The blow landed on Covall’s jaw, knocking his head back. Momentarily stunned, Drake used the opening and delivered a hard kick in the enemy vessel’s chest. From the impact, Covall was thrown a hundred yards away, tumbling in the air. His body stopped only when it blasted into the side of Central Main. The wall exploded on impact and the fort crumbled on top of the vessel, piling more bricks upon him. Drake approached and landed yards away from the scene. The smoke and dust from the impact obscured his vision. He waited for the man to appear again.
After a second Covall stood up again, brushing the rubble off of him and stepping out of the debris. He looked unhurt, except for his face which had lost its confident sneer. It only had on it a brutal hate.
“Who are you!” Covall called out angrily. “I know that Kami no longer had the power to keep such mighty vessels at his side, 500 years of a blockade had made sure of that! And even if you are his, why do you come out now and not before I had killed your comrades?”
Drake didn’t respond, but just stood silently and unmoving. The vessel grunted in disgust and continued, “Kami’s days are numbered! You have no hope of victory, here or in the future! What do you hope to gain from this? All your armies have fallen and your holy vessels have been slain. What future is there in the golden city?” The vessel shouted and pointed towards the city walls, “After this defeat, all the different pieces are in place! The city is next, and it will come down quickly. The only obstacles were the Frontline and the vessels and now you.” He glared at Drake’s unmoving stance and then charged him, “AND AFTER I KILL YOU, NOTHING WILL STAND IN MY MASTER’S WAY!”
Drake countered and the scene exploded again. Another section of the wall crumbled in the clash, falling down and disintegrating. After a few seconds of indecipherable fighting, the two fighters came apart again, each sporting new wounds. Blood dripped down from Covall’s face and he wiped it, shouting, “What are you? Some new weapon of Kami’s?”
Drake didn’t respond again, but stared blankly at the enemy. After a moment, Covall said, “I guess it doesn’t matter, you do not seem to be able to understand anything. Are you even awake? All I see is a mindless blade.”
Drake leaped forward and attacked this time, swinging his weapon around in a wide arc, impossibly fast and hard. All Covall could do was block it, bringing his sword around and steadying it with both hands. He grunted hard at the hit and the earth beneath him gave away at the force. He cursed and snarled at Drake, thrusting him back and attacking. “DIE!” he screamed. Drake fought back with cold blank eyes.
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“Fallow!” Gatal shouted, trying to be heard over the impossibly loud crashes of the fight. They had found large boulder that was actually a large piece of debris from some wall, and the tried to huddle behind in. It seemed that if not for the protection it offered, they would have been incinerated already. All around them on their right the earth blazed in fire, on their left it was frozen in ice frosts.
“Fallow!” Gatal shouted again, grabbing the man this time. Fallow was currently trying to peak over the side of the block of wall to see what was happening in the battle. Ashton was right with him.
Fallow turned back at the touch, his eyes wild and large. It took a moment for him to register Gatal and he asked in bewilderment, “Gatal? What is happening?”
Gatal shot back, “The universe is unraveling?? who knows?!”
Fallow just shook his head and stared at Gatal blankly.
“Where did you go, Gatal?” Ashton asked, stepping down from his look out spot. His eyes were filled with accusations. “When the demon came, you disappeared, what did you do? Many of other priests rallied together to fight, but you ran away! If your strength is as great as you claim, perhaps it would not have ended so badly. Everybody is dead!”
“So Vorash is gone then?” Gatal asked heavily.
Fallow nodded, feeling as though this conversation was out of place. At every other heartbeat flashes of light flickered from around the boulder making the setting seem unreal. Fallow felt emotionally drained, too much had happened. He answered Gatal’s question plainly. “Vorash and I had organized the evacuation of central. After the enemy vessel appeared, Vorash tried to organize all the magicians together, but that ended in catastrophe. All of them were killed instantly.” Fallow swallowed hard. “What do you think happened to the forces outside of central? My company was away south when this happened…” he let his voice drift off.
Gatal shook his head, “They are probably alive, but not for long.” He looked at Fallow with a sad finality. “The Frontline was lost once the vessel appeared.”
“Where did you disappear to, Gatal?” Ashton asked persistently. He eyes were full of anger, “You abandoned us the moment the vessel came, where did you go? Was not Drake the whole reason you came out here? How could you leave us the moment danger appeared, weren’t you supposed to protect Drake? Now he is gone, fighting that demon now, his mind lost to the ring!”
Gatal glared back and said, “Drake was only ever the means to an end, not the end itself! My priorities lie with Captain Soul and nothing else!”
Ashton replied, fiery, “A meaningless and altogether useless purpose. What can Soul do for us?”
Gatal’s eyes blazed angrily. He said in a deadly voice, “I do not answer to you, human! Thank fate that you are yet alive, and think of nothing else. Your uselessness lies in yourself! What have you done to prevent the catastrophe at hand?”
Ashton tore away from Gatal’s eyes with a lingering glare and he turned back to the battle. It was a fierce as ever, great gusts of heat and cold continued to blast the land. Flashes of light and the rolls of what sounded like thunder continued relentlessly.
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“Where did you go, then, Gatal?” Fallow asked.
Gatal didn’t turn to look at Fallow, but said after a moment, “I went Executive Commander Soul.”
Fallow shook his head. “So Soul, at least, is safe.” He sighed and leaned against the rock. It was warm to his touch. “Someday, you will have to tell me your obsession with that man. I can’t imagine he went willingly though.”
Gatal shook his head and replied, “He wouldn’t come willingly. He forbade me from taking him forcibly; it was only after he had been practically killed and unconscious that I could take him away.” Gatal grimaced slightly. “He wasn’t at the Command hill. He was at the first fort, coordinating the defense. He almost got himself killed for nothing…”
Fallow stared at Gatal, and then said softly, his voice oddly strained, “Everybody else died for nothing, then?”
Gatal paused. “Yes.” It was a simple response.
“What about Kami’s salvation?”
“I thought you didn’t believe in Kami’s salvation?”
Fallow paused and then said, “I wanted to. They still do.” He added, gesturing the city behind them. “The whole land believes.”
“Let them believe what they want, if it makes them feel and fight better, then all for it. That is all that the salvation of Kami is, a narrative to get the soldiers to fight harder. But now it is all meaningless, Kami is now doomed, as is his city. All I care for is Soul now.”
Fallow’s little patience snapped. “Look!” he shouted, grabbing Gatal and making him face the city. “Do you see those walls? Does the city not still stand, impregnable? Is not the very hand of the god, Kami, set upon its walls? Is the defense of the city at all comparable to the forts built out here on the frontline? Has there ever been a more secure thing in all of the universe? Sure, we have lost this tiny, insignificant, strip of land, but the city still sits there in all its glory. It would take an eternity to try to take down the wall! It is impossible, there plenty of time for another skirmish in the frontline. I do not see your cause for despair, Gatal!”
“I see the city, lieutenant,” Gatal said coldly. “But all I see is a hollow oak tree that could be fell with a single gust of wind.” Gatal turned to face the shocked and angry Fallow. “The frontline was the last lifeline of the city and with it gone, and the city will collapse soon after. The power of Kami has grown weak, you do not understand the ways of the gods; this battle was won centuries ago! I stay for one reason alone, and that is to save Soul. I owe him a debt that could never be repaid. He too, is stuck inside of Kami’s cult, he is doomed along with the city! But I will save him at all costs!”
“You are insane,” Falow replied scathingly. “And how do you plan to save your commander now, Gatal? If it is as hopeless as you say, then I don’t see how he, much less anybody else, can be saved.”
Gatal eyed him, “I have already told you my plan. You did not believe me though.” Fallow stared at him in disbelief. Gatal continued, “The only way to save Soul is to get him away from this city. For that, I need somebody to be able to open up a portal, and I also need to convince Soul to leave willingly.” Gatal sighed in dismay. “Drake was supposed to be the one to open the portal, once I had showed him how. But even at this point, neither of those tasks are looking to be completable. I feel as if the universe is conspiring against me!”
Ashton was still peering over the boulder at the fight, but suddenly flinched and hid behind the rock. A second later an exceptional blast rocked the land, crumbling the upper portions of their hide away. He said steadily, “I think Drake’s chances are better than you think.”
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Things were not going well for Covall. The new vessel attacking him was relentless and Covall’s injuries from his earlier fight were now showing their strain on him. He had been fighting the beast for the last few minutes, and he felt himself getting tired and worn out. On the other hand, his opponent hadn’t lost a single ounce of energy and, instead, seemed to become more and more powerful with each stroke. It was all Covall could do but hold his ground and defend himself. Actually attacking the opponent wasn’t an option.
In short, the Covall was losing.
Drake was almost on top of him, pressing him down. Face to face, Covall snarled and shouted, “Where is your power coming from? Surely not from Kami, that person is all but dead, shriveled up on his throne. Three of his vessels were no match for me, what are you!?”
Pulling his rage up in him, Covall threw all his strength at Drake and sent him flying away. He crashed into the walls of central; much like the enemy vessel had done earlier. The wall crumbled on impact, disintegrated from only the simple touch of the divine being. The enemy vessel took the time to collect his breath, but the reprieve lasted only a second. In an instant Drake was back, wielding the halberd and striking down at him as if the entire world backed his blade. Covall felt his strength failing.
He made a sudden decision. He shifted his sword slightly to the right, leaving his side unprotected. Without hesitation, Drake dove in, plunging his weapon at the opening.
The blade pierced the enemy’s flesh, cutting in deeply and spewing blood on the ground. Covall let out a small grunt of pain, but grabbed onto the staff and with all the force he could muster, brought the hilt of his sword around Drake’s guard and smashed him on the temple in a stroke that would have surely killed a human.
Drake’s grip went limp and without a second to waste, the enemy pulled the halberd from his wound and turned and fled, holding his hand to his side, painfully. Drake was left stunned, his weapon at his side.
The enemy grimaced again, and held his hand up to see. It was covered in his blood. His voice full of hate, he said, “I leave for now.” He turned and looked at Drake, “But it doesn’t matter, The Endless City is still done, nothing can stand up to my master’s power, now! And when I return I will come and personally strangle you with your own bowels! You have not seen the last of me!”
He turned suddenly and quickly slipped into Central Main through one of the many opening he created. It was deserted, and he leaped onto the top of the buildings, heading directly towards command hill.
When he made it to the bottom of the hill, he stared up at the straight cliff and said, “My last objective, you must go!”
He crouched down, and brought his sword to eye level. He closed his eyes and said softly, “Oh, creator of all, hear my voice and grant me power to accomplish thy will.”
After his prayer, he leaped up and screamed, throwing the remainder of his power into his technique.
In a silent blast of pure white light, the command hill and its entirety was blasted off the surface of the land, leaving not a single lump of the hill that had been raised by Kami himself.
The vessel swayed slightly and said, “A message for you Kami.” Covall turned and looked towards the city, panting in exertion. “Your city is next!”
Then he left, fleeing Central and finding his way back to his master for healing. But he would not forget the humiliation given to him by the last vessel. He had vowed to return.