by Aaron Oster
“Finally! Now we’re talking!” Morgan yelled, throwing his head back and laughing.
Edmund gritted his teeth and used another of his skills, vanishing and reappearing right before the boy. But Morgan had somehow seen it coming, as a steel-covered fist caught Edmund in the chest just as he did, cracking two ribs and sending him to the ground. His body impacted hard enough to form a crater, but he barely felt the pain, another upside of his skill.
Morgan seemed to gather himself as he pulled himself from the crater, then flew right at him, his speed somehow increasing even more. Edmund could still follow him, and met his attack head-on. The two collided, sending out a shockwave that knocked any soldier still foolish enough to stick around, off their feet. Then the two of them vanished.
***
Loquin, Samuel, and Gold watched as Morgan and Edmund seemed to flicker in and out of sight as they fought throughout the war camp. Stone shattered, tents flew and people died. No matter which way they ran, the soldiers could do nothing to avoid being hit. The worst part about it all, was the fact that they were only collateral damage and were doing their best to escape.
“Splendid! What a show!” Gold said, clapping his hands and stuffing a fistful of popcorn into his mouth. “I didn’t think the whole sadistic psychopath thing would look good on him, but boy was I mistaken!”
Samuel frowned, remembering back to the first time he’d seen Morgan acting like this. He’d only been about seven years old at the time, and had lost control when Gwendolyn had been set upon by the Assassins Guild. He’d butchered every last one of them, or rather…
He was snapped from his musings as Gold began clapping and whistling, cheering Morgan on to destroy more. At the rate he was going, Morgan would tear the entire camp apart. Even the reinforcements Simon had brought were doing little to help, not that it was a surprise to Samuel. After all, what could a bunch of weaklings do in the face of power like that?
Despite the fact that he was in a bad spot with Morgan at the moment, Samuel felt a smile tugging at the corners of his lips. The way things were going now, Edmund would be dead in only a few short minutes. Once that happened, the second Pinnacle King’s awakening would be halted, stopping another potential threat from ending his world. There was still the matter of killing the first Pinnacle King, but if he could get Morgan over to his territory once Edmund was dead, Morgan would be driven to fight him, especially in the state he was now. All he had to do was make sure Gold didn’t interfere with his plans.
Another boom from below, and a massive chunk of the academy wall shattered. Samuel could see Edmund, bloodied and sporting several broken bones, pulling himself from the wreckage. It looked like the fight was just about over. It was too bad, too. It really had been quite entertaining.
“Looks like the finale has arrived,” Gold announced, earning him a glare from both Samuel and Loquin.
“Oh, don’t give me those looks. Someone had to say it!”
The three of them leaned forward, watching as Edmund gathered a massive sphere of distorted energy over his head. The air around him crackled with electricity and Edmund screamed, blood running from his ears, nose, mouth, and even the corners of his eyes.
Morgan ran at the man, his eyes wild with the exhilaration of the fight, and streams of electricity arcing off of the purple lance formed around his right arm.
“Now you die!”
Edmund’s voice echoed out over the camp, and he launched his attack at Morgan. The energy hit the ground and began expanding at a rapid rate. Everything it touched, vanished. It was all just sucked into the void of space, and crushed. People, animals, and structures were caught up in the attack, their lives snuffed out in an instant. It wasn’t enough, though.
Even as they watched, Morgan entered the sphere of energy. He was lost from sight, as he was supposedly crushed to death, but all three of them knew better. Just seconds later, Morgan exploded out the other side with a massive grin plastered on his face, a crackling lance extended before him.
Edmund’s eyes bulged and he let out one final scream, before the lance pierced his heart, shattering the chi and frying his body. The heat was so intense, that he burst into flames, and by the time Morgan landed back on the ground, his body had been reduced to ash.
“Well, that was entertaining,” Gold said, flashing the two of them a grin. “Last one down is a rotten egg!”
And just like that, he vanished, reappearing moments later down on the ground near Morgan.
“Damn it all!” Samuel yelled, hurtling himself after the man.
Loquin for her part, remained where she was. There was still another show that was about to unfold, and she didn’t want to miss even a single second.
55
Sarah picked her way through the camp. The loud claps of thunder and flashes of light had finally come to an end. The amount of power on display had shocked her, but she’d been wise enough, unlike a lot of soldiers, and hadn’t stuck around to gawk. Seeing as she was still alive and more than half the camp had been completely wiped out, she was confident that it had been the correct decision.
Now she set out, looking for Morgan. She was confident that he had been the one to win the fight, but knew that he would need her now that it was over. Or at least, that was what she told herself. She just hoped that by the time she reached him, he would have come back to himself. She hadn’t liked the way he’d looked before, all covered in blood and laughing. It was almost as though Morgan wasn’t there, and something else had overtaken his body.
Sighing, Sarah crested a small hill of rubble, and came face to face with her father. The two of them stared at one another for a few seconds, too shocked to respond. Sarah was the first to act though, sending a blast of icy water right into the man’s face and freezing it in a block around his head.
Simon staggered back, and she used the opportunity to slam both hands into the ground, and trigger her Icy tsunami skill. A field of razor sharp icicles exploded out from the ground, flowing forward at an incredible speed. Simon, still off balance and trying to break the ice, was caught in the attack, the ice shredding his fine clothes and opening a few small cuts along his skin.
Sarah grimaced when she realized that the attack hadn’t been enough to hurt him. Simon’s rank was in the low 40’s, so this fight really wasn’t one she should have picked. But she just couldn’t help herself. This man had been controlling her life for as long as she could remember. Trapping her in that miserable manor and making all of her decisions for her! He’d tried having her only friend killed for years, and had sent soldiers, mercenaries, and assassins after him, even once they’d managed to get away from him. He was the epitome of everything she hated, and so, he had to die.
Simon slammed a fist into the ice block over his head, shattering it to a thousand pieces, only to be caught in the chest by a barrage of Icicle tridents. None of them managed to pierce his skin, but they did cause some bruising. Sarah’s shield flared around her as her father’s eyes locked onto hers, rage now evidently there.
“You know, despite the fact that Edmund is now dead, and your place as Queen all but lost, I was still going to let you live! Now though, I think I’ll just rid myself of a problem I should have taken care of years ago. I can always have another daughter, and maybe she will listen to me!”
Small particles of ash began coating Simon’s arms as he spoke, collecting there and forming into armor-like plates.
“And if she doesn’t; I’ll just kill her and have another! I’ll repeat the process until I finally get the perfect daughter, no matter how many I have to kill in order to do so!”
Sarah felt her mouth hardening into a line. Now there was no way she could allow him to live. If she lost here today, who knew how many of her sisters would be subjected to the same as her, only worse? With the threat of death looming over them, there was no way they would manage to stay sane. And that wasn’t even mentioning what Simon would do, should his wife give birth to a son. Since he hadn’t mention
ed boys, she had a feeling that none of them would be surviving to adulthood.
“You are a selfish, egotistical asshole!” Sarah yelled, condensing several hundred tiny shards of ice, and sending them all at her father.
“All you ever think about is how to best serve yourself!” she continued, pelting him with the ice shards as she screamed.
“I made you, girl!” Simon roared, sending a cloud of ash out and hardening it into a shield. “Without me, you would not even exist!”
Sarah gave up on the ice shards when she saw that they wouldn’t penetrate the ash, and instead used her Iceberg skill. Grimacing as her MP plummeted, Sarah formed the massive block of ice and half-frozen water over her head. Then, screaming, she brought it crashing down on the man. She was forced to stagger back as a spike of ash slammed into her shield, shattering it to pieces and penetrating deep into her stomach.
She groaned, doubling over as blood began pumping from the wound, even as her father was hit by her attack. Coughing and clutching at her stomach, Sarah straightened as best she could, and watched the mound of ice and water tear a furrow across the ground. She allowed a grim smile to touch her lips, knowing there was no way her father could have survived that attack.
“It’s a real shame that I wasted so much time and money on a failure like you!”
Sarah spun, her heart rising to her into her throat, but was too late to stop the blow that severed her left leg at the knee, sending her toppling to the ground. She screamed, as white-hot pain, the likes of which she’d never felt or even imagined she could feel, radiated out from the severed appendage. Blood spurted from the stump, and Sarah could already feel herself growing faint from the pain and blood loss.
Her father stood above her, his body outlined by the fires lighting up the camp around them. His face was set in a hard line as he raised a spear made of ash, and prepared to drive it into her skull.
“That is hardly the way for a man to treat his daughter, don’t you agree, Gwendolyn?”
Simon whirled, just in time to catch a glowing red fist to the face. The blow shattered the man’s nose, sending him sprawling on the ground and howling in agony.
Through hazy vision, Sarah saw someone crouching over her. She felt a pair of warm hands close around one of hers and squeeze gently.
“Don’t worry, Sarah. We’ll get you healed up right away, so just you hang on.”
Sarah recognized that voice.
“Katherine?” she asked, her voice sounding slurred and weak. “Why are you here? And why do I feel so cold?”
“Yes, it’s me,” Katherine’s voice replied. “Just try not to speak. You were pretty badly injured, so stay still until we can get you fixed up.”
“Oh. Was I?” she asked dreamily.
She could vaguely feel something touching the bottom of her leg and was about to ask Katherine what it was, when a searing pain shot up her leg, making her cry out and shocking her out of her stupor.
“Hold her still!”
Sarah heard someone say this as her back arched, and she tried to pull away from the source of the pain. A heavy weight settled on her chest then, pinning her in place, and no matter how hard she tried, Sarah could not squirm free. Finally, mercifully, the pain began to dull to a throbbing ache, and she was able to think clearly again.
“You can get off me now,” she groaned, feeling Katherine shifting atop her.
“Sorry,” she said, sitting up and looking down at her. “Gwendolyn had to reattach the leg you lost, and we couldn’t have you moving around. It’s a delicate procedure, and we couldn’t have any of the nerves or tendons misaligned.”
Sarah tilted her head up and saw Gwendolyn, pale-faced and sweating, sitting near her legs. Shifting her eyes over, she could see that one of the pant legs was missing from the knee down, and limb itself was covered in blood. When she tried to move it, she had no difficulty at all doing so.
“I’m sorry about the pain,” Gwendolyn said, wiping her forehead.
“No worries,” Sarah said, forcing herself into a sitting position. “Without you, I likely would have died. In the best case scenario, I’d have been a cripple for the rest of my life. So thank you.”
Gwendolyn gave her a tired smile, accepting the thanks graciously. There was a loud groan from off to their right, and Sarah saw her father rising shakily to his feet, clutching at his bloody nose.
“Damn interfering bitch!” he yelled, holding a hand to the side and trying to form a weapon.
Before it had a chance to fully form, Katherine had already knocked it aside, cracking the man over the back of the head and sending him to the ground. Placing a boot on the man’s back, Katherine turned to Sarah.
“What do you want to do with him?” she asked, as Simon began struggling and screaming obscenities.
Sarah winced as she got slowly to her feet, noting that Gwendolyn had not only fixed her leg, but had patched the hole in her stomach as well, though the two injuries still felt somewhat tender. Limping over to her father Sarah crouched down next to him, and stared at him for a long silent moment as the man raged and screamed.
Then without saying so much as a word, she formed a dagger made of ice, and rammed it through the back of Simon’s skull, driving it deep into his brain. Simon’s body twitched once, his entire body convulsing violently, before he grew still. A pool of blood began forming just a few moments later, spreading around the now dead lord’s head.
Katherine gave Sarah a worried look, as she staggered back to her feet and began limping in the direction where she’d last seen Morgan.
“Sarah, are you alright?” she asked, quickly rushing over to support the girl.
“I’m just fine,” Sarah replied, feeling numb on the inside. “Right now, I just need to find Morgan. I have to make sure he’s okay.”
“Of course. Let me come with you and we can find him together.”
Sarah nodded, sagging slightly and allowing Katherine to take more of her weight.
Gwendolyn came up beside them, and whispered something in Katherine’s ear. She nodded in response to the question, but answered out loud.
“Go tell them to surrender. My father is dead, meaning that I am now their Queen. The North will be packing up and heading back home.”
Gwendolyn nodded, then jogged off to deliver her message.
“It looks like Morgan did it, then,” Sarah said, trying to focus on anything other than the sick feeling in her stomach.
“Yes, who could have guessed?” Katherine responded with a grin. “Now come on, let’s go find him so you can thank him properly. I’m pretty sure he’ll be overjoyed to see you.”
“Oh, I don’t know about that. Relieved maybe, but overjoyed?”
“I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised,” Katherine replied with a knowing smile. That being said, she scooped Sarah up in her arms, ignoring the younger woman’s protests, and began running in the direction her forces had reported Morgan being seen.
56
Morgan felt power flooding into his body as he tore the lance free of Edmund’s chest. Landing back on the ground, he shuddered in pleasure as energy coursed through him, moving him up another rank. It wasn’t enough though. He needed more, and luckily for him, three massive power sources were suddenly revealed to him, though he’d never felt anything quite like them before.
His head snapped up, eyes locking onto a distant figure floating far above his head. The sky around it blazed with black and gold light, and the longer he looked, the more he was certain he’d seen it before. But where…?
Two of the massive sources of energy suddenly landed before him, one blazing blue and the other, a solid black. He could feel his lips curling upward again, and he let out a bark of laughter. Edmund had hardly been a challenge at all, perhaps these two could give him a better fight?
Not even waiting for either of them to initiate a conversation, Morgan launched himself at the one cloaked in blue.
“My, you really are a wild one, but we can�
�t have you doing that,” the man said pleasantly, dodging Morgan’s first attack. “Now if you don’t mind, we would like the other one back please.”
“There is no one else. Only me!” Morgan shouted, flying into a flurry of slashes and kicks.
The man, no longer able to continue avoiding his attacks, began turning them aside instead. The rapid exchange causing the wind to gust up around them, whipping the robes of the other figure into a frenzy.
“Come on, hurry it up! We have work to do!” the other man yelled, tapping his foot impatiently.
“I don’t know what the rush is,” the man with the blue power said as he turned aside yet another attack. “It’s not like he’ll want anything to do with you, anyway.”
“Just hurry it up, damn you! The others will be here soon, and we can’t afford to be seen. It’ll raise too many questions!”
“Fine,” the other man replied, rolling his eyes. “Sorry about this,” he said, blocking another one of Morgan’s attacks. “This won’t be pleasant.”
“Stop talking and fight old, man!”
“Old man?” the man said, looking offended. “I’ll have you know that I’m only in my twentieth millennia!”
Morgan threw a punch at the man’s head, which he ducked, moving quickly inside his guard. His hand then blazed with light, and he tapped Morgan once on the forehead. Morgan immediately collapsed, the violet light that had been wrapping his body going out, and his eyes rolling up in his head. The last thing he saw before passing out were the two men standing over him and arguing.
***
Morgan’s eyes opened with a snap, and he sat bolt upright. He looked around in confusion, his muddled mind trying to make sense of his surroundings. His head was pounding, and he had a nasty taste in his mouth. Not only that, but something nearby stunk of blood and death. Lifting a hand to clutch at his head, Morgan noted with surprise that it was covered in blood.
