In a flash, a black tendril the thickness of a grown man's thigh swept at Lucas’ legs. The young knight jumped up, using the now-deformed candelabra to deflect another tentacle. A loud clang from behind his back announced that Duncan was successfully dealing with a third one. Pungent splatters of pitch flew in all directions as metal and magic collided. Whenever a droplet fell on Lucas’ clothes or skin, a low hiss rose in the air, as if coming from water being sprinkled on hot iron. Still, the dreadful sizzling brought some comfort to the young knight - Gregor’s guardian amulet was still working, but considering the foe they were facing, they were running out of time.
The five minutes they had promised the duke had long since elapsed, yet their liege still sat on the ground like an obsidian statue.
Looking around, Lucas’ heart sank further. Like an underwater forest of seaweed, innumerable wriggling wisps of darkness protruded from the ghastly spider web - hungry snakes aiming to ensnare their struggling prey. The droplets of black liquid that oozed out of them rained on the broken floor, forming slimy puddles that churned and writhed as if they were alive.
With a whooshing sound, another tendril missed Lucas’ head by an inch, putting him slightly off balance. His back slammed against Duncan’s immovable frame.
“Pull yourself together, lad!” The old knight managed to divert two attacking swirls of darkness with a single powerful swing. “Remember - teeth clenched, shoulders loose, low stance. Don’t block - deflect or dodge.”
“I… can’t keep up… much longer!” hieved Lucas, with arms and legs shaking from the constant strain.
“You can or you’re dead!” rumbled Duncan, glaring at his friend over his shoulder.
The next moment, the old knight grabbed Lucas’ sleeve and gave him a mighty pull. The two spun around in a circle, switching places. A second later, the moaning of metal rang under the vaults. Lucas' body jolted, the heavy impact shaking him to the bone. His innards turned and his vision blanked out for a heartbeat.
When he came to, Lucas was lying sideways on the floor, glass shards buried deep in his shoulder. Duncan’s massive body was lying on top of him and almost crushing him. For a brief second, the young knight feared that his friend was dead, but some low groans and colorful curses proved him to be at least alive if not really well. With a careful but powerful push, Lucas managed to crawl out from underneath Duncan and hurried to drag his friend behind the meager cover a pile of debris could give them. Upon careful inspection, the old knight’s condition proved to be far from good.
Duncan still clutched the long shaft of the candelabra in his hands, but the iron was bent like a giant horseshoe. Part of the twisted metal pressed against his chest, heaving shallow breaths escaping the knight’s chapped lips. A string of blood ran from the corner of his mouth.
“Oh, no!” Lucas pried the iron from his friend’s drip. “Sir Duncan, your lungs! What should I do?”
“Don’t fret.” The old man rasped and spat before his face twisted in pain. “My lungs are fine, but I sure have broken a rib or two.”
“Then the blood…?”
“Bit my cheek when falling.” With an arm pressed against his chest, Duncan sat up, suppressing a cry. “Now concentrate. Our vapir friend should be attacking any minute now.”
Both men strained their senses to detect even the tiniest sign of tentacles slithering towards them.
It was quiet. Unnaturally quiet.
Wetting his dried lips, Lucas inched towards the edge of the pile and dared to throw a peek. His eyes rounded.
“What the…?”
“What? What’s happening?” Duncan stretched his neck and grimaced as the shooting pain forced him to remain as still as possible.
“Those tentacle-things… they’re like… frozen!”
Outside their cover, the whole nave looked like a dried black forest. Then a sudden shrill broke the short-lived calm. From its place at the center of the giant net, the vapir jumped forth with outstretched claws, aiming straight for where Noah was sitting.
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Neither Lucas nor Duncan had time to even shout a warning. With sunken hearts, they could only watch as the monster’s lightning-fast attack reached its target.
The ground shook and Lucas’ ears popped. A nauseating feeling built up in the pit of his stomach and streams of cold sweat bathed his back. His heart was grabbed by an irrational fear, much stronger and consuming than the dread he had felt for his friend and master.
Just when the monster was about to sink its talons into its victim, an enormous column of darkness erupted toward the ceiling, engulfing Noah’s body. Like water splashed on a burning ember, the vapir hissed and shrank back, its crooked fingers blistering and steaming from the contact with the mysterious pillar.
“S-sir Duncan?” stuttered Lucas in a thin voice. “What is going on?”
“That fool succeeded.”The old knight bit his lips and his face twisted, but this time, the pain didn’t seem to be physical. “Listen, lad, whatever happens, do not come any closer to the Duke. If we are unlucky, Nerodris has sapped his sanity.”
“I still don't…. Wait! Something’s coming out!”
Lucas’ sharp eyes didn’t miss the faint movement inside the pillar. With bated breath, the young knight observed as a tall, black-clad figure exited the darkness. In the gray twilight of the nave, Noah’s body shone with reddish-black light. As if encased in smoked glass, his body was covered by translucent armor made up of hundreds and thousands of pointed snake scales. It crawled down his legs, up his chest, and along his arms, leaving only his head uncovered. However, even Noah’s face bore a mark from this unusual transformation. His gray eyes were no more. Instead, two blood-red rubies shone in their place - cruel and thirsty for slaughter.
After the initial shock, the vapir gave out another howl of pain and anger and hurled itself against its unexpectedly stubborn prey. Its slashing claws were met with a loud clang as they collided with the scaly armor on Noah’s forearm. Sparks flew in all directions, but the glass-like cover, created by Nerodris, didn’t budge.
Using the translucent vambrace on his left as a shield, Noah threw a powerful punch with his right hand, connecting cleanly with the vapir’s jaw. The fiend, too, seemed unphased and even more angry than before, but before it could unleash its wrath, a second punch connected almost at the same place. The third punch, however, was stopped by a dripping string of black goo that shot out straight from the vapir’s side.
Faster than an attacking snake, the slithering tentacle wound itself around Noah’s arm, its surprisingly sharp tip aiming for his head. Without batting an eyelid, Noah grabbed the tendril with both hands and yanked it to the side, ripping it cleanly from the vapir’s body. Another pained howl shook the room, followed by a new slew of attacks that were also deflected, this time by the sword borrowed from the Night Brothers. On second glance, the strange, reddish hue that enveloped Noah also covered the otherwise unremarkable blade.
Before the surprised eyes of Lucas and Duncan, Noah and the vapir began exchanging blow after blow - two blurry figures, locked in a deadly dance of death and destruction. The power of their strikes was so great that soon the air was filled with dust and debris from the further destruction of the temple wreckage. The stumps of the marble columns were shattered into pebbles. Wooden beams, the thickness of a man’s thigh, were made into splinters. The mountain of stone, glass, and metal that reigned over the nave moaned as a new rubble avalanche was triggered when Noah hurled the vapir on top of it.
With every bout, the ferocity of the monster seemed to increase. Several deep gashes littered Noah’s body and oozed out bubbly black blood and smoke. Despite that, the Duke of Norden wouldn’t relent. The red glow in his eyes intensified to the point that they looked like two bottomless lava pits. The blade of his sword was chipped and broken to the point that it was more akin to a saw than a noble weapon, but each time it fell, it chopped off yet another tendril.
Finally, with a mighty roar, Noah struck down and severed one of the creature’s arms. His sword continued its trajectory and embedded itself in the vapir’s hip, before breaking with a loud twang. An agonizing howl reverberated under the ceiling and the fiend fell to the ground. Towering over it, Noah lifted the broken sword to finish it off.
“W-what in the names of the Fathers… !?”
A shaky female voice, no stronger than a whisper, melted into the air. This nigh-inaudible exclamation, alas, didn’t remain unnoticed. In unison, Noah and the vapir turned their heads in its direction, their strange behavior prompting the same reaction from Lucas and Duncan.
In one of the archways leading to the nave, surrounded by the wilting remnants of black cobwebs, was gathered a small group of people. At the very front, golden staff in hand, stood a thin woman with long, brown hair and a mud-splattered gown. With mouth slightly agape and slightly opened mouth, she glanced over the battlefield before her eyes landed on Noah. She took a breath, but before she could utter anything else, a whole bunch of thick, black tentacles shot towards her.
“NO! Lady Lorelei!” Lucas’ desperate scream overlapped with Noah’s incoherent howl, but any warning was too late. The tendrils had reached their target.