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Chapter 7 - Unholy Diva
As much as the name rolled around his head like a puffer fish in a hot air balloon, the death knight was also pained by memories - he recognised the group of thematically holy-looking warriors standing atop the hilltop and looking down upon the gathered dead and dwarven miners.
“It brings me pain to see such a great hero of renown fallen to the dark side,” the leader called out, his melodious voice filling the clearing. “It will bring pleasure to the Great Light to make you at peace once more.”
A paladin, the nameless death knight remembered - actually let’s go with… Rotguy. No, too casual. Blightreign - ah now that was edgy enough. The paladin was Earnest Lightbringer, the head warrior of the Great Light church. Although they played the part of the ever-good-guys, Blightreign’s faint memories of them were of a hokey bunch of do-gooders that weren’t half as useful as they were pious.
“Earnest,” the death knight called out, still atop the giant undead bear, “To what do we owe the displeasure?”
The humourless smile across the paladin’s face spoke louder than the words that came out of his mouth. “Saying goodbye to old friends.”
“We were never friends. I barely considered you a colleague. There was nothing special or great about your ‘work’, and you are just a gang of bandits with better PR and worse sense of style.” Blightreign drew Impureheart and stood atop his chunky steed.
“Undeath has clearly tempered your taste and dramatic flair. Wait until word spreads around that the once great [redacted] is just an empty thrall of a half-rate necromancer. What will they think then?”
Blightreign turned to his gathered Warband, the promised chaos-dwarves filtering out of the mines holding a mixture of mining picks and foul flintlock rifles. “None of these people are to leave this battle,” he scowled with a low murmur. The responding groans and growls from below him signified their understanding.
“To arms men!” Earnest bellowed to his companions, a group of maybe a dozen warriors and clerics of the Great Light. Each of them withdrew a melee weapon or prepared a spell book as they readied to make their charge.
The death knight sighed and took a deep breath, despite not needing to. He was confused at the G name, how it had hurt him when heard, and sometimes it was just a blur when said - he couldn’t even remember it again. As he focused, he withdrew from inside the shell of the single figure he was used to. No longer a lone warrior, he was the commander of many.
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The wolves would circle around the flanks to harass their magic users, allowing the slower zombies to get into the skirmish. The ranged chaos-dwarves would fire into the front line, including the paladin himself, causing them to have to take a defensive or take the edge out of their charge. While they were distracted, Blightreign would pull up to Earnest on the bear, probably dismounting for the epic duel while the large ursine assisted the zombies and melee dwarves with clearing up the rest of the attackers.
And as if his thoughts were transplanted into the minds of the undead warband, that is what happened. The flash of fel arcane energy burst forth from a volley of flintlock rifles, downing one of the warriors and causing the Paladin to have to magic up a glowing yellow barrier to prevent further death.
The wolves circled the left flank, one of them pouncing a cleric preparing a spell and disrupting their focus. The second wolf got tangled up in the melee, a mace-wielding warrior trying to protect of other their other magic users, but the third dire wolf snatched onto the loose robes of a third priestly opponent.
“Hold the line,” Earnest shouted as the large form of the zombie bear lumbered towards the fray. Their fighting line was already disrupted; they were on the back foot from the start with half the warband trying to deal with the wolves whilst the front half weathered the shots from the dwarves below.
“Bitten off more than you could chew?” Blightreign leapt down from the bear, landing next to the Paladin with a wide grin, his mighty steed crushing one of the holy warriors beneath a wide paw.
The Paladin spat as his eyes darted between the death knight and the mass of bodies clambering up the hill behind him. Even if he slew the repugnant anti-hero quickly, they would soon be overrun by the horde. A flash of bright light arced over his shoulder and struck Blightreign in the chest - the last unhindered magic user sending a crackle of holy lightning into the undead foe.
Huh, pain. The death knight looked down at the open wound of scorched flesh, revealing some meaty ribs below his collarbone. Normally that kind of wound would hurt a lot more - but it still did hurt. He levelled a glare at the rather nervous-looking cleric, who was hastily trying to prepare a second attack.
“It seems you are killable, after all,” Earnest grinned, his large hammer now flaring up in a blaze of holy energy. “Stand still now; let me relieve you of this curse.”
Then the horde hit. Partially under the helpful push of the thick mining dwarves, the majority of the zombies piled into the skirmish like a wall of hungry water. The Paladin’s hammer caught one in lieu of Blightreign, the unlucky corpse half exploding as it filled with the holy energy. As the bear roared, and the wolves growled amongst the sound of tearing cloth and flesh, the rest of the battlefield ignored the two leaders - allowing them to have their stand-off.
The death knight blocked a follow-up strike from the holy hammer, radiant sparks flying out - the return blow by Impureheart deflected by the golden plate of the Paladin. As the two exchanged attacks, the rest of the battlefield dulled until it was just the two combatants, the clang of metal against metal, the grunts of exertion, and the unwavering glares of two sworn foes.
“Tiring yet, undead scum? In your current form, I am the superior combatant.”
“Oh, but this isn’t even my final form,” Blightreign growled, his eyes glowing red as blazing crimson energy flashed along Impureheart, setting the blade alight.