Crimson Blade

by Corey Soreff

  "Flash," Eucibous said as he casted his favorite agility spell. The familiar white light surrounded his body, indicating the spell's effects had begun. Kuldric coughed as his body instinctively tried to fight for breath, even though he no longer needed to breathe. Eucibous's foot flew into the air, cracking Kuldric in the side of the head with a lightning-fast kick and sending him tumbling away. By the time his foot touched the ground again, Eucibous had seemingly vanished.

  Seth'nerak gave the man credit for such speed. Surely he had never seen a mage's agility spell to be this effective. But the speed didn't matter much to him. The Liche King laughed as Eucibous's gigantic sword cleaved through his back, who had apparently already gotten behind him. The sword passed completely through him, meeting no resistance and leaving no wound.

  The Liche King casually turned to face his attacker. "Just because you can seemingly see my physical body, that does not mean you can attack it." He grinned.

  Oh great, Eucibous thought. Seth'nerak was somehow existing in between dimensions. "I should have figured you to fight like a coward."

  "I fight like a winner," the Liche King answered. He snapped his arm forward and a bolt of dark energy blasted Eucibous in the chest, knocking him back several feet. But Eucibous refused to fall. His crimson chest plate smoked, and a black burn remained where the spell had struck him. He must be entering this dimension fully when he attacks. If that's the case…

  Several more of those sinister bolts shot forth, and this time Eucibous was gone before they came anywhere near him. As the last bolt left the drow's hand, he was already sending his blade straight through the liche's spine from behind. But again, he penetrated no skin. He cursed as he saw Seth'nerak smile. He cast multiple spells on purpose to give me a chance to attack during his offense. He meant to show me I can't hurt him.

  "Surely you didn't think I would be as easy to kill as Sargath, who left himself open every time he attacked?" Seth'nerak cackled in amusement.

  Eucibous grimaced. Bastard, Sargath wasn't quite so easy. He remembered how hard it had been to even scratch the God. If only I could control this so called Godwill I possess. Until now that power had only seemed to present itself when he became extremely emotional.

  Eucibous jumped high into the air as Kuldric's hammer tried to sneak a blow at his back, doing a back flip and ending it with a kick to the back of Kuldric's head. Kuldric stumbled forward, right through Seth'nerak.

  Then Eucibous heard a voice whispering in his right ear.

  "Sorry I can't help, but my last attack drained all my energy," Rorik whispered softly as he projected his voice into the plane of the living. "Ginin is defeated. I've been watching this fight. If he truly exists between dimensions, then it is similar to the abilities of us top-tier assassins. It gives me hope that someday I'll be able to attack without breaking my stealth, but that's beside the point. I'm guessing you can't hurt him unless you join him between the planes."

  "Easier said than done," Eucibous responded. "Plane hopping is one of the few skills I never bothered with."

  "Indeed," Rorik said. "Plus you can't just go between any planes, I'm guessing he's hiding between the planes of life and death. So even I can't hurt him, being between the planes of life and shadow. I suggest you retreat."

  Eucibous laughed. "Sorry, I'm not familiar with that term."

  "Ok," said Rorik, expecting such an answer. "Well good luck, I think I'll go check out the battle, maybe my skills will be of more use there. After breaking stealth one more time I won't be able to return, I'm dead if I stay here."

  Eucibous nodded. "Go kill some of those drow."

  "Talking to your assassin friend?" Seth'nerak asked. He looked around, and saw Ginin's headless body lying on the ground in the distance. "It would seem he defeated your other friend." The Liche King laughed. He stood next to Kuldric, both of them seeming at ease.

  The bastard is still going easy on me, Eucibous thought.

  Jin'tul stood tall and proud. Well, tall for a dark elf. His scimitars dripped with fresh blood, and dead knights littered the soil around him. He smiled at those who stood before him. "Ah, have I finally attracted the attention of people worth fighting?"

  Not far from the drow stood the would-be heroes. Ceric, Dennas, Thundrin, and Velion had all gathered, intent on stopping the drow's advance. Too many knights had fallen already.

  Ceric squeezed his sword in anger as he surveyed the damage around the drow King. "Your fun ends here, drow. You will fall to my blade like your father did before you."

  "If you killed my father, then truly he let his guard down. I don't mean to play nice or spend my time talking." Jin'tul stated.

  "Shit," Ceric cursed as Jin'tul vanished. This speed is a major problem. And the drow was correct, after all. His father had been about to kill his three current comrades when Ceric arrived. If he hadn't hesitated, he would have probably defeated all four of them. He tried to follow Jin'tul's movement with his eyes, but it proved impossible. He was simply too fast. Then he shot his glance to his left as he heard a grunt of pain.

  Dennas the monk fought to stand, his knees wobbling under him. A scimitar was protruding from his stomach, and quickly it retreated and the monk fell to his knees. By the time the scimitar was pulled free, the drow was no longer behind him. Dennas gaped in surprise, disbelieving he could be defeated so easily. He tried to pray to his God, but before he could utter a word a flash of darkness flew by him, and his head fell free.

  "To me!" Ceric yelled. The fighters gathered even closer, and formed a triangle with their backs to each other. This time they left no room for the drow to squeeze into. Jin'tul would have to attack from the front.

  Velion's purple robes fluttered in the wind as he summoned the magic within him and began summoning some aid. Two gorgens appeared in front of him, and before he lost control of them he quickly used his God's aid to compel them to his service. He kept the rest of his energy in reserve, for he would surely need his life leech if they were to defeat the drow King. The gorgens roared in anger, but they would do his bidding. He had used so much magic today, without Procta's help he would not have been able to control even one gorgen.

  Thundrin glanced at Dennas's corpse and screamed. "Vorthas!!!" He clenched his bastard sword in anger as he awaited the drow's next attack. He had respected the monk's fighting ability. No magic, no weapons. I'll cleave this foul drow in two.

  Ceric also strained his neck a moment to catch a glimpse at Dennas's corpse. Clever drow. If he hadn't decapitated the monk, I might have healed him. This was war. With an enemy of this caliber, a fight could be over in a heartbeat. He couldn't let his guard down. Not all fights were like the bards sang them to be, glorious one on one battles that lasted hours of testing skill and might. No, not when one of them had much more skill. He didn't even bother trying to ask for backup from his knights, for they would be no match for the drow anyway.

  A blur appeared in front of Thundrin, and he realized that he would likely not be able to move his blade in time to defend against wherever the attacks rained on him from. But then a gorgen materialized in front of the barbarian, teleporting to his aid.

  The gorgen quickly cast a demonfire spell, and flames erupted in from of him where the drow was about to arrive. But the blur that was Jin'tul had already vanished again. Gorgens were good at detecting presence, however, and the demon glanced up as the drow descended on him from the sky.

  The second gorgen teleported into the air, and blew Jin'tul out of the sky with its fist. Jin'tul was falling to the ground nearby when the first gorgen teleported again, this time to where he was about to land. He cast a huge fireball into the air to welcome the drow.

  Jin'tul wasted no time. He held one of his scimitars below him as he fell, and planted his feet on it. He used the tiny amount of resistance the blade provided to kick off and jump to his right, barely avoiding the deadly flames. Then he turned his back to the ground and began slashing at the air above him, with his enhanced speed he perform
ed a large number of slashes and the power and speed behind them propelled him faster towards the ground. The second his feet landed on the ground, both gorgens teleported around him. But he dashed away immediately, and a blur could be seen retrieving the second scimitar that still fell through the air. All this had taken place within seconds, and the three champions looked on with interest as the gorgens fought their battle for them.

  Kuldric stood emotionless, his magnificent golden platemail looking misplaced on the cold bluish gray skin of the death knight. His once shining blonde hair was now a matted dirty blond, full of dirt and dead ends. He hated the liche with every fiber of his being, but there was nothing he could do about it, so there was no point fretting. Eucibous needed to die, that was all there was to it. Simple. He had finally finished being tortured, he wasn't too keen on returning to it. Each hand held a half of his rare disassembled warhammer. He glanced at his master, the short drow that also reeked of death. He searched the liche's pale face for any indication of what he should do, but found nothing. Then I guess I'll attack again. Perhaps if I kill Eucibous, he may free me? He had almost cracked a sarcastic smile as he realized the futility of his hopes. If he proved himself a strong asset, he absolutely would not be freed. But if he proved himself a weak one…the results would likely be even worse. Better a strong asset.

  He returned his gaze to the enemy, the man he once admired. He looked as proud as ever as he stood before two of the strongest people in the world, outnumbered, with a big ignorant grin on his face. He was actually enjoying this. His long crimson hair had begun to curl as it was damp with sweat, the ends resting over his shoulder overlapping his crimson platemail. The dragon teeth on the shoulders rose menacingly out of the shoulders. The tabard over his chest displaying the crimson blade, the symbol of their group. The enormous sword that he wielded with ease, that appeared to weigh a hundred pounds. This was the man that started everything. This man was the reason he was reincarnated. This man was the reason he grew up a hero before ever accomplishing anything, with the best trainers of Adanantus. This man…was the reason the drow was here. Kuldric grimaced. He had realized the drow was playing with Eucibous before, so he had held back as well. It was time he got serious.

  "Unholy cloak," Kuldric said. A dark purple aura enveloped him, seeming like smoke rising from his skin. Kuldric could no longer use his old holy spells, but he had learned unholy spells to replace them. The spell he had termed 'unholy cloak' would give him increased agility and strength.

  He heaved one of his hammers forward straight at Eucibous's chest, and it barreled towards him at high speed. The power with which it was thrown would have crushed a normal man. But as expected, Eucibous swung his huge blade and knocked the hammer away. But the hammer was a diversion. Kuldric was already behind Eucibous, and his second hammer swung at his feet. Eucibous jumped over the hammer and threw his elbow out behind him, but Kuldric had already ran off to retrieve his other hammer.

  Kuldric took his missing hammer in hand and brought it up just in time as Eucibous appeared before him using his own enhanced agility. That massive blade crashed down against his hammer with such force that Kuldric realized he would be disarmed any moment, so he reinforced the block with his second hammer before he was overwhelmed. Eucibous's eyes looked like they were on fire, and the smile he wore appeared insane. Maybe he IS insane, Kuldric thought.

  Eucibous's foot came flying up to kick him, but Kuldric saw the maneuver coming and leaned back while he threw his own knee at the bottom of Eucibous's leg. He connected, and Eucibous's leg shot up farther than he intended, throwing him slightly off balance for a heartbeat. But a heartbeat was enough, and Kuldric swept Eucibous's other foot out from under him, and as his opponent began to heave towards the ground he brought both hammers down to smash Eucibous in the chest as he fell. The force of both hammers combined hit Eucibous hard, and when he hit the ground he even bounced a little from the impact. His high quality platemail seemed undamaged, however, which means that his bones were likely unharmed. But it would surely leave some bruises.

  Eucibous kicked his feet into the air, propelling him back to his feet. Then he laughed. "Excellent! Lok did tell me you had good eyes." Even with his enhanced agility, Kuldric was able to counter the kick perfectly when most men would not even be able to see it coming in the first place. "Now I see how you defeated him, his speed advantage doesn't mean much when you can still see and counter every attack."

  Kuldric thought back. He had spent so long outside of time in torture, that such memories seemed so long ago. Ah yes, the one who wore green. But Kuldric didn't have time to reminisce. "Circle of death," the death knight said, giving more power to the spell in his mind.

  On the ground beneath them, a large circle spread around them, with Kuldric at the center. Everything within the circle seemed to wither and die. Weeds curled up, and even stone seemed to age.

  Eucibous felt it begin to sap his stamina, and he jumped to safety outside the circle. But Kuldric ran at him, and was on him in an instant. The worst part was that the circle moved with him. He wouldn't die as the minor life forms had, but the spell was surely sapping at his stamina and magic, he could feel it. He was fine now, but depending how long the fight carried on…

  Eucibous quickly launched a fireball forward at the approaching death knight, he didn't even bother to speak the word. But even without the assistance of spoken words, Eucibous's spells were still quite powerful. A giant fireball erupted his hand and shot at Kuldric.

  Kuldric was still running forward when he said "Darkness consumes." A black void appeared before him, and all the fire seemed to be sucked into the void. Dirt and loose stones were all taken in by the spell.

  Eucibous could feel a force trying to pull even him towards the void, but it was not strong enough. I wonder if I could learn that spell. Or is it unique to death knights? Eucibous shrugged. Then the void disappeared and the image of Kuldric replaced it, already right before him. Kuldric held his arms out wide, hammer in each, and began spinning. Eventually he did not even look to be a human, just a distorted spinning sphere. Kuldric continued the spin and barreled into Eucibous.

  Eucibous's trained eyes could see where the hammers truly were at all times, but the speed at which they were spinning would make it difficult to block or deflect. If he blocked one, the other would get him immediately after. "Stone skin," he said.

  Kuldric collided with his opponent, and met strong resistance. Dust flew everywhere, and for a moment they could not see. He had connected with a direct hit, and when the dust cleared he saw his hammer was indeed resting on Eucibous's ribs. But he was unfazed. Magic.

  Eucibous was focused on Kuldric, and his eyes went wide as he realized his error. He felt the presence…inside him. As he slowly turned his head, he saw the Liche King, hand in his back as he grabbed at his soul.

  Seth'nerak grinned in victory. He would have another death knight.

  Jin'tul spit in annoyance. He was already fighting three champions of the Gods. Now he had to fight the Kings of the demon world as well? He was familiar with gorgens though, and he might even know these two. But they were bound to their summoner, and would attack him regardless. Demons were not unknown in the land of the drow. He had quite a few warlocks capable of summoning a gorgen. But he had none capable of summoning more than one simultaneously. He recalled his old studies about the gifts of the Gods, and decided it must be Procta's gift that allowed this warlock to do so.

  One of the gorgens appeared before him, and he immediately sent his scimitars diving in at the demon's chest. But it teleported away as quickly as it had come. Gorgens always fought like cowards, teleporting every second while casting spells. Which is why he expected the demonfire that came at him from behind, where the gorgen had teleported to. He dashed away, easily avoiding the flames, and the second gorgen materialized in his path and threw more demonfire at him. Repetitive, aren't they? He sidestepped and dodge the flames once again, then ran around and came at the demon's
back. He jabbed forward with one blade, expecting it when the demon vanished, and then he plunged his second blade behind him at the same instant.

  His guess was correct, and he smiled. He felt his scimitar pierce the tough skin of the demon. Their skin was hard to cut, but his blade was sharp, and doubly fast. He turned and brought the first scimitar swinging back around, and swiped at the demon's neck. A man's head would have been taken off cleanly, but their skin was like armor. But he still managed to open the demon's throat, and black blood flowed from the wound like a river. The demon collapsed, then vanished as Velion released the summoning.

  Jin'tul smiled as he pictured what the lesser demons would be doing to the demon in his injured state as he returned to the demon world. It was every lesser demon's dream to hurt the powerful gorgens who ruled over them.

  The drow King brought both his scimitars up to block, for the remaining gorgen had appeared and its fist came in fast. He blocked the huge fist successfully, but the demon was strong. He was still blown backwards from the force of the punch, and he struggled to stay on his feet. The muscles in his arms throbbed as they absorbed the shock of the blow. The gorgen raised a pillar of flame where it expected him to land, and Jin'tul cursed as he quickly sidestepped to avoid it. But it was well timed, and the flames consumed his foot for a moment. He grimaced as he realized it now hurt to stand on that foot. This fight just became a lot harder. His enhanced speed would only put more pressure on the injured foot. No matter, I am finally King, I will not die here.

  Then his mind scrambled, and fearsome images surrounded him. Imps bit at his flesh, darkness enveloped him, and the screams of his brethren came from every direction. This was where his knowledge of gorgens came in handy. An illusion spell.