บท 73: What Lies Beneath part 2 & 3
I flew as fast as I could. Doing my best to get there as quickly as I possibly could. Still, by the time I got there, I was too late to stop the fight from dissolving into chaos. The dead numbered into the hundreds but it was Gideon lying in a pool of his own blood that I noticed first. A princess was next to him. Her head was twisted around to face backward. Their resurrection timers were close to running out. But there were hundreds of timers ticking down. Whose life was more important? A child I didn't know? A holy priest with the power that might be able to help, or a friend I still had feelings for? Even if I kept telling myself those feelings were fake, it didn't make them magically go away. It just made me awkward around him. There were literally hundreds I could choose to save. I just lacked that power. Didn't I?
I still felt as if I could do anything. The high of absorbing all that blood seemed to be messing with my mind. I kept trying to tone down my thoughts, as logic wrestled with my desire to unleash my full power. Even so my summonables didn't fight against my orders. Instead they seemed afraid of displeasing me. They were currently running across the city to get to the castle. Hopefully not causing too much panic.
I hovered over the battlefield and watched as the prince that had tried to play hero killed another prince. He was too close to the rest to focus any long range attacks onto him. So he didn't face much resistance as he broke through their line. Some of the guards had tried to stop him but that only left holes for the town's folk to exploit. Even if I could manage to bring them all back, he and his allies were in positions to simply kill them again. Especially the prince because, unlike those he was killing, he was a melee expert.
As I tried to think of the best plan of action, I noticed that the blackish blood was oozing its way into the castle. I didn't see it at first. I felt it. It felt like I could call to it and it would come to me. As if, I was an electromagnet and all I had to do was flip the switch. But I wasn't the only being calling out to it. There was another source below me that was calling it.
All of this didn't make sense. I killed the main parasite so the rest should have died along with it. Why were they still fighting? As I saw Gideon's timer hit eleven seconds, I decided that it didn't matter and made my choice. I went all in and activated my luck three times. I watched as my three hundred multiplier appeared next to that stat and then activated 'Death is a Friend of Mine'. I wanted to heal them all but if I could only save one, Gideon was my target.
I closed my eyes, blocked out all the distractions and put my all into the spell. I let my overconfidence take over. That feeling that I could do anything.
***
I watched as my men fell. My brother seems to have been infected by these creatures. He has killed almost all my other brothers and sisters. My men are stalling him but he has always been the best fighter among us. Him turning at this time has left us with little reprieve. I will fight until I fall. As I was taught, true rulers will fight unto death to protect their subjects. Still, this was not how thought I would die.
I heard my name "Lucas" being called and when I looked I saw James pointing to the sky. Alice? What was she doing? She was looking down on us and I saw her close her eyes. Was it too much for her? Slaughter was never pretty and she was just a girl after all. It was then that I saw it. A golden sun was forming above her. A black nimbus was forming around it. The darkness seemed to be coming off her like steam. I saw her scrunch up her face as the inky streams from her stopped and then she raised her arms. As if answering her command, the peasants fell where they stood. The darkness she seemed to lack soon came out of them in droplets and rained upward.
She was soon covered in it from head to toe. Like a Dark God outlined in gold she hovered there, waiting. How can such a tiny girl look so frightening? I watched as her hands fell and a golden beam washed over the entry courtyard where we have been fighting. Blinded by the light, I missed my brother's retreat into the castle. I just heard him scream in pain. Something I never heard before, in all his training, and then somebody running away.
***
I opened my eyes as pleasure coursed through me. Somehow more blood had coated me and as it absorbed into me my crystal hummed away happily. There was a lot of it. It was constantly soaking in and didn't seem to be going away. When I could concentrate enough to see what was going on I saw a bunch of notifications. I quickly glance at the windows and saw 'Skill Acquired: Judge, Jury, and Executioner', 'Skill Acquired: ill-fated', 'Skill Acquired: Dark dealer', God bloodline Activated. I closed them just hoping to see Gideon wake up. It was really all I was hoping for. Instead, I saw Prince Reynard running into the castle and I was in no shape to give chase.
I watched as some people got back up, while some didn't. I instinctually knew those that didn't get up were ones I would think of as "evil". I saw Gideon wake up, as did the princess next to him but a couple of the other princes and princesses didn't. They stayed dead, doing the world a favor, or so I thought deep down.
My luck timers clicked down as I tried to think of my next step. Should I run? It wasn't like I was subtle and I had less than a minute before my bad luck began. Or should I go after Reynard? I gave that idea up since it was probably suicidal. Let them clean up their messes. Now that I knew what was going on I figured he got infected when he was either playing hero or at the whore house. I just assumed he was the one that got that beast girl pregnant. He seemed the type to go to those places.
Whatever, I've done enough and decided to leave.
"Halt!" The shouted command came from behind me. I looked at the timer. I still had luck left so it shouldn't be me. I didn't turn around but before I could go far, I saw an arrow fly a hairs breath from my head. "I said halt!"
I sighed in my heart and turned around. 'I shouldn't be surprised.' I thought. I would have to land if this took too long. My flight stamina wasn't fantastic. It just used different muscles than I was used to. Before me, half a dozen strange men either flew or hovered. They all wore the dragon emblem armor that showed that they were from the kings guards and didn't have wings, at least not normal ones. If they did have them, they were made of fire or air and not feathers. Others simply stood on metal plates or used capes that fluttered unnaturally behind them. All had their weapons out and looked at me as if I ran over their dogs… twice.
"Can I help you?" I said it as calmly as I could while I was panicking in my heart. I have read about them but I've never seen them. They were said to be ruthless, efficient and always accomplished whatever the king had them do and now they were glaring at me like I was their target.
"You are to com…" Their leader started but the ground heaved as my countdown timer hit zero. Out of the corner of my eyes I saw a chain made of light stretch out of the ground and head south. Each link was bigger than a building but when I turned to see it better it vanished. Instead, I saw several different chains out of the corner of my eyes going to the east and west. They were taut one second, then loosened and then went taut once more. The ground kept heaving while this was going on as if something huge underground was trying to break loose.
***
Prince Raynard ran through the hallways killing anybody in his path. The black blood followed behind him. It kept itself near the crack were the wall met the floor, using the shadows to hide itself. The place the prince was going was highly guarded but survival wasn't all that important. The thing inside him had long ago broken his will. He fought hard and managed to make it into the hidden floors where a giant was chained to the ground. He finally fell under a barrage of holy magic.
Nobody noticed the blood that had made its way to the chain that had a link, that was a mixture of white light and black shadow.
***
My summons were close but I didn't know if I should send them away or not. The negative sixty percent next to my 'Luck' stat made me hesitate but I finally sent them away. I didn't want to get into a battle with these people. More importantly, they were distracted. An earthquake that was making the castle heave and shake and their gazes were aimed at a certain part of it, probably where the king lived, held their attention for now. Would they go save him? He was known to be powerful so I doubted it. Even so I decided now was the time to get out of here. I drifted down and while they noticed what I did, they didn't stop me.
I heard a snap sound and the chain that spanned its way south vanished as if it never was. Mort, my emo teen friend, appeared were it was and began to look around. He frowned and said something to the air and a girl in white appeared next to him. She similarly looked around but when she saw me she smiled and just patted Mort on the back before vanishing, leaving him to look at me with a baffled look.
"Psst..." I heard Amy whisper something but I couldn't hear her clearly. When I looked around I saw her near the entrance gates that had been smashed apart. It was my turn to frown. It was too dangerous for her to be here. Our plan had her, back at the college, using her clairvoyance to make sure they were safe and if needed, to help Victoria. Did something happen to her? Was Amy here because Victoria and Lily needed help? I didn't hesitate and moved to get at least close enough to hear her better. I only got a few steps before I was ordered to "freeze" but that was enough for me so I did as I was asked. I could wait for a better chance.
All I heard from Amy was "you're in danger" before a giant shadow hand punched its way through the ground. All a saw before I was enveloped in darkness was that there was a chain restricting its upper arm enough that I was pretty sure I was perfectly safe where I was just a second ago. As if to confirm that, the negative next to luck winked out of existence.
It didn't hurt or feel like anything. It was as if I was floating in space. It was kind of a novel experience to be honest and if I wasn't scared out of my wits I probably would have enjoyed it. I heard a voice in my head. A male one that, I was sure, oozed sex appeal for most ladies. The whole experience was dreamy and surreal but his honeyed words entered into my head offering me sex, power, wealth and everything I could ever want if I would make a deal with him. What the deal was, was quickly forgotten. Not that it mattered since I already had what I wanted. None of the things offered to me,compared to just being able to walk around this world. For all the troubles that befell me, that simple pleasure was enough for me.
I turned him down. I don't know how many times before the voice grew angry. His sweet words soon turned to threats but when I didn't agree, I began to feel as if I was being squeezed to death. I couldn't breathe. I couldn't cast although I tried. It was like no magic existed in this void. I gasped trying to bring in oxygen but failed. I began to feel lightheaded but I didn't regret not agreeing to him. Whatever he wanted from me I felt would hurt those I cared about. Although, I didn't know how. It was like that part of the conversation was deleted. 'Whatever, I would struggle to my last breath. Which just happened to be now,' I thought with a chuckle.
I saw the light everybody always talks about, like a star in the void. It radiated outward from my chest and I saw the necklace my mother gave me glowing brighter and brighter. I struggled to breath, to live, to see my family again and without a sound the darkness receded. I saw the hand receding into the ground and his parting words echoed in my head, "I can't kill you so I will let your friends do it for me."
"I dub thee Herald" His voice was louder this time and it took me a second to realize that it wasn't in my head but instead it reverberated throughout the city and, unknown to me, the lands of this world.
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