Revenge of the Sorcerer King 2 - 32

Good Sunday evening everyone! I hope the weekend treated everyone well.




 

Chapter 32

Alessa

My vampires and I easily snuck around to the rear of the enemy. It was what we were built for after all. I knew better than to attack while the avatar of the goddess was still in the center of the camp. I held my small band back until she was much closer to the city. After that, it was like I released rabid dogs of fresh meat.

We tore into the rear of the enemy quite literally as most of us just used our claws. In my case, anything I hit usually turned into a paste. I started using my open palms to cause the bodies I hit to fly back and take out some more soldiers. My force was like a knife carving off a chunk of meat. A trail of bodies marked our passage.

The overwhelming advantage only lasted for a few moments. The soldiers rallied and managed to create a defensive line against us. Even then it didn’t help them much. Myself excluded, Jade and Irgire were just as unstoppable. Jade would use her arrows with pinpoint accuracy to open holes for her allies, while Irgire would melt his way through.

We chipped away at the rear of the force for a good ten minutes before loud explosions rang out. I thought it was Thragrami and his magic cannons, but the beams were coming from the wrong direction. Large sections of the enemy army were turned to ashes before I could track where the attack came from. 

A blinding light shot from the castle and I saw that Oberon had been sent flying before the light sent him into the ground with a massive blow. I could barely feel his aura and worried that he might have bit off more than he could chew. I jumped into the air and flew at the woman wrapped in light. I knew if Oberon couldn’t handle her, then I definitely couldn’t but I needed to give him time to recover.

I surged my mana and shifted to the form that I had managed to give Helena a hard time with. I didn’t have much control over it so I hadn’t used it yet. Shadow and darkness burst from me as the form of the black phoenix took shape. I felt my mind slipping a little, but I focused on the woman in front of me.

She had ignored me until I transformed. As a black flame washed over her, she turned her attention fully on me. I brought my talons up to strike at her, but she countered me like it was child’s play. She flicked her sword and my talon was ripped off. I changed course as the darkness flowed to the wounded leg.

I flew back and started sending black flames at her while keeping my distance. She would flick her sword and my flames would we snuffed out. I focused around me and created as many magic missiles as I could. I surprised myself when close to a hundred formed that were all wreathed in the black flames.

I sent them flying at the woman how actually had to work to block them. I continued to fly around her and send blasts of flames at her. I did everything I could to keep her busy as I could sense Oberon’s aura growing under us. The woman also appeared to be running out of time. Blood was trailing from her mouth, eyes, and ears. 

The woman screamed and created a large shield around herself that repelled everything I was sending at her. She shot towards me in a streak of light. I didn’t even have time to blink before she slammed into me, her sword going through my heart. Pain surged through me as my transformation fell away. She kicked me in the stomach and sent me flying to crash into the ground below.

I coughed up blood as I could feel my heart having a hard time trying to heal the damage. I needed to drink blood. I ripped one of the shards from my belt and bit down on it. It still wasn’t enough to fix the damage, so I tore the remaining six off and bit on those as well. The blood equal to thirty people flowed down my throat over the next few minutes. I laid in the crater and watched explosions light the night sky, wondering if I would die after all.

Oberon

I saw Yuin get fed up with Alessa as she stabbed the girl through the heart. It would have been a fatal blow for any vampire that wasn’t a pureblood. I quickly sent a message to Helena with a sending, then turned my attention back to the avatar in front of me. I would have to thank Alessa for giving me time to recover. I leapt out of the crater and managed to glance at the state of the battlefield. 

To say we won would probably be accurate once I managed to deal with the goddess’s avatar. Most of the enemy was dead or dying. The fairies and what I can only assume was a ultra-long range bombardment spell from the Golden Throne had decimated most of the mortals on the enemy side.

The holy magic berserkers had run to their deaths by rushing the city. Had the remaining general truly been in charge, that likely wouldn’t have happened, but Yuin was hellbent on killing the undead. It was a mistake to call her in. Not that I blame him, her magic was the only holy magic that still affected undead after all.

Glancing at my status, I could tell she’d made a dent. Over half of my undead were gone. I wasn’t sure of the Goblin causalities, but I was sure they weren’t low either. Still this was a loss for the mortals as twenty thousand souls were lost. Yuin had to be mad.

“Lady Yuin. I believe your target is down here,” I called giving her a gentleman’s bow. 

Raged filled eyes turned towards me before she shot down at me. I brought Promise up and blocked the goddess’s blow. I narrowed my eyes as I noticed that it was less powerful than a minute ago. Either her host was about to expire, or her rage was affecting her link. Looking at the poor woman she was using, I thought it might be a bit of both.

“When you die, I’ll make sure your soul goes to my domain so I can make you suffer for eternity,” she growled out between clenched teeth. She hammered my sword with her own. Sparks of mana and regular metal on metal flashing out between us. 

“Since when did you have the sort of authority?” I asked.

“When you live forever, you learn all kinds of tricks,” she replied with a nasty grin.

“I see. Here’s a trick I just learned two days ago.”

I pulled in all the death mana that had started to congregate on the battlefield around us. Offering it up to Siateth, I formed a massive Scythe in my left hand. Even though it was larger then me twice over, it weighted nothing. I brought it around as I held her sword with Promise. The blade of the scythe ripped into the waist of the woman, nearly cutting her in half before her mana stopped her blade.

The opposing manas caused Yuin to scream as her light faded from around her. Soon only a dim light remained as the floating crown flickered in and out of existence. She kneeled on the ground as she struggled to heal the wound. She glared up at me. “You have made an enemy of the entire church of Yuin. My forces will march again. This time enmass.”

I kneeled and grabbed her chin as I looked into her eyes. “Lady Yuin. Need I remind you? I made the world my enemy once. I caused that much death trying to unite everyone.” I gave her a wicked grin. “How much do you think I can cause when I don’t give a fuck?” Yuin’s face twisted in horror.

“You won’t succeed! You will fail again!”

“Maybe. I guarantee to take at least half of the world with me.” I started to stand then remembered something I wanted to try earlier. “Ah, that’s right.” I plunged my hand into her chest. The remaining holy magic tried to attack me, but there was so much death in the air that I barely felt it. I poured in necromantic and death mana into the woman. I noticed the crown tried to vanish, but I mental latched onto it. 

The woman screamed with enough force that it could be heard across the battlefield. The crown turned black as a veil covered her face. The white dress was dyed black. I felt the moment that the goddess fled. I was disappointed that she didn’t stay with her follower until the last moment. 

I didn’t want to waste all of the death mana still in the air on Siateth, so I pulled everything that was around us and poured it into the woman. There wasn’t a trace of holy mana in her by this point. With a final push of mana, I yanked my hand free. She fell forward, but caught her fall as an aura of darkness continued to wrap around her.

“Now, what exactly did I create?” I murmured looking the woman over. At least loyalty to be was literally carved into her soul. I made sure to do that on any undead that I personally created. They generally turned out to be too powerful to leave on their own. 

The woman corrected herself as she stood and gave me a curtsy. Her skin was still pale white but was borderline sickly looking with black veins that pulsed slowly. She opened her eyes revealing eye, silted pupils. “I am a Calamity Icon, my master,” she said with a silk smooth voice that undead usually weren’t known for.

“A Calamity Icon. Never heard of that type of undead.”

“Nor have I, my master.”

“We’ll investigate it later. For now, go finish off the rest of the soldiers.”

She bowed, before drawing a sword. The weapon looked even more demonic than she did. She floated into the air much like a ghost would and took off towards the nearest living soldiers.

Moving through the battlefield, I made my way over to Alessa. Helena was next to her helping her drink a no longer struggling enemy soldier and there was a pile of dried up corpses around them. I still saw traces of the wound on her chest, but it was healing. I leapt down into the crater. “Is the avatar dead?”

“Not quite, but she won’t harm us anymore. How are you feeling, girl?”

“Like I just had my heart stabbed. I never want to experience that again.” She leaned back and laid her head against Helena. She might have just drunk close to a hundred people’s worth of blood but healing a wound like that required tremendous willpower and energy.

“Glad you’re still amongst the unliving. Sorry to leave you here, but I have an old friend to greet.”

“Is that really what I think it is?” Helena asked with wide eyes. It was one of the few times she actually looked like a child.

“Most likely.”

I leapt back out of the crater and looked to the south. It had gotten much closer while I was dealing with the avatar. A floating island with golden pillars dotting its surface. A castle much like the one in the city sat at the center of the island, only most of it was made from gold. Mana radiated off it like a physical wall. As I watched it came to a stop next to the city. I remained where I was and waited.

Dozens of figures flew out from the castle. It didn’t take them long before they landed in front of me forming two lines. A man dressed in golden armor landed and walked between the fairy knights before he kneeled before me. “King Oberon! It has been too long.”

“Arathorn. It is good to see that you rescongize me even in this form. I am pleased the years have been kind to you.”

“I have attempted to maintain your presence in the southern continent as you bade me a thousand years ago. Sadly, my forces were limited and I could only hinder their development of their kingdoms.”

I reached down and pulled the man to his feet. “The fact that you heeded my orders for a thousand years has more than proved your worth to me all over again. Lenora is in the castle. I’m sure you would like to see her.”

“While I have missed my sister along with the rest of my family, I have been in the world for a thousand years, while she has been in hibernation in the core. I think she can suffer to wait a few more minutes. My King, I dread to inform you that the Crystal Palace and the Red Dragon have fallen in battle.”

I smacked his shoulder. “I know. I’m sure the Iron Maiden will be only a few days behind you.”

Arathorn shuddered. The Fairy in charge of the Iron Maiden was… unique. “That will be just… wonderful.”

I laughed at his expression. “Now, now. We have a battlefield to clean up.”