“It is time,” Balthazar said grimly as he stood there next to Vorzik, “All of our forces lay waiting. Fate lays at the gates, she’ll be through to the island soon. Now is the time to strike.”
“I have the cloak of Invisibility. You have created the proper bindings upon it? I do not wish to be ensnared simply by touching it,” Vorzik’s singular house-elf body nearby replied as it inspected the silky cloth of the Cloak of Invisibility.
“Just be careful with it,” Balthazar said, “But yes. Simply throw it in her direction when you have an opportunity as we discussed and you will not be targeted. Simply holding it is no danger.”
“Very well. I will be careful with it. I am prepared.”
“Then let us go.”
Balthazar was fully wearing his most powerful set of armor and holding a long enchanted rifle. The armor was a deep red to match his skin with little darker flecks scattered across its surface of shimmering metal. It covered him completely, only leaving his horns exposed. Even his wings had a sheath running along the limbs themselves even if the membrane between the finger like bones were covered in the sheaths of enchanted metal. It had carried him through battle all the way from the beginning of his service to Teregatt. Armor that had stood unbroken through a seemingly endless string of battles...
He had been charging the enchanted rifle with his magic for months. It was a well crafted weapon. But with the power thrumming within it it would be nothing but scrap after one single powerful blast. Hopefully something to put Fate and Merlin on a bit of a back foot for the start of the battle.
Balthazar had no illusions that he was anywhere either of their levels of power when it came to magic or even skill. His last battle just against Fate in Voldemort’s body, when Balthazar outclassed the wizard in power by so much had been close. Merlin eclipsed Balthazar in raw power by orders of magnitude. He would have to rely on the enchanted items from Teregatt to even the playing field a little.
Balthazar reached to his sides and patted the two bulky bulges of thick metal sitting just above his hips. He reached down and undid the protective little flaps covering them. A series of protective enchantments activated at the mouths of the twin pockets and Balthazar felt a slight tug on his magic to help maintain them.
Balthazar reached inside one of them with an armored hand and pulled out a long sword glimmering with a blade looking like sharpened ice. Letting out an aura of chill and lethargy even as Balthazar held it aloft. He nodded and placed the sword back into the expanded space it had come from.
He reached to the open pocket on the other side and reached in with his same arm. He drew out a small pistol like enchanted weapon and inspected it carefully. This one too was fully charged full with Balthazar’s magic and would be destroyed after a single shot. He had many like it prepared for the battle. He would need them to counter the power that Merlin would be able to put out.
All of Balthazar’s own magic would contribute to his own defense and powering his enchanted weapons and armor. He had no delusions that any attack he would try to create normally would be able to injure Merlin.
Even the beam of light from space would take far too long to set up. It would never be able to strike Merlin or even be able to be properly deployed before Merlin launched another one of his massive spells upwards and disrupt the whole contraption before it could fully activate.
So no, none of Balthazar’s normal attacks would be able to harm Merlin. Even these weapons would only let him hold his own and do some minor damage to Merlin. Hopefully that would be enough…
Balthazar put the enchanted pistol back in its expanded space in the pouch at his side. Balthazar flapped his wings and channeled his magic and flew into the air. Two of Vorzik’s bodies followed after him. The bodies stood perfectly still as they used their magic to fly behind Balthazar as if the wind and gravity didn’t affect them in the slightest. The environment didn’t bother them, Balthazar mused.
Vorzik’s last body remained behind at Azkaban, the Cloak of Invisibility between its hands as it stared into the sky to watch the rest of them leave.
Balthazar and the two of Vorzik’s bodies flew upwards until they were right on the edge of the wards.
On the other side stood Merlin with glowing golden eyes.
“Come… to negotiate?” Fate said in Merlin’s voice, panting slightly. After a moment Merlin took a deep breath and seemed to recollect himself after spending several hours of battering the wards full force.
“We’re very close to breaking through,” Fate said, “It’ll only be a little while longer before I get inside.”
“Negotiate?” Balthazar asked. Despite everything, that would still be the best outcome. This would be a hard fight, no way around it. Best to not risk conflict if it was possible.
“Do you have a way to leave this world?” Fate asked piercingly, her eyes fixed on Balthazar. He hesitated. Technically they could return to Teregatt. But then they’d be floating adrift in the void again. Reconnecting to another world would be a matter of chance if it ever happened.
“No,” He said, “Not in a way that I’m sure that would work.”
Fate nodded.
“Merlin’s asked for me to be more reasonable,” She said, “Leave this world. I’ll help provide you with a portal to a nearby universe where we won’t need to fight each other. I’ll even…”
Fate looked unhappy as she spoke, “A few day… No, weeks. I’ll give you a few weeks to leave. No killing, no fighting. You just leave peacefully, and I’ll help you go. Beyonders. I see you… who is that next to you?”
Merlin cocked his head to the side and stared at Vorzik in confusion, “You are… where are the house elves? What have you done with them? Why are you working on the side of Beyonders, Ancestor!”
“I am but an Aspect of Ancestor, that of the house-elves.” Vorzik’s two bodies said, “The Beyonder offered us a better deal than the pitiful one you made Merlin force us into. I’m only doing the best for the people which I am bound to.”
“But he is a Beyonder!” Fate said, looking enraged, “You knew that he’d have to be expelled! Ancestor agreed with me that it would be for the best if the Beyonders were kept at bay! Why are you fighting me now?”
“Ancestor is not like you, Fate,” Vorzik said, “Each of Ancestor's fragments are allowed to make their own decisions. My actions are my own and not Ancestor’s.”
“And you’re taking all the house-elves with you?” Fate demanded, “I had plans for them! You can’t do this, this ruins so much!”
“I care not for your plans for my people,” Vorzik said with a reproachful tone, “The Beyonders have treated us well. Better than you have. I will not be persuaded from my position.”
Fate’s face twisted and she looked like she was about to force Merlin to shout.
“Fate, perhaps its for the best,” Merlin suddenly said as the golden light faded from his eyes, “They can go with the Beyonders. The house-elves are already lost along with the Beyonders. Corrupted in your eyes already, no?”
The golden eyes returned and Merlin’s expression twisted into anger and petulance once more. Like someone who had been forced to swallow something sour.
“Fine,” Fate spat out, “The house-elves can leave with the Beyonders too. Now, do you agree? You have no idea how generous I’m being! If not for Merlin I’d be in there purging you all from this planet without worrying about all of this. I’m sure that even letting you go will lead to more Beyonders coming here think they smell weakness from me like how they did last time…”
“Can we not simply negotiate to remain on Azkaban?” Balthazar asked, “I do not think that I would like the world that you would want to send us to. And I have made acquaintances with several of the natives. I’d rather not leave them after doing my best to help them so far.”
“NO! YOU HAVE TO LEAVE!” Fate shouted before calming down slightly, “Stop delaying! Do you agree or should Merlin finish battering through the wards and slaughter all of you?”
“Let’s fight then,” Balthazar said as he lifted his rifle to bear and held it against his shoulder. With a command to the wards they contracted until they were directly around the island itself rather than hundreds of meters away. The wards passed over Balthazar and the two of Vorzik’s bodies as they remained floating in the air.
Balthazar pulled the trigger of the rifle and fired it at the surprised Fate. In a deep thrum of magic a pitch black beam of destruction shot out and shot towards Fate.
Fate had Merlin’s hands push forward as if to ward off the beam as she summoned a giant golden shield of magic to defend against the attack. But the beam from the rifle was relentless, pushing Merlin’s body back and slowly dissolving through the shimmering golden shield no matter how much of Merlin’s magic Fate poured into it.
After a full second of Merlin being pushed back by the black beam, the attack petered out as the rifle sputtered as its enchantments finally failed. Balthazar immediately threw it to the side to fall into the ocean as it stopped firing. He reached with both hands into his arsenal and pulled out two more pistols that he fired immediately.
One shot a red beam that gave of an incredible heat while the other let out a sickly green beam giving off a sense of decay and moldy rot. Fate quickly raised the golden shield again to block the beams. Balthazar threw the two spent pistols sideways to fall into the ocean as they too burned out their enchantments.
Merlin lowered his arms breathing heavily as if he had suddenly been forced to sprint unexpectedly. A few beads of sweat were formed on his brow.
“Then battle it is!” Fate shouted, “Not even Merlin can fault me for slaughtering all of you now!”
Merlin’s body exploded in a massive wave of force in all directions. Vorzik’s bodies were blown back by the attack and were slammed hard against the hard surface of Azkaban’s wards.
Balthazar channeled his magic into his armor and braced himself to remain in place through the massive winds and force of the undirected attack. He reached to his sides and withdrew two six foot long spears. One composed of ice and the other of dark steel and covered in enchanted scripts.
“Merlin has sunk whole islands with a single spell!” Fate shouted as Merlin’s arms raised above his head, “Defeated foes of the like that you’ve never seen! You think attacks like this will be enough to stop him?”
Above Merlin thousands of magical constructs were formed in an instant. They appeared as if mannequins made entirely of gold. At the ends of their arms were long sharp blades instead of hands and they stood on the air as if standing on invisible platforms.
Balthazar drew back the spear of ice and threw it with all of his might towards Merlin.
Fate summoned a golden shield, but the spear exploded into a cloud of chill and frost as soon as it hit the shield. Merlin quickly flew back as the cloud of the spear’s frost quickly bypassed the shield directly and made his breaths come out in big plumes of mist.
As soon as Merlin was out of the range of the icy spear’s cloud he cast a single spell and returned himself to full health once more.
The thousands of golden constructs all started running through the air towards Balthazar in a massive charge as Fate and Merlin remained in place and started charging another spell.
Balthazar withdrew twin swords made of ice, one in each hand as the wave of constructs charged him.
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They came at him all at once, stabbing towards him from all sides. Balthazar swung each of the swords in large arcs and waves of frozen air came bursting out in large waves. Wherever the hyperchilled air touched the constructs they were locked in place and started to ice over as they lost control of their platforms and started to fall down to the roiling ocean below.
He kept swinging with both weapons and killing swaths of the surprisingly sturdy constructs as they all closed in.
The first blade stabbed Balthazar's armor and scratched it slightly before the armor pulsed and the construct dissolved into wisps of magic.
Balthazar looked down at the small scratch stunned for a moment, allowing another four of the constructs to land attacks from his distraction. More scratches on the armor formed as Balthazar refocused on fighting off the constructs that were in such number yet were powerful enough to scape and damage armor that Balthazar was used to only being impacted by the larger attacks of his enemies.
It had been a very long time since Balthazar had faced someone with the ability to damage his prized armor so easily.
Fate was still charging an attack as the golden constructs swarming from all sides kept Balthazar locked in place conducting his furious defense.
“FATE! I declare you a threat to the house-elves! My bound species!” The booming voice suddenly said from before Balthazar, “I call on all of those within me to save our people from extinction! Defend your descendants, remnants of the dead!”
Behind Balthazar he felt thousands, tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands of weak auras all explode out all at once in a massive wave.
Unable to turn around or use his magic senses to pierce through the chaotic mass of Fate’s attacking constructs to observe what Vorzik was doing, Balthazar could only keep frantically fighting with his swords of ice, channeling his own magic into their pommels to power their icy blasts as his armor became more and more scratched and dented the longer he fought and the constructs landed more and more strikes on him.
Then all of a sudden the constructs began to divert and less were attacking Balthazar. He was more easily able to hold his own against them. After a few more seconds Balthazar saw what he had felt earlier.
The ghosts and shimmering forms of house-elves that usually overlapped with Vorzik’s form had emerged and were fighting against the constructs en masse. Each ghost was weak, the golden mannequins godlike in their power in comparison to them. The mannequins were summoned by Merlin to attack Balthazar, not something as weak as a ghost.
But each ghosly house-elf placed their hands against the surface of the construct and let out bright flashes of light that dented the Mannequin’s golden exteriors and did appreciable damage. But most didn’t make it too close, sliced in two by the golden blades of Fate’s constructs before they could attack. Either sliced in two or landing their singular attack, the ghosts compressed to single little pinpricks of light and flew back to one of Vorzik’s bodies.
Vorzik’s bodies floated in the air belching out waves and waves of house-elf ghosts like a thick smog as they moved towards Balthazar to support him in battle. The house-elf ghosts were so thick in the air around Vorzik that Balthazar had difficulty had difficulty even defining any humanoid features of them until they were dozens of feet away from Vorzik’s main bodies.
Given a small amount of leeway with Vorzik’s ghosts distracting most of Fate’s constructs, Balthazar placed one of his icy swords into the pocket in his armor. Taking only a small break caused scratches to accumulate and the small dents and divots covering every inch of his armor to grow deeper as Balthazar continued to be attacked even now.
He pulled out a charged pistol and aimed it towards Fate and Merlin. He did not like the solid mass of magic that they had been accumulating throughout the fight, channeling something while Balthazar and Vorzik were frantically fighting off Fate’s constructs.
He pulled the trigger and a red beam of fire lanced through a dozen golden constructs that leapt into its way before the beam even got close to hitting Fate.
Even as Fate channeled the massive spell that she was preparing, she kept summoning more and more of the golden mannequins around her to charge and run through the air to join the battle against Vorzik and Balthazar.
Balthazar tossed his used pistol to the side even as he used his other hand and icy sword to ward off the swarm of golden mannequins as best as he could. He fired at Fate again and more mannequins leapt in the way to defend from the attacks.
Some of Vorzik’s house-elf ghosts were barely a dozen feet away from Balthazar and covered his back as the golden mannequins spread out to combat the flood of ghosts that seemed to come for all directions with Vorzik’s two bodies having fought through Fate’s construct to be so close to Balthazar.
Balthazar kept firing pistol after pistol towards Fate, the beams getting closer and closer each time as there were less and less mannequins in the way to intercept the beam.
After three shots, Balthazar’s shots managed to reach where Merlin floated. A shield appeared and intercepted the attack, but Balthazar noted that the construction of whatever spell that Fate was creating slowed fractionally as it did so.
Balthazar kept firing and tossing the pistols to the side over and over, the golden shield remaining in place and blocking the attacks. From the outside Baltazar’s attacks didn’t appear to do too much, but he could sense Fate dividing her attention and the progress on the spell she had been preparing slowed to a crawl as she focused on defending herself and Merlin with the golden shield.
Balthazar took out one final weapon. His last one besides blades that it was clear that he would never be able to get close enough to use directly on Fate.
He awkwardly aligned the barrel of the enchanted rifle towards Fate by wedging it just below his elbow even as he suddenly spun in a circle and released a wave of frost with his remaining ice blade to give himself some extra space for the shot. He lined up the barrel of the rifle and pulled the trigger.
The barrel glowed with a crackling electric blue before firing a bolt of pure sizzling electricity. Unprepared for the sudden strong attack that Balthazar had been saving for a moment like this, a portion of the lightning managed to pass through the golden shield and blasted into Merlin’s body before the wizard could defend himself.
Merlin twitched and Fate briefly lost control of the massive spell that she had been constructing. But it wasn’t enough to destabilize the spell as Fate immediately seized it again and stopped it from collapsing as it started twisting and preparing to explode.
Balthazar stared as Merlin’s mouth moved as his eyes alternating between golden and normal. Balthazar was fully out of tricks now. He could only hope that his armor would let him survive this final attack of Fate long enough for the plan to work…
— — —
“I know you wish to do it,” Merlin said, “You’ve been nothing but bloodthirsty to kill these Beyonders. Go ahead, take my lifeforce. Throw me aside as you have done to so many others.”
“No, Merlin,” Fate said firmly as his eyes glowed again and she focused on controlling the spell she was shaping, “I would never do that to you. Do you think so little of me?”
“Yes. You have done it to so many others under your control to kill the Beyonders. Drained them to the last drop for a final burst of power to kill the sources of your ire. How am I any different from them, Fate? Doth thou twisted heart only care about those who are most useful to you?”
“Merlin, I…” Fate said.
“Enough. I pant and heave even now with this spell. It is large enough now to split the sky in twain. Launch your punishment on those Beyonders who dare to be alive in this world against your sensibilities.”
Fate didn’t say anything and after a few more long seconds finally managed to complete the massive spell. She brought Merlin’s arms down and brought them to point at the two bodies of the Aspect of Ancestor and the Beyonder.
“Now, Vorzik!” The Beyonder shouted as their dented and damaged armor glowed brightly with magic and and they raised their hands defensively as Fate launched her attack.
Her massive black beam of the void blasted towards the Beyonder and landed on him. His armor flashed brightly with enchantments for a single instant before flickering and starting to fail as Fate’s pitch black attack completely covered him. Both of the bodies of the Aspect of the Ancestors had already been completely dissolved into nothing as soon as they were caught in Fate’s attack and had it wash over them before they could mount a proper defense.
The remainder of the void beam went past the resisting Beyonder and hit the wards of Azkaban and began slowly eating away at them. Fate was sure that once the wards were down she’d have no trouble slaying whatever weaklings Beyonders remained inside for the fight…
Suddenly a new body of the Aspect of the Ancestor for the house-elves appeared behind Fate out of seemingly nowhere. It shimmered into existence as if having just released a powerful invisibility or disguise spell. The house elf clad in purple clothing drew back what looked like a shimmering silver cloak and tossed it towards Fate and Merlin in a crumpled ball.
Fate looked at it confused as it unfurled at her. The Cloak of Invisibility? What was the purpose of throwing at her?
No, wait… Fate immediately tried to cut off the void beam and move to dodge the attack that would be devastating if it landed. But there was a tight grip on her mind and she was locked in place, unable to move Merlin or his magic an inch from his position.
“You… will… not… leave!” Merlin ground out as his body remained frozen in place even as Fate now desperately fought to leave his body as she realized what he was doing.
“Merlin!” She made Merlin shout as his eyes glowed golden, “Don’t do this! I can’t leave this planet alone, everything will fall apart without me there to make things how they should be!”
Merlin growled as the golden glow in his eyes faded as he grabbed onto Fate with a firm grip in his mind and kept her firmly pinned inside. He was her champion, he knew her better than anyone. And how to keep her trapped in his mind when she was caught off guard and unable to mount a proper defense.
“Let you feel the weight of the chains you’ve placed on others… Tyrant!” Merlin shouted as the void beam kept firing into the Beyonder who had been forgotten in the internal struggle between Merlin and Fate.
“Meeerrrrllllliiiiin!” Fate screamed out of his mouth, “Nooooo!!!!”
She almost left his mind and escaped, but his iron will slowly reeled her back kicking and screaming inwards again as the silverly cloak approached them and opened wide like an opening mouth looking to swallow them.
Fate could only watch in horror as the silver cloak leapt forward under the clear powerful binding spells that Fate and Merlin both could detect within it.
The cloak enveloped the both of them in perfect darkness as it compressed around the both of them, even covering below Merlin’s feet in a perfectly enclosed bag. It suppressed their magic in an instant, stopping the void beam before the cloak of invisibility even finished enveloping them.
Fate was suddenly detached from the world, from all of her little fragments that she’d put in almost every living creature on this world. How she guided them, put them where they should be. Made sure they did the right things at the right time. Kept closer tabs on the important ones so they wouldn't disrupt her plans for the world. All of it was gone, leaving only her mind here in Merlin’s body, cut off from everything. Completely isolated from everything she'd been building for so long.
The binding spells of the cloak started to activating and Fate looked around with Merlin’s head frantically looking for a solution. But there was nothing, she was trapped. The both of them fell briefly through the air as the magic they had used to fly failed and began to let them fall down towards the ocean below.
But they were caught and hovered in the spell of another before they hit the ocean below. The binding spells kept activating one after another in sequence as the Cloak of Invisibility surrounded them in perfect darkness and kept Fate isolated inside of it.
“So here we are again,” Merlin said with a small chuckle, “Just the two of us together. Just like how it was in the beginning when we came to this world. Perhaps this an opportunity for you to relax your grip, focus on us again?”
“I… but, my plans. It’s all…” Fate despaired as the binding spells wound them both up tighter and tighter inside of the cloak.
“Designs conducted alone, with no one to console you,” Merlin said sympathetically, “Put them aside, we shall be together for a long time I presume. And on equal terms, not like how it has been recently.”
“I… You’re right,” Fate said even as she struggled to keep it together at seeing everything she’d been doing for this world crumble before her eyes.
“It’s just us again,” Fate continued before letting out a sigh, “I’m sorry I got so obsessed. Did all of those things. And all of it will come to nothing in the end…”
The bindings entered the final stages and began to slowly shut down the functions of Merlin’s body to put him in a coma. Almost like putting him to sleep.
“I know you can do better, Fate,” he mumbled as he started to drift off to sleep, “Despite your terrible deeds I still love you in the darkest depths of my heart. I can only hope that shard can grow beyond its confines again. Twas the best and worst day of my life when I chose to become your champion… Fate.”
He slowly closed his eyes and drifted off into the endless sleep enforced by the bindings.
Fate felt herself starting to drift off as well. She was in Merlin’s body, as a conceptual entity even she could only survive a little longer before also succumbing to the call to unconsciousness.
“Oh, Merlin, that was the best day of my life,” Fate croaked out and a single tear ran from the corner of Merlin’s eye before Fate finally drifted away to the endless sleep to join her champion.
Together once more underneath the bindings of the Cloak of Invisibility.
— — —
Balthazar let out a rasping breath as he felt the shards of metal and deep wounds all over his body where the void had carved into him once it made its way through the armor. As he took a deep breath Balthazar heard several clicks. He was bleeding all over and barely managed to hover in place with his magic as he let out a hacking cough.
He blinked and felt biting pain all over his body as he shifted and the shattered chunks of metal that were left of his armor dug their sharp edges deeper into his wounds. He let out a pained hiss as he saw Vorzik’s remaining body floating through the air with a silvery bag floating behind it.
“Is it done?” Balthazar managed to croak out.
“It is done. They are bound. Open the wards, your wounds need to be treated urgently.”
Balthazar groaned and found the wards through his pounding head and lowered them completely as he struggled to find the portion of them that would allow specific people through them.
“Good. Let’s get you to some healing then.”
The two of them flew back down to Azkaban where the Teregatt Guard and groups of house-elves waited for them.
“What of you and your slain bodies? The fallen ghosts?” Balthazar asked as the Teregatt Guard worked to peel his destroyed armor off of him and treat his bleeding wounds.
“They will return in time,” Vorzik said calmly, “A very long time. But they all will return. The ghosts a few centuries before they can manifest within me again. A few millennium before my other physical bodies return. But we have had victory. My sacrifice helped provide us with victory.”
“Thank you… Vorzik,” Balthazar said, “I could have not done it without your strength and ability to be so stealthy.”
“In service of my new home and the home of my people, Teregatt.”
“In the service of Teregatt,” Balthazar agreed after a slight pause.