“That barrage of attacks won’t help you at all.” He shot to me.
I put my hand down on the ground. “RISE!”
Shadows burst up from all around the chamber, coming to life at the mere utterance of a word. My energy glowed within all of them, as a speck of white within their black bodies. Red eyes painted onto their faces, and a terrifying howl resonated through the chambers as they stabilized their forms.
The Dark Lord stopped in his steps. “The Valdar.” Even his voice had turned quiet.
I willed the creatures to charge after the other Eternals in the room, the ones the Death Lord was managing on his own with Freya’s limited help. The shadow soldiers surged away, howling and yelling as they did.
I paid no attention to them after and shot to the Dark Lord. I slashed Dawnbreaker into the distracted man, and followed up with a series of strikes. He fought back, throwing a punch, and then hitting me with a dark beam.
I’m taking more damage than him. I huffed, sucking in air.
“But your Living Nightmare skill is letting you make up for that by healing,” Nyx said.
Keep an eye on my health for me.
I took a quick glance at the Valdar. One golden-robed Eternal laid on the ground, completely subdued, while the other three stood there, fending about a hundred and fifty of them away.
I looked at Azmuth. “Just you and me then.”
“Like old times,” he thrust his hand. A dragon head of black formed, and a massive blast of dark fire surged out of it. I dived to the ground, but the attack was too big to dodge. It sent me against the wall, and I cracked into it.
More popping sounds echoed out, and I slumped to the floor. Damn it. I slowly stood up, and sharp pains rose up either foot of mine.
Definitely broke a lot of things. But I pushed on and stepped forward.
“How unfortunate.” Azmuth walked up to me, and a chuckle left his lips.
I crossed my swords, forming Sword Shield just as he pulled his fist back, ready to punch. Jade-shaded flames enveloped him and he struck the shield, shattering it, and striking my helmet. I went tumbling back, and cratered into the wall.
Anger coursed through me, and I channeled it into my body, heating up every single nerve and vein. I gave myself into my rage. “You’re dead.” I got up, stretching my body, and the pain within me disappeared. “That feels good.”
The Dark Lord stepped back.
I shot forward, not towards him, but towards the set of Eternals fighting. “Death Lord, Freya! Move!”
The two of them jumped out the way just as I surged into the golden-robed beings, slashing and cutting at hurricane speeds. Even I couldn’t see what my own motions were. The Eternals were weak, and came down a few seconds later. They fell to the ground, with their health now at zero.
But I wasn’t done yet.
I need to kill more.
I shot toward the Valdar, and sliced into them. They were much less than half my level, and that made them a very good partner to one hit K.O. With every kill. I made my vision turned redder, my breathing heavier, and my body hotter.
“Zoran,” Nyx said. “What the hell are you—”
“NOT NOW!” I yelled and slashed into the last of the shadow men remaining. I stood amongst a sea of hazy black and liquid red, heaving air in and out of my probably-broken lungs.
Freya and the Death Lord looked at me quietly, and the Dark Lord stood there, stunned.
Idiots. I grinned.
DING!
500 hit Combo Achieved! Blood Drive activated! Infinity Drive activated!
My weapons began glowing now. The purple jewel within both of them resonated, and spoke hums into the air. Dawnbreaker and Dearthsoul let a hazy glow emerge around them, colored in the purple of their jewels. The jewels themselves were no longer purple, and instead were the shade of the swords they belonged to.
The weapons vibrated in my hand, and I gripped them tight, not letting them slide.
I’m coming for you, Azmuth. I shot forward, and slashed at the Dark Lord. The man blast at me with his darkness, but I simply cut through it with my blades.
“That doesn’t work anymore.” I came down on him, and slashed at his chest. The next five seconds I spent comboing him—setting up strike after strike, slashing the blades at his armor over and over again.
He fought back, hitting my body with his spells of darkness. My bones crunched, and I knew a lot of them were broken, and yet for some reason, I didn’t feel the pain. Rage was all of my emotions now. Rage was all of my thought.
“Very well.” Azmuth pulled back. “I believe I shall have to use this then.”
He held his hand up, and I shot to him.
Don’t give me an opening, idiot.
A weapon formed in his hand, just as I rushed to him. A blast of jade green energy swung into my chest, and I went flying back. I backflipped in the air, and dropped to the floor, sinking my swords in the stone and using the friction to bring myself to a stop.
The smoke cleared up a second later and within it stood the Dark Lord, carrying a blade of jade-green, as though a large crystal had been forged into a weapon. A jewel lay the sword’s base, where the blade met hilt, just like mine. Only, this jewel was silver, not purple.
“Horace built you up from nothing didn’t he?” I muttered. “First armor, now a sword. What the hell does that guy want with you anyway?”
The Dark Lord swung yet again, and another blast of jade-green shot at me. I quickly dodged and let the attack strike the walls. A whole section of it—already plagued by craters and fissures—completely collapsed. The ceiling rumbled as well and rock and mud came tumbling through the structure.
We don’t have much time left here.
The Dark Lord and I charged, and met at the middle of the chamber. Our blades clashed, and a boom sounded from the contact point, causing a pressure wave that surged through the walls.
I looked to the Death Lord. “The plateau!” I yelled. “Go there. Now!”
His violet eyes looked at me, and he nodded, grabbing Freya by the wrist.
“Eyes on the opponent, Diablo.” The Dark Lord slashed into me, and sent me to the wall. My back thumped against the structure and that side crumbled down. Mud and sand spilled out, and, I saw something bright orange beyond it.
My shoulder’s tensed. Oh no.
“We’re in a volcano, aren’t we?” Nyx asked.
The Dark Lord shot to me and I defended, using Sword Shield yet again. I quickly glanced to the side, confirming that the two others had gone. All that remained was I, a couple hundred dead bodies, and a man that was going to join them.
I surged forward, with my blade speed increasing as did my rage. The corners of my vision were completely red now, like some odd painting filter. The heat had spread to every muscle in my body, and I could feel almost nothing.
Which was good because I knew I’d broken more than twenty bones easy.
“You’re not strong enough, Diablo,” Azmuth said.
I kept striking at him, sending slash after slash into his chest. Loud booms echoed out from every move, and then I heard a clink.
I grinned. Done.
A burning scent filled the room. I turned around, and glanced at the lava that now flowed into the chamber. Both of us saw it, and both of us didn’t react. I jumped to the side, with the Dark Lord following right after me. We simply swung at each other, unmindful of the molten rocks swimming to us.
I hastened my sword combos, striking at him faster and faster. He was beginning to feel the pressure, the pressure of handling my dual wielding style with just his one sword. I kept increasing the tempo, pushing him back, slashing his armor.
And then he smiled.
The moment my blade hit his, he moved in, and gripped the weapon by the tip. He twisted, flipping himself in the air, and exerted enough force for me to lose my grip. My eyes darted to the ground on instinct, and watched Dearthsoul fall to the ground.
Azmuth used the distraction
to swing at my other hand, and knocked Dawnbreaker clean from it. A punch sunk into my stomach next, and I went flying into the wall. Azmuth ran up to me, and before I could even blink, his sword thrust into me. Hard.
The weapon broke through a part of my Berserker armor, and sunk into my shoulder, impaling it.
He grinned. “How does it feel, Diablo?” He twisted the handle, scraping my inner flesh.
Normally, I would have winced, I would have fallen, I would have screamed in pain.
But pain had left me.
My vision was completely reddened now, and heat surged through my very blood.
I stepped forward, pushing the sword further into my numb body. “You know the difference between you and me, Azmuth?” I smiled. “I’m the one between us that actually kills.”
My hand shot forward, straight at the break in his armor, at the section I had chipped away for so long. My arm broke through the metal, through his armor, and straight through his flesh.
He gasped, and his knees went weak.
“You won’t die from this.” My voice was soft. “But we can fix that.”
I lifted the Dark Lord’s writhing form into the air. “Elektra! Oskis! Iglacier!”
Spells struck into him, striking his inner flesh. Muffled screams echoed through the air, echoed from the man that writhed before me, the man of power that had been brought to his knees.
I thought of Freya, of the pain I had heard, of the pain she had felt.
My jaw clenched. You deserve worse.
I swung down and smashed the Dark Lord against the stone floor. His hand dropped from his jade sword, and fell limp to his side.
“Thank you,” I smiled. “Joluvia!”
A dark blast of fire surged from my hand, and right into Azmuth’s body. He writhed one final time, and then froze. I stood up, shaking the blood that coated my palm. An explosion boomed behind me a second later, ripping the Dark Lord of his armor and skin, and leaving him just as broken bones and flaming flesh.
I turned around, gazing at the sight before me, at the stench of horror swirling in the silence of the lava-filled chamber.
“Remember, Time Lord.” I stared at his burning remains. “I’m the monster.”
***
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
“Ow, ow, ow.” I winced.
“Well, sit still already!” Ijyela gripped my arms and bandaged them.
I sat as still as I could, bearing the pain. “It’s hard you know.”
“There,” she said, tying it off. “Better now.”
“Thanks.” I nodded and got down from the stone bed. A lady laid frozen on the one next to me, and I smiled at her as we walked up the staircase, back to the first floor of my house.
“Is he done?” Freya asked.
“Yeah.” The black-skinned elf said just as I walked back up.
“Wow, that’s a lot of bandages,” Krof said, standing at the doorway.
“Well, I did have a lot of broken bones,” I chuckled.
“How on earth you managed to break this many is beyond me,” Freya said.
“Hey, I was battling a really tough guy, okay? Give me a break.”
The elf smiled. “Sure.”
“Anyway,” Ijyela said. “The potion I’ve dipped the bandages in should fasten your healing process. Even if Eternals heal faster anyway.”
“Got it.”
“And I’ll try to see what I can do with the break in your Berserker Armor. I think I’ll be able to fix most of it. The armor is based on magic after all.”
I nodded. “Thank you.”
She flashed a smile. “Now I’ve got some work to do, so I’ll be going.” She quickly moved and walked out the door, before I could even wave goodbye.
“Sorry, we’ve just got some stuff to do,” Krof said. “We’ll be back soon.” He followed her out, closing the door behind him.
“What’s their rush?” I asked, walking toward the table Freya was sitting at.
“They found something.” She ran her finger along the wooden surface.
“Oh,” I said. “Time Lord?”
“They don’t know. I’m hoping it is.”
“I doubt it will be. We never find anything on this guy. And we’ve been trying for quite a while now.”
“I’m actually surprised he was this involved in everything that happened.”
“I’m not surprised at all, but I’m definitely curious. I don’t understand why he and the Dark Lord were working together. I don’t see the mutual benefit.
“Maybe there wasn’t any.”
“Maybe. We’ll just have to wait and find out.”
Freya looked out the window. “Hey, Zoran?”
“Yeah?” I blinked.
“He isn’t dead, is he?”
“Ah.” My voice softened.
“That’s what I thought.”
“Azmuth is an Eternal,” I said. “I doubt there is any—”
So you think Eternals live forever? The words rang into my mind.
That phrase had bothered me. Was there truly a way to kill an Eternal? How would such a thing be possible? But so far Azmuth and Horace had both mentioned it. It was definitely not a coincidence.
“Zoran?” Freya waved her hand before my face. “Everything okay?”
I blinked, and then nodded. “Azmuth probably resurrected somewhere else.” I continued the conversation. “But given that his armor broke, I doubt he might be as strong this time.”
“So we’ve sent him away for good?”
I shook my head. “For now.”
She sighed. “Why can’t we have peace for a while at least.”
“ZORAN, ZORAN, ZORAN!” A shadow jumped at me, pushing me off my chair.
Ouuuch. I winced as my broken body hit the wooden floors. A kobold laid on me, about three quarters the size I was.
“Nazu, don’t do that!” Freya pulled the creature off me and lifted me back up. “Are you okay?”
I smiled. “Hello, Nazu.”
“Guess what I learned?!” he yelled.
“What?”
He opened his palm, and an orange flame emerged from it. My eyes widened. “Wait, who’s been teaching you that kind of stuff?”
“Viola,” he nodded.
“Viola knows these kinds of things?” I blinked.
“She taught me.” He kept nodding.
Freya sighed. “Let’s pick up our conversation later,” she said. “I’ll get this guy out of the room for now. You go get some rest.”
I smiled. “Thanks.”
“Don’t mention it. I can tell what you want even when you try to lie to me about it.”
I chuckled, and watched the two of them leave.
And just as they left, another figure emerged.
A man.
A robed man with violet eyes.
I smiled. “Hello, Mr. Death lord.”
He bowed.
I raised an eyebrow. “I still don’t get why you don’t tell us your name.”
“I told you what I go by,” he said. “Is that not enough?”
“Sure, sure,” I waved. “What brings you here? Are you getting used to the village? Are there any problems?”
“I’ve kept to myself so there are no problems. Although a kobold did just call me a ghost a few moments ago.”
I smiled. “I can see that happening.”
“I came here because I needed to talk to you about something.”
“Eh?” My back straightened. “We’ve already had a conversation on everything that happened, didn’t we? We’re still looking for most of the answers though, so there’s not much we can talk about now.”
He shook his head. “I have something I need to confess.”
I frowned. “Oh?”
“When you asked me to take the elf to the plateau, I did,” he said. “But I also came back, before your battle with Azmuth ended.”
My eyes widened, and my muscles tensed.
“Uh oh,” Nyx said.
“Hey
…” My voice was soft now. “Death Lord, listen—”
“I will not mention this to anybody else.” His voice was flat. “Do not worry.”
I slumped over the table, and exhaled. “Thank you.”
“However, it would be best if you thought about your actions. I am certain you understand they were not normal.”
I frowned. “I’d prefer we don’t have this conversation now.”
He looked at me for a few seconds, and then nodded. “I will take my leave then.”
I stared at the wooden table, and said nothing.
The Death Lord stood up. “Remember, Diablo.” He walked for the door. “Emotions can take you to dark places at times.”
The words echoed as he closed the door, ringing through the air, and through my very bones.
I know that. I sighed, and looked out the window.
A brown-haired girl and a young kobold stood on the streets, chasing after each other, yelling and laughing. A few knights came down, watching them for a bit, and then joined in on their silly antics.
I walked away from the window with a smile on my face. I will do what it takes to protect this. I don’t give a damn what someone else thinks.
It doesn't matter if people tremble before me. It doesn't matter if they wail and scream at the mere sight of my form. It doesn’t matter if I tear through flesh and break apart bones to protect what I love.
So what if people become terrified of me? I am the Lord of the Phantoms. Being feared is not a problem.
Being feared is a weapon.
The Eternal: Hellbringer
A World of Ga’em Novel
By Dhayaa Anbajagane
CHAPTER ONE
I tore through flesh.
My blade twisted inside a Dragon’s back and the beast bellowed, letting its cries echo through the clouds. Its wings stiffened, and it fell to the ground, dropping to the sand like lightning to the earth.
I jumped off and thudded into the surface, a mere second before the creature came crashing down. I turned to its crumpled body and took a quick glance at its health bar.
Dead.
Another cry echoed out, and I looked up, at the many Dragons flying through the overcast skies. The beasts descended, spitting fire down from the clouds. Heat flowed around me, and flames of multiple colors rose from the surface.
The Eternal: A Boxed Set (World of Ga'em Book 6) Page 95