Opening Moves (The Lion Knight Book 1)

by Aurelius L. Zero

  He had landed a perfect hit on the hilt of the sword with his dagger. With the speed the weapon was going, he had struck the handle with the equivalent force of a boulder dropping from a ten story building.

  For all his strength, Allant was only human, and the human body was in no way made to resist that much force to any part of it.

  The strike had transferred virtually all of its momentum to the sword and ripped it from his grip, sending it flying in the process.

  Ow… exactly as planned. No spells can be cast inside the barrier, but using the sagent and flux to forcibly augment my body? Heh, worked like a charm.

  As Allant’s fingers were tightly clenched around it, the sudden ejection of the sword from it had shattered every bone in his hands and they hung limply from a likewise shattered wrist.

  The shattering of Leon’s knife and subsequent introduction of the fragments into his right arm did him no favours.

  Stumbling backwards in agony as he tried to make sense of what happened, Allant stared down at his mangled limbs in abject horror. Never in his life had he ever sustained such a terrible wound.

  “Told… you… I’d… take the… blade… did you… think… I was lying?”

  “BASTAAAARD! I’LL KILL YOUUUUU!”

  Screaming incoherent insults, Allant charged the stationary Leon, intending to simply bulldoze him. The puppeteer merely sat and smirked at the enraged man.

  Clutching his broken arm with his left, he swayed on the spot and stared ahead with drooping eyes.

  “I win.”

  Dimly he was aware of Noire shouting at him to get out of the way and Denzel trying to fire his jammed pistols cursing all the way.

  Completely disregarding the threat of imminent demise bearing down on him, Leon’s smile merely grew wider. Unknown to most everyone else in the room, his victory was already certain.

  “This makes it two times then? You’re a bigger help then I thought, and I’m sorry for ever thinking you were a burden.”

  “Eh? Wha-”

  Seemingly tripping over the air itself, Allant was unable to right himself in time and crashed in an unceremonious heap.

  Struggling to rise again and resume his path of vengeance, he just barely managed to crawl to all fours before a dull clang sounded and he dropped again. This time out for the count.

  “Whew, I made it!”

  A voice manifested from thin air addressing Leon.

  A series of oaths rose from the surviving Iron Wolves behind Noire’s barrier. Most of them had paled and were forming signs to ward off evil. Denzel included.

  “I knew you would, now since things have settled can you drop the cloak? They rest can’t exactly see your footprints in the dust. You’re scaring the mercenaries and I don’t need any of them getting a heart attack from fright.”

  “Ah right! Sorry.”

  A ripple formed in the air over Allant and Professor Arno faded into view.

  A sheepish expression still on his face, he clutched a piece of broken masonry in his hands, the instrument of Allant’s departure for dreamland.

  Giving a nervous laugh as all the attention was directed towards him now, Arno released the piece of rubble by accident.

  It landed on the prone form of Allant who was beginning to stir, once more knocking him out cold with a loud ding as it bashed his helm.

  “Ah hahaha, oops?”

  “The man had it coming. Shame you didn’t end him, who are you anyway?”

  “Ugh, his name… his name is Arno. He is just an unfortunate passer-by who got caught up in this mess.” Geahart answered Denzel’s inquiry.

  Giving a few convincing hacks and coughs as he made his way back to the others from where the explosion threw him.

  “SIR GEAHART, YOU’RE ALIVE!” The raven haired noble couldn’t help but exclaim. Her face lit up in a bright smile and her amber eyes twinkled with barely contained mirth.

  When the energy blast had tossed Geahart across the room like a rag doll and he failed to stand again, she had feared the worst.

  Clasping her hands to her chest, a large weight had been lifted from her shoulders.

  The threat of the Iron Wolves had been dealt with, a known criminal of the land had been brought down and everyone was still in one piece.

  Her smile did falter a bit as she took in the carnage all around her. As she began to heal Leon’s broken arm, a part of her did and continued to blame herself for everything that happened.

  “It will take a lot more than that to keep me down milady. So mercenary, what happens now?”

  Noire remained silent as she watched the exchange between the two men.

  “Now, I take what’s left of my men and leave this accursed place for good. Unless… you intend to stop us?”

  “No. You are free to leave. Take your wounded and go, it goes without saying should you ever cross us again we will finish what you started here.”

  The tension drained out of Denzel’s face at that and he breathed just a little easier. He held no illusions about the current state of affairs, if the knight had decided to finish them here now that their mutual enemy was gone, they would not survive.

  “Rest assured I don’t intend to oppose you ever again. The lord willing we will never need to meet again. About Allant….”

  “We will bring him in. He is a criminal of Albion and we will turn him over to the authorities to handle. I will not serve as judge, jury and executioner but one way or another he will not escape justice again. And I claim his sword as recompense for my destroyed blade.”

  “You’ll get no argument from me there good knight.”

  As the two shook hands to cement the cessation of hostilities, their audience released the collective breath they had been holding. No one was in the mood for any further fighting, not after everything they’d been through.

  As the mercenaries prepared to leave, everyone believed the day was done and that they were free to go now.

  Battered bruised and all around exhausted, they were more than ready for a warm shower, a hot meal and a soft bed to wash away their ills.

  As fate would have it, the world had one last bombshell to drop on them.

  “Hehehehehe, isn’t this touching? Former enemies now acting all buddy-buddy. It’s enough to make a man sick. But… I’m not one, or am I? Teehehehehe, isn’t that a wonderful question?

  “Oh, oh no. Not him, not now.”

  “HIIIIIIIIIIII! IT’S HIM! IT’S HIM! IT’S THE VOICE AGAIN!”

  “Aww are you really that upset to see me again? Well hear from me again but hey who’s keeping track?”

  “What do you want?”

  “Oh nothing much really. I just wanted to congratulate you all for a splendid show. Such magnificent violence, so much blood, gore and explosions! Truly a splendid display. Tipping off that oaf Allant really paid off huh?”

  “You? YOU? YOU’RE THE REASON ALLANT SENT US HERE! YOU’RE THE REASON MY MEN ARE GONE! COME OUT HERE SO I CAN END YOU!”

  “Now now, there’s no hurry. Much as I’d love to play with you all, the schedule for today only has room for one member of the audience to interact with the stars.”

  “And my pet has already booked the slot!”

  Shit.

  “And now, without further ado, I’d like to introduce you all to my dear friend.”

  An inky darkness began spreading across the ceiling, viscous black ooze began dripping from it. Forming an ever expanding circle of pure black, it looked like a portal straight into the darkest abyss.

  Some form of motion could be seen in the circle and a single giant limb burst forth from it.

  Covered in a multitude of bone spikes and dripping with the same black ooze, it ended in a giant paw with eight massive claws sticking out of it.

  Slowly but surely the beast pulled the rest of itself through the circle of darkness.

  As the abomination pulled itself through, its true horror was revealed to the world once more.

  The juggernaut from t
he Umbra Forest was back and it was uglier, stronger and far larger than Leon remembered… which was saying something.

  On the whole, its appearance hadn’t gone through too radical a change, its features had simply been taken to the logical extreme. It still resembled a lizard with a giant maw where its neck should be, only now it was even more heavily armed than before.

  Against all odds, its maw somehow managed to have even more teeth packed in there.

  Its back was a veritable coating of incredibly sharp bone spikes lathered in the corrosive liquid that damned near dissolved Geahart.

  Compared to before, the spikes were thicker and more numerous, not to mention far longer. This time there were no openings for Geahart to exploit, it was all armour.

  A long spiny tail extended from its back, empty of spikes except for a vicious studded flail at the very end bristling with thin spines that could easily eviscerate anyone unfortunate to be caught by them.

  Roaring in fury, and sending acid spit flying everywhere, the abomination lashed out with its tail, striking one hapless mercenary and perforating his body.

  Without giving him so much as time to scream, it had tossed the broken form into its mouth and began to chow down.

  Noire and Leon averted their eyes from the gruesome sight, both decidedly greener than was healthy.

  The survivors readied their arms to mount some kind of defence against this monstrosity, however futile that action seemed to be.

  Electricity cackled along the bone spines lining his back and lit up the monster, giving it even more of an unearthly look and amplifying the terror it inspired manifold.

  As it began to expand in size, its tremendous bulk obstructed the way to the lower levels and thus the sole escape route.

  It was terror personified, a nightmare made flesh.

  As another unearthly screech issued forth and filled its would-be prey with dread, the insane voice continued his demented laughter in the background.

  “Hahahahaha! I’d like you all to meet my beloved pet The Revenant! Dum, dum, duummm! Hahahahaha, AHAHAHAHHA!”

  Chapter 8: Nightmares

  Chaos reigned supreme as panic, terror and hopelessness infected the human survivors.

  Nothing they threw at the beast even so much as fazed it. Flux rounds dissipated harmlessly and Noire’s energy blade failed to even scratch the bone spikes.

  Only Allant’s sword managed to put a ding on the armour but given how many spikes there were, that wasn’t saying much.

  The ear splitting, soul rending screech issued forth every time they struck further crippled their morale.

  Heavily armoured limbs striking out at any nearby targets, two of the surviving Iron Wolves unfortunate enough to be within range were splattered immediately. One was crushed under foot and another was batted into the far wall, impacting with the sickening crunch of bone.

  The only reason why Leon’s group hadn’t been overwhelmed yet was the structure of the room itself.

  The Revenant’s titanic bulk made it nigh impervious to any regular attack but it also limited it. The ceiling was too low for it to stand at its full height and it wasn’t able to give chase.

  “WHAT THE HELL IS THIS THING!”

  “Some kind of weapon obviously, I’m more worried about how we’re going to get out of here though. We’re on the wrong side of the room and unless we suddenly gain the ability to fly we’re not going anywhere.”

  Geahart answered a panicking survivor in a curt tone.

  In his hands he wielded Allant’s former blade for all the good it did him.

  The ability to disable spells was ability to have but not particularly helpful at the moment and Leon had no idea how to perform the energy wave attack.

  “Sheesh, mah pet is a little overweight ain’t he? Maybe treating him to the all you can eat buffet below was a bad idea.”

  “What the hell are you talking about you sick freak!”

  “Hmmm oh, you know all the bodies below and what not. Their flesh charred just the way my pet likes it, it’s a shame though, only some were still moving. He likes it raw too. Oh well it was free anyway, and their screams were most… delicious.”

  Denzel’s body shook in fury at their tormentors callous words.

  “What the… THOSE WERE MY MEN YOU DESECRATED! I’LL KILL YOU, I SWEAR IT! EVEN IF IT’S THE LAST THING I DO! YOU HEAR ME!”

  Geahart had to physically restrain the enraged commander from charging the beast and to his inevitable demise.

  “Calm down, he’s just trying to psych you out. You go now and your men will go unavenged. Is that what you want?”

  “GRRRRRR… he will answer for what he did! He must!”

  “And he will. But blindly running to our deaths will solve nothing.”

  “See that it- ARGHHHH!”

  A horrendous screech left the maw of the abomination and flattened everyone in the room. Before their horrified eyes, the beast already tremendous size grew even more. A quick look around the room revealed why.

  Most of the fallen bodies scattered around the place had disappeared. Absorbed by the Revenant to increase its own biomass.

  “HIIIIIIIII! What do we do, what do we do, what do we do!”

  Smiling bitterly, Leon knew only one course of action that he could take. It was a foolish plan, and if Libra were here, he’d surely box his ears for simply daring to think it up.

  Shrugging off his tiredness, he reordered the crystals on his sagent with a flick of his wrist before issuing orders.

  “Mercenary, I get that you have no reason to listen to my orders or even go along with what I say but I need you to do this for me. Take your men and escort the good professor and Lady Noire out of this tower. Sir Geahart and I will stay behind to buy you all time.”

  SCREEEEEE

  “What Squire Leon you can’t-”

  Noire’s protests were cut short by a sharp wave of his hand. Looking Denzel in the eye, he continued, “Well can you do it?”

  “Heh, of course I can son. There is the matter of that… that… thing… though, how do we get past that? The tanks are outside and I don’t have any kind of firepower capable of even hurting that thing. It’ll flatten us long before we come within ten steps of the exit.”

  “Hey hey, that thing as you call it has a name ya know. It’s called Revenant. Cause it, you know keeps coming back if you don’t kill it deader than dead? Ahahahahah!”

  “And there’s that guy to worry about.”

  “Oh don’t worry about me lalala. I’m just here for the show, I even brought popcorn! Just do your thing and keep me entertained yes?”

  Staring at the titan, Leon dug deep within himself. Into the pool of power sleeping within that he swore he’d never touch again except in the direst of circumstances.

  This definitely qualified.

  Warmth surged through his body and his aches and pains seemed to fade away.

  And as the evening sun’s rays streamed through the balcony and illuminated his profile, his eyes seemed to glow red.

  A dark fearsome power swelled to replace his lost flux, raw power coursed in his veins.

  “Relax I have a plan, just get ready to run once I move the beast. You only get one shot, make it count.”

  “Don’t need to tell me twice. But uh, you sure you can handle this? It don’t sit right with me to just leave you here to get eaten just so you know. Especially not after you saved my ass earlier.”

  Leon registered the sell-sword’s words if just barely.

  The power was giving him a heady rush, and already he could feel the power seeking to corrupt him. Unholy might suffusing him, he felt invincible, the mindless beast before him was just another insect to be stepped on.

  Dredging up every bit of resolve he had left, Leon managed to shut off access to the fount of power with a supreme act of will.

  The effort left him gasping with pain. It was addictive no doubt about that, an incredibly potent drug so easy to lose oneself to. Being cut off fr
om the power felt as though he had taken a knife to one of his own body parts, its sudden loss was so keenly felt that it actually hurt.

  Ignoring the looks of concern directed his way, he resumed relaying his instructions to the mercenary leader.

  “We have one way to deal with this, but the chance of collateral damage is too high. We can’t cut loose with you all here. Lady Noire, please go with them. We will join you once we’re done exterminating this bug.”

  “I… I… very well.”

  Noire breathed out in a resigned tone. Giving her guardians one last look before she left, her eyes held an unspoken prayer.

  She didn’t like this at all, it was far too reminiscent of the way her friends had been lost to her uncle. They hid it well, but she wasn’t fooled by their facade for even a moment, neither Leon nor Geahart were in any condition to fight anymore.

  And there was nothing she could do about it.

  As Leon gave Noire what he hoped was a reassuring nod, he readied himself for what could very well be his last battle.

  Alright, here we go.

  With the burst of power, he was now at around fifty percent of his peak. An impressive upgrade from being on his last legs but he wasn’t sure if it would be enough.

  He could have dug deeper, exposed himself to the darkness longer, but he wasn’t willing to take the risk.

  He wasn’t willing to chance a repeat of the nightmare of eight years past… he would die before he implicated Noire in the madness that would inevitably follow losing himself to the power within.

  The time for regrets was over, now was a time for action. One way or another, Noire would be leaving this place safe and sound. He swore it on his soul.

  With a mighty war cry, Leon dodged a blast of lightning from the creature’s maw and thrust his gloved hand out towards the beast and the other towards the balcony.

  As his spell activated, bands of golden light formed around both arms and extended outwards several feet.

  A solid beam of cerulean light fired from his glove at the Revenant.

  Right before it reached, the beam exploded outwards into a sphere, engulfing the beast whole. Its startled screech was cut off midway.