Chapter 463 - Blades and Blood

Hope you like the chapter! It's another fairly long one today. I may need to do another editing pass on it but I've been over it thoroughly once. I always feel like there's more editing to do for fight scenes though. There's so many actions going on that they can be refined so much.

Warlock Antony was coming. Bud felt his presence in the air. Like a deadly weight, his killing intent permeated every facet of the tunnel. Even through the barricades, a red mist seeped toward them, staining the beautiful white light of Lady Light, filling the passage with corruption. He met it with cold eyes, and without fear. He was Kelisia's knight, wielder of frostfire—facing such foes was what he was born for.

Soon the snarls and screeches of demons became even louder. There must have been many wounded in their ranks, for the howls of pain that echoed through the tunnel were constant. Bud felt no pity for such evil spawn. It was nothing compared to the pain they would inflict upon his people if given the chance.

“We fight as if Hump isn’t here,” Emilia said quietly. “Celaine, stay in the back. Do what you can to take Antony out. Hopefully we’ll kill him early. Higrid, I suggest you stay back with her. Keep her safe.”

“The rear would definitely be my preferred position,” the steward said.

“I don’t like the idea of the three of you trying to hold him on your own,” Celaine said.

“Don’t worry about us,” Bud said. “We’ll hold the line.”

“You can worry about us a little bit,” Dylan said, “but we’re more than ready.”

“Very well,” Celaine said. “Retreat into the rear of the tunnel. I’m going to manifest my soul. Don’t be surprised by the shadows. I’ll ensure that you can see.”

The stone shifted in the piles before them. Rubble crashed from the other side, echoing through the deeps. He heard the claws of demons as they scraped and dug their way through. They were almost upon them.

Shadow filled the tunnel, but strangely Bud could see through them. Celaine’s power was subtle, and weakened in this place where Lady Light’s shine was so constant. Yet still it seeped outwards, filling the tunnel. He glanced over his shoulder to see that the door to the Seal of Elenvine was almost entirely gone, but for its vague outline.

Turning back toward the barricade, Bud took the helmet from beneath his arm and put it on his head. The moment it fell into place, the chaos of Antony’s essence vanished. He no longer felt his killing intent. The red mist was still there, but it didn’t obscure Bud’s vision in the slightest. A calmness came over the tunnel, and Bud felt a clarity.

He drew his sword and stepped forward ahead of the rest of his party. Raising the blade in two hands, he adopted a guard position and waited. He was ready.

The first glimpse of light on the other side appeared as a stone tumbled from the top of a pile of rubble. He glimpsed a shadow beyond, through the small gap, and then a flash of evanescence.

Celaine’s arrow whizzed through, striking the creature on the other side in the eye. There was an agonised howl, and then a tumble, stone falling on the other side. The digging became more frantic as other demons filled in the gap. Celaine loosed a couple more arrows before she stopped, likely preparing her Eclipse Shot for their true target.

The hole had expanded now, and Bud saw the demons on the other side. They crawled through without fear, each of them hungry to be the first upon them—each of them eager to taste human flesh. But all they would find was the bite of Bud’s blade and the wrath of frostfire.

As the first demon fell through the gap, Bud’s blessings erupted around him. An aura of cold spread through the air in a thick, icy mist. It coated the walls, forming a layer of ice upon their surface. It swept forward over the floor, crackling as it crystallised, and it blazed from his sword with such fury that the demons now showed fear.

Bud surged forward before the demon could rise to its feet. His blade sang as he swept it through the air, cleanly severing the creature’s head from its body in a single blow. It dropped to the ground with a heavy thud, its innards turned to ice, and Bud looked up at his next target.

He felt strong today, calling upon the power that Kelesia had granted him. Its cold filled his muscles, yet he felt only warmth. The enemy had spoken against the gods today—they had blasphemed like no others—but Bud’s faith was not shaken. He would purge Kelesia’s enemies, he would protect the Seal of Elenvine, and he would defend his people and his friends.

Dylan kept him covered in his blessings, while Emilia darted between them, slaying those that slipped past.

More and more demons emerged—hideous creatures of pale red flesh. Some crawled on four limbs, mouthes in their hands and eyes. Others were larger than him, with arms turned to sharpened clubs. Bud moved amongst them, carving apart his enemies.

As he breathed out, it streamed from him, raging in the hallway, illuminating it in the icy flames of frost. Bud felt the warmth of his blessings—like a tempest storming through his veins. Strength filled his body, and his mind became focused.

An arrow whizzed past his shoulder, felling one of the beasts through the eye. As it tried to scramble through the newly formed hole, its body blocked the way for the others. They clawed through it in a bloody mess. Stone continued to crumble, the hole in the barricade widening. There was an explosive blast, essence flaring, sending a hail of stone from the blockade towards Bud and the others.

He raised his left arm and used Aegis of Sanctuary, a wall of ice forming before him. Frost fire raged from him, and he surged forward. The demons were shocked as a wave of frost swept forward. They screamed, as icy crystals rose across their bodies—and then Bud was upon them.

One of the demons scrambled toward Bud, snarling, its grip on its jagged cleaver unsteady. Bud’s blade came down in a clean arc—a Blade of Judgement. The creature split apart with a sharp crack, its halves topping in opposite directions as frozen mist curled off its crystalised innards. The air stank of iron and rot.

Then came a flicker of red—a blur too fast to follow.

Pain exploded in Bud’s shoulder. A deep slash ripped away part of his armour. His pauldron clattered to the ground. He roared, instinct taking over as Dylan’s blessing surged through him, knitting skin and tendon. He threw up Armour of Ice, the cold crawling across the gap in his armour just as a second blade of blood came flying toward him. This time, he deflected it.

And then Warlock Anthony stepped into the corridor. Stone shifted before his will, floating through the air, back to where it came from in the ceiling.

The pressure changed. The air thickened. The light dimmed as red mist spilled from the warlock’s presence like a living thing, slithering over stone and stealing warmth from the world. Bud’s breath hitched. Even the flickering blessings of Lady Light dimmed under the weight of Anthony’s will.

But Bud didn’t wait. He couldn’t. Against a foe this strong, they couldn’t give him even a moment. He charged, sword held close to his body, ready to defend again or strike.

Anthony moved like liquid shadow. In a blink, he vaulted upward, feet catching the ceiling, and sprinted down it like a spider. His twin blood-forged blades danced as he flipped off the roof, crashing down on Dylan. Blades met staff. Dylan parried once. Twice. His vines sprouted around him, lashing out at the warlock, but Anthony carved them back in a whirlwind of blades, his speed monstrous.

The fragments of Dylan’s vines hadn’t even touched the ground when another strike caught Dylan across the leg. The next sliced a deep line through his arm, then another slashed open his chest. A howl erupted from the druid’s throat, a beast’s roar layered over it as the ghostly bear manifested behind him. He lashed out with his staff in both hands, the whole thing shining green as he used Growth, instantly making it the size of a tree trunk.

Anthony dodged, but Emilia arrived at his back, her blade a red line as she stabbed at him. The warlock didn’t dodge. Somehow, he twisted his body fast enough to block the blow with one of his blade, then bring up its twin to stab at Emilia’s belly. Emilia’s rapier was a blur. Sparks flew as the two of them duelled a dance of death.

Bud raced to intervene, Wings of the Frostfire Paladin erupting from his back as he surged forward with enhanced Frostfire Surge, his wings flapping behind him, propelling him forward. Demons screamed in the wake of Frostfire he left behind him. His blade blazed with Blade of Judgement once more.

Anthony raised a sword to block, but Emilia’s attack distracted him enough to buy him a chance. The warlock barely dodged what would have been a devastating blow, instead, the tip nicked his arm.

It was enough. Marked by Blade of Judgement, his sword filled with the power of Kelisia. The blaze ceased, sucked in by his steel until what remained was an icy cold blue along its length, shimmering with an internal flame. Bud threw his whole body into the swing that followed—Divine Reckoning.

Yet Anthony simply whirled away. Frostfire roared from Bud’s sword, erupting through the tunnel toward the demons. The creatures that had not yet retreated screamed in agony as they were consumed by cold, and then their screams went silent. Statues of ice remained, their final moments of pain captured for eternity. Behind them, the other demons had stopped, retreating back to a safe distance.

A breath later, Bud heard the scrape of metal on his back, followed by hot pain. His armour screamed as something cut it. Armour of Ice reacted on instinct, ice bursting outward from his armour in jagged spikes, forcing Anthony to retreat.

The warlock leapt back with ease. Emilia came for him, but lashed out at her with a sword, a blade of blood shooting through the air. Emilia barely dodged. There was a boom as it stuck the tunnel wall, carving a deep line into it. Before she could recover, he was back on Bud. It took every bit of concentration just to follow the whirlwind of slashes that followed.

Bud met them with brute force. He focused on blocked deadly attacks, while taking the weaker ones of his armour, yet every moment, he was forced back.

Dylan’s briar cage erupted from the ground beneath them. Anthony saw it and dodged, but it bought Bud time to counterattack. His Frostfire raging—ice and flame blending into a howling storm with each swing of his sword. But Anthony flowed like a dancer, his steps perfectly fluid. It felt like he was being toyed with. The man ducked and slid beneath Bud’s blade, coming up on his side.

Bud twisted, trying to bring up his blade to block the blow that would follow…

But it didn’t come. He glimpsed Anthony slip past—and then Dylan screamed.

One of Anthony’s swords was buried in Dylan’s gut. The warlock twisted it viciously, then yanked it free, blood spraying in an arc.

“Dylan!” Bud bellowed.

The druid stumbled back a step but caught his wait on his staff, somehow remaining on his feet. He swung at the warlock with a fist. Anthony dodged it with ease, a sinister smile on his face as he watched Dylan shake before dropping to one knee.

“There you go,” Anthony said. “Much more comfortable down there.”

Emilia appeared beside him, screaming as she leapt through the air, arm extended, stabbing with her rapier. Anthony laughed as he tilted his head to the side, dodging the blade by a hair’s breadth before flicking it to the side with a casual swing of one of his swords.

Her speed increasing, Emilia hammered blow after blow upon the warlock. With twin blades, he kept up, but she forced him away from Dylan enough for Higrid to burst forward from the shadows.

“Drink this!” he shouted, an elixir in his hand, pouring it down Dylan’s throat.

With an underhand throw, Anthony’s blade flew threw the air.

“No!” Bud roared, lashing out with his sword, but he was too slow. It passed by.

The steward didn’t see the blade as it pierced his head. He seemed to straighten for a moment. He blinked once, eyes shocked, and then nothing. The man collapsed without a sound.

But Dylan was still alive.

“Briar Cage!” he screamed, vines exploding from his staff, lashing around Anthony.

The warlock snarled as he was momentarily restrained, bloodied and glowing red with fury. From the rear, Celaine’s arrow shrieked through the air.

Anthony twisted—but too late.

The arrow punched through his right shoulder, snapping bone and bursting through in a shower of blood. He was flung back into the wall, body contorting unnaturally. When he staggered to his feet, the warlock was no longer a man—his face had twisted, his mouth elongated in a predator’s snarl. The wound in his shoulder already mending itself, flesh knitting back together with threads of blood and essence.

But his other sword was gone too. He was without a weapon, or as without as a warlock this powerful got.

He breathed heavily. Bud raced forward with Emilia, trying to capitalise.

Anthony raised a wall of blood in front of them.

Celaine’s Barrier Breaker arrow shattered it like glass, screaming as it tore through the air.

Bud swung with everything he had, and for the first time, Anthony appeared surprised.

This is it, Bud thought.

Then Anthony’s surprise turned to humour.

Blood erupted from his shoulder wound—not as a mist, but as a thousand needle-sharp projectiles. Emilia screamed as they tore through her leathers. Bud took the hit squarely on his armour. Ice crackled across him. For the most part, his armour held, but white hot pain surged across his body as the needles pierced him in places. He powered through and let the swing fly.

His blade caught Anthony across the stomach. Frostfire ignited, devouring the wound with searing cold.

Anthony staggered, for the first time genuinely reeling. But Bud saw the gleam in his eye. The warlock enjoyed this.

Bud faltered, dizziness overtaking him. His vision swam. He looked down. Needles had punctured his armour everywhere—neck, thighs, underarms. Blood dripped steadily from a dozen hidden wounds.

“Why do you resist so fiercely?” Anthony asked, voice unnaturally calm. “Your prince has fled. The city burns. You cannot defend the seal alone, however honourable your attempt may be.”

Bud spat blood. “What do you know of honour?”

Anthony tilted his head. “More than you think. Your precious Pantheon has existed for less than a blink in the world’s lifetime. You think yours is the only truth?”

There was a sudden change to the air. A shift in the essence of the room.

A heat.

Bud knew what it meant—the door was opening. Hump’s spell was ready. Anthony knew it too, for he glanced toward the door, veiled in Celaine’s shadows. He started to move, but Bud dropped his sword and threw himself at the man, arms extended.

Anthony stepped back, but the moments distraction was enough. Bud grabbed Anthony’s legs, slamming into him with the full weight of his body, locking himself onto the warlock like a vice.

Ice surged out from him in waves, spreading across the floor, the ceiling, crawling up Anthony’s body.

A blade stabbed into his back.

Bud screamed but didn’t let go. Emilia was there to protect him from the next, then another arrow pierced Anthony through the hand. He snarled, his blade falling away.

“Now!” Bud shouted, locking his arms tighter still. “Do it!”

The room behind them flooded with light and heat. Power surged, molten and wild, the air vibrating with the roar of a spell too mighty for any one man to contain.

Anthony raised another wall of blood, but once more Celaine shattered it with a single arrow.

And then the fire came. A tidal wave of flame and stone and essence tore over him, engulfing Anthony. Bud held fast.

He would not let go.