41.

Invincibility Active

Duration One Second

Stone burst asunder, turned to dust as the Fury and Erak crashed through a side wall and then through the floorboards and into the next floor. Air whooshed out of him as they slammed to a halt. The demon was groaning into the cracked floor of their impact and Erak slowly pushed himself to his feet.

Dust clouds filled the air and he sneezed as he staggered backward. The Invincibility had been a strange and fleeting feeling. The rush of power, Essence pouring into him as if he was a balloon ready to burst. Then it had all flown away just as fast as it had arrived leaving Erak on wobbly feet.

Pomp popped his head from Erak’s shoulder and looked about the destruction. The dragon’s head turned to look at the dying Fury and he growled as frost covered his snout.

“Finish it. It still lives,” Pomp whispered. Erak looked down at the Fury as she slowly gathered her arms under her and started to push up. His spear was still justting from her back, the spikes on her armor were broken and just jagged stumps. Her hair had a thick patch missing and blood leaked from her scalp.

Erak grabbed for his sword, flicking off the thong that kept it in its sheath and drew it before the demon could fully gather herself. He stepped forward and swung upwards toward her unprotected neck. The demon staggered away, alerted by something, and his sword cast sparks as it slid along her shoulders and tore a chunk from the back of her neck.

She spun and flailed backward like a drunkard and the whip, which had been extinguished in their tumble through the floors, snapped around his leg. She jerked hard and Erak’s leg was jerked out from underneath him. He crashed hard to the ground and cursed to himself as he slashed at the whip tendril with his sword. Leather parted with effort and Erak rolled to his feet.

He raced toward the Fury who still hadn’t regained her balance. His sword sparked off her breastplate and then he crashed into her. They went flailing to the ground, Erak losing his sword in the tumble, and he lashed out with a gauntleted hand. Blood spattered against his helm, drops of it splashing into his eyes as he wailed on her.

She punched him and he heard metal groan and he was tossed sideways toward the wall. The wall cracked beneath him and fell with another thud and slowly pushed himself back to his feet. The Fury was getting to her own feet, her face a wreck. Nose skewed to one side, gaps in her teeth as she breathed through her mouth. Blood caked her face as more pulsed from the wound in her neck. The tip of the spear was poking out of her breastplate and she swayed from side to side.

Erak cracked his neck and stared up toward her. She tossed her whip handle to the side and from a hidden sheath in her armor, drew a long dagger that was nearly as long as a sword. She lunged forward and stabbed at him clumsily, Erak turning the blade away with his shield and punching her in the jaw.

Her head rocked to the side and her knees folded as her momentum carried her armored mass into Erak. He grunted as they fell to the ground in a tangled mass. She stabbed at him again and this time he felt the pinch of armor on his hip and wet warmth trickled down his leg.

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A broken wing draped over him, hot and thin and he grabbed it and hollow bones broke under his grip. The Fury twisted and cried out in pain and another dagger strike hit his gorget and he gasped as he felt the thinner metal flex and bow under the strike. He kneed her and pushed her away as he tried to get back to his feet. He threw a shield strike and hit her shoulder with the edge of his shield and a bone cracked.

She kicked him and the force of the blow lifted Erak and tossed him towards the already broken stone of the wall. His back hit it and the wall failed and he tumbled through the wall in a sprawl of limbs. Erak leapt back up and watched as the Fury tried to escape. Her wings dragged limply behind her as she headed for the front door.

Erak leapt after her, ducking through the hall and tackling her in the low of her back and bowing her backward as they slammed through the front door and out into the hallway. They rolled in a tangle and then they were falling, bouncing and twisting as they careened down the stairs to come to a crushing halt at the base of the stair.

Erak was the first to recover and managed to get the full mount as he pounded down on the Fury. She bucked and he slid off of her her as she heaved herself to her feet and slumped against the corner of the walls. She was ruined, her features lumpy and misshapen as the bones had been crushed and broken. Golden blood stained with black sludge ran down her face and across her dented and torn armor.

Fear was absent in her gaze as she towered over Erak. The end was nigh and she refused to back down. She leapt at him, hitting him hard and they went backward and down more stares, until they landed in a clatter at the bottom floor. She rose up and punched him, his helm rattling as his head bounced off the floor. His vision swam but he saw the point of the spear was half way out of her chest and he grabbed it.

She froze as he jostled the spear but Erak showed no mercy as he ripped it free, dragging it out through her torso in a screech of scraping metal. She went limp and folded up, falling to the side as the spear burst from her in a veritable fountain of gore.

Erak was panting, every breath loud and echoing in the abandoned building as he tried to regain his composure. His body hurt, aching everywhere as his vision was still blurred. He pushed himself up and looked at the line of stairs they had fallen down on and thought of his sword lost in the wake of destruction the two of them had created.

Fury lvl. 29 Slain

Essence Acquired

Level Earned (x3)

Erak bit back a scream as Essence flooded through him as the Fury stopped breathing. He slumped back against the wall as he limbs trembled and his heart beat frenetic in pace and his vision cleared up.

Pomp leapt from his armor, his blue scales gleaming with crimson Essence as he fell to the flow, the Essence soaking into his body. The little dragon grew, lengthening and growing sturdier in the shoulders and flanks as muscles were added. His eyebrows grew longer and the whiskers on his snout became crystalline and every imitation breath emitted a cloud of frost. As Pomp stopped spasming he grew still and then floated back up to land weightlessly on Erak’s shoulder.

“I have nearly double in strength from that, thank you Erak. I’ll be able to help you decipher more and eventually be able to interact with the physical world as we grow stronger. But, I am tired, I’m going to take a nap.” The bonded spirit slipped into his armor and a familiar chill ran along his shoulders and neck as if he had an ice compress.

Erak sighed and cleaned off his spear the best he could before stomping back up the stairs. He needed to get his sword back and the knife the Fury had dropped. One couldn’t have too many blades afterall. As he trudged up the steps he brought up his screen and smiled at the thought of growing stronger.