In Blackest Night

[Shang Tsung]

Swinging up the handgun, Shang pulled back on the trigger with hapless abandon. He watched with mounting frustration as bullet holes opened up along the creature’s chest and shoulders but otherwise had no visible effect.

“Duck,” Argento boomed as he tackled the sorcerer to the ground as Tyrant’s claw cleaved through the air where they had once stood. When the pair hit the metal floor of the lab, the paladin was up to his feet a moment later and bringing his hammer to bear upon the beast. With a shout, he swung, catching the bioweapon in the gut with the Day’suis. Tyrant stumbled backward, its previously unused legs wobbling as it struggled to maintain its balance. It caught itself against the monitors and quickly lashed out with its bladed appendage, raking the organic weapon against the heavily fortified armor of the paladin. The armor screeched as the raked across its surface, ripping through it but failing to bite at the chainmail layer that lay beneath it.

The paladin stumbled backwards, his eyes wide as he looked down at the wounds in his armor. From the expression on his face, he’d never seen it sullied in that manner, but before he could retaliate, Tyrant backhanded him with his clawed appendage, throwing the heavily armored warrior of the Sun backwards. Shang grimaced as Argento crashed through two already broken containment tubes.

“Come on,” the sorcerer growled as he placed the handgun on a table and held up his fists. Tyrant, its beady eyes conveying no real emotion, turned to look at him and started toward him. There was no hustle in the giant weapon’s movements, and Shang didn’t know if that was because it was still groggy or if it didn’t feel threatened by the twosome. Either way, the sorcerer could show it the meaning of threat.

With a schnikt, the tarkatan blades slid up out of the sorcerer’s forearms. As the Tyrant lumbered toward him, he fell back into a defensive pose and pulled back his right arm, his eyes trying to line up the perfect shot. The creature swung, and Shang threw up his left blade to intercept the claws. What may have been a nicely orchestrated plan in the spur of the moment fell apart as Tyrant’s own blades ripped through Shang’s weapon and scraped down his chest before screeching against the metal floor. His gi in bloodstained tatters, the sorcerer grit his teeth and thrust his remaining blade at Tyrant.

The tarkatan blade hit the exposed external organ of the creature and sank through the tissue. Instead of faltering, Tyrant grabbed the blade and proceeded to pull it out of his body. The virus-infused monster then proceeded to lift Shang up off the ground by the weapon, prompting the sorcerer to frantically retract the blade before he was pulled too close to his foe. Stumbling backwards, Shang threw out a hand and released a fireball up at Tyrant’s chest. While the explosive impact was usually enough to blow apart a strong man’s ribcage, it did nothing to stop the bioweapon.

Tyrant lumbered forward and lashed out with the backside of its clawed appendage, throwing Shang head-over-heels into the far wall of the room The sorcerer hit the steel wall near the door and settled into a heap.

As Shang tried to regain his bearings, Argento groaned as he pulled himself free from the metal, glass, and machinery. Watching as the powerful sorcerer was thrown backwards like a ragdoll, the paladin grabbed the Day’Suis from the heap behind him and turned the mighty relic to bear on his adversary.

“Your pale flesh has never known the love of the Sun.” Argento boomed as the weapon began to shudder and glow in his hands. “You shall repent!” There was a brilliant flash of white before a concentrated beam of sunlight erupted from the head of the hammer and smashed into Tyrant, forcing the creature back and through the concrete wall near to its former cell. “Sorcerer!” The paladin cried as he immediately turned his focus back to his wounded teammate. Rushing to the other man’s aid, Argento grabbed hold of Shang’s shoulders and helped pull him up to his feet. “Are you all right?”

The battered man nodded his head but didn’t waste breath on voicing the obvious discomfort he felt. “You killed it… just like that?”

Argento nodded. “I have yet to see something survive a direct Sunlight Burst from the hammer,” he explained as he removed one of his gauntlets to reveal a hand covered in a glove made from some sort of soft-looking fabric. The paladin scowled as he traced on the claw marks that now marred his suit of armor. “That was a formidable creature indeed…”

“At least you had armor,” Shang grumbled as he tore away most of the top half of his gi and let the bloody and tattered remains drape down over his sash. If not for the tarkatan blade, the blow would have torn open his ribcage. “What’s our next move?” He added as his eyes fell to the dagger still tucked into his sash. The runic-filled shapes were glowing, and he felt a strange tug toward the object that he had to suppress as both men heard the sound of rustling debris on the other side of the lab. “Please tell me that’s just a lost researcher,” the sorcerer muttered as he reached over his shoulder for the sword. It was one of his more last-ditch tools, but this was certainly shaping up to be a ‘last-ditch’ situation.

“I fear it is not,” Argento declared as he stepped out in front of the sorcerer and narrowed his eyes at the jagged hole in the wall. “How could such a fel beast yet live? Surely its body must have limitations.”

“Science.” Shang spoke beneath his breath as the pair readied themselves. With a gurgling roar, Tyrant smashed out through the concrete chunks and lab equipment in front of the hole it had made. The bioweapon set its eyes on the two men and came rushing at them, its clawed hand scraping and screeching along the metal floor. The sorcerer dove, hoping to clear the equipment in the center of the room as Argento stepped forward and tried to line up another sunburst. A scream and the sound of metal slamming against metal told Shang that the other man’s efforts had been fruitless.

Hitting the ground on the other side of equipment, Shang planted the jian in a slit in the grated floor. As Tyrant turned to face him, the sorcerer started to bombard the monster with fireballs. Each burning skull found a mark on the creature’s body and exploded with enough force to shatter the broken remains of the nearby glass equipment. Despite the punishment, Shang’s adversary merely glared into his eyes and made his way around the long way, seemingly unwilling to test its own agility.

As it rounded the corner, Tyrant flung down its claws and charged. More dextrous than Argento, the sorcerer dodged out of the way and rolled up into an upright position. Spinning around, he grimaced at the distance the sword was from him, but even as he stared at it, it started to jiggle and wobble. The sorcerer held out his hand, and with a final jerking motion, the sword ripped free from the grate and returned to his grasp.

Steeling himself as Tyrant turned around and started toward him, Shang started to back up in an attempt to figure out a plan. Before he had a chance, he had to duck and roll to escape another lethal claw swipe. On this occasion, Tyrant stopped himself just a few moments after the evasive maneuver and turned to lunge at the nearby sorcerer. In a fit of desperation, Shang lashed out with the sword, smacking away the massive bladed ‘fingers’ of the monster. Jumping backwards, the sorcerer threw another fireball at the towering creature’s face.

Somewhere behind Tyrant, Shang saw a glimmer of light. “I have you, fel monster!” The booming voice of the paladin resounded as the armored man threw himself at the bioweapon. As Shang watched, Argento grabbed hold of the creature by its waist. The paladin’s arms and hands squeezed tightly around Tyrant as it struck his helmeted skull with its elbow.

When that yielded no results, it slung back its clawed hand. Plate mail screeched and tore, but before it could achieve the ends it wanted, Tyrant was picked up off the ground with the huffing and puffing paladin and flung into the wall. A rattling groan escaped the monster as it sagged against the now ruined lab equipment.

“Quick,” Argento rasped. A look showed that blood was trickling down his forehead from a few rather serious dents in his helmet. “FInish it before it rises once more.”

Shang didn’t need to be told twice. The sorcerer glided forward, swung the sword up, and brought it down against the monster’s back.

With a jarring clang, the jian shattered as it hit the creature’s pale, sickly flesh, but even as the broken blade hit the ground, a gruesome wound opened up across the back of Tyrant’s shoulders.

Tyrant let out an inhuman roar as it shoved away from the sparking equipment. Its human palm slammed into Shang’s sternum, driving the sorcerer to the ground as if he were a small child.

“Fiend!” Argento roared as he thrust forth his hammer. “May you be purged in the light of a new day!”

There was another flare that blinded Shang, but unlike the previous occurrence, this one didn’t fade away. The sorcerer clasped his hands over his eyes, but even then, he still felt as if the heat and light was burning through his eyes. He bit down on his lower lip to hold back the screams, and before his resolve faded, he felt hands grab hold of him.

A voice barked at him to stand up, and a moment later, he was half-stumbling through the lab. He heard a door slid open, but it wasn’t for another half minute that the light faded away and his vision gradually started to return.

“My apologies,” the paladin spoke softly as he reached up and had to almost pry off his impacted helmet. As the headgear fell to the ground, Shang saw just how badly the wounds were that Argento had sustained. The parts of the paladin’s face normally covered beneath steel were shades of red and purple, and part of his scalp had nearly been torn away when the helmet had been compromised. The man quickly undid a series of buckles and stepped to the side as his chest and back plates dropped to the ground. Both pieces of armor had been shredded and would have probably created more areas of concern for him. “I fear that this creature may be beyond us… that sun flare will only keep it stunned for so long before it pursues us.”

Shang winced as he rubbed his eyes, hoping to make the circles and flashes subside. “What’s our next plan? If we try and backtrack to a different route, we might box ourselves into a hole.”

With a nod, Argento discarded his remaining gauntlet and picked up his still shimmering hammer. “I fear that you are correct, but I’m not sure what our next move should be…” The paladin seem flustered for the first time in forever. “Part of me wonders if this creature is just another means to test our resolve.”

“You want to go back there?” Shang laughed. “It’s suicide. We’ll be torn to pieces.”

Argento shook his head, which only caused the sorcerer to grit his teeth in mounting frustration. “Do you not see? This whole town is about testing those souls unfortunate enough to be caught inside the fog. What better way to test two gallant warriors than with a seemingly unstoppable monster forged by mankind?”

Complete and utter fool. Shang struggled to maintain his composure as Argento stepped passed him and back toward the lab.

“If we come at the creature from two separate angles, we may be able to wear it down enough to land a fatal blow. That sword strike may have broken your sword, but it certainly dealt a grievous wound to the monster.”

Behind Argento, his ‘companion’ was shaking his head, but the stalwart paladin seemed caught up in his own designs. The sorcerer scowled as he tried to figure out how to escape from this situation. He was still running through ideas when Argento turned and placed a hand on his shoulder. “We shall have a glorious stand against the fel designs of this town, my friend, and even if our strength fails us, we shall be with the Sun.”

As the paladin turned to head back to the lab, he made it half a step before he felt a sharp, almost blinding pain shoot through this neck. With a grunt, Argento dropped to a knee and reached up, his hands fumbling around the handle of a knife buried into the base of his neck.

“W… what is,” the paladin fell forward but managed to catch himself on an elbow and roll onto his back.

“I’m not going to kill myself,” Shang muttered, crouching down over the man’s chest. The sorcerer grabbed the enchanted blade and tore it out of Argento’s neck as the light faded from the paladin’s eyes. “Plus, I think Darkshire deserves a new Champion.”