“There’s no need to split up. You three should head to the Great Hall. If Alice isn’t dead, then she’ll be making her last stand there,” Jacob told them.
“How do you know that?” asked Fellis. When Jacob gave her a flat stare, she looked away. “Right. Stupid question.”
“It was. Now get going.”
“What about you?” asked Enyo.
“I can’t fight all out unless my partner is with me.”
He, of course, meant Durandal. As a sentient blade forged from an unknown metal, it was the only sword that could withstand his power. His other weapon had already cracked. One more burst of energy and it would break.
They split up, Enyo and her group traveling toward the Great Hall, while he went toward the one place his weapon would be.
If Durandal was anywhere, it would be in the weapons vault, which was locked, of course, and by a big steel door no less. The door didn’t stop him. Jacob kicked it with energy enhanced strength. While a jolt traveled up his leg, the door dented and opened. He walked in.
“Partner!”
Durandal was inside. Jacob strolled up, grabbed the blade, and strapped it across his shoulder.
“Sorry, but we don’t have time to deal with a touching reunion right now. Alyssium is under siege.”
“Hmph! Good riddance, I say. Damn broads couldn’t take a single joke.”
“Considering your brand of humor, I don’t blame them.”
“How mean!” Durandal cried. “How nostalgic!”
“Easy, you masochistic sword.”
Knowing that time was of the essence, Jacob bolted out of the weapons vault and traveled toward the Great Hall. He hoped Enyo and the others were okay.
***
Enyo was a whirlwind. With nothing but a horde of enemies in front of her, she took no issue with letting her dark blood run wild. It pulsed within her, a ferocious beat that demanded to be satiated with blood, and she heeded its call.
“Obscurim. Opscurum. Obscuritas.” Enyo channeled as the dark blood within flooded her nerves. “Exidio. Excisio. Exscidium.”
Darkness appeared before her, a never-ending wave that washed through the hall, a ceaseless flame that shrieked as if made from tormented spirits. The black fire engulfed everything, everyone. It burned all in its path. When it vanished, there was nothing left. Everything had been turned to ash.
Kindness gulped. “I did not know you were also a dark magic user.”
“Few people know that,” Fellis said.
They continued moving. Enyo led from the front. She took enemies out with her magic, and when that didn’t work, her daggers did the trick. Blood spurted from wounds. The floor and walls were painted crimson. Enyo could see nothing except what was in front of her. It felt like she was rushing through a tunnel. Everything else was invisible as she ran, ducked, dodged, wove, and killed.
Several knights appeared in front of her. Had this been several months ago, they would have died too, a result of her inability to control the dark pulse in her veins. Thanks to Jacob, she could accept this side of her. His support had given her the strength to accept her other half, the Dark Clan half that enjoyed battle and bloodshed. Thanks to him, she could now control who she directed that bloodlust at.
The knights barely had time to notice her as she rushed by them. She brushed them without harming a single knight, instead slitting the throats of the enemies they were fighting, freeing them up and allowing them to fight more enemies.
The Great Hall was a mess by the time they arrived. Pillars had crumbled to dust. Broken bodies clad in armor lay strewn about, their limbs twisted, their faces etched into one’s of horror.
At the opposite side, standing before a dais, Alice, Listy, and a woman who Enyo didn’t know fought against a horde of Dark Clansmen. The woman she didn’t know was like a dancer. She twirled the staff around in her hands. Every time she attacked, a large blade like Jacob’s crescent attack shot out, and Dark Clan members were slaughtered by the handful.
Lust stood behind the horde, laughing as she watched Alice, Listy, and the female knight struggle. Standing beside her, Chastity stared at everything with eyes that gleamed of insanity.
“That’s it! Yes! Keep fighting! Don’t stop! I want to see the despair in your eyes when you finally realize how futile your continued struggle is!”
“Damn bitch likes to talk a lot,” the female knight said, her voice strained. Enyo didn’t need to know her to figure out that she was close to breaking.
“Nox. Umbra. Dissulto.”
A tug at her navel preluded her attack. A dark sphere of energy soared at Lust, though it was quickly intercepted by a golden shield that sprang up in front of her.
“Oh, dear. It seems we have uninvited guests,” Lust muttered. “And if it isn’t the Dark Lady. My apologies, Dark Lady, but I don’t have time to deal with you right now. Why don’t you run along? I’ll capture you eventually… when I’m done here.”
“I don’t think so! Nox. Umbra. Moltus.”
Hundreds of tiny black spheres appeared in the air, hovering for but a moment before they shot forward at a rapid rate.
Lust laughed as another shield sprang up around her. The spheres bounced off harmlessly. However, she wasn’t their real target.
Chastity, despite his mind being gone, had enough sense to dodge, or perhaps it was because he’d been left with nothing but instincts that he could dodge. He avoided all the spheres, his movements oddly boneless. He reminded Enyo of a snake.
“Penetro. Percutio. Truso.”
A large spear coalesced into existence. Its blade, shaped like a leaf, had a foreign appearance. It was unremarkable aside from that, but it shot forward with unerring accuracy. Chastity couldn’t fully dodge, distracted as he was, and he howled when the blade impaled his left shoulder.
“Enyo, leave this man to me,” Kindness said. “I dislike violence, but I owe this man for all the pain and death he’s caused.”
“I understand,” Enyo accepted these terms. “Fellis!”
“I’m here! Let’s get Lust!”
Lust’s beatific smile overflowed with condescension as Enyo and Fellis moved on either side of her. Her posture bespoke of nothing but the utmost confidence.
“Two on one? That hardly seems like a fair fight,” she taunted.
“A Dark Council member with hundreds of years of experience against an eighteen-year-old and someone barely in her thirties is perfectly fair,” Enyo fired back. “Fuvis. Nubilus. Displodo.”
The ground underneath Lust erupted with black energy. It was avoided when their foe leapt into the air. Enyo timed her next attack. Her goal was to hit Lust as she was descending.
She didn’t descend. She remained in the air, floating.
“Nice try,” Lust laughed. “Now, let’s see you two dodge this!”
Enyo felt panic as several dozen balls of fire descended like falling stars. She leapt across the floor. Heat washed over her as the balls struck the ground, detonating with enough force to throw her backwards.
She skidded along the ground, her hands moving up to cover her face. Marble shards pelted her body, battering her, stabbing her. She felt blood leak from cuts. Fire flared along her flesh.
A little ways over, Fellis wasn’t doing much better, and in fact, she might have been doing worse. Her teeth were grit and sweat ran down her face. Back. Forth. Left. Right. She was a never-ending stream of movement, but she also wasn’t as fast as Enyo. Several fireballs came dangerously close to scorching her.
Enyo gnashed her teeth together. She wasn’t going to let herself be toyed with. Channeling magic into her daggers, she swung at the next fireball to descend on her, splitting it in half. The crescent continued forward, forcing Lust to move out of the way.
There was a frown on her face. “I see you’ve learned to adapt the hero’s technique to your own repertoire. Tell me, Dark Lady, are you bedding him?”
“So what if I am?”
“Ho?” Lust chuckle
d. “I have no problem with it, though the Dark Council will be quite displeased to learn that you’ve been despoiled. You know that ruins all their plans to create a new Dark Lord, yes?”
“Like I care,” Enyo said dryly as she launched another crescent at Lust. It was dodged again. “Are you going to stay up there all day? You’ll run out of magic before I’m even half empty.”
Lust scoffed. “You underestimate my powers, girl. Still, I suppose you have a point. It wouldn’t be much fun if I killed you from up here.”
Without warning, Lust suddenly swooped down. Enyo barely had time to move before the woman was upon her.
A sword of darkness had appeared in her hand, and she swung it with enough power that Enyo was knocked backwards when she tried to block.
Her hands stung from blocking the strike. She almost dropped her daggers, though it was a good thing she clenched them tightly, because Lust came in swinging again.
I can’t let those hit me!
Enyo backpedaled to gain distance. Lust followed. The dagger in her left hand went flying when Lust struck again. With only one hand left to block, she had no choice but to dodge. However, dodging proved more difficult than she imagined.
She ducked. Several strands of hair were cut from her head. Before she could stand up, a knee appeared in her face. Shock raced through Enyo as she fell backwards, rolled along the ground, and jumped back onto her feet.
Six spears made of water were all that greeted her. They flew in. She ducked. Fire raced through her veins as blood appeared on her arms and legs when she couldn’t quite dodge several of them.
Lust laughed at her, grinning as if her suffering was a vintage wine meant to be savored. She charged at Enyo—tried to charge. A whip had wrapped around her waist.
“Don’t forget about me,” Fellis said with a feral grin. “Now, Enyo!”
“Nox. Praemium.”
A ball of condensed energy appeared and shot toward Lust, but it slammed against a slab of marble that sprung from the ground when Lust stamped her left foot. The marble exploded, sending shards flying everywhere. Lust mumbled something under her breath, and suddenly, the shards all reoriented themselves and shot at Fellis, who's surprised scream echoed around the Great Hall.
“Fellis!” Enyo shouted, yet the moment she tried to help her friend, she was the one being attacked.
“Oh, no!” Lust cackled as her condensed blade of dark matter slammed into Enyo’s remaining dagger. Enyo’s knees buckled. “You’re not going anywhere. The fun is just beginning!”
Enyo tried to dodge the incoming sword swing instead of blocking. She was met with several fireballs for her trouble. Screaming as the tiny spheres of flame burnt her skin, she moved back, which brought her directly in line with Lust and her madly swinging blade again. The dagger in her hand was knocked out. Then she was kicked in the gut. She doubled over as all the oxygen was expelled from her lungs, and then flew backwards when the force of Lust’s kick launched her into the air.
Her world exploded as she slammed back first into the ground, tumbled across the floor, and stopped several meters away. She blinked several times. It was a vain attempt to get the spots from her eyes. She tried to suck in a breath, but it wouldn’t come. All she could do was gasp in pained asphyxia.
A shadow appeared over her. Lust stared down at her. She seemed… disappointed.
“Is this really all you have to offer?” Lust asked, the dark sword wavering in her hand. “How disheartening.”
She raised the sword and brought it down. Enyo could only watch as it fell.
A figure appeared in front of her. Blood splashed against her face. Enyo’s eyes were wide as she screamed.
“FELLIS!”
***
It took Jacob less than five minutes to reach the Great Hall. When arrived, the room was in chaos. Pillars had been shattered, bodies were burning with black fire, walls had been demolished. In the center of this chaos was Enyo, whose enraged screams were accompanied by waves of black energy that washed over everything with frightening indiscrimination.
Kindness stood by the dais, protecting Alice, Listy and a shockingly familiar face. She had conjured a barrier out of a glowing substance that reminded him of molten metal. The shield did its job, protecting them from the flames and dark energy that Enyo was tossing around like confetti at a parade.
Jacob snuck over to Kindness and the others. He had to circumvent the room, and by the time he reached them, the roof had been destroyed.
“Kindness,” he said. “What’s going on? Why is Enyo going on a rampage?”
“J-Jacob!” Alice gasped as she saw him. He couldn’t pay her much attention. He could only nod in acknowledgement.
“It’s… Fellis… she’s dead.” Jacob wondered if the stab to his heart was a physical pain. It certainly felt like someone had impaled him with a sword. “She died protecting Enyo.”
Jacob had experienced the death of comrades before. When he journeyed to defeat the Dark Lord, there were plenty of people who had died in his company. It always hurt. Perhaps due to how they’d been living together for the past four months, learning that Fellis was dead hurt more than any one death he’d witnessed.
“I can understand why she’s rampaging now,” Jacob said before hardening his resolve. “But we can’t let her continue. If she keeps this up, then our goal of saving this kingdom will go up in flames.”
“You want to save Terrasole?” Alice asked, flabbergasted.
“I mostly just wanted to save you,” Jacob admitted. “However, Terrasole is as much a part of you as your own limbs. Besides, I may have given up on being a hero, but that doesn’t mean I’m willing to let innocent people die right in front of me.”
“You’ve grown up,” Freya said. “I wonder where that little know-it-all brat went?”
“He died in the darklands,” Jacob said. “By the way, what are you doing here? Weren’t you going on a journey?”
“Is now the time for such questions?”
“I guess not.”
Beyond the barrier, which Jacob was reinforcing with his energy, Enyo was still locked in a vicious struggle against Lust. But even with her bloodlust and hatred fueling her, she was losing. Lust remained calm as she dispersed all of Enyo’s attacks, laughing as she did so.
“If you three could keep Lust occupied, I’ll bring Enyo to her senses,” Jacob said.
“I take it you have a plan?” Alice asked.
“Of course he doesn’t have a plan,” Durandal said.
Jacob smacked the sword’s hilt to make it be quiet. “Just leave it to me. Kindness?”
“Coangusto. Ligo. Relligo. Alligo,” Kindness chanted.
A rope composed of what looked like liquid metal appeared around Lust. The woman barely had time to blink before the binding was constricting around her, pinning her arms to her side. They didn’t last long. She burned through them in a split second, but that was enough time for Enyo to leave a painful gash on her side.
Jacob burst from behind the barrier. Alice, Kindness, and Freya followed, while Listy stayed behind. Their targets were different, however. Jacob was heading straight for Enyo, whose enraged howling was sounding less human by the second. The other three went for Lust, attacking her in concert.
“Have you three finally decided to crawl out of your hole and die?” Lust asked.
“The only one dying today is you!” Alice shouted as she swung her sword at the woman. It was avoided with ease. Lust laughed as she swung her own blade, the dark matter composing it crackling. Alice was able to dodge thanks to her magic: Foresight.
Before Lust could attack Alice again, Freya leapt in and swung her spear, unleashing a crescent of energy. While Lust dodged by leaping away, her move took her right in the path of several arrows that Kindness had conjured. This forced her to bring up a shield, which Freya broke through by thrusting her spear forward.
As that was going on, Jacob tackled Enyo to the ground. The girl released a surprised squawk. Her
eyes, hazed over with red, didn’t even seem to see him. She struggled underneath him, trying to spear him through the chest, but he grabbed her hand before it could pierce him. Then he shoved her hand away…
… and slapped her.
“Wake up, Enyo!” Jacob shouted. “Do you think Fellis would be happy that you’re acting like an animal? You need to get ahold of yourself!”
Enyo blinked several times, as if just now realizing who he was. “Jacob?”
“It’s me.”
“Jacob…” Tears formed in her eyes. “Jacob, Fellis is… Fellis is…”
Explosions followed by howling laughter and loud chants rang out behind them. Jacob felt heat wash over his back from intense flames. He heard the ground shattering like refuse being pulverized by the fist of an angry god.
Jacob’s tongue felt thick as he said, “I know it hurts, but you can’t let her death ruin you. She wouldn’t want you to act like this. If you do this, if you lash out and rampage like this, her sacrifice will be in vain.”
“But it hurts…”
“I know.” Jacob narrowed his eyes. “And that’s why we’re gonna get revenge, but not like this. Come on, Enyo. Get up and help me put this bitch down. For Fellis.”
Enyo sniffled back the tears in her eyes. She nodded. “Okay.”
Jacob stood up, pulling Enyo to her feet. Several meters away, the battle between Lust and the others was not going well. Despite it being three on one, Lust avoided or blocked every attack sent her way.
Alice’s sword was knocked aside when she tried to attack, and then her armor was dented as a large root split the ground and smacked her away. Her scream was silenced when she slammed into a wall.
Freya swung her blade and twirled around Lust with a dancer’s grace, but her every move was predicted and countered. Before the woman could continue, several more roots sprouted from the ground, entangling her legs. Lust then sent a vile wave of dark energy. It was split in half, but that was only a distraction. The real attack came in the form of a knife, which would have impaled Freya’s left eye if she didn’t have such excellent reflexes. Yet even though she knocked it back, she was still forced to retreat.
Chanting under her breath, Kindness created numerous spears that shot at Lust. None of them reached the woman. She chanted something as well and a large dome of fire appeared around her. The spears evaporated as if they were water. Kindness and Freya were then launched across the great hall when an incredible, invisible force slammed into them.
Journey of a Betrayed Hero- Volume 2 Page 19