Chapter 14.1: Semifinal Part 1
The crowd’s roar splits the air. Underworld enforcers and black market dealers chants Valdris’s name, their voices merging into a savage hymn.
Leon draws a steady breath. Pain flares in his side, but he pushes through it. His voice cuts across the arena: "Arouse!"
Blue light twists through the sand as his Elite Grave Mage materializes first—spectral bones wraps in dark energy, blue fire burning in empty sockets. Then comes the second figure that makes the organizer’s face go ash-gray.
The undead assassin steps forward—the same woman who had tried to murder him hours ago, she moves with perfect precision. Twin knives glints in her hands.
Recognition flickers across several faces in the crowd. The organizer’s hired killer is now serving her target and the irony is not lost on anyone.
Valdris’s brute charges immediately, its sledgehammer sweeps down in a bone-crushing arc. Leon dives left, sand scraping his palms. The weapon strikes where he had just stood, sending tremors through the arena floor.
His Mage Zombie intercepts the brute’s follow-up swing. Spectral bones cracks under the impact but holds firm. Blue sparks fly as undead grapples with undead.
The metal wolf leaps at Leon’s legs, jaws snapping for his ankles. His assassin meets it mid-air. Steel rings against steel as her knives deflects their fangs, and they crash together in a tangle of limbs and blades.
The one-armed swordsman circles wide, searching for an opening. Leon tracks its movements, raising his manna gun, and fires. The shot scorches the sand, but the swordsman has already moved, its blade nicking Leon’s forearm as it passes.
Blood wells through his sleeve. These are not mindless puppets typical of necromancy. Each of Valdris’s minions moves with intelligence, coordination, and purpose.
"Impressed?" Valdris calls from across the pit. "Fifteen years of practice, boy. Your parlor tricks won’t save you here."