Introduction
This is a continuation of the Mortis Custos Part 43 by @lex-zaiya.
To start at the beginning of the story please see the links provided at the end of this post!
Viewer discretion is advised due to gory violence! Undead! Swords! Death! Beware!
It's an in-action scene so let me highlight the last paragraph of the previous part:
The crystals before him shattered as a white shape barrelled toward him. He would have been amused if he hadn’t sensed a cluster of crystals within the creature. The distraction of the beast was enough to prevent him from sensing the one who was behind him. However, he realized it too late when a massive hammer was brought down on his head.
Part 44
There was just enough of himself left to register shock.
A hammer.
A hammer blow to the head. This was Gorox. His companion. It was the finishing move of the Vallox Kai. There was no attempt to help him or establish communication. It was just meant to destroy him outright.
The hammer blow broke his skull and eviscerated a large portion of his brain. Without a possible thought the rest of his body reacted.
There was nothing he could do now, now that he was incapacitated there was nothing to stop his other urges.
I am sorry my friends. This will be your end.
The warriors did not stop their assualt even after the massive man had brought his hammer on top of the head of the misshapen figure in the distance.
Magna could barely make out what was going on. She hung back with Helga, the woman mage with the one arm and her uncle. Mortis was striding forward, his sword clutched in both hands before him. His helm had materialized around his desiccated scalp.
Derric had run in with the warriors. Slashes with claws, stabs of the trident and blows of the hammer rained in on the robed body in the distance.
"It is not enough," Adiran said softly. His hands were ablaze with magical energies. He was slowly waving his hands back and forth as though forming some sort of spell. Magna stood slowly. She was not wearing full armor, but she found her sword. She unsheathed it and merely stood near her uncle.
A tear ran down her cheek. She felt weak and useless. Was she not supposed to be some sort of hero? Was she not supposed to be the one who could save her brother from his wounds? She was the daughter of a warrior King and a warrior Queen... yet, she tood here, weak... she could only stand.
There was an explosion before them and the warriors were thrown back. The earth around the bloodied figure had shattered, throwing chunks of stone and grit into the air.
A barbed tentacle whipped out and swiped at the warrior named Kern. She was heavily armored and the barbs threw sparks into the air as they ground across her armor. She was vaulted into the air and lost her grip on her trident.
The warrior Gorox was not so lucky, unarmored and bare-chested the barbs sliced into his chest and shoulder before the brute could use his weapon to deflect the rest of the attack.
Derric was nimble and faster than he had ever been. Even as he sprang out of the way of one tentacle, another shot out and he rolled out of its way, daring a swipe at it with his claws. The claws slid harmlessly over the skin of the tentacle.
"Gollopod!" The Mage Noxos screamed. She hurled a jet of flame at clutch of tentacles. The flames licked close to where the Initiate Aaron was standing and the tentacles raised up to take the blow. The firs had not done much.
"I am afraid that this is far worse than a Gallopod." Adiran said and walked forward, his fists were glowing blue with magical energies and yellow lighting streaked across them. "Prepare yourself. Prepare your most potent spells, for nothing short of the deepest scraps of your soul will be needed to overcome this adversary."
The earth cracked once more and Derric and Gorox retreated. Kern could not be be seen. Meanwhile, Mortis simply strode forward. The figure of Aaron was covered in wounds. Red blood has slowed and sickly pale green liguid had begun gushing out of the rents in his flesh. These congealed into tendrils that pulled his bodyparts back together again. Meanwhile, from his knees down, he was connected to an assortment of tentacles that now pulled him up into the air, many times the height of a man.
A tentacle shot out at the implacable advance of Mortis, as if to test this new threat. Mortis cut straight ahead of himself with both hands, severing the tentacle in two as it thrust forward, all its weight allowing the member to be completely split in half as the knight had grounded his feet.
Then the impossible seemed to happen, the two haves folded together and began coiling around the knight's body. It was lighting fast, a half a dozen coils had wrapped within seconds.
"Mortis!" Maga screamed and stepped forward as though to help, thoughts of cutting the knight loose in her mind.
"Stop!" Adiran ordered. "There is nothing you can do!"
The figure on top of the mound of writhing tentacles had now regained most of his shape, the robe fell away in tatters. The humanoid form was now covered in a sickly white skin. Aaron had lost every hair on his body, he ears had flattened and become holes on the side of his head.
His mouth retained the same trademarked haughty smirk.
"Come now!" The man spoke, yet the sound was amplified. "Is this the way to treat an old friend?"
"Aaron!" Kern had regained her feet and yelled from a hilltop to the far right. "What have you become?"
"More than any Adept of Endor Kai could ever hope to become!" He raised his arms and a foul wind whipped through the surrounding area, emanating from the monstrous mage.
"You were never an Adept, just an Initiate!" Kern said and hurled he Trident at Aaron. The cast was perfect and would have struck Aaron square in the chest. A swift tendril from one of the wounds in his chest struck out and caught the weapon.
Adiran had seen Kern use the teleportation ability to bring her weapon back. In the distance he could see that she had a dagger in her hand.
"You fool! Don't do it!" He yelled, but it was too late.
Kern activated her power and all of a sudden, she was up there with Aaron, her trident in her hand, her dagger flashed down to his unprotected neck.
A tentacle wrapped around her arm and stopped her short. "Oh please." Aaron drawled. "I knew you were going to do this... I KNOW you. Don't you understand?"
Kern gritted her teeth, struggling in the tendril's grip. Neither weapons could move and the tendrils began wrapping around her body.
"We are meant to be together!" Aaron yelled. "Give me your power!" The monstrously pale flesh of the man began to droop as though liquid and where he reached out and touched the woman, their flesh began to meld.
A blast of wind shot out from the pair, warding off all attackers. Gorox fell to his knees as he witnessed the horror while Derric decided to regroup to Magna and the others.
Mortis was still trapped in the knot of tentacles below. Magna noticed that the mutant man had not tried to merge with the undead knight. She supposed that he was simply not compatible...
It was as tough thinking of him, made the Revenant Knight spring into action. Thorns made of metal shredded outward from the Knight's armor, cutting away all of the tentacles that bound him.
"Adiran! Do it now!" The knight bellowed.
Magna's uncle clapped his magic-imbued hands together. They made a sound like a thunderclap. Blue and yellow lightning ripped through the air and wrapped around the knight's armor and travelled up his arms into his sword.
The magic was not his, it brought him excruciating pain. Rather he be the vessel that bring this monster's demise than fail in his duty to protect the Children!
"For the Honor of Drakenspoort!" Mortis bellowed and slashed upward at the monstrosity that loomed before him.
Wrapup
OMG... so much awesome, go for it @lex-zaiya!
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