The Battle of Themis (Part 3)

With a low growl, the black knight swung its great sword once more.

Dante narrowly dodged its attack, then swung his scythe at the black knight’s chin, but the knight moved back to avoid the attack. Kella followed up, thrusting her spear towards its chest, but the knight used its free hand to bash her spear to one side, then kicked her in the chest, launching her skidding backwards.

Kella dug her spear into the ground to keep herself standing as she flew backwards. Dante roared, generating power in his arms using his arts, and sliced three times at the black knight. The knight blocked the first two attacks, then parried the third, taking the chance to stab at Dante. Dante was a second too late as he moved to dodge the strike as the blade cut lightly across his side, drawing a bit of blood.

Dante rolled to one side, then swiped at the knight’s legs with his scythe, but the knight jumped back to dodge the swipe. Dante then generated energy in his palm and thrust it at the knight, blasting the undead with a powerful blast of wind. It hit the black knight in its chest and the knight soared backwards, though it remained on its feet.

It came to a stop when it stabbed its blade into the ground, halting its momentum in an instant.

Dante clicked his tongue and readied himself to fight again as Kella ran up to his side.

“How can one undead be so strong?”

“Not sure, but maybe Karak-Harth summoned it using a lot of corpses,” Dante theorized. “Either way, it might be too strong for us.”

Kella bitterly scowled at the undead as it lumbered towards them slowly. “If that’s the case, then how do we stop it?”

“Not sure but, for now, let’s try taking its head off and work from there.” He smiled at her. “Unless you have a better idea.”

Kella flashed him a small smile. “I can get behind that.”

***

Not only had Prince Julius rallied the defenders after the walls had been breached, but they were back in formation.

Julius was directing them effectively from their rear and the Holy Legion were just about able to hold back the never-ending undead assault.

Even when the undead did flank them and threatened to break their ranks, the Holy Legion held fast.

“Don’t let up, men!” Julius yelled at the top of his voice. “Just hold on a bit longer and we’ll win!”

If they win, that is.

If the Divines were able to kill Karak-Harth, then the battle was over.

If he endured, Themis would fall.

Suddenly, a death knight managed to break through the front lines. The nearby legion soldiers were quickly overwhelmed by the bone golems that came to help them and so, in order to keep them fighting, Julius joined them.

“For Themis!” He cried, striking at the death knight’s chest.

Julius dodged the death knight’s follow-up attack, then stabbed it in its head, dispatching the undead. Then, Julius turned to his men and shouted, “This great city has stood strong for hundreds of years and she will not fall today! For Themis!”

“For Themis!”

Though their comrades were dying all around them, the Holy Legion didn’t stop fighting.

Their spirits had been renewed by the prince and they no longer feared their deaths.

I’m counting on you, Lawrence, Arieon!

***

Great, powerful lightning bolts snapped across the room, blasting the ground where the Divines and their allies had been standing.

Once the dust settled, Christoph fired three arrows from his bow at Karak-Harth. All of them were made of silver and enchanted with holy magic. Karak-Harth stopped the arrows mid-air with a wave of his hand, then launched three lightning bolts at Christoph.

Isabella leapt before him with her great shield, absorbing the blows but scorching her shield, then she charged at Karak-Harth. From the left, Lawrence, with his claymore drawn back and glowing with white energy, ran at Karak-Harth and, on his right, Arieon was casting spells at him.

All three attacks landed at Karak-Harth at the same time, but a protective bubble appeared around the caster, absorbing their attacks. With a tap of Karak-Harth’s staff on the ground, the bubble exploded outwards, unleashing all the energy back at Karak-Harth’s attackers.

Everyone withstood the counterattack but were forced to retreat a few metres from Karak-Harth.

Christoph loosed two arrows at Karak-Harth again but the caster batted them out of the air. Karak-Harth thrust his palm at Christoph and clenched his hand into a fist. The air around Christoph compressed tightly around him, greatly injuring the man and knocking the wind out of him.

Karak-Harth huffed and threw Christoph across the room before firing lightning bolts all around him in random directions.

Arieon raised a great white wall between them and Karak-Harth, bouncing the blasts back at Karak-Harth who raised his bubble once again. With a push of his palms, Arieon moved the wall around Karak-Harth, bringing them around the lich, putting tonnes of pressure onto the lich’s shield.

Karak-Harth flinched as his bubble began to crack and break.

He was in a tight spot, but it was one he could still fight his way out of.

He roared and pushed his staff high into the air, firing a dark green magical energy out of his bubble and into Arieon’s wall, causing it to crack.

“He’s going to destroy the wall!” Isabella cried out as she gave Christoph a healing potion.

Arieon smiled. “He will, but that doesn’t mean he can stop everything we throw at him.”

Arieon’s wall collapsed into large pieces. As it fell, it obstructed Karak-Harth’s vision, leaving him vulnerable to surprise attacks; it was an opportunity Lawrence wasn’t going to miss.

From one of those blind spots, Lawrence lunged at Karak-Harth and lodged his blade into the lich’s ribs.

Karak-Harth cried out in pain but smashed his staff into Lawrence’s helmet, knocking the paladin backwards a few feet. However, even though the blow had dazed Lawrence, he wasn’t going to let up his attack.

He swung, cut, thrust and twirled his blade at Karak-Harth who struggled to dodge or block each attack with his magic.

As Karak-Harth was pushed back by Lawrence’s attacks, Arieon fired beams of holy magic at the lich, occasionally scraping Karak-Harth’s bones and damaging him. Then, with his wounds healed, Christoph and Isabella got back into the fight.

“How dare you!” Karak-Harth bellowed, dodging Lawrence and Arieon’s attacks. “I am Karak-Harth, you worms!” Putrid green magical energy gathered over his body. “You are nothing to me. Nothing!”

The energy exploded outwards from his body, blasting Lawrence far across the room and knocking everyone else off their feet.

Lawrence braced himself before he hit the wall and his drop was cushioned by Arieon’s magic.

Arieon blasted another beam from his palm at Karak-Harth but, when it hit the lich’s head, it did nothing.

Realising the imminent danger, Arieon pulled his staff off his back and began chanting.

"Saint Themis, mother of the Holy Empire, your humble servant beseeches you in our time of need."

“Themis?!” Karak-Harth screeched louder than before, thrust his staff at Arieon and twenty magic circles appeared behind the lich, blasting pure purple beams of energy at the Divine Caster.

“Lord Caster!”

Isabella put herself between them and steadied her shield as best she could before the blast hit.

However, despite Isabella’s best efforts, she was easily blown away and into Arieon; the two tumbled across the ground as Isabella’s shield cracked in half.

It was usable, but nowhere near as effective.

Christoph kept firing arrows as Lawrence tried to charge Karak-Harth once more.

“Isabella, if you and the others can distract him long enough for me to finish the chant, we’ll be able to win this,” Arieon whispered to her as they both stood up. The room shook violently as Karak-Harth attacked the other two. “See if you can do something about that staff of his as well.”

“How long do you need?”

“Thirty seconds.”

“…Understood.”

***

Dante and Kella alternated attacks at the black knight, each striking and then dodging, keeping the knight off balance.

But that was all they could do.

If Kella knocked its sword away and Dante went to strike it, the knight was quick enough to parry or block it with its gauntlet.

Dante would lock the knight’s weapon against his own, giving Kella the chance to stab it in the head, but the knight caught her spear and pushed her away.

Neither side could properly attack the other.

Dante tried to blast its sword arm away using his arts, but the knight foresaw the move and dodge the blast by a hair’s breadth.

“Dammit!” Dante cried, cutting twice at the knight who blocked both strikes. “What in the world is this thing?”

The knight caught Dante’s scythe, then pushed him away and cut at him.

Dante blocked it with the side of his scythe, but he went skidding backwards a few minutes, infuriating him.

For the first time in hundreds of years, Dante couldn’t see the end of a fight.

He gripped his scythe tightly and gathered a large amount of energy in his limbs.

He kicked off the ground and leapt towards the black knight, his weapon wound back. Dante swung it forwards with great force at the undead’s head but the black knight bent its back out of the way of the attack.

The black knight then swung its mighty sword at Dante, catching him mid-air, meaning all he could do was try to block it with his scythe.

His weapon took the brunt of the attack, but the force launched him flying through the air until he smashed onto a nearby rooftop, knocking him out.

“Dante!”

The black knight turned its attention back to Kella and thrust its weapon at her. Kella struggled to parry the sword to one side before the black knight kicked her, sending her rolling across the ground. When she came to a stop, she struggled to catch her breath after the wind had been knocked out of her.

Slowly, she pushed herself up onto her knees as the black knight leisurely began marching towards her, occasionally swiping away the lower ranked adventurers that tried to attack it.

We can’t defeat it.

***

The death knight’s sword sliced through Julius’s shield and lodged itself into the prince’s arm.

With a blood-curdling cry, Julius dropped his sword and grasped at the wound. The death knight grunted, withdrew its blade and kicked the prince in the chest. Julius flew into a nearby wall and slumped onto the ground.

His body was numb from the pain and his mind was racing as the death knight drew closer to him, brandishing its blade. A few soldiers rushed to defend the prince, but the death knight made short work of them.

Frustrated with himself more than anyone, Julius gripped his sword as tightly as he could and lifted it towards the death knight.

His arm was so weak that it hurt him to hold it up.

His arm shook and all Julius could hear was the rattling of his armour, and the rapid beating of his heart.

***

Lawrence narrowly avoided the three lightning bolts from Karak-Harth and ran at the lich once again.

Karak-Harth raised his palm and staff at the Divine Paladin, but arrows from Christoph distracted him, drawing part of his wrath towards him.

As her comrades distracted him, Isabella, with her short sword and what was left of her shield, snuck around to the back of Karak-Harth.

As they fought and drew the lich’s attention, Arieon was chanting at the back of the room.

His eyes were closed and his hands were wrapped around his staff.

He was praying to Themis to grant him the power to unleash his most powerful attack, one that, if used incorrectly, could wipe out a small city in a single blast.

Saint Themis, mother of the Holy Empire, your humble servant beseeches you in our time of need.

Give your divine servant the power he needs in this moment to do away with the evil that would plague and destroy your most holy of empires, so that its good people may live to see another dawn.

Bless my staff in this moment with all of your might and let justice be done upon the evils that dares to threaten your peace.

"Release: The Will of the Goddess."

As Arieon finished his prayer, his staff glowed a beautiful, pure white energy and he smiled.

“I haven’t gotten to use this since the day my predecessor taught me this,” Arieon whispered, glancing over at the battle. “If this doesn’t work, we’re dead.”

And I won’t be able to cast another spell for a week, at least.

I just need a good opening.

Lawrence’s blade glowed with magical energy and fired at Karak-Harth with a swing of his sword. Karak-Harth grunted and manipulated the air to blast the attack away from him. Christoph loosed two arrows into the back of the lich’s head, both landing in his skull. Karak-Harth growled in pain and blasted six lightning bolts at Christoph which the archer struggled to dodge. The sixth one hit his leg, greatly burning his flesh and the paladin collapsed onto the floor, howling in pain.

It was then that Isabella struck.

From one side of the throne’s stairs, she leapt up, using magical energy she gathered in her feet to give her the force to jump high enough to reach Karak-Harth. Then, she kicked off the wall and released the rest of the energy, propelling her towards Karak-Harth.

She came in with great speed and force from the side and cut the lich’s staff in half, before she flew across the room and rolled painfully across the marble floor.

Karak-Harth’s eyes widened as his precious weapon shattered in two.

Then, Arieon attacked.

“The Will of the Goddess!” Arieon declared, thrusting his staff at Karak-Harth.

A vast, white beam shot out from the top of his staff, seemingly eviscerating everything in its path; however, it would only destroy what Arieon himself perceived to be an evil in the empire.

The room was basked in a bright white light, but only Karak-Harth screamed in agony as his body was torn to pieces.

“No!” He screamed as his arms were blown away. “No! This isn’t what was meant to happen!” One of his legs was destroyed next; then, the right side of his face. “Themis! I’ll never forgive you! A curse upon you and your empire!”

Karak-Harth’s body shattered into a million pieces.

Those pieces then began to evaporate in the air, leaving no traces of him behind.

***

The death knights’ weapon had been an inch away from Julius’s neck when it came to a sudden halt.

Julius looked around him and saw that the entire undead horde had stopped moving.

Then, they all began to collapse.

Hundreds, then thousands, then tens of thousands.

The rattling, crashing sound of bones echoed throughout the city as more than half a million skeletons began to fall apart on the stone streets.

***

There was a long, eerie silence after the battle came to its sudden end.

The defenders of Themis didn’t know what had happened, at first, and even when the undead began to fall, they didn’t move.

Then, someone started to cheer and it spread like a wildfire through the city.

“Victory!”

“We did it!”

“We won!”

“Praise Themis, we survived!”

“Thank you, Divine Caster and Divine Paladin. Thank you!”

Everyone smiled and laughed happily as relief overwhelmed them, Kella included.

Her exhausted legs finally gave out and she dropped to her knees crying tears of joy.

They had won and David hadn’t appeared.

The city had been badly damaged and there would be thousands of dead but, in that moment, all Kella felt was happiness.

The cheering kept getting louder and louder as the defenders hugged, yelled to the heavens and thanked Themis that they’d survived.

Kella would’ve joined in if she wasn’t so tired.

She looked around her, just to assure herself that the nightmare was over, and she was happy to see countless bones scattered around.

Kella sighed in relief and then, she saw it.

The black knight standing amongst the ocean of skeletons.

Something’s wrong.

Kella’s eyes widened and she felt a nasty, unmistakable chill rush down her spine.