Magnus’s humor disappeared. His gaze screamed malice, and he stopped playing around. His hand twitched, but before I could move, a sharp pain streaked across the side of my face. A deep gash opened under my cheek. Hot blood poured down my cheek, but I couldn't stop and worry about a minor inconvenience.
He frowned as he watched my blood soak through my armor. "Ah, a pity. I was slightly too high. You must forgive me; I'll make sure to hit your neck properly next time."
His hand moved once more. I didn't even try to deflect a blow I couldn't see and instead threw myself to the side as he struck. A slight pain lanced through my left side, but I could tell at once it was a flesh wound and didn't hit anything vital.
I just managed to rise to my feet when my instincts screamed at me. I stepped to the side just as death passed my ear, and a thin line scratched my neck—another too close call.
His frown turned positively sour as he struck again. Decades of trusting my gut on the battlefield were the only thing keeping me alive right now. I was surviving by the skin of my teeth. I was solely focused on keeping my head attached to my shoulders and couldn't do much else. He’s too fast for me to go on the offensive. I'm going to have to pin him down somehow.
Another slice at my neck, but I parried it with the flat of my sword. To which Magnus’s smile returned. "You're proving slipperier than I first gave you credit for. Well done."
"Glad I'm amusing y—" Another strike pierced my side as he moved. Too fast for me to see, his blade struck my right side this time.
The wound was deep, and blood trailed down to soak into my pant leg. It trickled down my thigh, growing heavier with every step I took on the uneven floor. All right, I'll have to use my shield now. I stepped closer to Magnus and gave him the opening he needed, he thrust with his blade, and I brought my left hand up and activated Chitin Shield. Black chitin pooled out of my skin and tore through my leather armor to form a small shield, about two feet in width and length, and perfectly round. It solidified in less than a second and stopped his thrust cold.
Magnus's cane-sword sank into the chitin but did not break through, leaving his sword lodged in the shield and giving me the best chance I'd have to end this. I brought my sword up and slid it into his chest. Dead center, I speared through his heart—a fatal wound.
He was dead.
Magnus sagged against me. I pulled my blade out and waited for him to drop to the ground. Which didn't happen. He stood stock-still; blood fountained from his chest, but not nearly the amount that it should be given I'd hit his heart.
He lifted his head in a grim smile, a shadow of pain across his face. I hurt him, should have killed him, but guess he has more tricks up his sleeve than I first thought.
Magnus inclined his head to me. "I must commend you on your performance thus far; you've put on one hell of a good show here, young man," he said. "Nobody’s forced me to use so much power like this in…well, ever, truth be told."
Magnus gave me a theatrical bow, flicking his hat in the process. A tip of the hat to a well-deserved actor.
"Time for the second act."
Without warning, Magnus stood before me. His sword pierced through my Chitin Shield, chestplate, and studded leather with ease, hitting dead on my heart. The only thing that saved me was my Exoskeleton. It stopped him from killing me on the spot. I fell back, hitting my head on Eris's cage.
I still had the key in my hand. With the Chitin Shield covering my left arm, Magnus hadn't noticed. I need her help. I can't do this alone. With a look, I slipped the key into her hand. The chains that bound her bore the same lock as the cage, an oversight on Magnus’s part, but a blessing for us. I left Eris to free herself and stood up, trying to hold him off as long as I could.
I only have a few more minutes left in me; battle fatigue is nearly maxed. I'm going to have to play this smart. I had to deactivate Chitin Shield as it caused my battle fatigue to rise much faster while active. It retracted back under my skin, leaving me feeling naked and my left arm very much exposed. The tattered remains of my vambrace hung limply on a few strands of leather. Gil's going to murder me when he sees it.
Magnus practically glowed when my shield disappeared. "Can't keep it up, eh? What a shame."
I slashed at him in anger, but he didn't dodge this time. Instead, he parried with his cane-sword. He's slower. Not by much, but it's there. Did the poison actually harm him? Or is it the chest wound that should have killed him? Whatever the reason, I was grateful. I wouldn't have survived much longer if he'd been at full strength.
I couldn't just rush him with a flurry of attacks; my fatigue was too high for me to be reckless. I needed to be precise with my attacks. A creaking groan startled the both of us, even though I'd been expecting it. Eris walked out of the cage with anger on her face. Pure hatred for the man who'd imprisoned her.
Raucous laughter roared from his mouth, and he clapped his hands. "Ho! Snuck the key from right under my nose. Clever, clever." He held up his hand, stopping the fight for a moment. "All right, Sam. Let's stop this before someone gets hurt.”
"What?"
"You've impressed me. You fight well, and you've proven to have quite a sharp mind behind that thick skull of yours. Something lacking in most of my subordinates. I’d like to offer you a job."
I scoffed at him. "Why the hell would I ever agree to that?"
"It saves your life," he said, walking over to the table and reaching for a health potion.
"You touch that potion, and all bets are off," I said just before his fingers brushed the glass.
"Fair enough," he said, his grin deepening. "How about a gesture of good faith?”
“What do you mean?”
“I haven’t been entirely forthcoming with you, dear boy,” he said. “My name isn’t Magnus.”
What?
“Bullshit!”
“Unfortunately, not. Believe you me, I wish I were. If you think I’m hard to kill, oh, you haven’t seen anything yet. No, I’m merely a humble servant to my master.”
I backed up, placing myself between Eris and Not-Magnus, “Then who the hell are you?”
He took off his hat and swept it across his chest as he bowed. “You may call me Liam.”
Liam stood from his bow, and with a flick of his wrist, rolled his hat up his arm and to the top of his head.
“So, what do you say, Sam? I’ll pay you better than anything you could dream of, and I'll even let you keep the girl. She's what brought you to me, after all."
We could keep fighting, but there's no guarantee that we'll win. Not that I want Liam to live, he deserves to die, but I don't want his death at the cost of mine, or Eris's. I turned to Eris, who'd been quiet so far. "What do you think?"
She shook her head, her eyes never leaving Liam. "No, you didn't hear the things he said to me, the delight he took in my imprisonment. He needs to die. The world will be better off without him."
"But—" I began, but my voice was taken from me. The Aspect rose up without warning and took over. I could do nothing to stop it. “I want to kill him. He annoys me. Let’s pull him apart and see what makes him tick!”
Eris stopped dead and looked at me, her eyes wide. "Sam, what did you do?"
"He desired more power, and I gave it to him," the Aspect said, laughing.
I couldn't control my voice, but I could still see and hear, could still move my body, but it felt as if I was sharing part of myself with another entity.
Eris sighed deeply, and her voice sounded a thousand years old. "We will speak of this later, Aspect. You've overstepped yourself, now. Give him back."
The Aspect retreated into my heart, and I had control again. "Thank you, Eris. I’m beginning to regret dealing with that monster," I said, raising my sword.
"Hand me your knife."
I unsheathed my hunting knife and passed it to her while Liam scowled at us. "So that's your answer?"
I nodded. "You heard the lady. Fuck your offer."
"Very well, a shame. Y
ou had such potential."
The brief reprieve from combat allowed my battle fatigue to drop just a tad, not by a significant amount, but enough to let me stay in the fight for longer than I otherwise would've been able. Liam came at us fast, putting all of his speed to work, but I parried him again. He's definitely slower than before. With me keeping his sword busy, Eris can summon her insects to attack.
"Eris, use your magic!"
The half-second my head was turned to Eris, Liam sliced a gash down my arm, adding to the ever-growing puddle at my feet. The wound in my side still bled freely; this new wound only added to my trouble.
"Shit!" I hissed in pain.
I kept my sword up and backed up to Eris. She was focused on her hand, bringing her verdant smoke to summon horde of creatures. As soon as her magic began, Liam snapped his fingers.
As if a phantom gust of wind blew in, the green smoke dissolved into nothingness.
Liam wagged his finger at Eris. "Now, now. No outside guests allowed for this performance."
Enraged, Eris ran into the fight, swinging wildly, getting nowhere. She was untrained in combat, and it was painfully obvious, her anger only making it worse. Liam was able to keep her at bay with ease, but I attacked at his side, forcing him to switch priorities.
He blocked my sword, but I swept at his foot. He didn't fall for the trick a second time, shifting his balance and catching the kick on his shin.
Eris took the opportunity to try and stab him, but he caught her wrist and took the knife from her. While holding me off with his cane-sword, he brought the hilt of my knife to her temple with as much force as he could muster. With a sickening crack, Eris dropped, blood trailing down her head.
"You son of a bitch!" I screamed, putting my entire being into killing him. He kept me from landing a fatal blow, but each block with his sword was weaker than the last. His battle fatigue has to be at least as high as mine, and even if I don't understand how he's ignoring the laws of magic, his mana must be close—
It hit me like a sledgehammer.
Even if I don't know how the hell he's doing it, he's still using magic, and that means I can shut him down.
Magic was magic, no matter if it was using Script, smoke, or even nothing at all. It was still magic, and magic couldn't defend against antimagic.
I activated Aura of the Antimage, and it pulsed out along my skin, dispersing around me. Coating everything around me in an antimagic field.
It hurt less than the last time I used Aura. The Aspect burrowed through my heart and spread through my veins; it was a part of me now, and it wasn't going anywhere. As soon as the aura spread beyond my skin, the Aspect returned to its home in my heart.
It still wasn't the most pleasant feeling, but from the look on Liam's face, he was in far more pain. He no longer held his sick smile; now, it was twisted in agony. He dropped his cane-sword from his hand, and it clattered against the floorboards.
Liam looked down at his chest. At the rapidly growing stain of blood pouring out of it.
He stumbled to his knees, his heart pumping out his lifeblood with every beat. Liam's air of theatrics died and was replaced by utter panic. He stumbled over to the table and tried to grab the health potion that promised his salvation.
Only to find Eris's iron-clad grip around his ankle.
Blood ran down her face. She looked at him with fire in her eyes. "You're not going anywhere.”
Liam fell to the ground, tripping while trying to dislodge Eris's hand. He was weakened from the blood loss and couldn't beat her strength. He kicked at her face, but I plunged my sword through his thigh, aiming for his femoral artery.
Blood soaked through his white pants, pouring freely into the dirt. With my final attack, Aura of the Antimage ended, and my battle fatigue maxed.
As if my bones were made of jello, I folded, bumping my head on the table and falling to stare, unmoving as Liam laughed. He didn’t miss the subtle pop as my aura timed out, and he immediately snapped his fingers, stopping the massive flow of blood from his chest and leg.
"Looks like you overdid yourself, Sam. How unfortunate," Liam said.
"And it looks like you forgot about my magic!"
Liam turned sharply to see Eris and a stream of smoke slipping from her hands as she summoned her insects. They came, crawling from the darkened corners of the warehouse en masse at the command of their queen. Spiders, ants, beetles, and cockroaches. They all came, and from the look on Liam's face, he could do nothing to stop them.
Even if he didn't show the same symptoms of mana depletion, he was running out, and keeping himself alive was taking the remaining mana he had left.
"Devour him,” Eris commanded.
Liam panicked when he couldn't stop the rising horde. He looked to me with pleading eyes. "Don't do this, Sam. Stop her!"
But it wasn't my decision to make.
I couldn't move, couldn't even speak. I couldn't tell Eris to stop even if I wanted to, so I just stared as the swarm crawled over his legs and up to his chest.
The spiders reached him first, scurrying up to his face and neck and sinking their venomous fangs into every inch of exposed flesh. The fire ants were slower, but they worked their way under his clothing to bite and sting his legs and feet. Both were sickening to watch; my phobia of insects was out in full swing, but I physically couldn't look away.
The cockroaches were the worst. Spurred by the command of the Hive Queen, they crawled to Liam's chest and burrowed into his open wound, a dozen of them at a time, eating away at the bloody skin to crawl deeper inside him. His shouts were deafening, raking at my ears and pounding through my skull. Liam screamed and screamed until his mouth filled with spiders, choking off the horrid sound.
It took four minutes for Liam to die. The timer for my fatigue kept track for me, and in the end, I don't know what killed him. The blood loss from the deep gashes, the lack of air from the spiders, or the cockroaches that ate their way to his heart.
Honestly, I didn't want to know. All I cared about was that he was dead.
Liam had been, without a doubt, the most dangerous foe I'd ever faced.
Eris sat up off the ground and crawled her way over to me, pulling my head into her lap. For the first time in my life, I was thankful for my battle fatigue. It kept me from shivering at her touch. I felt horrible at myself for even thinking about it.
I loved Eris, knew I loved her from the bottom of my heart. But for a single split second, I was deathly afraid of her.
I managed to shake off the feeling by the time my battle fatigue wore off and chalked it up to my phobia of insects. I sat up and immediately pulled out a couple of potions: two health and a mana. I handed a health and mana potion to Eris and downed mine while she did the same to hers. My health steadily rose back into the green.
I knelt and cupped her cheek in my hand. "I love you, Eris."
My words cracked the dam, and Eris couldn't hold back her tears anymore. She broke down and cried. I kissed the top of her head and held her till she stopped a minute or so later.
I wiped the remnants of tears from her streaked face and kissed her lips. A chaste kiss, but I put my love of her behind it, and pressed my forehead to hers, enjoying her warmth again.
As with all things, though, our embrace came to a close, and I stood to my feet, with some resistance from Eris, who clutched at my sleeves. "Why can't we stay like this for a few more minutes?" she asked.
"Can't love, we've lingered here for too long as is. We don't need anyone coming in and finding us here. C'mon, let's loot the place and go," I said, pulling Eris up with me.
She knocked the dust off her clothes while I perused the room. The glint of light off of Liam's sword caught my attention again, and I stared as my fury rose at the symbol etched to the bone.
Magnus.
Damn it! I thought I’d had him!
Realizing that Liam wasn’t the man I’d been looking for was a sucker punch. I’d come this far and fought through a mountain of e
nemies, only to end up with a name and too many loose ends.
Magnus has been the root of all of this. His thugs have made my life hell, not to mention the attempt on our castle. This will not go unpunished.
"Let me skin him alive when we find him. I’ll be careful not to end his life too quickly,” the Aspect promised.
Eris felt the anger and looked at me with concern. "Sam, we need to talk."
"Yeah," I said.
I needed to know what I'd gotten myself into but was hesitant to actually find the answers.
“You made a deal with it?”
“I didn’t really have a choice in the matter,” I said and preceded to tell her about what happened, how it had taken over my body and nearly gotten me killed.
She sighed, running her hands through mine. “I don’t know what this means, but it won’t be good. For whatever reason, the Aspect is different and isn’t bound by the old laws.”
“So, what do we do?”
“I don’t know.”
I let out a deep sigh, echoing hers. Oh well, it’s my own fault for agreeing to it. Not that I had a choice, but I guess I just have to live with it now. And figure out how to get rid of it as soon as we can.
“Good luck, knight. I’m a part of you now. Until eternity,” it mocked.
Fucking perfect.
“Let’s ransack what we can and get the hell out of here,” I said.
The bodies of the guards had long since vanished, and Liam's corpse was gone as well, leaving behind a paltry few items from his inventory. I took his gear and the cane-sword since it seemed to be hero-tier.
I had no idea on the patrol schedule of the guards, and people could still come looking for their dead comrades, only to find us instead. A prospect I didn't relish coming to pass.
Eris nodded, finding the logic in what I was saying. She took the few potions and coins on the table while I looked past the cages and tried to find anything.
Liam worked for Magnus; there has to be something. Some lead to follow or clue as to his whereabouts.
I quickly searched the contents of the room, took the vials of health and mana potions Eris handed me, as well as a bottle labeled “sleeping draught.” It bore the same bright green liquid as the syringe. There was nothing more evident in the room, though my gut told me I was missing something.
Hive Knight: A Dark Fantasy LitRPG (Trinity of the Hive Book 1) Page 39
