Completed Lethality

[Alistair Krixus]

Fighting with Bull was like constantly fighting with a blade at your throat. The simplest touch, contact of flesh to flesh and it was just as bad if not worse than any sword wound. Alistair continued his tactic of small cuts here and there. His plasma-like arcane blade seared through the flesh with ease, but never deep enough.

It was not his sword that kept him in the contest, but his footwork. He needed to make sure he visited the Academy and thank his sword instructors for the focus on footwork, the foundation of his swordsmanship.

The other thing that was keeping him alive was the runic eyes alight across his body. He saw in all directions, even when it looked like Bull finally had the drop on him, he would snake out of the way. Using these eyes he also saw the moment when the Governer was caught.

Fuck, more traitors. Several calculations ran through his head. On the one hand, they stop fighting...Yeah, that might as well be their death. He could leave it to the governor. Looked where that got him. He could take a shot, but he might hit the Governor...but he was going to end up dead either way.

Alistair pointed his free hand and fired off an arcane lance. He did not want to watch, either the man was saved or he died, either by Alistair or the assassin. Unfortunately, that also left Bull to manage to get the slightest touch on Alistair's arm.

---

"The golden child of the Pirians. Without your name and you wouldn't have survived the Academy this far."

Gail always seemed to glide just out of the touch of the snaking chains, whether through her levitations or her explosions that perfectly pushed her further way. Kristen was going to need to close the distance as Gail smile indicated she was quite comfortable with a battle at this range.

She flung explosions at the initiate, purposefully making some of them wilder with the chances of hitting civilians.

"The Governer will soon be dead and you will have lost a city for the Republic."

Kristen Pirian

 

[Kristen Pirian]

If there was but one truth about Bull which had to exist to the exclusion of all else, it would be that he was merciless. So when he saw his opportunity, he pounced on it. Alistair had his free hand aimed off to one side, Bull was in a position to grab it. No time was wasted. A big, sweat-slicked hand clamped down on Alistair's wrist. It wasn't direct skin-to-skin contact, but it could do.

Immediately he began to channel his magic. The sensation for Alistair was thus: a strong tugging feeling racing up his arm, pulling toward Bull's grasp, and this with a sharpness as if it were dozens of hooks imbedded in the flesh doing such pulling. He wanted to warp that arm. Turn it into a useless husk.

* * * * *​

The arcane lance struck the guard holding the blade to the Governor's throat. The guard's arm, a trench carved through it, dropped uselessly down to his side as it likewise dropped the blade it held. The guard hollered, fell back, and the Governor, frozen by shock, simply stood with mouth agape as his retinue continued to battle amongst itself.

* * * * *​

Kristen had been hoping to catch Gail, to keep her still for but a moment, and then drive an Impaler through her. But as it was, with the evasiveness of her foe, this was proving difficult. A curse of some kind, something which could not be evaded (though perhaps resisted) might be the more effective weapon here than her Chains.

But Kristen had to keep on the move. The cobbles of the square burst upward, around her, at her, as Gail's explosive orbs sailed deadly close. She was running obliquely toward Gail (too dangerous to run directly at her), but she didn't seem to be getting any closer. Her mind raced, trying to decide on how best to shape a curse—choosing poorly could have its ramifications.

Alistair's arcane lance streaked by, and Kristen saw it save the Governor from death. With a snap glance, she looked from whence the lance came, and saw—

Alistair! No!

An Impaler was too dangerous; it could hit Alistair if in her haste she aimed improperly. So she recited a verse and a single Withering Chain burst from the ground underneath Bull's arm and shot up and coiled around his arm, temporarily surprising him, weakening him.

But Kristen's intervention, as it was with Alistair's similar intervention with the Governor, left her open for Gail to take advantage.

Alistair Krixus

 

[Alistair Krixus]

Alistair felt it, like the ice-cold chill running down one's spine when they were placed in the path of destruction. Bull had him, he was going to lose his hand at best and much more at worst. He gritted his teeth at the hook-like feeling and pulled with all his might. He would not go down without a fight.

Miraculously, when he pulled, Bull gave way and Alistair yanked his hand free. He spotted the chain and knew he had Kristen to thank for that one.

His hand looked red like it had just gone through some sort of physical exertion with several small cuts and bruises, but it was still a hand. Without even thinking, he lashed out with his sword again just hoping to create space and to recenter himself.

No time to hesitate. He dove back into the battle, letting his swords lash out in a dance of blade work.

---

Oh, the tragedy before her. Gail could not decide if this was the fault of the failing Academy or the fault of some pathetic friendship. However, there was a reason that Dreadlords were meant to be independent because looking after others only got you killed.

"Do you really have time to pay attention to someone else?"

Gail summoned three explosions, two to each side of Kristen while another dug into the ground directly in front of her and sent shrapnel in a cone-like pattern directly at her.

She still refused to draw closer to Kristen, knowing that her build and armor seemed better positioned for close combat than she was.

Kristen Pirian

 

[Kristen Pirian]

Bull growled a curse as his grip weakened enough for the rat Alistair to slip away. With his other hand he grabbed hold of the Chain and wrenched it forth from the ground and tossed it aside, the magic of the Chain crackling and fizzling to nothing.

In this intermittent time as both he and Alistair recovered, Bull got a glance at the melee around the Governor. Still too soon to see which side was winning. But, one way or another, if the Governor could be killed, a secret Gilram-loyal replacement installed, and the coup made successful thereby, then everything would be well and good.

Only a couple of ears needed to be taken first.

Alistair came back at him again, and this time Bull changed his strategy. His torso swelled to such a bulbous size that his head was submerged in that overgrown mass; his arms, likewise enlarged, he wrapped around himself like a shield. He would be blinded, yes, he would sustain damage, yes, but he would meet Alistair's assault with a charge of his own.

He wanted to tackle Alistair. Get him down to the ground. Let his weight pin him. And if he could wrestle that sword out of his hand...then his position would be strong. He'd have Alistair right where he wanted him.

* * * * *​

All action in combat cost time. If you did one thing, you couldn't be doing another in that same moment.

Gail capitalized.

Kristen was in no position to see from where the trio of explosions would be forming, and scarcely had she returned her gaze to Gail that they all went off. Debris, cobbles from the square and the dirt further underneath, pelted her from three directions. Against the plate pieces of her armor like her pauldrons this had no substantial effect, but against the chainmail protecting her torso, portions of her arms, her thighs and abdomen, these were all bombarded; the chainmail was better than nothing, but blunt force impact was indeed its weakness.

Bruised and battered, Kristen was thrown to the ground by the forces accompanying the shower of debris. A bit of blood streaked into her left eye from a gash just above her brow, and she pinched it shut. With her other she looked quickly for Gail. Hastily she shot out her porcelain hand and summoned Impalers to burst from the ground at her.

Her aim was sure to be terrible, but Kristen had to buy what time she could to recover.

Alistair Krixus

 

[Alistair Krixus]

Did Bull want to take him head-on? Then Alistair would play his game. Several runes released at once that sent Alistair flying forward with his sword aiming straight for Bull's arms. The runesaber managed to pierce the bulbous arms, but it did not cut and burn like last time.

Alistair strained under the weight as he tried to stab him down but to no avail. He gasped as he was sent tumbling down with the overwhelming weight of Bull on top of him. A large gash had been opened up over Al's right eye as he struggled, in vain, to free himself.

It looked as if Bull's plan had worked, and he had won. All because of Alistair's own pride in trying to beat Bill at his own game.

---

Gail's smile grew as she saw her attacks land, and like a python who felt that they had finally encircled their prey for the kill. Her levitation reversed, as she glided in toward Kristen with the aim of stabbing her in the back while Kristen was sprawled on the ground.

That decision nearly proved to be her demise as she spiraled out of the way in her attempt to dodge the sudden Impalers. While the dodge saved her life, it did send her spinning off balance.

In a panic, she threw out two more explosions meant to keep Kristen back. Gail felt herself collide with the ground, but she scrambled to her feet, knowing that staying on the ground would be her death.

She pushed herself back into the air, but her breathing was getting heavier. So many explosions in such a short amount of time was enough to build a sweat for her.

"Well, they can at least teach you to take a beating."

Kristen Pirian

 

[Kristen Pirian]

Bull uncoiled his arms from around his torso (which in its turn shrank enough to its more normal size to reveal his head once more). The stink of burnt and burning flesh from Alistair's runesaber strikes thickly permeated the air, and steam from all those fresh cuts still rose from Bull's blackened skin. He grinned.

"Now..."

Bull struggled to gain control of Alistair's sword arm, trying to secure his wrist and pin it down helplessly to the ground.

"...you're mine."

Sweat, copious amounts of it running down Bull's face from all of his exertions, dripped from his chin, from the tip of his nose, down onto Alistair.

* * * * *​

The Impalers retreated back into the ground like a cat's claws retracting, their purpose by fortune realized. As Gail's levitation gave way in her evasion, as she fell to the ground, Kristen rose. This rising was no graceful sight, but steeped in practicality, a flurry of her legs and arms that brought her quickly back up to her feet.

Her ponytail whipped forward as an explosion behind her blew apart more of the square. The second incoming explosive orb she had to block with a summoned Crucifix, the great burning conjuration slamming down to the ground and immediately thereafter blowing apart as Gail magic destroyed it. Kristen was rocked by the blastwave, but she kept her footing.

Now, to make a move.

Kristen held out her porcelain hand, and a sinister toll sounded, baleful arcane energy swirling about it. She spoke her Curse into existence, shaping it, directing it at Gail, "The earth calls to you, and never shall you escape it."

If Gail's will could not resist it, the Curse would be thus: that her levitation would fail, that her feet would indeed be stuck to the ground, unable to leave it. She would be unable to float, to jump, even to so much as walk normally, for that required one's foot to leave contact with the ground. Only could she slide her feet over the terrain, and in this manner would her mobility be severely hampered.

Alistair Krixus

 

[Alistair Krixus]

Alistair struggled against the overbearing weight of Bull above him. The monstrous face of the man that had tormented many of them in their early years.

However, Al was not strong enough as he finally was pinned to the ground. He coughed up a glob of blood which gravity only pulled back down to fall on his own face. The blood was dark...almost brown.

"Y-You want to know when rune magic truly opened up for me. It was when I realized it did not have to be in two dimensions."

The glowing trails of light that his sword had left during this entire battle had drifted along as the battle progressed, but only Alistair had known they were falling into a set pattern only he could see. The lines began to glow a soft blue in color.

A crack appeared on Alistair's face and then another, black ooze began to seep from these cracks. Suddenly, the Alistair beneath Bull erupted in an explosion of a black sticky substance that stuck Bull to the ground beneath him.

"You know, paying attention to this many spells at once can be difficult."

Alistair's voice now came from roughly five yards away, as an illusion fell to reveal a smiling Dreadlord.

"Thankfully, I'm just that good."

---

Gail was getting tired, and the more she looked around the battlefield, the slower her plan was going. The Governer should have been dead by now. What were those soldiers doing? They had to win this and fast.

She was in control. During this entire fight, she had been in control. However, it was that girl's voice that resonated with something ominous and foreboding. That voice pierced through all the way to her soul like an icicle refusing to melt as it dug into molten metal. She felt a shiver run down her spine before she dropped back down to the sky.

Gail growled in anger before realizing she was not charging Kristen. Her legs were stuck. With a growing sense of panic, Gail began to throw explosions at the girl with reckless abandon.

She had to win this.

"You are nothing!"

Kristen Pirian

 

[Kristen Pirian]

Bull growled loudly, like a bear brought to rage by the denial of its prey. He had thought he had Alistair, but in fact Alistair wasn't there—maybe never there, but certainly not anymore. All that remained where his quarry had once ostensibly been pinned beneath him was a great splattering of that tar-like substance.

"You think you're so smart," Bull said, that anger of his making his tone as if he were chewing rocks. "But you're fragile."

Bull growled again, louder than before, and he began thrashing around, trying to free himself from the tar, trying to rip his way to freedom and find his footing again.

"I'll show you! I just need to get you once! ONCE! THEN YOU'RE MINE!"

His arms pulsed chaotically, swelling to disproportionate size, as the ground itself was rent asunder, cobblestones and dirt flying high, debris and tar stuck to his roiling flesh in this colossal effort. Bull's immense strength was purchasing his freedom...but he wasn't completely free yet.

* * * * *​

Success!

A rush of excitement helped alleviate the throbbing soreness from being battered by the debris, the stinging ache from the gash above her brow. The primal thrill of feeling the electric promise of victory brought a grin to Kristen's face. She charged because she had to, but more so she charged because she wanted to—as it was with Kester. Satisfaction for a duty fulfilled could again be hers. Sweeter still, once Gail was slain, she could turn her attention to Bull. This was, for the first time in her life, at last a moment when she'd finally cultivated enough strength to face down one of the villains who had tormented her. Dominic Foresend may have perished incidentally (so she thought), Duresh may have eluded the Stormguard at Vel Numera, but Bull, here and now in Vel Acan, could be made to answer for his depravity.

She just needed to slay one other Rogue first.

The explosive orbs sailed with reckless abandon. Kristen had to use everything in her arsenal to evade them: using Ashen Crucifixes to block them, using Chains to trigger them early, diving and sliding once and then again. Even then, two explosive orbs got through. One, small and fast and curving in its arc, struck her left pauldron and blew it apart, the metal falling from her shoulder in a wrecked heap, her arm feeling as though Zinnia had given it a good wallop with that hammer of hers. The second she, on pure instinct, raised her porcelain and adamantine hand to block, as if catching a ball thrown at her. It exploded, smoke curling around her.

But thank Aionus for Alistair's incredible craftsmanship rune-working.

Kristen emerged from the smoke, artificial hand still intact though her gauntlet tumbling away in ruin. Her pace was determined and undaunted. Her eyes were set on Gail. Fueled by the rush of battle to ignore all her pains, she raised her sword with both hands and sought to plunge it straight through Gail's panic-stricken breast.

Alistair Krixus

 

[Alistair Krixus]

"I just have to be smarter than you."

The debris was certainly slowing down the behemoth, but it would not stop him forever. Now was the time to cause lasting injuries. Wounds that would not heal no matter how hard Bull tried.

Alistair's grip on the runesaber tightened, as the shape of the magical blade altered slightly, almost in response to its wielder's will. The tip of the blade elongated, growing more pronounced. This was no longer a balanced blade meant for duels, it was a blade meant only to pierce deep into Bull's flesh.

With a grunt, Al rushed off and leaped into the air. He utilized a rune originally built as a response to Kalix, a simple thing that was to lessen his own gravitational pull. It let him float, but more importantly, it kept him from being flattened. However, a rune could easily be reversed to work in its opposite manner if one knew how it all worked, and Alistair did.

The young Dreadlord plummeted down through the air with his blade pointed straight down, aiming directly at the chest of his monstrous former classmate.

---

Gail scrambled backward, soon realizing that she was forced to slide her feet across the ground, but it was not fast enough. As her confidence wavered, quickly devolved into fear. Her muscles felt like they were on fire, and when she tried to send out more explosions, they came out looking like mere fireworks.

Now that panic was fully set in, she screamed for the assassins hoping they would ignore the governor. She screamed for Bull. She did not want to die. She did not deserve to die.

Out of everyone here, she was the one that deserved to live and be strong.

How could this soft, faux Dreadlord girl be her death? She had joined late to the Academy, never having been through all that they had gone through.

"You can't! You are weak."

Those were the last words Gail ever uttered as Kristen's sword landed true.

Kristen Pirian

 

[Kristen Pirian]

Henceforth, Father shall embrace a different daughter.

These were the words which flashed through Kristen's mind when she first took a life, that of an orcish behemoth named Ekresh in the Blightlands stronghold of Godendrung. A similar sentiment she felt now. Father would not embrace the Darling Daughter he had known all the days prior to Kristen's enrollment into the Academy; he would embrace a warrior, serving dutifully the cause of the Republic and a source of pride for House Pirian as a whole.

This Kristen felt as her sword penetrated through Gail's chest. She heard her foe's final words, saw the final spark of life fade from her eyes. Verses from the old fables of Celestialism, of the ancient adherents of Aionus, came to her as well: Thy sword you shall keep sheathed until the time comes for it to be drawn. The steel does not kill, nor the arm which wields it; the heart is that which slays the wicked. In the breast of the faithful Sentinel lies duty, and there also must reside temperance, for when the deed is honorably done the sword must find home in its sheath once more. This is how the heart guards against that very wickedness it slays.

But Kristen could not sheathe her sword yet.

As she pulled her bloodied sword from Gail and the Rogue fell dead to the ground, Kristen, trusting in Alistair, turned and looked toward the melee around the Governor. Most of his retinue was now dead, the fight bloody and gruesomely matched, only three traitors and two loyal guards left alive. The third traitor turned his murderous attention onto the Governor, who was still frozen in a pale and petrified shock. Kristen, with but a mere few seconds to save him, shot out a Chain from her porcelain hand and ensnared the Governor and with the power of her magic literally pulled him away from the traitor's killing blow, dragging him across the ground and safely to her feet. He was roughed up from such treatment, but he still had his head; he was the one man who would be able to control the aftermath of this incident in Vel Acan; he needed to live.

* * * * *​

Bull let out a bellowing, furious cry of pain as Alistair's modified runesaber delved deep into his expansive chest. He had only recently gained some measure of freedom from the sticky tar. Now he went stumbling back. Collapsing, even, down to the ground like a gigantic beast ran through by a mythical hero. He breathed hard and heavy.

And there was something in his hand. Something he had fetched from his pocket after freeing himself from the tar.

"I'll stop at nothing..." he growled, this with a kind of wild and crazed enthusiasm.

It was a vial. A vial in his hand. He uncorked it.

"...to eat you both alive!"

Before Alistair had time to stop him, all the contents of the large vial were gulped down. Liquid Lyrum. The dangerous, highly addictive, highly crippling in the long term and highly potent in the short term drug that enhanced the abilities of magic users. It seemed that Bull cared little for the debilitating effects that Lyrum would wreck upon him in the future. He was concerned only for the now, and he was prepared to sacrifice everything for this one victory.

In two blinks of the eye all the grotesque, pulsing veins of his body turned black.

And then his flesh started roiling chaotically. Pulsing. Growing. Mutating. Alistair had to get off of him and get away quickly, lest he be swallowed up by the swelling flesh and absorbed entirely into the monster that Bull would soon become.

Alistair Krixus

 

[Alistair Krixus]

Alistair pulled back as fast as possible, as soon as he realized what Bull had just ingested. His face contorted in disgust as Bull somehow did the impossible. He got even uglier.

While the use of Lyrum completely disgusted Alistair on any normal day, it sent a chill up his arm at the thought of someone like Bull using it. The guy had always been an idiot. Why wouldn't he use that took literal years off your life?

"Uh, Kris...Hurry up!"

The only way to start this fight off was going to be to carefully prod at Bull. He would use ranged attacks to see what the guy could actually do now, besides looking uglier.

The remains of the illusion spell were wearing off, so Alistair took advantage and created to illusions of himself that charged Bull with the sole aim of slowing him down just a little bit longer. The real Alistair just kept backing up to connect back up with Kristen.

Kristen Pirian

 

[Kristen Pirian]

Uh, Kris...Hurry up!

Kristen looked back at Alistair's prompting. She had heard some of Bull's sickening transformation while aiding the Governor, but now she saw it in full. Her jaw dropped with apprehension and horror.

He had become nothing less than a monster. A gargantuan monster. His flesh magic went beyond all boundaries of Bull's normal capacity, beyond all boundaries of sense and morality even (not that Bull was known for either of those). The quantity of Lyrum he had ingested was the mark of a madman, clawing for victory by any measure.

And that measure was to become a sixteen-foot tall hulk of roiling flesh, muscles pulsing with unholy strength and resilience, black veins pumping with the corrupt drug, limbs disproportionately huge and menacing—all this at the ruin of his future self.

"Blessed Aionus, Holy Sentinel..." Kristen said breathlessly.

But this was no time for collapse. Especially not here. This was the time when her newfound lethality was needed, for all Vel Acan depended on her and Alistair...and she especially did not want to let the latter down.

The fight with the Governor's guards was over and a sole loyalist, spattered with the blood of traitors and fallen comrades alike, emerged as the victor. Kristen gave this brave soldier an approving look and then said intently to the Governor, "Run! Run back to your chambers and do not stop!" And of herself and Alistair with regard to the monster that was Bull, "This is our charge."

"Anirius," said the shaking Governor, so terrified he invoked gods of old, "preserve you!" Then the Governor and his single bodyguard went running.

Kristen turned and ran to Alistair's side, wiping blood from her face and raising her sword as she stood by him and faced down Bull. The monster of a man glared down at them both with crazed intensity and anticipation, beady eyes bulging inside of his misshapen head.

Kristen said softly to Alistair, echoing directly his own words spoken to her not so long ago, "There is no one I would rather go into battle with."

---

1. Roll a d100 for each post.
2. If you roll higher than 60, your attack will hit Bull. The higher the number, the more effective the hit.
3. With 60 or less, it will be dodged, countered, or mitigated in some way.
3. With enough hits, Bull will be defeated.
4. Rolling a 100 will instantly have that character incapacitate Bull. However, rolling a 1 will see that character instantly incapacitated.

Alistair Krixus

 

[Alistair Krixus]

Alistair watched the growing mass before him for any sign or openings, but any time he thought he saw something, Bull's body would just shift and change in the most abnormal of ways.

"Always and never in doubt."

He shot her one more tired smile before he rushed to the side, beginning the battle by peppering Bull with several bolts of arcane mana. However, they might as well have been flies in front of this Hulk.

Alistair moved in as he reignited his runesaber, only to be quickly surprised by the large Bull who had no business moving at such speeds. Before he knew it, a large, almost tree trunk-like arm swung and sent Alistair soaring into the wall of a nearby house. Thankfully, a rune erupted along his body which kept him from just becoming a pile of goo against the wall.

As he slowly slid to the ground, he coughed a large glob of blood followed by a groan.

Ow, that hurt.

Kristen Pirian

 

[Kristen Pirian]

Gods!

The only terrible thing about fighting alongside Alistair was that Kristen got to see, viscerally, up close and personally, each and every time he sustained a blow. He was made of sterner stuff, his rune magic a blessing in this regard (had she not just experienced this herself with the hand he made her, using it against Gail's onslaught?), but...whether a blow he suffered was great or small, whether she had seen many such instances before or not, it simply never became any easier to witness.

And Bull was relentless. His penchant was an utter lack of mercy, to pounce immediately whenever he smelled blood. With Alistair flat on the ground, blood quite literally sputtering up from his lips, the enormous hulk that was Bull went lumbering straight for him.

Kristen kept the surge of alarm (and emotions more dear and thus more painful to bear) in check. She focused.

With a desperate chant of a verse, she summoned an Ashen Crucifix upon the ground between Bull and Alistair. The burning conjuration slammed down once materialized, and the sight of it had its full effect upon Bull. He stopped dead in his charge, temporarily transfixed by a paralyzing fear.

Such an effect would wear off quickly, such an effect would not be so easily induced if she tried it again and again in this fight, but it provided now a few more precious seconds for Alistair to recover. Maybe even to capitalize.

Alistair Krixus

 

[Alistair Krixus]

Alistair tried to take stock of his body, but his head was swimming. He had some broken bones that was easy to tell. There were probably a lot because it hurt everywhere. Judging by the blood beneath him, he had to be bleeding a lot hopefully none internally.

Wait, what was going on? He looked up expecting to see Bull standing above him, but instead, he saw Kristen's crucifix protecting him. His mind still felt fuzzy but he needed to help.

A deep exhale revealed that Alistair's breath was cold as a rune along his neck began to glow and grow along his jawline and over his face. His eyes, which had been bloodshot and in pain suddenly calmed to the point of being emotionless. He was cold and calculating, everything else was pointless. Pain and emotion was temporary, only logic and calculations would guide him.

With a sudden burst of speed, he moved to get into close combat with Bull. His runesaber lashed out leaving cuts along Bull's body. Alistair seemed to always be one step ahead of this behemoth, always being just out of reach.

Until, like a boulder that finally felt the effects of gravity as it dropped off a cliff. With one monstrous swing, Alistair was sent flying across the battlefield and then landed with a rough tumble. Even with what should have been excruciating pain, Alistair stood back up with a groan.

A predator-like smile was on his face as he just shook his head.

"I almost feel bad for you Bull. You are dumber than I thought..."

If one were to take a look at the surrounding battlefield, one would see the beginnings of a rough rune taking shape. Almost every scratch along the ground, dead bodies, and even pieces of rubble along the ground had been lined up to create this work of art. The final lines had been the blood that Alistair had spilled.

With nothing else left to say, Alistair held out his bleeding arm and a drop of blood descended to the earth and completed the formula. The blood on the battlefield gathered into pools around Bull before each pool produced a harpoon of solidified blood, each one with chains still connecting them to the ground.

What followed was a bombardment of harpoons that pierced the large body of Bull. Amazing the harpoons were able to pierce the body and then anchored Bull down to the ground pulling tight enough to render him immobile.

"I already showed you the trick once."

Kristen Pirian

 

[Kristen Pirian]

Bull's singlemindedness would prove to be his downfall.

Both Kristen and Alistair came at him again, her sword and his runesaber cutting into the masses of flesh and spilling open those bulging black veins. Kristen's crucifix would crumble and Bull's frozen state of fear would vanish. That one monstrous swing which hit Alistair directly struck Kristen obliquely, knocking her flat onto her side and hard enough that she lost her grip on her sword. The weapon clattered some distance away from her.

Kristen breathed heavily. Clenched her teeth. Struggled to right herself and then to go hobbling back over to her sword and to collect it from the ground. Bull was closing in on Alistair again, almost entirely fixated with killing him first, saving her for last (gods, what horrid ideas might be playing through his head!). She had to help Alistair. She had to get to him—

But he stood up. Smiled, even.

And then all his designs converged on their final stage, and Kristen's mouth opened in awe as she watched. Even Bull was perplexed for a moment, baffled as to how his supposed prey could be so confident. But then the runic magic erupted, the harpoons formed of blood skewered Bull from all sides, piercing through him as if he were some great seabeast rapidly brought to ruin. Bull struggled, flailed, but in the end he fell and the harpoons and their blood tethers kept him bound to the ground. For all his strength, for all his roiling flesh magic, he could not find a way to escape it.

He was caught.

"By the grace of Astra..." Kristen said, invoking the name of the Queen of Stars herself.

She could wade too deeply into her awe, though. Slowly and carefully, lest she further upset all her wounds and her hurts, she staggered over toward Alistair and the bound Bull.

"Marvelous work, Alistair," she said. And she smiled brightly, and though her joy was soaring her praise was soft and level, "A keen mind is fit enough to slay the savage beast."

Bull laughed impertinently, mocking them both. "And what do you think you'll do? You think you can change anything? You can't stop him...Gilram...will...win!"

Alistair Krixus

 

[Alistair Krixus]

The normal Alistair would have smiled with relief, maybe even a light quip to show some confidence, and then quickly checked to see if Kristen was alright. Unfortunately, that was not the Alistair that would meet Kristen. It was the downside to what he called his mind stability rune. He could not just turn the rune off, or to more accurately put it, he would not turn it off.

He was now solely running on logic, so why would he turn himself back into his illogical self? It made no sense. No, it would take Alistair to turn off the rune for another reason or for his magic power simply to run out.

Thankfully, the fight had worn Alistair out to the point that he had busted out all the stops so the rune would not be staying around for long.

He looked to Kristen but did not greet her smile with his own, instead offering a light nod in acknowledgment.

"A keen mind will always conquer the savage beast." He agreed.

As Alistair moved closer to Bull, even amid his struggle the chains would only grow tighter and stronger. They were made to react to the pressure of the trapped, like the finger traps. The harder one tried, the worse it got.

"You do not know that and neither do we. However, we do all know one thing. Today, we won."

Alistair turned to look at Kristen once more and then looked at the weapon in her hands.

"He won't be breaking free. That was technically blood magic, one of the strongest forms of runic magic. You are free to pass judgment."

Kristen Pirian

 

[Kristen Pirian]

The look from Alistair, first into her own gaze and then down at her sword, told her everything she needed to know. So far was this moment from her captivity upon the Isle of the Blades, powerless but wishing death upon the warlord Dominic Foresend; so far was this moment even from her first day in the Academy, the very same day she made the terrible mistake of talking to Bull.

So very far indeed.

Kristen turned to look at the gigantic trapped monstrosity that was their former classmate. She lifted a leg and stepped down on his chest, this to get better leverage. She raised her sword and held it high with both hands.

Bull sneered at her, and said derisively, "You don't have what it takes to be a Dreadlord...and you never will."

Alistair Krixus

 

[Alistair Krixus]

Alistair remained silent, his stoic expression a stonewall into his inner thoughts. He did walk up to stand next to her, as some sort of reassurance. Not a reassurance of her emotions, but a reassurance that Bull's execution was completely within their legal authority.

"Bull, you should know better than most. Dreadlords win. That makes her more of a Dreadlord than you will ever be."

He did not flinch or break eye contact with the disgusting creature before him as Kristen's blade descended for the final blow. He only knew the bare minimum, that this strike was the end to a nightmare-like story that Kristen had been living with for years.

Kristen Pirian

 

[Kristen Pirian]

Alistair's words provided the perfect penultimate punctuation to Bull's life. The moment he was finished speaking, Kristen plunged her sword down. The blade penetrated right through Bull's mouth, breaking teeth, and bursting from the back of his neck after shattering his spine. The tip of the sword hit hard home of broken cobblestones below. Bull gargled black, Lyrum-tainted fluids of all kinds for a long moment, and then his eyes went glossy. His gargantuan chest deflated with a slow and final exhalation. So ended the life of the Initiate known only as Bull, vile tormentor and sadistic killer.

Kristen held her stance for a time—foot on the monster's chest, sword plunged through his mouth.

Staring down at Bull's lifeless countenance, she came to say, "I admired Edric once."

A small wind blew, stirring her ponytail.

She continued, "There was a time when all that concerned me was the acquisition of strength. Power." She said the word with something like disdain. Disgust. "I was in my own way so glad to have within me the gift of magic, so glad that I could go to the Academy and become a Dreadlord like the many of whom I look upon with favor. Weakness...helplessness...this is what I once feared most. If I could just acquire power, as much power as I possibly could, then I would have the strength to ensure that never again would I fall prey to the likes of my kidnappers. Edric I admired because he had that strength, the very thing for which I so desperately longed. He was everything I wished to become."

Still she stared down at Bull.

"Then in time I came to see his true face...and I must say...that I see no difference between it and this visage before me now."

Finally she wrenched her sword free from Bull's mouth. The blade was coated with that baleful black fluid, and Kristen discarded the sword as if it were a foul, loathsome thing. It clattered on the ground.

She turned. Looked to Alistair. "My former fears of weakness, helplessness, pale before that which stills my heart now." Without breaking her gaze she pointed back toward Bull. "This is what power untempered by virtue looks like. It cares nothing for forebearance, or worse still, in the name of good or supposed necessity does it perform evil acts with all the permission granted by a clear conscience."

Kristen lifted her head to a noble and resolute level, gazed at Alistair with eyes glassed by a multitude of suppressed emotions, and with utter sincerity said, "If soever my face should come to resemble that of Bull's, or Edric's, or Gilram's...promise me that you shall spare me the irredeemable ignominy by taking my life. Promise me that, Alistair, if you should be so kind, and I will promise you that I shall with all my heart strive to ensure you never have to make good on it."

Alistair Krixus

 

[Alistair Krixus]

Alistair watched the rather pathetic ending to the traitor known as Bull, it was completely unbecoming for a Dreadlord. Therefore, it was absolutely perfect for Bull. His brain made sure to keep a lasting image of Bull lying in the lyrum-dyed puddle of his blood.

He knew how badly Kristen had wanted all of this, and could only imagine her satisfaction at the events before her. Which was why he was surprised at her next choice of conversation. Al did not know as much about Kristen's interactions with Edric, but it was clear that they were not good. Some of it, Alistair could guess at. Edric had been a bit of a boogeyman that the Proctors used against underperforming students. A problem that Alistair had not run into too often. However, for Kristen who was only freshly arrived at the Academy, it must have been hell.

He did not say anything, at first.

Alistair liked to think he knew Edric better than Kristen. Ed and Bull were not alike. It was true that they were both powerful and had cruel streaks, but...Edric changed while Bull did not. He had developed a sense of responsibility for some of those around him.

After all, wasn't the reason that he had hinted at joining Gilram was to take him down to protect his classmates? That's what he had said to Alistair. He also always treated Alistair and the others he had encountered with respect and usually tried to keep them safe...Then again, he still always performed Gilram's mission. Was it possible that it was all just some manipulation tactic to accomplish his goals?

He focused back on Kristen's face, after getting lost in his own thoughts, and saw that she was deathly serious. None of the usual hopeful and friendly energy could be sensed in those eyes.

She was so disgusted with 'evil for good or supposed necessity'. How would she look at him if she ever learned what he had done to his own father? Those same eyes would look down on him and he would face similar judgement.

Alistair offered a nod.

"I promise."

Kristen Pirian

 

[Kristen Pirian]

Kristen reached out and grabbed with her porcelain hand whatever she could get a hold of in the vicinity of Alistair's chest. She pulled herself into an embrace with him, that hand which was his gift to her nestled between them, the hand of flesh and blood against his back. She rested her head on his shoulder though it smeared some of her blood on him.

She was trembling ever so slightly. This from fear, from sorrow, from pride, from triumph.

And perhaps—in the days to come when they would reconvene in a Precarious Rendezvous—from affection, that earliest seed of love.

"I am forever grateful, Alistair," she whispered.

Alistair Krixus

 

[Alistair Krixus]

At first, Alistair accepted the hug rather mechanically, not reciprocating such intimacy. This was not logical and opening himself up to her especially after recent realization seemed like a bad idea.

Thankfully, the rune granting him this elevated mind finally fell inert as Alistair's magical energy finally reached his limit.

He fell into the hug, partially from exhaustion and partially to soothe Kristen to the best of his ability. He pulled her in tight, cradling her head in one of his hands. His words were quiet, but they came out close to her ear allowing her to listen.

"Nothing to be grateful for. I would do it again without asking."

Kristen Pirian

 

[Kristen Pirian]

So reassuring, his words. Even more so, his touch, especially once the stiffness faded and he returned the embrace in earnest.

"I will become a Dreadlord," Kristen vowed quietly. "Yet I shall not ever become one of Bull's ilk, nor shall I ever obey an immoral command leading to the same. Only shall I draw my sword in the way of the Holy Sentinel, to guard those whom I love."

She pulled back enough to meet her gaze with Alistair's.

"We are Anirians, and we can live good and noble lives. We can."

Alistair Krixus

 

[Alistair Krixus]

Alistair's smile met her gaze, his eyes hiding his own dark thoughts, but he only nodded.

"Yes, striving to be good in this world."

Why did she keep using we? She knew nothing of his insecurities or sins, which made it all the worse that she thought him to be some good person. If he continued to be around her like this, then he might even be convinced to forget the truth...No, he must always remind himself.

Kristen was a rare light in this world that deserved to shine on people and make things better. Alistair did not deserve such light. He was a cruel and cowardly man that hid such flaws behind a smile and intelligence. Best he never forgets that.

However, even with that reminder. Even though he knew that he deserved no such light. It was to intoxicating, he could never bring himself to push Kristen away.


Kristen Pirian