Birdsie
The God-Emperor of Mankind
Verraketh / Verxi - Battlefield
Verxi put his hands together and breathed in, energizing all his limbs with Ki power, before rushing forward from the general's right and preparing to strike. Kasumi attacked simultaneously, from the other side, trying to stab at the general.
Verraketh couldn't deflect them both.
As Kasumi's blade and Verxi's fist touched the general, his body shifted unnaturally, revealing that it was a hologram. The real Verraketh appeared behind them, swinging his sword in a wide arc at their backs.
Verxi, understanding his mistake, began to turn. Against bladed weapons, raising one's hands to protect oneself was foolishness. For a monk, it was the best move. Verxi hardened his forearms with Ki, raising them in an x-pattern as he jumped back. Even despite that, the slash of Verraketh's sword was enough to dig all the way to the bone.
Verxi cussed, stepping back as he ascertained the damage and stopped the bleeding and pain with a delivery of Ki. He looked at Kasumi, to make sure she wasn't hurt. "Are you okay?"
[Author's Note: Knowing how life works, the moment she stabbed the hologram, she lost her footing because the blade didn't dig into any physical objects and therefore made her trip. Because of this, she avoided the attack completely. At least that's what I'll assume until Hanarei says otherwise.]
A mortal man definitely would have died from that. In Verxi's case, he'd have to abstain from combat until he found a cleric.
But Verraketh didn't have time to gloat. He withdrew from combat with the two, not having time to finish them off.
Verraketh released his monstrous strength and leaped at least five meters into the air, his cloak fluttering behind him. Simultaneously, he acrobatically spun 180° in the air, deflecting several of Callie's spiritual blades with his own sword.
As he landed, he cut one of her zombies clean in half, then bisected the other two at the midriff with one, mighty horizontal swing. Even zombies, who had undead fortitude and could keep on unliving even when dealt deadly blows, were nothing before one of Verraketh's attacks.
But it was a distraction. He couldn't evade Scarlet's fireballs now. Instead, Veraketh's ring glowed with a mighty blue color in his outreached hand, as it produced a hexagonal forcefield of blue energy. The fireballs hit it and exploded, producing a thick, black smoke. Verraketh dissipated the barrier, but he didn't expect the next thing that happened.
His hand was reached out when he produced the protective barrier.
Scarlet stepped out from the black smoke produced by the fireballs, and in a flash, halved all of the fingers on the left hand.
Verraketh released a cry of fear, for the first time in the entire battle. Having lost his trump card, he shook his head in disbelief, as his red eyes which burnt with soulfire narrowed in shock and terror.
"H-How?"
His only answer was a glass vial containing a red, healing liquid. It hit Verraketh in the face, scouring it. As the acidic healing brew burnt with steam, he screamed. It wasn't the scream of an angry beast, but rather the yell of a desperate man in pain. He felt the potion drip through the gaps in his armor and spread through his body, a feeling akin to having one's skin flayed in thin stripes.
But the undead knight stood, a testimony to his constitution.
Marquis Black charged, taking the chance to step in for the kill. Verraketh, barely noticing him, raised his sword to protect himself. The healing potions temporarily exsanguinated him of his undead fortitude and his vigor. Marquis Black knocked Verraketh's sword aside. It spun through the air and dug into the ground, as the Marquis dealt a free blow.
With his red sword, he cut the unnaturally durable adamantite armor as if it were made from thin paper, sundering Verraketh's chest plate.
Despite the blow, Verraketh, who was now on the ground, lying on his back, still moved and lived. He tried to scuttle away from Marquis Black, but the latter simply stepped forward, spun his red sword in his hands and sent it down, ramming it into Verraketh's eye socket.
Verraketh, like a cockroach, moved for a few more seconds, struggling to push the Marquis away fruitlessly with his hands and flailing his legs in an attempt to put the Marquis off-balance, and yet not making a single sound of being pained, and only making growls of petty wrath and fruitless aggression.
Undead were not alive, so you could not kill them, but you could damage them enough that even the magic that kept them animated failed.
Marquis Black pushed his blade further, widening the division in Verraketh's skull. Then, he twisted the sword and a final crack resounded loudly. With that, Verraketh's hands slumped, his body sagged to the ground, and his red, burning eyes went dark.
Having completed the grizzly deed of indiscriminate murder, Marquis Black swiftly retrieved his sword from the opponent's cranium, resting the blade on his shoulder. If it was bloodied, one wouldn't be able to tell, as the blade was made from a red, glowing metal.
The Marquis sighed, in elation. Nothing feels as good as serving one's country.
He turned to the robed mage beside him. "Aunran, open up a circle. Also, teleport this bastard's corpse. Have the temples purify it, then chop it up into tiny pieces and burn it. Scatter the ashes in the nearest por-- no, that'll poison the water. Feed it to the sanitation slimes. I'd like Turenval to revive him after that."
Aunran nodded and got to work.
Marquis Black turned to the adventurers. Only members of Team One were alive. He walked up to Scarlet, knelt, and picked up one of Verraketh's fingers, with the ring on it, showing it to her. "Good work with cutting it off; I trust you don't mind I take it? You're getting paid, after all. If you want the ring, I'll be willing to give it to you under some stipulations."
He looked to the rest of the team. "You all, good work out there. When we get back to the city, I'll ask the temples to heal you all free of charge if you were damaged."
And then, he looked at the moth. "I don't remember hiring you, but fuck it. I'll pay you back for the potions, moth woman, since your contributions offered a lot in this fight."
"Teleport's ready," Aunran called.
"Alright, let's go in. The battle's bound to break out any moment now." Marquis Black stood in the middle of the circle, just over the corpse of Verraketh.
Instead of sheathing his sword like a normal person would, he used Verraketh's chest as a holster, probably to shit on him all the more. "'Respect the dead' my ass," he spat. "The dead are being disrespectful."
Verxi put his hands together and breathed in, energizing all his limbs with Ki power, before rushing forward from the general's right and preparing to strike. Kasumi attacked simultaneously, from the other side, trying to stab at the general.
Verraketh couldn't deflect them both.
As Kasumi's blade and Verxi's fist touched the general, his body shifted unnaturally, revealing that it was a hologram. The real Verraketh appeared behind them, swinging his sword in a wide arc at their backs.
Verxi, understanding his mistake, began to turn. Against bladed weapons, raising one's hands to protect oneself was foolishness. For a monk, it was the best move. Verxi hardened his forearms with Ki, raising them in an x-pattern as he jumped back. Even despite that, the slash of Verraketh's sword was enough to dig all the way to the bone.
Verxi cussed, stepping back as he ascertained the damage and stopped the bleeding and pain with a delivery of Ki. He looked at Kasumi, to make sure she wasn't hurt. "Are you okay?"
[Author's Note: Knowing how life works, the moment she stabbed the hologram, she lost her footing because the blade didn't dig into any physical objects and therefore made her trip. Because of this, she avoided the attack completely. At least that's what I'll assume until Hanarei says otherwise.]
A mortal man definitely would have died from that. In Verxi's case, he'd have to abstain from combat until he found a cleric.
But Verraketh didn't have time to gloat. He withdrew from combat with the two, not having time to finish them off.
Verraketh released his monstrous strength and leaped at least five meters into the air, his cloak fluttering behind him. Simultaneously, he acrobatically spun 180° in the air, deflecting several of Callie's spiritual blades with his own sword.
As he landed, he cut one of her zombies clean in half, then bisected the other two at the midriff with one, mighty horizontal swing. Even zombies, who had undead fortitude and could keep on unliving even when dealt deadly blows, were nothing before one of Verraketh's attacks.
But it was a distraction. He couldn't evade Scarlet's fireballs now. Instead, Veraketh's ring glowed with a mighty blue color in his outreached hand, as it produced a hexagonal forcefield of blue energy. The fireballs hit it and exploded, producing a thick, black smoke. Verraketh dissipated the barrier, but he didn't expect the next thing that happened.
His hand was reached out when he produced the protective barrier.
Scarlet stepped out from the black smoke produced by the fireballs, and in a flash, halved all of the fingers on the left hand.
Verraketh released a cry of fear, for the first time in the entire battle. Having lost his trump card, he shook his head in disbelief, as his red eyes which burnt with soulfire narrowed in shock and terror.
"H-How?"
His only answer was a glass vial containing a red, healing liquid. It hit Verraketh in the face, scouring it. As the acidic healing brew burnt with steam, he screamed. It wasn't the scream of an angry beast, but rather the yell of a desperate man in pain. He felt the potion drip through the gaps in his armor and spread through his body, a feeling akin to having one's skin flayed in thin stripes.
But the undead knight stood, a testimony to his constitution.
Marquis Black charged, taking the chance to step in for the kill. Verraketh, barely noticing him, raised his sword to protect himself. The healing potions temporarily exsanguinated him of his undead fortitude and his vigor. Marquis Black knocked Verraketh's sword aside. It spun through the air and dug into the ground, as the Marquis dealt a free blow.
With his red sword, he cut the unnaturally durable adamantite armor as if it were made from thin paper, sundering Verraketh's chest plate.
Despite the blow, Verraketh, who was now on the ground, lying on his back, still moved and lived. He tried to scuttle away from Marquis Black, but the latter simply stepped forward, spun his red sword in his hands and sent it down, ramming it into Verraketh's eye socket.
Verraketh, like a cockroach, moved for a few more seconds, struggling to push the Marquis away fruitlessly with his hands and flailing his legs in an attempt to put the Marquis off-balance, and yet not making a single sound of being pained, and only making growls of petty wrath and fruitless aggression.
Undead were not alive, so you could not kill them, but you could damage them enough that even the magic that kept them animated failed.
Marquis Black pushed his blade further, widening the division in Verraketh's skull. Then, he twisted the sword and a final crack resounded loudly. With that, Verraketh's hands slumped, his body sagged to the ground, and his red, burning eyes went dark.
Having completed the grizzly deed of indiscriminate murder, Marquis Black swiftly retrieved his sword from the opponent's cranium, resting the blade on his shoulder. If it was bloodied, one wouldn't be able to tell, as the blade was made from a red, glowing metal.
The Marquis sighed, in elation. Nothing feels as good as serving one's country.
He turned to the robed mage beside him. "Aunran, open up a circle. Also, teleport this bastard's corpse. Have the temples purify it, then chop it up into tiny pieces and burn it. Scatter the ashes in the nearest por-- no, that'll poison the water. Feed it to the sanitation slimes. I'd like Turenval to revive him after that."
Aunran nodded and got to work.
Marquis Black turned to the adventurers. Only members of Team One were alive. He walked up to Scarlet, knelt, and picked up one of Verraketh's fingers, with the ring on it, showing it to her. "Good work with cutting it off; I trust you don't mind I take it? You're getting paid, after all. If you want the ring, I'll be willing to give it to you under some stipulations."
He looked to the rest of the team. "You all, good work out there. When we get back to the city, I'll ask the temples to heal you all free of charge if you were damaged."
And then, he looked at the moth. "I don't remember hiring you, but fuck it. I'll pay you back for the potions, moth woman, since your contributions offered a lot in this fight."
"Teleport's ready," Aunran called.
"Alright, let's go in. The battle's bound to break out any moment now." Marquis Black stood in the middle of the circle, just over the corpse of Verraketh.
Instead of sheathing his sword like a normal person would, he used Verraketh's chest as a holster, probably to shit on him all the more. "'Respect the dead' my ass," he spat. "The dead are being disrespectful."
Fable
Rumble Fish
Hanarei
Tarmagon
Epiphany
Noble Scion
Reinhardt
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