[M] Retribution IV: Rebirth

[Shang Tsung]

“Feel the Sun!”

Argento threw out his palm as the warmth and radiance of the sun poured through his beleaguered body. There was a final rush of heat as a beam of condensed energy erupted from his palm and roared through the oncoming demons. Without waiting for the haze to settle, the paladin rushed forward. Before he reached the scattered masses, he scooped up a fel mace lying on the ground.

The blast had incinerated many of the abominable creatures, and for several others, it had left them broken and dying upon the ground. Argento brought a heel down onto the skull on one such demon just before twisting and dropping underneath an oncoming axe swing. The paladin retaliated with a swift, chopping swing to his attacker’s kneecap. Black blood squirted out from the sides of the creature’s sundered knee as it buckled, its weapon falling to the ground as its blade-like fingers clawed at the air for invisible grips.

After landing a coup de grace upon the demon’s sneering countenance, Argento spun and parried a club blow. The demon shrieked—its right arm broken by the force of the blow—and managed to back up a few steps before the mace glanced off the side of its head and shattered its skull.

Stepping over the corpse, Argento grimaced as a rusted blade slashed against his left bicep. With his teeth clenched tight enough to whiten his gums, the fighter turned and landed a quick one-two of mace blows against his attacker’s chest and forehead. Behind him, the man heard the skittering of clawed feet on the barren earth, and as the swords came at him, he turned and managed to intercept two of them before a third clipped his shoulder.

“Be gone from my sights, Filth,” Argento growled as he shoved forward and clenched his hand into a fist. With two of his three foes reeling on unbalanced feet, the paladin struck down his third attacker using a small burst of sunlight through its accursed gut. A beat later, he rushed the two demons and buried the mace head through the left creature’s skull.

Unable to free the mace in time, Argento had to let go of it in order to turn and grab the oncoming sword with his bare hands. The fel steel bit into his palms, but his strength was greater than his foes. With its sword trapped between the paladin’s meaty fists, the demon let out an enraged hiss and tried to free its weapon. Argento responded by throwing aside the sword, pulling the demon off balance one more time.

On this occasion, the staggered creature was unable to catch itself before a pair of bloodstained fists clamped around its neck and swiftly shattered its top four vertebrae. With the two creatures dealt with, Argento turned and steeled himself as another demon charged him.

Dropping down, the paladin grabbed a fallen sword and rushed to meet his foe. As he stampeded forward, Argento’s body was wreathed in golden sunlight, an effect that was mostly just a visual stunt but had the intended effect of giving his fel attacker pause. That pause was all that the paladin needed to drive the blade through the demon’s heart and out the back of its spine.

With his foe collapsing into a lifeless pile, Argento glanced around and saw that all of his adversaries had been vanquished. A look up to the stands revealed a lot of booing, angry spectators who had hoped to see the holy man laid low by the demon mob.

“Are you not entertained?” Argento boomed as his body shined with the might of the sun.