Chapter 135 - Trey will be so happy with me

Chapter 135 – Trey will be so happy with me

Before he knew it the drums had started beating and all of the men to his left and right drew forth their weapons and shields to start the fight.

He kept repeating it to himself. Just Chaos Ball and Shadowstep… Chaos Ball and Shadowstep… don’t use anything too fancy now…

He glared back over at the red team from where they began to move, and he saw one of them lift a bow to specifically take aim at him.

Thankfully, his reflexes had drastically improved since getting here from Earth. If he’d been the same man as the one who’d ended up in Oblivion being used as a chewtoy for that damnable gargoyle, he’d have been dead for sure.

A large bolt flew by Trey’s ear as he narrowly dodged the attack with a blur of his head to the left.  It had been a very good shot and would have landed if he hadn’t moved, and Trey noted that it was the Ithisel vampire from the red team who had targeted him with that little pissant insignia of a hand that they all wore. No doubt the man would be gunning for him this entire fight if he didn’t put a quick end to him, as the Ithisil vampires really had it out for House Okt.

But instead of immediately dive in. He wanted to see just how strong these combatants were, and was more than happy to use the others of his team as cannon fodder to test the waters as he gripped his mace in his right hand and casually tossed it up to rest on his shoulder.

“Eleknar… can you keep an eye on that Ithisel bastard? Just make sure he doesn’t have any tricks up his sleeve while I watch the others.”

Eleknar internally purred his acknowledgement of this, more than happy to do so as long as there was bloodshed. “Very well, little man. I will do as you ask.”

The sound of steel on steel reverberated into the air, and Trey moved left to position himself behind the other members of his team to get a better look and avoid being targeted by ranged attacks. A scream rang out from his left as some of the members of the red team closed in to clash with a few of the blue team, while on Trey’s right bolts of magic and arrows were exchanged.   Directly in front of him, three large vampires were bearing down upon him and another warrior from the blue team as they cried out furiously to inspire fear.

It only took him a few seconds to realize just how much weaker they all were than him, even with his self-imposed nerfs by not using the full extent of his power. He watched them hack away at each others shields and use sub-par martial arts or spell, and just shook his head in disappointment. His caution had been way overplayed, and to already realize it only ten seconds into the battle was rather demoralizing.

Whatever. He’d just have fun the best he could.

Trey was careful to try and not overdo it, he didn’t want to draw too much attention to himself just yet amidst the jeering of the crowd above him.

As the first of the three closed in on Trey he brought up his mace in a blur of motion to deflect the incoming broadsword and completely destroyed the weapon in the process.  As the sword shattered, Trey couldn’t help but feel a little bad for the iron-clad man.  The vampire stumbled back, utterly shocked and nursing an injured hand from where he’d been holding onto the blade.  It was one of the houseless vampires, and Trey was sure what was about to happen wouldn’t look good for the aspiring hopes and dreams he probably had of joining one of the great houses.

Another flick of Trey’s wrist sent the mace to connect with the breastplate of the warrior - his body catapulted like a torpedo across the arena to slam against the invisible barriers directly in front of Aktovan’s position – the matriarch numen of the unholy vampire city.  The vampire’s body bounced once high into the air, leaving a large trail of blood and body parts along the barrier as a stone skipped upon a lake before it slowed down and then fell back to the ground with a thud and enveloping the entire arena with a strong blast of wind from the force of the strike.

The other two red members had been momentarily stunned by the force of the body flying past them, and in that brief amount of time Trey had smashed one’s chest in and sent a torrent of chaos energy into the third to take them both out rather easily. Metal shattered as shrapnel upon the impacts of his strikes, and an appendage even ripped entirely off befre being flung into another of the blue team by accident.  Three for three so far.

The crowd went wild, roaring their approval with excitement and bewilderment as Trey’s strength was put on display. Some of the other vampires in the arena even stopped mid-fight with their own individual duels just to look back and forth between Trey and the body he’d sent rocketing past them a moment ago, and Trey’s cockiness got the better of him.

He held up his hand to wave at the crowd before bowing and blowing a kiss over to Nothel, who he could tell was blushing even from here due to the pale complexion of her skin, and chuckled to himself while straightening up.  Another arrow whizzed by and again he dodged it in a blur of motion that was done so fast it gave him a headache.  Irritated, he searched for the source and found that it was yet again the bastard Ithisel vampire who had shot out at him.

“Eleknar, I thought I told you to watch the bitch?”

The void essence merely laughed that familiar wicked laugh he’d grown so accustomed to now that he’d lived with Eleknar since bonding back in Oblivion. “I thought it’d put a little fire under your ass if you got hit… Too bad the guy missed. Also, I do what I want.”

“You’re a fucking asshole.”

Trey snorted his disapproval despite Eleknar’s continued laughter, and remembering the Ithisel vampires that had attacked Osi, Rusoe, and Nothel in front of the temple when he had first arrived to Zekul - Trey grimaced.  He knew the Okt coven would love this, and it would send a message to the Ithisel brats as well.

Time for the reenactment.

“LET’S PLAY A GAME!” screamed Trey as loudly as he could with a cackle, his rage bar beginning to build for the first time in a long time as his glee intermixed with thoughts of what would have happened to Nothel if he hadn’t been there.  He extended his hands out to either side and mountains of black and red flames surged forth to form spheres of magic each larger than he was.  The mana flowing from his body cracked underneath the pressure and pieces of debris began to fly upwards into the air as Trey concentrated the chaos.  Nearby enemies and allies alike were startled as the Ithisel vampire’s face grew even paler than it already was.  “IT’S CALLED THE ‘HOW LOUDLY YOU CAN SCREAM BEFORE YOU INCINERATE’ GAME!”

The Ithisel vampire made the connection immediately and sneered to place another bolt in the crossbow, obviously very angry now and the fear gone.  The bolt never left though - as the two enormous orbs of magic exploded out from Trey’s outstretched hands. The air crackled and warped, the air hissed and boiled as the unrelenting black magic tore through reality and reached its target.

BOOM.

CLAP.

The arena shook with the impact as the attack streaked across the thirty-yard gap to blast into the far wall, ripping into the Ithisel vampire along with five of the back-liners alongside him. Body parts flew in every direction as all sound was nullified in the face of the explosion, and dirt was thrown up into the air in a way that made even Trey need to cover his eyes.

The ringing in his ears subsided about twenty seconds later, and his blurry vision became stabilized along with it. He inwardly chastised himself for getting carried away. Wasn’t he supposed to be laying low?

Fucking idiot, wanting to show off in front of Nothel.

But… as the ringing in his ears cleared, he was met with yet another round of loud applause the likes of which he’d never experienced before.  Looking up and around at the screaming, standing crowds that wildly waved or jumped up in roaring approval – he even felt himself blush a bit.

Damn. Maybe this whole demon-lord thing wasn’t what he wanted to do after all. Being an arena champion seemed kind of cool at the moment.

Standing there in the back-center of the arena, his other team mates gawked – having almost completely stopped what they were doing – if only momentarily – to get a better look at him. He had killed eight of the fifteen enemies by himself with minimal resistance, and stood back as the now outnumbered red team fought as hard as they could against the members of the blue.

It was obvious that the red team was more skilled in combat aside from Trey, but they were still outnumbered.  Trey, not wanting to take all the glory, pulled out a pipe he had stashed in one of his pockets.  He lit it up casually as he took a seat on the ground of the arena and started puffing.  His actions were met with many laughs around the enormous stadium but the laughs were soon followed up with more cheers as another of the blue team was downed with a sword thrust through the chest.  Minutes passed by as Trey sat watching the two sides battle it out until there were only two red members and three blue members including Trey left.

Frankly, he’d been paired with real shitters if they couldn’t win after the numbers advantage he’d given them. So he wasn’t about to get up and help his allies now.

A spear thrust through the leg of one of the red gladiators brought him onto his back, but he returned with his own attack and set a blaze of arcane blasts into the face of the blue rogue.  The rogue screamed but was suddenly stopped as yet another bolt of arcane energy pierced his skull and flew out the backside along with his brains.  A moment later and the other red warrior, a huge vampire in green tinted steel plate armor, brought his claymore down into the shield of the blue vampire.

“HELP ME!” screamed the blue-team vampire to Trey who still sat puffing on his pipe casually a few yards away.  “YOU USELESS SACK OF SHIT!”

This made Trey raise an eyebrow.

“Well, that’s not very nice,” replied Trey with a shrug inbetween puffs.  “I already killed eight of them.  The least you guys could do is take out the rest.”

The red warrior with a spear through his leg was dragging himself backwards and trying to pull the shaft out, but it was obvious he was in immense pain and soon he passed out - either from blood loss or simply because the pain was unbearable.

Blows continued to be exchanged as the blue warrior struck out again and again at the heavy plate armor only to bounce off with each strike.  The armor had few weak spots and it was hard to get a good strike in while the red warrior’s claymore whirled around with a further reach than the broadsword of the blue vampire.

Meanwhile, the crowd was eating it up.

Metal clashed on metal as harsh words and curses were exchanged between combatants. The two men were very evenly matched and Trey even found himself enjoying it before the blue warrior tripped over a body and sprawled out to leave himself vulnerable.  With a victorious roar the heavily armored red warrior lifted his claymore for the killing blow as the blue vampire screamed out for help.

Ugh. Did he really have to do all the work? This fight had obviously been rigged.

“Fine.” muttered Trey with a raised hand of acknowledgement.  He might as well help his teammate out.  It had been entertaining for sure, but Trey was starting to feel a little guilty.

Swiftly, before the final blow with the claymore could be struck, he vaporized from the spot where he’d been sitting and appeared to the right of the red team combatant.

The mace in Trey’s right hand abruptly closed the distance to slam into tall, armored vampire with an audible creak of twisting metal and a high pitched squeal from the victim as his body also launched across the stadium – just like the first man had – to slam into the wall with a spray of bodily fluids upon impact.

It was very sudden, and Trey’s teammate didn’t realize what had happened for another couple of seconds. But looking between Trey and the man who’d been sent flying away through the air with a single swing – and watching the body slowly peel off the stone to flop lifelessly to the floor – the vampire team mate began to laugh.

Trey waved to the cheering that erupted once more before the drums signified the end of the fight.  He took an obviously cocky bow and smirked at his one remaining team mate.

“A little too easy.” Eleknar muttered from within Trey’s mind.

“Yeah. Can’t argue there.”

Still, he kept up the act like he was proud of himself. At least it’d been a little bit of fun, rather than the same boring routine he’d been taking through the time spent here otherwise. Maybe Ezdeath had watched him too? It’d be fun to joke about it after how vastly different the fight with her had gone the first time around. If he was strong, she was a downright beast – and likely had no kind words to say about the fighting prowess of the opponents he’d faced today.

This tournament was likely going to be a piece of cake.  And speaking of cake… was there any left at the Okt manor?  He had specifically requested it be made.  Osi hadn’t particularly liked it upon tasting it yesterday, but hopefully Nothel and Rusoe hadn’t eaten it all yet.

***

Aktovan was gone, watching the games and leaving the temple unguarded. If there was any time to strike, it was now.

Ezdeath blurred forward, leaving numerous bodies in her wake before they even had time to scream as the elite demoness warrior spilt the blood of the temple’s guardians by the dozens without raising the alarm. She needed to find the priest fast, before his master returned, lest she really get herself into trouble.

Frankly though, if she’d known that the guards would be this weak, she’d probably not have been so wary about making the move to begin with. She just needed to avoid the elites here… according to the priests she’d interrogated before eating them – she still had a few people to worry about even aside from Aktovan herself.

Skidding to  astop as her insane speed winded down, she found herself in a large and dark room with a circular door carved into the ebony plating of the wall ahead. Runes in the language of Necropolis scoured the walls, and a single blood-basin filled to the brim was set in front of the circular door ahead of her. The picture of an elegant vampires, surrounded by bats and fawning slaves, was also carved into the door… and a single square hole that led into blackness was centered into it.

Ezdeath’s wing’s stretched as she yawned, kicking one of the priest’s bodies unceremoniously as her demonic armor set glowed with infernal runes along the black metal. Her halberd held at the ready and tail whipping about behind her impatiently, she tried to figure out what exactly was require of her to open the door.

Despite her numerous interrogations and torture sessions, she’d never heard of such a place. It vexed her, irritated her beyond belief that those insufferable blood suckers had failed to tell her about this. Perhaps it’d been on purpose, perhaps their faith had held out strong enough to emit such an important detail… or perhaps they’d simply not told her out of spite while knowing they were going to die down in that basement.

Regardless of the reason, this was obviously the centerpiece to gaining access to the high priest… and the amulet that Alkir wanted so desperately. Why Alkir wanted it was beyond Ezdeath, but it mattered not. She would obey Eleknar’s Heir, the Heir to the Void, with everything she had… and their patron goddess along with him.

Dipping her finger into the still-warm blood bath in front of her, she felt a shiver of power run up her skin and underneath the solid metal of her empowered gauntlets. She extended her claws then, examining the blood and furrowing her brows in confusion as she realized that it was the blood itself containing this power.

Blood magic? Yes, it certainly was, and she was certain of it because she herself was a blood magic user.

But what was the purpose of it?

Still frowning, she paced back and forth in front of the large obstacle as she became more and more irritated. She tried fidgeting with the square hole, tried depositing some of the blood into the hole, tried rubbing the blood across the door and even tried drinking the stuff.

None of it worked.

“Ugh… Master is going to be so annoyed with me after this…” She sighed in exasperation, banging her metal-encased head against the wall as her long, snow-white hair recoiled out behind her with each headbutt she gave the obstruction.

Then, seeing no other way to get around it, she lifted her halberd and began to pour mana into it. Concentrating, focusing her will, the weapon in her hands began to glow with orange-red energy before she kicked off and tried knocking the door down herself.

The result was not one she’d wanted, and she was thrown back by a magical barrier as the two magics collided in an explosion that rippled through the surrounding room and left the temple momentarily shaking. “This is so god damned STUPID! Fuck. Fuck, fuck FUCKKKK!!!! Just when I get the opportunity to impress him, I end up failing him HERE of all places! Because of a damnable door?!”

As the dust and recoiling mana began to settle down, she felt her blood turn cold as a powerful presence slowly approached her from behind. The gorgeous demoness turned, curiously observing as a single figure emerged from the hallway from whence she’d came.

It was an old, hunched man that looked like a steady breeze would knock him over. His face was gaunt, his eyes glassy, and a thin white beard was braided down to his mid-chest as his gnarled fingers intertwined in front of him while he stared the fully-armored demoness down.

But the most interesting part, and the one that caught Ezdeath’s eye, was the large hexagonal amulet that he carried around his neck. Sitting atop the folded black robes the old vampire wore, this large glassy amulet roiled with blue and red power that flickered with various shades of the two colors. Like yin and yang, the two colors battled one another inside the amulet for supremacy – never having one overpower the other, but always struggling against each other in an endless clashing of waves.

“You’ve been staring at it for over five minutes now.” The old man stated soundly, coughing his amusement with a gnarled, balled up fist to break the silence. He held the amulet up to eye level, inspecting it himself before sitting it back down on his chest where it hung from a small linked chain. “May I assume that this is what you came for? It is not often that we have uninvited visitors here in the temple. Even less usual, is that a demon makes their presence known. Especially one as powerful as you… guardian of Necranoc. I had even thought your kind extinct.”

Ezdeath snapped out of her trance at the old man’s words, furrowing her brows – yet grinning all the while as she displayed her wings out fully to either side in challenge of the man. Lowering her halberd down at his chest with one extended arm – she pointed to the amulet sneered. “I am here for the amulet... yes. But may I ask… how is it that you, a vampire, know of my order?”

The old man chuckled dryly, craning his crooked neck up as far as it would go to display long fangs in a wide smile. “Ah, young one. Your very armor, the hadean set, and your emblem displaying Eleknar’s symbol… no doubt the new heir has sent you here. It would be foolish of me to assume otherwise as his presence upon Nagochus is now a known truth. And just because I am a vampire does not mean I am uneducated on the topics of the eternal struggles between demonkind and the heavens… Your order, the Wardens of Necranoc, are famed beyond measure. As for myself… I have always been rather prideful myself for the power attained under Aktovan’s rule… and am quite curious as to whether or not I would match up to a warrior of your caliber. Would you do this old man a favor, and settle my curiosity for me?”

The old man’s right hand extended to his side, and his claws erupted as blades each three feet long while holding his other hand behind his back.

Immediately, auras of mana erupted from each of them as they flexed their power in preparation for the coming duel. The walls of the temple continued to shudder underneath their might, and the old man began to grin.

“Certainly…” Ezdeath said seductively, lowering her halberd even further as she prepared to engage the high priest. “I’ll riddle your corpse with holes and sent you off to Alkir with a final hurrah!”

She exploded forward with a quickstep – breaking the sound barrier as time itself seemed to freeze. As Trey’s strongest minion, she was no pushover and even though the high priest had been expecting the attack – his reaction time was only barely sufficient.

His claws came down to intercept the attack, flinging the halberd off to the left as he was forced to take a step back with wide eyes. But he was not the only one surprised with the initial encounter, as Ezdeath’s eyes also wided as she briefly stared at him in disbelief for actually having countered the attack.

WHOOSH!

BAM!

She brought her halberd up in an arcing swing that connected with his other set of claws – forcing them to come out from behind his back as bloody strings erupted from her pores and leached out of her armor to ensnare the vampire in an attempt to hold him down.

He snarled, vanishing with a shadowstep to evade her attack and flinging his hand out to summon a storm of tiny, bloody needles that ripped through the air towards her.

Quick thinking got her wings withdrawn into her body just in time as the crimson needles barraged her armor, clattering down and evaporating against the enchanted, high tier metal as she cackled her delight.

“KILLING YOU IS GOING TO BE FUN!” she squealed as dozens of hellfire missiles ignited around her and screamed through the air – sending her own barrage of chaos magic that tore through stone and left small gashes along the magically reinforced floor.

Then, they were both gone again – only to reappear in the middle of the room as his claws clashed against her halberd in a flurry of movements too fast for any mortal eye to witness. Aftershocks of power rippled through the hall behind them that sent temple guards who’d come to reinforce the priest off their feet and clattering along the ground to pile up against the far wall.

The high priest snarled, trying his best to find a weak point in her armor while simultaneously avoiding the strikes of her weapon that had an obvious edge on him due to reach. “YOU DEFILE AKTOVAN’S SACRED HALLS!”

Ezdeath giggled amidst the barrage of noise as she activated her sacred art – black lotus – that sent her into overdrive as a flurry of strikes rampaged against the smaller man. “AKTOVAN WILL FALL!”

She’d been letting him think he had an edge on her in order to get him to drop his guard. He was likely around her level and skill, but her item set gave her the edge, the reach, and the defensive perks that were lacking in his department. Already she had landed numerous shallow cuts along his frail body, leaving bloody gashes along his pale skin and tears in his robes as she chiseled away.

But he had rather strong regeneration properties, this was apparent by the way the wounds would quickly heal over time before new ones appeared – and she quickly realized she’d need to end this with an critical, single strike that wouldn’t allow him to regen after the fact.

So when the opportunity presented itself and he took the bait to lunge in at an unprotected armpit, she internally squealed with delight. Having wrapped her tail around the room and extending it for this hidden strike while keeping him preoccupied in the front, she closed in with the spiked end at his blind spot.

His blind spot being the back of his head.

With the thunk, the tail sunk deep into the vampire’s skull and pierced his crainuim from the back and out the front.

“YESSSS!!!” She cackled, laughing as his arms went limp and his body faltered in its strikes. “YESSS!!!! YES YES YES!!! Trey will be so HAPPY WITH ME!!!”

She crowed her excitement to the heavens, the old man’s body still impaled upon her tail as she lowered her eyes beneath the devil-like, horned helmet to glower between the slits at her vanquished enemy. “Let your passage be a stepping stone on my way to being queened… worm…”

Suddenly, she felt a pain in her gut. Gasping and looking down, she saw that the vampire – who was still impaled upon her tail, had produced a lightly glowing glass dagger that produced white light. It was embedded in her stomach, and had passed through her armor as if it hadn’t even been there.

She felt pain… burning, searing pain begin to trickle up her thorax towards her lungs, and gaped at the old man as his glassy eyes narrowed and he began to snicker even while her tail was shoved through his brain.

“You didn’t think that would kill me, did you?” The old man chided, mocking her with a sadistic grin. “Ah… perhaps I should have told you… but it’s going to be very, very hard to kill me young miss. Do better in your next life!”