by Simon Archer
“Yeah, that’s what I’m counting on,” I said as I rushed forward, bringing the Sword of the Destroyer King around in an arc aimed at her pretty little neck.
“Then you have counted on too much,” she said, casually reaching out and grabbing my blade out of the air. Thankfully, as the impact rang down my arm, a message appeared before me.
The Sword of the Destroyer King has encountered a hostile element. Special ability: An Eye for an Eye has been activated. For the duration of this battle, The Sword of the Destroyer King has gained the power of Ice.
Frosty steam began to curl off the blade, but if Titania was concerned, it didn’t show. Instead, she barely spared the weapon a glance. Then her lips curled into a smile that made me think that my next attack, an inside leg kick to her knee, was moving in slow motion.
“You are not on my level,” she said, her free hand whipping out so quickly that I barely had time to get my hands up before her open palm smacked into me with so much force, I was flung bodily backward across the dirt.
The Hand of the Destroyer King has encountered a hostile enemy. Special ability: Feel the Truth has been activated. You can now see the enemy for what he truly is. For the duration of this battle, strikes delivered to the opponent’s weak point will deal more damage than normal.
Special Ability: Dual Hostility has been activated. The effect of all Destroyer King items has been enhanced.
Well, that ability was new, and while I wanted to open up the skill and actually look at it, I didn’t have time because Titania was pointing a finger at me. And at the end of that finger was a growing ball of fire.
“You know what is sad, Garrett?” she asked, lips quirked into that same cruel smile.
“That you know my name even though I’m a human, and you’re the Queen of Summer?” I asked as I gripped the hilt of my sword with both hands and focused on the one, almost imperceptible, glowing red spot just where her heart would be.
“That is distressing, yes, but mostly because I’m not even using one percent of my power.” She laughed. “In fact, the amount of power that I am using is so low compared to what I normally have available, that it might as well be classified as nothing because you are nothing.”
Then she launched her fireball at me, and I did the only thing I could. I relied on my items and my training. I stepped forward and slashed outward with my Sword, and the moment the icy blade hit the fireball, it exploded outward in a shockwave that made everyone on the battlefield falter.
“I can do this all day,” I said as I took a step toward her.
“I believe you,” Titania said, seemingly impressed, “but can they?” She turned then and flung a fireball right at Thera.
The chieftainess was busy going one on one with a fucking Tyrannosaurus the size of a city bus and doing a good job of it because the creature had bloody marks all over its haunches, ankles, and face, and Thera wasn’t dead.
Only that was about to change because she was about to become crispy fried.
“No!” I cried, and without thinking, I dropped to my knees in the earth and reached out to it. Then I erected a wall in front of the fireball with Auric Construction. I just barely made it, but the resulting impact caused my wall to shatter into a zillion pieces of razor-sharp, flaming shrapnel that succeeded in doing exactly two things.
First, it saved Thera, which was good.
Second, it pissed off the Rex that was showered with debris. The massive apex predator turned toward me and roared. The sound vibrated into the pit of my stomach as it took off toward me, covering the scant distance between us in a matter of moments.
I barely managed to throw myself to the side as its snapping jaws closed around where I’d been, and as I came out of my roll onto my feet in a guard, a fireball smashed into me.
The impact threw me backward onto the dirt, and as pain and shock took their turns rushing toward me, the Rex roared and whirled to face me.
So, I did the only thing I could do. I pushed everything down, let it all fade to the background, and remembered one thing. I was Garrett fucking Andrews. Earth’s champion and Rhapsody’s chosen. And I wasn’t about to be beaten by a giant lizard.
I pooled my Aura into my fist as I pulled myself into a kneeling position an instant before I stood with all the force and weight my muscles could bring to bear and lashed out with an uppercut that connected just on the underside of the Rex’s jaw. The impact was enough to move the Rex’s head back just enough to cause its two front teeth to snap closed an inch from my face, and it blew out an angry breath through its nostrils as its mouth was forcibly closed.
The Hand of the Destroyer King has encountered a hostile enemy. Special ability: Feel the Truth has been activated. You can now see the enemy for what he truly is. For the duration of this battle, strikes delivered to the opponent’s weak point will deal more damage than normal.
The Rex’s beady eyes settled on me, and it roared at point-blank range, which was when I learned something they don’t really talk about in dinosaur books. The breath of a T-Rex stinks. After all, it wasn’t like the big predator could brush its teeth, and the smell let me know that even if I didn’t get killed after a bite, I’d probably develop one hell of an infection from the bits of rotten, bacteria-laden meat lodged in its massive, closely packed teeth.
“You really need a dentist,” I said, catching sight of Titania as she hurled another fireball at me, and this time, I stepped back and batted the fireball directly into the Rex. The blast of fire was enough to startle the creature enough that it stumbled back a few crashing steps.
Unfortunately, Titania was already gearing up to throw another fireball, and the Rex was recovering. This wasn’t going to end well.
“Time for a switch,” Thera called an instant before I saw her leap from the shadows and smash her club into Titania’s side. Though it didn’t penetrate her bronze skin, the blow sent the fairy queen skidding across the dirt. Thera wasted no time capitalizing on the attack, sprinting after Titania and smashing her club into Titania repeatedly. Although it didn’t seem like it was actually hurting the fairy queen, it was certainly keeping her busy, and that gave me one thing I desperately needed. Time to deal with the Rex.
I readied my sword as the Rex opened its jaws and charged forward the few steps to bite me in half, and I summoned forth my Sharktopus from the Auric Pocket. The massive marine creature appeared between us, and while its appearance seemed to confuse the Rex as it crashed into my summon, the Sharktopus shared no such qualms. It wrapped its tentacles around the Rex and used them to pull the creature toward its shark mouth. Blood flew as the Sharktopus’s razor-sharp teeth tore into the Rex’s hindleg. Unfortunately, I still had the same problem as before. The Sharktopus couldn’t exactly survive outside of the water, and because of everything I’d done, I didn’t have enough Aura to sustain it artificially for long, and I was dangerously close to being unable to summon anything else, anyway.
The Sharktopus would be out here another few seconds at best, but that was fine because my punch had, of course, activated my Hands of the Destroyer King, and the bright red spot I saw glowing on the underside of the Rex’s throat was too big a target to pass up.
I charged forward as the Sharktopus’s health ran out, and it returned to my Auric Pocket, and the sudden absence of the creature did exactly what I’d thought it would. It distracted the enraged Rex long enough for me to pump Aura into my legs and leap into the air. Then I lashed out with my sword with all the force my remaining Aura could muster.
“United States of Smash!” I cried as I drove my sword into that glowing spot with one last titanic Auric Smash.
43
You have killed creature: Tyrannosaurus Rex.
The message flashed across my eyes as I rode the Rex’s dead body down, and as it crashed to the ground, I raised my hand and used Auric Extraction. Admittedly, part of me was surprised that had worked since the creature had to have been a few levels higher than me, but then again, I’d hit i
t with a super critical strike backed by all my Aura.
Pattern: Tyrannosaurus Rex has been learned. Would you like to create a Tyrannosaurus Rex?
I most certainly did. And thanks to the regeneration properties of Auric Extraction, I had more than enough Aura to do just that.
“How do you like me now?” I cried as my own Tyrannosaurus Rex, that I affectionately named Sue, rose up behind me. Only my triumph faded as I saw Titania.
She stood there holding Thera aloft by the throat which was made doubly amazing by the fact that Titania was over a foot shorter. Then again, she could fly, and as such, had floated a couple feet above the ground. Thera struggled in her grip, but I could see her movements slowing as her eyes started to bug out of her skull, and since her club was on the ground beside them, I was pretty sure she didn’t actually have a way to hurt the fairy queen. Hell, even with us being the same level, I wasn’t sure I could hurt the fairy queen.
“I have no thoughts about you either way,” Titania said as she squeezed, and Thera’s eyes bugged further out of her skull. “Actually, that isn’t true. I am bored now.” She flung Thera across the ground. The impact sent a shudder through me, and as the chieftainess bounced a few times, rage made me see red. “So, while I’d like to say this has been fun, it has not.” She turned to face me and floated closer, her body wreathed in flame like a horrifically demonic angel. “Goodbye, Knight.”
The impact of Queenie slamming into Titania from the side was only dwarfed by the shockwave of her Final Sting going off. As the Ant Queen expended every last point of Aura in one titanic display of power that burst outward like a nuclear blast, Titania was hurled bodily to the side, where she bounced a truly satisfying number of times.
Better still, it seemed like, for all her posturing, that Queenie’s attack had actually hurt the Queen of Summer because even though she got back to her feet rather quickly, it was slower than it had been before. And, what’s more, she actually looked bloody and bruised, and one of her arms hung at an obscene angle.
“Thank you, Queenie,” I said, wishing I had the Aura to summon her, but unfortunately, the Tyrannosaurus had used so much that there wasn’t enough left in the tank. Now, anyway.
She had likely known that, and while she didn’t know I knew she hated being in the Pocket, she had sent herself there anyway to buy me a shot at beating Titania, and I wouldn’t waste it. After all, if I didn’t take advantage, she’d be stuck there forever. And that was something I couldn’t abide.
“Die!” I cried as I rushed forward and lashed outward with a feint at the fairy queen as fire began to climb over her once more. She went for it, raising her arms upward to block her face, and I shifted my feet and hips suddenly, reversing the direction of the blow and bringing my weapon around to cleave her in half.
Clang!
The sound of my weapon impacting her hand as she caught the edge a millimeter from her flesh resounded across the battlefield.
“You are nothing, Garrett,” she snapped as she tore the weapon from my hand and flung it across the field. “Nothing.” Then she smacked me across the face so hard I nearly blacked out.
“You keep saying that, and yet, you’re the battered and bloody one,” I said as I collapsed to my knees in front of the Queen of the Hot and Bright.
“True, but in a moment, all that will remain of you will be a charred corpse--”
Sue bit down on the fairy queen, and it was strangely satisfying to see the massive Rex’s incredibly powerful jaws gnosh on Titania. It was less satisfying because they didn’t even pierce her flesh.
Still, as Sue shook Titania like a rag doll, the fairy queen howled in pain. Unfortunately, she clearly hadn’t lost her senses because, as I recovered enough to see straight, the Tyrannosaurus Rex’s head exploded in a burst of blood and flame.
“Your summons cannot touch me,” Titania snarled as she glided toward me an instant before her hand shot forward to grab me around the throat and hoist me into the air. “You are too weak to summon anything that could ever hurt me.” Her grip on my neck tightened, cutting off my air supply as I reached into my inventory. “And now you can’t even run that stupid little mouth of yours.”
She shook her head. “But mostly, I am disappointed. Disappointed in you, sure, but in my sister Mab. To think she thought she could have a plaything, even one as pathetic as you. It is sad on many levels.” She sighed. “What a desperate crone my sister has become by sitting alone in her dark and shadows.”
She looked into my eyes, and I saw an endless black hole of malevolence and hatred. That was what it looked like when stars died. Winter might be cruel, but it was indifferent about it. This… this was focused, caring hatred, and somehow, that was scarier than cold, uncaring indifference.
But there was also one thing that sort of hatred did. It made you sloppy. So, even though I couldn’t breathe, hell, could barely think, even though my vision was growing dark around the edges and my heart and lungs felt like they’d burst, I mustered up one last act of defiance.
I spat a mouthful of bloody saliva into those stupid, angry eyes.
“You dare?!” she snarled, her grip loosening just enough for me to suck in the memory of a breath, and as her other hand came up to wipe away the bloody slime from her vision, I ripped the Frozen Spike of Overwhelming Darkness from my inventory and drove it into the gleaming red spot just beside where her heart would be if she had one.
I’d like to say there was an impact, or an explosion, or fucking something to indicate that it had worked.
There wasn’t, though.
All that happened was that I could suddenly breathe, and as the humid air hit my tortured throat, I collapsed to the ground on my hands and knees. My neck ached both inside and out, and after I’d drawn in a few shuddering breaths, I finally was able to clear my vision enough to look up.
That’s when I saw Titania. She was on her knees with golden blood pouring from around the ragged hole the spike had left in her. Dark veins of inky blackness spiraled out across her flesh like angry worms while hoarfrost covered her skin inch by inch. Her mouth opened and closed like a dying fish, and as she reached up and gripped the spike with her hands in an attempt to pull it out, the scent of sizzling flesh hit my nose. Then the skin along the palms of her hands and fingers began to bubble and blister where she touched the spike.
“You know, I would have expected more from you, dear sister. Much, much more.” Mab’s voice poured over the clearing as she stepped out of the darkness and shadow and looked down at her sister.
Where Titania had been all glistening, naked muscle, Mab was the essence of the royal princess. The black and red silk of her ballgown swished around her perfect figure in such a way as to suggest the amazing form beneath it, but not enough to give it all away. More, it made you guess as to what was hidden beneath, what you might find if you were to explore its folds. Her white hair cascaded around her like the calm snowfield before a blizzard.
“This…” Mab gestured at Titania as she strode toward, each step leaving a sprinkling of frost in her wake. “This is the most pathetic display I have ever seen, Titania.” She reached her sister, and with one last sad look, she sighed. “Truly pathetic, and for that… well, I’m not sure what to do.” Mab tapped her cheek as she gave me a wry smile. “Should she be punished? Taught how to properly convey herself?”
“Bitch,” Titania said and then spat blood and darkness and flame and hate on Mab’s snowdrift white shoes. “Who wears a black dress with white slippers?”
“I’ll thank you for not talking about my choice of clothing.” Mab snorted as she reached out and grabbed Titania by her ponytail. Then she began dragging her sister back toward the rippling darkness from whence she’d come. Try as she might, Titania could do more than struggle weakly as she was pulled inch by painful inch toward it.
“Where are you taking her?” I asked as I watched the display. “And why did you come?”
“She cannot die, unfortunately.” Mab
sighed as she caught my eye. “It would unbalance the elements in ways you cannot understand. So, I’m going to remove the spike.” She must have caught the look on my face because she laughed then. “Oh, do not worry, she and I will have a long, long talk beforehand. After all, only I can remove a spike made by my hand and delivered by my hand.” She gave me a look full of laughter as she spoke that last part. “So, if she wants it removed, well, concessions will be made, now won’t they?” She winked at me as she approached the entrance to the void. “And, Garrett, know that I am very, very pleased with you.” She blew me a kiss before dragging Titania kicking and screaming into the darkness itself.
You have been granted the title ‘Knight of the Cold and Dark.’ This title will replace your title of ‘of the Cold and Dark.’ Using this title will give you increased access to the elemental magic lines of Ice and Earth. Would you like to use this title?
I accepted without really thinking, and as I looked around, I realized it was over. Somehow, someway, my summons and the Blue Palm Tribe had triumphed over not just the Orange clan but the other Rex as well. I barely scanned the messages that followed that realization.
You have been granted greater power over the Elemental Power: Ice. You will now be better able to infuse your magic with Ice. Your resistance to Cold has greatly increased. Your body will be able to better resist the power of Ice magic.
You have been granted greater power over the Elemental Power: Earth. You will now be better able to infuse your magic with the power of Earth. Your resistance to Earth has greatly increased. Your body will be able to better resist the power of Earth magic.
You have completed the quest: Defeat the Fire Bringer. The return gate has now been opened. You may leave at any time. You gain sixty-two stat points and ten skill points to distribute. Your relationship with the Blue Palm Clan has increased from Honored to Revered.