide as smoke began to pour forth.
Not even bothering to pause my forward momentum, I flung Five right at the dragon. The flying body caught the dragon in the mouth as it inhaled so it could spray me with flames. Instead, it got a General down its throat. Its eyes bulged as it frantically began to paw at its neck, desperate to breathe, but I tore forward, driving Caliburn deep into the dragon’s gut and unleashing a sapphire blast that obliterated the creature.
Five hit the ground beside me covered in dragon slime. His fingers closed around the chain of the Ark, and even though his fingers bubbled from being so close, he tore it free of his body and flung it away.
“I’m not sure what your game plan is, Builder,” he said, glaring at me, “but it will not work. You cannot defeat me.”
“Maybe not,” I said, rushing toward the altar and burying Caliburn into it. “But the dungeon can.”
As the stone shattered into a billion pieces, that same explosion of celestial energy that obliterated darkness creatures in a reclaimed area burst outward.
Five had about half a second to look concerned before the blast hit him too. Unlike his old buddy, Ten, Five couldn’t teleport away to save himself. Nope, instead, the blast ripped the flesh from his bones before turning those to ash. By the time the wave passed through the rest of the room to spread to the furthest corners of the dungeon, he was nothing more than a hunk of crystal on the floor.
41
By the time I returned to the town, most of the Darkness’s forces had been routed. Between the loss of the two Generals and Lucifer and Michelle joining the fight, our forces hadn’t had much trouble killing most of those who hadn’t fled. Excuse me, strategically retreated.
It was a bit weird because as I approached the town, the whole of the army seemed to turn on its heel and flee. Was it because of me? I wasn’t sure, but I wasn’t going to look a gift horse in the mouth.
“We won,” I said as Michelle landed beside me, her face covered in blood, sweat, and dirt.
“Without their heroes, our people ripped them to shreds.” She nodded at me. “Whatever you did to strengthen us all really turned the tides.”
“I’m just glad it worked.” I took a deep breath. “Now it’s time for stage two. How far along are Samael and Raphael?”
“They were about a day away when the siege started.” She glanced back at the town. “They’re both here though, so you may ask them.”
“Thanks,” I said, touching her arm lightly. “I appreciate you and Lucifer holding off that bastard.”
“We’d have killed him if not for that godforsaken healing ability.” She snorted. “How did you beat him?”
“I blew up a dungeon with him inside it.” I smirked.
“Clever.” She nodded at me. “Very clever.”
“Not as clever as I’ll feel if our plan works,” I replied as we entered the town. “How is Heaven’s rebuild coming?”
“Shouldn’t be more than a few more days,” Michelle said before gesturing at those around us. The place was full of triaged victims, and the healers were working double time to save them. “I’m going to tend to things here, first, then I’ll get people back on it.”
“Okay, thanks.” I felt bad about the injuries, but I knew Michelle would see to saving everyone and getting people on track again. There was no point in me tending to that. Besides, we had a plan to execute.
I made my way through town until I found Samael. She was standing in the control room of the Spire with Raphael and Jophiel.
“How goes it?” I asked, wiping the sweat from my brow with the back of one hand.
“You stink.” Samael crinkled her nose at me. “Did you bathe in blood and guts or something?”
“Or something,” I said, approaching the three angels. “But that doesn’t answer my question.”
“We’re close,” Samael said, brushing a strand of hair behind her ear. “There’s just one tiny problem.”
“What’s that?” I asked, moving closer. I couldn’t make out much of what was going on.
“This is totally going to kill you.” Samael sighed. “I mean, you might live because of your healing ability, but even then, it will be dicey.”
“Yeah, about that.” I took a deep breath. “I don’t have the healing ability anymore.”
“Then this is pointless,” Raphael said, her dark eyes fixing on me through her glasses. “There is almost no way you’ll survive it.”
“Where there’s a will, there’s a way, right?” I stepped up to the console and looked it over.
Spire Teleportation Unit
Type: Teleporter
Durability: 0/1,500
Grade: C
There were a few more lines next to it, but nothing that made me think using it was going to kill me. Even still, as I looked at it, I decided I had a way better idea.
“Hey,” I said, turning away from the unit and looking at them all. “What if we tried something else?”
After spending a few minutes explaining my new plan to them, and upgrading a bunch of skills and stats, I made my way back outside. Only, the second my feet touched the ground, Sathanus appeared in front of me with a very hurt Dred.
“He’ll recover, but he needs medical attention badly.” The Archangel Wrath dropped him to the ground, and the next thing I knew, she vanished and reappeared with Sally. “Heal him.”
“Um…” Sally said, giving me a confused look.
“Go ahead,” I said, and when the healer nodded and set to work, I set my eyes on Sathanus. “What took so long? The others could have used you.”
“The armaments melted to his damned body, and I had to pry them off with my hands, which was hard because they were the temperature of the damned sun.” Sathanus glared at Dred. “If I’d had my axe, he’d be missing a few choice pieces, let me tell you.”
“That and One and Two kept chasing us,” Dred said, trying to sit up. “We had to move every few minutes.” He took a deep breath. “Two can mimic someone else’s power, and One negates it, so between the two of them, we had to run constantly.”
“We also didn’t want to bring them here for obvious reasons,” Sathanus said with a shrug. �
�Not until the battle was over, anyway.” She scratched at her beard. “Funny thing though. A few minutes ago, they just gave up the chase.”
“So, did the forces here. They turned and fled.” I gestured out at the town. “Do you think the Empress recalled everyone?”
“It’s possible,” Dred grunted as Sally swabbed at something with a green, viscous ointment that smelled like moldy lemons. “She’s lost eight of her Generals. That will doubtless weaken her.”
“Well, she’s about to lose a lot more,” I said, turning to look at the spire. “Assuming my plan works.”
“It will probably work,” Dred said before sucking in a sharp breath. “Man, not being able to instantly heal sucks.”
“What do you mean?” I asked, turning to look at him, and as I did, I realized he’d shed the armaments, which made sense since Sathanus had told me she’d forcibly removed them to save him.
“I can’t use the armaments anymore. I’m too corrupted.” He looked away from me. “Perhaps you should take them.” As he spoke, Sathanus held out a sack filled with armor.
“I’m not sure how I could use both of them at the same time. Some of them fit the same slot.” I took the bag and stared into it, causing a new achievement to appear in front of me.
Achievement: Retrofitted unlocked.
Retrofitted – Combine the Heavenly and Hellion Armaments in the Well of Souls.
“Question,” I said, glancing over at Dred. “Do you have any idea what the Well of Souls is?”
“No.” He shook his head, and as I glanced at Sathanus, she did the same. That was okay though because I had two very smart angels in the Spire behind me.
“Right, okay.” I threw the bag of armor over my shoulders. “Good luck with that healing.”
42
It turned out that neither Raphael nor Jophiel even knew what the Well of Souls was, which was both annoying and frustrating. Between the two of them, they encompassed nearly all the knowledge in the universe except for when it came to things that were actually, you know, useful.
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