Amazon Apocalypse 2: Chapter 74

My first thought was that Caesar had some class or skill-based form of resurrection. But if Caesar had found a way to bring himself back to life, it had to be something a hell of a lot better than what I’d come up with. I’d brought myself back to life by increasing my stats to the point that I should have survived what killed me, and then regenerating the hard way.

The fact that I’d come back to life that way was exactly the reason I was so thorough with my kills. It should be impossible to come back to life when your former body was completely unrecognizable. Caesar’s flesh and bones lay in a heap, separated into their individual components.

I would have noticed muscle and sinew slithering back onto his bones. Even trolls couldn’t manage that level of regeneration. But when I looked closer, I noticed that this couldn’t be the same man.

The previous Caesar had darker skin than this one, and not just a darker tan. This one lacked the tats I’d seen on the other, too. He was also shorter, tending towards stocky rather than being lanky and long-limbed.

No, this Caesar was different from the previous one. Maybe I’d fought an imposter and this was the true Caesar. But then this new Caesar leveled his spear and charged it with crimson energy, exactly as the previous Caesar had done. Apparently, this new guy had the same abilities of the last Caesar. He rushed forward at me with his spear, while Knuckles did the same from the other side with his golden, glowing fists.

While I was confident I could take either of these guys on one at a time, both at the same time made things exponentially more difficult. But worst of all was that I had a feeling neither of them would mind taking a wound, not if it meant they could give me one in exchange. The psychotic idiots I’d been fighting lately made my life more difficult than it needed to be.

I’d take Thalassa’s warriors any day over these prison psychos. At least the Amazonians fought logically, and with some care for their own lives.

I hurried out of the way, putting some distance between myself and my two melee assailants. This let me generate a few Mana Bolts as I did so. As long as I kept my distance, I was in control of the fight. I could whittle both of them down with ranged attacks and avoid getting up close and personal with Arcane Blade unless absolutely necessary.

And I’d make good use of Soulchain Nexus, too.

I’d placed some of those down on our enemies in the hallway before luring Knuckles away, and Sharky was definitely stacking up Corrupting Marks. Normally, I’d wait a little longer for those to spread, but I could really use a boost in stats right now.

When I detonated the Corrupting Marks, I felt a rush of power as several of my enemies one room over died, contributing some portion of their stats to me as a temporary buff. With new power flowing through me, my spells flew faster than ever. My staff hovered over the basketball court, and I drew on it to supplement my mana.

The elements of my Mana Bolts shifted, and I used the same combinations that had been effective against Caesar before. Bit by bit, I claimed the upper hand—despite being outnumbered. I almost wished three lower-leveled bandits would show up so I could take full advantage of my One Versus Many proficiency bonus.

But these weren’t normal foes, so it was probably better there weren’t more adds. Normal foes would have cut their losses and fled, by now. Even monsters usually realized they were outmatched and started fighting conservatively. But their ghastly wounds only made this pair coming at me fight all the harder.

And eventually they forced an opening.

Knuckles charged at me, soaking up an Eldritch Blast and two Mana Bolts. I had just used Warp Step and needed a moment before I could use it again. Unfortunately, my enemies didn’t plan on giving me that moment.

Caesar, who’d taken cover behind Knuckles, leaped out of hiding and lunged in my direction. His spear smoldered with a fire that burned a deeper, bloodier red color than I remembered.

I should have been able to duck beneath the spear strike. I should have had the speed for it. But then Knuckles used an ability of his own.

His fists grew brighter than the sun for just a moment, blinding me. I had to close my eyes, moving to block with Arcane Blade going from nothing but memory… and I was off by just a hair. While I managed to shove Caesar’s burning spear aside and kept it from skewering me through the chest, it still sliced a deep gash along my ribcage. The smell of my own burned flesh filled the air.

Warp Step activated, and I quickly extricated myself before either of my foes could launch a counterattack. It was a good thing I did, too, since an instant later Knuckles followed up his flashbang fist with another disintegrating punch that turned the metal post holding up the basketball hoop to dust.

The two of them didn’t make it out of their attacks unscathed. In retaliation for the wound, I’d struck them both with more spells. I’d also followed up my block of the flaming spear with a slice of my own with Arcane Blade across Caesar’s stomach. The Corrupting Marks were stacking ever higher. The lifesteal they provided me was literally a life saver; it would soon heal my wounds.

But Caesar didn’t seem to mind the damage to his chest in the least. Combined with the other wounds I’d given him, a flap of his stomach now hung wide open, putting his intestines on display. This wasn’t the sort of fight where I could afford to pull my punches.

I was fighting madmen, and I needed overwhelming force if I wanted to put them down. I called on the third level of Mania, Blood Frenzy. As I did, off in the distance I heard Sharky chomp down with delight.

Your Mania level has increased to level 3: Blood Frenzy.

Your grip on sanity grows looser, and your lust for battle grows. The effectiveness of all Scholar of Forbidden Knowledge abilities is increased by 80%.

The fighting reached a fever pitch, growing ever more fierce. I found the idea of trading wounds with my opponents not nearly as abhorrent as it had been before. What was pain, if it might lead me to victory?

Soon, there were not two madmen on that basketball court, but three. I fought just as wildly as they did.

Just then, Caesar displayed a new ability. I wasn’t sure if I hadn’t given him the chance to use it before, or if this new body granted him a new power, but when he cocked his arm back and thrust his spear forward, I discovered he could shoot a lance of fire from its tip.

That had been a painful lesson, but one Knuckles paid dearly for.

I switched to Eldritch Augmentation, activating Arcane Blade as Knuckles tried to punch me again. That blow would have disintegrated me as surely as it had disintegrated concrete walls and steel posts, but I slid beneath it fearlessly, dodging his golden fist by a hair as I brought my blade into his arm.

I sliced Knuckles’ hand clean off, just past the wrist. It tumbled across the ground with a meaty thud. He’d have a much harder time punching me without that. Then I used Warp Step to limp away once more.

My leg had taken the brunt of that burst of flame, and I was pretty sure his fire lance had burned all the way to the bone. But trading one of my limbs for Knuckles’ arm was a good swap, especially since I could hop around just fine thanks to Power Jump and Warp Step.

Besides, I only needed to keep out of range long enough for Lifesteal to heal my wound. Unlike Knuckles, my extremity was only wounded, not cut clean off. I expected another furious roar of outrage and anger at me after taking one of his limbs, but Knuckles just stared dumbfounded at his stump.

This was the first time I’d seen anything besides mindless rage from either of my foes.

Looking closer, Knuckles seemed to regain a moment of clarity through the pain. His eyes grew more focused, and his brows drew together—whereas before they'd been unmoving. As much as I would have liked to study the changes, my blood was still pounding hot in my veins, and disabling Knuckles for a moment meant that I had the perfect opportunity to deal with Caesar.

The spearman lunged at me, leaving a burning trail of fire behind him with each stride. Just before he reached me, I jumped straight upwards. Soaring overhead, I fired a Mana Bolt and an Eldritch Blast from either hand as I did so. When I landed behind Caesar, I drew my sword and in one fluid motion, threw it end over end.

My Arcane Blade slammed into Caesar's back, cutting into his spine. Caesar collapsed, his legs paralyzed until some portion of his nervous system could regenerate. He reached around to tear the blade free and restore his movement, but the weapon was right in the center of his back, behind his heart and out of reach.

It was an impossible place for a human body to reach, though that didn’t stop him from trying.

I picked up his spear. It had toppled to the ground when he fell, so I picked it up. It was solid steel, which meant it was damn heavy. I had little skill with a spear, but I was strong enough to jam it into Caesar's shoulder with Eldritch Augmentation.

The spear went straight through Caesar's back, out through his chest, and into the pavement of the basketball court. Between the sword and the spear, he'd have a hard time getting up—no matter how motivated he was to kill me.

I’d barely finished immobilizing Caesar before Knuckles came at me again, swinging at me with his remaining hand. Now, however, he seemed slower than before and the confusion in his eyes had grown. It was enough of a weakness that I slid around his other arm, slicing with one swift motion to take his remaining hand. I sliced this one off a little higher, just above the elbow.

Thrown off balance by the loss of a second extremity, Knuckles toppled face-first to the pavement. Behind me, Caesar still squirmed where I’d pinned him to the basketball court. Flames burned around him, especially along the length of his spear.

His flesh blackened and blistered until he was able to shift around on the steel spear until he tore his body free of his weapon. Rolling, he twisted, using his arms to pry the short sword out of his back with his body weight. The motions tore chunks out of his already-battered flesh.

It had to be excruciatingly painful. No ordinary human could free themselves in such a way. Such wounds were a death sentence—even with high Vitality and regeneration. To do this was to kill oneself in the most agonizing way possible, just for the chance to strike one last blow before dying.

Caesar lurched to his feet, blood leaking from a hundred open wounds. He stumbled forward, teeth bared with a plan to tear my throat out with his mouth.

"Oh no you don't!"

I shot him in the face with an Eldritch Blast, shattering his teeth. Then I detonated his Corrupting Marks. The blood oozing from his wounds turned into fountains, spraying in all directions as the last bits of Caesar's life fled, pooling on the ground around him.

The damage was just the thing I needed to fuel Lifesteal to heal my burned leg. Soon, I was both breathing and standing easier.

Releasing Blood Frenzy, I realized I felt weary enough that I no longer cared about ensuring I could follow up on my kills. From the sounds behind me and the faint impressions I got from Sharky, my allies had finished fighting as well.

Unfortunately, the detonation of my Corrupting Marks did not kill Caesar. It did stagger him, though. They slowed him down enough that I wearily picked up my survival sword. Detonating my Corrupting Marks had popped his eyes out of his head and sent them flying elsewhere. His ears oozed a steady stream of pink—a mixture of blood and some clear fluid.

Still, he lunged forward, blind and deaf.

With one final swipe of my Arcane Blade, I put him out of his misery at last. I cast Disassemble on him again, just to make sure, and then destroyed the remains. But considering that had already failed once, I wasn't so sure it would work the way I was used to.

Finished with Caesar—hopefully for good, or at least until his next incarnation arrived—I turned to Knuckles. He was in much better shape than his fellow King, though he lay groaning in a puddle of his own blood. His two stumps rested on his chest as his eyes stared up at the sky.

As I watched, he blinked. I got the feeling that there was something there again behind those eyes—something more than had been in Caesar’s eyes, at the very least. Since killing Caesar hadn't stopped me from having to fight him again, I decided a different approach was needed.

"Surrender," I demanded, sword drawn and pointed at Knuckles’ neck.

Knuckles made a sound, choking it out between bloody teeth.

I couldn't make it out. "What was that?" I asked, coming closer to the dying man. I had to lean in close to hear him speak.

Knuckles lunged up at me, wrapping his forearms around my shoulders with his bloody stumps.

"She... is... pure… evil..." he panted.

"What? Who?” I held him out at arm’s length—my arm’s length, that is. “Who is she? What is that supposed to mean?"

All strength left Knuckles’ body, and I found myself holding him up by the shoulders. When I let go, he collapsed to the ground, limp and unmoving.

Your race, Homo Acceleratus, has gained a level!

My hands fell to my side with a sigh. "Fine. Be all cryptic and then die on me before explaining yourself..."