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Aleph and Tetora lunged over the table with primal roars, bearing down to engage the two possessed swordsmen. But before they could intercept, Count Matthis clapped his hands again, and four more guards appeared, their bodies convulsing with unnatural, jerky movements as they drew their swords with deadly intent.
Several quick-thinking nobles had already fled the tables, retreating towards the service entrance at the back of the hall. However, anyone still sitting in their seat found themselves paralyzed, unable to stand despite their best efforts. They squirmed as they cried out, held in place by an unseen force.
“You can’t leave yet,” Count Matthis called as Aleph and Tetora struggled with the guards, trying to disarm them without causing irreparable harm. “You’ll miss the show!” With a maniacal laugh, he raised his arms high, causing a rift in the fleeing faction of nobles. The two halves were violently flung against the closest wall, their bodies pinned in place.
“I order you to cease this at once!” King Saulus cried from his seat, pointing a crooked finger toward the degenerate noble. Count Matthis simply laughed again, his shoulders heaving.
“I can’t mark him from here—too much chaos in front of us!” Vernie shouted shrilly from under the table.
“Stay back and try to protect the guests!” I was busy struggling to detach a shield from the wall behind me, summoning my aura for some extra elbow grease. “And just to be clear… you can’t see all the strings of darkness hovering over the guards?”
“No,” Vernie admitted. “So, not a mere dark mage, right?”
I couldn’t imagine a mortal having that much control over so many people.
“That’s what I’m thinking...” With a final yank, I freed the oversized tower shield from the wall, using the extra momentum to dash forward and jump over the table. It seemed formidable enough, if not overly decorated, to be best suited for making a defensive wall with similarly equipped individuals. However, I commissioned it more for shoving people from my path than anything else. Typically, it would be a bit too heavy to act like a manual bulldozer, but I wasn’t having any such problems swinging and striking with it now.
“Surrender!” I cried, clipping one of the possessed guards from behind as I passed by Aleph.
Count Matthis smirked and jumped back farther than I would have imagined possible for the noble. “So violent… Don’t hurt me!” He threw up his hands, pausing briefly as two strings flashed above him before he crumpled to the ground, each joint folding in succession as if he were a wooden marionette freed from its fate. The afflicted sentries also tumbled to the ground, groaning weakly. Several people quickly abandoned their seats, knocking others over to escape.
What in the world is happening here?
“Count Matthis!” I bellowed, nudging him with a cautious foot. He rolled sluggishly, opening two bloodshot eyes.
“Ish time to go already?” he slurred almost curiously. “Where’sh the pretty girls he promised?”
I hauled him up by his shirt. “Take a closer look at who you’re talking to!”
“Oohhh…!” He blinked owlishly. “We met at the cafe last week… right? What’s yer name again?”
I’m almost sure I dropped him accidentally, disappointed that it seemed questioning him would be useless now.
“Whatever attacked us is still here,” I warned loudly. “I want everyone who’s able to head toward the nearest exit and calmly—”
Several deadly hisses echoed from behind me. Filled with a gut-gnawing dread, I turned as countless serpents emerged from the floor, slithering and coiling into a gigantic squirming mass of shadowy sinew. They doubled back on each other, engulfing their companions as they formed a slender but towering figure one and a half times my height. Its limbs twisted and contorted impossibly, reaching for a head that had yet to form. Instead, two eyes of glowing crimson appeared and hovered in the air as its elongated fingers pulled down a thick black hood trimmed with gold to shadow its nonexistent features.
“Uh, surely… You’ll let the innocent go?” I asked, trying to appeal to whatever sense of decency it might have as I noted his expensive attire. “…Noblesse Oblige?”
This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
“Haha! The very instant I meet such a mortal, I shall be sure to do so,” he replied with a deep and sinister chuckle devoid of humor. “But they are useless clutter on our battleground now that you’re here.” With a menacing sweep of his arm, everyone was shoved back. Even Aleph and Tetora, who had been aiding the stunned swordsmen, were violently knocked to the ground. The wave also overturned tables, sending their contents flying across the floor like mere playthings. Plates and utensils clattered as soup spilled, along with bread rolls that bounced and rolled harmlessly across the floor.
I was gonna eat some of that!
Several people stood up at the far end of the hall and clawed at the closed doors unsuccessfully, sealed in place by a dark and evil energy. Father Irijah, who I had failed to notice before, chanted fervently as he pressed his hands to their wood paneling, unable to budge them.
I squared up against the hooded humanoid, wondering what part of him I should try to aim for. “Is all of this mess necessary?”
“Probably not,” he admitted with a wheeze. “But it’s been so long since I’ve been center stage, you’ll have to pardon the theatrics. I’m sure you understand where I’m coming from.”
Just great. Even demons knew about my pernicious performance!
“Look, pal—”
“No, I’m not your ally,” he interjected as he translocated himself just a few feet before me. “Enough words now. Action!”
A giant, wickedly curved blade materialized in his hand, slicing through the air with an ear-splitting whistle. I barely raised my shield in time to block; the blade vanished just after bouncing off, only to reappear on my right with a menacing flash, lashing at my head and neck. Even though I caught its third swift strike on the hilt of my sword, the saber’s tip grazed my right cheek. It was more embarrassing than painful, but I knew I had to get my act together and launch a counterattack.
Despite my equivocal efforts, I could barely keep up with blocking and deflecting. With one mighty swing of my sacred sword, I managed to cut through his left arm completely. But instead of falling to the ground, it morphed into shadowy, snakelike strings and reattached to his body. His rasping laughter at my chagrin echoed through the hall, drawing angry and defiant howls from the crowd trapped in the corners.
“Captain!” King Saulus’s shout rang out above the cries. “Do not show mercy for our sake! Annihilate this foe of darkness, even if it means we perish alongside it!”
“His words do not adequately represent all of our sentiments!” Prince Mito objected defiantly. “I, for one, wish to be saved!”
Several nobles passionately agreed with him, shouting strong words of encouragement and desperate pleas for protection.
“Hmm… That one.” The demon sent his sword off to fight me alone. He stretched out his other impossibly long, ropelike arm at Prince Mito, who seemed to freeze stiff momentarily before heading towards us with a blank expression. Tetora, however, knocked him down and pinned him to the ground.
“Fight it, Your Highness!” Tetora roared, tossing away the rapier the prince carried. “You’ll do no good in the fray!”
“Well, anyone without strong conviction will do, I suppose,” the demon murmured, scanning the rest of the crowd even as I continued to dodge his unattached sword. “I wonder how many will fall before you take this fight seriously.”
I am taking the fight seriously!
“No… You’re not focusing!” Raelana’s voice instructed crisply between my ears. “Ignore the distractions and target the demon’s core! Feel it out with your aura.”
I inhaled and tensed myself as I parried his blade, feeling a warm energy that began to flow through my body, starting in my chest and spreading throughout my limbs, even to the tips of my fingers and toes. It was more powerful than my heartbeat, but it seemed to be in sync with it, pulsating through every fiber of my being. However, an external force tugged at it as if trying to steal it away from its source deep within me. To my surprise, the pull was upwards, towards a swaying chandelier. A smoky raven bounced back and forth on it, causing it to sway as it tugged on a myriad of gossamer strings that seemed to control the environment below.
Between strikes, I pointed my sword at the ugly, oversized crow. “Vernie! Up there!”
She unleashed a barrage of blessed knives that shimmered as they sailed upwards, severing the strings they encountered along the way. One blade struck true, knocking the bird off its perch. Screeching angrily, it disappeared and reappeared in ghostly flashes as it fell, leaving a trailing aftermath of ethereal smoke and scattered plumes of feathers. However, before it crashed into the floor, it righted itself and shot towards its faceless, naga-like puppet with an angry cry, pulling the unattended saber along with it.
In a burst of blinding red light, the demon's three separate forms fused into one massive entity. Its indistinct outline radiated with an intense crimson glow as a giant raven head slowly emerged, adorned with sharp plumage that cascaded down its back like fiery tongues of flame. Two enormous wings unfolded from its back, its feathers fanning out in a dark array. Its elongated neck led to a bare chest embellished with pulsing runes of blood-red light. He held a giant, razor-sharp saber between both hands. A thick, padded, and ornate belt separated its humanoid torso from the writhing mass of serpentine tails that coiled beneath it to support its frame. With a loud screech that shook the entire hall, he pointed his oversized blade directly at me, issuing his final challenge.
Playtime was over.
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