Too much was happening for Tilly to keep up with events as they unfolded around him in a flurry of chaos and conflict. He didn't get a magical 360 slow-mo breakdown of the fight as it happened step by step. Instead, his whole attention zeroed in on the narrow band of obstacles and objectives that lay before him.
Sir Michael exploded past the rest of the charging group to crash into the Brawlers while Ichiro and Gorock immediately peeled off to block the charging Knight opening the path for Tilly to slip in between. He pumped his legs in Sir Michael’s wake while vaguely noting Hilbert, Amelia, and Franklin hanging back to start casting.
Sir Michael’s charge must have been a gap-close Ability because as hard as Tilly had taken off, he had been left in the dust. The Knight was almost instantaneously bashing his mace through the group of Brawlers like an Italian grandma attacking a lump of dough. The Knight successfully locked down all four guards with his impact and follow-up strikes. Tilly took full advantage of his initiative to leap over the conflict leaning into his now superhuman Dexterity. Sensing his intent, Kindle soared in behind him, matching velocity, and grabbed his back in the air, lending him a slight increase in lift to clear the dueling fighters. Mid-flight, Tilly finally regained a line of sight on the Black Market Trafficker...
Who had already reached the Urn and was ripping off its lid with an expression of manic glee pulling tight at the skin of his face. The lid came fully away, the markings around its surface flashed red, and died, ending their containment of the thing within.
As soon as its prison was open, Corruption exploded out from the opening, a writhing mass of tentacles and teeth. This was especially unfortunate for Tilly, whose aerial momentum took him directly toward the center mass of the creature exploding out from the vessel. A split second before he hit, Identify pinged, notifying him that it was not one large monster, but hundreds of smaller things, densely packed together in a stream of terror and hatred.
Level 12 Corrupted Splitter Collective
In a split second, Tilly activated Flame's Wrath with a yell of anticipated trauma tearing itself free from his throat. His burning form crashed into the pillar of black writhing tentacles with a sizzling meaty thunk. The impact disrupted the Splitter Collective's momentum as it attempted to branch out into dozens of attacking appendages. Kindle screeched from above, sending out a torrent of blue flames to follow up on the impact multiplying the effect of Tilly's unwilling surprise attack.
The mouths near the impact site screamed as one, and their center mass exploded in a burst of fiery kinetic energy. Despite the caustic nature of his presence to the creature, the unmelted mouths now surrounding him furiously tried to latch onto his body, in some places succeeding before being burned away by the ongoing damage output of Flame’s Wrath. He waved his axes around wildly, cutting away huge swathes of the collective before falling through the creature to the other side of the urn and landing like a puddle of vomit at the feet of Black Market Trafficker.
The Splitter was utterly devastated by his attack, but it proved true to its name and divided what remained of its mass into hundreds of tentacled starfish with mouths. The little creatures scattered everywhere rushing the surrounding Knights who were only just now charging into the fray, shocked at the turn of events.
Tilly looked up as manic laughter sounded above him, the greasy-haired human gloating in the chaos. A pillar of Corruption had grown up behind him completely consuming one of the two guardian Knights. It lashed constantly at the shocked Queen, who had summoned a ruby shield just in time. Mallytza was by her side, whirling her daggers in complicated patterns and removing any offending appendages that came close to sipping past the Queen's defense.
“Do you see, brother? Why fight it? A new world order is coming to this Plane, and we are destined to be its rulers.” He cackled, his voice ringing with that same velvety invitation he had used earlier.
“Yeah, I’m going to have to stick with a no on this one!” Tilly growled, leaping to his feet, and lashing out at the guy with two enflamed strikes. Unfortunately, the wild look in the man’s eyes did nothing to slow his reflexes. Before Tilly’s strikes could land, the man reached up to a pendant at his neck, activating an opaque faceted shield emblem, inset with a glowing gray gem. A spherical shield sprung up to protect the man, rendering him impervious to Tilly’s attacks which struck against the glass-like surface with dull thuds.
“Don’t bother, even she couldn’t get through this easily” he smiled, wild glee glowing on his face as he gestured over his shoulder nonchalantly. Behind him, the Queen finished a series of arcane gestures and shouted, “Enough!” Before losing a surge of what could only be blood magic. The ruby streams of Mana formed into a series of whirling blades, blurring through the creature in front of her and decimating it before continuing on to crash against the Black Market Trafficker’s shield.
He didn't even flinch as the blade's impact thundered against the barrier. Instead, he leaned forward, a smirk secure on his face as he whispered conspiratorially over the din of battle.
“See what I mean? Maybe her master could have been a threat, but he bailed on them as soon as he could.” The man didn't seem interested in actually fighting, so Tilly rearranged priorities and left him to gloat as he turned and focused on the small eldrich starfish flinging themselves at the surrounding Knights. In a quick pivot, he shot back toward the thickest remaining group of creatures, choosing to ignore the human as a secondary threat.
“Why resist what is coming? Embrace it!” The Black Marketeer called after Tilly in a sing-song voice.
“Absolute Blood Barrier.” Echoed the shout of the Queen’s next spell. A ruby barrier rose between the pillars closing in the room, sealing the chaos within.
“Knights, remove this threat from our Halls! When we are done, I will render the flesh from your bones, Weasel!” She called as Tilly released inflamed strike after inflamed strike, dropping Flame's Wrath as his Mana hit its bottom third.
“How many times have I told you idiots? My name is Wesley!” he shouted back, all of the laughter gone from his voice as it cracked into broken pieces.
Around the room, the Knights of the Round Table showed their skill at arms easily dispatching multiple Splitters with every sweep of their weapons…. But none of the creatures seemed to care, dying en mass for the chance to momentarily latch on to any exposed extremity. And unfortunately except for a few knights, none of the combatants were wearing their customary armor.
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Tilly couldn’t help but note how perfect the plan of attack was. No one who trained in a style of fighting that accounted for full plate would concern themselves with small wounds, that was the advantage of being fully armored… but that very mentality showed its drawbacks here when even the smallest wound had a chance to pass on Corruption. All of the unarmored Knights were taking wounds as the creatures were quickly cut down, and Tilly could already see signs of infection spreading from obvious wounds.
Arcane words rang out once again in the hall as the queen finished casting another longer spell and the barrier exploded inward in a forest of spikes, most finding one of the remaining Splitters and spearing it through the center. While the majority of the spikes concentrated on the smaller creatures, the full central portion of the attack concentrated on the Weasel’s barrier, completely obscuring it from view, crashing against the gemlike barrier with a boon-shaking impact. The Queen released a breath and the razor-sharp blood lances melted away, having dispatched the vast majority of the remaining Splitters. Unfortunately, the main target of the attack remained unharmed behind his barrier, leering at his surroundings.
The room became very still as the last of the Splitters were dispatched and everyone's collective attention turned toward the man behind the seemingly impregnable barrier. Through the stillness, the Queen's voice rasped in fury,
“Mallytza, I locked down all the doors. Find and destroy any of those disgusting creatures that may have gotten out before I raised the barrier. Knights, prepare your strongest Abilities. It is time the cur is punished.” The queen ordered, her pale face livid.
The Weasel turned slowly to face her, his visage one of mild curiosity. His smooth velvety voice once again echoing through the chamber. “I must say, it was painfully easy to topple what was left of your Order. When they offered me the job, I was excited, to say the least... but I am sorry to say, this has turned out to be rather disappointing.”
The Queen's full, red lips pulled back in a hiss of fury, raising her hands once more, as a dark red light began to build in her palms. The Knights, despite sporting numerous infected wounds, lifted their weapons and readied Abilities, prepared to shatter whatever magic protected the confident saboteur.
“Looks like my time is up…” -the hook-nosed man said, turning back to Tilly - “See you later friend.” he winked, before snapping something hidden in his hand, and beginning to glow.
“Destroy HIM” The Queen screeched, launching one of many salvos of Mana-enhanced strikes and Abilities. The storm of power collided against the shield and shattered it, just as the figure within faded away like dew on a bright morning.
“GAAAHH” The Queen’s shriek of frustration tore through the room at the disappearance of their attacker. Then she collapsed into a boneless slouch on her ornate chair, as if the scream had held the last of her bodily energy. Her eyes however flicked around the room, processing the implications of such an attack, and running through the possible outcomes.
After a moment of thought, she whispered into her hand and flung it out, releasing a cardinal-looking bird made of blood that streaked by Kindle in the air, and moved through the large doors as if they didn't exist. Then she issued orders to the rest of the room,
“Knights on Vigil, find the rest of the Weasel’s caravan and reinforce the gate! Send a report back to me at once. The rest of you stay here. It seems this day's horrendous beginning will worsen before long.” She said darkly, releasing another arcane gesture and flinging the large doors open.
All around the room, blades were sheathed, and about a fifth of the Knights and Guards hurriedly left the circular hall. Tilly noted that the dismissed Knights were all the ones he had seen wearing armor, including the Guardian that had initially charged them. The group also included Sir Accolon who refused to meet their eyes, sneering on his way out.
The rest of the Knights in the room turned to the second set of intruders. Many sported wounds that they believed were unhealable, yet they remained alert, ready to respond to whatever the Queen needed, warry eyes on this group of newcomers.
Mallytza materialized near the open door and nodded to the queen confirming that the room and its surroundings were clear and the Queen let out a long slow breath,
“...Tell me human, how did you know?” She whispered, her quiet voice echoing through the chamber, its haggard tone complimenting the dark circles now shadowing her blood-shot eyes.
Tilly turned to face her fully, and thought carefully about his answer, recognizing the terrible blow her Faction had just received, “Your Majesty…" He opened slowly, looking for the easiest way to explain who he was and what he could offer, “I am a Divine Champion, and my deity has set itself against this new threat. What you call blood sickness, we call Corruption. The Strigoi Hordes on your border are using it as a new source of power, but really, it is only a set of chains.”
Then, instinctually feeling it would lend the most immediate credibility to his words, he lifted his jacket to reveal his scared side, with thick pulsating veins of Corruption reaching out into the rest of his body. The surrounding Knights once again reached for weapons at the sight of the ghastly scarred wound, as Tilly continued,
“Our Faction, the Three-Fold Alliance, is beset now by a Horde army, not because we are an easy target, but because we hold a power to cure all but the most terrible forms of this sickness, and we are searching out a solution to even that. Our Patron had vested in me power to remove this Corruption from any others that are still strong enough to resist. I cannot yet be free myself, but as long as I catch it early enough, I can remove it from others.” He finished, dropping his jacket back over his torso.
“You must forgive me if I am slow to trust such an offer after my recent… interaction with your kind. Can you demonstrate this Divine Ability of yours.?” She asked slowly, her perfectly manicured hand cradling her chin, as she resettled on her chair, displaying an impassive attitude.
Tilly nodded, peeking at his Mana, which had ticked back above 32%. He turned a slow circle and found Gorock, who had unsurprisingly gotten covered in wounds in the recent conflict, his style of fighting similarly disadvantaged against an enemy like the Splitters. At Tilly’s look, Gorock came forward without hesitating, bare arms covered with infected bite marks. He looked around the room as he approached with his teeth bared in an expression Tilly was still unable to decipher.
“My class Ability is activated through my breath. It multiplies a target's Endurance and makes them able to fight off any poison or infection. This is bolstered by the Champion's Mantle I carry, which makes the effect several times more powerful against this specific kind of invader.” Tilly explained before churning the flame at his center and exhaling it over Gorock's frame.
This time the Wall Breaker didn't flinch as his skin grew flushed, and noxious steam rose from the myriad wounds. In seconds all of the black infected areas were clear, and a cloud of dark smoke was gathering on the ceiling. Before Tilly even had time to say something, Kindle was there, bursting through the cloud with a body wreathed in blue flames, and dispersing it immediately.
The Queen watched the process with a glint in her eyes as the Corruption was flushed from Gorock's body. Kindle’s display at the end was icing on the cake, and the Queen didn't stop the smile from curling her mouth as the cloud hissed into non-existence, her two fangs pressing against her full bottom lip in a striking mix of hunger and beauty.