“Where are the guards?” Tobias asked the question on all their minds when they reached the bridge that connected the ridge to the floating rock ziggurat over the chasm.
The Order of Celestial Grace was an arcane marvel. Finn had only ever seen the like of it one other time, and that was the magic of the Qlippothic Realm. Like that terrible and dark place, the order was a pocket realm, separated from the rest of the Celestial Engines by the Asai of Time.
“The guards should be here…” Finn agreed, remembering the knights that stood at the entrance to the four bridges who were impossible to defeat in combat—or had been back then, anyway. “This place is supposed to be neutral in the celestial ascension, a place of training only.” Finn frowned at the smoke rising from several places among the white stone walls and spires of the floating citadel.
There was a derisive snort from Rosa. “Yeah, we were there for that lecture too. Instructor Lem wasn’t exactly very impartial though, was he?”
No, he wasn’t—hadn’t been, rather, as he was now dead. The Elemental Lodge Premiers had done so when they discovered his treachery.
The publicly professed fantasy still remained, though, Finn thought. They kept the Celestial Register there, after all, which recorded every soul trapped in the engines. The Asai of Time provided this sanctuary so that Defenders—a necessary part of the realms’ evolution—could be trained, just as presumably there were pocket realms dedicated to training Adversaries.
“Well, it looks like someone’s chosen to start a war with them,” Tobias said.
If the guards weren’t here, that meant the citadel itself was undefended, didn’t it?
“Fat lot of good it will do asking them to help in our war if they’ve already got one going on of their own!” Rosa muttered angrily, setting off over the bridge as Finn and Tobias followed. Within moments, they broke into a jog when they heard sounds coming from the open doors of the citadel at the far side.
Metal clashing and people shouting.
The sounds of battle.
“Defenders!” Finn hissed. He summoned the Pyrrhic Blade to his hand as he put on extra speed. He hoped that whatever it was wouldn’t be too strong, because he’d barely had time to upgrade his statistics and recoup any of his Health and Mana before coming here.
>
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> Name: Finn Callahan
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> Level: 28
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> Profession: Knight-Defender
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> Renown: High (local)
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> Health: 327 / 848
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> Mana: 169 / 861
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> Stamina: 275 / 736
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>
The giant double-doors of the citadel, each one almost as high as the walls of Malvas, stood open. One had collapsed onto its side with its wood deeply splintered, as if it had been battered by giant fists.
“Hold! Hold the line!”
“Flee! They’re too strong!”
The sounds of alarm and cries of pain echoed from the wide courtyard beyond as Finn and the others rushed in to see a group of Defenders being forced back by—it appeared—other Defenders…
Dead ones.
Finn could see there were two with the wooden training shields who were attempting to hold a line, with another two behind them. One of the shield-bearers had blue skin, the other was a Lamakai, and the two behind were a young man with a orange-red topknot and a woman dressed in white robes and steel greaves. The woman threw an air blast at the lurching undead. It knocked one to the ground, only for them to stagger back to their feet.
There were eight undead arrayed against the four living Defenders, and half of the courtyard had smashed walls, as if some mighty battle had already raged through here.
“Go! Attack the sides!” Finn shouted as he leaped forward, swinging his blade. He activated his Speed of the Warrior, giving him +50% damage to his magical weapon’s strike.
>
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> This book's true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.
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> You have struck the Level 15 Undead Defender for 185 points of damage.
His blade darted through their chest and out the back. He flung them into the rubble, and then spun and struck the next.
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> You have struck the Level 15 Undead Defender for 165 points of damage.
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Neither blows were strong enough to kill outright, but they were enough to make any regular soul seriously consider departing from battle. As Finn pulled himself up after the next strike, there was a blur of blue as Rosa jumped forward, ramming her staff through the head of the next undead. Tobias slammed his shield into a fourth.
In their first attack, they had halved the forces menacing their fellow Defenders, who were pulling back with looks of amazement at the speed and ferocity of Finn and the others.
“Regroup!” Finn yelled, turning as the other four undead came at them.
The first staggered with their sword thrust so that it was almost a feint. Finn had expected the sword to land on his shoulder, but instead, it struck his lower leg.
>
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> You have been struck by the Level 15 Undead Defender for 55 points of damage.
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Finn hissed in pain, hoping that the blade wasn’t rusted or poisoned. These undead had terribly pale skin and lifeless eyes, but he didn’t see that they were particularly… well, rotting. They appeared to be the freshly killed, if anything.
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> Name: Finn Callahan
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> Health: 272 / 848
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He didn’t have as much health as he would have liked. Nowhere near enough, in fact.
“Get off!” He kicked the undead creature back as the one beside it swiped at Rosa, but she was too fast, dodging the blow with ease.
“Pull back!” the Defender with the red topknot shouted. He looked youngish, barely older than Finn.
Pull back? What are you doing?! Finn blinked in confusion. What was his problem? They had them on the run!
There was a flash of movement, but Finn saw it coming and sidestepped the next undead swipe.
As Finn turned around, however, he saw just what the red-haired Defender was shouting about. The four that they had just cast aside with terrible injuries were now getting up and advancing on them again, attempting to surround them. Finn, Rosa, and Tobias were facing eight undead creatures now instead of just four.
Not eight, seven. Finn counted quickly. The one that Rosa had put her metal quarterstaff through was down for good.
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> You have been struck by the Level 17 Undead Defender for 65 points of damage.
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“Dammit!” Finn growled as the same undead he’d just kicked almost ran him through. He was disorientated, and his Mana was down to 19.
But hang on, that noseless creep was only a Level 15 a moment ago… Finn thought as he swung his blade in a near-perfect strike and cut his attacker’s head off.
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> You have slain the Level 17 Undead Defender. Experience awarded.
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“Ah! They’re ascended levels!” Rosa shouted, moving to trip one as she danced out of the way of another.
The undead creatures seemed to be everywhere, moving far faster than they should have been able to. Even as Finn slashed and hacked them down, they just got back up again. They appeared to have ascended a further two levels.
They get stronger when they come back to life, Finn thought, but not all of them were coming back. He realized this when he saw that the one he had decapacitated had stayed dead, as was Rosa’s original combatant.
There came a shout from Tobias as he slammed his shield against the ground, sending a not-very-strong green wave out to strike two of the available six, where they staggered and fell over the cracked masonry.
Decapitated. Head wound. Finn remembered every zombie movie he’d ever seen.
“Headshots!” he called, darting forward to slide his blade through an enemy’s cranium.
>
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> You have slain the Level 17 Undead. Experience awarded.
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Rosa quickly dispatched another, and Tobias slammed his shield into the skull of a third, but there was no panic amongst the dead. They simply kept coming.
A moment later, Rosa yelled in pain as one scored a deep strike down her arm. She hissed and staggered back as a second menaced Finn, driving him apart from the others.
We were already tired from two days of fighting before we even got here, Finn thought in alarm as he saw Rosa stagger behind Tobias’s shield. They were only Level 15 enemies when they started but had already advanced to Level 19 or even 21 now…
There were only three undead left to fight, and three Defenders, but even Finn was starting to think that not all of them might make it out of this alive.
If only he had more Mana! But he was down to 19, and the Hearthstone was still empty.
He looked to the other four living student Defenders to see if they could help, but they were nowhere to be found. They had scattered into the ruins or through the broken windows, leaving Finn and his friends to their fate.
“What?! They’re supposed to be celestial Defenders! This is what they are supposed to do!” Finn snapped in rage, stumbling to one side to avoid being slashed. There was a certain wildness to their attacks, but they weren’t the shuffling, slow zombies of classic horror movies. They had almost as much speed as they might have had in life, just a little less coordination.
There was a crash of something in the ruined courtyard, and Finn was certain that it came from the other side, but he didn’t have time for mysteries. He darted behind a cracked pillar. The undead followed him, and he turned quickly to kick them in the knee. They staggered against the pillar, and then he slammed the pommel of his blade into their skull.
“Rosa! Tobias!” He turned to his companions just in time to see a ball of fire erupt, engulfing the two undead menacing Tobias’s shield with Rosa behind him. The undead writhed and staggered before finally ending.
Oh, so fire is good as well, Finn thought as he gasped for air.
A figure walked through the rising smoke. It must have been the one who had cast the Fire-bolt, since it hadn’t been Finn.
The figure was shorter than Finn but not as small as Tobias. They had a short mohawk of wiry hair, which completely changed their usually babyish appearance to something sterner and harsher. Silver scars had been added to the side of their dark face. In one hand, they still held the shining red flame they had just summoned to destroy the two undead.
“Daros?!” Finn asked in surprise, and the mute Fire Lodge Defender nodded and smiled at him.
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> You have defeated the Undead Horde. Experience awarded to all parties.