by Oliver Mayes
Archimonde had a way to inflict damage on Damien without attacking him directly. The Corruption was doing approximately 50 damage a second and the timer indicated it would last twenty-five seconds. Around 1,250 damage over the duration. On one spell. That Damien couldn’t get rid of. No wonder Archimonde had caused so much chaos with Corruption and the Contagion trait in the battle. Up until recently, Damien himself had had fewer maximum hit points than that.
At least Lucifer’s incubus had a lot of hit points too. Damien was already on fire, he may as well drain this minion before he moved on. Except before he landed his second pair of stabs, the basic information above Lucifer’s incubus turned red. Archimonde had drawn the same incubus he’d set on fire into its own Soul Summon Limit.
Lucifer’s disapproval boomed across the sand as the icon denoting Damien’s Soul Summon Limit flashed and changed: it read 8/22.
“Damien, you have attacked one of Archimonde’s minions. You may now only select half your Soul Summon Limit’s worth of minions. One more instance of cheating and you will forfeit the match.”
What a dirty, clever, honorless, rotting kumquat Archimonde was turning out to be. First the creature had set the incubus on fire and let Damien attack it, then it had taken control of the same minion to get Damien penalized. It was a whole lot better than losing the match outright but still terrible. If Archimonde could force another error, Damien would lose on a technicality. Archimonde was doing everything it could to end this fight before it began.
Damien really needed more healing and his Narcissistic Rage would only last another five seconds. He’d regained 10% of the inflicted damage from his four critical strikes on the incubus. The first two hits had granted 500 hit points back as life-steal, the reward for two perfectly executed critical strikes dealing 5,000 damage. But when Archimonde had taken the incubus over, the incubus’s hit points had dropped: it had defaulted from Lucifer’s unknown level to Archimonde’s and the stats had dropped accordingly. Leaving it with less health for Damien to drain.
By the time the Corruption on Damien was over, he’d be back to less than half health. Yet if he made a move to attack anything, Archimonde could take control of his target almost instantly and get Damien disqualified.
Damien could see a way that this could work to his advantage, if Archimonde thought little enough of him. Damien ran toward the next incubus and raised his kunai over it. Then pulled back at the last second. As expected, the name above it turned red. Archimonde had been so desperate to get him disqualified, it had now taken two incubi into its Soul Summon Limit. Greed had been too greedy. Damien could use the incubus to life-steal some of his health back after the fight started, without breaking any rules. It was a poor investment for Archimonde.
Archimonde made the same judgment call. It dismissed the incubus it had just taken off Lucifer’s hands, only for Lucifer to clarify the rules.
“The two incubi you appropriated both count toward your full complement of minions, Archimonde. If you decide to set them on fire before you enthrall them or dismiss them after, that’s your choice. But you won’t be getting any more.”
Hah! The devil’s in the details. Archimonde had taken 20 souls’ worth of minions into its Soul Summon Limit and both of the minions were gone already, one now dead from Damien’s rule breaking assault and Corruptions flames, the other dismissed. Damien knew Archimonde couldn’t have the Legion trait, because he had access to the Dark Omen spell, which was another level 50 trait. He only had 10 minion slots left.
It was a definite victory, but with a trade-off. Damien’s Narcissistic Rage had ended. No more life-steal for the time being. Although the Corruption he’d been afflicted with would leave him with less health than he’d started with, it did serve a purpose. Not only would he drop below half health and regain his life-steal in a matter of seconds, but crucially it also helped him keep track of time. Lucifer was not providing a timer for when the minute would be over.
Damien had been blindsided by the last rule, revealing his Embodiment was on the line. He therefore hadn’t thought to count the seconds down himself, but knowing the Corruption lasted twenty-five seconds he estimated they were coming up to the halfway point. His best guess was that it had taken him fifteen seconds to come to terms with the stakes, reach an incubus at the outer wall which was around a hundred meters away, inflict damage on himself and then attack it. So once Corruption was completely over, there’d be around fifteen seconds left before the preliminary stage was over.
They were locked in an unspoken stalemate. Archimonde only had 10 Soul Summon Limit left to employ, yet Lucifer had said that if Damien attacked one of Archimonde’s minions again he’d be disqualified. If Archimonde’s timing was better than Damien’s, Archimonde would take the minion as Damien was attacking it and Damien would lose for the stupidest reason.
What to do? His health was about to drop below 50%, which was a big problem. His life-steal only operated for ten seconds after he dropped below half health. If he didn’t get back above that threshold before the effect wore off, he’d have no life-steal for the duration of the deathmatch.
Then it occurred to him. He was playing defensively, when he needed to be playing offensively. Archimonde had obligingly demonstrated how. Damien’s main problem was getting into attack range, but it wasn’t actually a problem at all. It was effortless. If neither of them could attack the other’s minions until combat began, Damien had an enormous advantage. Instead of worrying about getting his health back to full, he needed to apply pressure. These rules worked in his favor, if he could be sick-minded enough.
Damien enthralled a single imp as he moved to the next high health minion in line. A consumer, which would have more health than an incubus, but at a price. One of the biggest advantages of the consumer had not been apparent to Damien until now, when it was crucial. Their heads were also their torsos. They had no throats. The only evident critical strike points they had were their tongues.
Archimonde had an orc head on the top of its larger-than-average consumer body, but the lesser version had no immediately accessible weak point. Damien could get more health from this thing, but it would require more attacks. The flurry of blows this would require put him in greater danger of Archimonde enthralling the minion as he attacked, ending the fight. Damien himself could enthrall the consumer and then stab it, circumventing the possibility of a TKO. This was problematic, not only because it would leave him with only 5 more Soul Summon Limit, but also because the consumer’s hit points would drop to 2,500. 250 health would not be sufficient. Which was why he was preparing a countermeasure.
Damien stood behind the consumer this time, making sure he could see both the consumer’s basic information and Archimonde itself. As his imp flew toward Archimonde from behind Damien’s health dropped below 50% and Narcissistic Rage was reapplied. He held his kunai behind the consumer and prepared to strike, keeping his kunai hidden behind the consumer’s bulk.
If Archimonde was stupid enough to enthrall this consumer before Damien attacked, Damien would surely win outright. It would take up 8 of Archimonde’s remaining 10 Soul Summon Limit on top of the two incubi that had been killed or dismissed. This would leave Archimonde with nothing but a single consumer, whose benefits Archimonde’s own body already housed, and two final slots. Which was not what Damien wanted.
Damien had no intention of winning, or indeed losing, his fight with Archimonde based on a technicality. If Archimonde made a misstep that was its own fault, but Damien wouldn’t force an error. Even though there were plenty of ways he could. He was more than capable of putting himself in a position to beat Archimonde legitimately, even while Archimonde strained to beat him by abusing the rules.
While he stared at Archimonde across the gap and Archimonde stared back, no doubt trying to gauge when Damien would strike so he could enthrall his target at the optimal moment, the solitary imp Damien had taken control of hovered in front of Archimonde’s face. At Damien’s behest, it screeched a
t maximum volume, loud enough to reduce its own stamina. As Archimonde’s vision was blocked and its attention diverted, Damien plunged his kunai into the consumer’s back.
Damien had learned plenty about watching where other characters were looking from fighting Mordred. If Archimonde wasn’t looking at the consumer, the creature couldn’t take control of it. As the kunai sank in, Damien’s hit points went above 50% and the Corruption on him spread to the consumer he was attacking. The Corruption was reaching the end of its duration anyway.
As his health went back above 50%, Damien lost the strength bonus from Enrage. However, he still had ten seconds to make the most of his activated life-steal. His damage dropped about 300 points per strike, but it was still nearly 1,000 damage with each hit. Damien made up for it with more attacks. Just like old times.
Archimonde made to attack the imp, then realized its mistake. Archimonde wasn’t allowed to attack it, even while it screamed into its face. It would be the easiest thing in the world for Archimonde to destroy it, had Damien’s foe not been bound by the exact same rules it had just abused to Damien’s detriment. Damien stabbed as fast as he could until Archimonde turned back, then distanced himself from the consumer. His hit points were at 3,805/4,800. That was manageable. Fifteen seconds left to go. More or less.
The Corruption on Damien had ended and around half his time was gone. He needed to sort his own minions out before it was too late. He didn’t know what Archimonde wanted to do with its remaining 10 slots, but he knew very well what he wanted to with his remaining 13. His main difficulty was getting into range. That was easily fixed.
He’d crapstacked imps against Andrew to great effect and saw no reason why it wouldn’t work here. All he needed to concern himself with was getting into melee range with Archimonde and staying there. Any amount of time spent at a distance would be in Archimonde’s favor. Damien ran around the outside of the wall and manually picked out imps, changing the location he drew them from each time to ensure Archimonde wouldn’t take control of any of them right before he did. Then he manually spread them all over the arena. He couldn’t keep them bunched up, or else a single Corruption/Imp-losion combo would deal with them all. Wherever Archimonde went, Damien would be there not long after.
Ten seconds left. Ish. Damien had already picked and positioned his minions. There was no reason for Archimonde not to select its own, now the creature could see what Damien was intent on doing. The imp Damien had put on screaming duty was panting and the screaming had been reduced to a hoarse yell. It was completely out of stamina, which went some way to illustrating how much force Damien had put into the order.
Damien had Demon Gate and Charge as his gap-closing tools. Archimonde only had Demon Gate. Which should he go with first? The Single-Minded Charge was his best damage ability and he needed it to connect. If he used it first, Archimonde could evade it by Demon Gating, assuming Archimonde took any imps. Then it occurred to him that there was a much easier way to close the gap. He could start the battle right next to Archimonde. According to the rules, Archimonde wouldn’t be able to do anything about it.
Damien started running back to where Archimonde was, staring his enemy down the whole way. Archimonde took a moment to register what he was doing, then started waddling away. It was the most desperate, terrified waddle Damien had ever seen. He grinned. He’d stand right in his enemy’s face until time was up.
“Rule six: Do not approach your enemy until the battle begins.”
Damien stopped running and stared at Lucifer. Was his entire goal to make this difficult? Silly question. Of course it was. If Damien started next to Archimonde, that wouldn’t be entertaining.
Lucifer snapped his fingers. All the remaining minions Damien and Archimonde had not availed themselves of were sucked into portals as they were dismissed. A few imps in Archimonde’s vicinity remained behind. It turned out Archimonde had selected its minions after all, it had just kept them standing in line so as not to draw attention to them. Damien had barely registered this fact when he was once again engulfed by the black flames of Corruption. He looked to Archimonde and saw the creature was channeling a Chaotic Bolt with one hand and throttling Damien’s imp with the other. It was already dead. Opportunity missed.
The battle had begun. Damien sent all his imps flying toward Archimonde and called the consumer to himself, closing the net and preparing his defense. The way things had developed, he hadn’t thought the consumer would come into play. If he hadn’t been distracted by Lucifer – or heaven forbid had been provided with a countdown – Archimonde wouldn’t have been able to kill his first imp before Damien could Demon Gate to it. Now it was slightly more complicated.
Archimonde discarded the imp corpse and twisted its wrist at every imp coming its way. They were dying in seconds. Damien was running toward his consumer, which was moving far too slowly to rely on. He glanced between the imps and Archimonde as he ran, waiting for the Chaotic Bolt to be fired. Archimonde could release the bolt any time it pleased within five seconds. Even if the bolt wasn’t fully charged, his enemy would hit Damien with it before he got to safety.
Still running, Damien threw a kunai. At his own consumer. He yanked the chain back just before Archimonde released the second-fastest bolt in the known game. The consumer’s health went up and down like a yoyo as first it took Damien’s hit with the kunai, then smacked into Damien’s front with its gob open wide, eating Archimonde’s magic attack in a demonic enactment of ‘Get down, Mr. President’ protocol. As the consumer landed in front of him, Damien found what he was looking for: a burning imp that had less time to live than a moth at a candlelit vigil. It had drawn close enough for Damien to apply pressure.
Damien Demon Gated and threw a kunai as he arrived, piercing Archimonde’s shoulder. It was wide of the target, but considering the expediency of his throw Damien was glad to have hit his enemy at all. Especially when Archimonde abruptly burst into black flames. Connecting with the chain kunai qualified for Corruption spreading by touch. It wouldn’t do much damage to Archimonde’s enormous health pool, but Damien would take whatever he could get. He was drawing himself in on the chain when Archimonde looked past him and was replaced with an imp.
Archimonde had used its only escape. Damien’s window of opportunity had arrived. The chain snapped back into his hand and he rolled as he hit the floor, mitigating most of the collision damage. Archimonde’s imp helped a little in that regard, offering about the same impact resistance and resulting mess you’d expect from a piano landing on a water balloon.
Damien turned, sighted Archimonde at the far end of the arena and Charged. Archimonde’s imps were moving to block him, but Damien was far too fast for them to intercept. He was over halfway there when a Chaotic Bolt thundered into his torso, but his speed was not compromised. His Narcissistic Rage was triggered by the damage. Archimonde had done him a favor: his strength had been increased for him right before he pulled off his biggest attack.
Damien drew his arms back, waiting for the last moment to thrust so he could get the full momentum of the Single-Minded Charge behind both kunai blades. Nothing he’d hit with this ability so far had survived. He had no idea how much damage it would do when his weapons were boosted by the impact damage.
Archimonde was a sitting duck. Without a Demon Gate on standby, there was no way the creature could remove itself from Damien’s path. Yet there was something Damien had not taken into account. Archimonde could throw something into his path instead.
Archimonde hurriedly raised a pointing finger. All Damien could think of was getting to his enemy before it cast any more bolts. His strides were long enough to cover an enormous amount of ground extremely quickly, but they were not long enough to step over Archimonde’s Circle of Hell. Damien’s stride faltered as his first foot was rooted and then the next one stamped down in front of it to maintain balance. His health was deteriorating from the damage over time of both Corruption and the circle. He’d been relying on the Charge damage, but now
his Charge was gone and he was rooted in place.
Archimonde began channeling a Chaotic Bolt in each hand. Damien would be rooted for five seconds, the bolts would be ready to fire in three. He had no way of dodging either of them. Between them, the Corruption and the increasing damage of Circle of Hell, Damien would be dead before the root was over.
No imps nearby for Imp-losions. No Demon Gate. Archimonde was a long way away. Damien had only one offensive option left. He braced his right arm and hurled his kunai as hard as he could. He had increased strength on his side, which would be worth nothing without accuracy. At least he was standing still for it rather than either he or his target being in motion.
The chain extended seemingly without end, the loops on Damien’s arm running forward and backward and forward again with more chain appearing underneath in layers each time it unraveled in the opposite direction. It was completely impossible. If there’d been as much chain covering his forearms as the distance of his throw implied, they’d have been layered ten feet thick. It was a VR-enabled optical illusion, appreciated only through Damien’s peripheral vision. However, his focus was entirely on whether or not the blade would land. It did, and considering the nature of Archimonde it was no surprise where he’d connected: right into the center of his foe’s guts.
The chain had stopped unwinding and gone taut. The kunai had found purchase. Damien was still rooted to the floor, he wasn’t going anywhere. He instinctively seized the chain in both hands, totally unnecessarily given the mechanics of his weapon but understandable given what he knew would happen next. He dragged the chain back, hoping he was in time to interrupt Archimonde’s dual-cast Chaotic Bolts, and yelled out his most heartfelt desire.
“GET OVER HERE!”
The Embodiment of Greed was yanked forward off the ground, the Chaotic Bolts misfiring left and right as Archimonde’s arms whiplashed behind its body. Damien cocked his left hand and braced the back of the other kunai against his palm, guiding it between his middle and ring fingers to turn it into a vicious knuckleduster. As Archimonde reached him, Damien twisted his right hand to release the chain. The kunai in his closed fist glided into the bottom of Archimonde’s jaw, powerful and well timed enough to send his enemy upward and back the way it had come.
