EA Chapter 42 - Claim Victory

Luna took to the air, guided again by magically manipulated currents of wind. Old Scratch chose a markedly less elegant form of movement: Leaping across vast stretches of the city in a series of swift bounds. It was a crude method, but Luna could not fault the functionality of it.

Naturally it did not take them long to reach the courtyard where the gargoyle had crashed. Gallow had set up an assortment of glowing barricades on the edges of the nearby rooftops, giving the marksman cover to hide behind. She had also formed great chains around the beast’s limbs, trying to keep it tethered to the earth.

They would certainly slow the gargoyle down if it chose to rise. But without the continuous assault from the marksmen to slow it down, they would not be enough to halt its considerable strength.

“Ordean!” she shouted as the two landed on a sloping tiled rooftop. “Why in Zehud’s name are you bringing a damned cadet to a gargoyle of all things?!”

To which the older man grinned wryly, twisting his scars into a grotesque expression. “Putting a stop to all this.” He raised his hands, which became wreathed in a sheen of golden light that rapidly formed into a pair of massive metal gauntlets. The knuckles were studded with sharp spikes. “I could kill that gargoyle myself, I’ve done it in the past, but not without doing a lot of bloody damage to Vyrham in the process. So, I’m hoping the girl has a... softer touch.”

The old man jumped from his perch and crash landed on the cobbles. He came rushing at the gargoyle like a mad bull, undaunted even as a massive claw swept his way. He snapped his hands up, catching the incoming limb by two of its talons. The ground shook and fractured violently under Old Scratch’s feet, and the walls of several buildings were violently cracked. The tremors knocked a few of the Rangers on their asses.

And yet Old Scratch held his ground, grinning as he grappled with that great arm. A hard wench shattered the limb off at the elbow, making the gargoyle shriek. But, yet again, the gargoyle’s regenerative power was impressive. It had regrown that arm in the span of seconds, smashing old Scratch through several buildings in a single swipe.

The rubble shattered apart as the old man came running straight back at his quarry, cackling like a maniac all the while.

“Old man’s impressive, I’ll give him that much.” He could be a wonderful asset, assuming he could be guided to turn against the throne. If not, Luna would actually feel bad about killing him. A little, at least.

She focused back on the gargoyle as the two came crashing at each other like colliding planets. Gradually the world around her melted away into a void of utter darkness, leaving just the gargoyle. Crimson shimmered around it like a continuous flame, the strange form of magic that animated the solid ash and gave it life.

The energy, whatever it was, was malignant and ancient. She had seen similar forms of energy at the temples devoted to dusty, primordial deities. For the Iudex to manipulate that power so casually, he mere thought made Luna a touch uneasy.

She focused intently on it, on the great black heart that radiated that malevolence, and reached toward it with an unseen hand. She felt the eldritch power hum and crackle, whispering to her in a voice of bone dust and dying stars. The hum, that was the trick of it. Disrupting that frequency with one of her own. Simple in theory, but in practice and at her current level of power, it would be like trying to part the ocean with her bare hands.

Her allies landed behind her, one by one, until they formed a ring behind her. “Good grief,” Romula said. “You had us worried sick!”

“What... what did you see up there?” Rema asked.

“Later. We have bigger problems at the moment,” Luna said, still focusing on the gargoyle. “But, as to that, I need your help.”

Kiharu let out a laugh tinged with nervousness. “Damn. You might just be the craziest human I ever did meet. What’s the score?” A powerful quake shook the area as the two collided, the shock wave alone shattering some of the damaged buildings.

“I can open the path to the gargoyle’s core. But I need more power to do that. Romula, use your healing light to reinforce and rejuvenate my body. Kiharu, Syri, infuse your qi into mine. I’ll need the extra strength to open the way. Once it’s open, I’ll need Rema to pepper the ash with slowing arrows to keep it from pulling back together.”

Rema swallowed audibly, gripping her bow with a shaking hand. “That’s... a tall order. I don’t know if I have the power for that.”

“Believe in yourself,” Luna said flatly. It was more of an order than a phrase of encouragement.

Romula held her staff aloft, the material becoming wreathed in golden light that blossomed outward to encompass the group. Luna felt the warmth wash over her, gradually burning away the discomfort she felt in her muscles.

“I’ll trust you, Luna. But if this doesn’t work I’m pulling us out of here.” Syri aimed a hand her way and Kiharu mirrored the gesture. Qi flowed from the two of them in a tide, and in an instant Luna felt her veins become alight with a great blaze of power.

She sucked in air through her teeth, the power building and building until she felt the energy vibrate at her fingertips, desperate for an outlet. To have the power of another churning in her body... a risky venture. She could direct that power, but it was ultimately not her own. Already that qi was fighting to break out of her body.

Luna’s eyes glared with renewed ferocity, her body suddenly wreathed in an aura of blazing amethyst. A sound burst from her outstretched palm, alien and horrid, joined with a blinding white light. It struck the gargoyle in the side, making the creature shriek horribly. It collapsed onto one side, limbs collapsing like piles of dust. It writhed and thrashed, ash sloughing off in great clouds as it futilely belched black smoke into the air. Wherever Luna’s spell struck, the ash collapsed.

Rema fired off a volley of arrows, each one glowing pale blue, embedding them around the gradually exposed obsidian heart. It would slow the ash’s attempts to reform, but only barely at Rema’s level of strength. It would suffice, Luna told herself. The other soldiers could only watch in shock, while the alien sound echoed through the desolated streets.

The glow faded, the noise died away, and Luna felt as if all her energy had been sapped away in the process. She stumbled, summoning her remaining qi, and firing it forth in a focused bolt of disintegration. It struck the crystal heart of the gargoyle, carving a path the width of her fist through the glittering obsidian. The rest of the ash crumbled and fell away, the gargoyle melting as the heart that gave it life died away.

Luna huffed for breath, well aware that all eyes were on her. The world fell silent, the chaos of the ashborn attack ended at last.

“Zehud,” one soldier said breathlessly. “That cadet... she killed a gargoyle on her own.”

“Ha! That’s my student for you!” Old Scratch shouted, kicking a severed chunk of gargoyle skull into dust. “Feel free to send some praise my way. After you’ve praised her first, of course.”

Syri let out a laugh of stunned relief, a broad smile plastered across her face. “Luna, you did it!” She sounded a touch shaky, drained of stamina as she was.

“Of course I did,” Luna murmured. “Don’t ever doubt me.” And then she was out like a light, those final fumes of strength in her body puttering out. Kiharu caught her before she could hit the ground, holding her as if she were weightless.

Her friends stared at her in stunned silence for several moments. It was Kiharu who spoke first, echoing the same thoughts of her friends. “Huh.”