AO 5 Ch 24

Chapter 24

A giant golem of flesh and steel cast its shadow over the battlefield, still maneuvering itself into place.

The two mages were gone. Guided by my sense of soul, I could discern that they were now part of the grotesque amalgamation before me. It was not only filled with the souls and corpses of numerous dying bandits but also the living corrupted. In fact, it was the corrupted bodies that held the entire thing together. Their minds had been warped, tricked into believing that this monstrous entity was their body. Life magic flowed continuously through it, mending it and preventing it from falling apart even as it’s arm threatened to fall off, flesh mending tears as they popped open. 

What disturbed me most were the few half-alive guards and bandits, their faces frozen in a rictus of horror and pain. This creature was constructed without any regard for the damage it inflicted on their nerves and minds, using their flesh merely as material for its bulky form. 

Eva, standing next to me, retched onto her boots. No doubt, her own sense of soul and magic made the view unbearable. The extent to which everything had become intertwined was nothing short of a horror.

"How is that even possible?” Emlyn asked.

“It's the corrupted," I told her, quickly counting. "Okay. Fifteen corrupted in that... thing.”

“Giant Abomination.” Emlyn named it for me.

“Well, in the Giant Abomination, there are fifteen Corrupteds whose Serpent Spheres are still active and pouring life magic into the whole thing. Meanwhile, you've got those two... powerful mages, melding all of the flesh and metal together. And all of the life magic from the Corrupted is just... like keeping it stitched together, barely," I said, having trouble even explaining what I was seeing with my magic. 

"But the metal shouldn't work."

"It's not," Eva said, wiping off her lips. "That's what's so disgusting about it all. They're holding the metal in place, forcibly and continuously wounding the bodies it is pressed into.”

“If it has all of that life magic, doesn't that mean there's death magic, too?" Aurelia asked. 

As if answering her, the Giant Abomination swung towards a group of remaining bandits, smashing up the ground and sending several flying, only for a spray of sticky black death magic to follow the path of its hand and splatter for a dozen feet.

Other bandits screamed as patches of their skin turned black. The bandits scattered to the wind, running away from the giant as quickly as they could.

The Giant Abomination walked through what remained of the battle, chasing and crushing bandits beneath its feet. Its gaze turned skyward, and it tried to slap something out of the air. A mage rode a slide of ice out of the way as the Abomination shattered the slide and flung more deathly ichor around.

The mage blocked with another wall of ice, only for metal to come flying, pelting the ice and reducing it to powder.

Each piece of metal was dripping with black death magic. It hadn't been channeled through the metal like was possible with bluesteel. Instead, it quickly dissipated and rusted some of the metal. 

"We need to help," Emlyn said quickly. 

I shrugged and looked at her. "With what?" I asked. I didn't see a clear answer. 

"If the spheres are what's keeping it going, then we need to kill the corrupted inside." Zuri reasoned.

I stared at the Giant Abomination. "All right. We can try. I don't know if I can penetrate it." I summoned a larger manticore claw of ice and hurled it at the monstrosity. The claw spun end over end and stabbed into the Abomination's flesh, piercing only halfway. I tried to keep pushing.

However, it was simply too much magically reinforced flesh for me to cut through in a single stroke. Not to mention, the claw was immediately being pushed back. All of the life magic was healing the wound and shoving against it.

I gritted my teeth and continued to push on the claw, to no avail. Even with my magic, I was fighting against 15 other spheres, all working in concert and protecting each other.

The bandit anchors must have seen my effort. One of them leapt upon the giant, stabbing his sword into the mass.

Fire magic blazed down the blue steel blade, only for sickly death magic to emerge from the other end. It overwhelmed the fire on his sword, rushing back into his hands. The anchor rotted away in the blink of an eye, falling down as a decrepit corpse.

His sword was pushed out of the abomination a moment later, clattering to the ground next to him. 

"All right. None of you attack the abomination," I said quickly, looking at my anchors. 

Emlyn gestured at the dead anchor. "Oh, come on. That was a really bad attempt on his part. We can attack. Just don't stick your sword in the giant monster for too long." 

My anchors nodded as if the bandit anchors just hadn't been properly trained. 

"Hack and slash. Don't stab," Aurelia said, twirling her battleaxe and looking at the abomination, much like I expected a starving lumberjack would look at a tree. 

Eva stabbed spears of darkness into the abomination's leg, tethering it to the ground. It took another step, easily overpowering her magic, ripping out the spears of shadows and taking another lumbering step. Instead of bleeding blood, sickly death magic fell out of the puncture wounds in its leg. 

"That said what do we actually do? I don’t think Aurelia’s axe is big enough for this one." Emlyn turned to Zuri.

I gasped, putting a hand on my chest, offended. 

"Ard, now isn't the time to pretend you're a tactical genius. What do we do, Zuri?" Emlyn refocused on her. 

Zuri raised an eyebrow at me, and I shrugged. "Just because I said you couldn't rush into this fight doesn't mean I don't value your opinion." She was still a little bitter.

"If it has that many serpent spears churning out magic, we have to destroy them." Yet, she glanced at me. "If Ard can't penetrate easily with a manticore claw, then we need some other way to overwhelm its healing. While Ard focuses on a single spot and works his way through," I frowned, looking at the abomination and sensing all of the magic pouring inside of it, as well as the trapped souls squirming and screaming. 

"I mean, they are still fairly individual. If I take out their heads, they should die." I said quickly, understanding that that was likely my best hope.

"To keep it from becoming all of them against Ard, we need to distract it as much as we can, give it something else to focus its magic on." Emlyn nodded along with the idea.

We were quickly formulating a plan. 

I glanced around at some of the burning towers and palisade logs. "Fire is going to be our best way, and really the only way for us to do continuous damage to that thing." 

Aurelia grinned, running over to the palisade nearby and ripping one of the pointed logs out of the ground. She put her hand over it and charred it badly, leaving flickering flames on the shaft. She wound up and hurled it with all of her anchor's might. The sharpened log barely punched into the monstrosity, and its healing pushed it out a moment later, yet the fire continued to spread along its exterior. 

"Alright, make a pile. Burn it like it's a funeral pyre," Emlyn said. "Aurelia, you're our match." She pointed at the Virel anchor. "Zuri, with me. We are getting the logs." 

Zuri took one step and then glanced at me.

"Go, I trust you," I told her. This was no time to be holding her back. I was worried about how emotional Zuri would get, and if she couldn't control herself, I worried that she would throw herself away. Yet she had remained calm thus far. I had to trust her. 

Zuri nodded before zipping off with Emlyn, grabbing up the logs and throwing them at the base of the giant abomination. Aurelia's battleaxe was lit like a giant torch, and she touched it to the logs, trying to catch them on fire. More of Eva's shadows sprang up as she used dark magic to try and bind the monstrosity. 

The bandit's mage must have seen what we were doing, because she began lobbing fireballs in quick succession into all of the surrounding wood. The bandit anchors joined mine in trying to throw the wood upon the giant fleshy abomination and into its path. 

I gathered fire magic into a ball in my hand, compressing it as much as I could before launching it at the abomination and then exploding it in its face.

It wasn't being controlled that well. The giant was like a toddler toppling over blocks, smashing the manor and trying to step on the anchors beneath it. It completely lacked coordination either because two mages were controlling it in tandem or because it kept almost falling apart.

I reached into my soul magic, pouring lightning into it as well. My wolf sphere opened to its absolute maximum as lightning coursed along the bluesteel walls of Soulgard, much like when I had thrown the giant spinning wheel of lightning at the Garrish forces of Chillwind Pass, but this time there wasn't a massive storm happening outside. Instead, I was spinning up lightning for the kind of strike I would need to execute. 

The walls of Soulgard strained under the amount of lightning channeling through them. That’s when I knew it was almost ready.

Maribelle landed next to me, dropping Clarence to his knees. "Thought you'd like to know that he's okay. And tell him what you want everyone to do. We need to coordinate forces."

Clarence, or 'Boss' as he preferred, glanced at me and then back at Maribelle.

"That thing is the stitching together of dozens of bodies, as well as fifteen corrupteds and two powerful mages. Those corrupteds all have the Serpent Sphere." I reported.

I could see a look of horror on Boss's face. "All of them are Serpent Spheres?" 

It wasn't the time for this news, but he needed to understand. "It's likely what's happening to all of the healers in your country. They're being used as experiments, turned into corrupted or worse. And right now, they've been fused into that abomination. All of their spheres of magic are currently what's keeping it together. We need to occupy it’s healing as much as we can while I take out the corrupteds within it."

Even as I said those words, several of the attacks from the anchors opened wounds, and it bled out all of the excess death magic it had been producing. The abomination was essentially a magical bomb at this point. It was so overcharged with magical energy that I was somewhat worried about what would happen when it died. 

My soul was filled to the brim, and a jag of blue lightning jumped from my fingertips, shooting across the space between me and the abomination.

The lightning was far smaller than I had expected. However, it had drained my soul dry of the magic I had generated. All of that power was channeled in a smaller package as it pierced straight through the abomination, blowing a hole the size of a head through everything. 

I felt some of the magic dim in the giant abomination as I managed to destroy one of the corrupted.

Life magic diffused the entire body, trying to heal that corrupted.

But I had not gone through all that work for nothing. I lobbed a ball of fire straight in that hole, and expanded it as quickly as I could, burning and scouring where I had killed that corrupted. 

The pyre that the anchors had been building was beginning to burn strong as the abomination waded into it, chasing after the bandit anchors luring it.

A moment later ropes of darkness lashed around the abomination's waist. A dozen anchors were grabbing each end, trying to hold it back. I could see Eva stringing all of her magic and soul to keep that cord of darkness together. 

More lightning magic was already spinning up in my soul, readying another strike.

Only for Aurelia to leap upon the monster, and my heart jumped into my throat as she hacked at it with her axe.

I was terrified the same thing that had happened to the other anchor from before would happen to her. Yet fire exploded from her axe, and she ripped it out, along with a chunk of flesh, before the giant had a chance to run death magic into her through her own weapon. She spun her blade, regaining its fiery head as she banished the death magic from it, and slashed again, taking more of the monstrosity's flesh away. 

All of the anchors were working in tandem. Zuri had her bow and was firing explosions of light rapid fire into its hamstrings as Emlyn's sword grew to be several yards in length, wreathed in lightning as she hacked at it, scorch marks peppering its thighs. The two of them were working on the same leg to try and slow it down. 

The two enemy mages controlling everything must have understood that they were quickly losing the fight if they didn't do something more. The metal exploded out of the monstrosity, causing even more wounds as the weapons swirled around, sweeping several of the bandit anchors off their feet, and freeing it from the tether of darkness that had been keeping it in the pyre. 

It was readily apparent that the monster was not able to heal all of the damage happening. Sure, its wounds were closing, but the burns on its leg were actually continuing to spread, as well as Aurelia's large attacks were slower and slower to heal. 

I'd spun up the second of what I was thinking of as ‘soul lightning’ and pointed a finger as another one ripped through the giant abomination, snuffing out another of the corrupteds that had been melded into its form. 

My hand went inside my tunic, feeling Missy's medallion. I wondered if I could use this now and defeat the abomination in one blow.

"You are not getting that close, sir,” Maribelle said from my side, as if reading my mind.

I pushed Darkness Magic into my shadow and unleashed Cyam.

The horse ran across the sky, headbutting the hole I had just made in the most recent soul lightning. He then turned into a blur of spinning shadows that dove into the abomination, shredding it from the inside. 

At this point, several wounds on the abomination had entirely stopped healing.

I realized just how much of its life magic was being used to keep it on two feet. Death Magic continued to leak out of its wounds, dripping down and forcing some of the anchors back. I, however, was not done yet. 

Charging another of my newly minted bolts of soul lightning, I did my best to track the two mages stuffed within the abomination's chest cavity. They didn't seem to be moving as much as they had been before, where they had been sort of undulating to some unknown biological function within the abomination. 

Once my target was acquired, I fired another bolt of soul lightning, piercing perfectly through one of the mages. With that, the abomination bubbled, its skin puckering and exploding in a torrent of death magic.

Eva hurled to the side again, and I could hear Clarence gag as he gripped the dirt beneath him. Racking sobs began as he watched what was happening. 

"Go, tell the other mage we need to keep these wounds open," I instructed, having half forgotten he was there amid the chaos.

Clarence wiped at his face and ran off into the darkness, towards the bandit's mage, with Cyam holding one wound open and my fire the other. This opening was threatening to close, albeit far slower. 

It wasn't until another ball of fire launched itself into the opening and charred the inside, quickly scarring and making it far more difficult to heal.

The abomination had become far more sluggish, parts of its body drooped, and its flesh looked more like a dripping wax candle. It seemed one of these mages was not enough to keep its form stabilized. 

I smiled feeling more satisfied, but I stiffened as the movement of the abomination changed.

The droopy body became rigid for a moment as its simulacrum of eyes were replaced by two beady real ones as if someone was looking through it to the battle in front of it. The flesh of its supposed mouth stretched and ripped as it roared, becoming more lifelike as those eyes swept the battlefield and focused on me. 

It was barely intelligible, but its mouth moved. "You will pay for this," came out in an unintelligible gurgle, though reading lips was easy enough. The chilling warning told me enough.

The powerful counselors of Garrish, for what I assume those two to be, were now being controlled by King Martin himself. 

Staring into those eyes, I could only see the same derangement I expected in a man who tortured and experimented on his people.

As if summoning her with my thoughts, Missy's voice carried into my ear like the whisper on a wind, "Use the medallion," she demanded. 

I turned to Maribelle, ripping my necklace off and handing it to her. "Maribelle, I want you to shove this in one of the open wounds." The medallion was Missy's symbol, yet the medal itself looked mystical, like dark, rich blue steel that contained the twinkling stars of the night inside of it. 

Maribelle didn't ask any questions and rushed towards the abomination. She was joining me in the hope that Missy could end this fight. 

I gathered up more lightning magic inside my soul. It ran along the walls of Soulgard through the traces of blue steel, building up power as I readied myself to take out the second living mage. If the first one caused this much disruption to the abomination's form, then I only hoped killing the second would completely collapse it. 

Maribelle rushed to the abomination, shoving the medallion inside of it and holding on to the necklace with her other hand.

Instantly, I felt the change.

It was like someone had shoved crushed mint up my nose.

I got an overwhelming cold sensation that had nothing to do with temperature itself. 

It rushed right into my brain, right into my soul, making me gasp and nearly lose focus on the magic I had been building up. Pointing a finger, I knew I had to let it loose ahead of time or risk losing control of the magic entirely.

A small blue bolt jumped from my finger and tore partway through the abomination.

I had no more ability to focus and gasped, staggering back as Eva caught me and kept me from collapsing. 

The abomination itself continued to bubble, pustules of death magic exploding off its body as its form rapidly lost cohesion. It began to shrink, melting like ice cream left out in the sun.

Voices that lacked vocal cords began to scream. Like pushing hot air through bellows, cacophony joined the first, all in different pitches. But I could feel the emotion, the mourning and the pain ripping out of each one of those, only for them to begin to subside one after the other. With each, the overwhelming mintiness slamming into my soul intensified. 

Part of me hated Missy for what she was doing.

I knew she was crushing the souls not only of the corrupted and the mages in there and juicing them for me, but of all the bodies they had used.

The twisting horror that had been made did not differentiate them and they'd all been connected. So Missy's efforts were unable to discriminate. I could feel as she sucked each one up, like she was racing forward, reaching for something else. And I realized, like she had done with Colin, she wanted to reach that connection to King Martin and kill him along with the Abomination. 

But that hope was soon lost. The intelligence that had been in the Abomination's eyes had already disappeared as soon as it had begun melting. Perhaps I foiled her attempt, or perhaps King Martin had done it himself. However, all I could do was wait and watch as the fleshy Abomination perished and we won the battle at the manor.

I felt sick as I looked away from the horror towards the bodies. But I realized I didn't even smell the burning flesh anymore, having gone nose-blind to it during the battle. I wrinkled my nose and spat out on the ground, wondering how much I had already inhaled. War was dirty in far too many ways.