Chapter Sixty-Five: ‘Come, ye devils, and perish...!’

Rain fell in sheets now, slickening the earth, evaporating against each flashing bolt. Hector saw the tower go up around Harper and would’ve liked to help, but he was rather occupied at the moment with a storm of lightning.

‘Mm?’ said Garovel privately. ‘What’s Harper--?’

Light erupted out of the tower around Harper, a beacon straight up, cleaving the sky in two and dispersing the rain clouds around it.

‘Oh fuck!’ said Garovel.

Then the tower exploded, and a huge wave of force washed over the area. Hector felt it pass through him, but it didn’t knock him over like it did for the Abolishers. He wasn’t sure why until he saw Roman’s fist in the air, though Roman himself was still incapable of standing.

‘Grab Roman and run,’ said Garovel.

Hector didn’t need to be told twice. ‘What the hell is happening?!’ he said as he hoisted Roman over his shoulder. The man said something, but Hector couldn’t hear him. ‘Is it emergence?!’

‘No. Harper’s entering one of the hyper states--something called “pan-rozum.” I highly doubt he’s old enough to fully control something like that.’

‘You mean he’s gonna attack us, too?!’

‘I’d rather not find out. We’re all dead, if he does.’

Harper’s movements were decidedly inhuman. Hector’s eyes couldn’t even follow him. It looked like the man was teleporting, the only evidence to the contrary being the straight trails of fleeting white light that Harper left in his wake. One moment, he stood at the center of the crumbled tower, and the next, he was in front of Andres, arm through the Abolisher’s chest. And the moment after that, Andres was dead, decapitated in a cloud of blood, along with the reaper behind him.

Everyone scattered.

Harper went for Conall, encountering brief resistance from the aluminum. Very brief. The trail of light bounced off the mirror wall and then went up and over, getting behind Conall faster than he could even turn around. Harper split the man down the center with a glowing arm. Conall’s reaper was already fleeing, but it made no difference. A white laser turned the skeleton to vapor.

Hector could hardly believe his eyes. They were nothing to Harper. And they all knew it. Karkash was already gone, flown off as soon as he realized what they were up against.

Hector searched for his motorcycle as he ran, expecting to find a smoldering pile of scrap, but there it was, untouched and right where he’d left it.

“Hey, put me down,” said Roman as they reached the bike. Hector did so, and Roman proved capable of standing again.

“Get on, and I’ll--” The sentence died in Hector’s throat as he turned.

Harper was right there in front of him.

Hector leaned backward, eyes widening. The look on Harper’s face was especially unsettling, because it was one that he’d seen before. It was just like Stoker’s. Half-asleep, seemingly unaware or even conscious. The only difference was that Stoker had been twitchy, whereas Harper still moved rather smoothly as he poked his head closer, perhaps curiously.

‘Don’t attack him, Hector!’ said Garovel. ‘Just let him look at you.’

‘O-okay,’ said Hector, trying not to sound terrified. After everything he’d faced in the past, he’d nearly forgotten what it was like to feel genuine fear. Without a doubt, this was a much more effective reminder than necessary.

Harper’s head turned, and then in a blink, he was gone again, leaving an equivalently tall streak of light behind as he went after Nola next.

Her reaper went down first, and Nola hardly had enough time to look confused before a luminous pillar burned through her skull.

Seeing how quickly the man could dispatch people, Hector didn’t understand why Harper had just let him and Roman go. But he decided that now wasn’t the time to question it. He mounted his bike with Roman behind him. He found the dirt road, as well as the Queen in her black sedan, already ahead of him.

She soon stopped, however, as they arrived at a group of armored vehicles. It was the soldiers that Abolish had kidnapped.

-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-

The border guards had proved rather stubborn, trying to stop them from crossing into Atreya. Vladimir had briefly considered merely waiting for Desmond and his comrades to cross into Rendon first, but that would have required far too much patience. And besides, he hadn’t gotten to kill anyone in ages, and those guards had really annoying faces. It was definitely the correct decision, he felt.

The news of Atreya’s royal turmoil had unfortunately sent sympathetic ripples through the Members of Parliament. Thankfully, they were slow to make up their minds about what to do next, so all the pressure that Vladimir and his two friends had been building up over these past couple months had not yet gone to waste. That was why this attack today was so important and why he wanted to make sure that it went without a hitch.

Vladimir hadn’t been expecting a fight at the end of this trip, so when his reaper told him the good news, he’d been pleasantly surprised. Even from this distance, the reaper could tell that something was amiss by the way the souls moved, seemingly clashing with one another, some even in mid-air. There were also many souls present which were apparently not involved in the conflict, but those were probably just the hostages that Desmond and his comrades had brought along.

“Can you tell how many opponents there are?” Vladimir said in his native Bolenese.

‘Not sure,’ said his reaper, ‘but unless Desmond has already lost multiple fighters, there can’t be more than three or four enemies.’

Vladimir’s small car rumbled down the muddy road, following close behind the two ahead of him. “I hate getting wet. They’d better give us a decent fight, at least.”

‘That’s stupid. I hope they die in seconds.’

He laughed. “That would just be embarrassing.”

A white pillar shot up into the sky at a distance, glowing bright and cutting through the rain clouds.

‘Oh hell! Stop the car! Turn around right now!’

“What? Why?”

‘Do it!’

Vladimir didn’t have much choice in the matter as the cars in front of him stopped as well. Even for their compact vehicles, there wasn’t much space on the road, so the other servants got out and started flipping the cars around with their bare hands. Begrudgingly, Vladimir began to do the same.

‘Hurry up, you slow ass! Desmond’s people are dropping like flies!’

“Oh, come on,” he said. “They can’t be that str--”

‘Oh god! Here it comes!’

Vladimir turned in time to see one of the cars get speared by a surge of light and explode. The accompanying servant flew back into a roadside tree, and their reaper didn’t get very far before being impaled by a bar of white light.

There was hardly time to react, hardly even a chance to glimpse the attacker. His own reaper was simply vaporized in an instant. Vladimir was not given the opportunity to lose his mind. Light engulfed his vision as he died.

-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-

Hector watched the Queen take charge, directing the soldiers who seemed utterly shocked by her presence.

“You must all retreat from here now!” she told them. “That is an order!”

“Yes, ma’am!” said multiple voices, apparently quite keen to leave as they scrambled back into their vehicles.

Helen looked to Roman next. “Mr. Fullister, take the reapers away from here as quickly as possible. As long as the reapers are far enough away, Harper will not be able to sense them, yes?”

Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

“Right, good thinking.” The man’s body was mostly restored by now. Voreese was already attached to his back, so he moved to gather the other two reapers up.

‘Here,’ said Garovel, giving Hector one last boost of strength and regeneration. Mehlsanz did the same for the Queen.

Then Roman was off with his three passengers, bursting through the sky again, up and over the trees.

“Hector, you and I will ride with the soldiers and help them escape.” She motioned to the adjacent vehicles as the engines roared to life. The ones at the other end of the column were already started back down the road.

Everything was happening so fast. He didn’t have much time to process it all, but he at least understood that these soldiers were in the most danger. He mounted his motorcycle again, and the Queen decided to jump into one of the cars with a group of soldiers. He brought up the rear as the last cars began moving.

Hector built giant walls behind the group, knowing they probably wouldn’t delay Harper more than a second, if that.

‘Garovel, talk to me,’ said Hector. ‘What am I up against here?’

‘Harper and Darsihm have merged their souls, and now they’re in a kind of battle trance, hardly even conscious. The only reason they didn’t kill us earlier was because they must’ve memorized our souls as belonging to their allies. It’s amazing that they even have enough control to do that much.’

An idea struck him. ‘So Harper won’t attack me because of my soul?’

‘Yeah. But he can’t possibly have memorized the soldiers’ souls, because he’s never met any of them. He’ll definitely attack them, and they stand even less of a chance than you do.’

He brought his bike to a sudden halt. ‘Then, maybe...’ An iron wall rose up in front of him, cutting him off from the armored vehicles ahead. He touched the metal with one hand and made sure to block the entire road, from one giant cluster of trees to the other. And he kept growing the metal higher, curving back over his head while simultaneously empowering it with his soul.

It was a giant cage in the making, one that he couldn’t be sure would work. His soul was the important part. Maybe Harper wouldn’t attack the cage if it also carried Hector’s soul. It seemed like a long shot, but trying to fight Harper didn’t even seem like an option.

Hector built the cage as fast as he could. It had to be gigantic, or Harper would probably just jump over it. He arched it back and raised iron pillars to support the high roof. He added a floor as well, not wanting Harper to dig his way out. And the cage became quite long, encasing a massive section of the road like a tunnel.

If Harper pursued the soldiers, he would have to enter Hector’s cage. This was the only path Harper could take. Unless he could fly now, too. Or just chose to navigate the forest, anyway.

That’d suck.

No other ideas sprung to mind, though, so Hector focused on his task. The cage was nearing completion, only the far wall of it left open while he stood in darkness on his end.

And then Harper appeared.

In a blink, Harper Norez was already standing there next to Hector. The Lt. General illuminated the entire tunnel as he faced the wall that Hector was touching.

Hector shut the far end of the tunnel, completing the trap. He stared at Harper, waiting to see what the man would do.

But Harper did nothing, only turned his head back and forth slowly until eventually settling on Hector.

‘Wow,’ said Hector. ‘It really worked...?’

‘What did?’ said Garovel.

‘I think I’ve... I’ve got Harper trapped...’

There was a pause. ‘You what?’

‘I made a cage and added my soul to it... and he’s not attacking it, I guess because he thinks it’s me?’

‘That wouldn’t--uh... How the...? You--?! How the fuck did you get him inside a cage?!’

‘Well, uh... I mean, I knew he’d probably come this way... It’s the shortest and clearest path to the soldiers, so...’

‘Hector...! Just--! Holy shit!’

He gave a nervous laugh, still wary of Harper’s half-conscious stare.

‘It’s not because he thinks your metal is actually you, though,’ said Garovel. ‘It’s more like you’ve blinded him. He can’t sense the souls on the other side of your walls, so he just doesn’t know where to go anymore.’

‘Ah... yeah, that’s what I meant to say.’

‘You had no idea. You got lucky.’

‘...You can’t prove that.’

Garovel laughed. ‘Whatever the case, good work! Now try to move him back up the path, as far away from the soldiers as you can.’

‘Garovel.. I don’t like the way Harper is looking at me...’

‘He’s in a state of self-hypnosis. He’s only driven forward by a desire to attack things, but he can’t sense anyone other than you right now.’

‘...So he’s going to attack me.’

‘Almost definitely.’

‘Great.’

‘I’m betting it’s just a matter of time until his bloodlust overcomes the “knowledge” that you’re his ally. That’s why you need to move him away from the others. He is probably going to break out of your cage sooner or later.’

‘I’m fucked, aren’t I?’

‘SO fucked.’

Hector shook his head as he started backing up on his motorcycle. ‘Y’know, Garovel... sometimes, you can be a little TOO honest.’

‘Hey, it’s not like you need to win,’ the reaper said. ‘Just try not to die too quickly.’

‘Super helpful, thanks.’ He kept one hand on the iron wall as he moved along, returning down the path he’d come from. The metal floor proved rather slippery against the soles of his shoes and the bike’s tires, but he had to move slowly anyway in order to ensure that Harper followed him, lumbering and eerily silent.

‘You could try talking to him,’ said Garovel. ‘Probably won’t do any good, but it’s worth a shot.’

‘Egh...’ Hector soon reached the end of the tunnel and so had to add on to it. He created an empty room on the other side of the wall, and then annihilated said wall. And repeated the process each time. ‘How far away do I have take him?’

‘Not much farther, I’d imagine. I can barely even sense your soul at this range. Roman will be heading back to help you soon.’

He could see Harper’s pace increasing. “Mr. Harper, sir... heh... y-you don’t wanna attack me, right? Garovel’s just... worried for no reason, yeah? You’ve totally got this battle-trance-thing under control... I’m sure we won’t have to--”

Faster still.

Hector armored up.

It was a lot to keep track of. Growing the tunnel. Maintaining the soul-empowerment. And now armoring himself, too. He had to simplify the metal attire, and much of it was reduced to mere coatings, leaving only space for his joints to bend freely.

As Harper drew too close, Hector raised a wall between them. Darkness enveloped the young man as Harper’s light was cut off.

But only for a moment.

Harper broke through, glowing white, and smashed Hector in the chest. The impact shattered the iron breastplate and sent Hector flying off his bike and through the wall behind him. He bounced through the mud, toppling over himself again and again, still not stopping until he slid up next to a familiar rock formation, the one Garovel had called Rathmore’s Gate.

It might’ve been a surprise to see the rocks still standing after all the combat that had taken place around them, but Hector didn’t spare it any thought as he climbed to his feet again. His sunken-in chest was regenerating, crushed lungs in the midst of reforming.

Harper flashed closer but stopped not long after exiting the cage. His head turned to the side, glazed eyes looking away from Hector.

That was bad.

A spiked ball materialized in Hector’s hand, and he tried to shout and get Harper's attention, but his lungs couldn’t hold breath just yet. So he just threw it with full force.

Harper vanished just before the ball reached him. In a blink, he reappeared next to Hector, already with a hand around the young man’s throat, fingers digging through the iron coating and into Hector’s flesh.

The spikes came out, skewering Harper’s hand and forearm. Hector was briefly free, until Harper’s other arm connected with the side of his helm. Again, the armor shattered, and Hector went flying, toppling across hard stone with a broken neck.

He struggled to stand back up this time, his body not wanting to listen to him. Vital nerves below his brain stem needed time to repair. He could barely move, but he could at least see Harper. He knew that a single beam of light through his skull could’ve already ended this fight. And yet it hadn’t.

Hector felt his lungs working again. “You’re still holding back,” he said.

The words didn’t seem to register. Harper just looked away again.

“No! Focus on me!”

If Harper leapt away now, there would be no catching him. There would be no saving anyone. More innocent lives destroyed. More failure.

Hector understood these things. And he refused to let them happen.

Defeating Harper, that was impossible. But delaying him? Surely, that could be done. If this stupid body would just move. Always breaking when he needed it most. If he couldn’t move, he couldn’t materialize anything. Except, perhaps, coating himself. In spikes.

That would have to do.

The first pillar shot out of Hector’s armor like a rocket--a massive knife through the air, a good fifty meters. He couldn’t direct it. The thing just shot up and out, far enough to reach Harper but still well over the man’s head. So he added sharpened branches to it, as well--blades upon blades upon still more blades, a great tree of iron daggers. It had nothing in the way of support, however, and immediately began to fall, which if nothing else, certainly demanded Harper’s attention.

And it was not alone, this knife. Nine more followed it up, all leaping from Hector’s body in different directions, splayed out and wild, each one so thick that it crushed or impaled its own cluster of trees.

Hector annihilated them each at the base only and let the boat-sized columns of metal fall around him. He propped himself up with another pillar as his neck finished regenerating. Looking over his work, he wasn’t sure if this was emergence’s doing, just because it happened so quickly this time, but he didn’t have long to think about it.

Harper’s zigzagging frames of light bounded from pillar to pillar, and then in an instant, Harper was there in front of him, an arm plunged through Hector’s chest.

Still not quite going for the kill, it seemed. That suited Hector just fine. Every functional muscle in his body flexed as he strove to repeat himself. A new mass of spikes flew out, each one furnished with thorns and gnarled hooks.

They forced Harper back and gave Hector a moment to breathe.

He spotted a broken slab of aluminum on the ground, shimmering in the mud and drizzle. He dove for it and clapped a pair of iron straps around the thing. He slid his arm through the straps and raised it in front of himself. A mirror shield. Makeshift and crumbling, but better than nothing. And just in time, too.

A white laser flashed across the clearing.

It bounced off the shield, but the force of the impact still blew him back. His mirror held together, however, and Hector regained some unsteady footing on slippery rock.

‘Garovel, tell me the soldiers are safe.’

‘They’re not. You need to buy another two minutes or so.’

‘Two minutes?! Do you know how long that is in the middle of a fi--?!’

The attack came from the side, catching Hector under the rib cage. Light burst out of Harper’s fist, cutting through metal and flesh like butter. He sailed into the rock formation, which stood strong against the impact, not even cracking.

The right side of his chest was gone, but he didn’t let that slow him down. More spikes, broad as he could make them.

Harper tore through them with a spray of light.

He raised the mirror shield. It protected him but shattered. He dove away, knowing another attack was imminent, hoping for another chunk of aluminum and not finding it.

Abruptly, Harper shuddered. The man doubled over onto his hands and knees.

Hector had to spare a moment of surprise before deciding to keep attacking anyway, but by the time he launched another spike from his gauntlet, Harper had vanished again, the trail of light leading behind Hector this time.

He didn’t get the chance to turn around before feeling the next impact. The beam of light cleaved horizontally through his chest, finishing Harper’s earlier work. Hector’s legs and stomach flew one way, and his upper body flew another. Still perfectly conscious, he splattered to the ground in a bloody heap, arms mangled but still functioning.

He made to attack another time, undeterred by the loss of over half of his body, but when he saw Harper hunched over and trembling again, Hector hesitated. He suddenly wasn’t sure that attacking was the smartest move. On the one hand, he of course needed to provide a distraction, but on the other hand, if he provoked Harper too much, then the fight might just end instantly, and then everything would be for naught. So he stayed his hand this time and observed.

He squinted. ‘Harper’s not looking so good...’

‘Not surprising,’ said Garovel. ‘The hyper state takes a very heavy toll--heavy enough to kill him and Darsihm both if they can’t control it well enough.’

‘Uh, shit... is, um--is there anything I can do to help them?’

‘No,’ said Garovel. ‘They’ve taken their lives into their own hands now. It’s up to them.’

Uncertain, Hector went to work on a soul-empowered dome. He doubted it would do much good at this point, but attacking directly seemed like a much worse idea now. At least this way Harper would be “blinded” again.

Darkness fell over the two of them as the iron roof spanned out, blocking out the sky and the rain. Able to taste both blood and mud in his mouth, Hector watched Harper begin to glow again, becoming the only source of light once more. Dozens of pillars supported the dome as it completed itself. Even Rathmore’s Gate was covered.

Harper returned to his feet. He looked straight at Hector, and the expression on the man’s face seemed to indicate that he had regained consciousness.

However, Hector didn’t get the opportunity to ask.

The explosion of light made everything go white.