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Chapter Seventy-One
“Retreat all the way into the dungeon,” Xiongbu told the survivors. “All the way to the throne room. We'll hold there.”
She trusted that Siwang would reach Barany, but the dungeon would be full of traps. Would he take any devastating injuries in the process? Worse, could Xiongbu and the other five survivors hold the dungeon against whatever forces that the enemy builder had revived before Siwang invaded him?
Xiongbu swallowed her fears and raced with the others back through the dungeon. They had to hold and protect the Void Crystal. They had to give Siwang a chance to reach the enemy and crush him. She had faith he would.
Come back to us, she thought to Siwang, wishing she could be with him.
\ / *
Siwang marched through the dungeon, glad that Leo agreed with his plan. It was ballsy, and he would need the good luck that Leo wished him. His eyes swept through the dungeon. It was going to be dark in here.
“Gentle winds, let the support of Lady Tiamat billow!”
If he were flying, he was less likely to trip a trap. He rose off the ground, moving deeper into the dungeon, but there were no lights.
“Brilliant and revealing, let the light of Lord Shamash float!”
A ball of light flashed into the air at his side, driving back the darkness. He floated deeper. His skin crawled. This place felt... wrong. A gloom pervaded the corners, like there were shadows that his light could not banish. He had invaded other dungeons, and had not felt so...
Hopeless.
Despair dripped from the ceiling. He expected to hear sobs echoing around the corner. Screams of the damned, maybe. If there was a hell, surely it would feel like this dungeon. Yet there were no manacles hanging from the ceiling.
Nor were there any monster girls.
This dungeon was not a home or a lair or a castle. It was a prison.
Siwang floated through the corridors. When he hit a branch, he turned right. He hit one dead-end. Another. But he kept following the wall to the right, moving through it methodically. It didn't feel like a large dungeon at all.
No, the defenses were lax. Half-hearted. The builder didn't care about protecting himself. Siwang's arms prickled as he moved through the dungeon. This place was wrong. Broken. Siwang wanted to flee this place, but he pressed forward through the bleak stone until he came to an iron door.
Rust marred the surface.
Siwang pushed the door open to reveal a throne room. The dungeon map was in the middle of the floor. A wooden chair sat on the other end. No grand throne. On it, a young man wept. He looked tall and gangly with dark hair. He had his face buried in his hands as we wept. He wore stained clothes. A linen shirt and wool pants.
He looked up, and about his throat was a metal collar.
“I'm sorry,” the young man said. Though he was maybe a few years older than Siwang, he seemed more like a frightened boy than an adult. A beaten dog. His dark eyes stared out of sunken sockets, his skin sallow. “I have to do this. I don't have a choice.”
“Of course you do,” Siwang said, not sure what to make of this. “My name is Siwang. We can talk. What is your name?”
“Barany.” The young man laughed and rose to his feet. He hooked a finger about the metal collar and tugged on it. “I have to kill you! Flames delayed, let the fury of Lord Gibil erupt!”
Glowing balls of fire appeared throughout the room. They were crackling, but did nothing else. They were evenly spaced. It was a spell that Siwang had never seen nor heard spoken before. Clearly, it was Ultimate Magic. A worry. His skin crawled as he studied the flames.
Flame delayed? Siwang thought. What does—
“Death slays, let the finality of Lord Nergal despoil!” Barany screamed.
The black miasma of Death washed across the room and swept into Siwang. He gasped as the chilly energy reached into him. Only Healing Aura and Revitalize kept him on his feet, but the spell destroyed them both. They vanished from his body. He staggered and fell to his knees. Siwang had never seen Leo fight.
Never witnessed the power of Ultimate Spells.
“I'm sorry!” Barany said, tears streaming down his face. “But when you're dead, they'll finally kill me! They'll finally set me free!”
Fear spiked through Siwang. He chanted a spell at the same time as Barany.
“Strong and durable, let the strength of Lord Nabu shield!”
“Thunder bursts, let the passion of Lord Ishkur explode!”
A shield appeared before Siwang, but it didn't matter as Barany's powerful Thunder spell washed around it. Static Aura activated with a sizzle. The sound ripped through that and burst apart his metal armor. It fell from his body while his stone skin cracked beneath.
Siwang fell onto his back from the force of the blast. Barany studied him. Siwang's heart hammered in terror. He was not a match for this foe. He had to think. Focus on a way to survive this battle.
Anji flashed in his mind.
“The cruelty of ice, let the freezing might of Lord—”
Siwang shouted out his spell faster than Barany, “Slipper and treachery, let the slick cold of Lord Anshar coat!”
The floor became slick ice beneath Barany's feet. He cried out, cutting off his spell. He crashed onto his back with a grunt. This was the opening that Siwang needed. He gained his feet and shouted out his next spell.
“Hurtling down the mountain, let the boulder of Lord Abzu crush!”
A boulder slammed down on the prone Barany. Siwang hoped to crush his foe, but magic flashed. The young man had defensive spells of his own.
“Winds swirl, let the rage of Lord Anu rampage!”
A massive twister swept through the boulder that lay on Barany before rushing across the room at Siwang. The winds howled. The thing nearly filled the room. There was almost nowhere for Siwang to go. The glowing balls of fire still waited across the room.
“Lightning flashes, let the passion of Lady Uttu fly!”
Using Electric Jump, Siwang flashed behind the wooden chair. The twisted slammed into the opposite wall and ripped the doors off the hinges. It kept going down the hallway. Siwang panted, mind whirling.
The nearby ball of fire detonated.
It slammed into Siwang and shattered his stony skin. It threw him to his side. He crashed down, his robes on fire. He was near another of the fireballs. It flared and detonated, crashing into Siwang. It struck his body. Flamebody was still going.
His fire met the spells as he was thrown again.
Flamebody went out.
He landed again. Another of the fireballs, mines that would detonate with proximity flared bright. Siwang screamed out the words to Electric Jump.
“Lightning flashes, let the passion of Lady Uttu fly!”
The spell detonated. Siwang landed in a clear space on the scorched spot of the last fire mine. He shuddered, his defensive spells gone. Barany turned to track him, tugging on the metal collar. Fear slashed through Siwang.
“I'm sorry!” Barany sobbed as he turned to face Siwang. “I'll make it quick.”
I'm dead, Siwang thought.
“Color of life fades, let the shadows of Lord Zuen leach!” cried Barany.
“Lightning flashes, let the passion of Lady Uttu fly!” shouted Siwang.
He didn't even think about where he jumped. He just had to get away from that spell. He flashed across the room and appeared too close to a fireball. Siwang gasped and threw himself to the side as it flared.
Detonated.
Fire struck his side. He hit the ground, screaming. Pain burned along his arm and up his face. He lay there in pain. Barany spun around to track him. A look of pity crossed the broken builder's face. Such disgust.
“I'll be dead soon, too,” he said. “Let me put you out of your misery.”
The pain throbbed through Siwang. It was impossible to ignore. He smelled his burning flesh. His robes still smoldered. Barany wiped tears from his eyes. A look of such revulsion and hatred crossed his face. Not at Siwang.
What happened to him? Despite the pain, empathy welled up in Siwang. What was done to you? Why do you wear that collar?
Barany opened his mouth for the killing spell.
Siwang spat out an Intermediate Spell, one designed to destroy armor. It was desperate. He seized on it because he didn't want to die. He had to make it back to his Anji. Despite his burns, he had hope. More than that, he had pity.
“Metal rusts and weakens, let the corrosion of Lord Nabu destroy!”
The collar rusted and fractured into several pieces.
It fell from Barany's shoulders. His mouth, open to cry out another Ultimate Magic spell, shut. He touched his throat. He fell to his knees. He threw back his head and laughed with maniacal pain. It wasn't joy. It was relief tinged with madness. Like seeing a caged and beaten animal set free. He raked fingers down his cheeks.
“I'm free!” He laughed again. “KILL THEM!”
My monster girls?
Siwang had to strike if that was the case. He needed to finish off Barany, but the pain was so great. He had to focus. The builder was distracted. This had to end. Now that he was laughing like a madman, he frightened Siwang even more.
Flesh sizzling, Siwang found his spell.
Chapter Seventy-Two
Therodin and the company moved through Leo's dungeon. Barany's Level 4 monster girls escorted them. A small squad that wasn't being used for the other attacks. They had to hurry. Leo was in Fuegin's dungeon.
Either Fuegin would kill Leo or Leo would kill Fuegin. Since Fuegin was under the Company's control, reaching Leo's Void Crystal and shattering it was the best option. If Leo prevailed, he would kill Fuegin, who would be executed anyway, then the Company would be able to slay Leo and end this once and for all.
The scourge of builders would be wiped from this world.
Fuegin's forces had cleared the dungeon. So far, Therodin and his force had found no surprises. It was large, though. A maze. They moved quickly, passing all the tripped traps. He had Ril at his side. That excited him.
It had been so long since they had invaded a dungeon to slay evil. Not since they found Barany, and they had collared him. He was sobbing in the back of Therodin's mind. Always sobbing. He had his orders.
Siwang had invaded his dungeon, but Siwang didn't have Level 4 monster girls. He would be no match for Barany's spells. Therodin had given the order. Kill Siwang. Destroy him with Ultimate Magic. Another builder dead.
“This is too easy,” said Zarn. The dwarf jogged ahead of Therodin at the lead of the group, holding a mace in one hand and ax in the other. “The traps all sprung. The monster girls all dead.”
“And our escort,” said Aython. The halfling held a massive ax that was bigger than he was in one hand with ease. The monster girls were ahead and behind them. A screen in case any of Leo's companions survived. “This is boring. I want to cover up some of Leo's sluts.”
“This is safer,” Ril said. “Why risk our lives when we don't have to? The mission matters.”
“Yes,” Empty said from the back. The Death mage's voice was almost a whisper, yet it was loud enough to be heard over the thud of boots and ring of metal.”
“I'm with Empty and Ril,” said Niss. “Though it would be fun to disable some of Leo's traps. He's as strong as they get. We never get to invade the dungeon of a builder of his power. I mean, look at this place. How many levels does it have?”
“Four,” Corthin said. “According to Fuegin's monster girls.”
“Should have asked for one to escort us,” Niss said. The rogue laughed. “We wouldn't keep hitting dead ends. Fuegin and Leo will be fighting before we find his Void Crystal.”
“So long as we reach the Void Crystal before Leo gets back,” Ril said. “He'll destroy us.”
“Maybe,” grunted Zarn. “Never know.”
“We'd lose,” Empty said. “Arrogance leads to death.”
“So does being an old woman,” Zarn growled back. “Life is risk. That's how we got to this point. Risk.”
Therodin nodded. “Just keep marching forward. We have to get as deep as we can. If Leo does win, he'll know how to get through his dungeon. If he catches up with us, we are dead.”
“We'll make it,” Corthin said. The elven priest sounded confident. “Lord Ishkur is with us. His passion thunders around us.”
Therodin nodded. He served Lord Abzu, manifested by the fact that he wore his God's stone as armor. The Gods blessed this attack. They trusted in the Company and their power to end Leo and stop them from saving the Incarnation.
Once this fails, the Incarnation will realize she'll never be protected and stop summoning builders.
Therodin had faith in Lord Abzu. The God of Earth had strengthened him, armored him, and empowered him all these years. He had followed his Lord's will, and it had led to this moment of triumph.
They entered a room with shattered pillars. Some sort of trap that had been defeated. The monster girls fanned out around them. They hurried through the room at a jog. Therodin gripped his two-handed sword, ready to smash the Void Crystal.
The monster girls escorting them all stopped running and howled.
“What are you doing?” demanded Therodin.
Fire exploded to his right, washing into his stone armor. He gasped at the heat as Ril...
Screamed.
He turned to find his elven lover on fire. Her hair burned. Her white robes blazed around her. She collapsed to the ground, howling in agony. Beyond her, the seraph grinned at him, this look of sadistic joy in her eyes.
Barany, control your monster girls! Therodin sent along with the command to make Barany obey.
Nothing.
The monster girls attacked the company.
NOW! STOP!
He imposed his will on them as Zarn swung his ax and mace into the dullahan before him. The dullahan blocked with her blade while her other hand seized her head by her fiery hair. She threw it right into Zarn.
The detonation of black miasma engulfed the dwarf. The shock wave slammed into Therodin and threw him to his back. His stone armor clattered on the ground. Horror crashed down on the paladin. Ril screamed beside him, the flames consuming her clothes, her flesh charred and cracking.
“Heal her!” he screamed. “Now, Corthin.”
The elven priest's head bounced off Therodin's chest and rolled to the side.
“No!” Niss screamed in pain. She lay on the ground, her side burnt from the same flames that engulfed Ril.
A jotunn slammed an ice hammer down onto her, crushing the woman's body.
Empty whispered, “Sum Gidim!”
His spectral spell cut a giantess in half. She burst into motes.
A cherub's lightning struck the mage in the back. He crumbled to the ground, smoke rising from the hole burned through his black robes. Aython buried his big ax into the cherub's back, biting deep into her flesh.
A blur flashed by Aython. The griffin ripped open his throat. Blood spurted from the wound. Ril whimpered, the flames dying out, but her body charred. Fury surged through Therodin. He pushed himself to his feet.
“Lord Abzu, give me the strength to avenge Ril!” he prayed.
Power surged through him. The strength of the mountains animated his limbs. He slashed with his massive sword, cutting off the jotunn's armor. It fell to the floor, blood gushing. Her ice hammer shattered. She hissed and punched Therodin in the stone helm.
She shrieked in pain, her hand broken.
Ril lay burnt.
That thought filled Therodin's mind as he shouted in wordless rage. He cut the jotunn down, stepping through her motes. The seraph retreated. He had to get to her. He charged at her. A houri swooped down at him.
Her blades of light struck his armor, chipping at the stone. It was a gift of the Lord of Earth. It would not be undone so easily. The seraph landed, grinning at him. She slid her hands up and cupped her breasts.
“We hate you as much as Barany,” she hissed. “You abused us and him! BURN!”
Fire exploded from her wings.
He charged into the seraph's flames. The heat swelled in his armor. He closed his eyes against the intensity. Blisters erupted across his skin. He did not care. He swung his blade, picturing where she stood before her attack.
He cut her in half.
He gloried in the impact of his blade on her body. How he had to put his body's weight into the swing to cut through her flesh. She screamed, her fire dying. He opened his eyes to watch her fall into pieces and then into motes.
“Ril,” he sobbed. He choked back the grief. Anger burned hot in him. “RIL!”
A beautiful song swept over him. He turned to see the kitsune approaching him. Her three bushy, blue-gray tails swayed behind her. The monster girl's enchanting aria had him swaying. A gorgeous creature. He wanted to worship her.
Love her.
Ril! They killed Ril! a desperate voice in him screamed. Fight.
His sword slipped from his hand.
He had to kneel before this creature.
I was... supposed to... save... the world. Ril, I—
\ / *
Auniasiiriliiania lay on the ground in agony. She watched her man, her lover, her husband swaying there. Therodin, in his scorched and chipped armor, swayed before the kitsune. He stared at her as his blade slipped from his fingers.
Behind him, the ogress raised her head.
“No,” whimpered Auniasiiriliiania. With all her strength, she reached her burned hand toward her husband to warn him.
The club fell and crushed Therodin's head.
Blood and stone burst from the impact. His body dropped to the ground in a clatter. The stone armor melted away, and the blessing ended with his death. Auniasiiriliiania's arm fell. She would cry if her tear ducts weren't burned. The agony consumed her.
She closed her eyes and surrendered to death, thinking, We failed.
Darkness swallowed the elven mage, the last member of the Company.
Chapter Seventy-Three
“Lightning arcs and sizzles, let the fury of Lord Enlil spread!” Munjan shouted.
His blast of lightning struck the dullahan as she galloped into the room. It arched past her, slaying more monster girls. Munjan embraced his origins. He had come to this world because of a lightning strike, and he would unleash that element.
“Lightning arcs and sizzles, let the fury of Lord Enlil spread!”
The blue-white lightning slammed into a griffin. It arced to another before streaking out of sight. They became motes that rained down on a kitsune bounding into the room, transformed into a fox. If she sang, it could be bad.
Fairy-Garnet fired a blast of light from her wand and killed it. She squealed out, “You can't stand to Beautiful Fairy Queen Garnet, kweh, heh, heh!”
“Lightning arcs and sizzles, let the fury of Lord Enlil spread!”
He killed a giant as she stepped out. The spell didn't arc into another. The monster girls had been pouring in, now what was going on? Were they regrouping. Lucas's companions were tensing, waiting for the next attack.
“Melin, what's going on?” asked Munjan.
“They've stopped entering,” he said. “The monster girls are spreading out. I think... Something happened to their builder. They're not sure what to do. I don't know.”
Munjan smiled. “Let's clear my dungeon.”
\ / *
Siwang opened his mouth to cast the killing spell, when his wraith sent, “They surrendered! The enemy monster girls say it's over. They're retreating. Leaving the dungeon!”
Siwang closed his mouth. He was in so much pain, so he muttered, “Graven wounds pulse in pain, let the healing of Lord Dumazid flow.”
The pain retreated. He had cast Endure Pain, but maybe the Ultimate Magic had overwhelmed even that spell. His wounds healed. His skin went from black and cracked to pink with a few blisters. He was still hurt, but not nearly as bad.
“They're dead!” Barany slumped his shoulders. He let out another burst of hysterical laughter. “They're all dead. I'm free!”
Siwang pushed himself up and advanced on Barany. “Who is dead?”
“The Company.” Barany looked up Siwang. “The fucking Company. They're dead.”
“Who?” Siwang asked in confusion.
“Therodin and his mob of degenerates,” growled Barany. “The Company. Adventures. They invaded my dungeon not long after I came into this world months and months ago. They collared me. Beat me. Abused me. My monster girls. I was their puppet.”
Siwang knelt, pain building in him for this poor man.
“They forced me to kill other builders,” Barany continued. “To build my power. To grow stronger and stronger. They wanted to use me to become the strongest builder and wipe out all the others. Then they would kill me.”
“You killed Wai because of them?” asked Siwang.
“Therodin killed Wai.” Barany laughed again. “Inspired! They were inspired by Leo. When they heard Halia, daughter of Anguin, became Leo's servant, they realized men could swear vows to Builders. And now they've enslaved Fuegin, but not with a collar. An entire forest.”
“What?” Siwang asked. “An entire forest.”
“They used the forest's anti-builder barrier and turned it into a massive collar.” Barany shuddered. “I'm free. They can no longer hurt me, but Fuegin... He's their slave.”
Siwang swallowed at the news.
Barany slumped into Siwang and clung to him, sobbing. Siwang embraced the broken man, tears burning in his eyes. They had no idea. This entire time, there was this whole plot building out of Leo's notice that erupted on them today.
Poor man.
Siwang had to focus. He needed to warn Leo. “Leo, Fuegin is being controlled by a ritual the elves made. I have neutralized the other builder. Fuegin is all that remains.”
Chapter Seventy-Four
Light glowed from me as I marched through the rain toward Todlicht. Every time lightning crashed down on me, it charged me with more power. I brimmed with it as I spotted him across the road. That bastard had to pay. He needed to suffer for what he did.
“How I have lusted for this moment, Leo,” Todlicht cried. He was a disgusting figure, wrapped in a rotten, black shroud, his skin as pallid as a corpse, his hair lank and eyes sunken to black pits. “I hunger to peel the skin from your body and devour bloody strips. I yearn to hear your howls of anguish as I feast on your innards.”
I grimaced. “I don't even know you.”
“She does,” Todlicht said, pointing to Halia. “You're from the other world. His harlot. Lord Nergal told me about you.”
“Yes, I remember you,” said Halia as she stood beside me, naked and holding her blade of light. “And Lord Leo, the other one, took a great deal of pleasure in your death. Never once did he exult in a builder he had to kill, but you... He savored your death. He held out his hand, hoping you would be dumb enough to try to kill him.”
Todlicht laughed, a mad cackle that turned into a disgusting death rattle. He raised his hands to the sky, his fingernails long and filthy. I wanted to vomit. This man needed to die. I had the current building in my body.
“I don't care about your beef with the other me,” I growled. “I'm not him. I'm my own man, and I never did a thing to you, but look what you've done to my town. You've murdered thousands! People I know! Friends! Classmates!”
“Yes, yes, yes,” Todlicht howled. “I murdered so many of them. Their souls are in me. I devoured them all, and now they fight for me.”
A thick, black mist spilled from him. A poisoned miasma that blighted the grass at his feet. It spilled over the road. A thousand voices screamed from writhing in the umbral fume, all crying out in agony. My skin prickled from their torment. I felt unclean.
A fury built in me along with the electric charge. I didn't think as another blast of lightning slammed down into me. It hit me. Power surged through me. I launched myself across the three-lane road in a blur and slammed my fist into his face.
BOOM!
Lightning exploded into Todlicht's face. A thunderclap boomed around me. I threw the motherfucker back into the park. He vanished into the rain. The miasma boiled around my feet, trying to reach me. The charge kept it back.
I advanced into the darkness to find him laughing. He stepped up, his face blackened, his cheekbone crushed in. One eye bulged out, almost popped from the socket; the other was blackened and oozing pus. Thick, black liquid oozed from the wounds. The reek of putrid flesh filled my nose. I gagged, fighting off the urge to vomit.
The souls screaming around us flowed back into him. The flesh healed. The cheekbone popped back into place along with the eye. The other grew filmy, as if it was covered in cataracts. He grinned at me as if he was groaning in pleasure.
I felt dirty as he moaned and smiled at me.
“That was good,” he said. “I felt almost alive!”
I balled my hands into fists.
He vomited out shadows that flooded at me, thicker than the last. Faces writhed in the liquid darkness. Expressions of agony. Endless torment. Milky eyes glowed, begging for release from their agony.
They fixed on me, burning with anger, wanting to make me suffer just as much as them.
\ / *
Halia swung her glowing blade, Lady Sherida's light knocking back the shadows. She had to reach her lord. She battled back the darkness. Vomit gushed from Todlicht's mouth, flowing for her Lord.
“No!” she cried and flung herself forward, slashing with her glowing blade.
She flew past her Lord and landed before him. She hacked at the liquid, parting it with her brilliant blade. It flowed around them like a flood crashing into an embankment of rock. She would be her Lord's defense.
She slashed into the flood of tormented souls, freeing them from their agony. They floated up into the air, becoming wisps of blue smoke that vanished into the storm. She screamed her rage as she closed the distance on him.
“MONSTER!”
He offended her. Disgusted her. His existence was an affront to decency. To life and light and love.
“Halia!” Lord Leo cried out behind her.
Todlicht smiled as she closed the gap. She raised her blade to strike him down, but he leaped back as she swung. She hacked through more of the souls, liberating them and sending them off to their rest. His smile became a sneer.
“They won't find paradise,” he growled. “I will wrench them back! They will serve me for eternity!”
Fury beat in Halia's heart.
The ground exploded beneath her.
She screamed as the dead reached up and seized her with their filthy hands. They held her and hauled her down into the earth. She screamed as she fell into the grave. They were all around her, grabbing her.
Fear choked her.
\ / *
“Halia!” I shouted as she vanished into the earth, gripped by the zombies.
Todlicht laughed. As he did, more black shadows spewed from his mouth. The tide of death rushed at me. The tormented souls reached for me to tear me apart. Their malice washed over me. They all wanted me dead.
“Lady Uttu!” I shouted without even knowing what I was saying. “Fill me with your power!”
Lightning crashed down into me, flooding me with even more energy. I shone as I marched into the vomit of souls. I would beat the living shit out of Todlicht. I would pound him into pulp for what he did to my community.
“Lady Uttu!” I shouted.
The lightning exploded from me. I was behind Todlicht in a flash. I had teleported. I drew back my fist and slammed it into the back of my head. Thunder boomed as he shouted. He spun around. My second punch took him in the side, electricity burning through his side in spidery lines.
My third punch crashed into his face. He reeled back, smoking. Souls swirled around his feet, flooding up him. He laughed with maniacal rage as he slashed his fingers at me. They struck my face, ripping pain across my features.
Blood gushed hot into my eyes.
I gasped in pain, unable to see while he cackled. Death surged over me.
\ / *
It wasn't zombies that pulled Halia down into the grave, but the dead souls.
The chill of death engulfed her. She felt his presence before when she had died defending her other Lord Leo. Now it grasped her again. The clammy hands that gripped her body pulled her from life into the torment of Todlicht's will.
She would die and suffer.
“NO!” she cried. She would not be dragged down into the darkness. She would not be consumed by Todlicht. “Lady Sherida, let your light reach into the darkest place!”
Light exploded from her. It shone out of her soul and into the tormented shades around her. They flinched from her. They recoiled from the power of her presence. She was the Paladin of the Lady of Light. She was the defender of Lord Leo.
She slashed her blade, severing the tormented dead from Todlicht's grasp.
But more rushed at her. The darkness spilled around her, swirling as they all tried to reach her. They covered her, smothered her, but she screamed her defiance and swung her glowing blade. Even if she fell, she would not go down easily.
“FOR LORD LEO!”
Lady Sherida animated me. I felt lights exploding from me. The darkness around me recoiled. I thrust my sword up and leaped from the grave.
\ / *
Todlicht licked the blood from his fingers. Young Leo stumbled back. He glowed, but he was not able to heal. Blood spilled from the cuts to his face. The necromancer grinned. If he had a living heart, it would be beating with exultation.
The corpse laughed and slashed again, ripping across Leo's face. He stumbled back. Lightning crackled through his body. A bolt shot out, missing Todlicht. Souls rose into the air like wisps, escaping to their freedom.
Todlicht would reclaim them.
He slashed again, ripping across Leo's bare belly. The young man groaned and bent over. Todlicht loved the red spilling over his glowing body. The young man shone like a beacon. It was such a sight to behold.
“Your soul will be my prize,” said Todlicht. “I will have both halves. The two split apart shall be reunited in agony.”
“Motherfucker!” snarled Leo.
Todlicht smiled and drew back his hand. He slashed again, striking for the throat. He ripped through Leo's shoulder instead, blood gushing. Lightning crackled, shooting back into Todlicht's arm. The current burned through the clogged veins, smoke rising from the limb.
He devoured souls and healed.
He kicked Leo, knocking him to the ground. The young man fell, bleeding, blind. Todlicht raised his foot to slam down on his enemy's cock and balls, to crush his manhood. That would be the start of Leo's torment.
Light exploded behind Todlicht.
It shone through his rotten soul. He screamed and turned back. From the grave, Halia leaped free of the souls clinging to her. Angelic wings of light spread from her back as she hovered ten feet from the ground, her face a mask of righteous rage.
“TODLICHT!”
She slammed down and smited him with her blade.
The sword of light slammed into his shoulder and cut deep. The radiance burned through him. He reeled back, howling in agony. In the torment that his corpse-body should be free from. He had transcended life. He was undeath.
No longer a prisoner to pain. To human frailty. He didn't have to eat or shit or thirst, yet he hurt now. Fury swept through his rotten brain. Souls flowed into him, healing his injuries, banishing the indignity.
“BITCH, YOU WILL DIE CURSING YOUR BIRTH!”
Halia smiled and raised her blade. “I am Lord Leo's sword. My life has only been a blessing!”
He vomited shadows.
She stabbed her blade into the darkness. She cut through it and buried it into his chest. His death washed over her, devouring her wings. He screamed as he burned in light. He kicked her back, throwing her to the ground. The darkness engulfed her, devouring her.
He staggered, light shining from him. He cursed and spun around to kill Leo. The light burned through his bones, infecting them with its purity Todlicht from the inside. It devoured his rotten substance. Fury swept through him. He would not succumb.
When Leo screamed in agony, that would make the bitch suffer.
The radiance glowed through his body, the light from his bones shining through his flesh. He needed death. Flesh sloughed off Todlicht and fell to the ground. He didn't need muscles. He just needed bones. A frame for his will to animate.
More meat fell rotting to the ground as Todlicht took a step forward. He left behind the rotting soles of his feet. Skin slid off his fingers. He didn't care. He just needed life. The more he devoured, the longer he would survive.
He was undeath. The inversion of life and nature.
Leo's death would fix everything.
He thrust clawed hands down on the wounded youth.
\ / *
I wiped the blood from my eyes to see...
Todlicht burning. His muscles fell off his body. Light glowed from his bones. His face slid off his skull, revealing eye sockets boiling with mist. More spilled out of the jaws. Ribs appeared, a black heart beating in the glow.
The skeleton slammed its clawed hand down onto my chest. I grabbed the bony wrist and screamed. The fingers dug into my flesh. My ribs cracked as they reached for my beating heart. He almost grabbed it.
Lightning surged into the bones. They cracked, but the death swirled around him. The glow from the bones faded. Teeth rattled as the skeleton laughed. Todlicht's black heart pumped away, sustaining his undeath.
“No!” I cried, feeling his fingers digging deep into my chest. He was strong. I fired more lightning into him.
The souls of the dead healed him.
Light exploded behind him.
\ / *
The shadows consumed Halia. She screamed and slashed with her sword. They attacked her flesh, but she would not fail her Lord. She thrust her sword before her and cut through the black. She burst out of the death and spilled forward.
A skeleton stood over Lord Leo, its bony hand buried into his chest. Shadows spilled from the skeleton's chest and down its body. Todlicht still lived. She stumbled forward, her body twitching. Shadows devoured her flesh.
Death attacked her.
She just had to reach him as he dug his clawed fingernails into Leo's chest. Lightning burst from him, crackling through the bones, but they would not crack. They would not break apart. The bastard would not break.
Screaming, Halia slashed her sword and cut off his arm buried in Lord Leo's chest.
The skeleton spun, the fingernails on its other bony digits ripped into her throat. She screamed as blood spurted. She fell back, clutching her hands to her throat. Blood poured through her fingers as the strength left her body.
She fell to the ground, gurgling as death devoured her flesh and her life spilled through her fingers.
\ / *
I ripped the arm away from me, the fingers spilling from my chest.
Lightning flashed down into me. Halia gurgled on the ground as energy shot through me. That motherfucking bastard whipped his skeletal head around. Inky spilled from the skull's every hole and crack, down the cheekbones like thick tears and over the jaw like putrid vomit.
My hand shot out and grabbed the neck bones.
Lightning flashed.
I twisted my wrist.
Thunder boomed.
\ / *
Todlicht's claws slashed for that bastard Leo's face, only for light to flash. The world spun as his skull came free, hurling toward the air. The skull bounced on the ground, landing near Halia. Her blood spilled into the earth.
Todlicht laughed.
Souls vomited from his open mouth and poured out of his eyes and ear holes. They surged from the skull and rushed at Leo to destroy him once and for all. The skeleton wasn't Todlicht; it was just his vessel.
He was Undeath.
\ / *
“Lady Uttu!” I shouted.
Lightning spider-webbed across the sky as the skull vomited out more death. The tide rushed at me. Halia stared, the strobing lights reflecting in the pool of her blood. She reached for me, gurgling as she died.
The electricity gathered above me, a whirling vortex of lightning. A massive bolt slammed down into me. It surged power into every cell I had. I screamed my rage and threw myself into the torrent of tortured souls.
Death washed over me.
The souls all tore at me, struggling to steal my life so that they could have their own back. Lightning flashed out, striking them, blasting them out of the nasty gunk that held them. Todlicht's sticky, disgusting will.
They rose free around me, wisps crying out in thanks.
Halia's fingers twitched.
I thrust my hand into the disgusting puke. Death spilled over my fingers. My bones shone as the electricity surged through me. I grasped Todlicht's skull. I picked it up, my fingers squeezing about the bone. I stared into the eyes gushing torment.
Every bit of current in me surged toward the palm of my right hand.
I discharged Lady Uttu's gift.
\ / *
Todlicht hated Leo so much.
The skull vomited out his loathing for Leo.
Todlicht's black bile spilled over Leo, but the worm endured. All the souls the necromancer had tortured and wrenched to his will slipped from his hateful grasp. They rose free as Todlicht sought to destroy him. Leo picked up the skull, his eyes crackling with lightning. His bones glowed like the sun.
Then it all rushed to his right arm and to the palm pressed against Todlicht's bony cheek.
I WOULD KILL HIM!
Light flashed.
Darkness engulfed Todlicht.
Death grasped the necromancer and ripped away undeath.
His soul came free of the vessel as the skull burst into a thousand fragments. Todlicht laughed as he fell into a black abyss. Hands reached out, clawed and scabbed. They hated as much as he did. They despised all life for being free of their torment, and they welcomed a kindred spirit.
Cackling with madness, Todlicht descended into hell, knowing that he had killed Halia. He had made Leo suffer. Wrought death and destruction to his community. To friends. To strangers. Todlicht had spread so much cruelty.
And so much cruelty would be visited upon him.