08-13-2016, 08:37 AM
The marshes were a new flavour of misery. There were, at last, signs of life – but universally it was life which the party wished was not present. Buzzing flies were a ubiquitous presence, crows flapped in the sky above or perched malevolently on trees which looked not only dead, but as though they had never been alive.
The fetid stench of the marshland made things even worse. The carrion fields had been bad, but somehow the swampy earth was even worse – a kind of ur-example of how unpleasant such places could be. The stress of the journey laid heavy on the shoulders of the group; none who had set off to recover the star piece were unaffected by it. Each had bled and suffered for the quest, and it still felt as though they had an impossible amount of ground still left to cover.
“You’re certain.” Fenchurch asked, as the sun descended and the party were once again forced to take shelter around a campfire’s flickering, inadequate glow. “That we are on the right path, yes? If we’ve come all this way for no reason…”
Merely verbalising the possibility of it earned Fenchurch a series of dark looks from his comrades. It was a thought which most of them – Goku perhaps the one exception – had considered. It was also a thought which none of them wanted to say aloud, for fear that it might become true for being spoken.
“I am certain.” Justin said, darkly. “We are on the right track. Three, perhaps four more days of travel and we’ll make it to the Star.”
Nobody commented further; nobody needed to. They were a tired, misbegotten lot, and the prospect of even one more day of travel was a horrible thought. Their boots were caked in mud, their exposed flesh bitten by the many buzzing insects which called this awful place their home. At least they could be comfortable in the knowledge that they were ahead of the competition. They had seen no evidence of other travellers out this far, and what kind of lunatic would come willingly into this marshland if they had any other alternative?
The marshes were no more regular than the ground around the Black Gate, and as they pressed onwards into the malevolent terrain it was not long before even that towering landmark was obscured by the oppressive landscape. The world was a grim and depressing place, and without even that to go off, it was easy to imagine that they had strayed from their path and lost their way.
“Goku.”
Justin paused in his step, and turned to face the martial artist.
“Uh, yeah? What’s up?”
“Can you still fly?”
Goku looked up. There were some trees around but, nothing he could see that might inhibit his ability to ascend into the air. “Sure, I don’t think that’s a problem.”
“Great.” The Astronomer reached into the inside of his outfit, and produced a small compass. Comparing it to the position of the sun for a moment, he then pointed off to the horizon.
“We should be close enough that you can see the landing site if you go straight up. Don’t, go towards it without the rest of us, just confirm that it is there, will you?”
“Oh! Sure!”
Bursting up into the sky, Goku was quietly relieved not to be stuck in the earth any more. That marsh was horrible, but he didn’t feel right wasting any energy after they’d been attacked so many times over the last few days.
At first, the scale of the marshland made Goku’s heart sink. It seemed to go on for miles upon miles, as far as he could see. Then he saw it – the scar on the landscape which must be what the Astronomer was looking for. The marsh simply buckled in on itself as though it had been struck by a powerful energy wave, and in the centre of it Goku thought he could just make out the faintest glimpse of purple light.
The shimmering hue brought a smile to his lips, and he punched the air. “Whoo-hoo! I can see it Justin!”
For the first time in far too long, a true, free smile broke on Justin’s face – soon mirrored by the rest of the party. Survival alone was a poor reason for celebration; but now, they were literally within sight of the purpose of this journey! Or at least, one member of the group was.
“Hey, hey! Are you sure you don’t want me to go and pick it up? It wouldn’t be any problem! I think I could make it in a few hours if I didn’t have to deal with all that mud!”
“No, Goku! The fragment is incredibly dangerous! We should approach it as a team, just in case… LOOK OUT!”
The cry of warning brought a frown to Goku’s features. “Just in case look out? Look out what?”
It was only the sheer quantity of surprise attacks over the past few days which gave Goku the wherewithal he needed. At the last possible moment he twisted around to the side, and was buffeted with the wind from the creature snatching at where he had been just a moment ago.
The harpy was a twisted wretch, half woman, half bird (although, it must be said, it seemed to favour the bird portion quite considerably). Razor-sharp talons lashed through the air, closing on nothing at all, and the monstrous beast threw her head back in a shrill cry of frustration.
Three more of the bird-like monsters followed, and Goku’s jaw clenched as they bore down on him. Not good! Flying backwards across the sky, the saiyan warrior called up his power, and tried to work out the best way to deal with these beasts.
All four were working as a cohesive unit now, the one who had initially led the attack circling back around to join the others as one attack wing. Individually, each was a little smaller than Goku, and they looked fragile – but there was malice in their hungry eyes, and a determination to rend the interloper to pieces.
Down below, there was a sudden flash of fire – roughly where Goku remembered the others being! And that solved his dilemma. He couldn’t hold back! He had to make sure the others were okay!
“HYAH!”
Throwing both hands forwards, bright yellow orbs streaked towards the harpies. If it were just one or two, they would probably have been fine; indeed, the first couple were easily dodged by the swirling mass of feathers and hatred…
But Goku didn’t stop. Throwing his hands forwards again and again, the air was filled with searing yellow energy, and the twisted monsters found themselves being shot straight out of the air, with nothing but a startled series of squawks to show for their efforts as they were sent tumbling down into the swampy marshland below.
“You better not be dead already!”
Gabriel had enough time to register Justin’s warning before the second prong of the attack was on them.
Skeletal horses, hooves suspended a few inches above the cloying terrain, came streaking towards the startled guards. Fenchurch and Darius stepped forwards to meet the charge, shields at the ready, and the first two skeletal horsemen were wrenched from their steeds as lances shattered against shields.
The steeds themselves carried on, however, and it was Juliet and Gabriel who stepped forth to deal with the infernal creatures. Blades were not, traditionally, the best weapon to bring to bear against such monsters – but brute force and zeal could make up for such inadequacies in a pinch, and they put both into sending the skeletal creatures back to the grave.
Unfortunately, the second wave were more successful. With their shields knocked briefly out of place, Fenchurch and Darius found themselves staring down the next three horsemen without a hope of being able to defend themselves adequately.
Fenchurch threw himself to the side, swearing viciously as a lance grazed across his back, catching painfully against the armour.
Darius was less lucky. Faced with two to deal with, he steeled himself as best he could, bracing against the impact, and stabbed out defiantly with his sword.
Both spears found their mark, piercing him in the chest – and the bodyguard’s eyes widened with pain. His sword had found its mark, however, and the lead skeletal horse was sent crashing to the earth as flame began to billow from between Darius’ lips.
“GET DOWN!”
Gabriel’s shout was coupled with him bodily throwing Justin to the floor, covering his friend as best he could against the sudden inferno unleashed from Darius’ spiteful ‘ace in the hole’. The steadfast guard had always said that if he was going to die, the least he could do is make sure that the bastards who took him down joined him on the journey.
There was a sick irony in the fact that the creatures who had finally managed it were long since dead themselves.
Fire erupted from the bodyguard, a brilliant cascading orange fire hot enough to burn the skeletal horsemen and their steeds to nothing at all. When it was over, only Darius’ blackened skeleton remained, dropping to the earth in a smouldering crater.
The bodyguards were horrified. Since Goku joined their group, they’d had many close calls – but they’d actually begun to think that they might be able to make it through this without losing any more of their number. Darius’ smoking bones were a stark reminder that their enemies cared not how much they had suffered; they would not be satisfied until it had taken everything they had to give, down to the last drop of blood.
Then soft applause broke the silence following the rush of flames.
“How delightful.” Came a cooing, amused voice. “And to think, I was certain that we’d seen all your surprises. Well, I suppose it would have been boring, otherwise.”
The man who emerged from the smoke was beautiful and pale, but it was a disturbing kind of beauty – unnatural in its perfection, and somehow dangerous. His green eyes would have looked more comfortable in a snake than a human face, his lips somehow too broad and his teeth too white.
He was dressed in dark robes, his stark black hair worn straight and long – a sharp contrast against the snow white shade of his skin. As he spoke, he spread his arms wide in an open gesture which completely failed to set even a single of the mortals looking at him at their ease.
“My Lord Dracula has asked that I step in at this point.” He said, relishing the name of his dark Lord. “You see, these are His lands, not yours, and whilst we are grateful to you for showing us the precise location of the star piece, it too belongs to Him.”
Poor Fenchurch had been too slow to fully shield himself from the fire, and though he would probably have recovered given time… the newcomer’s elegant, booted foot rested heavily on his throat. Wet, choking, gurgling noises issued from the bodyguard as he attempted to claw and shake the man from his position. He would have had more luck trying to claw his way through his own coffin.
Juliet had taken the opportunity whilst the man was speaking to carefully line up her shot, and the bolt cut through the air with a deadly whisper. It would surely have struck the man dead between the eyes, if he had not simply cocked his head to the side – the length of deadly metal shooting harmlessly past his ear.
“You talk too much.” She said, sliding another bolt into place. His lips curled in a smirk at the accusation, and dark power began to crackle across his fingertips.
“So I am told.” He agreed, sighing softly. “But you ought to enjoy these last few moments. Life is precious, and fleeting. As you are about to discover.”
Black light spilled from his fingertips, forming up into the shape of a leering skull. It was, however, the necromancer’s taste for the theatrical which gave Gabriel the time he needed to interpose himself between Juliet and the dark spell.
“ROSALIA!”
The woman was already incanting her prayer, and as Gabriel’s sword cut an arc through the air, it was suffused with a glittering light. Brilliant white in contrast to the darkness, Gabriel’s blade carved through the skeletal energy and sent it dissipating back to nothingness. This, at last, seemed to break the necromancer’s composure.
As did the second bolt, attempting to bury itself in his forehead. This time, his hand snatched up angrily to grasp the projectile from the air, and he snapped it between his fingers.
“Pitiful.” He murmured, “This is inevitable. The Lord of Death Himself has decreed it!”
At which point, Goku descended from above and kicked him forcefully upside the head.
Zahkrith, Archmage of Death, known in the western lands of his home as The Necromancer and amongst Dracula’s forces as one of the Vampire Lord’s most loyal servants was not, it must be said, accustomed to being kicked in the head.
All at once, he was forced to give up the position his boot had earned on the throat of his enemy, and he stumbled back a few paces – one hand raised to the weltering bruise now blossoming on the right side of his face.
“What, what is the meaning of this?!” He spluttered, furiously.
Goku helped Fenchurch back to his feet – the shaken warrior coughing and spluttering, before he deigned to answer the enraged man.
“You were hurting my friend.” He explained, as though the question weren’t entirely rhetorical. The saiyan’s eyes settled on the burned bones, and his jaw set. A serious expression drawn on his face as he straightened, turning to face the man.
“Now apologise.”
The Necromancer straightened, sneering, and brought his hands up in an intricate arrangement designed to focus his arcane power.
“You fool. I serve he who is beyond death! I apologise to no man!”
Goku spared a quick glance to his side, and was pleased to see that Gabriel was there, just as he had expected he would be.
“He looks strong.” Goku said, which earned a firm nod from Gabriel.
“I think we’ll need to work together this time.”
Goku smiled despite himself. “Okay.” He said, “Just try your best to keep up.”
“Who do you think you’re dealing with here?!” The Necromancer bellowed, his voice suddenly shrill. “You do not have time for a conversation!”
Bright red power leapt at his command, lancing towards the saiyan, and he was surprised once again. Goku didn’t try to block it or retreat; he rolled forwards underneath the burst of energy and came up towards the mage directly.
This time, Zahkrith was at least expecting his opponent to make a move, and his magically-hardened frame shuddered under the impact as Goku’s fist slammed powerfully into his outstretched hand. The archmage sneered in triumph and brought the other hand up, intending to simply drive the sharpened nails of his hand through the warrior’s heart…
Only to find that Gabriel was already on him, and that silvered sword flashed out to detach the raised hand at the wrist. Thick, clotted black blood spurted from the wound, and Zahkrith howled in shock and pain.
Where the blood landed, it did not simply pool as ordinary blood would – instead twisting to the Necromancer’s will into a series of slender tendrils which came around to wrap themselves about Gabriel’s sword-arm, wrenching it backwards painfully. He’d barely begun to struggle with it when a burst of bright yellow power slammed into the tendrils, burning through them and freeing his comrade.
“I think we won the first round.” Goku said, smirking, as Zahkrith readied himself. “How do you feel about the second?”
Gabriel chuckled softly, and that only enraged The Necromancer more – which was, of course, entirely the point. A spectral hand replaced the one which had been removed, and the pale man’s eyes burned with hatred as he summoned up the most potent weapon in his arsenal.
The word of power he spat at the pair of warriors would have spelled their certain doom if it worked as intended. In his rage-induced state, however, he was unable to focus the last syllable quite correctly. It sounded as though the air were being rent asunder, mortal ears were ill-equipped to make sense of the word, but its effect was immediately obvious.
Bright green fire erupted between the pair, and each was caught in it. Gabriel let out a shout of shock and surprise, and rolled to the ground, hoping that the marshy water would be able to put it out. Of course, it wouldn’t – Zahkrith’s lip curled in satisfaction at the foolish man’s desperate plight. The fire would consume them both and – wait a second, where was the other one?
Goku wrapped both arms around The Necromancer’s own, forcing him back and leaving his chest exposed.
“Juliet! Do it! Now!”
The Necromancer’s eyes widened with shock – he could feel the soulfire burning against his back, but it was the look of careful calculation in the woman’s eyes that sent a shiver of shock down his spine. All the strength in his form wasn’t enough to free him in time, no matter how much he struggled, and with a simple thunk the battle was over.
Zahkrith’s head snapped backwards, the bolt penetrated clean between the eyes, and the green fire sputtered out of existence. Goku let the body drop back to the ground, and his hand patted his own forehead just briefly. Then, he laughed.
Gabriel blinked in confusion. “Eh? Goku? What’s so funny?”
“Oh, nothing.” Goku replied. “Just, that went a LOT better than the last time I tried that trick.”
The fetid stench of the marshland made things even worse. The carrion fields had been bad, but somehow the swampy earth was even worse – a kind of ur-example of how unpleasant such places could be. The stress of the journey laid heavy on the shoulders of the group; none who had set off to recover the star piece were unaffected by it. Each had bled and suffered for the quest, and it still felt as though they had an impossible amount of ground still left to cover.
“You’re certain.” Fenchurch asked, as the sun descended and the party were once again forced to take shelter around a campfire’s flickering, inadequate glow. “That we are on the right path, yes? If we’ve come all this way for no reason…”
Merely verbalising the possibility of it earned Fenchurch a series of dark looks from his comrades. It was a thought which most of them – Goku perhaps the one exception – had considered. It was also a thought which none of them wanted to say aloud, for fear that it might become true for being spoken.
“I am certain.” Justin said, darkly. “We are on the right track. Three, perhaps four more days of travel and we’ll make it to the Star.”
Nobody commented further; nobody needed to. They were a tired, misbegotten lot, and the prospect of even one more day of travel was a horrible thought. Their boots were caked in mud, their exposed flesh bitten by the many buzzing insects which called this awful place their home. At least they could be comfortable in the knowledge that they were ahead of the competition. They had seen no evidence of other travellers out this far, and what kind of lunatic would come willingly into this marshland if they had any other alternative?
The marshes were no more regular than the ground around the Black Gate, and as they pressed onwards into the malevolent terrain it was not long before even that towering landmark was obscured by the oppressive landscape. The world was a grim and depressing place, and without even that to go off, it was easy to imagine that they had strayed from their path and lost their way.
“Goku.”
Justin paused in his step, and turned to face the martial artist.
“Uh, yeah? What’s up?”
“Can you still fly?”
Goku looked up. There were some trees around but, nothing he could see that might inhibit his ability to ascend into the air. “Sure, I don’t think that’s a problem.”
“Great.” The Astronomer reached into the inside of his outfit, and produced a small compass. Comparing it to the position of the sun for a moment, he then pointed off to the horizon.
“We should be close enough that you can see the landing site if you go straight up. Don’t, go towards it without the rest of us, just confirm that it is there, will you?”
“Oh! Sure!”
Bursting up into the sky, Goku was quietly relieved not to be stuck in the earth any more. That marsh was horrible, but he didn’t feel right wasting any energy after they’d been attacked so many times over the last few days.
At first, the scale of the marshland made Goku’s heart sink. It seemed to go on for miles upon miles, as far as he could see. Then he saw it – the scar on the landscape which must be what the Astronomer was looking for. The marsh simply buckled in on itself as though it had been struck by a powerful energy wave, and in the centre of it Goku thought he could just make out the faintest glimpse of purple light.
The shimmering hue brought a smile to his lips, and he punched the air. “Whoo-hoo! I can see it Justin!”
For the first time in far too long, a true, free smile broke on Justin’s face – soon mirrored by the rest of the party. Survival alone was a poor reason for celebration; but now, they were literally within sight of the purpose of this journey! Or at least, one member of the group was.
“Hey, hey! Are you sure you don’t want me to go and pick it up? It wouldn’t be any problem! I think I could make it in a few hours if I didn’t have to deal with all that mud!”
“No, Goku! The fragment is incredibly dangerous! We should approach it as a team, just in case… LOOK OUT!”
The cry of warning brought a frown to Goku’s features. “Just in case look out? Look out what?”
It was only the sheer quantity of surprise attacks over the past few days which gave Goku the wherewithal he needed. At the last possible moment he twisted around to the side, and was buffeted with the wind from the creature snatching at where he had been just a moment ago.
The harpy was a twisted wretch, half woman, half bird (although, it must be said, it seemed to favour the bird portion quite considerably). Razor-sharp talons lashed through the air, closing on nothing at all, and the monstrous beast threw her head back in a shrill cry of frustration.
Three more of the bird-like monsters followed, and Goku’s jaw clenched as they bore down on him. Not good! Flying backwards across the sky, the saiyan warrior called up his power, and tried to work out the best way to deal with these beasts.
All four were working as a cohesive unit now, the one who had initially led the attack circling back around to join the others as one attack wing. Individually, each was a little smaller than Goku, and they looked fragile – but there was malice in their hungry eyes, and a determination to rend the interloper to pieces.
Down below, there was a sudden flash of fire – roughly where Goku remembered the others being! And that solved his dilemma. He couldn’t hold back! He had to make sure the others were okay!
“HYAH!”
Throwing both hands forwards, bright yellow orbs streaked towards the harpies. If it were just one or two, they would probably have been fine; indeed, the first couple were easily dodged by the swirling mass of feathers and hatred…
But Goku didn’t stop. Throwing his hands forwards again and again, the air was filled with searing yellow energy, and the twisted monsters found themselves being shot straight out of the air, with nothing but a startled series of squawks to show for their efforts as they were sent tumbling down into the swampy marshland below.
“You better not be dead already!”
Gabriel had enough time to register Justin’s warning before the second prong of the attack was on them.
Skeletal horses, hooves suspended a few inches above the cloying terrain, came streaking towards the startled guards. Fenchurch and Darius stepped forwards to meet the charge, shields at the ready, and the first two skeletal horsemen were wrenched from their steeds as lances shattered against shields.
The steeds themselves carried on, however, and it was Juliet and Gabriel who stepped forth to deal with the infernal creatures. Blades were not, traditionally, the best weapon to bring to bear against such monsters – but brute force and zeal could make up for such inadequacies in a pinch, and they put both into sending the skeletal creatures back to the grave.
Unfortunately, the second wave were more successful. With their shields knocked briefly out of place, Fenchurch and Darius found themselves staring down the next three horsemen without a hope of being able to defend themselves adequately.
Fenchurch threw himself to the side, swearing viciously as a lance grazed across his back, catching painfully against the armour.
Darius was less lucky. Faced with two to deal with, he steeled himself as best he could, bracing against the impact, and stabbed out defiantly with his sword.
Both spears found their mark, piercing him in the chest – and the bodyguard’s eyes widened with pain. His sword had found its mark, however, and the lead skeletal horse was sent crashing to the earth as flame began to billow from between Darius’ lips.
“GET DOWN!”
Gabriel’s shout was coupled with him bodily throwing Justin to the floor, covering his friend as best he could against the sudden inferno unleashed from Darius’ spiteful ‘ace in the hole’. The steadfast guard had always said that if he was going to die, the least he could do is make sure that the bastards who took him down joined him on the journey.
There was a sick irony in the fact that the creatures who had finally managed it were long since dead themselves.
Fire erupted from the bodyguard, a brilliant cascading orange fire hot enough to burn the skeletal horsemen and their steeds to nothing at all. When it was over, only Darius’ blackened skeleton remained, dropping to the earth in a smouldering crater.
The bodyguards were horrified. Since Goku joined their group, they’d had many close calls – but they’d actually begun to think that they might be able to make it through this without losing any more of their number. Darius’ smoking bones were a stark reminder that their enemies cared not how much they had suffered; they would not be satisfied until it had taken everything they had to give, down to the last drop of blood.
Then soft applause broke the silence following the rush of flames.
“How delightful.” Came a cooing, amused voice. “And to think, I was certain that we’d seen all your surprises. Well, I suppose it would have been boring, otherwise.”
The man who emerged from the smoke was beautiful and pale, but it was a disturbing kind of beauty – unnatural in its perfection, and somehow dangerous. His green eyes would have looked more comfortable in a snake than a human face, his lips somehow too broad and his teeth too white.
He was dressed in dark robes, his stark black hair worn straight and long – a sharp contrast against the snow white shade of his skin. As he spoke, he spread his arms wide in an open gesture which completely failed to set even a single of the mortals looking at him at their ease.
“My Lord Dracula has asked that I step in at this point.” He said, relishing the name of his dark Lord. “You see, these are His lands, not yours, and whilst we are grateful to you for showing us the precise location of the star piece, it too belongs to Him.”
Poor Fenchurch had been too slow to fully shield himself from the fire, and though he would probably have recovered given time… the newcomer’s elegant, booted foot rested heavily on his throat. Wet, choking, gurgling noises issued from the bodyguard as he attempted to claw and shake the man from his position. He would have had more luck trying to claw his way through his own coffin.
Juliet had taken the opportunity whilst the man was speaking to carefully line up her shot, and the bolt cut through the air with a deadly whisper. It would surely have struck the man dead between the eyes, if he had not simply cocked his head to the side – the length of deadly metal shooting harmlessly past his ear.
“You talk too much.” She said, sliding another bolt into place. His lips curled in a smirk at the accusation, and dark power began to crackle across his fingertips.
“So I am told.” He agreed, sighing softly. “But you ought to enjoy these last few moments. Life is precious, and fleeting. As you are about to discover.”
Black light spilled from his fingertips, forming up into the shape of a leering skull. It was, however, the necromancer’s taste for the theatrical which gave Gabriel the time he needed to interpose himself between Juliet and the dark spell.
“ROSALIA!”
The woman was already incanting her prayer, and as Gabriel’s sword cut an arc through the air, it was suffused with a glittering light. Brilliant white in contrast to the darkness, Gabriel’s blade carved through the skeletal energy and sent it dissipating back to nothingness. This, at last, seemed to break the necromancer’s composure.
As did the second bolt, attempting to bury itself in his forehead. This time, his hand snatched up angrily to grasp the projectile from the air, and he snapped it between his fingers.
“Pitiful.” He murmured, “This is inevitable. The Lord of Death Himself has decreed it!”
At which point, Goku descended from above and kicked him forcefully upside the head.
Zahkrith, Archmage of Death, known in the western lands of his home as The Necromancer and amongst Dracula’s forces as one of the Vampire Lord’s most loyal servants was not, it must be said, accustomed to being kicked in the head.
All at once, he was forced to give up the position his boot had earned on the throat of his enemy, and he stumbled back a few paces – one hand raised to the weltering bruise now blossoming on the right side of his face.
“What, what is the meaning of this?!” He spluttered, furiously.
Goku helped Fenchurch back to his feet – the shaken warrior coughing and spluttering, before he deigned to answer the enraged man.
“You were hurting my friend.” He explained, as though the question weren’t entirely rhetorical. The saiyan’s eyes settled on the burned bones, and his jaw set. A serious expression drawn on his face as he straightened, turning to face the man.
“Now apologise.”
The Necromancer straightened, sneering, and brought his hands up in an intricate arrangement designed to focus his arcane power.
“You fool. I serve he who is beyond death! I apologise to no man!”
Goku spared a quick glance to his side, and was pleased to see that Gabriel was there, just as he had expected he would be.
“He looks strong.” Goku said, which earned a firm nod from Gabriel.
“I think we’ll need to work together this time.”
Goku smiled despite himself. “Okay.” He said, “Just try your best to keep up.”
“Who do you think you’re dealing with here?!” The Necromancer bellowed, his voice suddenly shrill. “You do not have time for a conversation!”
Bright red power leapt at his command, lancing towards the saiyan, and he was surprised once again. Goku didn’t try to block it or retreat; he rolled forwards underneath the burst of energy and came up towards the mage directly.
This time, Zahkrith was at least expecting his opponent to make a move, and his magically-hardened frame shuddered under the impact as Goku’s fist slammed powerfully into his outstretched hand. The archmage sneered in triumph and brought the other hand up, intending to simply drive the sharpened nails of his hand through the warrior’s heart…
Only to find that Gabriel was already on him, and that silvered sword flashed out to detach the raised hand at the wrist. Thick, clotted black blood spurted from the wound, and Zahkrith howled in shock and pain.
Where the blood landed, it did not simply pool as ordinary blood would – instead twisting to the Necromancer’s will into a series of slender tendrils which came around to wrap themselves about Gabriel’s sword-arm, wrenching it backwards painfully. He’d barely begun to struggle with it when a burst of bright yellow power slammed into the tendrils, burning through them and freeing his comrade.
“I think we won the first round.” Goku said, smirking, as Zahkrith readied himself. “How do you feel about the second?”
Gabriel chuckled softly, and that only enraged The Necromancer more – which was, of course, entirely the point. A spectral hand replaced the one which had been removed, and the pale man’s eyes burned with hatred as he summoned up the most potent weapon in his arsenal.
The word of power he spat at the pair of warriors would have spelled their certain doom if it worked as intended. In his rage-induced state, however, he was unable to focus the last syllable quite correctly. It sounded as though the air were being rent asunder, mortal ears were ill-equipped to make sense of the word, but its effect was immediately obvious.
Bright green fire erupted between the pair, and each was caught in it. Gabriel let out a shout of shock and surprise, and rolled to the ground, hoping that the marshy water would be able to put it out. Of course, it wouldn’t – Zahkrith’s lip curled in satisfaction at the foolish man’s desperate plight. The fire would consume them both and – wait a second, where was the other one?
Goku wrapped both arms around The Necromancer’s own, forcing him back and leaving his chest exposed.
“Juliet! Do it! Now!”
The Necromancer’s eyes widened with shock – he could feel the soulfire burning against his back, but it was the look of careful calculation in the woman’s eyes that sent a shiver of shock down his spine. All the strength in his form wasn’t enough to free him in time, no matter how much he struggled, and with a simple thunk the battle was over.
Zahkrith’s head snapped backwards, the bolt penetrated clean between the eyes, and the green fire sputtered out of existence. Goku let the body drop back to the ground, and his hand patted his own forehead just briefly. Then, he laughed.
Gabriel blinked in confusion. “Eh? Goku? What’s so funny?”
“Oh, nothing.” Goku replied. “Just, that went a LOT better than the last time I tried that trick.”
![[Image: x1oIYhu.jpg]](http://i.imgur.com/x1oIYhu.jpg)