*CRACKOW!*
The assassin dodges yet another Laguna Blade...
"Alright, enough of this." he growls, Blinking forwards and trying to stab the figure... Only for them to dodge his attack by the skin of their teeth.
Finally losing his temper, Michael just tackles the person off of the cliff... But ends up going through them since they were an illusion... "Oh you mother fucker!" he exclaims as he looks back at the two assassins watching him as he falls.
What the Champion of Mephala wasn't expecting was for him to suddenly sprout icy ephemeral wings and begin to fly back up to them... Only for a portal to interrupt their fight, Michael ends up flying headfirst into it before crashing into the floor of somewhere unfamiliar.
He gets up with a groan, dispelling his wings as he looks around, finding himself standing in a large rocky clearing with five other Champions. Hircine was standing in the middle of it, looking far taller than usual at 15ft tall. "As saddening as it is, it's time for this Hunt to come to an end. Your Patrons and I have decided that having you fight to the death here is far better entertainment than the alternative." he says, not mentioning the fact that holding back the Aedric fellows from ending the night of the Blood Moon early was straining him slightly.
The Daedric Lord of the Hunt doesn't even look in Michael direction as he begins fading away, "Now get on with it, let's see who's the most worthy one here!"
Michael lets out a cold breath before turning towards the Morag Tong assassin. "You aren't going to get away this time, you slippery prick!" he says, though, he wasn't feeling as angry as earlier...
He knew Charlotte was not far from him, he still hadn't decided how to go about dealing with her... He could whisk her away to another world until he could deal with Clavicus Vile, but her soul would still probably be stuck with him. There was a high possibility of him just being stuck with her soulless body...
He couldn't really challenge Clavicus either, as he was nowhere near strong enough. Making a deal was also out of the question, as he didn't think himself more cunning than a Daedric Prince.
Shaking his head, he Blink Strikes over to the Morag Tong assassin and brings his ebony sword down on them... Only for it to go through them as it was yet another illusion. A glass dagger strikes at his neck, but he uses Tricks of the Trade to disappear and cover the area with teh spell, allowing him to slash the Morag Tong assassin twice.
He'd, unfortunately, had to disable Tidebringer due to the risk of accidentally striking Charlotte with the aoe attack, but he'd still done a good amount of damage to the assassin anyway.
Their Chitin armour proves it weaknesses as his ebony sword cuts into it, cracking the armour as long jagged lines form in it. They eventually escape Tricks of the Trade, but the damage was already done...
The assassin, whether in a panic or not, raises their hand and summons many illusions around Michael... He quickly notes that while most were bleeding, none but one were dripping blood onto the floor.
"Gotcha." he smirks, Blink Striking behind them and shoving the blade through their back... But again, it's just another illusion! The glass dagger attacks again, but as he goes to block it the blade passes through it, an illusion...
Another dagger strikes at his armoured stomach, but he actually feels the impact of it this time. The assassin had tried to slip their poisoned blade into the gap of his robes, only to be warded off by the ebony scale mail. This allows Michael to use Silent Terror on them, along with casting Last Word, which illuminates them and makes it readily apparent which is the real one.
The assassin panics when they notice their visibility, along with their inability to cast any spells, they try to retreat but find their legs not working as Michael had already cut through them, causing them to drop to the ground in silent agony.
They manage to retrieve a smoke bomb from their pouch, but Michael just cuts their arm off as well, leaving the assassin with but one limb left... They raise it above them in terror, but Michael ignores it as he brings his blade down. "Not good enough!"
*Splash!*
With Mephala's Champion dead, he looks away to see what the others were doing... The Champions of Vaermina and Mehrune's Dagon were both trying to fight Charlotte, but her ice magic was proving difficult for them to do anything against... They lacked the magical immunity that Karakis possessed, and their abilities weren't all that useful against her anyway.
The Champion of Sanguine was observing them nearby, seemingly waiting for his chance to jump in and clear up the competition. He would be Michael's next target.
He Blinks over to the Champion but is already noticed. "Hah! Thanks for killing the thief for me! I was going to get payback myself but, you know how it goes." he remarks while channelling magic into Sanguine's Rose, causing many heavily armoured Dremora to appear around him. "Servants! Tear this one's spine out for me!"
"AT ONCE! DEATH MORTAL! RAAAAGH!" the Dremora all roar as they begin charging at Michael... Who casually just Blink Strikes to the Champion and cuts his head off, the mage completely unable to do anything against the sudden attack.
With the Champion's death, all of the Dremora dissipate, leaving only Michael, Charlotte, Erandur, and Silus left in the competition.
"Alright, time to finish this... And have a heart to heart with my midget friend..." Michael mutters, dreading the conversation more than the battle itself...
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Earlier :
Charlotte stumbles slightly as she's enveloped by the portal but quickly composes herself as she looks around the area, spotting the five other Champions present.
Almost instantly, she spots Michael but forces herself to turn away, not willing to look at him due to what she'd be forced to do in the near future... Instead, she turns her attention to Erandur, Vaermina's Champion who wielded the Skull of Corruption.
She'd get rid of him first, as the artifact had too much potential to enthral the other Champions. She knew she could fight against one or two at a time, but more than that? Only certain death awaited her.
He notices her gaze however and immediately jabs the Skull in her direction, blasting a stream of crimson magic towards her. She sidesteps it with some ease and thrusts her staff into the air, gathering the moisture and summoning small shards of ice that quickly drop towards the corrupted priest.
Erandur dodges to the side, but ends up getting grazed by a few icicles regardless, he gives no indication that he'd been hurt though, he simply just conjures a Restoration spell in his free hand and presses it to his wound, quickly healing it.
As this happens, Charlotte hears steps behind her and the whistle of wind, causing her to conjure a blast of cold air that launches everything nearby away, along with her attacker, Silus, Champion of Mehrune's Dagon.
She hadn't expected him to ally with Erandur, but judging by the crimson light that shone from his eyes, he didn't have a choice in the matter. She focuses her attention solely on his artifact however, Mehrune's Razor, a dagger which had the ability to instantly kill anyone with the most insignificant wound.
She blasts more ice towards Erandur to keep him occupied, "Do you wish for freedom?" she suddenly asks as her voice pulls itself from her throat without her compliance, her words were distorted by the Masque of Clavicus Vile, along wit being louder and somehow more charismatic, even to her ears.
Silus stops in mid-step as he hears her voice, the crimson glow in his eyes dimming momentarily. "I-..."
"Grasp your freedom. Take back what is yours."
"N-no..." he mutters, bringing a hand to his head as his traitorous thoughts threaten to overwhelm him.
All the while, Charlotte was forced to continue blasting spells at Erandur, who was getting increasingly aggressive, probably because she was stripping his thrall of his control.
"Strike back at your master, break your chains." her words continue flowing, sounding like the sweetest hymn as if his ears had grown tastebuds and she'd fed him the tastiest honey.
"S-stop.... I-it won't...?"
"Claim. Your. Fate."
"Ahk!" Silus abruptly shouts, grabbing his head while feeling tens of millions of ants crawling on and into his brain. Whenever a traitorous thought sprang to mind they'd bite him, but he couldn't stop himself, the thought of freedom was too much. It was all he wanted, all past goals and dreams were gone, leaving him with only this.
"Slaughter your oppressors."
With that, Silus lets out an agonized scream, tightly grasping Mehrune's Razor as he charges straight at Erandur, who'd had both of his feet frozen to the ground.
The corrupted priest gives no expression as the crazed Champion of Mehrune's Dagon barrels into him, burying the dagger into his heart as they both topple other.
Erandur was most certainly dead, but Silus cared not, continuing to stab his corpse an uncountable number of times.
Charlotte lets out a tired sigh at this sight, looking around and finding the other Champions already dead...
*Thud*
Silus' head drops to the floor after Michael severs it, afterwards looking to Charlotte. "Yo." he greets in the same familial manner he used to.
She gives a slight nod, not looking him in the eyes despite the horned mask concealing her features.
"Have... You been well?" he asks after a moment, unsure of what to say. Her situation could be placed directly at his feet, he had brought her to this world after all.
Again, she nods, taking a tentative step backwards as he approaches.
He stops and lets out a sigh, looking around the rocky area with a helpless expression, "Maria's doing fine. Still mourning your decision, even if she tries to act like she's fine."
...
"She blames herself, feeling like she'd forced you to make that decision. She wishes that she'd died when she drank that poison. Spare you the burden..." he adds, letting his stream of consciousness flow. He could see Charlotte's hands tightly gripping her staff at his words however, meaning that the girl was listening, not just a puppet for Clavicus.
"Do you regret your choice?" he asks but is unsure if he wants to know the answer.
"Yes..." she says in barely a whisper.
"Illococoo's fine, mastering the Thu'um as if she was the Dragonborn or something." he says with a slight chuckle, both knowing just how true his words are.
...
He palms his face as his heart beats erratically, despite all the fighting he'd done this long night, it was only now that he was feeling tired... Charlotte was going to die, and there was little he could do about it...
Put her soul into a soul gem? No... Then she'd just be at the mercy of the Ideal Masters in the Soul Cairn...
Give his soul to Clavicus in exchange for hers? No... The destruction the Prince could unleash if given access to other worlds would be legendary, and probably world-destroying.
He couldn't see any way out of this. Despite all the power he'd gathered thus far, despite all the obstacles he'd traversed and all the people he'd met. He was still useless when it came to something so important.
"D-do you have any regrets... Anything you... Wanted to do before..." he asks, feeling his heartbreak at the question alone.
Charlotte gives a small nod as she slowly walks over to him.
Hope you bois liked the chap, if I missed anything please let me know. Thanks!
Also, thanks to my patrons for their support :
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Faruk Ereng
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