Advent of Eternity - Chapter 145 (Patreon)

Cyll burst onto the upper deck, throwing himself into a roll as a dozen crossbow bolts slammed into the wood where he’d been standing moments before. He shot to his feet, narrowly avoiding a broadsword as a bandit swung it for his head, and drove his fist into the man’s stomach.

The bandit doubled over with a groan that Cyll cut short with Lassie’s blade. As the bandit sputtered, desperately clutching for his neck to try and stop the blood from pouring out of it, Cyll grabbed him and took cover.

Several more crossbow bolts thunked into the man’s body, followed by an arc of flame that hit with such force that it threw the man screaming from Cyll’s hands and overboard.

“Damn. Friendly fire, much?” Cyll asked, dancing to the side as another blast of fire scorched the deck. He ducked under a bandit’s slash, then drove Lassie into another man.

There really were a lot of bandits on the deck. There must have been at least twenty, and Cyll spotted multiple men near the top of the deck with magic swirling around them. At least two were Path users.

Cyll caught a glimpse of the cabin window, where he caught a flicker of a dark cloak. He didn’t have time to look longer, as two more bolts of fire and a wave of frost were already descending toward him.

The bandits surged back, trying to avoid their own men’s attacks, and Cyll used that as an opportunity to make some space. One of the firebolts caught him in the leg as he lunged, but Cyll ignored the pain and drove Lassie toward another bandit. The man raised his sword, but Lassie smashed it to the side and bit deep into his chest. Cyll flicked him to the side, sending another bandit stumbling.

“You lot are pretty bad at this,” Cyll drawled, hopping back to take cover behind a mast. Bandits surged toward him with a roar, but they ended up getting in each other’s way more than actually helping.

Cyll ignored the few of them that did manage to stab him, trading blow for blow. Even as his clothes were shredded and he was riddled with stab wounds, Lassie reaped the lives of three more men.

“Is that all?” Cyll asked, cackling. He stepped back out – and straight into the path of a bolt of flame. His head vanished with a splattering puff, leaving his body swaying. The bandits froze, staring at him in hope.

“We got him!” One of them called. “Keep talking shit, you crazy old–”

Lassie swept up and into the man’s throat, reducing his sentence to a gurgle. Cyll’s neck spurted and a new head bubbled up from within it, beard unfurling down his chest like a long, flowing flag.

“Whoopsie,” Cyll said. “Didn’t see you there.”

Bandits screamed in fury and charged him again. Cyll spun Lassie and entered the bloody dance once more, a manic cackle slipping from his lips. No matter how many came, it didn’t matter. He carved his way through the deck, Lassie drinking heavily from the blood all around him.

There was no feeling that could quite replace the thrill of battle. The knowledge that there was absolutely nothing anyone could do to –

Cyll stumbled. His foot was frozen to the deck. He swore, yanking at it, but the patch of ice was expanding rapidly. It washed over his second foot and crawled up his waist, spreading at a rapid rate. Roaring, Cyll smashed his hand into his hip, trying to shatter it.

It was like punching a wall. Cyll spun Lassie around and carved his own leg off. He staggered, a new leg reforming – only to freeze over once more the instant it hit the ground. Cyll pulled desperately, but he was stuck fast.

Bandits backed up, making a ring around Cyll and watching him warily. A hawk-nosed man stepped down the stairwell, gentle blue light swirling at his fingertips.

“What manner of creature are you?” he asked.

“Come closer and find out,” Cyll said, baring his teeth.

He tried to shift his stance to get in position to throw Lassie at the man, but the frost had continued its path and was now up to his chest and starting on his hands. He could barely move, much less get the range of motion to throw the massive sword.

“I don’t think I will. Leave this creature here,” the man said. “Do not attempt to attack him until the other pirates are dead. Capture their leader alive. The Captain wants to speak with him personally.”

“Sad about his daughter?” Cyll taunted. “She shouldn’t have been a bandit if she didn’t want to get killed like a pig. Come a bit closer and I’ll show you exactly what happened to her.”

The Path-user snorted. “Your taunts will do nothing, pirate. With you incapacitated, your crew will fall. Perhaps we’ll leave you at the bow of the ship as an icicle, just to show other pirates what happens when–”

He stumbled, the words dying on his lips as his head jerked to the side and vanished in a spray of blood and brain matter as a ballista bolt shredded it to pieces. The bolt continued onward and slammed into the deck. The man’s body swayed in place, then crumpled to the ground.

“Thanks, Stix!” Cyll called.

“Don’t get caught, idiot!” she yelled back from the deck of the Withered Rose. “Reinforcements are coming.”

Cyll wrenched himself free of the ice as the magic faded, his grin growing wider. “Huh. So that’s what it looks like to get your head blown off. Who’s next, then?”

The other path-user turned to run, presumably planning to dive overboard. He never got the chance. Before Cyll could even act, a bolt of green light slammed into the man and slowed his movement. Maya lunged over the side of the ship, blurring as she bounded across the deck and drove her sword into his back. She dragged it free, ripping the man’s body to shreds in the process.

Cyll glanced back to the deck of the Withered Rose as it passed, and Knell gave him a nod from where he stood beside the wheel.

“Welcome to the party, Maya,” Cyll called. A bandit charged him. Cyll batted the man’s sword to the side, then swept Lassie up and decapitated him. “You know, you’re a bit late. I would have appreciated help earlier.”

“I was trying to climb a ship with one hand,” Maya said. Several bandits charged her and she flicked her sword. One of them tried to block it with his own. A tremor shot down his arm and he cried out, dropping the blade. Maya ran him through, then kicked him back into the other bandits.

She lunged, driving her sword through all three of them at once. Cyll whistled in approval.

“Very nice. I’m going to go figure out where this captain is. Dinner says the bugger is hiding out inside the cabin.”

“I’m not taking that bet,” Maya replied, jumping back to avoid a crossbow bolt. “Go. It’s not like anyone can actually stop you.”

A bandit that had managed to sneak up behind Cyll ran him through. His sword burst from Cyll’s chest. Cyll looked down, then turned around to raise an eyebrow at the man.

“Seriously? You saw my head get blown off,” Cyll said. “Why are you idiots still trying to kill me? What, did you think getting stabbed in the heart would somehow work differently than other places I’ve gotten stabbed?”

The bandit swallowed. It was pretty clear that was exactly what he’d been thinking. Cyll shook his head and brought Lassie’s flat end down on his head, striking it with a resounding clang. The bandit crumpled to the ground.

“Idiots,” Cyll said. “I suppose it’s not like the water is going to treat them much better.”

“Stop monologuing and get the captain!” Maya yelled, jumping off the top deck and landing in a puddle of blood. She staggered, nearly losing her footing, before catching herself on the railing. “Did you really have to leave such a mess? At least kill people cleanly.”

“Not my specialty, sorry,” Cyll said, striding toward the cabin. The bandits that remained glanced from him to Maya, then charged toward her. Evidently, she was a lot less scary than an immortal.

Cyll walked past the ship’s capstan. He paused, then turned and drove Lassie into it. His muscles bunched as he pressed on the sword. Energy surged from the blade and into him. With a roar, Cyll ripped the entire thing free of the deck.

The mechanism holding the anchor ripped and shattered, and chain rattled violently as the anchor plunged into the sea. Cyll tilted his head, catching a sword blow on Lassie’s hilt and kicking the bandit backward.

The sound of rattling chain continued for several seconds. It finally caught. A few moments later, the chain went taut and the whole ship jerked violently. Cyll slammed Lassie into the deck, but Maya lost her footing.

Luckily, the bandits hadn’t done much better. Men tripped over each other and slipped on the blood covering the deck, much like a group of toddlers that had been set loose at a beach. Maya lurched back to her feet, killing another bandit on the way.

“Why are you still here?” Maya demanded. “Go!”

“I’m going, I’m going,” Cyll said, raising his hand defensively. He turned toward the cabin. A lone bandit still stood in his way. Cyll raised an eyebrow. The bandit spun and sprinted away, diving over the edge of the ship and into the water.

Cyll strode down the length of the ship toward the cabin. He drew up to the door and reared back, driving his heel into it just beside the handle. Wood shattered as it flew off its hinges.

It struck someone with a loud smack, eliciting a yelp. Shattering, two halves of the door fell down around a boy that had been chained to a chair. Cyll stared at him, then raised his eyes to the other occupant of the room – a tall, heavily muscled man holding a jagged blade and staring at him in disbelief.

“Uh… whoops,” Cyll said. “You alive there, buddy?”

The boy didn’t respond, but that was more likely due to the gag in his mouth then actually being unconscious. Cyll cleared his throat.

“Well, that’s awkward. It would have been a lot better if that hit you instead.”

“Are you an idiot?” the Captain asked, staring at Cyll in disbelief.

“Arguably. So, what’s the plan here? You going to threaten the kid and let me kill you after, or are you going to charge me and let me kill you now?”

“You came here to save him,” the captain snarled, grabbing the chained boy and pressing the jagged sword to his neck. “Take one step and–”

“Whoa, there. Hold your ships or whatever,” Cyll said. “I don’t actually care too much about the kid. That might have worked if I was one of the other blokes, but my Cap told me to cause chaos and save the kid if possible. If you kill him, then it’s not possible. Not really a huge problem for me, you know?”

“I – what? Are you insane?”

Cyll sighed. He glanced over his shoulder as another ballista bolt slammed into the deck, pinning a bandit into the wood.

“You don’t have too many men left,” Cyll observed. “Bummer. I’m kind of just hoping you’ve got something left to make this interesting. Killing your bandits was fun, but they really didn’t last too long. Then one of them froze me. That really pissed me off.”

“Take one step closer and I kill him! Just like you killed my daughter,” the bandit hissed, pressing the sword even closer against the boy’s neck.

Cyll yawned. “Gods, this bores me. Kill him, then. I don’t care. The moment he dies, so do you. You clearly want to live, or you would have done it already. There’s nothing you can take from me that hasn’t already been taken, though. Your threats mean nothing.”

The bandit captain’s eyes narrowed, and a spark of insanity flashed within them. He reared back, preparing to rip his sword across the boy’s throat.

Whoops. Didn’t think he’d actually do that.

A flash of green arced past Cyll’s shoulder and slammed into the bandit’s arm. His eyes widened, but his movement slowed to a crawl for an instant.

That was all the time Cyll needed. He hurled Lassie, and the sword slammed straight into the bandit’s head. The sword flew from his hands and he flopped against the wall, dead. The familiar thud of Knell’s staff hitting the deck came from behind Cyll, and he turned as his captain stepped into the cabin.

“Nice,” Cyll said.

“Don’t encourage people to kill children next time,” Knell said with a sigh. “I had to Exhume my leg to get here in time. Luckily, you don’t know the meaning of speaking quietly.”

“Hey, it worked, didn’t it? I even stopped the ship for you.”

“Yes. Well done,” Knell said, walking up to the boy and pressing a hand to his neck. “And he’s actually alive. Good. Finish killing the rest of these fools. I am going to figure out if it was just mere chance that they came after us, or if the gods are meddling once more. Between us, I suspect the latter.”

“Couldn’t imagine why,” Cyll said dryly. He gave Knell a salute, then strode back toward the deck. There were still more men to kill, and he didn’t want Maya to hog the fun.