“Damned rat almost blew me to bits!” exclaimed Karkas after he shielded his eyes from the explosion that were mere inches from where he was. His Crocodilian physiology enabled him to hold his ground and came out of the heat relatively unscathed. Part of his clothes caught on fire but were quickly extinguished by the mage.
“What do you expect from a Fa’ar?” said his opponent, who was similarly stunned. “But I’m surprised. To think Frelik was killed so quickly. After what they did to him, I thought he deserved something better. At least his exit’s rather explosive. Can’t say the same about us, though.”
Both Karkas and his opponent fought to a standstill. The Croc’s binding magic was always negated, but the same could be said with his opponent, as Karkas’s magic clashed with his. His magic was also offensive in nature, which put the Croc in a disadvantage
The explosion and the resulting fire drew the attention of most of the cultists who managed to cross the portal without Raine’s interference. The cat-eared human became distracted when one of the cultists who appeared was a Felinari warrior that did not use magic. He ambushed Raine from one of the portals Claire opened, breaking his concentration, and enabling most of Nihilo to arrive in the abandoned city, threatening to overwhelm the four.
The distraction and the apparent weakness, however, did not faze Raine. He was aware of the folly of over-relying on spells. The Felinari warrior, while a formidable opponent, did not account for something Raine had: proper sword training and discipline, something that the cocky warrior, who belittled him, was not prepared for. The warrior relied on brute force; Raine relied on his agility and quick action spells that he could cast without incantation.
Many people disregarded quick action spells as parlor tricks with no functional advantages. Of course, those people were not trained as soldiers of Cavilen, which was also underestimated by the hardened people of the wasteland. That’s because Cavilen was one of several Havens fortunate enough to be established in the Emerald Valley, east of the desert wasteland.
As Raine had not met anyone from Cavilen or any of the Havens from the Emerald Valley, he had the element of surprise. Quick action spells looked weak, but in truth, its purpose was not to overwhelm, but to distract. Raine had a poor affinity to elements, but that did not mean he could not effectively use them.
He demonstrated this with a simple fire spell. The spell came out of his hand like a burst of hot wave, but it produced an ember which burned the warrior’s face. While it wasn’t enough to deal damage, it was still painful. The momentary distraction was the moment he used to get into effective range. Then, with a hit from the pommel of his sword, he disarmed his opponent’s hand before knocking the air out of him. The Felinar fell to his knees, out of breath.
“Sleep tight,” said Raine after knocking the Felinar out.
He had no time to celebrate. Just after he dealt with the warrior, more came through the portal. He had dealt with at least ten of them. Five were pushovers. He did not even break any sweat as they charged at him. He either countered their magic back at them or parried the attacks before killing or incapacitating them. No unnecessary, flashy movement. He only needed the momentum of his opponent, which was simple enough when his enemies charged at him thinking that it would overwhelm him.
The remaining five, however, were not as easy. They did not charge at Raine, merely observing him. That alone convinced Raine that they knew what they were doing.
“A fighting style that parries everything thrown at him,” commented one of them. “Now that’s interesting. It’s not everyday you see someone who lets others attack first.”
Raine, surprised by this remark, said, “You mean, people just rush in blindly like them? Geez, no wonder life’s short in the desert.”
“You can’t survive in this desert if you are not strong enough.”
“Nah, buddy. You can’t survive if you are not smart enough. You won’t look so tough after you slip. You can call me a coward, but I’m not the one with a sword through the heart.”
“Indeed.”
Raine noticed that the other four did not say anything before they started to slowly walk towards him. Their movements were unnatural, almost like puppets. Their heads were slumped, and their postures were hunched. The human couldn’t feel any aggression from them.
“They’re not the talkative bunch, are they?” remarked Raine.
“They don’t need to talk,” said the one who had been conversing with Raine. “They just need to fight.”
Unexpectedly, one of them attacked Raine almost too recklessly, forcing him to dodge instead of countering. The others soon went to the offense, overwhelming the human with a series of attacks that could not come from a human. A glance into their eyes caused Raine to realize what he was up against.
Their eyes were lifeless and cloudy. The three humans were unnaturally pale. The sole Felinar was less obvious unless one looked into his eyes. They were all corpses. Reanimated corpses.
“Necromancy,” thought a frustrated Raine. “Why wouldn’t it be?”
And to make it worse, it was one of several kinds of magic Raine’s counter spell could not affect as it wasn’t offensive by nature. He needed to get to the necromancer and defeat him once he realized the full extent of the situation.
A necromancer in the middle of a town full of corpses would turn their current progress back. Worse, most of them were left intact by Raine and Jacques’s clean kill. Raine could not tell how much mana the necromancer had, but he had a feeling that it would be enough to overwhelm four people with exceptionall skills.
Raine soon focused his attack on the necromancer. But then, he realized that it would not be as easy as he thought. With the four reanimated soldiers defending him, he couldn’t even approach the man without having to fend off one of them.
Raine was forced on the defensive. He must come up with something before he is overwhelmed by the unrelenting undead.
***
Raine’s situation was not as bad as Jacques.
Like Raine, Jacques managed to kill or otherwise incapacitate every Nihilo cultist thrown at him. However, unlike Raine, he used a lot of mana for his spells. Not only that, he was fighting against several of the cult’s elite fighters that Claire personally chose to be part of her inner circle, all of which had a grudge against Jacques for ruining the only thing they believed in.
Of course, Jacques, who had burned every bridge connecting him and the remains of a dead cult, did not care about their laments. He showed a more ruthless side of him when he fought two of them at the same time, both hated him so much they taunted him while voicing their anger and back story, most of which were not important enough for Jacques to care.
This ruthless side came when he was finally annoyed by their taunts and their excessive hatred, to the point that, when he fought back, he made sure to critically injure one of them and made sure the other looked on as he gouged his throat with a hook, causing the other to scream in despair by this show of ruthlessness.
“If you hate me that much, you should learn not to fuck with me,” taunted Jacques as he reloaded his gun and menacingly walked towards the man, who was panicking upon realizing that Jacques would not stop. He screamed Jacques’s name on top of his lungs, to show that his hatred meant something, only for Jacques to shoot him repeatedly with magic shots from the other revolver, which was empty. He was forced to kneel when Jacques shot through his kneecap, screaming in pain and anger, just before Jacques put his loaded revolver on his forehead.
“How…can the cult fall…to the likes of you?” asked the man.
Jacques scoffed and said, “Because you had your chances, and you blew it. Don’t fuck with a monster.”
And with that, the wolf pulled the trigger. The point-blank shot tore through his skull as if through jelly. He died instantly. They were the last of the ones Claire called. They were all her best fighters, and all of them were unable to beat Jacques Barlow. Even when he was injured from the fight with Ben-Renee, and even after he was momentarily overwhelmed, the Loup came up on top in the end.
If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.
Claire, too, was at her limits. Opening portals after being forcefully closed by the counter spell using swordsman took a toll on her. She realized that she could no longer open more portals. Realizing that Jacques was still the same cold-hearted killer she knew, the blonde human could only chuckle as Jacques’s sharp lupine eyes glared at her.
“Even after all these years, you are still the Bisclavret,” said Claire. “I would be disappointed if you are not.”
“I can be if I have to,” replied Jacques. “I will gladly be the devil if it means subverting everything that Nihilo had done. What I had done. A Loup-Garou never breaks a promise.”
Claire, who could tell that Jacques was serious, did not need to think long for the wolf man’s reason.
“So, the Sun Child did bring Nihilo’s end,” said Claire. “I could say it’s a cunning plan, but I doubt it’s anything but a child’s fear of the unknown that convinced you. Your kind does have a certain interest when it comes to a child. I just never thought that our own Jacques Barlow would be swayed.”
“Believe me when I said that it’s not just the Sun Child.”
“Yeah, I believe you. I know your skepticism against Nihilo. It’s just another job, nothing more.”
“Then, why did you decide that bringing despair into this fucked up world is a good idea?”
Claire chuckled, but not out of amusement. Jacques soon realized that it sounded sinister.
“This world was the product of said despair,” said Claire. “A group of misguided people who complain about their miserable lives would only dream of plunging this world into the sweet embrace of darkness. They dreamt. I act.”
“Act? Act on what?” asked Jacques, with slight worry in his voice.
“If you want to be serious about creating a nihilistic world, you should go to the source, not acting as bullies. They don’t care about the history of this world. They only cared about themselves. Nihilo is just a club full of jealous, angry people who consider a hopeful world to be disgusting and at their expense. No. They don’t know how scary it is to really bring a world down. To create races and people born out of curses. To unleash a miasma that damaged everything. To turn a living world into a nightmarish hell.”
Claire’s increasingly deranged tone started to worry Jacques. He had never heard his former friend talk like that before. She was always a reasonable, level-headed person, but this Claire Withers sounded like a different person. Jacques surmised that Nihilo’s doctrine had finally got to her, which was the reason why she took the leadership of a dying cult that had everyone turned against them.
But her intention was far, far more sinister than what Jacques initially thought.
“You know what I am talking about, don’t you, Jacq?” she said, with a smile on her expressive human face that no longer showed a sane person. “There is a sleeping darkness on the other side of the ocean, one that started it all.”
Jacques wished he did not know too much about the world’s history. Maybe it was his way of showing that he did care about the world, or simply because he was intrigued by it. He never thought that intrigue could lead into something worse.
“Oh, no,” said the Loup, eyes wide with realization. “What have you done, Claire?”
“What I should’ve done years ago,” she replied. “Everything this world has become after Nuremnia’s fall is a pitiful joke. They called Maril’s people, and dozens of others, ‘Dark Races’. Can you believe that? The Dark Races of Nuremnia, the ones who lost, and the ones who are cursed to be remembered as the servants to the Nuremnian Empire. And don’t say they deserve it for unleashing the Aether to the world. Both of us has no say of something that happened a thousand years ago.”
“You’re rambling,” said Jacques, still in disbelief, but also annoyed by Claire’s speech. “And besides, what can you do? It’s a dead empire with nothing but ruins and the Aether to remind us of what they did.”
“They’re sleeping. Not dead,” clarified Claire. “All you need to do is knock on their door.”
“Shit,” said Jacques. “I really wish you didn’t say that.”
The Loup opened fire, but he knew his bullets would not reach Claire due to her magic and the risk of her returning the bullets back at him. As he predicted, Claire did just that, only this time, Jacques was prepared.
The Loup’s resourcefulness became handy when he coated his bullets with his own mana, knowing full well that Claire would attempt to divert the bullets back at him. If he kept moving, she would not be able to keep up, and he could overwhelm her with his shots. He moved around her, overwhelming her with all the bullets he had in reserve.
Claire, sensing Jacques’s intentions, taunted him by saying, “You can’t stop what’s coming, Jacq! Nuremnia’s thousand years old vengeance will soon be complete! What can you do but run like you always do? Those guns mean nothing against the full of might of the Empire!”
“Keep talking, Claire,” murmured Jacq as he kept dodging the bullets redirected back at him.
Jacques kept dodging and moving while trying something new, such as varying his shots, or even deliberately missing and change the trajectory of his bullet’s path. All the variations of his attack did not work on Claire, who seemed to be able to sense where the bullets came from. The Loup, however, had something else in mind. He still had one trick up his sleeve.
He made sure Claire did not realize it until it was too late. The only thing he needed to be wary of was the timing of attack. His lupine agility was not in question, but against a mage as skillful as Claire, it must be precise. If not, Claire could easily bisect him with a portal right in front of him. He did not have the luxury of using the Counter spell like Raine.
The relentless attacks also started to wear Claire out, a weakness of her portal magic that Jacques was already aware of when they were still working together. She may have improved since the last time they met, but she underestimated the amount of mana needed to rapidly tear open a portal while also anticipating the bullets. Despite her higher affinity to magic and skills, she was only human.
It only took ten minutes of the fight to finally wear Claire out, by which time he was already out of bullets. The last bullet Jacques shot was a trick shot that he shot while dodge-rolling, one that ran parallel to the ground. The angle of the shot was critical; too low of an angle would lodge the bullet to the ground; too high of an angle would alert Claire. It must be aimed towards her foot.
Such an almost impossible shot would only be possible with the aid of magic, but Jacques knew that Claire would be alerted. Jacques’s skill enabled him to make such a shot in a tight window of opportunity while also engaged in a fast-paced battle. It flew under and beside her, missing her by inches. That was the plan.
Then the Loup extended his hand, and the bullet suddenly changed trajectory, zigzagging in the air behind Claire. Before she realized it, the bullet was already aimed at her spine. She managed to stop it mere seconds before it killed her.
It wasn’t the bullet that proved fatal.
Jacques dashed towards her just as she stopped the bullet behind her. He wrapped his left arm around her as if embracing her, while keeping his other hand on his revolver. Instead of shooting at her, however, Jacques used the same kind of enhancement spell that killed Ben-Renee, except this time, he extended and sharpened it beyond the revolver, forming a knife that extended beyond the gun’s muzzle and through Claire’s stomach. It reached the bullet she stopped, impaling her through her spine. It wasn’t instant death, but fatal, nonetheless.
Claire slumped over the Loup’s shoulder, eyes wide in shock, but still aware enough to see a sword in one of her dead subordinate’s hands. Using the last of her strength, she took the sword with a portal and stabbed Jacques on the side. He couldn’t dodge; like him, she wrapped her free hand around him as if returning his embrace. Both were impaled by each other.
Claire looked down as blood trickled out of her mouth. Her shoulder-length, straight blonde hair, untied, fell to her shoulders. She slumped over Jacques’s own shoulder, hoping to feel his warm fur as she died. She was disappointed when all she could feel was his leather jacket, silently wondering why a furry wolf man would need a leather vest that’s already worn out and caked in blood.
“After all these years,” said Claire after she coughed out blood. “You are still as dangerous as the first time.”
“I got sloppy,” said Jacques. His breath was ragged. “Both of us are.”
Claire managed a chuckle. “You say it as if this is a spar. You haven’t changed a bit, Jacques.”
She then caught a glimpse of the two Fa’ars that were fighting each other nearby, both of which noticed the aftermath of the two fighters’ battle. She was surprised, however, by the aftermath of that fight.
“Even Mari?” she said. “I’m impressed. To think the Church of Nihilo was defeated by four unknown warriors of the wasteland.”
“If you’re not in hiding and with better influence, the four of us won’t even be your problem,” said Jacques. “I thought you’re smarter than this, Claire.”
“Or maybe I’m just not cut out for leadership. Mari was right. I’m too sentimental to let go of something that’s already rotten to the core.”
“So, you meant what you said? About Nuremnia?” asked Jacques.
“I am,” declared Claire. “Too bad both of us…won’t be able to see what comes next.”
Claire was too weak to summon anything, not when she was already dying from Jacques’ final attack. Her body lost its strength as she slumped over Jacques, embracing the Loup as her consciousness faded away. Jacques, out of sentiment and past relationship, supported her. Her skin was cold when touched.
“I really wish…it doesn’t end this way,” she said, weakly. It came out like a whisper, something only the Loup’s sharp ears could hear. “But I’m glad…this is how…we face our end….”
Her voice trailed off. She closed her eyes for the last time. Jacques felt her whole weight over his body. She was no longer supported by her own self. It was just a body now.
Out of respect for his lost love, and a friend, he set down Claire’s body and put both her hands over her stomach, both to cover the fatal wound he created and as a sign of respect. He looked at her human face. It was content, but also sad. Jacques wondered what she thought about in the final moments of her life.
He might be able to ask her later if the afterlife was real. Maybe sooner than expected as he fell to his knees, unable to muster any strength. He looked at the wound Claire created. She managed to pull the sword out moments after their final clash. As an expert assassin, she knew where to stab for an efficient kill. The vest did not give him ample protection; a weakness in his more agile fighting style.
The situation made him ponder and reflect on everything he did up to that point. He wondered if he was doing it out of spite, or he was genuinely trying to fulfill a dying child’s promise. Whatever the reason, he failed. Nihilo might’ve been gone, but now, a more dangerous foe would come and decimate the whole world like they did a thousand years before his time. He should’ve known what Claire’s intention was from the start but accepted that he was not prescient or unnaturally perceptive.
At least he could accept that he did what he did. Whatever the result, he found his inner peace. He just didn’t expect it to come from a ratfolk.