Inferno a litrpg adventu.., p.35
Inferno: A LitRPG Adventure (Elemental Mastery Book 2), page 35
“You. Are. Here, my. Enemy,” the rust drone said, its words falling from its jaws in a jerky, halting staccato. “That. Is good. I would. Have us do. Battle immediately. But your creatures. Stand. Between. Us. Dismiss. Them. And come. Meet. Your. Doom.”
“Our creatures?” Vincent asked. He turned to Nella. “He’s not talking about your sky-wyrm, is he?”
“No,” Zephyr said, as a horrid realization dawned upon him. “He’s talking about the Shadowswarm. He thinks we control the Shadowswarm.”
“That’s ridiculous!” Nella spat. “We’re here to kill you and the Shadowswarm! Why don’t you stop hiding behind them and come out now, so we can settle this?”
“Enough. Games,” the drone blared. “Have. You. Not. Tormented me. Enough? Come. Withdraw. Your servants. Elemental Anathema. My. Enemy. And face me. Yourself!”
“What did he just say?” Vincent gasped, his face turning pale. “What did he just call us?”
“Lies! He’s lying to us! Don’t listen to him!” Nella cried, raising her bow and aiming a fiery arrow at the rust drone. “I’ve had enough of hearing you speak. We’re coming for you, Unliving Emperor. Get ready to die!”
Shadows swirled into the room, coalescing into dozens of giant bipedal toad-like creatures with clawed front limbs. A night prince stood in their midst.
Nella growled, turned her fiery arrow into a lightning one, and loosed it at the night prince. The toads, which could only be dusk ravagers, threw themselves in front of the night prince. Nella’s arrow blasted through their bodies before ramming home into the night prince’s face. The Shadowswarm entity shrieked once before flying apart into wisps of darkness.
Zephyr charged, extending the claws of his Illumination gauntlet and wreathing them in the lightning of Tempest magic. Lethal Swiftness swept into his right hand, its blade crackling with its Gathering Clouds Aspect once more. He began butchering the dusk ravagers, slicing them apart as he danced past their scything claws. Vincent bracketed Zephyr’s flanks with Storm Invocations, sweeping away all of the Shadowswarm entities beyond the reach of his blade and claw.
Scarcely a heartbeat had passed before the last of the creatures had fallen, disappearing into inky motes. Nella drew another fiery arrow and leveled it at the rust drone.
“Interesting,” the Unliving Emperor said. “Shadowswarm. Waging war. Amongst themselves. Unprecedented. I—“
Nella blasted the drone apart. She growled in satisfaction and turned to her friends.
“Come on. Let’s not take all day,” she said.
“But... he...” Vincent stammered. “He just said we were Shadowswarm! What is he...”
“Come. On.” Nella’s sky-wyrm wrapped its tail around Vincent and plopped him upon its back. Zephyr pushed aside the troubling implications of the Unliving Emperor’s words and advanced alongside the ranger’s lightning beast.
The Shadowswarm within the Dark Labyrinth didn’t put up much of a fight, the trio was soon to discover. The night princes they encountered were few and far between, and the dusk ravagers weren’t very formidable, at least not to the trio, after all they’d encountered.
Zephyr, Vincent, and Nella tore their way through room after room of the maddeningly featureless Eternal Palace, leaving droves of slain Shadowswarm in their wake. Eventually, Vincent gave voice to what they were all thinking and worrying about.
“Dark Labyrinths cannot conceal the identity of their Blackguards from our Codex of Ascension,” he said. “The Unliving Emperor is Azaria Hastur. Maybe he’s still alive because of his dark magic, or maybe he’s somehow transferred his consciousness into a drone. But it’s him. I studied him when I was working with Master Felgar in the Tempest School. The Glyph Master was one of the greatest smiths and artisans back in the day, capable of fashioning the most wondrous of mechanical devices and enchanted items. One of his fabled creations was his Silver Giant, which he used to fend off a Shadowswarm entity the size of a building long enough for Caruthas to overwhelm and destroy it. Does that sound familiar?”
“The drone I fought with Sahhto,” Zephyr said, shaking his head as they advanced through the dissipating wreckage of a dozen dusk ravagers.
“So he went mad. Turned to evil after a lifetime of righteousness,” Nella said. “He wouldn’t be the first to do that, and he’s not going to be the first—nor the last—Blackguard with a similar story we put down.”
“Why, though?” Vincent persisted. “How could someone, a hero, like him become the Unliving Emperor? How could he cause so much suffering and hurt so many people for so long?”
“Because. They. Are. Weak,” a rust drone said. The creature was leaning against a pillar of pitted, ravaged iron. “Their. Resolve. Was. Wanting. Their hearts. Were easily seduced. By the whispers. Of the Shadowswarm. They failed my friend. While he. Defended them unto. His last breath. From you, my Enemy.”
“Us?” Vincent blinked. “What did we do? And who’s your friend? Who are you talking about?”
“Caruthas,” Zephyr said, his heart pounding wildly in his chest. “He’s talking about the Hero of Light.”
“Yes.” The drone’s head turned creakingly to Zephyr. “You. Slew. Him. I held him. In my arms. Arms. Of. Flesh. And watched. Him die. He shouldn’t have. And he needn’t have. If humanity. Had not failed him. If they had. Rallied to his cause. Sooner. If they had listened. To fewer Shadowswarm lies. If they had—“
The Unliving Emperor’s tirade choked off, its monotone voice somehow conveying unfathomable pain and sorrow.
“We slew him?” Vincent gulped. “But... Caruthas died after destroying the Elemental Anathema, so it could be said that the Elemental Anathema was his killer, which makes us...”
“No!” Nella snapped, grabbing Vincent by the shoulder. “He’s lying! We are Caruthas reborn! The Unliving Emperor is a monster, and the only thing a monster deserves is to be killed.”
“You felt that humanity was too disparate, too scattered in purpose, too wavering in resolve,” Zephyr said softly. “That’s why you decided to turn them all into drones instead, so that they would never flee from battle, never disobey your orders, never succumb to the Shadowswarm.”
“Yes,” the drone said.
“But they did,” Zephyr swept his hands wide in a gesture that encompassed the confines of the Dark Labyrinth. “You did.”
The rust drone remained silent for many moments. When it eventually spoke again, its voice seemed tired.
“Just come. To me. My Enemy,” it said. “Find me. So that we can. Kill one another.”
Hours passed before the trio finally made their way to what could only be a throne room, judging by how its center was dominated by a vast, towering chair of twisted rust that rose dozens of feet into a shadow-shrouded ceiling. A quartet of twilight fiends stood before the throne, their clawed limbs extended before them. Dark fire poured from the claws of the Shadowswarm entities. Their nightmarish visages, normally twisted in malicious glee, were strained and worried instead. Shadows, fed by the inky flames of the twilight fiends, shrouded the occupant of the throne. The shadows roiled and writhed, as if struggling to contain whatever lay beneath them.
“Ah,” one of them said, noticing the trio’s arrival. “Sacred One! You’re here! Much as I am delighted by your presence, now’s really not a good time.”
Shadowswarm Entity
Twilight Fiend Pralosvithar of the eighth Night
Category: Sublime
Weaknesses: Tempest magic (minor)
Essence Orbs: 1,000
“Exactly,” another twilight fiend added. “We would love to entertain you, but as you can see, we’re rather occupied at the moment.”
Shadowswarm Entity
Twilight Fiend Oresturnhar of the ninth Night
Category: Sublime
Weaknesses: Tempest magic (minor)
Essence Orbs: 900
“You really shouldn’t be here anyway,” the third twilight fiend grumbled. “The Liar promised that... wait. Of course. The Liar betrayed us! Why would we expect anything else from him?”
Shadowswarm Entity
Twilight Fiend Usorkathass of the sixth Night
Category: Sublime
Weaknesses: Tempest magic (minor)
Essence Orbs: 1,200
“I’ll flay his soul from his body! I’ll consume the flesh of his children!” the last twilight fiend raved. “I will visit untold horrors upon every vessel that bears his foul bloodline!”
Shadowswarm Entity
Twilight Fiend Miraskanthur of the seventh Night
Category: Sublime
Weaknesses: Tempest magic (minor)
Essence Orbs: 1,100
Zephyr didn’t need to hear another word. He charged Miraskanthur, even as Vincent summoned his elemental hammers over his wands and pointed them at Oresturnhar and Nella loosed a barrage of electrical arrows and unleashed a swarm of lightning condors Pralosvithar.
Vincent’s ripped Oresturnhar asunder with a whirlwind of Cosmos Invocations, scattering the twilight fiend’s body to every corner of the throne room. Pralosvitahr shuddered beneath the impact of Nella’s arrows as they blew entire chunks of shadowy flesh off his torso, then shrieked when her condors washed over its body, dissolving it beneath a sea of cobalt-hued wings.
Zephyr beheaded Miraskanthur with a Blade Beam, before punching the claw of his Illumination Gauntlet into the twilight fiend’s torso and unleashing a Thunderclap directly into the creature’s innards. The twilight fiend burst apart, and he rounded on Usorkathass.
“Come now, Sacred One,” Usorkathass pleaded. “That’s just very unsporting of you. We’ve been expending most of our power on keeping the rust-puppet pliant, and it’s only gotten more difficult since you slew Varansikur, Girastharvore, and Arasturphar. I suppose they shouldn’t have gone out in the first place, but they couldn’t resist the rust-puppet’s shiny toy. Oh. Now see what you’ve done? You’ve also killed Oresturnhar, Pralosvitahr, and Miraskanthur! That’s really inconsiderate, Sacred One. Do you know how completely impossible it’s going to be for me to handle things alone? I’ll have to—“
A rust-covered hand emerged from the shroud of shadows over the throne and plunged its fingertips into Usorkathass’s skull. The twilight fiend grabbed the hand, even as green light began to wash over its face, dissolving the monster’s inky features.
“No!” Usorkathass chided. “Know your place, rust-puppet! Or I’ll worsen your nightmares!”
Zephyr raised his left hand. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Nella and Vincent do the same. Usorkathass yelped.
Three Cosmos Invocations wiped the twilight fiend from existence.
We’ve got to get to the Nexus! Zephyr thought. And there’s only one place it could be.
The shadows writhing over the throne flew apart with the death of the last twilight fiend. A humanoid figure launched itself from the throne, flashing past Zephyr and Nella to stand before Vincent. A rust-colored fist swung towards Vincent’s skull, even as Zephyr spun on his heel and dived toward what could only be the Unliving Emperor, knowing that he wouldn’t make it in time.
A Cosmos Bastion crackled into existence around the jeweler’s apprentice. The rust creature’s fist slammed against the shield of cobalt light with enough force to lace a cobweb of cracks from the point of impact. Vincent’s magical barrier pushed the creature back before it could strike again .
Growling, Nella raised her bow, fiery arrows nocked and ready. At the same time, tentacles of fire and lightning swarmed from her eyes, biting at snapping at the Unliving Emperor. The rust creature ducked and weaved through the tentacles, its movements jerky and awkward, yet flawlessly evasive. It sidestepped a barrage of fiery arrows, then walked through a torrent of electrical ones, the ranger’s Tempest magic washing uselessly off its metallic body.
Zephyr struck from the side, retracting the claws of his Illumination gauntlet and bringing both palms around and forward to unleash Dragons Dance in Chaos. The rust creature him by the wrists, forcibly terminating the Dragon Strike Technique, and hurled him at Nella. The ranger’s sky-wyrm reared its body up and caught Zephyr in its claws, even as a dozen electrical spiders with flaming mandibles dripped from Nella’s eyes, each of the elemental beasts as large as a warhorse.
“Die!” Nella snarled. The spiders charged in a skittering mass. The rust creature struck the first one with a metal fist, dissipating it in a single blow. A heartbeat later, all of the ranger’s summoned beasts were gone, torn to shreds by the Unliving Emperor.
Hundreds of lightning blades, their edges wreathed in tongues of fire, burst from Vincent’s elemental hammers and fell toward the rust creature. It danced amidst them once more, too swift to be caught by Vincent’s spell. Zephyr charged in again, ether-infused internal energy roaring through his body, and attempted a Dragon Tail Sweep. The Unliving Emperor hopped over the arc of his kick. He pursued with a Double Dragons Arising. The creature met his palms with its own.
Zephyr screamed in pain as he felt his forearms break beneath the impact and an irresistible force hammered his internal energy awry within his system. He crashed back down to the ground and rebounded from its unyielding surface, before catching a sweeping kick to his ribs from the rust creature.
“Zeph!” Nella shrieked, directing her sky-wyrm to catch him in mid-air once more. The lightning beast did so. The Unliving Emperor charged, coming to a halt right in front of Nella. It backhanded her with a metal fist before she could react. The crisp snap of bone rose into the air as the ranger sailed across the air, her body limp. The sky-wyrm roared and vanished, dropping Zephyr from its grasp. Clenching his jaw and pushing the agony of his arms and ribs from his mind, he kicked off from the floor and sped toward Nella with lightning-infused steps, just managing to catch her body against his chest before she struck the wall headfirst.
“Nella! Zeph!” Vincent cried, flinching as the rust creature turned on him next and hammered one fist, then another against his Cosmos Bastion. Cracks began to radiate from the repeated impacts, then spread all across the barrier of blue light.
Gritting his teeth, Zephyr placed the wreckage of his shattered hands against Nella’s bloody head and cast Crystal Rejuvenation. To his relief, he saw the bared, cracked bone beneath her split scalp begin to knit together. He cast the Frost magic spell again, then again, until the color returned to the ranger’s body, and she opened her eyes.
Nella sat up and promptly vomited. Zephyr turned his focus inward and tried to cast Crystal Rejuvenation on himself, only to find that he’d depleted all of his Frost ether reserves. The ranger’s hand fell upon his chest then, and soothing waves of healing magic coursed through his arms.
My ribs aren’t broken. They’re bruised, but not broken, thanks to my robes, Zephyr realized, taking one deep breath after another. Across the room, the rust creature was pounding away on Vincent’s Cosmos Bastion. Soon, it would break through and get its metal hands on the jeweler’s apprentice.
The Unliving Emperor flinched then, and drew back a melting fist. Vincent had layered his Cosmos Bastion with a Scorching Barrier that was hot enough to melt the creature upon contact. He swung his Flame Hammer out and unleashed a Comet Barrage next, filling the air with fiery spheres. The rust creature hopped back, deftly avoiding the flaming projectiles.
It’s too strong, Zephyr thought. And too fast. Wait. Fast!
“Nella, stop!” Zephyr cried. “Save some of your Frost ether. Use your slowing wards on that monster!”
Still swaying on her feet, Nella grunted in assent and conjured a handful of icy spheres. She hurled them at the rust creature. It turned and struck them with its fists, only for the slowing wards to burst apart and shower its body in crystalline shards.
The creature flinched, evidently aware of the clinging slowness layered upon its limbs. Its movements were now a tenth slower, by Zephyr’s estimation, which meant that it was still horrifically swift, just not so blindingly fast anymore.
“Now!” he cried. “Burn it, Vincent!”
The jeweler’s apprentice combined Fireball, Project Heat, Flame Wave, and Disintegrating Wave in a spectacular display of Inferno magic spell-casting, before dropping a tide of white-hot fire upon the rust creature. The metallic thing leaped away, but its movements had been slowed just enough for Vincent’s combined spells to vaporize its legs, sending it tumbling through the air.
Nella tracked the spinning creature with her gaze. A pair of fiery tentacles—likely all that she could manage in her wounded state— burst from her eyes and bit off one of the metallic thing’s arms. Zephyr still couldn’t raise his hands, so he opened his mouth instead, combining Project Heat and Disintegrating Ray and focusing the spells on the tip of his tongue. A sphere of flame manifested a foot away from his face, before flattening out into a fiery beam that swept off the creature’s remaining hand.
Its torso tumbled back upon its throne with a tremendous clang. The trio charged forward, eager to finish the fight, only for eye-slits to slide open upon the creature’s featureless face and bathe the entire chamber in green light. Zephyr felt his resolve bubble away alongside the blazefire conjuration above his forehead. He fell to his knees, gasping as horrifying whispers filled his mind. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the same thing happen to Vincent and Nella.
“Kill. Yourselves,” a monotone voice droned from the rust creature. Nella took out her axe and lined its blade up with her throat. She lifted it with one hand, only to clamp down her rising wrist with her other.
“No...!” she gasped as she struggled against the mental command. Zephyr extended the blade of his Fury gauntlet and placed it against his neck. He fought against the urge to drag the blade across his flesh and open his throat.
Vincent was less affected. The jeweler’s apprentice flinched and dropped his wands, but he raised his hands toward his friends.
“Fight it!” he cried. “Fight it! Don’t you see? This isn’t easy on her either! It’s wearing her out too! Fight it!”
