by Charles Dean
“No!! You can’t fight the Herald yourself!” Miller shouted when he saw where Lee was headed. Yet, despite his warning, Miller looked as if he was about to turn and run straight for Devin as well. “Men! Form the line and hold the enemy off! I will return for their blood!”
“Oh, you missed me that much?” Devin called out to Lee as he saw the pair running at him. “Have you come running toward your master for more advice on how to fight?”
Lee just pushed forward without responding to the verbal jabs. He dodged back and forth between the giants without bothering to stop or deal with them, weaving in between their frosty breath attacks when necessary, and he reached the blue sphere in short order. He hesitated for a brief instant as he debated whether or not he should push forward into the bubble but then plunged inside the snow globe without so much as slowing down.
He instinctively closed his eyes as he entered the sphere. He was assaulted by an icy blast as he passed through the barrier. The tiny shards of ice that had pricked his skin and left him numb mere moments before were nothing compared to the sudden frigidity he felt. Frost formed across his skin, his breath billowed out in a white cloud in front of him, and he felt his muscles constrict and slow as his sprint was slowed to what was little more than a brisk power walk. He had been expecting something of this sort after watching Pelham and Dave earlier, but it was still an extreme shock to his system nonetheless.
His mind had been working on overdrive ever since he realized that this was going to be a problem as he tried to figure out how he was going to counteract the effects of the frigid air, and now that he had plunged inside, he was only going to get a single shot to test out his theory. He began funneling his energy throughout his body as he would during a healing process, circulating his mana through his system. It was something he would have done anyway since he had sustained so much damage, but it was also the only thing he could come up with that might keep him alive. The healing effect was somewhat mitigated, and while he was only able to heal himself at a rate of between 17 and 18 hit points per second for a cost .5% of his mana per increment, his speed was also restored just as he had hope. The tingling sensation disappeared from his skin, and feeling began to return to his numb extremities as his own spiritual presence cut off Devin’s magic and blocked it from taking effect.
Devin’s guards were occupied with Pelham and Dave, who, upon seeing Lee approach, had re-entered the snow globe just before him, likely intending to cover his assault on Devin. They had already managed to get two kills while holding off the remaining enemies despite moving incredibly slowly. Their experience and combat prowess had overcome the handicap, and while they were no longer able to make headway, they were able to fend off their foes’ much faster attacks. Lee had never seen a flail used defensively, but its large two-handed handle intercepted opponents’ spears and diverted them as smoothly as if Dave were using a quarterstaff.
“I see you’re not as dumb as I thought,” Devin commented without showing any signs of fear as Lee closed the distance between them. “You took a risk at the expense of your own health to come straight at me. You likely think that the body will die if you cut off the head.” Devin bent over and extended his hand toward the earth, and before his hand even reached the ground, a small, blue sphere appeared. The glowing orb of energy expanded as it was withdrawn the ground, instantly shooting up and transforming into a much larger sphere of ice that was supported by a blue rod.
Lee felt his spine tingle with fear as he watched the ball of ice grow larger still. It changed shape in the blink of an eye, taking on the form of a giant icicle, and shot directly toward him. He dodged to the side as fast as he could, but the spike still struck him at a glancing angle for 12 damage. He was now back to 208 health despite the hit since he had been healing for four seconds, and he edged closer, thinking he’d have a clean shot at an unguarded target. Then the rod shot out a second shard of ice.
“Lee, DODGE LEFT!” Miller shouted from behind.
Lee dodged to the right instead of left like Miller had suggested, and something struck him square in the back as soon as he made his move. He had absolutely no idea what it was, but it hurt like hell as it slammed into him from behind and knocked him flat to the ground, dealing 55 damage in the process. It also shocked him so badly that it took a moment for him to gather his wits and begin healing again. Swapping to one of his golem’s eyes, he instantly saw what the problem was: one of Devin’s ice giants had dug down into the park’s ground, ripped out a chunk of earth, and then focused its frigid breath into its hands and the soil it held there, guaranteeing that the dirt was hardened into a single frozen clump.
“Get up! Move! Roll right!” Miller shouted, and this time, Lee followed the command without question. He rolled to his right and dodged an ice lance from Devin’s orb before standing up. He may have been able to use Ethan to see things clearly from a third person point of view, but it was hard to focus on such distinctly different sides of the fight at the same time without a small bit of lag between his mind reasoning out which way he should move and his motor skills executing the endeavor.
“Lee, don’t fight him! I must be the one to kill him!” Miller demanded as he finally reached Lee’s side, glancing backward constantly to monitor both the rod and the giant that was about to hurl another clump of frozen dirt at them.
“You can help, but this is my fight too,” Lee insisted. “We have to kill him as quickly as we can, or those people from Satterfield will die to the ice giants!”
“You don’t understand! You can’t be the one to kill him!” Miller warned, but Lee was too focused on the giant behind him and Devin in front of him to pay attention.
“It’s cute when an idiot rushes toward his own death!” Devin laughed and held out his hand to form another ice lance. This time, Lee was faced with two firing off in rapid succession from his front and the ice giant throwing his icy boulder at the same time from behind. He’d be struck no matter which direction he moved, so he did the one thing Devin probably didn’t expect: he tripped himself, falling face first into the dirt, and allowed all three attacks to pass by him.
Devin’s ice lances stuck into the frozen ground, but the ball of earth only slowed down a bit before continuing forward and striking Devin in his chest. The Herald went flying back several feet and landed flat his back with a loud grunt. The pulsing blue rod of ice was thrown from his grasp.
“I can’t believe I fell for that,” Devin complained as he pushed himself up. “Oh, well. Live and learn. I’ll make sure to angle that better the next time I’m forced to fight a Herald.”
“I don’t think there will be a next time,” Lee said. The fall had caused him to take 9 points of damage again, but it was negligible with the rate he was healing.
“I think so.” Devin looked over at Miller, who was pushing toward the Firbolg Herald and fighting against the effects of the snow globe. “After all, if it’s one on one, you won’t be able to win.” Devin smiled and then raised his hand. The entire snow globe vanished, but everyone inside of it other than Devin and Lee was covered in the same thin, blue, pulsing energy that had created the rod earlier. Miller, Dave, Pelham, and Devin’s 3 remaining guards as well were frozen solid where they stood.
“You know this won’t end well for you,” Lee promised. He hefted his sword and shield and charged.
Devin took out his own weapon, a simple ice cudgel that he held in his right hand and stood waiting. Lee used his spike-covered shield to block a swing that was aimed at his head, deflected the blow away and struck out with a horizontal slash of his own toward Devin’s gut.
Devin set his jaw and grimaced but didn’t dodge like Lee had hoped. Instead, he stepped forward into the attack, making sure the blow ripped into his side. It didn’t do enough damage to kill him, but it struck a vital point and dealt a significant amount of damage. Blood spurted from the wound, yet Devin remained calm.
Lee froze in horror as he realized what had happened. He had struck
Devin, Devin was bleeding, Devin’s own attack had been deflected, and yet Lee’s health bar was suddenly missing a huge chunk as 95 points were stripped away. He looked down at his side and saw that he was sporting a large, open wound that was identical to Devin’s and that he was bleeding out at a rate of 2 hit points every 3 seconds.
“What in the . . .?” Lee was suddenly at a loss for words as he looked back and forth between his own injury and Devin’s.
“Lee!” Miller shouted. “You can’t be the one to kill him! I have to! Whoever kills that bastard will die with him!”
“He’s right, but he’s wrong. You see? You can’t win. I might not be the better fighter. I’ll cede that to you. I’ve entertained myself greatly by watching you in the arena, and I have no doubt as to your skills. You’re a master of clever combat. What you lack in strength, you have supplemented with wit, and I admit that I would lose in straight combat. However”--Devin looked over at Miller who was raging behind Lee--“you don’t have the hit points to defeat me. I’ll always win, and there is nothing you can do about it.”
“What . . . What are you saying?” Lee had trouble believing what he was hearing and lashed out with another sword strike. He kept this one shallow and used the flat of the blade to strike at Devin’s arm instead. The blade only served as an extension of Lee’s arm without using the edge, and it would deal the same amount of damage as if Lee had punched Devin in the arm. He didn’t know the extent of Devin’s powers, but he knew that there had to be a mechanic that he could exploit if he could get a better understanding of it. At the very least, he wanted to prove whether or not Devin’s claims were true. Sure enough, Lee took 21 damage as the sword hit.
Devin simply shrugged. “Satisfied? You can try again if you like. The outcome of this fight has already been determined: you’ve lost. Now, let me beat you to death so that I can get on with my day.”
Lee’s face sunk along with his hopes. He had thought that he would be guaranteed victory as long as he engaged the smarmy, unskilled fool in man-to-man combat, but he was in an even worse situation now than before. His forces were likely going to fall to the ice giants that Devin had made, his friends were going to be rendered helpless by the magical blue aura, and he was facing death-by-feedback-damage if he tried to kill the Herald.
Lee took a deep breath and looked at his health bar. “Able to return any damage taken instantly to the attacker . . . What a neat skill. It suits someone who is actually the Herald of the Goddess of Grudges. But you forgot something . . .” Without the blue sphere slowing down his rate of healing, his mana was able to quickly recover his wounds. In no time, all of the spear wounds and ice needle damage to his face had healed up, and he was almost fully recovered. “I can heal. Can you?”
Devin didn’t say anything, but his eyes remained focused on Lee’s wound. Sensing something was off, Lee looked down at first the injury and then his health bar. All of his other cuts and scrapes had closed up, but the large gash on his side remained. It wouldn’t close up no matter how much mana he tried to circulate around the injury, and his health bar stayed where it was.
“Still confident in that healing?” Devin asked as he watched Lee’s mouth open wide in confusion. “It’s a divine injury. It can’t be healed until I’m dead. You can keep trying all you like, but I’ve already tested the ability thoroughly. Knowing the extent of my own powers was the first thing I sought to learn, and you’re not the only healer in this world. Now, shall we finally end this?” Devin raised his cudgel and swung at Lee. The blow was much harder than the first, and it dealt 4 points of damage even as it bounced off of Lee’s shield.
“You’ve been plotting his death forever. You got any ideas?” Lee asked Miller as he backed up and dodged Devin’s second swing only to be forced to block the third and take another 4 points of damage.
“Once this ice wears off, just let me kill him. I’ll die with him if I have to, but his head is mine!” Miller shouted. “I will either die killing him or drink from his skull tonight!”
Vengeance blinded you so much that you never even considered telling your own allies what was going on, did you? You were so certain of your ability to barge into this fight and win before I could. Lee shot Miller a furious glare. If he had known about the Herald’s secret ability, he could have planned around it. If Miller had said something, he would have tried a better trap. No, even if I had known, we’d be here anyway. If I could have set a better trap, I would have. He wasn’t going to forgive Miller for the omission, but he couldn’t blame him for the current predicament either. This was a fight that needed to be fought one way or another and as soon as possible.
“Will you just stand still already? The sooner you and your people die, the sooner I can go to the battlefront and save this town from the invaders you brought to our doorstep.” Devin swung the cudgel at Lee again, this time bringing it straight down on Lee’s right shoulder and dealing 47 points of damage. Lee instantly healed the wound it left as the weapon was pulled away, but he knew it was only a matter of time before that trick ran out.
Lee winced and then looked at the Herald taunting him. He knew that he’d die along with the Herald if he attacked. The only way to defeat Devin would be to do a heavy, critical hit that would cause massive bleeding damage and then trust that the Herald would die after he did from the DOT effect.
“Augustus.” Lee suddenly called out to his deity, not bothering to keep the conversation private and in his head. “You can see everything, can’t you? You know where all the other Heralds are, but you just can’t tell me because of those damn rules, right?”
“Yeah . . ..” Augustus answered, dragging out the word for a few seconds. “What are you thinking?”
“I’m just wondering: is there a Herald likely to win other than me? Someone that’ll be good for these people?” Lee asked the question candidly as he followed up Devin’s next attempt to strike him with a jab by pushing the cudgel away and stabbing his blade into the enemy Herald’s undefended gut for over 65 points of damage. He started taking bleeding damage again, and now both he and Devin were losing 10 hit points every 5 seconds.
Devin’s eyes started to show fear as he looked at the place where Lee had cut him and then back at Lee. “What are you doing?”
“Yeah, there are a bunch of great Heralds and gods out there besides you and me. There is one just a few towns over, Herald for a goddess named Mary. She’s a great girl. These people will be fine,” Augustus answered, his voice unexpectedly calm given Lee’s train of thought. “Trust me, Lee. They’ll be fine. It’ll all work itself out after he’s dead.”
Lee didn’t know why Augustus was so okay with this decision, but it stripped away the last vestige of hesitation he held on to. This suicide meant that Augustus would die, and if even that self-serving, often incredibly-egotistical deity was willing to die for the greater good, he had no room to back out either. One death for the sake of many. One life to protect hundreds. If he didn’t do this, then the world might very well be shaped by this Herald, by his cruel Goddess of Ice and Grudges, and that was something that he couldn’t allow.
“Thank you. I needed that,” Lee said as he advanced toward the Herald, preparing the final set of blows that would hopefully deal enough bleeding damage to ensure both of their deaths. “Thanks, Augustus. It’s been . . . It’s been oddly fun in its own sort of way.”
“No!” Miller and Devin both shouted at the same time for vastly different reasons.
“Devin, I thought you were smart. I thought you knew me. Shouldn’t you have already planned for this possibility?” Lee asked as he eyed Devin’s neck. An overkill to the throat should do the trick . . . He tried to steady his nerves and prepare for what was, without a doubt, suicide. The bleeding damage should be--
But before he could even move his sword, Devin’s already shocked eyes bugged out and popped open even wider, and his mouth hung askew as he spat out a mouthful of blood. The Firbolg staggered forward a single step and then fell to th
e ground, two familiar glass daggers protruding from his back. The twin blades had pierced through his ribcage and found a vital organ, guaranteeing his death from critical hits.
Lee’s eyes jumped from the daggers in Devin’s back to the person who had put them there. Amber stumbled back several steps before collapsing as well.
“No!” Lee jumped over Devin’s body and rushed to her side. “No, no, no, no! That was supposed to be me. It was supposed to be me who died with him!” he cried, wrapping her body up into his arms and clutching her as tightly as he could.
“I’m sorry,” she murmured quietly with a weak smile. Her eyes were watery and bloodshot as she stared up at him. “I guess Miller wasn’t the only one who couldn’t wait for orders.”
“Don’t apologize. It’s going to be okay. It’s going to be fine. I’ve got this,” Lee flooded his mana into her, but the healing magic was rejected, and he was wracked with excruciating pain as the spurned spirit rushed back into him. He had used nearly twenty percent on the first shot, and the pain of having it returned far exceeded any wound he had taken during the battle. Still, he tried again with thirty percent. “It’s going to be fine.” He choked out the promise with a shaky voice.
“You don’t have to lie to me,” Amber said. “I am going to die, Lee. I can feel it. Before I do . . .” She lifted a hand to Lee’s cheek, trying to draw his eyes to hers.
"No, you’re not going to die.” Lee shuddered under the pain of his efforts, his entire concentration devoted to keeping Amber alive. “You're gonna be okay. Just hang in there!" Lee used his entire spirit bar to try and heal her. He was praying that the divine injuries’ resistance to healing was just a barrier he could break through, but when the massive psychological feedback pain rolled over him, he knew it was hopeless.