The Immortal's Palace

Alex

The three walked through the front door of Gerald's mansion. Alex's sixth sense immediately went off, telling him that they'd already triggered a trap.

"Well, he knows we're here." Damian said as he stepped forward. "There's a courtyard somewhere in here, his bird will have the advantage there, so I'll run into it if I head there."

"Are you confident you can beat it where it has the advantage?"

"Don't worry about me. It has the advantage because it has room to fly around. My familiar is the same." He ran off into the building.

"You go left, I'll go right." Stella said to Alex.

"Understood." They both took off down different hallways.

Alex turned into smoke as he ran. He ran through twisting corridors, always making sure there was a window in sight.

The inside is way bigger than the outside. His foot landed on a glowing rune, and his sixth sense warned him he was in danger. Even when I'm made of smoke? It must be a curse.

He jumped upwards, avoiding the spell. He ran through a door, passing silently through the keyhole, and ended up in a large, open dining room. The room was filled with mutilated walking corpses. At the other end of the room, there was a ten-foot-tall monstrosity. It had four legs, each facing away from the center like a spider. It also had four muscular arms. Its head had flaps of skin that hung down like a hood, which was the same pitch-black color as the rest of its skin. In the place where its face would be, it had a single purple gemstone.

I guess that's my opponent. He summoned his armaments.

As his enhanced eyes altered his vision, he could see the veins and arteries throughout their bodies, filled with unmoving congealed blood. In each body there was a dark patch. He knew that meant there was a foreign, inorganic substance inside their bodies. Not one was in the same body part as another.

There's only twenty in the room... He looked around, straining his eyes to see through walls. There were more corpses in the adjacent rooms, wandering around aimlessly. He counted about forty in total. Might as well deal with these ones so they don't cause trouble while I look for the rest.

He bounced around the room from corpse to corpse, severing each of their cores. They fell to the ground one by one until the only one left in the room was the giant. As he rushed straight to the main body, it raised two hands and slammed them down on the top of his sword. The strike redirected his attack and he cut through its torso, which immediately began healing. It used its other arms to try to grab his head, but simply passed through him. He kicked it in the chest, pushing it into the wall and launching himself backwards.

It has good reflexes. He looked down at his weapon. When I attack, I have to make my weapon physical, which slows me down and allows opponents to block the attack. Plus, that rune earlier had the ability to hurt me, even when I'm permeable. If it can use curses, I'll be in trouble.

The giant's arm extended, launching towards Alex like a projectile. It passed harmlessly through his head. Suddenly, its gemstone eye began glowing, and his sixth sense went off. He barely dodged the bright purple beam that shot out of its face, which cut the room down the middle. Alex looked around the room. Some of the bodies he'd disabled were beginning to stand back up.

I'll try and round them up to take them out all at once.

He ran past the monster and into the hallway. He broke down all the doors with his sword, and shambling corpses began to file out. The monster followed him into the hallway, after the twenty corpses from the dining room. He turned around and looked down the hallway. More than forty corpses were approaching him, and behind them the giant blocked the hallway.

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All in a line. He got into a low stance.

He shot down the hallway at the speed of sound. In less than a second, he disabled every cadaver. He saw the giant prepare to deflect his slash again. He turned his weapon into smoke and ran up the wall, circling around behind the monster. He made his sword physical and pushed off the wall, cleanly slashing through its eye gem. As he landed his sixth sense warned him of danger again, and he barely dodged as the monster tried to grab him again.

What the hell? It's still moving? And it can hurt me? He looked closer and laughed as he realized his mistake. He almost got me.

Its head wasn't healing, but the gemstone lodged there was slowly reforming. On the palms of each of its hands was another purple gemstone. He could also tell there was a dark patch where he guessed its heart would be.

Its first core was so obvious I didn't think to look for more. He felt he was in danger again and dodged. Each hand shot its own beam at him. This is rough. I don't know if I can dodge four of these at once. But... He looked at his opponent, and the corpses scattered around it. It didn't use its eye beam after it missed me. It probably has a cooldown. Once this attack ends, I'll strike.

He jumped around the hallway, barely dodging the beams. Launching off the floor, walls, and ceiling. He carefully advanced towards his opponent as he did so. He saw the corpses beginning to stand back up again.

How long will it keep blasting these beams at me?

As all the corpses stood up, and the giant's head regenerated, the beams finally stopped. He stopped for a moment and looked out over the sea of failed experiments. The giant was using its arms to guard against attacks from both the front and rear.

It's learning from its past failures. He saw the faces of some of the corpses. Some of them hadn't decomposed as much, still bearing resemblance to the humans that died to create them. Alex gritted his teeth and felt a burning sensation in his chest. Don't worry, I'll put you to rest.

He launched himself down the hallway, once again destroying all of the body's cores. The giant prepared its guard, but Alex ignored it. He stopped running, crouched beneath the monster, between its four legs. He jumped straight up and slashed twice, severing all six of the giant's cores at once. He landed and watched as all of the bodies began to dissolve.

I guess that's all of them.

He heard a door open behind him, on the opposite end of the hallway from the dining room. A man that looked to be in his mid-forties entered the room. He wore a long, elegant mage's robe, and held a giant metal staff in his right hand. Flanking him on either side were grotesque automatons. One automaton was holding a large bell, and the other held a heavy two-handed sword, covered in runes.

"I take it you're Gerald?"

"Correct. I've come to clear the intruders out of my home. The others are still busy with my other familiars, so I'll take you out before you all group together."

Alex eyed his opponent cautiously. That sword is oozing danger. Plus, this guy has centuries of experience on me, even more than Stella.

Gerald charged up a large purple sphere. In just a moment the sphere shot towards him as the same kind of beam that the monster was shooting. Alex ducked under the spell and charged his opponent. When he was halfway to Gerald, the wizard swung his staff horizontally, creating a wave of purple energy. Alex jumped over it, aiming his trajectory so he'd hit the ground right as he reached his opponent. He began swinging his sword. He heard a faint ringing.

That automaton is ringing the bell? What does it do? Alex's motions slowed to a crawl. Gerald continued moving at his normal speed. Time manipulation!

Gerald pointed his staff at the vampire's chest and began charging an attack. Alex couldn't dodge because he was in midair, and at his current speed he wouldn't reach the ground for another few minutes, despite being only inches off the ground. However, he was fast enough normally that he could just barely move in slowed time. He pointed his hand at the ceiling and activated his third armament, the feeding tentacle. It was designed to catch fleeing vampires, so it could extend its full length instantly. He used it push off the ceiling, launching himself towards the ground and out of the way of the shotgun blast of purple magic that Gerald fired at him. Time returned to normal once Gerald finished casting.

"Impressive. I didn't think vampires could have so many armaments." He reached over and switched his staff with the greatsword his automaton was holding. The danger radiating from the sword increased exponentially. "But I cannot allow this fight to continue too much longer."

Alex froze as he watched his opponent walk towards him. If I get hit by that, even a single time, I'll die.