by Aaron Oster
Only a small tuft was pulled from the beast’s hide, but Morgan wasn’t even close to finished. Another strike followed the second, and when the Pinnacle King tried to slip this one as well, pulling another chain in his way, Morgan’s hand opened, grabbing the chain and jerking it to the side. The beast was yanked flat against the shattered stone slab, and Morgan wrapped the chain around her torso to keep her from escaping.
His gauntleted fist came down, driving hard into her abdomen and shattering the remainder of the slab, folding the taller Pinnacle King in two. The cavern shook under the force of his blow, and the explosion of air that was forced from the feline’s lungs was music to his ears.
Morgan drew his fist back, revealing that although the punch had been a substantial one, the Pinnacle King showed no outward signs of damage. He knew they were tough and that it would take more than a single blow to take her out. Still, so long as she was tied, there would be little she could do.
“Thanks for that. I would never have gotten free without your help!”
Morgan teleported back, the air twisting around him for an instant. He appeared ten feet back a half-second later, avoiding the massive black claws that had swiped through the air just an instant before he’d moved.
His eyes narrowed. From the shattered remains of the sandstone slab, the Pinnacle King rose to her full seven-foot height. Chains remained bolted to one of her wrists and both legs, but the tethers, which had been attached to the sandstone slab in question, had all been knocked loose by Morgan’s attacks.
The Pinnacle King gave him another smile as she flexed her claws, the taut muscle beneath the fur rippling as shifting as she did so.
“It is so good to be free once more. Now the world can truly feel my power!”
Morgan nearly staggered back as the Pinnacle King’s body erupted in violet light, the reiki seeming to scorch the very air with its intensity. As her power continued to increase, Morgan felt the smallest twinge of doubt for the first time since coming here.
43
Name: Pentagon the Desiccator, Pinnacle King of Drought
Rank - 51
Ability Type - Super/Mage
Morgan’s eyes narrowed as he read that over, noting that nothing past her initial name, rank and ability type was available to him. It seemed as though he still wasn’t strong enough to see a Pinnacle King’s expanded powerset, even though he was a full 18 ranks above her. Even with that staggering gap in rank, Morgan knew that his power may not be enough to beat her.
Not only was she a Pinnacle King, but she also could use reiki. Just as with Octagon, her ability was listed as Super/Mage, and not supermage. This meant that he had a single significant advantage over her. While her reiki was finite, his was, in theory, infinite. If he made sure to keep the pressure on and force her to expend all of her reiki, he may still be able to beat her.
Pentagon’s body was already shifting, just as Octagon’s had when he’d released all his power. It appeared that all of the Pinnacle Kings were either forced into a certain form or that that was how they preferred to remain while bound in chains. However, once they decided to fight seriously, they would transform, unleashing their full might.
He watched as Pentagon grew, shooting up to a full nine and a half feet. A row of spines extended from her brow, slanting upward in a macabre approximation of a crown. Her fur, mostly tan until now, grew darker in a few places, mainly on her chest, navel and legs. Muscle rippled across her shoulders and abdomen, standing out in even greater contrast than before, though she retained her clearly feminine physique.
This caused her to be far less bulky than Octagon, as he had had far more muscle mass. Morgan would have to be a fool to think that she was any less dangerous, and despite the burning rage boiling inside, he was no fool. A long black tail snaked out from behind her. It was almost chitinous in appearance and had multiple sections, which ended in a wicked barb nearly a foot long.
Lastly, a pair of massive feathered wings extended from her shoulders, several black feathers fluttering to the ground as they flared outward. Had Morgan not known what sort of monster this creature truly was, he may have thought that she was beautiful or almost angelic, in the same way he’d seen past Lumia’s bestial nature and to the friend and ally she’d become to be. This creature, though, was the antithesis of everything Morgan held dear.
“It feels so good to finally let loose!” Pentagon crowed, flexing her fingers and allowing the gleaming black claws to extend and retract. “It has been far too long.”
Morgan didn’t much feel like bantering. Instead, he activated his supermage shield, then layered his body in Stormforged armor. He was facing a Pinnacle King, one of the strongest beasts in the world, and could not afford to take any risks. And, unlike the last time he’d faced one of her kind, he would be doing it all alone. The battle to defeat Octagon had taken the strongest supers and mages from three different kingdoms.
Their entire group had been slaughtered to a man as a result of his weakness. Well, it wouldn’t happen this time. He refused to allow any more lives to be lost because he wasn’t strong enough. No one else was going to die at the hands of this beast or her kind. Not while he was still alive.
Pentagon grinned as Morgan prepared his defenses. It was an easy smile, one filled with confidence and surety.
“Come now, Father. Is this what you want? To fight your daughter? Your humanity seems to be clouding your judgment. Why not simply let it go and join me? Together, we could accomplish so much. Our family could rule this world, reign supreme over an army of our making, and transform the pitiful race inhabiting these lands into the ferocious monsters fit to serve beneath us!”
Morgan glared at the lioness, now towering a full three feet above him. She was a truly intimidating sight to behold, yet he was not afraid. He knew the price of failure here and what it would mean, not only for the Five Kingdoms and the world at large, but for his chances of seeing Sarah again. He’d lost her once, had spent the last two years on his own because of a Pinnacle King. Now that he had a chance to see her again, to bring her back and correct his mistakes, he wasn’t going to let himself fail. Not again.
A dozen violet spears, crackling with lightning, appeared in the air around him, costing a massive 3,500 RP. He’d been saving his reiki, making sure not to spend even a bit on his way down here. With his new massive regen of 84.5 per second, he’d have it all back in just 41 seconds. That was a lot of time in a fight, but Pentagon had her limits as well, and he would be making sure to push them as hard as he could.
“I’ll take that as a no, then?” she asked, sounding genuinely disappointed. “I do not know why you seem so dead-set on seeing this course of action through, but if I cannot change your mind, then perhaps killing your human side will set you free!”
Pentagon’s wings snapped out, and she flapped hard, sending a powerful gust of wind tearing across the distance between them. The sand around them billowed up into the air, and the scorching heat of the underground cavern rose even further. Morgan paid it almost no heed, launching his spears as she flapped into the air. Ten violet streaks flashed toward the Pinnacle King, crackling with power, but Pentagon had already proven how flexible she was and was able to avoid every single one of them.
The violet streaks flashed past as she contorted her body, twisting, ducking and whirling as she flapped her powerful wings, driving more sand into the air. Morgan growled, feeling his anger building once more as he joined her in the air. The spears streaked back around, now behind her and in her blind side. He knew that she wouldn’t be taken off guard so easily, so he’d shot forward, trying to split her focus.
Pentagon was wise to the ploy and flapped her powerful wings, taking her higher into the air. Sand continued to rise around them, and Morgan could feel the Pinnacle King working some type of skill. He reached out with his Earthen Shift to try and take control of the sands, but strangely enough, he found himself unable to.
“I am the King of Drought!” Pent
agon crowed as she felt him trying to wrestle control of the sand from her. “While you may be the King of Beasts, able to command multiple aspects of nature, my control over the sands reigns supreme!”
The forged spears flashed upward, all headed on a collision course with Pentagon’s body. Morgan had spread them wide, aiming for her wings, back, legs, head and tail. He vanished, teleporting right up to her at the last second, his gauntlet morphing into a lance and screaming with power as red and blue lightning crackled across its surface.
Pentagon’s arm snapped up, her hand catching the lance and sending lightning coursing through her body. However, instead of locking up her muscles and knocking her from the air, the massive voltage seemed to have almost no discernable effect. All ten spears lanced into her at the same time, discharging their payloads all at once, yet none of them managed to break skin. The Pinnacle King grinned as Morgan strained against her, trying to force the lance closer to her chest. It didn’t work. It was almost as though it were blocked
“Electricity won’t do you much good, Father. Lightning cannot harm me, nor can you seize control of the sands. Your options are narrowing by the second. What will you do now?”
Morgan ground his teeth together in frustration as he tried to force the lance into the beast’s chest. However, she seemed to be holding him back, and with little to no effort on her part. Two of his most used attacks were having no effect, which meant that in this case, he’d need to change his strategy.
The construct morphed suddenly, changing into a spear and momentarily slipping free of Pentagon’s grip. Her eyes widened for a moment, then a wall of sand shot up between them, trapping Morgan’s spear halfway through and grinding to a halt once more.
“That was quite clever, I’ll admit,” Pentagon said as a hole opened in the wall of sand. “Almost had me there for a second.”
“You really do enjoy the sound of your own voice,” Morgan growled, sending his constructs into her back once more.
This time, Pentagon whirled, her claws flashing out in a rapid series of swipes, slashing the violet constructs from the air. Morgan teleported, then appeared on the other side of the sand wall, swinging at her head. The gauntlet quadrupled in size instantly, appearing almost like a massive hand at the end of a much smaller arm. He did this to give himself much more surface area, so that if she tried to dodge, some part of his punch would hit her.
A stone pillar shot from the ground, and Pentagon reared back. Her reactions were lightning-fast, but it was clear from the surprise on her face that she hadn’t expected that. Her eyes narrowed as he missed her by mere inches. Then, for the first time since they engaged, she struck back. Her tail flashed out from behind her back, extending far further than what should have been possible with the limited reach of the limb.
The gauntlet around his hand flared out wide, forming into a shield and intercepting the blow. Cracks radiated out from the point of impact, and Morgan felt the pure power behind the strike as it landed. The stinger even managed to punch through, extending a full inch on the opposite side and stopping just a hair from its extended fist. It was only then, with the tail so close, that Morgan saw the clear fluid that was beading on its tip.
Poison.
Morgan struck back, his left hand flashing out and using Compression. The boom of displaced air sounded as the blast landed, slamming into Pentagon’s abdomen and knocking her from the air. The fact that her tail was still stuck in his shield helped Morgan keep her in place. Even as she fell, he flowed, driving another concentrated blast of air into her stomach. The Pinnacle King twisted with the second blow, avoiding taking any damage, even as reiki flared around her.
The sands began to rise, burning hot air whipping up around them as she flapped her wings. She jerked her tail back, and Morgan went with the motion, closing the distance and taking another swing at her head. Pentagon’s mouth opened wide, and a roar blasted from her throat. The air was scorching. In fact, it was so hot, that he, someone who was used to extreme heat, could feel it crisping his skin.
He ignored the pain, following through with his assault. The shield was released, and his right hand drove forward, power flooding the limb as he used Maximum Increase. He was too close, and the sudden change in speed was too quick for Pentagon to react in time. The blow landed, solid and powerful, slamming into the Pinnacle King’s jaw with a loud crack and blasting her from the air. She slammed into the ground an instant later, the impact causing a crater to form as her body burrowed into the sand.
Morgan rammed into her a second after that, his speed and power – both of which had quadrupled, thanks to his skill – more than enough to make up the difference between them. The air rushed from Pentagon’s lungs as Morgan’s boot drove into her gut, the bone creaking ominously beneath the tough exterior. He pushed a little more, and the violet shield cloaking her body cracked and shattered in several places.
He followed up, dropping a knee into her ribcage as hard as he could, then drove a punch at her head. She whipped it to one side, and he buried his fist in the sand up to the elbow, bringing his face within a couple of inches from hers. It was only once they were this close that Morgan knew she could see it. It was in the way her eyes widened, the way her lips parted ever so slightly, and the small breath she released.
Up until now, she’d been convinced he wasn’t trying to kill her. Hurt her, perhaps, maybe even maim, but to kill her outright? She really hadn’t expected that. But the cold hatred in his eyes, the remorseless, burning desire to see her life ended, and the almost manic gleam as he ripped his fist free from the sand told her otherwise. Until now, she’d been fighting with the intention of slowing him down or maybe wearing him out. Now, though, she would be taking this fight far more seriously.
Just as Pentagon could read the murderous intent in his eyes, he could see the moment when it entered hers as well. He teleported away then, despite being in a superior tactical position. When the sand around her turned to glass, then erupted upward in a conflagration of roaring fire, he was glad he had.
As much as he relied on heat, fire and other such tactics in his fighting style, it looked like they would be all but useless in the face of Pentagon’s power. It seemed that she had control not only over the earth, but over heat as well. In a desert region like the West Kingdom, that was hardly a surprise. Her name was a dead giveaway, too – The Desiccator, Pinnacle King of Drought. As she emerged from the crumbling remains of the glass tower that had risen to the ceiling, which was now blackened and burned from the heat, he understood the challenge he was facing.
Not that Morgan cared. Hatred kept him from feeling any fear. Every time he looked upon her face, he was reminded of what their kind had taken from him. Sarah, hanging off the claws of the Pinnacle King of Winter, her lifeblood draining from her body and dripping to the ice below, flashed in his mind. The exact same thing could easily have happened to her, had she faced this monster instead of the last.
The Pinnacle Kings were a scourge upon this world, and Morgan would personally see to it that every single one of them ended up in the ground!
44
“I hate having to wait around like this,” Grace said, pacing back and forth in her small room. “I hate having to just wait around, while he’s off on his own, fighting some dangerous beast!”
“And tell me, child,” Lumia said, from her place curled up on her bed. “What do you plan on doing, should you go and help him? Do you think that you could make a difference against the sort of beast that even he would have a hard time beating?”
Grace glared at Lumia for several long seconds, then let out an annoyed huff.
“Why don’t you go, then?” she asked. “I know you can make a difference. What about all of the big, strong rulers of the Five Kingdoms? Surely they’re strong enough to help! Why are you all staying back here, hiding like cowards, while Morgan is out there risking his life for a country that isn’t even his?”
Despite her seemingly endless patience, Lumia did
have a limit, and the way Grace was talking almost brought her to the edge. Still, when she replied, she managed to keep her tone civil, if not a little cold.
“We do what is best for everyone, not only for ourselves. The rulers of nations cannot risk their lives, for fear of their countries falling into disarray. Yes, they would have gone regardless, but Morgan didn’t give them that choice. He went off on his own because he already knew this.”
“What about the alliance?” Grace asked, refusing to back down. “He’s for sure just as, if not more, important than the rest of them! Without him, the war will continue, so why did they just let him go on his own?”
Lumia’s excuse sounded flimsy, even to her, and she wasn’t going to let her get away with such a poor answer. They were hiding something from her, something that no one seemed to want to talk about. She had been able to feel it when Morgan had said he was going off alone. There had been thick tension in the air, and the way Morgan had looked before he’d gone off told her that there was a reason. In all her time with him, she had never seen him so enraged. It was as though he’d become a different person altogether, one that no one wanted to argue with.
“You are too young to understand,” Lumia replied. “Perhaps when you’re a bit older…”
“Explain it to me now,” she said, crossing her arms. “I refuse to accept the fact that Morgan, someone who is constantly teaching me about strategy, care and planning, would go into a fight he thought he couldn’t win without any form of backup. The Morgan I know would never take such a risk.”