“What the hell?” I muttered and looked up at him. “What did you do to me?”
“You may be strong Eternal, but mass spells are still stronger.”
I noticed the large number of mages behind Asterion, my teeth gritting in rage. Mass spells allowed weaker players to bunch up and cast magic that was much much stronger than anything they could cast individually. It had a long cast time though and I realized Asterion had made up for it by attacking and distracting me in the meantime.
Dammit, I cursed, annoyed that I hadn’t caught that.
“This isn’t even it,” Asterion chuckled.
The mages yelled a word, and ropes of darkness shot out from the circle, wrapping around me like binding chains. Pain exploded into my body, as though my insides were being bathed in acid. I saw my health go down a tiny bit, but the pain made me feel like death would have been a better thing.
I couldn’t tell what I was doing. I could feel my neck arch back, my eyes roll freakily inside my head, but everything felt like a daze, as though what I was seeing now was nothing more than a dream.
“Kid, you need to get out of there, now!” Nyx yelled. “Asterion let you absorb your spectral spirit on purpose. He’s sapping all your energy to-”
A howl broke the air, drowning all the sounds I could hear. A deathly silence replaced it as everyone, including Nyx, sat with bated breath, wondering what the heck had just made that noise.
Rivers of wind swirled into the battlefield, collecting as a massive twister at the very center and rising up powerfully to the clouds. Strong winds grazed my skin from afar, as if they were sharp needles of ice.
A bright light shone inside the twister and I saw a faint silhouette appear within it.
“Ahh…” a voice relaxed, its strength and power radiating through the air. The figure threw its arms up to the sides and the winds immediately broke away.
A man stood at the middle of it all, wearing a piece of armor dark as death, its cuts and protrusions making it seem like it was a monster by itself. He carried no blades, and wore a cape on his back, allowing the dark cloth to lower down to his knees. A black helmet covered his head, shaped with more angled cuts than it probably needed.
I could sense an aura from this man, an aura which overwhelmed me, an aura which made me want to back away from him as far as I could. And yet I knew that wasn’t possible here. This man was a danger to all of us, to the world as we knew it, to peace itself.
And in this rising of chaos, I finally understood what Asterion had needed me for, why he had actually summoned me. It was not to induct me into the Dark Alliance, but to resurrect its lost leader himself.
The Dark Lord had returned.
***
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
The man of Darkness looked at me and his demeanor immediately changed, going from solace to repulsion blazing quick.
“Diablo,” he hissed, venom in his voice, making it clear he did not like me. I found it odd that he called me Diablo, for I knew it was only a name that those close to me used.
“My Lord!” Asterion knelt before the man, bowing down respectfully, and the men of the Dark Alliance immediately followed suit. The Alliance of Light just stood silently, completely stunned by what they had just seen.
“I can’t believe that idiot showed up,” Nyx said, distaste in his tone as well.
Do we like him? I asked.
“Like him? Are you crazy?”
That was answer enough for me. The Dark Lord looked around at the people before him, a little confused at first, but smirking later. I quickly took the chance and hit him with my analyze skill.
Name
Azmuth Razugan
Race
Eternal
Level
563
Health
14650
Mana
17800
Stamina
14090
Dammit, I muttered. He’s way stronger than I am.
That didn’t spell anything good. I still stayed calm though, comforted by the hope that me and Freya together were good enough to take him on.
However, that thought wasn’t exactly that comforting. So far being an Eternal had given me a ton of overpowered benefits but with my loss in memory however, I hadn’t learnt to use them one bit. It was a bit worrying now that an actual Eternal from the old ages had shown up. If he knew exactly how to use his strength, it probably wouldn’t even matter even if me and Freya took him on together.
“I hate to say it, Diablo, but you’re probably right,” Nyx said. “The Dark Lord is one of the strongest Eternals in existence, and one of the more cunning ones as well.”
He isn’t at full strength though is he? I asked
No, he is not, Nyx said. It seems like the resurrection method Asterion used could only give him so much power.
“Ignoring me are you, Diablo?” The Dark Lord walked up to me, this man called Azmuth Razugan. His eyes glowed a hazy grey, as though mist lay right within them.
“What do you want, Azmuth?” I asked.
He immediately lunged at me, grabbing me by the throat and lifting me into the air. “Never call me that name,” he growled.
“Let him go!” Freya jumped out of the side, landing a kick right to his head and throwing him sideways. The Dark Lord immediately lowered his body weight, pushing down onto the floor and using the friction to stop the slide a mere few feet away from us.
He glanced up, and a chuckle left his helmet. “A Demon Elf,” he said. “Amusing to see a creature of the darkness in here.”
“I am not a creature of the darkness,” Freya swung her sword up in front of her, pointing it at him threateningly. “Do not rope me with the likes of you.”
He sighed. “With statements like that, you really are asking for it.”
Freya charged at him, sword arched back and ready to swing. The man stood there, staring at her, calmness in his demeanor.
“Freya no!” I yelled.
The Dark Lord thrust his hand right at her. “Elenir,” his voice rumbled through the earth. A blast of hazy darkness shot out of him, surging through Freya. The elf lay shrouded in the black, disappearing from view for an instant. When the attack stopped a second later, she stood in the middle of it all, her pupils white, her legs shaking, her arm limp to her side. Her body swayed for a second and then she collapsed to the floor, unconscious.
“And that is how you use the Dark Arts,” Azmuth laughed.
“Freya!” I rushed to her, my eyes watching as her health bar lay blinking at less than a tenth of full health.
“She’s not doing well, Diablo,” Nyx said, not helping with the ever so obvious observation.
I knelt beside the elf, a Warrior’s restoration potion uncorked and ready in my hand. I tilted it into her mouth and her health bar increased, going up to maybe twice of what it was before.
“Was she someone close to you?” the Dark Lord chuckled from behind me. “How unfortunate.”
“You monster,” I stood up, anger coursing through my nerves, power surging through my voice.
The Dark Lord’s expression changed, not to one of surprise, but to one that recognized who I was, an equal. “If I am a monster, then what does make you, the man who nearly ended the whole world?” I asked.
“Your words mean nothing,” I charged him, my steps blazing fast, Dawnbreaker in my hand.
He sighed. “Still resorting to swords,” he thrust his palm out, summoning the blast of darkness against me as well. I flattened my blade against it, holding strong against the attack.
For maybe half a second.
The blast quickly overpowered me, throwing me into the air and rough against the ground.
“You are no better than a child if you can only use swords,” Azmuth chuckled, even though his eyes looked at me in rage.
Just what did I end up doing to this guy? I asked myself as I stood up, confused by all his anger towards me. If what I’d heard about the past me was true, it seemed
he and I worked against the same side.
“An enemy’s enemy is not always a friend,” Nyx said.
That’s annoying, I dusted myself off, my eye on the Dark Lord, at the look he was giving me, a look of disappointment. That’s even more annoying, I thought.
“You cannot defeat him this way, young one,” he said. “You must let go of your restrictions.”
But, I don’t want to use those moves, I said. I need to do this for myself. I have to prove I don’t need to be the man from the scriptures.
“That does not mean you should let the Azmuth steamroll you.”
“Fine,” I straightened my posture and looked to the Dark Lord. “What do you want from me, Azmuth?” I asked.
“DO NOT CALL ME THAT,” he yelled, a shockwave sounding from just the pure anger in his voice.
Whoa, this guy has issues, I thought to myself as I bore the pressure wave passing through me, my mind amused that he’d reacted the exactly how I’d wanted him to.
I charged at him with a sword once again. Nyx, I said. I need you to-
“Understood,” the spirit said, reading the thought before I could even say it to him.
“Again?” the Dark Lord chuckled as he saw me, his hand already out in front of him, ready to summon the attack. “You must be very stupid.”
I immediately threw my weight to the back foot, loosening my hold on the sword. The weapon burst into a stream of light and disappeared just as I came to a stop.
The Dark Lord summoned his blast of darkness, letting it rage towards me in all its dark glory.
I thrust my hands in front of me. “Uher!” I yelled. The form of a bird surged out of the ground, its body made of dark haze. It shot into the attack coming at me, slicing through like it was nothing and surging to the Dark Lord.
He swiped his arm to the side, and the form immediately dissipated, turning into dark smoke that dissolved into the air. My attack had done no damage but I could see Azmuth’s stance change. He was no longer disappointed, but surprised.
He was losing confidence.
“You didn’t think I could do that, did you?” I chuckled, putting my finger in the air and summoning a dark flame right above it. “Surprise.”
“Diablo could never use the Dark Arts that well,” he muttered, glaring at me.
“Well Diablo can use it that well now, so get over it,” I threw my hands to the sky, and spheres of darkness summoned all around me, surrounding the air.
Azmuth’s eyes widened. “What the hell is that?” he asked, confusion showing in his voice for the first time.
“Oh do you not know?” I asked, teasingly. “That’s surprising. I guess Diablo knows more than you do then.”
I brought my hand down even before he had the time to react. My spheres shot at him with blazing speed, the projectiles cracking into his armor a hundred times a second.
Nyx, I thought as I charged forward.
“On it,” he said.
I surged to the Dark Lord and jumped high into the air, my eyes glued to his confused form. I held my hand out in the air as I twisted, readying myself to strike. My fingers closed as light formed in my hand once more, a weapon slowly emerging.
I gripped hard and swung down as I landed. The clear sound of ringing metal echoed through the air, and a blast of wind blew through the field as the Dark Lord was thrown back a hundred yards.
The man held tight as he slid to a stop, his posture less authoritarian than before. I held my sword in front of me as I walked up to him, noticing he was heaving for air now. “More than you can handle?” I asked. “That’s unfortunate.”
I took a quick step, surging up to him in a split second and taking another swing. My weapon made contact with his body and he crunched into the floor, the ground beneath us fissuring into a small crater. I saw cracks form in his armor, not able to withstand the strength of my strikes.
He stood still. “Enough,” he said.
A blast of wind surged out of him, throwing me back. I somersaulted in the air, landing onto my feet as I landed, my eyes immediately turning to him.
I saw him walk over to Asterion and put his hand on his head.
“Lord?” the Dark Emperor asked in confusion.
A flash of white light shone from the Dark Lord’s arms, and Asterion began to glow. The Leader of the Dark Alliance looked around in confusion. “My Lord, what’s going on?” he asked, completely confused.
“Nothing you need to worry about,” Azmuth tightened his grip and Asterion burst into sparkles of light. The glowing points orbited the Dark Lord for a second and surged into him, radiating out in a bright flash before they completely disappeared.
What the hell? My eyes widened.
“Oh dear,” Nyx said, and I knew something bad had happened. I quickly used my analyze skill on Azmuth once again, while I still had the chance.
Name
Azmuth Razugan
Race
Eternal
Level
805
Health
15650
Mana
19800
Stamina
15090
Oh my god, my eyes widened. He’s become much stronger now, I clenched my fists, realizing what had just happened. The Dark Lord had absorbed Asterion’s energy into himself, thereby powering himself to even higher levels.
“He can only increase his levels temporarily this way,” Nyx said. “But looking at this it seems like he’s going to be strong for quite a while. You can’t just sit back and wait for the effects to wear of or anything.”
“Well I can’t take him on either,” I mumbled. “He’s way stronger than me.”
“Backing down already, Diablo?” the Dark Lord chuckled, his voice sounding deeper and almost dual toned.
“You wish,” I took a step back.
“Ah, change in approach,” Nyx said.
I can’t take him on at close range, I realized. I haven’t been the Phantom Lord for long but I need to play to my strengths.
“I understand.”
I put my hand in the air, my mind delving into the names of the skills and special moves I’d seen on my list. I dropped my arm towards Azmuth and spoke. “Elanir, Ivaldeon, Uhilios, Sakh.”
And then there was Chaos.
Waves of fire and blades of shadows surged out of my palm and at the Dark Eternal. Beams of white and black intertwined from the air and shot towards him, attacking him on two fronts.
He stood silently and threw his hands into the air. “Elenir,” he said and a massive beam of darkness surged through, dissipating all my attacks and crushing right into me. I went flying back, my health going down by at least a half before I hit the floor, my body rolling a few times before coming to a stop.
I stood up and my eyes immediately widened at the sight of death before me, at the hundreds of bodies that lay on the floor, both in dark and white clothing, dead and broken.
He doesn’t even care for his own people, I muttered. I can’t let him keep going like this.
“I…have a way,” Nyx said, sounding unconfident for the first time.
The Dark Lord looked at me from afar, his eyes gazing onto me, his demeanor dominant, as though he was gifting me this time to plan things out, as though he could have ended everything but didn’t.
What’s your plan? I asked as I stepped forward, moving towards the man.
“It needs the void sword,” he said.
Okay? I said.
“And you’re not going to like it.”
I listened for a few seconds, hearing the spirit’s words as he spoke and when he was done, I realized he was totally right.
I didn’t like it one bit.
“Diablo, it’s fine if we don’t do this,” Nyx said. “There will be other ways to-”
“I’ll do it,” I said. “I don’t like it, but I’ll do it.”
The Dark Lord, left impatient by my pace, shot towards me, a hundred yards away one moment and next to me the next. A blast of win
d surged from behind him, the after effects of his massive burst of speed. He placed his hand on me before I could even react. “Elenir.”
I dived down to the floor, just in time to avoid the massive beam of darkness that surged out of his palm. The attack passed through both armies, taking out a large section of them once again.
Dammit, I cursed, anger and pain coursing through me as one intense emotion.
“It’s now or never, Diablo,” Nyx said, tension in his voice. I knew he was right. There was no time left.
Fine, I gave in and surged forward, heading right at the Dark Lord. The man readied himself to strike me but I diverged away, running past him instead. I held my hand out, holding my sword tight as I approached the clash of the armies.
I am sorry, my mind cried out and I slashed into the first soldier I saw. Cries of anguish and pain resonated around my blade as I blast through the battle field, taking down people of either faction, either ideology, either alliance.
The laughter of the Dark Lord echoed through the air. “You have given into your true nature have you, Diablo,” he said with glee. “Beautiful. This is the man I wish to defeat!”
I stopped my run in front of my last kill, a young knight of the Alliance of Light. His body trembled, his eyes looking at me in pain, in confusion.
In fear.
“Forgive me,” I whispered and severed his head right off his shoulders.
Pain shot through my nerves, as though lightning was coursing through it. The crystal in my weapon set itself glow, the deep purple turning nearly bright white. My blade vibrated, the black metal now illuminated by an aura of deep purple, as though the shade had shifted from the crystal onto the weapon.
DING!
Blood drive activated.
I turned to the Dark Lord, now for the first time seeing the surprise in his eyes, his mind finally figuring out what was going on, figuring out why I had killed so many people.
I immediately lowered my body and brought my blade out front, struggling to wield the vibrating weapon, its tremors growing in strength. I tightened my muscles and blast forward, activating every agility boost I could, putting everything I had into my speed. A shockwave blast through the field as I surged in front of the Dark Lord, my blade already mid-swing, my arms ready to do what I had to.
The Eternal: Awakening - A LitRPG Saga (World of Ga'em Book 1) Page 24
