A Time for Revenge

The sounds of the battle continued to echo around them. Mach glared at Rubious, all the hatred he had made his heart pump furiously in the presence of the one responsible for so much pain and suffering.

“Do you really think you can take me on, boy?” Rubious taunted.

Mach launched himself forward, fueling his body with Power. This was the moment from his dreams, but he was not a pawn to fate. He would forge his own path in this fight. Slashing at Rubious’ head, his blade made contact with another sword. He did not hesitate. He struck again, pressing forward with each consecutive strike. He would not give this beast a chance for words. Leaping into the air, he came down at Rubious, throwing a dagger he had at his side before thrusting his blade down.

Rubious blocked both and kicked hard, striking Mach in the chest. He slid along the ground, the wind knocked out of him. He caught a glimpse of Rubious in the air and rolled, barely moving out of the way in time to avoid being cut. Using that roll to get to his feet, Mach rose up in time to defend himself against Rubious. Although he had mastered the ability of augmentation for combat, Rubious was still outperforming him still! Whatever abilities this hell beast had were terrifying!

“You will never win!” Rubious hollered over his strikes, forcing Mach backwards with each strike. With a strike of his sword, Rubious stunned Mach long enough that it enabled him to get another physical hit in. Mach felt a fist collide with his stomach, an elbow strike him in the back and suddenly he was standing upright with light flaring and energy rising dangerously. Frantically he forced what shields he could muster in between him and the light before the explosion erupted, sending him backwards, skidding along the ground as if he had been struck by a Dragon’s tail. Smoke rose up from his shirt, he could feel his skin tingle with the shock of being burned.

“You are no match for my strength, child. Did you really think you could take me on?” Rubious taunted, stepping through the black smoke that rose ahead of him like a shadow of Death himself.

Mach rose to his feet. “You have no idea what I am capable of. You have no idea what the people of the Empire Seas are capable of.” He said, fueling Power through his body once again. “We fight for something that you will never understand, something that you will never know. We fight for something that, after today, you will never be able to achieve.” Charging forward, Mach leapt at Rubious, though this time he was expecting the man to do defend the strike and was not disappointed.

As Rubious blocked the strike, Mach used the force of the blow to alter his movement. He allowed his body to carry the flow of his movement over Rubious’ head, bring his legs up and over where he kicked as hard as he could. His foot hit its mark, landing on Rubious’s shoulder. He felt the crunch of bone and heard the cry of pain as he was forced backward from the blow.

He felt the sudden rise of Power and mimed what he had done before, defending himself from Rubious’ attack. A moment later a streak of lightning flashed, the crash of thunder deafened him and he was sent backwards. As he hit the ground, rolling in an attempt to regain balance, a ruby colored Dragon tumbled passed him, hitting the ground once before being hit by another in mid air, a Herman astride its back, axe in hand slashing at the ruby Drake as it impacted and fell out of sight into a cloud of smoke.

He had to finish this. The battle was raging on, if there was any chance of ending this, any chance of gaining control of those creations of Rubious’, he would have to end the beast’s life quickly.

“Well played, child.” Rubious mocked. “You have gained at least some skill. But you are still no match for my Power.”

“I have more skill than you can imagine.” He retorted. “And I have everything I need to stop you right here.” He said as he touched his chest.

Rubious laughed mockingly. “What, you have heart? What a child. It takes more than that, boy.”

“Oh, I have heart.” He answered. “I care deeply for those who were willing to come with me, to fight beside me today. My heart still grieves for those that I have lost because of your actions.” He said, his anger rising in his tone along with his words. “I have more Power than you will ever know or understand. But more importantly, I have more reasons to win this fight than you do.”

Mach charged once more, stopping dead in his tracks, feet from Rubious instead of continuing by pure force. Slashing and striking with the speed of a cobra would envy, he unleashed his fury. The steel clashing with steel was deafening as Rubious blocked strike after strike, keeping pace with every attack that Mach unleashed.

Their blades connected and locked. He looked across the two blades at Rubious, deep into those horrid red eyes. This was the moment he had been seeing. This was the moment he had been waiting for. He knew who this man was, he knew who this beast had been. That feral smile grinned wider as Rubious glared at him. He had seen this in his dreams so often, but if there was one thing that he had learned in all this time since going to Juiint, it was that as a Mage, as a far Seer, the future was never set in stone.

“You took my mother away!” He said bluntly through grated teeth, his anger rising in him. Rubious smiled more viciously. “You took my father away!” Rubious’ grin could not have been more gleeful as each word that came out of his mouth caused pain to rise up in him, both physical and emotional. “You destroyed everything that I held dear!” But there was one thing that Rubious did not know, and his smile was revealing how little of that he knew. Anger could be a weapon of extreme power. But that was not the only Power that he had within him. He held tight to that Power he had been building.

Rubious snarled at him, his grin showing yellowing teeth. “You really think you are more powerful than I? You are such a child. I know things you could never dream possible. What makes you think you stand a chance against my might?”

He pushed back against the sword, putting inches worth of distances between him and the blade. “You may be stronger than me, your knowledge of magic, more complete. But there is one thing that you have mistaken about me.” Within the black pools of Rubious’ pupils, he could see himself, and with that he could see the images of the five souls that had joined with him, the faces imposed over his own, each one showing him, and Rubious, just what he was about to say. “I no longer fight for myself. And…” he let loose the Power that he had held onto, let it flow into the King’s Blade. Golden Flames erupted between them, and in the light of those golden flames he felt the hope that he had inside rise. This was not his anger or his rage made physical. This was pure hope and his own will to protect those he cared about. He shoved hard, forcing Rubious back several feet. He stood there in defiance of his enemy, his stance ready for anything that would come at him. “I. Am. Not. Alone.”

There was little that could be done at this point. No amount of magic would be able to turn around the events that were unfolding. This was what his journey had been leading him to, this was the moment of truth. “Rubious Falkert, Ex-King of Sirunre. I am the King of Mages.” He said proudly. For the first time since he had learned of his heritage, he spoke those words as if he truly had the right to speak them. He held his sword out in front of him, the golden flames dancing about the red and black steel. “I am the High Mage of the council of Empires, Co Ruler of what is now becoming the lands of the Empire Seas. You, are under my law now.” He spat at the ground as if the very idea was disdainful. But just as the thought of Rubious being one of his subjects was horrid, what it was that he was to do would be both horrid and self-satisfying. ”By all the Heavens and the Nine Hells, I judge you a Blood Mage. What you have done, cannot go unpunished.”

“King of Mages! Ha!” Rubious spat at the ground in front of Mach. “You are nothing more than a sniveling brat who lost his parents. Your little bag of tricks is not enough to frighten me, boy. You will need a whole lot more than illusions to win this fight.” Rubious sneered at him. “You are nothing, NOTHING!” Rubious charged him, the beast’s own fear showing finally.

He pulled some of the Power back from the blade and pushed it through the rest of his body, sidestepping Rubious’s strike. He slashed high, missing contact by inches as Rubious ducked below. Leaping back, avoiding the tip of the sword, Mach returned with a lunged stab. Rubious was able to parry the attack despite Mach’s abilities.

Slash after stab, parry after strike, the two struck at each other with an increasing intensity for every blow that failed to find its mark. Mach slashed, his blade connected with Rubious’, forcing him to the side. Pulling a dagger from his side, he spun around the blow and stabbed low at the ankle. A yell of pain issued from Rubious’ mouth as he pulled the blade, now covered in blood, and leapt to the side. Rubious now knelt on one knee, blood trickling from the hole in his boot. Mach thought he had felt resistance as he had cut through the flesh, if he was right, he had sliced through the tendon behind that ankle.

“Well done, child.” Rubious snapped through clenched teeth as he hobbled to his foot. He could not put any weight onto his leg as he hopped on one foot. A good sign that he had damaged something significant. “At least you are not as weak as others I have fought.”

“You mean, others like my father?” Mach replied angrily. Rubious looked up at him, a curious expression on his face. “You fought him more than eleven years ago on a ship near the town you destroyed over a year ago. He challenged you in order to spare his crew the same fate he knew would fall to him.”

Rubious smiled through the pain as the memory of that day came back to him. “Ah, yes. He was brave, I will say that much. Foolish and idiotic, but brave.”

Mach held his temper in check as he glared at the beast. “My father was no great swordsman, but he was a great man.” He replied proudly. “If I were to become half of who he was, I would be lucky.”

There was a spike in Power from Rubious. He braced himself for an attack and watched in horror as armor of pure black shadow enveloped his leg that had been wounded. Rubious let his leg touch the ground, slowly letting his weight press down on the wound. Rubious smiled evilly as he allowed his full weight to fall onto his leg. “You won’t live long enough to become half of what he was.”

Mach grinned back at Rubious. “That may be true, but you won’t live through today.” He lunged forward, sword and dagger in hand. He would tear him apart piece by piece if he had to. As he struck, Rubious parried the attack and he felt the rise in Power. A moment later Mach was on the ground, his armor smoking.

“Nice try, child. But your might is not enough to stop me.” Rubious taunted.

“His may not be enough, but as he said, he is not alone.” Mach looked up to see Mendoll standing behind Rubious. The Mage looked furious, his Power glowing angrily in his hands. Glowing physically, a concentration of Power that high enough that the naked eye could see it.

“You son of a bitch!” Bastra’s voice came from above, a moment later the Gargoyle landed several yards away from Rubious, anger welling up from deep inside him. There was a rage there that burned hotter than Mach’s own. For the first time since he had met the Guardian Bastra, the Gargoyle was fully enraged. “You remember us? You had better as if your life depended on it.”

Rubious looked between the three of them, his smiling grew wider. “Oh, the two weaklings that refused to defend their friend and the child of a weakling. How precious is…”

“SILENCE!” Mendoll screamed, his Power no longer radiating from his fists, but swirling around the whole of his body. “You murdered our friend, the one family member that I had left in this world. You took him from me, and for what? Just because you wanted Power?”

“You are nothing but a cowardly bastard.” Bastra added, his chest heaving, teeth bared in his rage. His hands were gripped around his spear so tightly that Mach was surprised the handle did not snap. His body was hunched down, ready to lunge at any moment. “I should have killed you when I had the chance. I will not make the same mistake.”

Mach rose to his feet and stood ready, fueling Power through his body. “Rubious, it is time for you to pay for what you have done. For the lives that you have taken.” Mach lunged forward and struck with everything he had. A second later Bastra was there, his spear passing through where Rubious’ head had been moments before. A roar of pain came from the Gargoyle as a gash spilled blood, Mach leapt backwards, avoiding the tip of Rubious’ sword. The earth shook as Bastra slammed his fist into the ground, pieces of earth shot up like spikes, aiming for Rubious’ side. With a thrust of Bastra’s spear, a gust of wind erupted from the tip, forcing Rubious backward with its force.

Lances of ice fell from above, forcing Rubious to dance around them, sidestepping them to avoid being impaled. Mach took his chance and threw his dagger and jumped, following its trail with the tip of the King’s Blade on the hilt of the dagger. Rubious slashed at the dagger, deflecting it as he had anticipated. He pressed forward, the King’s Blade sliding along Rubious’ sword. Steel and flame cut flesh, opening a wound along Rubious’ face and ear. Pain shot through his chest as he felt steel pierce through the side of his armor.

He leapt to the side, but Bastra was there a moment later, his clawed feet slamming into the side of Rubious, flinging the beast to the side. A crack of thunder echoed as a bolt of lightning flashed from Mendoll’s out stretched hands. Mach took the moment of disorientation to his advantage and renewed his attack. Once again he threw as much Power as he could into a single strike, slamming Rubious to the side. A column of earth shot upward, striking Rubious in midair, sending him skyward. Bastra slammed into him from behind a heart’s beat later, taking the both of them to the air like an arrow. Mach felt the Power rising from Mendoll, his energy once again visible to the naked eye. He watched as Bastra struck Rubious, hit after hit, blood spilling through wounds and gashes, ripping armor off in the process of his savage attack.

As the two became only tiny dots in the sky, there was a distinct change to their pattern. Bastra had turned his ascent into a dive. They fell to the earth as Bastra continued to strike savagely. Rubious’ sword hit the ground beside Mach as pieces of the beast’s armor hit the ground all around. The speed of Bastra’s fall increased with every passing moment. An echo of Bastra’s savage roar could be heard over the wind that had picked up during the fight.

With one swift movement, Bastra turned upward, placing his legs onto Rubious’ back and kicked hard, sending the beast to the earth with such force that Mach wondered if Rubious was knocked unconscious from the force alone. The rising Power that he had felt from Mendoll snapped. He closed his eyes to the flash of light and covered his ears to the explosion of thunder.

The echo resumed long after he took his hands away from his ears. He opened his eyes to the crater that was before him. Dozens of feet wide, numerous feet deep, blue tendrils of lightning shot out all along the surface. Rubious’ body lay in the middle, lifeless and bleeding.

It’s over. It’s finally over. He closed his eyes to the tears that were flooding out of him. All the pain and suffering, all the lives that were lost at the beginning and in the process of hunting him down. They were now avenged. They now had purpose. They could finally rest in peace. He walked over to where a George and Joshua had been, to where the crater was, still smoking from a mortar shell.

The bodies that were charred and indistinguishable from any other lay on the ground. There was no telling who was who. They would have to prepare a funeral pyre before they left this place. All because of him, they would have to perform another Sending. Again.

“We did it, lad!” Sehto stood behind him, his voice was tired, but happy. Mach turned around and the strength of his legs gave out. His knees hit the floor hard. “We finally did it.” The tracker laughed.

Mach looked around, taking in all that was still standing. Rubious’ creations were kneeling on the ground, their motivation for fighting nonexistent. He knelt there looking up into the faces of the people who survived, so many of them were here. So many would live through the setting of the suns. But there were still so many that had not. Could this still be considered a win?

“We did it, lad, we did…” Sehto’s words ended abruptly as blood sprayed Mach in the face. Several inches of steel stuck out of the trackers chest, blood soiling his armor, dripping from the tip of the blade. The smile that was on Sehto’s face was frozen with his last words, his lips still working to try and speak the last words he had been about to say.