The Zombie Knight

Chapter One Hundred Sixty-Six: ‘The Unworthy...’

The booming, disembodied voice of Malast arrived before the fighting had a chance to begin.

“This will be a three way battle,” said the Idle God. “The third combatant is still being decided, so the two of you may prefer to wait for him to arrive in the interest of fairness. Or you can simply get started without him. It is your choice.”

A third combatant?

Ah. That would explain why Malast had chosen the Chamber of Grand Desire as their battlefield. It was much larger than most of the Vault’s other treasure rooms. Even after all this time, Seyos was still nowhere near filling it. He had hoped to remedy that during his next venture to Qenghis, but that was before Ettol had arrived and thrown everything out of balance.

For a time, Seyos and Hector merely looked at one another, not saying or doing anything.

Seyos knew more than the surface-dweller probably realized. He had been observing the invaders since their arrival in Himmekel. It had been his hope that they would simply leave without incident, but that was not to be, it seemed. Foolishness on his part, he now realized. He should have known that their claims of arriving here accidentally were lies. Of course they were here for his treasure.

This, too, was Ettol’s doing, he knew. That insufferable wretch. No doubt, this was the man’s true goal all along--to bring outsiders here, attempting to stir the Idle God to action.

It wasn’t going to work. Seyos wouldn’t allow it. Supreme Will or not, these meddlers were not going to simply show up and take that which rightfully belonged to him.

How could Malast possibly consider one of them to be a suitable vessel for Secho? It beggared belief. Surely, Malast had not forgotten what they had done, the misery that they were responsible for.

At length, Seyos could endure the tense silence no longer. “You should never have come here,” he said.

“...I don’t want to fight you,” said Hector.

“Hah!” He pointed at the mace in the young man’s hand. “And yet you steal the Moon’s Wrath from me!”

Hector glanced at the weapon a moment. “...Aren’t you the one who’s been stealing?”

Seyos scowled. “All such technology is derived from the knowledge pioneered by my brethren. That you would not understand this, is sadly to be expected.”

“...Okay, so if I give you this thing right now, you’ll stop trying to kill me and my friends?”

Those words took Seyos by surprise, but they sounded genuine. But no. It was just another trick, of course. Seyos knew better. “I did not expect you to say something so cowardly, but you are right to fear me.”

Hector made no response.

Seyos found that irritating. “If you surrender now and return the Moon’s Wrath, I will show you mercy. I promise to spare the lives of both you and your reaper.”

“...And what about everyone who was with me?” said Hector.

“They must prostrate themselves likewise,” said Seyos. “Mercy must be earned.”

“I don’t think they’d agree to that,” said Hector.

“Neither do I,” said Seyos.

And there was silence again.

Seyos readied himself beneath the Deceiver’s Cloak. Within its billowing and distorted visage, he was able to hold many more items than he would have otherwise been able to carry. He reached first for the item which had subdued Diego, the Orb of Tranquility.

There existed no better tool for dealing with servants. Ever confident in their power, they never saw it coming, this item which could suppress the synchronicity of their soul with that of their reaper. As soon as a servant laid eyes on it, the Orb rendered them no better than the corpse that they truly were.

And would it be here. As soon as this Hector looked at the Orb...

As soon as he looked at it...

Hector would be...

What?

Seyos didn’t understand. He’d presented the Orb. Hector was staring right at it, and yet he was still standing there, unfazed.

How could--?

Agh...

The Supreme Will.

It played a role here, too?

How intolerably obnoxious.

“What’s that?” said Hector plainly, as if trying to kill Seyos with irritation alone.

“Nothing,” growled Seyos. He returned the Orb to the Cloak and began deliberating.

The Fists of Enkir. The Shield of Hamenszoon. The Twin Blades of Boros. The Mask of Amordiin. The Deceiver’s Dagger. The Deceiver’s Eye. The Black Spindle. The Box of Perdition.

Ugh...

The Orb of Tranquility had been ideal precisely because of how innocuous it appeared. The other items he had to choose from were not nearly so. As soon as he pulled one of them out and began using it, Hector would realize something was wrong and no doubt mount some sort of counteroffensive.

And that would be most undesirable.

Seyos had not survived all this time by actually bothering to fight servants. They were far too troublesome for that.

But Seyos did have something else up his sleeve--or rather, around his neck.

The Pendant of Unso, though it was meant to be used in conjunction with the Staff of Unso, was still far from useless on its own. And Malast did say that there were no other rules to this tournament, so there was no reason he couldn’t use it.

Very well.

“Pardon me for one moment,” said Seyos. He gripped the Pendant with one hand and focused on the desired room. “I will return shortly with a gift.”

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“Wha--?”

Distorted space enveloped him, and Seyos closed his eyes to mitigate the disorientation.

In an instant, he arrived precisely where he meant to.

His home for the last millennia.

It was far from the life of luxury that he had enjoyed during his time as Guong before the Great Fall, but he had come to hold affection for this place, in a strange way. The feeling of safety was comforting enough.

And the mirrors. The many, many mirrors.

Of course, they weren’t truly mirrors. Rather, they were spatial windows, connected to every mirror in Himmekel. They allowed him to observe the daily lives of his subjects, to understand their struggles, their needs and desires--as well as their lies and their treason, unintentional though it may have been.

Seyos’ eyes fell upon his stone desk in the middle of the chamber, upon the bodiless core currently sitting upon it.

A terrible shame. One day, such intelligent and probing minds would be of tremendous value to the Hun’Sho again, but right now, they were only a nuisance. Too much so, sadly. Seyos hated having to do this to own kin, but he knew all too well that they simply would not understand what needed to be done for the continued survival and resurgence of the Hun’Sho.

He picked up the core of young Jasirok and gripped it in the palm of his molten hand. “With this sacrifice,” he whispered, “you will do unto our enemies as they once did unto us.”

Seyos took a few moments to simply breathe, long and deeply, feeling the weight of the deed that he was about to do. He had done it far too many times, these past few years. It was all for the preservation of his people. Even if they eventually discovered what he was doing and hated him for it.

It was all for their sake.

Seyos circumnavigated the desk and retrieved the Wand of Conduction from the top right drawer, as well as one of the many small metal containers from the bottom left drawer. Next, he moved toward the mirrors and tapped the Wand against each one as he passed, activating them just long enough for a brief look on the other side.

Hmm.

Not many of his people were in their homes. Strange, for this time of day. Perhaps they knew more of what was happening than Seyos had previously realized. He knew they wouldn’t dare set foot outside Himmekel, of course, not with Enkir and Dunikei wreaking their eternal havoc, but still, it troubled him.

He would look into it later. Seyos crammed the Wand into the Deceiver’s Cloak. There wasn’t a proper space for it, but it would do, for now.

He readied himself to teleport again. He knew that he wouldn’t have much time once he returned to the Chamber of Grand Desire. He held Jasirok’s core in one hand and the small metal container in the other. With effort, he twisted the cap off the container and heard it pop.

He dumped its murky contents onto the core. Almost immediately, he felt it pulse in response.

No time now. He tossed the container aside, gripped the Pendant of Unso, and jumped back to the Chamber of Grand Desire.

As expected, Hector was still there, though he had moved closer to the small pile of treasure by the far wall, no doubt looking for more valuables to pillage.

Before Seyos could move, however, metal appeared all around him, fixing him in place with one hand still around the Pendant and the other still around the trembling core.

“Where did you go?” said Hector, only then turning to face him.

Seyos saw no reason to answer that. The magma of his body was already beginning to change the metal’s color, so it wasn’t unthinkable that he would be able to break out of this encasing--or even absorb it into him, perhaps. But the surface-dweller would probably just make more.

No, the only real solution here was to use the Pendant again and teleport away. He had to be careful, though, to make sure that he didn’t bring the core with him. And since he couldn’t physically drop it from his hand, due to the metal encasing, it required deliberate mental effort to leave the core behind, to ensure that it didn’t become enveloped in the Pendant’s power along with him.

But he managed it, just as the core was growing too violent in his hand. And in a blink, he was gone from the Chamber of Grand Desire once again.

Seyos didn’t know if he would’ve been able to defeat the one the others had been calling Darksteel in single combat, but he certainly knew that the “gift” he had just left behind would crush anyone. One day, all the world would know both the folly and wrath of the Hun’Sho as that foolish young invader was about to.

Seyos, in the meantime, intended to get a head start on killing the other remaining combatants.

-+-+-+-+-

‘Garovel, what the hell am I looking at?’

‘Ah--isn’t that a Hun’Sho core?’

Hector supposed it did look similar to the one he’d seen in Torveis’ chest, but what the hell was wrong with it? It was vibrating like crazy now, and just a moment ago, it had a ripped a hole through the empty iron shell that he’d made for Seyos.

He didn’t know where the guy had gone, but it was more than enough to put him on edge. For all he knew, Seyos could pop in at any moment and try to take his head off. That was why he’d made sure that Garovel was tucked away in the safest possible combat position--around the wrist of his shield hand.

‘Careful, Hector,’ the reaper said. ‘Something is very wrong with that thing. What I’m sensing is--I can’t explain. The ardor within it is spiking in a way I wouldn’t have thought possible. I don’t know--’

The core expanded visibly, ballooning up to the size of a basketball, and dark goo started oozing out of it. The white-hot exterior cracked, releasing more. And then it simply broke apart entirely, replaced by a shooting column of murky slime.

Of sludge.

The mass grew all too quickly, and it wasn’t much longer before Hector began to realize what he was looking at.

He was watching a worm being born. And a very large one, at that.

Instinctively, he tried coating the mass in iron, but he was not surprised when it did absolutely nothing to stem the growing tide of sludge. The iron simply expanded out and broke until it, too, was swallowed by slimy darkness.

“G-Garovel...”

‘Wow, this is even worse than I was expecting.’

“What the fuck do I do?!” Hector was finding it abruptly difficult to remain as calm as the reaper sounded.

‘Hmm, good question.’

“Garovel!”

The worm was already as big as a house.

‘Okay, well, let’s look at this logically. We already know you can’t kill it. And we’re trapped in here, so we can’t run from it, either.’

“That’s not helpful.”

‘The treasure. Maybe there’s some more treasure around that will help you take it down.’

Well, it was a plan, at least. Unfortunately, despite the size of the room, there wasn’t nearly as much treasure in it compared to the previous ones Hector had been in. And he knew that with absolute certainty, thanks to the Scarf of Amordiin. Apart from the relatively modest pile currently at his back, there were two other, even smaller ones on the second and third floors of the chamber, respectively.

There was no point in complaining, though. It would have to do.

Still keenly aware of the bubbling mass in the center of the room, Hector set to work, looking over the nearest treasure pile. He and Garovel had already gotten a brief opportunity to examine this one earlier when Seyos disappeared, but the only thing that caught the reaper’s attention had been a glittery orb that was apparently called the Hypnosphere.

Hector went for it immediately, because he didn’t know what else to do, freeing one of his hands by hanging his mace on a materialized hook.

‘What’re you gonna do with that?’

“I don’t fucking know! You tell me!”

‘Uh... just chuck it at it.’

“Really?!”

‘Yeah!’

“Okay!”

He spun around, gathered his strength in his throwing arm as he reeled back, and launched the Hypnosphere straight into the worm’s body.

Nothing happened.

“Garovel, that didn’t do shit!”

‘Well, there goes five million troa down the toilet.’

“Why’d you tell me to throw it, then?!”

‘Eh, it was a calculated risk. And that thing was ugly, anyway.’

The worm was as big as two houses, now, and it had an obvious mouth and eyes, which were pointed in his direction.

‘Hey, that item over there could be the Bell of Calming.’

It took a second, but Hector saw what he was referring to. A silvery bell with geometric engravings. He grabbed it without hesitation.

‘Try ringing it.’

He did so. Hard. The sound was sharp and clear, certainly loud enough to carry across the whole room.

And he waited for some noticeable change to occur.

But it didn’t.

‘...Huh. I guess it’s not the Bell of Calming, after all.’

“Garovel, that thing is gonna fuckin’ kill us!”

‘Yeah, I’m starting to get a little worried, actually.’

Hector didn’t think this was the time for banter. “What’s the next item?!”

‘Ah, I don’t think there is one in this pile. Just a bunch of coins and jewelry.’

“Agh!”

But Hector did know what to do next, at least. He had to get to the second floor.

He launched himself up with a materialized platform and landed with a heavy thud. From there, the treasure was straight ahead, so he bolted for it, able to maintain a full sprint with the vigor that he now felt flowing all throughout his body.

Still, this new level of awareness was difficult to get used to. In a good way, perhaps, but difficult nonetheless. He kept his attention focused firmly on the growing worm even while it was completely out of his line of sight beneath the rock under his feet. He barely even looked at the treasure and just let Garovel go over it for him.

“Anything?!”

‘Mm, nope, sorry.’

Hector wanted to scream.

‘Hey, you could always try that mace you picked up. Didn’t seem all that special to me, but Seyos called it the Moon’s Wrath, so it must have something to it, right?’

Hector hadn’t forgotten. “I’d have to get in close to attack it with this thing,” he said, trying to be calmer, “and I don’t think we want to do that.”

‘Oh yeah. If you get caught in that slime, you might not be able to get out, huh?’

That was his exact concern, yes. He still remembered some of the Rainlords getting swallowed up at the battle by the train. They’d managed to free themselves with an incredibly impressive attack from inside its gut, but Hector doubted that he would be able to pull off the same trick. Or maybe he could. But he didn’t want to put himself in a situation where he had to find out.

Nonetheless, he did take the Moon’s Wrath in hand once again. If he wasn’t able keep the beast away from him, then the mace would be a good option--if not the only option.

The worm was beginning to move now, Hector sensed. Its growth had finally slowed but still not quite stopped, and it was now the size of an office building. He could see a bit of it peeking over the second floor and squirming its way in his direction over the rock.

Time for the third floor, he decided. It was a good thirty or so meters above him, but he appreciated the extra distance between himself and the worm. He could sense it beginning to thrash around down there and climb up.

He went for the treasure pile.

‘Ooh! Grab that thing right there that looks like an orb on a tuning fork!’

He saw it and did so. “Okay, what does it do?”

‘It’s, ah, difficult to explain, but we’ll be able to find some really cool shit with it. It’s like a special kind of metal detector.’

Hector needed a second to find his words. “How will that help me kill the worm?”

‘Oh, it won’t. It’s useless for that.’

Hector sighed angrily.

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