B2 Ch. 40 A Bloody Mess

Too much was happening for Tilly to keep up with the rest of the events as they unfolded around him in a flurry of chaos and conflict. Sir Michela exploded past the rest of the charging group to crash into the Brawlers while Ichiro and Gorock immediately peeled off to block the charging Knight.  Tilly sprinted in Sir Micheal’s wake and vaguely noted Hilbert, Amelia, and Franklin hanging back to start casting.

Sir. Micheal’s charge must have been a gap-close Ability because he was almost instantaneously bashing his mace through the group of Brawlers. The Knight successfully locked down all four guards with his impact, and Tilly took full advantage of his distraction to leap the conflict.  Sensing his intent, Kindle soared in behind him, matching velocity, and grabbed his back in the air, lending him a slight increase in lift to clear the conflict in front of him.  Mid-flight, Tilly gained a clear view of the Black Market Trafficker, who had already reached the Urn and was ripping off its lid with an expression of manic glee on his hawkish face.

Diving through the air, Tilly activated Flames Wrath, seconds too late to stop the man from unveiling the urn’s contents to the whole room.  As the lid came fully away, the markings around its surface flashed red, and died, ending their containment of the thing within.

As soon as its prison was open, Corruption exploded out from the opening, a writhing mass of tentacles and teeth. This was especially unfortunate for Tilly, whose aerial momentum took him directly toward the center mass of the creature exploding out from the vessel.  A split second before he hit, Identify pinged, notifying him that it was not one large monster, but hundreds of smaller things, densely packed together in a stream of terror and hatred.

Level 12 Corrupted Splitter Collective

A yell of anticipated trauma ripped from his lips just before his burning form crashed into the pillar of black writing tentacles sprouting like a tree in the midst of the room, before splitting off in every direction.  Kindle screeched from above him, sending out a torrent of blue flames to impact the mass at Tilly’s impact point, just as he hit with a sizzling, meaty thunk.

The mouths near the impact site screamed as one, as the center of its mass exploded in a burst of fiery kinetic energy. Despite the caustic nature of his presence to the creature the unmelted mouths all around him, furiously tried to latch onto his body, in some places succeeding before being burned away by the ongoing damage output of Flame’s Wrath. He waved his axes around wildly, cutting away huge swathes of the collective before falling through the creature to the other side of the urn and landing at the feet of Black Market Trafficker.

The Splitter had been utterly devastated by his attack, but it proved true to its name and divided what remained of its mass into hundreds of tentacled starfish with mouths. The little creatures scattered everywhere and rushed the surrounding Knights who were just charging into the fray.

Tilly looked up as manic laughter sounded above him, the greasy-haired human gloating in the chaos.  A pillar of Corruption had grown up behind him around one of the two guardian Knights.  It lashed constantly at the shocked Queen, who had just summoned a personal shield in time. Mallytza had appeared by her side and was whirling her daggers in complicated patterns, removing any offending appendage that came near.

“Do you see, brother?  Why fight it?  A new world order is coming to this plane, and we are its rulers.”  He cackled, his voice ringing with that same velvety invitation he had used earlier.

“I’m going to go with ‘No’!” Tilly shouted, leaping to his feet, and lashing out at the guy with two enflamed strikes. Unfortunately, the wild look in the man’s eyes did nothing to slow his reflexes. Before Tilly’s strikes could land, the man reached up to a pendant at his neck, activating an opaque faceted shield glowing like a gray gem, impervious to Tilly’s attacks as they struck against the surface with dull thuds.

“Don’t bother, even she couldn't get through this easily”  he smiled, wild glee glowing on his face as he gestured over his shoulder nonchalantly. Behind him, the Queen finished a series of arcane gestures and shouted, “Enough!”  Before losing a surge of what could only be blood, that formed into a series of whirling blades, blurring through the creature in front of her and decimating it before continuing on to crash against the Black Market Trafficker’s shield.

He didn't look back or even flinch as the blades thundered against the barrier. Instead, he leaned forward, a smirk secure on his face, and whispered conspiratorially over the din of battle.

“See what I mean?  Maybe her master could have been a threat, but he baled on them as soon as he could.”  The man didn't seem interested in actually fighting, so Tilly rearranged priorities to the small creatures slinging themselves at the surrounding knights. He turned away from the bragging man and risked begin running through the thickets groups of Splitters.

“Why resist what coming?  Embrace it!”  He called after Tilly in a sing-song voice.

“Absolute Blood Barrier.”  Echoed the shout of the Queen’s next spell. A ruby barrier rose in between the pillars around the room, blocking in the Chaos, and sealing the creatures and the Knights within.

“Knights, remove this threat from our Halls!  Weasle I will render the flesh from your bones for what you have done here!”  She called as Tilly released inflamed strike after inflamed strike, dropping his Wrath Ability as his Mana began to drop. This grouping would have been perfect for a Flame’s Expulsion, but there were too many friendlies in the area of effect.

“How many times have I told you idiots?  My name is Wesley!”  he shouted back, all of the laughter gone from his voice as it cracked into broken pieces.

Around the room, the Knights of the Round Table showed their skill at arms easily dispatching multiple Spliters with every sweep of their weapons…. But none of the creatures seemed to care, dying en mass for the chance to momentarily latch on to an exposed extremity.  And unfortunately with the exception of a few knights, none of the rest wore any armor in the hall.

Tilly couldn’t help but note how perfect the plan of attack had been.  No one that trained in fighting with full plate concerned themselves with small wounds, that was the advantage of being fully armored… but that very mentality showed its drawbacks here, when even teh smallest wound had a chance to pass on Corruption.  All of the unarmored Knights had taken wounds to some degree and while the creatures were quickly cut down, signs of infection were everywhere.

Arcane words rang out once again in the hall as the queen finished casting another longer spell and the barrier exploded inward in a forest of spikes, many finding one of the remaining Splitters and spearing it through the center.  While the majority of the spikes concentrated on the smaller creatures, the full central portion of the attack concentrated on the Weasle’s barrier, completely obscuring it from view, and crashing against the gemlike barrier.  As the razor-sharp blood lances faded away, their target stood there leering at his surroundings, unharmed.

The room suddenly became very still as all of the Splitters were dispatched and everyone's collective attention turned toward the man behind the seemingly impregnable barrier.  Through the stillness, the Queen's voice rasped in fury,

“Mallytza, I locked down all the doors.  Find and destroy any of those disgusting creatures that may have gotten out of the barrier. Knights, prepare your strongest Abilities. It is time the Cur is punished.”  The queen ordered, her pale face livid.

The Weasle turned slowly to face her, his visage one of mild curiosity, and that smooth velvety voice once against echoed through the chamber.  “I must say, it was painfully easy to topple what was left of your order…  When they offered me the job, I was excited, to say the least, but this has turned out to be rather disappointing.”

The Queen's full, red lips pulled back as she released a hiss of fury, and raised her hands once again, glowing with a dangerous dark red light. The Knights all around the room, despite sporting numerous infected wounds, each lifted their weapons to shatter whatever magic protected the confident saboteur.

“Looks like my time is up…” -He said, turning back to Tilly - “See you later friend.”  he winked, before snapping something hidden in his hand, and beginning to glow.

“Destroy HIM”  The Queen screeched. Launching one of many salvos of Mana-enhanced strikes and Abilities. The storm of power collided against the shield and shattered it, just as the figure within faded away.

“GAAAHH” The Queen’s shriek of frustration tore through the room at the disappearance of their attacker.  Then she collapsed into a boneless slouch on her ornate chair, as if the scream had held the last of her bodily energy.  Her eyes however flicked around the room, processing the implications of such an attack, and running through the possible outcomes.

After a moment of thought, she whispered into her hand, a flung it out, releaseding a cardinal-looking bird made of blood that streaked by Kindle in the air, and moved through the large doors as if they didnt exsist.   Then she issued orders to the rest of the room,

“Knights on Vigil, find the rest of the Weasle’s caravan and reinforce the gate! Send a report back to me at once. The rest of you stay here.  It seems this day has only just begun.”

All around the room, blades sheathed, and about a fifth of the Knights hurriedly left the circular hall, as the Queen released another arcane gesture and the large doors flung open.  Tilly noted that the dismissed Knights were all the ones he had seen actually wearing armor, including the Guardian that had charged them, and Sir Accolon, who refused to meet their eyes, sneering on his way out.

The rest of the Knights in the room turned to the second set of intruders.  Many sporting wounds that they believed were unhealable, yet they remained alert, ready to respond to whatever the queen needed.

Mallytza materialized near the open door and nodded to the queen confirming that the room and its surroundings were clear, the queen let out a long slow breath,

“...How did you know?”  She whispered, her quiet voice echoing through the chamber, its haggard tone complimenting the dark circles shadowing her blood-red eyes.

Tilly turned to face her fully, and thought carefully about his answer, recognizing the terrible blow she had just received, “Your Majesty… “ He opened slowly, looking for the easiest way to explain who he was and what he could offer, “I am a Divine Champion, and my deity has set itself against this new threat.  What you call blood sickness, we call Corruption. The Strigoi Hordes on your border think they have found a new source of power, but all they have discovered is a set of chains, so it is with any who accept this substance's offers of power.”

Then, instinctually feeling it would lend the most immediate credibility to his words, he lifted his jacket to reveal his scared side, with thick pulsating veins of Corruption reaching out into the rest of his body.  The surrounding Knights once again reached for weapons, unsure as Tilly continued,

“Our Faction, the Three-Fold Alliance, is beset now by a Strigio Horde, not because we are an easy target, but because we hold a power that can partially cure this sickness, and we are searching out another.  This power has been invested in me to remove this Corruption from others if they are still strong enough to resist.  I cannot yet be free of the substance myself, but as long as we catch it early enough, I can remove it from others.” He finished, dropping his jacket.

“You must forgive me if I am slow to trust such an offer after my recent… interaction with your kind.  Can you demonstrate this Divine Ability of yours.?”  She asked slowly, her perfectly manicured hand cradling her chin, as she resettled on her chare and attempted to display an impassive attitude.

Tilly nodded, peeking at his Mana, which had ticked above 22%. He turned a slow circle and found Gorock, who had once again gotten covered in wounds, his style of fighting similarly disadvantaged against the Spliters. At Tilly’s look, Gorock came forward eagerly, bare arms covered with infected bite marks and cuts. He scanned the room with his teeth bared in an expression Tilly was still unable to decipher and came up to stand in the center of the room.

“My Ability is activated through my breath.  It multiplies a target's Endurance and makes them much more able to fight off any poison or infection.  This is bolstered by my Champions Mantle, which makes the effect several times more powerful against this specific kind of invader.”  Tilly explained before churning the flame at his center and exhaling it over Gorock's frame.

This time the Wall Breaker didn't flinch as his skin grew flushed, and noxious steam rose from the myriad wounds.  In seconds all of the black infected areas were clear, and a cloud of dark smoke was gathering near the ceiling.  Before Tilly even had time to say something, Kindle was there, bursting through the cloud with a body wreathed in blue flames, and dispersing it immediately.

The Queen watched the process without changing expressions, but Tilly didn't miss the glint in her eyes as the Corruption was dispersed almost instantaneously.  Kindle’s display at the end was icing on the cake, and the Queen couldn’t help but smile as the cloud hissed into non-existence, her two fangs pressing against her full bottom lip in a striking mix of hunger and beauty.