Chapter 8 Not as Smart

The two Maylor guards are thrown back through the cathedral like temple, smashing the large wooden seats and decorations that lay in their projectial path.

Skree and his highguard warriors and archers stand watching from the other end of the temple as Saphir emerges from the entrance, weilding the Glaive of Ceruleus like a true champion.

Skree smiles.

“So... Saphire Warrior...” The demon general takes a small step to the side so that Saphir can easily see the magical berrier guarding his most precious Card. “Did you come here to get you magics back?”

As a nasty looking group of Maylor warriors advances on him, Saphir just looks around and shrugs...

“Actually... yeah... that's exactly why I'm here!”

The Maylor attack.

Saphir spins, swings wide, and brings the blade of the Glaive across the neck of the closest, taking its head clean off. Continuing his swing, he brings the staff end of his weapon into the stomach of the next, forcing it to double over. He pulls up hard, connecting with its head, and knocking it back to the floor.

More are running at him. He thrusts out, impailing the nearest through the chest, and pulls it around to act as a shield when the archers fire their bows. No fewer than fifteen arrows plant themselves firmly in the flesh of the already dead Maylor. Saphir frees the Glaive from the body, and swings in a wide arc.

The air ripples from the effect of the force wave the swing produces. It is strong enough to carry the dead, arrow impaled corpse high above the other advancing Maylor, and bring it down right on top of the group of archers. The impact doesn't kill them, but it does knock them off ballance.

Saphir starts running right for Skree. He rushes up through the asile between the rows of seats, slashing out with his Glaive, and using force waves to clear his path.

By the time he reaches the front of the temple, Skree is nowhere to be seen. Saphir silently curses as he realizes that all he's done is bring himself within fighting reach of the Maylor highguard fighters.

No matter... first things first... the archers.

At the close of a range, the archers can do little but snivvle as Saphir quickly culls the entire lot of them with fast, short thrusts and swings. As he kills the last one, one of the fighters grabs hold of the Glaive, and pulls Saphir foward and off ballance. The Maylor gets a lucky shot in, tearing a strip of flesh from Saphir's arm with its claws, and backhanding the Warrior to his knees.

As the fighter moves in for the killing blow, still holding the Glaive to keep Saphir from using it, the Warrior reaches out, and takes hold of one of the nearby dead archers loose arrows. Just as the Maylor raises its clawed hands above its head, Saphir lunges up, driving the point of the arrow through the bottom of the demons jaw, and up through the top of its head.

It lets go of the Glaive, and Saphir sweeps out low, catching the rest of the fighters in the legs. The attack doesn't kill anybody, but it does knock them down long enough for Saphir to get up.

He turns to scan the temple, but is rather shocked when the only thing he can see is the ritually scared chest of Skree, standing well within the Warriors personal space.

Saphir tries to attack, but Skree punches him in the stomach, sending him flying back. He strikes the magic field around his 'stolen' Card, and is body goes numb for a few seconds from the shock.

When he finally gets feeling back, he looks up to see Skree standing above him, holding his hands up to stop the rest of his race from attacking.

The demon smiles.

“Saphire Warrior... I now envoke the right of honourable battle. Face me... alone... to the death.”

Saphir spits out a little blood, and shrugs.

“Why not? I've got some time to kill.”

He rolls foward, and thrust out with the blade of the Glaive. Skree steps to the right, grabs hold of the weapon, pulls Saphir up to standing right before it, and proceds to pound its fist against the Warriors face... three... four... five times.

Saphir, with his face bruised and swolen, brings his forearm up to connect with Skrees jaw. The blow has no effect, and Skree just laughs as he pulls the Glaive from Saphir hard enough to dislocate the Warriors right shoulder.

With a simple toss, Saphir finds himself on the ground beside the pedistal on which the Card is stored.

... he's so close... he reaches out... maybe he'll just slip through the barrier...

... his entire arm goes numb from the magical shock.

With one arm really, really hurting, and one totally numb, Saphir watches Skree close in for the kill.

* * * * * *

Arrowny kicks in the dorrs of Morning Star's library.

He's got Sky Render in one hand, and a specially made blade, crafted, and coated with mercury by Justin and Saphir, in the other. It's a magical weapon... should be enough to get past whatever mystical stuff Morning Star has protecting him. It's a sleek looking weapon... blue handel with a wide hilt. It could serve as a good blocking blade, but probably not for major offense because of its shortness.

Nothing looks out of place in the library... all the books are where on the shelves where they're supposed to be... all the tables are scattered around the floor, just like before... and Morning Star is standing in the very center of the room, gazing at Arrowny with a blank look in his eye.

The Protector shrugs...

“I'm here to take you out, Chaos guy! I've got the mercury covered blade and everything... I'm going to have myself a real, real good day!”

Morning Star just keeps gazing foward... unwavered by Arrowny's taunts.

As Arrowny wonders why Morning Star hasn't yet responded to him, a gust of wind from the open door blows through the library, rattling the pages of books that are open on the tables, and blows around Morning Star, knocking the demon face first to the floor with a loud thud.

There is a shortsword sticking out of the Chaos Lord's back... and it appears to be dripping a thick, metallic looking liquid... mercury.

“Don't worry... there is a magic on the sword that will prevent the mercury fumes from killing either of us.”

Arrowny looks in the direction the voice is coming from... Samuel is standing with his arms folded across his chest, leaning back against one of the pillars at the back of the library.

Ryan looks a little confused.

“You killed him? Aren't you two... like... on the same side?”

Samuel nods...

“Yes... yes we are.”

“And... you used a spell on that sword? Aren't you one of the anti magic Knights?”

Again, Samuel nods...

“Yes... yes I am.”

“So... why did you do all this?”

“Because... I want to be the one to kill you... not Morning Star... and not mercury poisioning. I want to feel your life fade as I crush you with my own two hands.”

Arrowny rolls his eyes...

“Oh... that old thing. Dude... I've gotta tell you... that line is getting annoying. What have you got against me?”

Samuel pushes himself off of the pilliar, and walks foward until he is standing just beside the fallen body of the Chaos demon. He tilts his head slightly, and looks over Arronwy with narrow eyes.

“You really don't recgonize me?”

“Should I?”

“We've met before... you've seen me before.”

Ryan shrugs...

“Sorry man. Don't remember. I've seen a lot of people in my life.”

Samuel sighs...

“Then... do you remember my wife... or my daughter?”

Arrowny slowly shakes his head, actually straining his memory for some clue as to who this killing-him-obsesed man is.

“Can't say that I blame you for forgetting, Ryan. You didn't see us at our best time. The first time you saw me... my wife was crying... and I was holding her tight, trying to make the world okay. Last time you saw my daughter... she was dying on the floor of an abandoned church... with one of your knives sticking out of her chest.”

Arrowny's eyes widen in realization... and the memories flood back.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Arrowny takes a deep breath...

“First rule of hostage negotiation...” He pulls a throwing knife from his jacket pocket... “Kill the hostage.”

He throws the knife...

... the girl lets out a short scream as the blade hits her in the center of the chest. She falls to the ground...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Your daughter... was Joseph's hostage. I met you... and your wife... when I went to tell you what really happened to her.”

A sadistic smile comes to Samuel's face.

“That's right Ryan! You killed my daughter... and you told us why it had to be done. You told us that it was all part of a big ritual that would have ended the world... except that you were wrong, and it wasn't.

You said you were sorry... and you left...

... and a month later my wife hanged herself because she couldn't get over the loss.”

Ryan nods slowly.

“Okay then... I get it now. You hate me for killing your little girl. I get it.”

“That's not just it, Arrowny. I hold you responsible for both the deaths of my daughter, and my wife.”

“I didn't make her hang herself.”

“You were the cause just as if you had tied the rope yourself.”

Ryan shrugs...

“That's your opinion. Tell me... is there any reason that we're not fighting yet?”

“Actually... yes. I want you to answer a question for me.”

“Shoot.”

“I'm wondering... why didn't you try to save her?”

Ryan looks confused...

“Save her? Your daugher? I don't know what you mean.”

“You told me the story... you thought she was going to be a sacrafice to get the bad guy a lot of power... so you killed he. But, you never tried to save her. You went to that church with the intent of killing her. You could have tried... you could have fought... done something to get her out of there alive. But you didn't.

You walked in, and killed her... and I'm wondering why?”

Arrowny just shakes his head... he'd much rather be fighting than answering these kinds of questions... much easier to kill the bad guy if you're not feeling gulity about murdering a little girl...

“Listen... Sam... it won't help. My reason... it's not a good one. It won't ease your pain... it won't change what you went through... it will only hurt you even more. I don't want to do that to you.”

“What right do you have to say that? What if it does help... even just a slight, little bit? Don't I deserve whatever little peace you can give me?”

“I guess you do... but my answer won't bring you that peace. It'll only make you angry.”

“I want to know, Ryan... I want to know why!”

“Okay then.” Arrowny takes a deep breath... he knows that there won't be any good coming from this. He tightens his grip on Sky Render.

“Sam... it seemed like the thing to do at the time.”

This statment has the effect that Ryan feared it would. Samuel gets really angry, really fast. The Knight rushes foward, pulling his longsword from Morning Stars body as he passes by. He swings wide, and Arrowny easily knocks the blow to the side.

Ryan follows up with a spin kick to Samuals chest, and a backhand to his head. The Knight staggers back a few steps, and galirs evily at Arronwy.

“Sorry Sam... but there's nobody in this world that can fight better than a Protector.”

Samual wipes some blood from his mouth, and smiles widely. His teeth are stained red with his own blood...

“You might be surprised as to just how good a man can get if he trains for years and years with a single moment of vengance as his focus.”

Samuel steps foward, and punches out at Ryan's head. The blow is blocked, but the Knight kicks at Arrowny's knee. Ryan's leg falls back out from under him, and he drops to one knee. Samuel quickly brings a clubbing forearm across the side of the Protector's neck, and kicks him in the chest.

Ryan slides back across the library floor, dropping his sword. Samuel smiles.

“I've been training against Protectors since I joined up with the Knights. I wanted to be ready to beat you.”

Arrowny looks up...

“I'm not just any old Protector!”

As Samuel approaches again, Ryan quickly rolls over to his stomach, and pushes up with his hands, bringing both of his feet up off the floor to connect with the Knights chin. As Samuel stumbles back, Ryan hops up to his feet, and jumps forward, spinning and extending his legs. His feet connect one after the other with Samuel's head. As soon as he lands, Ryan punches out, and flat hands the Knight in the chest, knocking him back into one of the bookshelves.

As ancient volumes of demonic lore fall all around Minion's General, Arrowny laughs, reaching down to grab Sky Render.

“That guy you burned and beheaded... the Master of Arms? He showed me some new fighting styles... stuff that other Protectors wouldn't have known.”

“Did he teach you to dodge bullets?”

“No... why would he teach that?”

Samuel draws a hand gun... Ryan curses loudly.

The first shot hits the blade of Sky Render, knocking it out of Ryan's hand. The second strikes Arrowny in the side, just below the rib cage... and the third cuts through the meaty part of his right arm.

The pain streaks up from Arrowny's stomach, and he falls to his knees...

Samuel stands over him, with the gun pointed at his head.

* * * * * *

Brad is all kinds of armed today. He's got his magic absorbing armour on... a nice sharp broadsword in one hand, and his special not-so-sharp armour crushing dragon shaped axe in the other.

Sharod is walking slowly behind him, hands already crackling with magical energy.

They are sneaking through the Hetron temple to the centrel room... and oddly enough, they haven't hit any guards yet. Brad looks nervous... like he'd rather be fighting his way in than sneaking...

They stop just before turning the corner that will take them into the very heart of the Hetron temple.

Brad turns to Sharod.

“Okay... so I'll go in first, and jump right into the middle of them. As I'm slashing, you start picking them off with the spells. We should get through this fine.”

Sharod just smiles and nods...

“Of course we will.”

Of course, Sharod has a totally different plan. As soon as the Hetron gather around Brad, Sharod will start casting defensive magics on the demons, and mind altering magics on Brad. the Warrior won't even know which way is up, let alone how to fight off an army.

They turn the corner... Brad rushes foward to the very center of the room, and Sharod waits happily until the Hetron start attacking...

... except that they don't.

It's odd... they were supposed to attack. Brad is standing there, in the center of the temple, right where the Hetron are supposed to attack him, and he's not getting hurt at all.

He's just smiling.

Sharod looks around the main temple room... and his jaw drops.

There are hundreds of Hetron bodies in various states of dismemberment piled up against the walls of the temple.

“What... the... hell?”

Brad laughs...

“Yeah... me and Ryan and Saphir and Justin came in here a few hours ago and killed them all. We all just figured that you and I should have some one on one time... just to chat... talk about recent events and the such. So... anything new?”

Sharod still looks confused... Brad just shakes his head.

“We know that you're still working for Minion.”

“But... no... that's not true... you saw me fight Minion. I kept him from killing you all! I used my most powerful magics.”

“No... actually, you used a light show. There was no actual energy in that attack... Justin could tell.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

As suddenly as the attack started, it stops. Sharod turns to the group, a tired look on his face.

“I can't pull that trick off again for a while. We should get out of here.”

Even as Minion climbs to his feet, they are running to a safe enough spot to cast the Warp spell.

They end up back in the living room of the Dragoon Warriors home... each looking slightly more dissapointed than the last... angry that they could not kill Minion... and quite tired.

They each head off to do some relaxing... Brad goes to the kitchen to grab a case of Pepsi, a bag of sugar, a spoon, and has plans of playing some Gamecube. Saphir heads to the library, hoping to find some more info on Minion. Sharod goes upstairs to the spare bedroom, saying he's going to meditate to regain some of his strength. Justin calls Arrowny into the computer lab to discuss some urgant matters.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Justin and Ryan got to forming this little plan to get you and me here... just the two of us...”

Sharod shakes his head in disbelief...

“You mean... you have been on to me since then?”

“Well... a little sooner than then, actually. You remember WAAAAAAAAAAAAAY back when you first asked us for help. Well... we've been on to you since then.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Justin crosses the room, and places a hand on Sharod's shoulder.

“We will ensure that Minion is not responsibal for your death. You are very brave to offer us your assistance. It will be helpful.”

Justin turns and walks out of the living room. They hear the door to his computer room close and lock behind him.

Arrowny shrugs, and turns to the other three in the living room.

“Okay guys... lets talk battle stratagy!”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“You see... Justin placed a really, really small nanobot tracking device on your robes. It was this sort of bug... let us see where you were, and hear what you were saying. It was able to transmit through all the protection spells that you had set up... cool little thingy.”

Sharod blinks a few times, trying to process all of this...

“So... when you Warriors went on all those life and death missions to try and beat the Generals... you already knew that I had warned them... you knew that the entire army was going to be there waiting for you?”

“Yup... big plan. You and Minion think we're on the down and out side of the fight... and actually, we're playing you all for fools.”

Suddenly, Sharod throws a powerful fireball at Brad. The Warrior doesn't even blink as the total power of the spell is absorbed by his armour.

“That doesn't work buddy. So... I'm just going to cut you into little bits now... nothing personal, okay!”

Sharod only just manages to jump back as the tip of the Broadsword cuts a gash in the mage's face. Blood flows freely from the wound.

Brad spins around, and brings the flat of his axe against Sharod. The mage is carried off his feet, and lands hard on the ground near the exit of the room.

Brad just shrugs...

“This is gonna be a short fight, eh?”

Sharod gets to his knees as Brad advances. The mage smears some of the blood from his face on his palm, and rubs his hands together. As Brad gets closer, Sharod mumbles a few words in some long dead language.

Suddenly, Sharod slams his hands against the floor of the temple. A blue ring of energy forms around the mage, and shoots hundreds of tendrels along the floor. The tendrels snake their way along the floor, and each one comes into contact with one of the dead Hetron demons.

As soon as a tendrel touches a body, it turns bright red, and snaps back to Sharod. As the hundreds of tendrel's return to the mage, Brad blinks as the wound on his face actually heals over.

Brad realizes that Sharod is actually draining the power from the demon bodies. The Warrior, not wanting to find out what kind of things the new power will allow the mage to do, moves in for the kill.

Brad swings high, and brings his trusted axe down upon Sharod's head.

... the weapon shatters into a hundred pieces on the mage's skull.

Brad stares at the stick he's holding in his hand... the stick that used to belong to his favourite weapon...

Sharod reaches out, and grabs the blade of Brad's broadsword. With a flick of his wrist, the mage snaps the weapon in half, and with his other hand, he punches Brad in the stomach.

Sharod stands over the now crouching Brad... a wicked smile on his face...

“Yes... a short fight...”

* * * * * *

Justin stands in the middle of the clearing that acts as the home camp for the Knights of Human Purity.

The sun is just starting to set over the tops of the trees, and each person in the clearing casts a long shadow on the groud.

The technomage is slightly surprised that he doesn't see Samuel at the lead of the pack of Knights... rather, there is a much younger man... must be the second in command.

“You're the technomage? I can't believe they really sent you to fight us.”

The second in command steps toward Justin...

“I'm told that you don't even like to kill humans. What do you plan to do against us?”

Justin just shrugs.

“You shouldn't assume that just because I don't like to kill means I can't.”

“Why not?”

“Well... you know what they say. When you assume,” Justin waves his hand, and a forcefield wraps around the second in command's head... the body falls to the ground, while the head is still held in mid air by the field... “You end up beheaded and looking a lot like a fool.”

As the other Knights advance on him, Justin removes the force field, and allows the head to fall upon its owner. He draws his quarterstaff, and extends it out for battle.

He swings out at the closest Knight, and strikes him in the head. This knocks him sideways, and Justin slams the end of his staff into his neck, breaking it clean through.

He swings around, and strikes the next nearest Knight in the chest. The metal armour he is wearing absorbes the impact of the blow, but it conducts the electrical charge really well. In just a few seconds of agony, the man is baked from the inside out by the electricity.

The fight continues... Justin kills any Knight that gets near enough to him. Most of them seem a little fearfull of approaching, after watching their comrades die so painfully.

Eventually though, some of them get a little braver. A group of about five rush the technomage at the same time. He kills three without a problem, but as he kills the fourth, the fifth plants a dagger deep into Justin's abdomen.

Wincing in pain, the technomage spins round, and flathands the offender in the face, driving his nose up through his brain. As the man falls back, the dagger goes with him, and Justin is left with an open, oozing wound.

He touches the wound, and pulls his hand away to get a look.

The blood covering his hand is as black as his long jacket... black like space.

The dagger hit his liver... his body's own poisons are seeping into his blood... he is dying.

One of the Knights near him laughs...

“You are DYING! We have won!”

Justin shakes his head...

“No... you haven't.”

As he speaks, small streams of black blood drip from his mouth. The Knights, sensing the kill, gather around him, pointing and laughing... readying their weapons...

“What makes you think that you can win in your condition?”

A crackle of electricity flashes through Justin's eyes as he looks up at the Knights...

“I am a technomage...”

A few seconds later, the entire clearing, and every single person in it, is vaporized in a blinding flash of light.

Nothing is left, save for a thin layer of dust where there used to be a camp and a few hundred people.