Bab 85: The Doomsday Monarch
Hearing the noise from the corridor, Grayson spun and dashed to the bedroom door, cracking it to peer outside. The dark hallway was flickering with spectral lights, like mischievous will-o'-the-wisps.
He shut the door and turned back to Elyra, "Little rascal, help me move some furniture!"
The owl, fluttering down from atop Katheren's head, transformed into a small girl clad in black feathers. Under Grayson's direction, she used her morphing spell to lighten a bulky wardrobe into an airy stool.
Grayson arranged for Katheren to place it beside the door while he and Elyra heaved over more furniture. At Grayson's command, Elyra released the spell, and the once-altered furniture instantly returned to its unwieldy state, now barricading the doorway.
"This should buy us some time, but it's no miracle worker."
Grayson moved to the floor-length drapes, drawing them aside only to reveal a blank wall. He tore down the curtains and tossed them towards the door, signaling Katheren to join him by the sarcophagus.
"If I'm not mistaken, this should be empty." Grayson indicated to the sarcophagus just as a boom from a magical explosion outside shook the makeshift barricade.
"But there's always another possibility," he continued. "I'm about to open it. If there's some ghoul princess waking up, we might not be going back unless you're quick enough to blow her head off before she can bite us."
Katheren nodded, her pistols aimed at the sarcophagus. With a shared glance, Grayson flung open the lid, and Katheren unleashed a hail of bullets into the sarcophagus, sparks flying as lead met stone.
"That's enough, save your ammo!" Grayson quickly stifled her gunfire, chuckling, "You react like a startled cat - way too quick!" He dismantled the lid with his sword, splitting it in two. "Can you lift this?" he asked. Katheren shook her head, astonished by its weight.
"I guess it's up to me then!" Grayson heaved a piece of the lid to the door, just as a resounding crash signaled the barricade's breach. Furniture teetered dangerously as the doors splintered apart.
"Little imp, here's the plan!" he whispered to Elyra, who complained, "Always making me clear the way... no care for the young!"
"Stop whining," Grayson ruffled her head before turning to Katheren, "Showtime, sweetheart!"
Mid-sentence, green-tinged orbs of magic crashed into the barricade, erupting into a hail of splinters. Grayson shielded Katheren against the wall, avoiding the blast and toxic fumes. He tore strips from the curtains to cover their mouths and nodded to Elyra.
As magical projectiles continued to barrage the doorway, turning the heavy furniture into rubble, the clacking of bones grew louder, and malevolent eyes drew nearer.
Suddenly, a black-feathered owl burst forth, the shrunken curtain in her beak. As the wights looked up, she ensnared them with the fabric.
"Now!" Grayson shouted, hurling the sarcophagus lid at the front line of wights, toppling them like dominoes. As the others struggled behind the curtain, Katheren leaped from Grayson's shadow, her guns blazing a symphony of soul-reaping bullets through the wight horde.
"Keep some rounds; it's our turn now!" Grayson lowered her guns, unsheathing his soul-sucking blade. The white light of his sword sliced through the curtain, leaving the wights in disarray. He threw a quintet of blades, forming a circling silver net that shredded the undead as he charged.
The severe net tore wights to pieces, and Grayson's blade, charged with the energy of souls, unleashed a vicious shockwave, cleaving through the ranks.
Following Grayson's lead, Katheren lunged forward, her agility on full display. After a series of swift strikes, her short sword sent out streaks of light, decapitating nearby wights.
"You're amazing!" Katheren exclaimed, only to hear Grayson's warning, "Duck, now!"
A blade as wide as the hallway whirled towards her, bisecting wights in its path. Katheren dropped to the floor as the blade grazed overhead, snipping a lock of her hair.
As she raised her head, the corridor fell silent. Grayson stood at its end, his sword gleaming with white brilliance.
He reached out his hand to Katheren, who, just as she started towards him, heard the whistle of projectiles. Five streaks of silver flew past, regrouping in front of Grayson to form the blade that had cleared the hall.
"I thought I was about to take off your head!" Grayson smiled, disassembling the blade back to his claws. Katheren rushed to him, beaming, "We did it!"
"Don't celebrate yet, silly girl, this is just the beginning."
Turning towards the end of the corridor, Grayson addressed Katheren as she caught up, "The wight legion of Talsaras has breached the castle, and our troubles are far from over."
"Aren't they bound to a certain area?" Katheren asked in surprise.
"If the hound hears its master's call, does it stay by its kennel?" Grayson glanced back. "No one in the sarcophagus means the princess is watching us from the shadows – she summoned these mongrels."
"Will she come after us herself?" Katheren's voice quaked.
"Only the ghosts know." Grayson pushed open the great hall door, only to be met with a staff thrusting out, knocking him down.
The wight king emerged, a towering figure with a crown nearly scraping the ceiling, his eyes glaring with murderous intent.
"My apologies, Your Majesty, I did not know you were behind the door!" Grayson retreated, advising Katheren, "Have your pistols ready. You won't be going for his crown with a dagger!"
Before they could react, the wight king aimed his staff, discharging a spell. Grayson shoved Katheren aside, flinging a chain of blades at the undead monarch.
To their dismay, the blades halted in midair before the wight king, unable to advance despite Grayson's efforts.
"Damn, its will is stronger than the blades themselves!" Seeing this, Grayson unleashed a soul blast from his sword, tearing cracks into the walls and floor.
The wight king sneered, tapping his staff, causing the floating blades to scatter at his feet. A wall of bones rose, unscathed by the soul blast.
"Forgive me, Your Majesty, I was wrong," Grayson muttered, astounded.
"All shall serve…" As the bone wall crumbled, the king extended his hand, levitating Grayson, Katheren, and Elyra helplessly before him, crashing them against the wall. The girls cried out in pain as Grayson bore the impact with gritted teeth.
"Submit to your king, frail humans..." With a gesture, they fell before the wight king, forced to bow in submission. His gaze lingered on Katheren, his skeletal fingers beckoning her to rise, her pale face confronting his grinning skull, the green-glowing staff looming.
"He aims to drain your soul, turn you into a walking corpse!" Grayson yelled, "Don't be afraid, look into his eyes and shout with me. It's our only chance!"
In terror, as Katheren felt her soul being siphoned and consciousness fading, she mustered all her might to gaze into the ghostly eyes and cried, "Long live Deiz, long live Talsaras! Long live our king!"
Her desperate cry stirred a flicker in the wight king, awakening memories long buried – the vision of his subjects bidding farewell as he rode to battle.
"Deiz…" he murmured, distracted. Seizing the moment, Grayson leapt, recalling his blades and slashing the wight king's skull, the crown tumbling down.
As the king's eyes dimmed, he uttered, "Long... live... Deiz..." His form disintegrated into dust before Grayson.
"May you rest forever, my liege," Grayson bowed respectfully to the fallen crown, then rushed to aid Katheren and Elyra. With a shake of her head, Elyra regained her vitality, but Katheren lay still, her eyes empty, as cold as a porcelain doll.
Status Power Mingguan
-- Peringkat
Power 
-- Power
stone