by Aaron Oster
The beast looked up, and Morgan could feel the malice radiating off the monster’s body. Decagon roared as a flash of lightning illuminated the sky, arcing down to strike him. A moment later, the beast was right in front of him, its claws flashing out to rake across his chest. Morgan flashed back, feeling the pain as his skin was torn open, but Decagon appeared before him once more in another flash.
Morgan threw both arms up in a cross block, his gauntlet widening to miniature shields. Decagon’s claws tore right through them, scoring lines on his arms as well. Morgan struck back, his leg snapping up between those of the beast and landing a clean hit.
“That was a dirty trick,” Decagon said, his voice sounding strained in Morgan’s mind.
There was another flash of lightning, and the beast appeared several yards away, his body hunched over in obvious pain.
Morgan remained where he was, allowing the pelting rain to wash the blood from the open cuts on his chest and arms. He now knew a little more about the beast. It seemed that he could use lightning as a sort of conduit to travel, although it didn’t appear that he generated the electricity himself.
So, as long as they were within this storm, Decagon could continually use the landscape to his advantage, which made Morgan wonder what else the beast could do. He was the Pinnacle King of Storms, after all, so Morgan was sure the beast had more to show than what he had thus far. In fact, Decagon had only truly showcased two abilities until now.
They were his ability to travel via lightning and the condensed lines of lightning he’d used before to drive Morgan back. Due to his affinity, lightning was all but useless against him, so perhaps Morgan had finally come up against a Pinnacle King that was a good match for him.
Pentagon had been horrible, as her abilities with sand and earth had basically invalidated his own skills with earth and had nullified his lighting at the same time. With Decagon, he didn’t dare use any lightning at range, now that he knew the beast could use it to travel, but up close, he could use it. He could also use earth, though he suspected fire would do little in the gale, so that was out.
Decagon advanced then, before Morgan could formulate any more theories, and this time, the beast used a new skill. The rain collected around him, hundreds of water droplets condensing into points and blasting at him.
Morgan forged a new shield just in time, the force of the impacting droplets driving him back through the air and into the side of the mountain once more. His shield began to crack, and Morgan poured more reiki into the skill, reinforcing his shield to keep it going. At the same time, he used his Earthen Shift, pulling massive spikes from the mountainside and hurling them at the Pinnacle King.
Decagon disappeared in a flash of lightning, his claws raking across Morgan’s shield an instant later and tearing deep furrows across its surface. He gritted his teeth, then simultaneously dropped his shield, teleported behind the beast, and used Maximum Increase. Power flooded his body as the skill took hold, and he lashed out with a kick that tore the top of the mountain clean off.
Decagon’s body blasted into the adjoining mountain, creating another crater and causing deep cracks to appear in the nearby stone. Morgan followed, the world seeming to bend around him.
The Pinnacle King tore himself from the mountainside with a roar, only to have Morgan drive him through it. Hundreds of feet of stone were no obstacle, blasting the bloodied beast from the other side, and Morgan was right there to greet him and send him back through.
Decagon’s body blasted through the mountain four times before he finally managed to catch himself, vanishing in a flash of lightning, only to have Morgan waiting for him once again. He unleashed a powerful combination of blows, hammering four punches into the beast’s ribcage, five into his abdomen, and three more into the beast’s face before he could even react. Dozens of triangular teeth were sent spinning toward the ground as Decagon staggered, his wingbeat irregular.
Morgan moved in, hammering two more powerful blows into the beast’s side and finally snapping a rib, causing the beast to let out a roar of pain and swipe back. It was a slow movement and easily dodged, but Morgan caught it, forming a blade with his fingers and driving it into the beast’s shoulder.
His fingers punched in, sending a spray of blood into the air, but Decagon managed to pull back and avoid serious injury to the limb. He stood there, in the air, his chest rising and falling, blood streaming from dozens of wounds. He glared at Morgan as the skill finally wore off.
Morgan, by contrast, was pretty much unhurt. Sure, there were several lines of blood where the Pinnacle King had managed to land a few scoring blows, but other than that, he was fine. Decagon growled, the gaps in the rows of his teeth visible from where Morgan’s blows had landed as blood poured down his face.
“I honestly don’t understand why you beasts keep rising,” Morgan said. “You should just stay down and save me the trouble of having to come kill you.”
Instead of responding with a growl as Morgan had expected, Decagon began to laugh, his deep, gravelly chuckles sounding over the storm raging around them.
It was only then that Morgan started to feel a distinct sense of unease. Compared to the other Pinnacle Kings, Decagon had seemed relatively weak, and while he could contribute some of that to his own growth, no Pinnacle King should be going down this easily.
“You have only just begun to witness my power!” Decagon roared as a bloody mist began to rise around him.
Morgan’s eyes widened a hair as he felt the Pinnacle King’s strength spike alarmingly, and a purple aura exploded around his body. The storm’s power increased, the wind and rain battering against Morgan with renewed force and vigor. The electric blue hair on the beast turned a dark crimson as the dozens of cuts closed, seeming to soak up the beast’s injuries.
His eyes, previously a shining purple, were now dyed the same crimson, and Morgan finally realized that this beast was pulling on its own nature.
Sharks became frenzied when there was blood in the water, and with all the blood Morgan had managed to draw, he had a feeling that Decagon was about to become a whole lot stronger.
4
Decagon rushed him, his speed now many times greater than it had been before, and it was all Morgan could do to get a shield up in time. The blow was so powerful that his construct shattered, and his body turned into a human wrecking ball. What was left of the top of the mountain was turned to rubble as Morgan smashed through, and he could feel his ribs straining to stay intact.
The air was knocked from Morgan’s lungs as Decagon appeared behind him, driving a knee into his back and blasting him back the way he’d come. Morgan spun in the air, using his Gravity Tear, only to have the Pinnacle King follow, appearing above him with his arm raised.
Rain condensed around his arm, turning into a pair of blood-red claws as solid as adamantine that was swiping down toward his neck. He twisted, wincing in pain as they tore through his left shoulder instead. His hand flashed out in an open palm strike, catching the side of the beast’s jaw and knocking several more teeth loose, but the Pinnacle King roared, and a new set appeared in their place with an explosion of blood and gore.
The beast lunged, his massive mouth locking into Morgan’s side and the dozens of teeth punching into his toughened skin. Morgan roared in pain, then brought his elbow down on the top of the beast’s head. Decagon thrashed his head from side to side, tearing bloody chunks from Morgan, but was forced to release him as Morgan’s attack dented his skull.
Morgan dashed back, then struck out, using Compression. The blast of wind caught the beast on the side of his head, driving him back for a moment. Morgan struck several more times, but the beast vanished in a flash of lightning, appearing before him and unleashing a storm of slashing blows that drove him back.
Bloody furrows were torn in his arms, chest, and torso as he tried to defend himself against the beast’s frenzy. It was all he could do to stay ahead, desperately fending off the ever-growing speed and power of the be
ast.
Decagon’s blood-red rain blades caught him several more times, opening deep gashes in his sides and causing him to lose more blood. When he started to become lightheaded, Morgan realized the problem he was facing. While not as physically powerful as Octagon, nor as fast as Pentagon, Decagon had a series of strengths all his own.
While he had yet to break any of his bones, Decagon was cutting him up at an alarming rate, and despite all his strengths, Morgan still needed blood to live.
He lashed out, activating his Maximum Increase once again and driving the beast back. But his skill only seemed to have brought him up to par with Decagon’s increased speed and ferocity.
The two of them exchanged a quick series of blows, and Morgan’s Aura Sense screamed out a warning, just in time for a hail of blades made of wind to hit him from behind. For once, Morgan finally understood what it was like to be cut up with a skill that was kind of like his own, as dozens of new cuts opened all across his back.
He teleported away, meeting Decagon once more and continuing his struggle against the Pinnacle King. His vision was starting to fuzz over, and more of the Pinnacle King’s attacks were starting to get through.
Morgan knew that if he didn’t do something soon, he would lose, and the Five Kingdoms would once again be facing a danger that they could not handle. Violet armor flared across his body, taxing his RP to near its limit and preventing him from using any more skills until he recovered enough.
On the other hand, Decagon seemed to have RP in reserve and continued to press his attack.
In the back of his mind, Morgan felt the Beast King stir.
Stay where you belong, he demanded, now trying to focus on keeping the Beast suppressed and fight the monster at the same time.
“You need me,” the Beast King whispered. “Just let me out, and I’ll take care of him for you.”
Morgan ground his teeth and forced the beast down, but his slip cost him, and Decagon landed a powerful blow, opening a gash from shoulder to hip and sending him careening back toward the ground. He impacted with enough force to crack several ribs, and in his weakened state, he was unable to stop his head from slamming into the ground.
His vision flashed black and red for a moment as he was nearly knocked unconscious, the air exploding from his lungs and leaving him gasping. The Beast King threw himself at his cage, the bars shattering and finally leaving him a way out, but with a monumental effort of will, Morgan forced him back in, slowly staggering to his feet and staring up at the beast still floating in the sky above.
There was only one reason why the beast hadn’t followed him down, and judging by the massive convergence of reiki, Morgan could guess as to why. The Pinnacle King was pulling out one of his Ultimate skills, the thing that separated his kind from an average Pinnacle Beast. It was a skill so powerful that it could freeze dozens of fighters to death in an instant or suck the water from all living things.
Judging by how the storm was condensing and gathering above the Pinnacle King, Morgan had a pretty good idea of what was to come. The clouds began vanishing as the storm condensed, pulling closer and closer in. The sun began to shine through as the entire storm was condensed into a sphere about ten feet across.
There was only a single skill Morgan had that could help him win. In hindsight, he should have led with this skill, instead of beating this beast with hand to hand. The problem was that he hadn’t had enough information on the beast and thus, didn’t know how weakened he’d need to be in order for his skill to work.
To kill a Pinnacle King was no small feat, and although he’d already done it once before, Morgan knew that his best chance at success would come when the beast was weakened enough to be taken down without being able to defend itself. His RP was more than a minute away from the 8,000 he’d need to activate his Soulstream, but if the Pinnacle King’s skill was anything to judge by, he had less than five seconds before it was activated. The only question was whether he could endure its wrath for that long.
Escape was out of the question. Morgan had tried that once before and knew that an ultimate skill was too widespread and powerful to merely dodge. So, Morgan set his jaw, ignored the pain, and braced himself for what was to come. When the Pinnacle King cried out the skill’s name, imbuing it with the last of his reiki, Morgan’s muscles tightened.
“Storm Ball!”
Decagon’s guttural voice rang out, echoing in the near-silence that came as a result of the entire storm being condensed into a single sphere.
Then, the Pinnacle King launched the attack as the last of his reiki guttered out. Morgan braced himself, but when the attack hit, he was driven down. The sphere impacted with more force than he’d thought possible, the condensed storm exploding outward to cover the area once more.
He was simultaneously crushed, struck by lightning, cut by wind, and pelted with small water droplets that tore through his skin. The crater he was in widened as the full force of the attack came down on him. His left arm broke in four places as his knees buckled, but seeing as he still had the constructs around his legs, strengthening them, they took the brunt of the attack.
The violet constructs shattered into motes of light as the pressure increased, the storm seeming to be focused entirely on him. Lightning coursed through his body, doing little to no damage, while the winds tore at his already damaged body, driving the water droplets through him with greater force.
Morgan had dealt with a lot of pain in his life, but as dozens of water droplets tore through him, ripping skin and muscles in their wake, he wondered why he kept doing this. He no longer felt the same rush as he once had, and fighting now brought him little joy. Perhaps it was because he now understood the price of violence or because he wasn’t just fighting for the thrill of it.
If he lost, real lives would be lost. Lives that he’d sworn would be protected. The Beast King railed at his prison, trying to break free and take over, and because of the immense amount of pain radiating through his entire body, Morgan had to devote all his remaining strength just to keep him at bay. If the Beast King broke free, Morgan might be healed, but in the process, he would have released an even more dangerous monster into the world.
The one thing that he could focus on to keep himself from collapsing and giving in was the connection he shared with his spear. He could feel it in his mind, like a soothing presence, strengthening him against the onslaught of both the attack and the beast within. Just the knowledge that Sarah was inside that spear gave him the strength to resist.
He was closer than he’d ever been before to bringing her back, and if he died or let the Beast King out, he’d never see her again.
The spear was near the bottom of the mountain, but he called to it, summoning her to his side. The attack that Decagon had thrown at him was wearing off, its power nearly spent, and Morgan had survived. All he needed to do was capitalize on his moment, the one in which the Pinnacle King would be unable to so much as move.
Throwing an attack like this one not only took a lot out of the beast, but also reduced his defensive and offensive capabilities. Unlike him, the Pinnacle Kings did not have a supermage ability, but rather, one that was a mix of super and mage. To get the same effect as him, they would need to create their own reiki, which took time. After infusing everything into an ultimate skill, a Pinnacle King would be helpless, if only for a few seconds.
Morgan braced himself, flexing his right arm and testing the strength within. He breathed in deeply, although doing so aggravated his broken ribs.
The attack faded, and Morgan’s eyes snapped open, his hand reaching out and snatching the silver blur from the air. He spun, activating his Maximum Increase, and hurled the spear upward with all his might.
Decagon, who was drooping in the air, his body locked up in the aftermath of his skill, could do nothing to block it. The silver spear streaked through the air faster than the eye could follow, slamming into the Pinnacle King’s chest and tearing through the beast’s body.
For a long moment, the beast hung in the air, as though the spear itself was keeping him suspended there. Then, his body toppled from the air, falling to crash to the ground below. A moment later, a glittering sphere landed just a few feet from him, glowing with a mixture of red and blue light.
Morgan stared at the glowing core, breathing hard and trying to catch his breath. He honestly hadn’t expected his throw to be so good or that it would do quite so much damage, but in one fell swoop, he’d literally speared the heart from the beast’s body and put it down for good. Decagon hadn’t even gotten to say any last words, much less a chance to issue dire threats.
One moment the Pinnacle King been alive, and the next, he was dead.
Morgan stumbled out of the crater and collapsed into a sitting position, his bloody right hand closing around the Pinnacle King’s core and pulling it to his chest, as though disbelieving that it was actually over.
It had been the shortest fight he’d ever had with a Pinnacle King, taking no more than a few minutes, not that it had felt so short to him. The storm, no longer fueled by Decagon’s power, was already fading, the dark gray clouds breaking up and sunlight shining through once more.
Morgan simply sat there, looking around at the devastation caused by their battle. Two mountains were now full of craters, holes, and one of them was even missing a top and was now shorter than the other by a good fifty feet. Still, at least he hadn’t destroyed an entire city this time, and the Beast King had remained tightly locked in his cage.
Morgan raised the shining core, but before he could examine it, he received a warning flash in his aura and looked up, just in time to see Elyssa, Queen of the Elves and his bride to be, cresting the mountain ridge and looking none too pleased.
Suddenly, he wished that Decagon were still alive, as facing the wrath of a woman who perceived herself to have been wronged was far worse than mere death.