“You need me to attack you or you’re in violation of our bargain.” The words hung heavy on the air as the imperator stared him down before inclining her head just once.

“Indeed. A bargain was made. If I strike you down now then it will lay forever unfulfilled, a wound I can ill afford given the battles to come.” Tsa’rahlitzek agreed gravely.

“I don’t get it.” Natalya frowned, “How does him refusing to fight you break whatever deal you have? I can’t imagine anyone including that in the fine print.”

“I swore to see him shorn of sentiment, yet his affections for all of you stay his hand.” The imperator explained, the words were frosty enough that Natalya shivered to hear them.

“Is this the part where you kill us so we’re no longer in the way?” Alec asked tentatively, figuring someone had to ask it for all they were dreading the answer.

“No boy, it is not. Even if he attacked me he would not be doing it in spite of his affection, he would be doing it because of it.” The demon explained, calculation dancing behind her eyes. “An impasse.”

“What do you propose we do about it?” Erebus asked almost teasingly, only almost, the lightness in it was patently false where his gaze had never once left Lana’s body since the moment she’d been struck down. With Lana between them he’d had no way of stopping her and it had all but killed him not to summon every weapon he could call to hand to try and wipe her from the face of Reath.

But to strike her would have been to lose the little bargaining power keeping the rest of them alive, it would guarantee the wound Tsa’rahlitzek feared sure, but with nothing holding her back it would have been easy enough for her to mop them up.

“I propose that I simply remove them from the equation.” She declared, smiling as she did so.

“But you just said-“ Natalya began, starting to summon a shield she knew wouldn’t achieve a damn thing, simply hoping to die fighting rather than paralyzed by fear.

“Removed. Not killed.” Tsa’rahlitzek clarified, the necromancer’s defences sputtering out at the proclamation, and not by Natalya’s hands.

“Say I agree to this Sarah, what then?” Erebus demanded, the archmage was gathering power now, pulling the mana and chaos from the air into himself so sharply that even Alec could feel it, the mana beacon of Tsa’rahlitzek dimming ever so slightly.

“Then we fight and I kill you. Our pact remains fulfilled upon your death and I go on to conquer. Or you can join me, that is still an option.”

“That was never an option.” Erebus lied, “And win or lose you don’t kill them?”

“Not unless they oppose me.” The demon promised. Demons weren’t fae, they could lie, but nonetheless he believed her.

“Then the pact is made.” He said simply. “How will you guarantee their safety during the duel?”

“Duel? You overestimate yourself apprentice. This will be just another execution of a wayward subordinate, little more.”

“Humour me.” Erebus growled, skin practically glowing from stored mana as the mage fought hard not to simply burst like a fuse.

“I will create a parallel dimension to allow them to watch the duel, only light will pass through it, and I trust your former teachers are up to the task of blocking a little light.” She smiled warmly, it didn’t suit her, “Is it ego that made you travel with all the teachers you’ve surpassed? Pity? Either way I assure you the pattern won’t last.”

“I would say farewell to my companions before we begin.” He declared solemnly.

“Sentiment.” Tsa’rahlitzek scowled but made no further comment.

“Sentiment.” Erebus agreed rather more cheerily, turning to face his friends, presenting his back to the imperator for the first time since her appearance.

Amara broke the silence, the vampire wrapping her friend in a rib-crushing embrace, “You know when this all started I thought I was the one rescuing you. You have no idea how annoying it is to find the opposite true. You know I could-“

“You’d be killed before you even closed the distance.” Erebus cut her off, not unkindly. “That may look like a mortal body but it’s not. Think of her like the elemental, just power given form. The only way to kill her is to exhaust her power.”

“Oh. Is there anything I can do?” She asked, not liking just how resigned Erebus seemed. For all that the archmage was glowing like a beacon with barely restrained power he was talking like he’d already rested his head on the executioner’s block.

“Go back to Vulcanus and enjoy your life.” He said simply, “You’ve done more than enough ‘Mar.”

Slowly he released the embrace, turning next to Holly and Alec. “This is the part where I’m supposed to offer you sage advice, I’m afraid I don’t really have any. Try to look after each other, most people are doomed to face their great hardships alone, you both have a rare opportunity to avoid that.”

“I guess now it’s my turn?” Natalya observed dryly, pulling her erstwhile subordinate into a hug nearly as rib-crushing as Amara’s and with not even a whisper of vampiric strength to explain it.

“I never took you as much of a hugger.” Erebus quipped weakly, regretting the loss of vital air as soon as he did so.

Fortunately Natalya let go of her own accord, “I’m not. So go on then, bestow upon me your wisdom oh venerable archmage.”

“If I fall, go to Seruatis. The archmages there will know what to do.” Erebus said simply.

“I was hoping for something a little more prosaic and inscrutable.” She laughed, though her heart wasn’t in it.

“You’re the only one I trust to do it… and thank you. For putting up with my bullshit.” He smiled back at her before turning to the last of his companions.

Weaver of New Tales stared back at him, her two largest eyes boring into his. Spiders couldn’t cry but Erebus recognised the fastidious cleaning of her pedipalps as anxiety writ large.

“Just win.” The arachni told him as he opened his mouth to speak.

“I’m not going to just lay down and die Weaver but I’ll be honest with you, no mortal mage, no matter how formidable, can slay an imperator on their own.” He inclined his head to her, “I’m sorry I couldn’t give you a better adventure.”

“Are you joking?! This has been amazing,” The arachni protested, before adding belatedly, “and the next one will be better.”

Erebus smiled but didn’t comment, turning instead to his foe. “Okay. Let’s do this.”

With a wave of Tsa’rahlitzek’s hand his friends simply vanished, presumably spirited away to another dimension. She could have killed them, certainly she was skilled enough that he wouldn’t have known the difference, but he trusted his old teacher to keep her word.

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Erebus planted his feet, warstaff raised up against her, the golden ring of his last great bound spell just below the terrible spell sphere glowing at its tip.

“That won’t work on me foolish boy.” Tsa’rahlitzek chided, not taking any stance at all. Why would she when the outcome was so terribly certain.

“You’re right of course.” He agreed, “It only works on creatures who’s essence is of Reath. This sphere can’t do anything to harm you, but what if I simply target the space you’re occupying and dump you into the void between worlds.” His grin was positively vulpine as he spoke.

“I would simply enter back through the wound in the world before you could attempt to seal it.” His master spoke simply, not bothering to hide her chuckle as her apprentice’s face fell.

“The air then. Catch you in a large vaccumn then watch the implosion.” He tried again.

“Ultimately mere kinetics. It would be an easy injury to heal.” She replied, swatting down that idea as well.

Erebus sighed, removing the ring from the staff then discarding it to the floor, one of the deadliest weapons of war on Reath; useless. Instead he reached for his old travel staff while deftly slipping the ring onto a thumb, withdrawing the venerable stave from one of his inner pockets, finally giving up the pretense that they needed to conform to such tawdry things as a set volume.

Tsa’rahlitzek just watched indulgently, though whether she was indulging him or herself was up for debate.

With a deep breath her apprentice faced her down, “So are we going to use a set signal to start or” With a flash of movement he struck, flinging out an arm as a handful of projectiles flickered across the distance.

The demoness got her shield up in time, arrogant she might have been but she knew as well as Erebus did that his only chance was to strike as fast and hard as he could, to try and lay low the imperator in a single decisive blow, much as he had with the Red Cap. Her eyes widened as the needle-like projectiles passed seamlessly through her barrier of lurid red chaos to pierce her flesh.

There was a ripple of internal movement within the demon’s flesh and she spat out the five shield piercers Natalya had handed her old comrade during the hug. “Unsubtle, but decisive.” She told him flatly. Of the terrible venoms that had been inside the hollow needles there was no sign.

“You can’t blame me for trying.” Erebus pointed out evenly, doing his best to stare her down.

“Of course not. Now… my turn.” The thin tendril of darkness lashed out from torso, though whether it was part of her or merely a spell Erebus’ couldn’t tell. The difference was academic really, the imperator was practically an engine for creating chaos, it saturated her flesh, setting her apart from Reath, it made little difference whether she was casting with it or simply flinging it at him.

Reacting on instinct he flashed up a shield of will, nothing powerful, and it broke almost instantly but that didn’t matter, he’d already dived aside to avoid the strike. He would never beat her matching strength for strength so he wasn’t even going to try.

What he hadn’t expected was for the tendril to curve to follow him. Eyes wide he rolled to his feet in a single smooth motion, pivoting off his back foot to avoid being simply carved in half by the blow.

It worked, mostly. The tendril of shadows swiped down, neatly removing his arm between shoulder and elbow before drawing back. Taking its prize with it.

Erebus scowled, dumping a good chunk of his hoarded mana into a panacea spell of epic proportions. The regeneration, normally the work of minutes if not hours, took seconds. He couldn’t afford to be down a hand.

Luckily for him the stolen arm hadn’t been the one with his bound spell on it. He was going to have to use it soon. The necromancer had hoped to stall out a little longer, to get a better measure of his foe, but all he’d learned so far was that even a probing strike was more than he could handle. A more sincere assault would surely kill him.

Reluctantly he raised his second magnum opus to his lips and whispered gently to it, “I am going to die alone.” With a flash of golden light the ring vanished.

Surprisingly Tsa’rahlitzek did not try and strike him down immediately. It would have been uncharitable to call it fear, caution maybe, for while the gulf between them was vast, Erebus had struck down stronger foes before. Yet when nothing happened she resumed her confident sneer, another tendril struck out to be sidestepped by Erebus. In both directions.

Two Erebuses smirked at her, the tendril quivering between them, apparently uncertain what to do. Which at least confirmed its nature, some variant of seeker spell now thwarted where it had no way to determine which of the identical targets to chase.

“That’s ace one.” The Erebuses declared, splitting again. A blast of lightning took one of them in the chest but it was already two late, three became six, became twelve, the multiplying mages rapidly spreading out so they couldn’t be wiped in a single spell.

Cloning spells were, if not a dark art, certainly a grey one. Heavily discouraged by the litany of tales where rogue clones slew their creator to assume their life, only to fade as the magic powering them dwindled. Of clones devouring their creator’s soul to become them in truth. Of creators burdening their clones with onerous duties until the clone simply snapped.

There had been efforts to overcome these problems, a commonly posited idea was a hivemind, a union of the self. There had been successes, though they tended to fail at combat, the clones balking at combat or worse if self-sacrificing enough to die for their hivemind dying in droves.

Erebus had gone for something simpler. There was no creator or clone, they were both simply Erebus, living, breathing and perfect copies of the necromancer, united not by telepathy but by purpose and experience. None were doomed to fade.

It was a work of power not seen on Reath for centuries, or would have been if some lunatic hadn’t, a mere week ago, burned out an entire divinity in the name of vengeance.

Clone warfare was not the cure-all one would hope, being the same person they all tended to favour the same spells, perform the same actions. In other words a total waste if the opponent knew how to counter the attack.

Fortunately Erebus had been prepared for this, “Restraint.” Yelled one, stepping back from Tsa’rahlitzek even as another yelled “Weapons.” whilst drawing out a pair of long daggers from his robe to charge at the demoness. He didn’t get far, bisected at the waist with a flick of Tsa’rahlitzek’s hand, but that hadn’t been the point.

More clones were spawning, some of the Erebuses (Erebi?) moved back, acting as dedicated spawners while the spell lasted. Others began to fling spells at the foe, fire, lightning, entropy. A cohort quickly joined hands, channeling together to contest their mentor’s mastery over shadows.

The restraint team summoned chains from the air itself, binding her limbs as they tried to sap her strength through them.

A dozen reckless fools charged in, not a similar weapon between them as they sliced, swung and bashed away at her.

Tsa’rahlitzek smiled for just a moment before fighting back, impressed despite herself. Her apprentice had certainly grown in her absence, it was almost a pity it didn’t matter a damn.

Her claws lashed out twice, and two men fell dead. Maces and mauls shattered upon her skin. Swords bent around her as a razor fine ring of shadows carved those Erebuses close to her in half.

The mages holding the chains collapsed, spasming in death as she sent lightning down them. The team trying to restrain her shadows died in a fiery inferno as hellfire bloomed around them.

It didn’t matter, the swarm still grew, fearless and desperate as the spell ran its course. It did not matter if they died, they’d known they would die in this duel. The ‘Legion of One’ spell wasn’t a work of necromancy but it was in many ways the apotheosis of what necromancy, at least in Erebus’ eyes, stood for.

The Paladin Order had many oaths, one rather pithy vow included the words ‘Let my only regret be that I have just one life to give.’ In the eyes of the Necropolis, paladins lacked commitment.

More chains were summoned, stone not steel. New clones picked up the weapons. One particularly enterprising Erebus grabbed her from behind and detonated, pouring his life and soul into the blast.

That at least harmed her, explosion not just reducing her body to little more than dust on the breeze but consuming much of the surrounding chaos now in the air. Nonetheless she reconstituted, drawing mana from the air as well as feeding her new body with power from her mote of ignited chaos – the demonic equivalent of a divine spark.

“That hurt.” She growled, apparently done with the game now she’d been bestowed a wound.

A thousand tendrils struck out. Every Erebus died. Well most of them died anyway. The tendril reaching for the outer ring, the dedicated spawners, fell short, glancing off of a brilliant azure shield.

Erebus’ first absolute aegis had been the work of decades, but with over a hundred of them acting together the second one had taken a fraction of the time. Tsa’rahlitzek had power enough to break it, that was certainly true, but it would not be the effortless fight she’d faced thus far.

Ignoring the dead and the dying she glared out at the circle of necromancers, the mages had joined hands to create an unbroken circle. And there was only ever one reason to trap a demon in a circle.

“You can’t honestly mean to bind or banish me?” The imperator could not possibly have sounded more incredulous.

The Erebuses smiled, answered in a single choir, “Of course not master, we both know how poorly that went the last time. You see you made a single terrible error. You dismiss sentiment and trust as weaknesses, the tools of those without power to bend others to their bidding, but trust is what binds us all together. Do you want to know what my second ace is? I have people I trust. And you? You do not.”

His piece said he turned his gazes up to the sky, “I have her contained, you may commence the assault.”