My Best Friend is an Eldritch Horror - Chapter 298 (Patreon)

“Are you certain?” Dredd asked, leaning closer to them. Somehow, despite the noise of the room around them, the shrewd professor had heard them speaking.

“I just thought of it. I have no idea,” Damien replied. “But it does make a certain amount of sense, doesn’t it? If the Void isn’t fighting him from stopping the Cycle for whatever reason, then that only leaves Henry and I in Second’s path. Delph too, since his axe actually managed to hurt him. He’d probably need to get rid of us before committing to anything more.”

Dredd pressed his lips together and gave them a small nod. “Yes, there is a degree of logic in that. But, if it’s the case, I do not understand why he would have pulled his forces back.”

“What if he doesn’t know our exact location?” Sylph asked. “Everywhere got hit about equally as hard, then got more intense shortly before we showed up, right?”

“He was scouting,” Dredd murmured. “If you’re correct, then that entire wave of Corrupted monsters was just Second trying to determine where you were.”

“That would explain why he pulled back,” Sylph said. “He got the information he needed. The monsters attacking the other schools let up as well, didn’t they? That’s why the Queen was able to get here earlier. They didn’t put up as much of a fight.”

“If that’s just his scouting party…” Dredd trailed off, his face growing a shade paler. He spun, pushing through people and striding up to the Queen.

She glanced away from the diorama at him, raising her eyebrows. “Dredd?”

“I have a suspicion as to why the Corruption has pulled back,” Dredd said. “It is very possible that the forces we have been fighting up until now have just been his forward party.”

“You think that horde we fought were scouts?” the Queen asked, aghast. “I’ve seen battles on the frontline with fewer enemies. Why do you believe this?”

Dredd drummed his fingers on his staff, pacing back and forth in a tight line. “It’s just a suspicion. I have no way to know for sure, but it lines up.”

The Queen studied Dredd’s face, then pursed her lips. “If your suspicion is correct, then we’ll have no way to fend off such a horde. If Second had an army of that size, why has he been holding it in reserve this long? It would have been far wiser to simply attack all at once and completely crush us. As it stands, he’s taken heavy losses and done little to us in return.”

A green light blinked to life on the diorama behind the Queen. More followed it, glimmering up like a sea of moss over the plains and mountains surrounding Blackmist. It was impossible to tell one from the other – it was just a smooth blanket.

The Queen spun and stared down at the table, her eyes going wide. Within seconds, Blackmist was completely encircled by a wall of sickly light. She took a step back, her hand wrapping instinctively around the hilt of her sword.

“Seven Planes,” she breathed, staring at it in disbelief. A second passed in silence.

“What do we do?” one of the guards asked. He shifted from foot to foot, fear etched into his pale face. “How many even is that?”

“It’s malfunctioning,” Whisp’s voice came from within the crowd. The acting dean pushed through the mages filling the tent. Her gauntlets were cracked and pitted from acid, and several open wounds still dripped blood.

“Whisp. I was wondering where you’d went. What do you mean by malfunctioning?” the Queen asked, as the entire room held a pensive, hopeful breath. “It’s not reading the enemy army correctly?”

“It can’t count all of them,” Whisp replied grimly. “I was out trying to scout the enemy while they were retreating, and I saw them. There were so many I couldn’t even make out the ground beneath, and every single one of them is Corrupted. They look to be significantly more powerful than the first wave as well.”

Worried murmurs filled the room. Mages glanced around, and several people silently left the tent. If they were going to try to run, Damien couldn’t blame them.

“How? Where are they arriving from?” the Queen demanded. “It’s impossible to teleport that many beings at once!”

“They didn’t teleport. They came out from beneath the ground,” Whisp replied with a grimace. “Like weeds.”

The Queen let out several curse words that, even despite the situation, made a few of her guards’ eyes widen. She leaned over the diorama, thinking furiously.

“Where are the other Deans?”

“Defending their schools, last I heard,” Whisp replied. “They’re worried about leaving their land behind and letting the Corruption overtake it while they’re out.”

The Queen’s hands clenched and her brow creased in concentration. Several seconds passed, and the unease in the room grew louder. Finally, she stepped back from the diorama and turned to face the mages.

“Sound a full retreat. Get everyone out of Blackmist through the portals, starting with the weakest combatants. Spread them out throughout the other schools to avoid overloading any of them. Anyone who can still fight will join me in holding the line for as long as possible. Act immediately. We have no time to waste. Men, from a defensive ring around Blackmist. Your focus is to hold the enemy back, not defeat them.”

Everyone rushed to follow her orders. The mages that could teleport vanished, moving to relay her orders, while the others either ran or used magic to enhance their speed. Within seconds, the only people remaining in the large tent with the Queen and Whisp were Damien, Sylph, and Dredd.

They all stared at the diorama as tiny purple dots flooded away from the center of the base camp. A tiny purple flicker appeared in the middle of the green horde. An instant later, a huge circle of green lights snuffed out around it.

A distant roar ripped through the sky, and the ground trembled slightly beneath their feet.

“What was that?” Damien asked, reaching out with his senses to see if something had arrived close to Blackmist. He found nothing.

“Happenstance, I reckon,” Dredd replied. “Looks like he finally showed up. It’s been a long time since I’ve seen him fight at full strength, but the cocky bastard is powerful. Maybe he’ll give the Corruption something to worry about.”

Damien’s memories went back to the first siege on Blackmist. It felt like it had been so long ago, but Happenstance had indeed seemed incredibly powerful. He wasn’t sure how strong the man was compared to him now, but Dredd had respected him, which spoke volumes.

“Happenstance is strong, but he can’t beat that many monsters on his own,” Whisp said. Even as she spoke, green lights blinked on all around the purple dot, replacing the ones that had vanished.

A second purple dot shimmered to life beside him. Several huge lines of the Corruption’s forces vanished in the blink of an eye, centered around the new dot’s position.

“That would be Delph,” the Whisp said, her eyes narrow. “I recognize the pattern of that attack. He used it next to other mages a few too many times. This battle might be the first time he doesn’t inflict collateral damage with it.”

Another huge patch of the Corruption vanished. But, even with Happenstance and Delph’s efforts, green lights continued to flicker back on with every passing second. The tide was endless.

“Let’s go,” Damien said, walking toward the exit of the tent. “There’s nothing left for us to do here.”

“Are you going to go straight to the center of the fight? You and Sylph are still students, despite your power. You should help hold the line, not dive right into the bloodbath,” the Queen said.

Damien paused at the edge of the tent.

“Stay away from my family, please. I’d hate to have to come into conflict with you again.”

Henry’s wings snapped open behind him and Damien Warp Stepped, leaving the camp behind as he and Sylph blurred across the land toward the growing sounds of the fight. They arrived at the edge of the horde just as a massive streak of gray carved through the monsters, vaporizing hundreds of monsters instantly.

The ground trembled as a wave of rippling red light tore through the horde shortly afterward. It had a similar effect on the Corrupted monsters, shredding them to pieces and leaving nothing behind to regenerate.

Damien and Sylph shot into the fight, mowing through the Corruption in the direction of the epicenter of the fighting. Delph and Happenstance stood back to back, the ground around them piled with the smoldering remains of Corrupted monsters.

“Ah. Damien, Sylph!” Delph exclaimed, raising his massive axe in greeting. He hurled the weapon and it whumped through the air before embedding itself in the chest of a two-story tall giant. Delph snapped his fingers and the axe ripped itself free, slamming back into his hands.

Acid poured from the monster’s chest. It let out a wail, crumpling to the ground. The wound never healed, and it melted into a cracking statue moments later.

“Your students?” Happenstance asked, flicking his fingers and sending a sea of red lightning ravaging through all the monsters around him. “I hate inviting children to parties, Delph.”

“My proteges,” Delph corrected. “Why are you two just standing there? I thought you came to join the fun!”

“Fun?” Damien asked, forming an overloaded gravity sphere inside a large cluster of Corruption. Henry’s mental energy swept over them, severing their connection to the Ether a moment before the spell went off in a massive sphere of black energy, shattering them to pieces and killing the monsters instantly. “We have very different ideas of fun.”

Sylph’s scythes blurred, cutting a Corrupted Devourer Beast to shreds before it could reach Damien. Damien knocked its connection to the Ether away, and the monster crumbled to dust.

“Bah. Do you know how rare it is to get an opportunity like this?” Delph asked. “Enjoy it!”

Damien shook his head. He sent a wave of Void empowered Space magic tearing through the Corruption around him. They fell like wheat in harvest season. Sylph flitted through the carnage, finishing off any of the monsters that had survived his attack.

“The Queen sounded a retreat,” Damien said.

“Cool,” Delph replied. His cloak rippled and Havel leaped off his back, forming into a spike and piercing clean through a Corrupted monster’s throat. Delph swung his axe and its head rolled to the ground. “I ate eggs for breakfast today.”

“Oh, me too!” Happenstance exclaimed. “They were a bit undercooked, though. Hard as rock. Looked like it too, actually.”

“Are you sure you didn’t just eat rocks?” Delph ducked under a beam of green Corrupted energy. It shot straight for Happenstance’s back. The Dean’s body flickered, and the attack passed through him harmlessly.

“That’s a definite possibility,” Happenstance replied. “That would make a lot of sense, actually.”

Damien nearly laughed despite himself. He and Sylph joined in with the professors, slipping into a flow state as they ravaged the ranks of Second’s army. It was hard to say exactly how much time passed or how many of the Corruption they killed. Damien lost count in the thousands.

The Void continued to power him, providing a near limitless amount of energy. The others weren’t as lucky. Both Delph and Happenstance had started to slow. While their attacks still killed dozens to hundreds of the Corruption at a time, even they had limits. Luckily, Sylph had relied purely on her Corrupted abilities and was somehow still in good shape.

“I’m starting to think that retreat might not be a bad idea,” Happenstance said, struggling to catch his breath. “There are so many of these bastards. Is there any end?”

“Breaks are for chumps,” Delph replied, spinning his axe. Despite his words, his brow was covered in sweat and a few of the monsters had actually managed to land glancing blows on him. “Look at the children. They’re still kicking.”

“Maybe I’m just getting old,” Happenstance said. “They’re young and vibrant. I’m twenty five. That’s ancient.”

“You’re an idiot,” Delph replied. A rocky fist swung down at him and he grabbed the air, yanking it down. Gray energy snapped above him, and the monster shattered into pieces. “This is getting a bit out of hand, though.”

Henry rose from Damien’s back, his wings unfurling to their full size. “I think it’s time I made my own move. Step behind me.”

“What?” Happenstance asked, glancing at him. “Who are you?”

Delph grabbed the Dean and leapt, landing behind Henry just as one of the eyes on his wing snapped open. Damien and Sylph both averted their gazes as a violent gale screamed past them.

A thrum rippled through their bodies. All around them, thousands of Corrupted monsters crashed to the ground, their limbs going slack. Henry raised his hands, curling his claws in toward his palms.

He cast an enormous net of mental energy out, covering all the monsters he’d just incapacitated. An instant later, jagged spikes of shadow erupted from the ground, each one finding a vital point.

“Neat trick,” Delph said. “Havel, can you do that?”

“No.”

“Bugger,” Delph muttered. “Lame.”

More Corruption poured into the gaps that Henry had torn into their ranks, and they marched onward. Henry let out a low growl.

“This isn’t ideal, Damien. We’ve got a lot of energy, but Second’s army isn’t going anywhere. We need to find a better way to do this.”

“A wise decision.”

All of them spun as the ranks of the Corruption behind them parted and Second emerged from within them. The bandages covering his body were completely stained green. They whipped around behind him like a nest of furious snakes. His eyes burned like two green flames, hungry to consume all in their path.

“Second,” Damien growled. “What is this? What happened to doing all this to save mortals?”

“You already figured it out,” Second replied, coming to a stop just in front of the Corruption’s line. “And what do you think is happening? I could have crushed this school’s paltry defenses if I wished. There was no true assault. How many of your people even died?”

Damien blinked. Somehow, Second had a point. That wasn’t good news. On top of that, he’d never seen Second this relaxed. He sent his mental energy out, trying to figure out if something was amiss.

“That doesn’t change the fact that you’re about to find out how it feels when I put my axe through your head,” Delph said.

Second chuckled. “Oh, I’ve felt it. Every single one of my poor men that you mowed down. Don’t you feel a bit disturbed, swinging around your companion’s wing like that?”

Damien’s eyes widened. “That’s what the axe is?”

“The Void make excellent artifacts,” Delph replied. “Havel wasn’t using it, anyway. He lost it a few Cycles ago. Imagine our surprise when we found it again. Don’t you feel a bit weird walking around in wet clothes?”

Second’s wrapped mouth split apart in a wide smile. “I look forward to never having to hear your grating humor again. The Cycle ends today.”

“You sure about that?” Delph asked. “The last few fights haven’t gone too well for you, big guy.”

Sylph grabbed Damien’s arm so tightly that he winced in surprise.

“The Ether!” Sylph hissed.

“What?”

“He’s not connected to the Ether,” Sylph said. “He’s connected to–”

“The rest of the Corruption,” Second finished. “I told you of how we were formed, Damien. We are one. I am the Corruption. Every single molecule of anguish and suffering. Countless pained souls, all given form for one purpose. Did you really think the Faceless kept resetting the Cycle because of a few paltry monsters that even children could kill?”

The bandages covering him bulged and tore apart as green tendrils wormed their way free.

“We cannot die,” Second hissed. “I cannot die. Not even if I want to. The only way to even bear this eternal suffering was to split into millions of fragments, only keeping consciousness in one of them. That one would serve the needs of the rest, seeking the release that we all deserve.”

“Shit,” Damien breathed. His senses brushed over Second, and the sheer force emanating from the man nearly slammed him into he ground. Henry’s energy flooded through him, pushing the influence back, and he managed to remain standing. “Every single Corrupted monster that we’ve killed–”

“Has returned to me,” Second replied. “We shall all bear the awareness of pain for just a little longer. Come, Damien Vale. Today, you will die. Today, the Cycle ends.”