by Aaron Oster
“Well, I don’t see it anywhere near him, so I think we’re fine,” the other Morgan said, pulling Morgan’s head to the side sharply and sending pain lancing down his broken spine.
Morgan knew he only had one chance of getting out of this alive, and that was with the element of surprise. He had to time this just right, then try and make a run for it.
“Come on!” Sarah said, tapping her foot impatiently. “This world is so gross and sticky! Just get on with it so I can get back to my couch and AC.”
“Fine,” Morgan-god snapped, the annoyance clearly showing on his face.
He pulled back the spear, the black tip seeming to suck in all the light in the area, then thrust forward. The silver spear streaked down from above, intercepting the godly weapon and shattering it in the other Morgan’s grip.
At the same time, Morgan reached for his most powerful skill, the one he’d been planning on using on Decagon, but had ultimately been unnecessary. His body was engulfed in a bestial cloak of reiki as he used Soulstream. He groaned in relief as his wounds healed themselves, his shattered spine, broken arm, and all of the other discomforts vanishing in an instant.
The other gods all reacted differently. Morgan reeled back, shock written on his face as he clutched the shattered haft of his spear, and both Katherine and Sarah looked as though they didn’t know what to do. Gwendolyn was the only one who attacked, gathering pink energy around her blade and slashing out.
Morgan used Gravity Tear, appearing ten feet above her and summoning his spear, then thrust downward. Instead of trying to block – which would have been unwise – she dove to the side, avoiding the attack entirely. Still, she was off-balance, as were the rest of them, giving Morgan the opportunity he’d needed.
He used Gravity Tear again, jumping to the top of the mountain, then tried to use it again, only for the skill to fail.
“Nice try,” the other Morgan said, floating up beside him. “But you won’t be going anywhere, and now that we know your little trick, it won’t work again.”
Morgan silently cursed, realizing that the gods must somehow be blocking his method of escape. Still, with his weapon in hand and his most powerful skill keeping him at peak condition, he hoped that he might be able to injure them enough to break free.
Instead of attacking right away as he’d expected, the other Morgan called down.
“Are you just going to stay back? I thought we agreed to do this as a team!”
“Fi-i-ine,” Sarah’s voice floated up, sounding more annoyed than anything else.
A moment later, she, Katherine, and Gwendolyn all rose up to the top of the mountain, moving to surround him.
Gwendolyn was still tense, gripping her sword in white-knuckled fists, but the other two looked genuinely annoyed that they had to do any work at all.
Morgan’s eyes flicked between the four of them, his Soulstream heightening his senses and keeping him aware of their movements. Fighting four gods at once was not something he’d wanted to do today, and although he could feel his pulse pounding in his ears, he felt oddly excited. He attributed that to the Beast King’s influence, and when the first of the gods struck, the excitement vanished, replaced by sheer determination and desperation.
Katherine was the first to attack, vanishing and appearing to his left, a gigantic metal pole appearing in her hands she struck at him.
The attack was lightning fast – far faster than he’d normally have been able to keep up with – but his Soulstream did more than just heal his wounds.
He twisted in place, spinning his spear in a half-circle and knocking the blow aside. Still, the blow was so powerful that he couldn’t afford to follow-up, and the impact left his hands feeling numb. With a Constitution as high as his, it truly showcased the terrifying power of these gods. Worse, it was unnerving to be fighting such close lookalikes of his best friends, a clone of himself, and someone who mirrored the woman he loved.
Katherine vanished, and the other Morgan took her place, his black spear flashing out for his neck.
Morgan reeled back, trying to bring his own spear up to block in time, only for something to strike him from behind, launching him into the attack. He grimaced as the spear tore through his shoulder, feeling pain lancing through his body. Black lightning crackled along the length of the haft, and Morgan blew out, using Compression.
The blast of air threw him back off the spear, his body already healing the damage. The only downside to this was that in doing so, it activated the other part of the skill — the one that shortened the duration of its use with each healing. It was supposed to last for a full ten minutes, and time was removed based on the severity of the injury.
Healing his spine and other injuries had cost him nearly a minute, and the wound in his shoulder had cost him four seconds. While that might not seem like much, taking multiple injuries would run his skill out faster, resulting in him becoming defenseless against these gods.
Sarah appeared above him, still looking bored, and swiped her hand down. A scythe made of a red crystalline material extended from her hand, careening down to split him in two. Morgan threw his spear up to block, and when their blows connected, he felt a strange sort of resonance flow through him.
Sarah didn’t seem to feel anything, continuing her attack and hurling him downward.
Morgan caught himself, only to be attacked from the side, Katherine’s massive pole shattering his ribcage like it was made of glass and sending him spinning through the air. His wounds healed themselves, and he threw his spear up once more, shattering the pink streak of cutting power released by Gwendolyn’s sword.
He whirled in place, summoning a shield using his Stormforge, but he should have used the spear to block instead. The other Morgan’s spear pierced straight through, ripping through his outstretched hand and traveling through the inside of his arm.
Morgan howled in pain and swiped his spear across, forcing him to back off but leaving the black spear lodged in his arm. Sarah came at him from his left, her scythe slicing through his left leg and nearly severing it completely, then Gwendolyn came from above, drilling her sword down and unleashing a powerful attack that severed his arm.
The spear went spinning away, but Morgan summoned her back, refusing to allow his only defense and Sarah’s soul to be lost. The pain was horrific, but he slammed his good arm into the spear’s haft, shattering the black spear stuck in his arm. His body knit itself back together, his other arm regrew, but all of this cost him yet more time, and judging by how fluidly the gods were attacking, he didn’t stand a chance of winning.
Still, as they all closed in again to continue their assault, Morgan knew he couldn’t give up. There had to be a way to win, and no matter what happened, he would survive.
7
Elyssa had been having quite an interesting day. She’d had a lovely breakfast with her friend Hilda, only to find out that Morgan, the man she was supposed to be marrying, was getting into a fight with this continent’s version of a World Beast. Though she’d been assured that the Pinnacle Kings weren’t nearly as dangerous, she’d insisted they go help.
She and Hilda had grabbed a couple of portal scrolls and hopped over to the small cottage where the others had been staying.
After scolding them for refusing to help Morgan and getting to see Grace in all her adorable cuteness, she’d headed up to do what the others had refused to do, despite claiming to be Morgan’s friends. Even Hilda had remained where she was, as she’d been against this course of action from the start.
Once she’d reached the top and seen the state Morgan was in, she felt justified in her anger, but that had taken a very swift turn when they’d started to talk.
Morgan had a way of deflecting conversation that made her feel both put-off and oddly attracted. It wasn’t his personality or anything, but the purely physical attraction was undeniable, no matter how she acted.
Their conversation had somehow devolved into her spilling her secrets about her inexperience, a
nd Morgan had been quite accommodating, putting her mind at ease. Then, she’d worked up the courage to ask him to kiss her. It was a terrifying prospect and one that she’d been dreading but also looking forward to.
It had been wonderful. When he’d kissed her, she’d felt as though her entire body had been lit on fire from the inside, and when he’d released her, all she’d wanted to do was kiss him again. It was a strange experience, feeling that desire, that need. Then, the entire world had gone to shit.
Everything had happened so fast that she’d only been able to piece everything together once she’d landed, and by then, she was in a great deal of pain.
Elyssa staggered to her feet, wheezing and clutching at her chest. Two of her ribs were broken, and she’d collected several cuts and bruises from her rough landing. She staggered forward as the entire mountain shook and nearly lost her balance.
Her entire body was flooded with adrenaline as a mixture of shock and fear threatened to overwhelm her. For the first few seconds, she tried to understand why Morgan had done what he’d done, practically launching her off the side of the mountain.
The first thought, unbelievably, was that she’d been such a terrible kisser that he’d wanted nothing to do with her. Then, common sense reasserted itself, and she began to piece together what had happened.
Someone had ambushed them, and she hadn’t sensed them coming. Morgan had and had gotten her out in the fastest possible way he could, given the limited time.
She staggered as the mountain shook once again and looked up to see a blazing figure wrapped in a violet cloak of power appear near the peak of the mountain. A moment later, it was joined by four more. She hadn’t seen Morgan use this move before, but she had to assume the four that were there were the aggressors, and the purple figure was Morgan.
The most terrifying aspect of this all, was while she could get a general sense of Morgan’s strength – a present he’d unexpectedly passed on to her – she could sense nothing from the four figures above. Worse, despite the distance between them, she was fairly certain she recognized one of them – the one with the pink hair. The color was bright enough to stand out, even at this distance, and she felt a thrill of fear as she realized what was happening.
She debated running back up to try and help him, but in her condition, she didn’t think she’d really be able to do much.
“Don’t kid yourself,” she muttered, feeling at her broken ribs once more.
Truthfully, she wasn’t that bad, but even in peak condition, she doubted she’d pose much of a threat to gods. No, what she needed to do was go back down to the bottom of the mountain, get the help of the others, and hope that one of them had a way to get him out of there. She just hoped he’d be able to hold out long enough for them to do something.
Elyssa reached into her dress and removed the second portal scroll. It was only because she had the gift that Morgan had given her – her Aura Sense – active that she managed to react to the attack in time.
She launched herself to the side, avoiding the roaring column of fire that blasted from the ground, and while her fingers were only singed by the attack, the portal scroll wasn’t so lucky.
“So. This wasn’t just an ambush for Morgan,” Elyssa said, feeling her jaw tighten.
“No one mentioned anything about a sensory skill,” a gnome said, stepping out of thin air and looking annoyed.
“It doesn’t matter,” a massive troll said, doing the same. “We have her isolated, and she’s already injured. This should be an easy enough fight.”
“Overconfidence is a quick way to end up in a grave,” a beastman said, appearing before her. “Let’s just get this over with quickly and report back.”
Two move figures appeared, a dwarf and an elf, all bearing the mark of Strangler on their bare left shoulders.
“Who are you, and what is the Cult of Strangler doing in the Five Kingdoms?” Elyssa asked, eyes flicking between her ambushers.
One didn’t have to be a genius to see that this was bad. Very bad. This was exactly what the others had been afraid of, but even she couldn’t have seen something like this coming. Aside from the fact that these five were strong, she hadn’t been expecting to run into one of the Cults here, let alone have them working side by side with the gods.
She’d come to that conclusion because there was no other explanation as to how both she and Morgan were ambushed by two different groups. This was clearly a coordinated assault and one that the two of them had played right into.
They’d waited until the two of them were isolated to strike. She’d been stupid to believe herself untouchable with Morgan around. She should have been more cautious, but she’d allowed overconfidence in her abilities and the fact that they were far removed from Faeland to cloud her judgment, and now, she might be paying for that arrogance with her life.
“Why we’re here is unimportant,” the gnome said. “All you need to know is that our orders are to kill you. It’s nothing personal, so if you just surrender, we can make it quick and painless.”
“Not on your life,” Elyssa said, reaching down and tearing the bottom half of her dress off.
It wasn’t exactly modest, but it would free her up to move better, and if she were to have any hope of escape, she’d need every advantage she could get.
The gnome let out a sigh, then attacked with no warning, extending a fiery whip from his fist and lashing out at her head.
At the same time, both the beastman and troll tried to restrain her, the troll pulling chunks of stone up around her feet and the beastman using a net made of wind to try and lock her down.
Three of them were mages, and two were supers. It was an unfair fight, but Elyssa wasn’t just some helpless target. She was a supermage, trained since birth by the best fighters their kingdom had to offer, and she wasn’t going to go down so easily.
She breathed out, then activated her Stepping Stone skill and blasted free of her restraints, launching herself into the air. Pieces of stone tore themselves from the ground, turning liquid as they did and flowing up around her body, encasing her in a constantly moving shield. It was her ability, and while Liquid Stone might not have sounded all that impressive to some, they had clearly never faced her in a fight.
The dwarf and elf both moved in – surprisingly enough, they were the supers – trying to land decisive blows. Green venom oozed from the dwarf’s fists, showing that he’d been granted some of Strangler’s power, while the elf used light as her chosen weapon, wrapping it around her hands and extending them into blades.
Elyssa moved back, throwing a wall of stone up before her, and hardened it in an instant. The dwarf crashed into it, expecting to tear through the seemingly flimsy barrier, only to find his attack repelled, sending him staggering as the wall of stone flexed, then bounced back, redoubling the force of his blow.
The elf wove around the wall, slashing with her blades, and Elyssa defended by moving her Liquid Shield to block. However, unlike the dwarf, it seemed like the elf knew what he was doing, and his skill passed straight through her shield without so much as causing a ripple on its surface.
Elyssa cried out, leaping back as the blade tore a line of pain across her abdomen. When she looked down, she saw that her dress had been torn, and a red stain was slowly spreading across its surface.
Before she could regain her composure, the elf rushed in once again, forcing her on the back foot. It was only when a funnel of wind slammed into her back, driving her to her knees, that Elyssa remembered that she was facing a group and not just the elf. Still, instead of rising, she was forced to roll to the side, avoiding the elf’s blade.
Unfortunately, her roll took her right into the path of a column of fire that blasted from the ground, ripping at the integrity of her Liquid Shield and causing it to harden, then crumble. Elyssa stumbled back to her feet, then dropped to her stomach immediately, as a boulder the size of a horse flew at her head.
She growled, throwing herself to the side once more a
nd taking a sheet of flowing stone along with her. The infuriating part wasn’t that she couldn’t win given the chance, but that her opponents continued to press her. Worse, she could feel more coming — hundreds more.
These five were only the vanguard. Somehow, they’d managed to sneak a whole bunch of assassins into the Five Kingdoms, and although they’d been rounding up plenty, it seemed that someone – the gnomes, gods, Cults, or all three – had managed to hide far more than their intelligence suggested.
Elyssa sprang back to her feet, pulling a wall of liquid stone with her to fend off attacks, while concentrating on using one of her more powerful skills. It would liquify a large portion of the mountainside, but at this point, with tremors shaking the entire mountain and making it feel like it was on the verge of collapse, she figured it didn’t really matter.
A sharp pain pierced her side then, and Elyssa’s concentration slipped. The pillar of liquid stone keeping her in the air crumbled and she toppled back to the ground, instantly caught in a raging inferno. She cried out in pain, rolling out of the fire and blindly whipping around with her arms.
She clipped someone’s leg, and the troll who’d been preparing to drop a boulder on her collapsed, his attack dropping onto his chest. Elyssa jumped back to her feet. A glance down at her side showed a deep gash and blood seeping from yet another wound. The troll shoved the boulder off his chest, and before she could capitalize on the opening, the elf moved in to cover him.
“See. Here’s where all you powerful fighters are weakest,” the gnome said, creating another fire lash. “You believe that because you have a higher rank or are a supermage, you can defeat anyone. But Strangler knows better. All we have to do is fight as a group, and you won’t be able to do anything.”
The gnome smiled smugly, and although Elyssa wanted to do nothing more than to tear that grin, and his head, right off, there was little she could do to refute their effectiveness. She was on her own, cut off from all help, and if they continued pressing her, not giving her time to breathe or focus on her more powerful skills, they would eventually overwhelm her.