<h2>CHAPTER 90 – CITADEL</h2>
After all that utter madness the black rain continued to fall. The artificial fog drifted through the ruined northern gate of Zepathorum. Warlord Cassius waited for the smoke to clear. He still had a significant host left after the bombardment, enough to not consider retreating immediately. For now, Warlord Cassius waited for the smoke to clear with his golden army.
When the smoke cleared only one man stood between them and the city, Lord Mercinestor Casterosi. He had no mount. He had no reinforcements. He had no way of winning. On his own golden-plated horse, Warlord Cassius called off his vanguard.
“I will handle this myself.”
He drew his sword and charged at the lion lord standing in the middle of the war-torn field like an idiot, with nothing but his sword, but…the sword…was glowing blue. Warlord Cassius tried to pull up in time before the pulsewave hit him, knocking him clear off his horse. He managed to hold onto his sword after tumbling to the ground.
Before Cassius could get up Lord Casterosi was dashing in for a strike. Cassius barely got to his feet in time and crossed swords with the old warrior.
“What business do you have in my kingdom? I know who you are fire crook.”
Warlord Cassius released and took a step back. He didn’t think he would hear that name so far north. He swung for Mercinestor’s head with all of his might. Mercinestor dodged and elbowed Cassius in the side, almost sending him to the ground again. Warlord Cassius was clearly outmatched. He would not let his pride get him killed. With a wave of his hand, he called forth his battalions. They mobilized but it would still take some time for them to get to him.
Warlord Cassius took a defensive stance against Mercinestor.
“If you do not want to settle this like men then I suggest you turn around and run home right now.”
“Or what? You will slaughter my entire legion?”
“I’ll slaughter you in front of your legions.”
Cassius caught the cerulean shine on the lion warrior’s blade, but it was too late. He tried to lunge out of the way of a blastwave that carved through the earth right before for him. Warlord Cassius dodged it. The blast continued past him, trailing into the advancing battalion until it finally collided with a golden-armored catapult, absolutely decimating it. Cassius watched in horror. He was out of his league here. The Dark Lord never told him the lion kingdom champions wielded magic this powerful.
Warlord Cassius turned back around to Lord Casterosi approaching rapidly, swinging his sword for the warlord’s head. Cassius parried and tried to keep up. He barely blocked a strike to his left side, feeling the Casterosi sword cut into his arm. If he could just hold out a little while longer… The old warrior’s sword began to glow blue again.
Warlord Cassius dropped to his knees and threw his own sword to the ground. Mercinestor Casterosi saw this and raised the krakenwreck to kill his enemy. When Mercinestor’s sword went up so did Cassius’ hands.
“I surrender!” the warlord exclaimed.
Mercinestor held his sword in the execution position.
“I will turn and run like you proposed…back to my city.”
“And pretend this never happened?” Mercinestor asked.
“Yes. I will never bother myself with northern affairs again. I give you my word.”
“Your word is not enough, fire crook.”
The moniker stung harder than a viper bite.
“My word is all I have.”
“Not all. Relinquish your golden armor.”
Warlord Cassius did so without hesitation. This was not just a trophy demand. This was evidence if they ever decided to go to the Republic with these crimes. Cassius cared not. He was already a criminal and one of the leading members of the underground syndicate. Now only in his shirt and trousers, standing in the short winds of the ruined Zepathorum fields, Cassius tried to make his leave.
“Not so fast.”
Warlord Cassius didn’t think it would be so easy. He asked the northern lord, “What else?”
“Bow to me as this kingdom’s avatar.”
Cassius got on his knees, prostrating himself before Lord Casterosi.
“Renounce your gods and pray to my dead god.”
Cassius lifted his hands up, clasping them together while keeping his head down, and chanted, “Hail the fallen lion lorde of the north. I am not worthy to utter his name. I only beseech myself in sorrow and renounce any ties with the dragon god and shadow forces.”
Cassius looked up. The glowing blue sword still lingered above the lion warrior’s head. He closed his eyes, and continued, “We beg the forgiveness of the Lion Lorde and his kin and in recompense we offer-”
Slink!
The slice was so smooth he didn’t even feel it. There was a slight tingle in his fingers and then that tingle drained down his hands in a violent rush. After that he felt nothing at all. Warlord Cassius opened his eyes and saw both his dismembered hands on the ground before him, laying on a red-splashed bed of green grass.
He screamed in a total breakdown. It was a feral yell. He didn''t even try to treat the stubs, bleeding profusely. He ran off like a wild animal towards his battalion. Mercinestor watched Warlord Cassius reach his army. They were close now. He waited to see.
Mercinestor stood firm, one man against an entire army. The wheels of the catapults strained to make such sharp turns, as they about-faced, marching east, and south. Mercinestor was shocked, but he did not smile. He could not believe that it worked. Instead, he counted his blessings, waiting for them to get out of sight and then scurrying back to the city to find his son, rejoin the fight, and help Prince Axion.
The appearance of the late great lion god in Zepathorum was the only break in battle within the city. Commander Cel’a and her son led the remaining royal guard in battle. Prince Axion returned after dispatching his pursuers in the maze gardens. He helped curb the overwhelming front pushing into the courtyards on all sides. Cel’a fought with her son Fisceron’a trying to keep a perimeter up around the courtyard as every breach in the courtyard began to push in. Their biggest threat were the behemoths.
So far the monsters had been systematically demolishing the walls and buildings dividing the Citadel courtyard with the rest of the city. Commander Adora’s son kept pointing it out to her, begging her to send him with a squad.
“If we wait until they are done with the demolition it will be too late. The time to strike is now, commander.”
Axion galloped in from the frey. He was out of breath but still full of vigor in the heat of the fight. He gave his orders. “Commander I need a team to dispatch with me poste haste. We need to do something about the behemoths before it''s too late.”
Fisceron’a looked from the mounted prince back at his mother with a grin.
Cel’a exhaled. “If we are going to do this. Then we all go.”
“The three of us. And leave the guard behind to hold the line. I like it.”
Fisceron’a thrusted his sword in the air and gave out a battlecry. Axion galloped away towards the behemoths. After he had made some distance from them, Cel’a grabbed her son, bracing them. She took a couple deep breaths. Her spear started to glow blue. With a pivoting blue dash resembling the speed of a lightning bolt they flashed through the courtyard.
Cel’a threw her son at one behemoth. He connected with its throat, his sword struck an unarmored part of the neck and then he kicked the beast so hard in the head it flew off, leaving a lifeless body lumbering to the ground. Cel’a swerved into the legs of another behemoth, unable to navigate her Ignaleos Cor magic speedshot she made it work regardless. As Cel’a slid through the beast’s legs she twirled and swiped, cutting the legs down until the behemoth fell to her. Cel’a stuck her spear right through its head. She looked up and counted the big ugly heads surrounding her. Two down…only ten more to go.
Axion came charging in atop Huntross and they all began to scramble with the behemoths. Spangalore moved in with his armored behemoth. There was the one he sat on, and steered, and two more that accompanied him as his own monster vanguard. He had them conditioned like dogs. Out of the corner of her eye Cel’a saw them approaching. She had to warn the prince. But the commander knew Axion too well. As soon as she alerted him he would charge them. Right now, he was keeping the other seven behemoths occupied. Once this captain of the monsters entered the field the advantage would tilt in the enemy’s favor. It was time to act. Commander Adora charged her spear. Her strength was returning. Deep in her heart she could feel Mercinestor out there, using his own gifts from the cor. Even though the lion god was dead, his boons still survived in them to help the kingdom. She clutched the spear and shot through the courtyard in a blue haze again. The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.
“NO!” Fisceron’a cried out.
It was too late. His mother was gone on the other side of the fight. Cel’a pounced over to the two giant guards and bounced between them. She used blunt force to confuse them, and in that confusion she cut the straps of the giant plate of chest armor on one, and stabbed the other under the chin where the skin was soft, straight through to the cranium. One armored behemoth dropped while the other lost its metal chestplate. Cel’a lunged for its chest and blocked the strike with its hammer.
“Eat her!” the man on the behemoth said.
Both behemoths went for her. Cel’a used what little Cor force she had left to get away. As she slid out from between them she cut halfway into the armorless behemoth leg at the ankle. Instead of falling it jumped at her. This move she was not expecting. The behemoth fell on her and before she could escape, it snatched the commander. Cel’a squirmed in its hand as it belly flopped on the ground.
“You fight just like that old goat.”
Cel’a tried to break free from the fumbling behemoth. “You fight like a coward.”
He positioned his behemoth in an executioner’s stance, stepping on the fallen behemoth, pinning it down, and raising its battle ax. Two screams came from their blindside. Cel’a looked up. To her they were upside down, but all the more glorious. Fisceron’a rode with Axion atop Huntross as they charged the armored behemoths.
Without turning around, Spangalore’s behemoth swatted Axion and Fisceron’a off the horse. Huntross nayed and panicked, galloping away in a frenzy, afraid for his life. Cel’a tried to break free. She was stuck, her spear out of reach. If her boys did not get back up soon this would all end in horror. She had to do something. Cel’a stopped trying to pull the huge fingers apart and instead nestled in trying to get to the dagger slipped into her boot. She got a hold of it and waited.
Spangalore’s behemoth swung the ax for her head, and she plunged the dagger into the downed behemoth’s palm, making it spasm and jerk about. Instead of connecting with her, Spangalore’s behemoth cut the head of the other behemoth clean off. Cel’a got to her feet and scooped up her half spear. She almost got out of range, almost…
Commander Cel’a could feel the shift in the air as it came for her. She would succumb to the same fate as her son and prince. The backhand of the armored behemoth swung at her, knocking her off her feet, back towards where the boys had tumbled. When she finally stopped rolling part of Cel’a just wanted to stop. Her head was pounding. There was a sharp pain in her left leg. She was all banged up from fighting the behemoth.
The commander looked around for Prince Axion and Fisceron’a, but they were nowhere to be found. It didn’t matter. Spangalore’s behemoth was charging right for her. This was not over. Commander Cel’a braced for impact. She searched for anymore stored up Cor force, but there was nothing left. She had to find it in herself to fight on, against the odds, when she had nothing left.
The man above the behemoth laughed. She couldn’t believe it. He was truly mad. This was a total nightmare. Never did she think it would end like this. The behemoth’s ax clashed with her spear, and it took everything she had not to go flying back. A couple more of those hits would knock her off her feet. She needed to strike. Cel’a lunged forward and had to dodge almost right away as the behemoth swatted at her with its freehand.
She rolled away and smacked right into its ax, which struck the ground directly in her path. How was this thing so quick? It almost predicted her movements. Cel’a tried to roll away, but it was too late. The behemoth grabbed her and once again she squirmed in a behemoth’s grip. This time she had her spear. Cel’a poked at its knuckles with the point of the spear as she was lifted into the air.
The behemoth dropped her, and she fell on her bad leg. Cel’a struggled to get up as the behemoth raised the ax. Cel’a looked up at the behemoth, behind the ax, came a wild light from the dark cloud. It was fire. A yellow fire hit the back of the behemoth. It immediately dropped Cel’a and ran away.
As the behemoth ran away the fire chased after him, revealing the profile of its source. The black dragon controlled its fire masterfully, lighting the path and melting the rest of the behemoths. Cel’a had no time to watch. The darksiders were closing in on the behemoth’s wake. With the calamity of the behemoth’s being over the commander was able to survey the area and locate the boys She rushed over, her son was trying to wake up the prince.
Commander Adora got to her son and hugged him. They both looked at the prince.
“I don’t know what to do, mom.”
“Where is his sword?” asked Cel’a.
Fisceron’a picked up the prince’s sword and handed it to her. She knelt down next to the prince and put the sword in his hand, wrapping his grip around it. As soon as she firmed his fingers around the handle, Prince Axion’s eyes snapped awake. He got to his feet and looked around.
“Battle report, commander.”
“The behemoth have been destroyed by what looks like a dragon.” She pointed at the winged beast spewing red and yellow flame over the remaining behemoth.
Axion took one look and told them, “There’s a rider on that dragon.”
“That doesn’t make any sense.” Fisceron’a said.
“I''ll take all the help we can get, even if it''s an enemy mutiny. Follow me!”
Axion led Commader Adora and Fisceron’a back into the frey toward the dragonrider. He knew the admiral would not have this sort of small victory against his monster battalion and would send his top warriors for the rebel dragon in response. There was an opportunity here Axion had to act on. And yet in the back of his mind he felt like their time was still running out. There was some notion of withdrawal, like this was still not the full capacity of the enemy’s force. What troubled Axion the most was the absence of this Dark Lord. If he really was so powerful, what did he wait for?
They carved through the chaos of the courtyard. In all of the madness they lost track of the dragonrider. Axion found Huntross and led them all back to the citadel. Before the main doors of the citadel held firm the last perimeter of survivors: royal guard, metuchen cavalry, militiamen, and now ZenFor Archers and Orbalis Paladins.
“They did it!”
“The Casterosi came through!”
“I’ll be damned.”
“They brought the best of the Serengeti with them.”
Prince Axion, Commander Cel’a, and Fisceron’a all returned to the ranks and the soldiers cheered. Together they all fought harder than ever. Commander Cel’a took point with her son at her side. Prince Axion fell back to the actual citadel doors, so he could anticipate any enemy flanks.
Axion promised himself, as he watched Admiral Zorrowfold send his endless horde of dragon warriors at him, that he would get Huntross out before it was too late. He would only get the chance at a couple of charges before they were surrounded and overrun. He would have to keep his back to the doors of the Citadel and be the last of his men to fall.
The first flank of dark soldiers came crashing down on Axion’s ranked formations. Axion rode Huntross out and engaged them, as he cut up the diagonal middle. He fled into the maze and came rushing back out on the flank. He cut the heads off of the soldiers from behind, showing them no mercy. He trimmed them off, as many enemies as he could, no matter what the cost, even if it was integrity. Meaning he had no problem stabbing these pawns in the back. His nation was to live on. He will not be the one who lets everyone down, even if it means fighting dirty.
One last time he rode into the surging storm of dragon kingdom soldiers and then returned to the back by the doors of the Citadel. From the back, he could see over the bridge, there marching within the ranks of soldiers were more Behemoths and Berserkers, accompanied by the rest of the darksiders. They came from all Zepathorum City, the Serengeti, and Port Caliber… the entire Pride. The extermination was finally at hand.
Axion was the heart of it all. He wished he could summon the power he needed to truly destroy this wretched evil; for if the gods could only give him the ability to do so, he would not use it in waste, but in glory.
Axion dismounted Huntross and sent him away. He grew to love the animal quickly. He knew he would not have another chance to save the young horse’s life. The time was now. He smacked the horses ass and it almost seemed all too glad to escape the battlefield. The last Axion saw of Huntross he was running north through the buildings.
Axion clutched his hand around his sword and posted up against the barricaded doors of the Citadel. He looked forth at the center of the Courtyard battlefront. Something over there both intrigued him and compelled him to leave his post. Cel’a looked on in fright. What could possess the prince to leave his post?
Dodge. Kill. Block, kill. Kill, duck, kill. Flip. Kill. Block, kill.
Axion made his way to the spot. There was Admiral Zorrowfold, standing amongst the storms. After a mild downpour, the black rain current began to kick up the mist and sent funnel black winds into the air. The churning tension separated Axion and Zorrowfold from the rest of the battle.
The two champions collided in a lonesome match. Zorrowfold jumped at Axion, and they clashed swords. Zorrowfold’s giant dark metal sword cracked Axion’s shining crimson-pommeled sword in two. Axion, infuriated, threw both of his fists forward, punching the admiral off his feet. Axion cut deep ember sparks into the night, unseen by all but the gods.
The storm ripped open above him, and he released his broken blade. The access was granted, and the seal received. He couldn''t help but look away from the battle. The prince’s gaze was fixated upwards. For the awesome power of the atmosphere was singing to him, beckoning onto him, calling Axion closer…
A brief stop at the citadel turned into a major sidetrack when Anilithyistad witnessed the battle of the demigods from the throne room with his sister. He bid farewell to her and started his descent down the tower. Once again he succumbed to the fate of the Zepathorum City Citadel spiraling staircase. This time he was going down, so it wasn’t so bad.
He had to circumvent the barricaded main exit in order to get out. His sister the Queen of Zepathorum showed him the secret entrance long ago. He used it in times like these. It took him in a roundabout way to get outside. This would ensure the secret egress would not be used against the royal family if found out about. There was only one way in and one way out of the citadel when it was locked down, and neither crossed paths with each other. Anilithyistad would basically get dropped out into Lake Niobi, forcing him to double back.
He almost forgot it was raining. He reentered the courtyard arena, running through and over the lines, cutting down copious amounts of enemies, he searched frantically for his family. There was no sign of Mortikahn or Jericho, or even Paxikahn. That was a long shot, but he expected Galastad and Axion to still be in the courtyard.
He cut down another darksider and led a squad of sequestered militiamen towards a rooftop vantage point. With it only being a raised terrace, they were able to sweep through and root out the enemy quickly. Anilithyistad set up a perimeter so he could survey the area. It was raining harder than ever now. The wicked stormcloud rampaging above the city.
“AXION!”
“WHERE IS AXION!”
His yells were heard by Lord Mercinestor Casterosi finally getting to the courtyard. He called for the Metuchen knight.
“The city is overrun, Anilithyistad! This is all that remains!”
“We must find the boys!” he yelled in the spirited rain. Anilithyistad couldn’t help but notice that Cipher was also missing. The more the storm raged the more difficult it became to see anything.
Despair was growing in his heart. They were losing and horribly outnumbered. If he could not find Prince Axion all would be lost. A light opened up from the sky, giving Anilithyìstad a better look at the battlefield. In the strange stream of illumination, he found his nephew exactly where he thought he would be… the center of the courtyard. Except Axion was not fighting.
Prince Axion just stood there, unarmed, and looking straight up, into the sky, at the light.
End of Part Six