by Billy Wong
"My energy is not unlimited," he admitted. "But it's enough to beat you!" He conjured a massive explosion centered on himself, which shattered boulders within its radius and flung her dozens of feet from him. She heard him groan from the strain—but she lay twitching in agony, her whole body a sea of pain. She probably had broken bones, and ruptured organs judging from the blood that welled up her throat. His limping footsteps approached her. "This is your end..."
She forced herself to roll aside from the spike of earth he summoned from below her and threw her chain-attached javelin. It pierced his shoulder, and she jerked him forward into the path of her rising hammer. He put his sword up in time, but when the maul impacted with it, it flew out of his grip. It stuck upright in the ground—then half of it fell off as it broke into two pieces.
Though she still hadn't gotten up in her pain and weakness, she asked, "Now what?"
He ripped the javelin out of his shoulder, taking with it a chunk of flesh, and struggled to smirk. "That was your last gasp. I could kick you over right now and beat you to death with my bare hands."
"That's what you want to be the case. But if you really believe it, are you willing to come test it?" When he didn't move, she planted the butt of her hammer into the ground. "Tell you what, we could even settle the rest of this without weapons. Since I already broke yours."
Maximilian glowered. "I don't need generosity from you!" He ran to where the halves of his sword had fallen and snatched them up. Putting them together, he seemed to turn them soft with his magic and fused them back into one. "And I certainly won't give you any when your crude hammer fails and I cleave the life from you."
She eyed her notched up handle nervously. "Your weapon may be in perfect shape again, but neither of us are. I suppose this will end soon one way or the other. So let's end it." Bleeding heavily from their wounds and other orifices, they launched themselves at each other once more.
#
Lars' heart sank as he and Ruth's attempt to shoot out the digger's wheels failed, their quarrels disappearing beneath its treads with no effect. They along with Allen and Scott barely leapt out of the way, Scott yelling in pain as the drill grazed his foot. Just the instant of contact shredded his boot, and flayed away a large patch of skin exposing raw bloody meat. "We can't keep this up much longer..." he said wincing on the ground. The digger turned for another pass. "The wheels are armored by those treads from the front, you might need to attack them from the side."
"We already tried doing that, and nothing!" Allen replied.
"With melee weapons. Our ranged ones don't seem heavy enough."
Lars frowned. "But it would be so risky to wait that long to dodge and time it just right."
"We won't be able to keep dodging for much longer anyway. We have to catch it soon before it catches us."
Ruth drew her mace and sword. "I'll do it. My name is Risky anyway."
"Isn't it Ruthless?" Scott asked.
"Don't let facts ruin a good line." Grimly, she added, "Especially when it might be my last."
Allen said, "I'll help you. We're both lighter on our feet than Lars."
The digger came on again. Lars helped Scott evade, while Ruth and Allen waited for the last moment to jump aside and stuck their sword and spear into the wheels. Ruth yelped painfully as the hilt was torn from her grasp, and Allen was left staring at the broken shaft of his spear. Ruth struck at the back wheels with her mace as well while the vehicle rolled past, but again the only effect was on her as she grimaced. "Ouch, my fingers..."
"Maybe we need something bigger," Lars mused. "My axe?" But holding it before him, it didn't seem quite big enough. In the corner of his eye, he saw Cart-Dragger leap over a giant blade of lightning and knock Maximilian down with a flying kick. "Hey duchess, can we borrow your hammer for a second? I'll give you my axe."
"Fine, I'm getting worried about it holding up anyway. Are you strong enough to wield it?"
Not the most friendly question to his pride. "For one swing? Hopefully." He threw her the axe, which she used to block a slash from Maximilian, and she tossed him the hammer. He just managed to catch it, stumbling from the weight. So massively heavy...
"It's coming," Scott said, "hurry!"
He faced the metal hulk bearing down. Throwing himself aside, he twisted around to swing at its wheels. Even though he put all his strength into it, the strike was clumsy—but it proved to be enough. The first wheel flew off immediately upon being touched, followed by a second as the head continued on into it. Its balance destroyed, the digger tilted so that it went up on one corner for a moment. Its drill dug into the earth, but with one side disabled, it couldn't escape beneath the ground. It lay there slanted, drill spinning uselessly with its rear end suspended in the air.
"Willow you're amazing!" Scott beamed.
Lars looked at him. "Don't I get any credit, or the smith who made her hammer for that matter?"
"It was a nice desperate swing," Ruth said.
"Can I get my hammer back now?" Cart-Dragger asked. "Your weapon is flimsy." Lars' battleaxe had already lost one of its double blades, and Maximilian grinned as him blocking with his magic sword put a deep nick in the other one. He staggered her with a firebolt to the midriff, dashed after her and cut her chest as she tried to sidestep. Lars threw the hammer to her. She caught it, used it to parry another blow from Maximilian, then sliced his arm with Lars' axe before tossing it to him. "Thanks."
"You're welcome," he said in a small voice while she drove Maximilian backwards with blisteringly fast hammer strokes.
A grinding sound from behind made him turn back towards the digger. The hatch on top opened, and men armed with swords and spears climbed out. Lars, Allen, Ruth and Scott faced them, each sporting a one-bladed axe, broken spear, bent mace, or hopping on one good foot. Just because the digger was down, didn't mean their battle with its crew was over yet.
#
Cart-Dragger snapped off a pair of kicks to Maximilian's liver and solar plexus, then attempted to brain him with a one-armed blow of her maul. He ducked and gashed her over the ribs, but the punch she threw simultaneously with her free hand knocked him back. They circled each other panting, both hesitant to make the next move in their exhausted state. "Aren't you going to attack," he asked, "if you're supposed to be so bold?"
"I don't see your great confidence anymore either. But fine, I'll humor you." Willing leaden limbs covered with wounds to move, she rushed him. He tried to duck under her sweeping hammer and counter, but had slowed down even more than her and ate a backswing that sent him sprawling.
"It"—he gasped for breath—"isn't fair. You're not winning because of greater skill. It's just your natural strength, that you lucked out on having, which outlasts mine. You don't deserve to win, you don't..."
She leaned on her hammer, vision blurring before she fought back the dizziness. She wasn't even sure if she was winning, considering how close to collapse she felt, but letting him think so wouldn't hurt. "What, and you didn't luck out being born the heir to Emperor Rouge with all those resources and training available to you? You can't blame me for the gifts I have, we all do what we can with the hand we're dealt. Besides, like I told my friends, my gifts might be pretty useless in an ideal world. I bet your education would be worth a lot more. Hell, it would probably be worth more in our world if you didn't squander it being evil."
"Evil? How am I evil and not you? We're not so different. We both kill when we want to, even if you justify it under a pretense of righteousness. You're no inspiring underdog hero either. Have you ever not been able to get your way by bullying others with your strength? You getting on your high horse, making moralizing speeches... it's a bad joke."
She rolled her eyes. "That's really your argument? You can't put doubt in me with that. I know exactly how I'm different from you. I fight to make the world better for others too, while you do everything solely to benefit yourself."
"Is that what you think? You're wrong. I've been taught about
you empire-haters' rhetoric. You believe the empire's purpose is to benefit those who rule it, don't you? It isn't so."
"Hmm? Do go on."
"Is it possible you aren't so unreasonable after all? When the founders of the empire realized there were no such things as gods, they concluded that men should create something to serve the role myth said gods were supposed to—to bring order to the chaos, and lead humanity towards its potential. That something was a world government. But other less advanced civilizations clung to outdated loyalties, and stubbornly opposed unification. You talk about an ideal world? It would already have been achieved if those fools accepted the guidance of their superiors."
Though the physical fight had been paused, Cart-Dragger's blood pounded in her veins as if they still engaged in an equally important battle. "But what gives your empire the right to declare its culture superior? You tried to force people to discard their values for your own, instead of just spreading your knowledge and letting others choose what to accept for themselves. You were wrong. In your haste to make a better world, you overstepped your bounds and made it worse than ever before."
"We weren't wrong! Imperfections have to be removed lest they continue to perpetuate themselves. What's wrong is that we failed. We shouldn't have been stopped when we were so close, that was an aberration in the workings of the universe. But it's our fate to create a peaceful world. That's why some of us survived, and this time we'll succeed. There is no one now to stop us-"
"There is me."
"Even after you heard me, you still..?"
She met his eyes resolutely. "Maybe you aren't completely, pure evil. You sound like you believe in the garbage you're spewing. But you still killed Jen and probably other innocent people—and, I. Don't. Trust. You. Why would I let someone who so casually murders strangers, and still insists he's committed no wrongs, lead humanity towards the bright future he envisions? Have you expressed one bit of doubt about anything you've done? Doubting is part of being human, and one who blinds himself so utterly in their zeal has lost the humanity that leaders should have. You're not qualified to rule."
Maximilian raised his sword again. "If you insist on standing in my way, you're not qualified to live."
"Well, there it is. In that case, this is the end of the line for one of us. But, you know... not me."
"I won't lose to you again! My supreme versatility-"
"Oh shut the fuck up, stop trying to convince yourself!" She lurched towards him.
He shot forward with a low cut at her legs. She flipped effortfully over it, swung in midair at his skull. He parried and countered with a slice that went over her tucked head while she dropped back to the ground. She thrust her hammer at his face. He sidestepped. His eyes were hard with determination as he hacked relentlessly at her high, low, from the sides and every direction, seeking a gap in her guard. She fought back just as fiercely, forcing him to make many desperate dodges since he couldn't meet her blows head on as well as she could his.
"Despite our differences, I admire your persistence as a warrior. But what will you do when your hammer breaks?" His prophecy came true, for when he slashed at her face, her attempt to block resulted in his blade shearing through the weakened haft of her trusty bludgeon.
She leaned back enough so the tip just scratched her cheek, kicked the lower half of her maul as it fell so the broken end was driven into Maximilian's knee. "I'll just have a four foot hammer instead of a seven foot one!" She caught the upper half in her hands. Seeing him stunned with pain, she did a full spin with her shortened hammer—mallet, perhaps?—and slammed it into the center of his chest. She heard a crack as his breastbone gave, and he flopped down a dozen feet away in the dirt. "And that, is a wrap!"
She walked sluggishly towards his body thinking to finish him if he showed any sign of life, but then remembered something. Her friends! She turned to see Lars, Allen and Ruth still locked in mortal combat with a quartet of warriors. A fifth lay dead, while Scott sat beside him—thankfully alive, though cradling a red mess of a foot. Bleeding from a cut on the neck that must have fallen a hair short of being fatal, Ruth doubled a enemy over with her mace to the belly and proceeded to cave in the back of his skull. She ran to aid Lars, who struggled to free himself from the chokehold of a larger foe. The man shoved Lars into her, and they fell together in a tangle of limbs. Allen rammed his spear through an opponent's heart, but took a punch from another that dropped him. The sword of the empire rose over him.
Cart-Dragger's hammer plowed into the imperial's face, which disappeared in a red cloud. "Maximilian Rouge's reign is over," she said to the one who advanced on Lars and Ruth, "and so is the empire."
"Reign over what?" Scott asked.
"Dammit you know what I mean!"
The last imperial shook his head vigorously. "You'll never defeat the empire!" He charged. As he passed by Lars and Ruth, Lars rose to chop into his back. "Cheat! You'll never..." He fell on his face. "I still have my pride..." he whispered, and passed away.
"A timely death," Ruth said. "Would have lost his pride after moving forward about one more second."
Cart-Dragger shrugged. "I'm pretty worn down. Maybe he could have beaten me." Then again... nah. A loud bellow reminded her why the ground was still shaking. She looked to where Abaddon and Behemoth still fought, the latter biting Abaddon's forearm while he tried to free himself with short punches to Behemoth's head. "This is taking too long. Abaddon, elbow his nose!" As instructed, Abaddon drove his elbow straight down into his adversary's sniffer, an ear-splitting blow that made Behemoth release his other arm. He punched Behemoth back and shot a roaring cylinder of flame from his mouth. As the fire covered the other King Elemental, the heat was such that the humans felt it even from afar and all but Cart-Dragger shrank back. But when it died down, they saw Behemoth had shielded himself from the worst of it with a wall of rock he'd called up from the earth. He came on again.
"Now let's do our combination move we practiced that time!" Cart-Dragger said. Everyone stared as Abaddon put a hand down, and she climbed onto the back of it. He made a fist and loaded it up while she held on. "Abaddon..." she began as he sent Behemoth to all fours with a tremendous haymaker, "Hammer!" She jumped off Abaddon's fist and swung her hammer down on top of Behemoth's head. He crashed onto his belly to lay motionless.
She grinned widely. "That's three out of three King Elementals defeated by me!"
"I think Abaddon deserves the credit for that one," Scott pointed out. "Your antics probably just distracted Behemoth so his big punch did more damage."
"No, it was a joint effort. He wouldn't have been able to follow up as quickly as I did. Our combo didn't give Behemoth a moment to recover, hence why I was able to put the nail in the coffin."
"Is he dead?" Ruth asked.
She frowned at the fallen beast. "Probably not. Although I imagine he'll wake up with a major headache added to his daily pains. Now, time to make sure Maximilian is-" Her voice caught in her throat when she took in the spot where he had lain. All that remained was a puddle of blood. "Did he escape again?! If I have to search one more time..."
"He couldn't have gone far, right?" Lars said, supporting a dazed Allen. "He was gravely wounded."
"If you want to be free from your pain," Cart-Dragger heard a wet voice croak, "you must run where I tell you." Oh, no... She turned in time to watch Behemoth spring to his feet—coaxed awake by magic, perhaps?—and flee, the broken body of Maximilian clinging to his neck.
"Abaddon, stop him!" she cried. He tried to grab Behemoth, but a thick tail whipped into his chest and knocked him on his butt. Behemoth bounded away, his outline shrinking as he put space between them.
Allen squinted in disbelief. "Who knew that big thing could move so fast?"
Cart-Dragger replied, "I guess he can when he's motivated. Abaddon, what are you waiting for? Grab us up and go after them!" Abaddon ran across the barren country in pursuit of Behemoth, four of his human passengers barely holding on. "Faster, faster
!"
"No, not faster, faster!" Scott said.
"Are you kidding? We have to catch up before Behemoth can power the Rings and turn Abaddon against us!"
"Didn't you just see my vomit flying through the air behind us?" He gulped as he really took in what she'd said. "But yeah, I guess you're right."
A gargantuan pair of rings came into view in the distance. "There it is! Thank goodness we're closing on them! Soon we'll-"
"Stop!" Lars shouted. "Stop, stop!"
"What?! What are you saying, why..." She looked towards him. He hung by his fingers from Abaddon's shoulder, Allen dangling limply from his other hand.
"Allen, he... fainted, and I couldn't hold him up."
She hung her head. "Goddammit."
Abaddon halted and lifted Lars and Allen back onto his shoulder. They found that Allen was breathing, but feared his condition might be worse than a temporary swoon. In any case, Lars said, "I know we have to keep going, but we can't just leave Allen here alone. What should we do?"
Scott offered, "I'll stay with him. I'm not quite as good at fighting as you and Ruth, so it'll be less of a loss not to have me around."
"But you're the engineer. Your knowledge might prove useful in dealing with the Rings."
"Will you please hurry up this discussion," Cart-Dragger begged, "time's a-wasting..."
"Why don't you just stay with him?" Ruth asked Lars. "You don't have to be there for the final showdown, it's not like you're the hero or something."
"And I thought you were going to volunteer, but I guess you have too much pride for that. Why don't you, you're pretty redundant when we have the duchess around."
"By that token, aren't you just an inferior version of her too? It's not like you do anything better than her other than piss far and be tall."
"Stop arguing and one of you just stay!" Cart-Dragger screamed. "We need to move move move!"