Chapter 121: The King (5)
The silence that followed Kay’s brutal mutilation stretched like a taut wire ready to snap. Arthur, Aziel, and Lara stood transfixed by the horror of their companion’s fate, his armless form crumpled against the cracked wall like a discarded puppet. Dark blood continued to seep from his wounds, each drop marking the seconds of his fading life. The Ancient King stood amidst the carnage, his sun mask reflecting their shocked faces with cold indifference, as if the dismemberment of their ally was nothing more than swatting an annoying insect.
But it was precisely in this moment of despair that something fundamental shifted within the three remaining warriors. The sight of Kay’s broken body didn’t break their spirits—it ignited something deeper, something primal that had been waiting beneath the surface of their carefully controlled techniques and tactical formations.
Arthur’s shadow armor began to pulse with renewed intensity, the living darkness responding to the fury building within him. The shadows around his form deepened and spread, tendrils of pure night reaching out like grasping fingers. His shadow-wreathed blade hummed with energy as power flooded through him.
The Ancient King’s response was immediate—a lightning-fast strike aimed at Arthur’s heart. But this time, Arthur didn’t just parry the blow; he seemed to flow around it like liquid darkness. The king’s ancient blade passed through shadowy wisps where Arthur’s torso previously was, striking nothing but empty air.
Arthur’s counterattack came from an impossible angle, his shadow blade swinging down behind the king’s guard. The weapon found its mark, carving a deep gash across the ancient ruler’s back that sent ichor spraying across the throne room floor.
Aziel felt the shift in the battle’s momentum like electricity in his veins. Lightning crackled around his broken nose and split lip as he channeled power beyond his normal limits, his body becoming a conduit for forces that threatened to tear him apart from within. But he embraced the pain, let it fuel his determination as electrical energy coursed through every fiber of his being.
His spear became more than a weapon—it transformed into a lightning rod of pure destruction. Bolts of electricity arced from its point, not in random displays of power but in calculated strikes that forced the king to dodge and weave. Each near-miss left scorch marks on the marble floor and filled the air with the acrid scent of ozone.
"My turn to show you real speed," Aziel snarled through blood-stained teeth.
What happened next defied the eye’s ability to track. Aziel didn’t just move fast—he became speed itself, his lightning-enhanced form flickering in and out of visibility as he struck from multiple angles simultaneously. His spear found its mark again and again, each thrust infused with enough electrical energy to stop a man’s heart. The king’s ancient reflexes were suddenly insufficient to track the lightning-wreathed warrior’s assault.
Dark ichor flowed freely from a dozen wounds as Aziel’s relentless barrage continued. The Ancient King’s sun mask actually cracked from the electrical discharge of a particularly powerful strike, hairline fractures spreading across the golden surface like a spider web of defeat.
But it was Lara who delivered the most devastating blow of all.