Deus Necros

Celine remained where Noctivex had enclosed her, her sword still lowered at her side. The black armor covered her from head to foot, its layered plates fitted tightly over her body. Thin crimson lines glowed between the seams, fading and brightening with the pulse of Wrath trapped beneath them. The curved crystalline horns remained exposed through openings in the helmet, but the wild pressure that had filled the canyon moments earlier had diminished.

It had not disappeared. It was merely contained.

Celine looked down at herself, then toward the severed portion of Sloth’s arm lying across the stone. Blue blood continued dripping from the pale flesh and staining the canyon floor around it. She could not seem to reconcile the sight with the empty section in her memory.

”What did I do?”

Cain approached carefully, though he did not come within reach of her sword. ”Can you move?” he shouted.

Celine turned toward him, and the helmet followed the motion smoothly. She raised one arm, rotated her wrist, then lifted her sword and lowered it again.

”Yes,” she said. ”Looks like it.”

Noctivex moved with her as though the armor had been built around her centuries ago. The living metal offered no resistance. It did not lock her joints or force her posture. It simply remained wrapped around the vampire, containing the Wrathful energy that had nearly consumed her.

Cain studied her movements. ”Alright. Whatever you did, that energy was the same power Ludwig used.”

Celine looked toward Ludwig, who was still staring at Noctivex.

The living metal had never volunteered itself for anyone else. It had resisted owners, fought commands, and displayed enough malice to qualify as a personality of its own. Yet the moment Wrath overwhelmed Celine, it had crossed the soul shackles without Ludwig’s permission and armored her.

Whether it had done so to protect her, protect Ludwig, or simply prevent Wrath from destroying a body it had decided belonged to it remained unclear.

Ludwig tapped his side twice, and darkness opened beside him. Kaiser emerged first, his staff already in hand and his body fully reconstructed. No trace remained of the section Sloth’s pebble had torn away, though his expression suggested he had not forgiven the experience.

A far larger figure followed him.

Gale stepped from the darkness in full armor. The Death Knight’s tower shield rested in one hand, broad enough to cover most of his body. Oathcarver waited in the other, its ancient edge carrying the weight of elven steel and the countless battles that had shaped Gale’s technique.

He assessed the canyon in a single glance. Sloth stood ahead with half an arm missing, while the black amalgamations watched from the canyon walls but made no move to descend. Celine remained sealed inside Noctivex as Cain, Redd, Thomas, and the tribesmen stood spread across the battlefield.

Tull was still farther away, partially lodged within a distant section of the shattered canyon after one of Sloth’s earlier blows. His aura remained visible, proving he was alive, but he had wisely chosen not to crawl back into immediate striking range.

”None of his retainers this time,” Gale said.

”Yeah,” Ludwig replied. ”You get to freely duke it out with him.”

Gale’s helmet turned toward Sloth. The Death Knight needed no further encouragement.

He launched himself forward, cracking the ground beneath his first step. His tower shield remained raised as he accelerated, protecting his body from whatever effortless counter Sloth chose to offer. Oathcarver drew back beside him, held in a stance Ludwig had seen Gale use against creatures many times his size.

Sloth watched him approach as blue blood continued running from his severed arm. When Gale entered striking range, Sloth did not attempt to catch the sword.

He had learned from Celine.

Instead, he moved aside. The motion was slight and painfully slow, little more than a shift of his weight and a single step away from the descending edge. Against most warriors, it would never have been enough.

Against Sloth, it was.

Oathcarver passed beside his face. The blade missed, or it should have.

Gale had built his swordsmanship around a principle that allowed no compromise.

One strike. One kill. Never miss a swing once it had been committed.

The blade continued downward toward the ground as blue aura erupted from Gale. Darkness mixed into it, the cold energy of death twisting around the bright force until both powers became indistinguishable. The aura did not bend toward Sloth. It did not pursue his body or correct the missed swing.

It exploded from the sword in every direction.

Oathcarver struck the canyon floor, and stone ruptured beneath its edge.

The Tyrant Blade Technique had never been designed for honorable duels between swordsmen. It existed to kill beasts, monsters, and creatures too large or savage to be treated as proper opponents. Its attacks did not need to recognize a conscious enemy. They destroyed the entire area in which the beast stood.

Gale had decided Sloth was not a man, an intelligent Usurper, or even an opponent worthy of intention. A beast stood near his sword, so everything around the sword had to die.

The blast of aura caught Sloth from the side.

His Authority did not stop it.

The wave threw him across the canyon. Pale skin burned beneath the mixture of death and aura, leaving dark marks across his shoulder and ribs. He struck the ground, slid through the stone, then stopped with one foot braced beneath him.

Sloth looked down at the damage across his body. ”Interesting members you possess.”

Gale lifted Oathcarver from the crater as Sloth’s crimson eyes passed from him to Celine, then toward Ludwig.

”You all find intricate ways to bypass my Authority.”

Kaiser stepped forward. ”Let me show you mine.”

He planted the bottom of his staff against the canyon floor, and dark mana surged downward. It did not spread across the surface. It sank deep into the earth, moving through old stone, buried sediment, forgotten caverns, and everything that had died beneath Sloth’s territory.

Kaiser raised his reconstructed arm. ”RISE UNDEAD!”