AA305 - Necromancer (Patreon)

“The necromancer has detected us,” Mitsue said.

“How?” James asked.

“I am not sure. He doesn’t seem to have noticed my presence, but he has sent that demon Amilie spoke of to collect the girls.”

“He’s starting the ritual early?” Arjun asked.

“He must have realised that waiting would only result in an interruption from us,” Mitsue agreed. “Amilie is fighting the demon now. He is a formidable opponent.”

“We should get moving then,” James said, looking at Arjun.

“No point in keeping quiet if he knows we’re here,” the man agreed. He rose smoothly to his feet.

“Wait,” Mitsue interrupted. “The demon has… defeated Amilie.”

“What! That’s not—” Arjun started. “Amilie doesn’t go down that easily.”

James thought back to Amilie’s earlier fight with Kana that trashed the entire floor of a high-rise.

Mitsue nodded. “Indeed. It was not easy. Amilie is still alive; she is being taken to the ritual site, like the others.”

“All the more reason to move quickly,” Arjun said grimly. He walked off to gather his group.

Despite his words, his group would be moving anything but quickly. It was all part of the plan.

Between Mitsue’s scouting and interrogating the captured bandits, James and the others had determined the layout of the defences ahead.

The weakest of the defenders were the remaining living villagers. Armed with farm tools and terrorised into compliance, they could be deterred by an angry glare from an armed man. The zombies were not much more of a threat. The necromancer used them to haul stones and serve as sentries. They were slow, stupid and clumsy, and while they were harder to kill than villagers, they weren’t much of a challenge for anyone who could decapitate them with a single blow.

James could do that. Midoriko had trained him to do that—on fenceposts. Forcing himself to repeat the act on humans—even unliving human corpses—was harder. Shugen assured them that it was the best course.

“They are already dead,” he said. “You will not even be freeing their souls—they have already departed. You will simply be disrupting the magic that moves them.”

There was one dangerous aspect to the zombies, and it wasn’t their bite. Shugen had scorned the idea that zombies could be contagious. No, the dangerous part was that they could detect any living soul at a range of about a hundred yards—through brush, walls or any kind of cover. A few of them scattered around the village made it impossible to infiltrate.

The third type of defender was much more of a challenge, but only because they needed to be taken alive. They were only a little stronger than the normal villagers, but some of them had real weapons, and they fought with fanatical ferocity.

Shion and Kana could defeat them with sheer strength, but Arjun and Katarzyna had actual close-quarters combat training that could restrain the possessed without hurting them. Too much. That was why those two would be leading the first group. Shugen, Suki and Harue would be following behind, drawing the spells that would free the villagers. Something about Harue’s divine Qi caused the formation to burn out after a successful activation, so it would be a drawn-out process to free them all.

In the meantime, Mitsue would lead Kana, Shion and James directly to the necromancer. They would probably face the demon before they got there, which was just as both girls wanted.

James gave Arjun two minutes to get started, then rose to his feet.

“It’s time,” he said, and the group rushed forward.

The first resistance they met was zombies. Arjun had taken out the sentries, but every zombie working in the village was now shambling towards them. James passed Arjun’s group, working on their first captured possession victim.

“How did the demon beat Amilie?” he asked Mitsue, mostly to distract from the distasteful task in front of him. His sword flew through the neck of the closest zombie, sending gibbits and bits of bone flying. Thankfully, his armour stopped any of it from sticking to him.

“It was at least as fast as Harue and as strong as Kana,” Mitsue replied, while dealing with his own animated corpse. “Amilie’s spear was at a disadvantage in the close quarters, but she compensated.”

“She said her spear was an anti-dragon weapon,” James remembered. “I’m not sure what that means, but I guess it doesn’t work on demons.”

Kana snorted. She was guarding their flanks, using lightning on any zombies that shuffled into sight. James had to admit it was the superior method. The smell of cooked pork was starting to get disturbing, but at least the roasting corpses were far away.

“That spear blocked my claws, negated my breath and cut through my scales,” Kana said. “It made for an entertaining fight.”

“It did not appear to do any of that against the demon,” Mitsue reported.

The conversation ended at that point, as they came to the front door of the tower. It was barred, but it was only made of wood. Shion screamed and took out her frustration on the inanimate object, smashing it into kindling with one punch.

The inside was anticlimactic. One big round room filled the entire floor, empty except for rubble and debris.

“The ritual site is the next floor up,” Mitsue said, heading for the stairs. The stairs, and the path to them, were the only parts of this floor not covered in broken junk.

A voice yelled something from above.

“What did he say?” James asked Kana.

“Some nonsense. I do not know who this Prince Khaelor is, but I am no one’s underling,” Kana growled. She dashed ahead, her small legs pushing her sinewy body forward faster than James would have thought possible.

“Wait! Don’t run into a trap!” he called, but she was gone. All they could do was rush forward after her. Before they got to the next level, there was a flash from above and an annoyed grunt from Kana.

Cackling laughter followed, along with some unintelligible speech.

The rest of the group made it up. Kana had been flung against the wall of the round room, but seemed relatively unharmed. A magical shield, still glowing from the energy it had taken to repel the dragon, covered most of the room. Looking down, James saw the now familiar spell circle that would be generating the ward.

There was a smaller circle inside the shield, and within that were the six limp forms of Amilie and the other girls. Along with the necromancer.

Varek Shuun was a gaunt man with long black hair and a narrow, hollow-cheeked face. His skin had the unhealthy pallor of someone who spends more time underground than in sunlight. He wore what must have once been an expensive robe of green silk and gold embroidery that was now stained and patched.

He was standing in front of a small altar, covered in bundles of herbs, strangely covered crystals and things James couldn’t immediately identify. The necromancer spat some angry words at James. Probably something about being invincible behind his barrier. James had only one response to that.

“We’ll see about that,” James said, raising his sword. He wished Shugen was here for guidance, but thus far, sticking his sword into magical barriers had seen mostly positive results. “This won’t—”

He was cut off by a shout of outrage. Shion had just tried an experimental punch on the barrier when she was tackled by a blur of grey flesh. The necromancer cackled and jeered some more.

“Shut up!” Shion screamed. The demon had her on the ground and was trying to choke her—a futile effort. But the flurry of punches Shion was landing also seemed ineffective. The demon showed no sign of pain or injury as blow after blow landed.

Then Kana tore the demon away and threw it into the wall. It twisted and turned as it flew, landing on all fours on the vertical surface. It was still for a moment as it absorbed the force of its landing—long enough for Kana to wreath it with lightning.

“Die, abomination!” Kana growled.

James turned back to the barrier and plunged his sword into it. The green lightning that sprang up as his magic sword did… whatever it was to magic, was expected. The sudden appearance of a screaming girl was not.

“What the—” James quickly pulled his sword back, but not before the girl—who James now saw was transparent like a ghost—burned up with a blue flame.

The necromancer sneered something at him. Before James could process what happened, he was tackled by the grey-skinned demon.

James went down. He was strong in his armour, but the demon girl—James could see now that it was a girl—was stronger. Fortunately, her teeth couldn’t get past his armour, reduced to scraping uselessly against it. She was grappling him, though, preventing him from bringing his sword to bear. She was focused on the sword, in fact, trying to wrest it out of his grip.

So he dismissed it. The demon froze in surprise, looking wildly around to see where it had gone. That moment of distraction was all James needed to throw her off.

He didn’t stop there, of course. He rolled to his feet and summoned his sword again before she’d even hit the ground. But she was so fast. Even mid-air, she managed to twist around to avoid decapitation, blocking his cut with her arm.

The sword sliced right through it, but she didn’t show the slightest hint of pain. Another lightning bolt from Kana crashed into her, but she was healing even as she touched the ground.

“Stand still, damn you!” Shion yelled, slamming into the demon. Shion’s heat sink wings were out, and she was moving at a speed that matched the demon’s, landing blows so quickly that the sound of them seemed to merge.

“Keep working on the shield,” Kana ordered, watching for her chance to step in. “We’ll take care of this trash.”

“Do you know what all that screaming was about?” James asked, pointing to where it had happened. As he looked over, though, he saw something else. Amilie had woken up. Unnoticed by Varek Shuun, she was freeing herself from her badly tied bonds.

“He said something about the ward being powered by the souls he had collected and that they burned up in agony as they were consumed,” Kana said, her eyes still on the fight. “He can’t have unlimited souls, though, so keep going.”

“But I can’t…” James trailed off. Do I have an alternative?

“You wish to let him finish his ritual? That seems unwise.” Kana spat a bolt of lightning at the demon. A little of it splashed onto Shion, but she didn’t seem to mind.

“I—” James started, but the necromancer, or rather his ritual, interrupted him. One of the unconscious girls started screaming.

As James watched in horror, the girl rose up into the air, her limbs limply hanging down. A sickly green light started emanating from her chest.

“Very unwise,” Kana commented.

Amilie swore. Pulling out her gun, she fired three times at Varek Shuun. A red energy feild flared up around the necromancer and stopped them from hitting.

“Not another ward,” James complained. “No burning souls this time?”

The necromancer said something to Amilie. It sounded like he was mocking her.

“He is boasting of the strength of the talisman he wears.” Kana narrowed her eyes. “It seems that it is of dragon make.”

Shion flew past and slammed into the outer ward. The demon must have found a way past her furious offence. Without changing her position, Kana whipped her tail around, sending the demon flying.

The girl behind the ward dropped easily to the ground. Her skin was grey, and her eyes were black.

“James, you must break the barrier,” Kana said. “Those souls are already dead.”

“But I—right.” James braced himself and stuck his sword in. Lightning crackled, and souls started burning.

The outside demon rushed at him. Kana rushed to meet it. She started fighting it, teeth and claws flashing.

“This is taking too long,” Shion announced as she picked herself up. She glanced at the demon fighting Kana. “Too fast,” she muttered and looked at the necromancer. “You’ll do,” she said, and unleashed hell.

“Wait—don’t—” James said, but it was too late. Shion opened her mouth and let loose a blinding white lance of plasma, right into the necromancer’s ward.

The heat was incredible. White fire licked across half the ward, scorching the stone and consuming souls faster than James could count them. His armour protected him, and Kana seemed okay. The outside demon burned, but didn’t seem to care. Ironically, Shion was the one most damaged. Her face was an instant casualty, but the blowback scorched her clothes as well. Her only response was to take a few steps back from the barrier, while still pouring on the fire.

The ward didn’t last long against that. It couldn’t. The last soul burned, and the barrier flickered out of existence. The lance, still aimed unerringly at Varek Shuun, dissipated away when it met his red personal shield. Shion swore and cut the beam off.

Varek Shuun seemed happy about that, but he was less pleased about the destruction of his outer ward. He shouted instructions at the inner demon, which ran at Shion in response.

“Oh, you want some of this? Come get some!” Shion shouted and unleashed her beam attack again. Incredibly, the demon didn’t dodge and let the beam punch a hole right through its face. The plasma lance kept going, punching a hole in the wall. Then, as the demon tackled Shion and pushed her backwards, it cut a hole in the roof.

“Shion, stop! You’ll bring the whole place down!” James shouted.

“Fine!” Shion replied. The demon was clawing at her eyes, but she paid it no heed, any more than it did the way its flesh sizzled as it raked across her superheated steel face. Shion just kept punching the stump that used to be the demon’s head.

“You… will… burn!” Kana declared, struggling with her own demon in an epic struggle. The demon was holding Kana’s mouth back, keeping her from biting. Kana was lashing out with her tail, but couldn’t seem to reach. It was only a matter of time before she resorted to lightning.

An actinic blue light flared all about the pair. The electricity didn’t hurt Kana, and it didn’t seem to bother the demon, even as it burned. It started to smoke as Kana poured on the current.

James decided to try attacking Varek Shuun and rushed forward. Amilie joined in, shooting three more bullets with no effect. James’ sword was stopped by the red shield, but the lightning started crackling again, and Varek Shuun looked alarmed for the first time.

“Amilie!” Mitsue shouted. James looked to see his friend at the edge of the room. He was holding Amilie’s Spear of St George. “Kana said it was dragon-made, right?”

He tossed the spear over. Amilie grinned. She holstered her pistol as the spear flew and caught it one-handed, twirling it around her. Varek Shuun said something, and Amilie’s grin turned hard. She lunged forward in a blur.

The shield flared up, but Amilie’s spear cut through it. It slowed her blade enough that Varek Shuun didn’t die instantly. He staggered back in fear and the spear cut him, but didn’t go right through him.

He screamed a command, but even if the demons weren’t occupied, they wouldn’t have been enough to save him. Amilie’s follow-up strike went through his mouth before he finished speaking.

James stared as the corpse of the necromancer started decaying before his eyes. But he didn’t have time to watch.

“A little help here?” Shion called. “Can you cut off it’s legs or something?”

She was still struggling with her demon. It had managed to blindly tear rents in her flesh covering, but the metal underneath seemed undamaged.  Blind and held in place, the demon exhibited none of its usual agility as James sliced it in two through the waist.

That didn’t kill it.

The legs kept kicking, thrashing like a lizards tail. Directionless, but strong enough to shatter stone. James had to slice them apart vertically through the hips, and then again at the knees while the upper half kept trying to tear Shion apart.

That didn’t stop them moving, but without joints, the movement was fairly ineffectual. A few more slices were enough to free up Shion.

“Do you think burning it will finish it off?” James asked, staring at the twitching flesh. He had a sinking feeling that each piece was still healing and would eventually turn into an entire demon.

“That… is… what… I’m doing!” Kana snarled. James noted once more that she was still able to talk, even though her mouth was occupied with other tasks.

She was still pouring lightning through the first demon, cooking it from the inside. Its movements had become jerky and uncoordinated, and that was enough for Kana to free herself from its grip, tossing it in the direction of the others.

It was still alive, though.

“This is unworthy prey,” Kana said, breathing heavily. Her jaw had a notch on it, crushed by the demon’s grip. “I am finished toying with it. You may have the honour of finishing it off.”

Twitching, burnt, and still smoking, the demon was easily dismembered by James’s sword. He tried to disassociate himself from the gruesome work.

“They’re still alive, though,” James said when he was done.

“Shugen should have some ideas of how to end them,” Kana said dismissively. “It is time to move on to more important matters.”

“The girls?” James looked over to where Mitsue and Amilie were untying and rousing the remaining captives.

“Of course not,” Kana scoffed. “I was referring to the loot.”