Chapter 67: Chapter 67
Colter
The Royal Palace, Kingdom of Howard
In the blink of an eye, Colter stood before King Dyron, his hand was firmly grasping the king of darkness’ neck, “Have I ruined your plans, King of Darkness?” Colter taunted the struggling enemy in his hand, Dyron squirmed and tried to fight back, but the prince’s grip was too strong.
“What are you doing, son?!” Dyron gasped, trying to regulate his breathing as Colter slowly tried to crush his larynx, “I am your father, do not give in to the lies these filthy Ecanus have fed you!”
Colter tightened his grip in anger as he felt Dyron’s magic try to corrupt him again, but the prince’s aura swirled around his senses in protection, this time anticipating the attack.
“Your lies bear power no longer, King Dyron” Colter said in an angry whisper as he slammed the king down into the ground.
Hope swirled in the hearts of every Ecanus and human in the room, Colter was slightly weakened by the ordeal, but they were glad that he had returned to his normal self.
“Is that it…?” Dyron said angrily from the ground, with one motion tendrils made of black magic shot out of the floor and wrapped around Colter’s limbs.
The King rose from his position and faced Colter, who tried to ward off the tentacles, but it was too much, his energy still had not returned after the poison was ripped from his body.
He felt Dyron’s hand on his chin this time, he was staring into the prince’s eyes mockingly, Colter was unable to retaliate, he was constricted by the tendrils.
“I told you that I would do it myself if you were unable to, Prince Colter.” There was anger and venom in the tone of Dyron as he spat these words at the restricted Colter.
“The greatest fighter here that isn’t you, is lying on the ground weak and useless. Your father has never been a match for me and your witch of a mother, she might prove to be a problem but I can work on it.” He flung a black wave of magic at them; King Malik and Queen Regina fell to the floor as Colter roared in anger.
“Watch as they suffer in front of your eyes, Princeling.” The King of Darkness gloated, as he slowly moved towards the fallen monarchs.
There was some noise on the outside of the palace, this took away Dyron’s attention from the king and queen, the royal guard had vanquished most of the creatures on the way to the palace and they were right outside.
“Stupid” Dyron growled quietly, realizing that his monsters and allied had failed, his usual cool and calculating demeanor has melted into pure rage, Colter was still struggling against the tendrils, “Very well” the king of darkness muttered with a calm smile, “You managed to push me this far, Howard. Let me show you my real power.”
He clasped his hands together and muttered a morbid prayer to the dark gods that he served, his aura of darkness radiated around him letting out an eye watering heat.
“Open the gates of the abyss!” Dyron suddenly roared and there was a tearing sound, the very air seemed to tear itself apart as a hole appeared out of nowhere. “My sweetlings” Dyron cooed suddenly, trying to coax something out of the portal that he had conjured, “There is rabble outside that you should deal with. Feel free to feed on them if you want to.” There were jeers and roars of animalistic cruelty as demonic creatures surged from the portal and charged out of the door to meet the approaching royal guard.
In a matter of seconds, the sounds of weapons and claws clashing resonated from the outside, Colter and the others listened to it worriedly as the royal guard slowly lost their ground.
Dyron was laughing maniacally now, “They shall not disappear until I, myself, have fallen! And I shall not fall to the likes of you.” He pointed a gnarled finger at Malik who lay prone and defenseless.
“Then you shall fall” came a cool voice from an opening in the roof of the palace, Colter’s worries immediately vanished as he recognized that voice. Vergil, captain of the royal guard had joined the fray.
“Vergil!” Colter shouted in joy, seeing his childhood friend, slightly worried that there were scratches and wounds all over him.
The captain smiled benignly at Colter, “Well, well, well. You look like shit, Colter” he commented before shrugging his shoulders and charged towards Dyron with blinding speed.
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Vergil
The Royal Palace, Kingdom of Howard
His sword sang and sparks flew as he slashed downwards, Dyron had managed to block his attack by conjuring a sword made purely of black magic. This irritated him, he had wanted to finish the fighting immediately to end the unnecessary bloodshed.
“Pathetic.” Dyron spat, “You would dare to attack me, you rotten little cur!”
Vergil launched a kick towards Dyron’s gut and it connected squarely, sending the king backward with a grunt of pain.
“Shut up and fight” Vergil taunted, motioning for the king to attack, “The time for talking is over, your highness”
Dyron roared in anger and started slashing away at Vergil who barely managed to block each blow, the king was moving differently now, as if his rage had empowered him. He was swinging his sword wildly and Vergil was having slight trouble adjusting to its intensifying strength.
“Cornered now, aren’t you?” Dyron growled as he managed to push Vergil back, “You are not as strong as they say, torrential ocean.”
Vergil clicked his tongue in irritation and sheathed his sword, “I never claimed to be strong, you idiot.” There was a ringing sound as he had suddenly drawn the sword from its sheathe, a vortex of water sped towards Dyron who was struck in the shoulder. It bit into his shoulder, sending blood splattering into the floor.
“Gross” Vergil said in disgust, taking note of the black blood that was oozing from Dyron’s shoulder. “Being strong and capable are two different things.” He swung his sword and another vortex of water shot out of the edge, Dyron was struck again and more of his blood spilled onto the floor.
“Is that it…” Dyron muttered in an indifferent tone, his anger had faded into something else, his aura began to grow and fill the room itself, “Is that the best this pathetic kingdom can muster?”
Dyron suddenly pointed his palms at Vergil, the blood that was all over him turned into spikes that darted towards everyone in the room. “Into the abyss with all of you!”
“Shit!” Vergil said in a panic as he calculated the speed of each spike, there were 24 of them, four spikes targeted each person in the room with him excluded.
As if time started to slow down, the royal guard captain closed his eyes and took a slow breath, it was another one of the secret arts that he had mastered, what is worse than an ocean raging against a storm? A calm and serene one.
“Serenity” Vergil thought in a calm voice and all of his senses were heightened a hundredfold, he could see everything move so slow. But to another pair of eyes, he was moving extremely fast.
He immediately moved towards Tessa and Vida, who parried eight blades that were going towards them. He disintegrated it by drawing magic into his sword. “That’s two safe” he told himself and darted towards the unconscious Gian, with a smooth slice he cut through the four blades that were supposed to impale him.
“Three.”
He picked up the pace, as he felt the energy of ‘Serenity’ starting to fade, this time he found himself in front of the prone Malik and Regina, “Hello your majesties” he said jovially before cutting the eight spikes that were moving towards them.
“Five. One more” he whispered running towards Colter, who was constricted by the tendrils.
“Let’s take care of this first” Vergil told himself as he cut away the tendrils that restricted the Prince’s movements, but all of a sudden his powers failed him.
“Shit” the captain of the royal guard said in horror as time started to return to its normal speed in his perception, he had managed to cut off the tendrils but that was all, a second later he felt four spikes pierce into his back.
“Vergil!” Colter suddenly shouted in terror as his friend fell face down, seeing that he was freed from his ties he caught Vergil who was breathing shallowly.
“Got too cocky” Vergil said quietly, blood spilling out of his mouth, “Should’ve taken care of those spikes first huh?”
“You will be fine” Colter said, tears burning his eyes, “You did good, Verg”
The captain laughed, the other noncombatants in the room realized what had happened, Tessa gave out a gasp of shock as she realized that the captain of the royal guard was severely wounded.
“Well, I managed to free you, so why don’t you finish it?” Vergil said weakly, “I wounded him but my arrogance and anger at what is happening overtook me.”
“You’re fine” Colter answered in a haze, trying to staunch the wounds in his friend’s body, “MOTHER!” he cried out in terror and Regina immediately took action, understanding what her son meant.
A warmth covered Vergil’s body, it was a glowing magic that could only come from the Queen herself, “Ah, your majesty. You shouldn’t have”
It was magic that held his wounds together, it prevented him from losing more blood but it did not heal him. It only delayed them. He needed stronger magic, but everyone was still weakened from the battle.
As his consciousness faded, Vergil tapped Colter in the shoulder, “Take care of him. Time for you to finish this. Take…take this.” He allowed his powers to flow out of him and into Colter who shook violently as he felt Vergil’s power fill his soul.
“Colter…” came another voice, it was Gian, he had awoken at last, “I can’t help you with Dyron, but I can try to help you with this”
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Colter
The Royal Palace, Kingdom of Howard
The power flowed into him, water, from Vergil his childhood friend who took a hit for him as he freed the prince from his restraints. Now, his brother had been roused his unconsciousness.
“I am too weak” Gian said quietly, coughing from his pains, “I did you wrong and let me at least right some of my wrongs with this. There is no one else I could trust anymore with keeping this kingdom and its people safe. So, take my powers as well.”
Colter felt the warmth of Gian’s power flow into his being as the brother he had hated all his life gave away his magic to aid him in fighting Dyron successfully.
Now in him, flowed three elemental powers, he felt it swirling inside of him like a tempest and he glared angrily at Dyron who stared at this scene with disbelief.
The hope that dwindled was set alight once more as Colter stood up, setting down Vergil’s body on the floor gently.
“Enough of your shit, Dyron. This time it’s just me and you.” He made a mental note to hurry this fight up as the Royal Guard outside were fighting off the demonic creatures that Dyron had summoned from the dark portal earlier.
“You’ve caused enough pain, you have taken too many lives, I tried to employ mercy by holding back, I wanted you to be held accountable for your actions yet you give me no choice.”
He summoned a sword from his thoughts, it swirled with the three elements that flowed in his body, water, earth and fire.
“I shall slay you now and let this kingdom be rid of your evil once and for all.”
Tessa and Vida gripped each other at his words, the brevity and the power that emanated from Colter’s voice stirred a thrill of hope inside of them. Regina put her arms around King Malik who was beginning to get up from his wounds, they stared at their son with hope. The son that they once thought betrayed them has now come back home and is going to put all his power into expelling this evil that plagued their kingdom once and for all.