The rumble in the earth subsided and Arthur waited for a moment before opening the hatch to the bunker. The land outside was a hellscape. For seven leagues from where the asteroid had hit not a tree remained. Blackened stone and earth was all that was left behind with swirling clouds of ash. Fires still burned hear and there and a massive column of smoke rose from the falling star had impacted.
“Teleport us in,” Arthur told Merlin. “We need to make sure the job is finished.”
“Yes my king,” Merlin said and opened another portal.
Arthur led the champions through the portal. Aramid sat on the ground looking tired but proud of himself.
“Job is done, I hope you have my pay with you,” he said.
“Did you get any notifications for killing him?” Arthur asked ignoring his demands for payment.
Aramid shrugged. “I got a lot of rank points, killed a lot of things in the blast but no, I don’t think I got him. I didn’t get a single source of rank points big enough to have been him.”
“He’s still alive?” Arthur asked in disbelief, fear and anger.
“Not as such,” a regal femine voice said appearing before them.
Arthur fell to his knees and the other champions did likewise.
“My lady, how are you hear speaking to all of us?” Arthur asked his voice uncertain at this turn of events. “I thought you couldn’t interfere.”
“There is nothing to interfere with,” Viviane said. “The Warlord is gone.”
“He’s dead?” Arthur asked feeling triumphant.
“That’s not what I said,” the goddess said shaking her head. “He is gone, Kalesa was displeased with him for defying her and removed him as her champion and banished him back to his world. There is no mana in his world so he will eventually die from mana starvation but he did not die in this attack; although it was part of the reason for his banishment.”
“Why would Kalesa remove her own champion,” Vone asked suspiciously.
“I cannot speak for the motives or secrets of another deity,” Viviane said. “Your work here is done my champion. I cannot reward you since you did not actually slay the Warlord but I am well pleased with the result.”
“Thank you my goddess,” Arthur said bowing his head to her.
The goddess vanished in a flash of light that forced everyone to look away for a moment.
“What now?” Lancelot asked.
“What happened to Guinevere?” Helen asked.
“We will have to go below to find the answer to that last question,” Arthur said. “My work here is not finished.”
“What do you mean?” Vone asked.
This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
“The servants of the Warlord must still pay for their crimes,” Arthur responded.
“They have just been freed from their enslavement and you will kill them?” Vone said anger rising in her voice. “I’ve been wondering if I was fighting on the right side this entire time.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Arthur snapped.
“It means Kalesa banished her own champion putting her on the same side as you,” Vone said. “And the fact you can’t even see that is the worst part.”
“Don’t you dare…” Arthur snarled.
Vone planted herself before the unstable tunnel leading below ground.
“I fight for the oppressed and for the enslaved,” Vone said. “Right now that means all those who once served the Warlord. If you want to kill them, your going to have to fight me first.”
“So be it,” Arthur said drawing Excalibur from its massive scabbard.
“Arthur don’t…” Helen said.
“Stand down your highness,” Arthur said coldly. “Vone chose this path now she must walk it.”
“I think Mordred probably told you something similar to that before,” Vone said.
With a roar Arthur surged forwards. Vone’s glaive and his sword met in dance of flashing silver, gold and sparks. Their atlas armor amplified their blows tenfold and the air literally shook with the force of each collision. Vone was masterful with her glaive and it had better reach than the greatsword but Arthur was the duelist.
“Face me Vone,” he said.
“I will,” Vone said answering his challenge.
From there she began to steadily lose ground as Excalibur cut into the Atlas armor and its mechanisms began failing. She held out never asking for him to back down or goading him any farther. The other champions stood by uneasily. What they were watching was the manifestation of the realization that all of them were in the end going to have to end like this. Killing eachother one by one or giving up and yielding to another. There could only be one victor to the god’s game.
Arthur powered forward his movements faster and more powerful with every passing second. Vone held out never yielding or asking for mercy. Finally, Excalibur removed one of the legs of the Atlas armor and she dropped to the ground. Arthur moved and stood over her raising Excalibur.
“Yield,” he commanded.
“Not until you agree to let those people go,” Vone said pushing her herself back as she dragged her one remaining leg behind her. “They don’t deserve to be punished for actions they didn’t choose.”
“Woe to the vanquished,” Arthur replied and swung Excalibur down.
A dragon tail clipped him upside the head and tossed him back the length of half a football field. Exar’kun dropped down his wings flared out and a torrent of green fire passed over the champions. They were protected by their Atlas armor but they still stumbled back.
Exar used his back leg to open up the pod with Vone inside it and grabbed her around the middle pulling her out of the Atlas armor as he jumped back into the air. Arthur charged after them golden wings sprouting from his armor as he took to the air. A sonic boom shook the skies as Exar’kun disappeared from sight leaving Arthur summersaulting as he hit the turbulence he left behind.
--
Exar’kun landed on the side of a mountain and released Vone. They were next to the entrance to a large cave and sheer face of rock.
“Why did you do that?” Vone shouted at him.
Exar’kun transformed turning into his human form though this time his dragon nature was much more evident with his eyes glowing and his fangs prominent.
“I’m sorry, I didn’t realize you wanted to die,” he said.
“He’s going to kill all those people,” Vone said.
“If he is, you can’t stop him,” Exar’kun said shrugging.
Vone opened her mouth, closed it and her shoulders drooped. “Thank you for saving me. I don’t know why you did it.”
“Don’t you?” Exar’kun asked.
“No,” Vone said uncertainly.
Exar’kun stepped in and she stepped back her back pressing up against the stone cliff of the mountain. Exar’kun smiled and leaned in.
“I like you, Vone.” He said. “You’re defiance even in the face of overwhelming odds and certain death.”
“I…um…” Vone stammered.
Exar’kun laughed and stepped back. “What happened to Mordred?”
“His goddess banished him back to Earth,” Vone said. “She said he’d die from lack of mana.”
“We’ll see,” Exar’kun said.
“You think he’ll somehow survive?” Vone asked.
“Never underestimate Mordred’s ability to cheat or brute force his way out of a problem,” Exar’kun said. “His most valuable trait is his sheer will to keep going and survive no matter what.”