Chapter 44 - Struggling with the Abyss

Kass summoned a water elemental, taking advantage of the puddles Larghan summoned to create a living wall between herself and the admiral. “Flanking positions! We need to use the elemental…” she didn’t get a chance to finish.

The admiral took a single step forward, swiped his axe through the elemental and the creature just dissolved. The water that came arcing out of its back felt dark, and ominous, it thrummed with power. Guided more by instinct than anything else, Kass sliced one of her arms wide open and sprayed her blood out in front of her, willing it to burn. The two magics met mid-air, and erupted, the blast pushed Kass back a foot or two.

When the steam cleared, Larghan had advanced. “Wonderful, missy. It's been a while that I’ve had anyone go toe to toe with me. I’m going to enjoy picking you apart.” His pistol came up, incredibly fast, aimed at Kass’s head.

Just as he was about to fire, Bella rose out of the ground and clamped onto the admiral’s hand, or tried to. Her ethereal body quickly sucked the vitality out of Larghan’s gun hand, causing his fingers to relax. The dungeon master jerked his arm back, in an effort to shake the banshee off, and when that didn’t work he brought his axe to bear.

Kass began rushing forward, intent on preventing the elimination of her friend, when a massive crab claw grabbed her and pulled her back. “What did you tell everyone before entering?” Calliope asked, as she gently pushed her magic into the wound on Kass’s arm, closing it. “Trust your teammates, and don’t do anything stupid.” As she said this Rembrandt stepped forward and intercepted Larghan’s axe. Even though the blow almost drove him to his knees, he managed to stop the axe from reaching Bella.

With his vitality quickly draining, Larghan let go of his pistol. He kicked Rembrandt away in rage, and once again attempted to bring his axe down on Bella. This time Bea interfered, her whip blade tangled up the weapon, slowing it down just enough that Bella could duck under the blade and grab the dropped gun.

“You might want to cover your ears,” Bella said with a smile. The others turned away as she opened her mouth, and screamed. What came out of her mouth was a sonic blast that took the admiral off his feet and threw him several feet away. “I… got the thing… I’ll leave the rest to you,” Bella said, as she floated off the floor. She didn’t look good. Her normally semi-opaque form was now almost completely see-through, and she was floating unsteadily.

“Are you going to be okay?” Bea asked, as she flew closer.

Bella just shook her head, the gun fell through her hands, despite still trying to hold it. “You try to drain energy from an otherworldly horror, and see how you feel,” she said tiredly. “This is the last time I try to drain someone with Abyssal magic.” Bea reached out for her, but Bella’s form went completely transparent, then a burst of energy erupted from the area, indicating she de-rezed.

Across the arena Larghan rose to his feet. “Not many ghosties that can tangle with me for more than a second or two, your friend was impressive. Too bad that’s not going to be enough to save you,” he said while casually dusting himself off.

“Form up,” Kass spat, as she extracted herself from Toto’s claw. Rembrandt came up on her left, while Bea flew overhead.

“What’s the plan, Boss?” Bea asked, as she casually shifted her weapon between whip and sword form.

“Coordinated attack,” Kass said, in a low voice. “Bella might have given us an opening, but that doesn’t mean we can drop our guards. I’m guessing we haven’t seen all his tricks yet.” Larghan just laughed at her words, spinning his axe in one hand, waiting for them to make a move.

“Don’t get oneshot!” Calliope said from the backline. Everyone paused, and looked back at her for a moment. “It was the most supportive thing I could think of, sorry!” The girl said with a shrug.

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Bea giggled, “Well, I guess that would be a legitimate concern for the healer. Don’t worry, I don’t plan on going down without a fight.” As she zipped into the air, Kass and Rembrandt once again began to advance.

Larghan stood there, casually swiping his axe through a puddle at his feet, waiting. When they were only a few feet apart, he swung his axe, and launched another blade of water. Rembrandt stepped forward, and parried the blade, allowing Kass and Bea to rush past. Their combined attack drew blood, with the light whip blade once again finding the admiral’s back, while the daggers scored light wounds on his arms. As Kass fell back, Rembrandt brought his greatsword down in a heavy overhand strike, driving Larghan to his knees.

Kass fed her magic into the blood on her blades, using it to focus her will, intoning her spell, “Burn!” As she pointed at the admiral she expected him to fall over in pain, yet he didn’t even flinch. Instead the man passed his hand through the puddle at his feet. The water ran up his arm, creating a water covering on his fist and forearm, which he used to grab Rembrandt.

The remnant swung his massive greatsword at the admiral, only to be blocked by the axe. Bea continued to rain blows down upon the man’s back, but he ignored them. “The sea runs in my veins, lass!” the admiral said, looking directly at Kass, “And the waters, they obey ME!” As he said this, the water on his arm ran up, and gathered around Rembrandt’s head. Slowly they compacted, becoming more opaque. Rembrandt let out a silent scream, then his skull cracked. An instant later, his body was gone.

“Monster!” Bea yelled, as she dove at the admiral’s back. The man seemed utterly unconcerned about the attack, until the very last moment, when he turned and swung his axe overhead, parrying her blow. The force of his strike smashed her into the ground at his feet. Tendrils of water immediately emerged from the puddle at his feet, wrapped around the anthophilan, and began squeezing.

Kass rushed forward, once again ripping open her arms with her knives. Instead of splashing Larghan directly, she let her blood drip down her arms and into the puddle, while simultaneously striking at the admiral. While the two combatants dueled, the burning blood mixed with the brackish water, creating great gouts of steam; The bonds holding Bea weakened and dissolved. Before she could crawl away, Calliope and Toto galopped in, and snatched her up, taking her out of the battle.

“I think this has gone on long enough,” Larghan casually declared, as he half parried Kass’s knives. She was causing damage, but he was parrying the most dangerous attacks. His eyes glowed as he half turned, pointing at a puddle behind where Toto and Calliope stopped. A massive tentacle rose out of the small puddle, and, before Kass could say anything, it smashed down onto their location. Bea, already mangled from the earlier attack, de-rezed, while Calliope and Toto were heavily mauled. As the tentacle wound up for a second attack, Toto shucked his master, and began brawling with the massive watery construct.

“You could have done that at any time, couldn’t you,” Kass panted. She was already feeling worn out, and a little loopy from the lack of blood.

“Absolutely,” Larghan replied, “but if I did, the fight wouldn’t have been even half as entertaining for me. You’ve been more entertaining than most groups I’ve had to fight, I’ll give you that.”

All around the arena, water began to form. First in puddles, which slowly gathered into miniature lakes, before finally covering the entire arena. “You think you can counter all this with your magic?” he asked, with a smirk.

“No,” Kass answered honestly, “but if I distract you long enough, I don’t have to.”

As she said this Calliope stabbed her trident deep into the admiral’s back. The girl had healed herself enough to limp over and get a single strike in, it just wasn’t enough. Larghan turned, bringing his axe over his head, before bringing it down on Calliope’s head. The siren barely managed to get out a single ‘meep’ before despawning.

While the admiral was distracted with Calliope, Kass rushed forward, and, with the last of her strength, embedded one of her knives deep into his neck. The wound gushed, not blood, but the same brackish water from before. Larghan staggered for a moment, then turned to look at her over his shoulder. “Well done, lass,” he said, with a crooked grin. “But you’ll have to do more than that.”

With that, the liquid jumped from his wound to Kass’s head, encapsulating her face. She struggled, tried to burn the offending magic away, without any success. She struggled as the Abyssal magic slowly pushed down her throat, slowly drowning her. After a minute, she finally lay still.