Curselock

Chapter 55: Limitations

Power, lifeforce, and mana flowed through Leland’s lips before he whispered, “Maul.”

A breath later, lifeforce and mana swam around his heart, connecting his own to the woman in white’s. “Slow,” he whispered, anticipating a barrage of emotions.

He felt angry but he couldn’t quite figure out why. Obviously there were enemies and he needed to protect the Sightless King, they threatened him and inversely the cult. But the rage he felt was also distant, like it was afraid of the incoming moments. It wanted to retreat, to be praised, to fight together. But that had been cut off, by a singular red wall isolating the king from the rest of the town.

Leland’s vision unnarrowed and he saw the woman in white stumble. She was on the back foot, an invisible force protecting and attacking. She growled as she parried and blocked, each streak of red cutting into her ethereal defenses.

A war cry from his side alerted her to a new combatant. She remembered him and frankly scoffed. Jude had failed to deal any real damage to the woman during their first encounter, but that didn’t mean she could simply absorb his attacks.

“Fracture,” Leland whispered right as Jude towered down with a deadly overhead strike.

The attack was easily blocked, but not before s slight crack emanated out of the woman’s body. She grunted, shifting away from another red streak from her side. Quickly she spun, flailing out wildly at the invisible boy that dared attack her.

She missed and opened herself up to another wide-arc swipe from Jude. His axe shimmered with red rage, firing out a crescent projectile with raw strength. For a moment a thin ethereal outline shone around the woman. It took the form of a hulking person, one attached to her back like a conjoined twin.

Jude’s eyes went wide as the twin’s outline faded just after it reeled back. He quickly put up his guard, the now invisible fist of the twin bashing hard into his body. He flew across the street, crashing into a shop through a glass window.

Leland and Glenny reacted without modesty and redoubled their attacks. They threw malice out the window and dipped their toes into sheer hatred. Quickly the pages on Leland’s grimoire shifted as two red spikes appeared from Glenny’s invisible assault.

“Kneel before me!” Leland bellowed, his eyes turning fiery violet.

As he cast his net of influence toward the woman in white, a figure appeared directly next to the red wall.

The Huntress had finally finished clearing the sigils and moved her attention to the Sightless King. She slowly pressed into the wall, finding it hard like solid rock. She smirked to herself with a quick back step. A heartbeat later a bow appeared in her hands fully drawn. She fired the arrow and dashed forward, passing through the resultant hole in the wall before it could heal itself.

The Sightless King instantly reacted, all of his eyes swiveling to the intruder.

The woman in white suddenly shrieked, her hollow eye sockets turning into red waterfalls. She stumbled a bit, causing her to fail to move out of Leland’s spell. Abruptly a pain washed through her back as Glenny materialized beside her. He trusted deep, stabbing with a singular red spike before darting back and allowing a Legacy ability to exsanguinate the fresh wound.

As a volcano of blood and fleshy bits burst from the wound, a singular soul of the Damaged clawed its way from the other realm. It locked eyes with the woman as a tornado of purple flame wrapped around her body. Soon the flames dwindled but not before she started leaking green mist.

Jude rallied himself, pushing through Leland’s domain despite the broken glass jutting from his body. He attacked the woman at the same time a flash of great golden light exploded a few dozen paces away inside the walled-off area. The Legacy of the Berserker didn’t care, however, and slammed down with pain-augmented strength. Again an outline of a grotesque conjoined twin sprouted from the impact and again Jude cursed.

“WHY! CAN’T! I HIT! YOU!” he wailed, punctuating each word with another blow from his axe.

“Fracture,” Leland said, snapping his fingers in rhythm with his friend’s next attack.

Something caught in the woman’s foot, crunching as she pivoted to better position her twin . She grimaced in pain, losing her concentration for a mere moment. Jude’s axe clipped her shoulder, drawing more blood.

Jude didn’t even mind he was sent sailing across the street again. He had done it, he had hurt the woman. He smiled as he picked himself up from the wreckage but then noticed the blood leaking from his own body. His smile quickly fell, replaced with artificial rage. His Legacy blared in his mind, urging him to push forward.

“No,” he said to himself, and started counting.

Glenny’s attack came next, but the woman casually dodged it before grabbing the rogue with her invisible twin magic. She pulled him directly in front of her eye sockets and inspected him. Suddenly the twin smashed him into the ground, disgust on the woman’s face.

“You dare hold his power!?” she bellowed. “How do you even— I shall kill you where you stand, heathen!”

The woman in white roared with a disturbed screech. Her breathing suddenly became ragged and she muttered indiscriminate threats with a horrid tone. Two separate voices came from her throat, one high and one low. That was when the twin connected to her back fully materialized, revealing itself in all its vile glory.

It grew from her spine like a growth or a parasite and covered itself in slick ethereal skin and eyes. Each eye swiveled just like the Sightless King’s but they were slow and lagged. It hesitated to look at Leland and the now retreating Glenny like a shy child afraid of a scolding. At least it did, until the woman it was connected to suddenly issued a command.

“Kill them all,” she said, evolving the conjoined twin to a new state. They roared together in raw anger and kicked off the ground with blazing speed.

Glenny, their target, managed to push himself out of Leland’s Circle of Souls and found the purple pillars of flame oddly comforting. Suddenly the woman and her magic twin bulged from inside the fire. Like trying to push through a layer of cloth, the pair swiped and grabbed for the rogue. Glenny simply rolled further away, trusting in Leland’s spell to contain the enemy.

Leland, however, wasn’t so sure. He yelled at Glenny to escape, knowing his hold on the circle to be fading. He focused intently on the spell, accepting another lost soul from his diminishing reserves. The soul of the Damned who offered such a succulent prize disappeared before Leland could take another, and another.

All in all, Leland added three new lost souls to his body, ignoring the banging pain that sprouted in his head. Above his head, the Harbinger Halo fell away, turning to dust and nothingness. A smile found his lips as his grimoire floated into his periphery. Like the tome read his mind, it flipped open to the contract with the Lord of Magic.

Slamming his palm into the page, the contract took, fueling him with even more raw power.

Leland cursed as the woman and mangled twin barreled into the Circle of Soul’s edge. They dove into the flames without care, their boisterous war cries masking the pain the woman felt. Green continuously leaked from her bloodied body, only speeding up when she came into contact with the purple flames.

Nearby, the soul of the Damned tasked with taking her soul watched with burning passion.

Leland, however, faltered. He tried to cast Curse of Collapse but found his attention too divided. The spell fizzled before it found full form, sending a backlash of pain across his heart and chest. He grunted, forcing himself to regain focus on the Circle of Souls.

The pain in his head made it impossible – the spell weakened.

Suddenly the woman broke through the purple flames and cast off the soul of the Damned . Her eyes fell on Glenny, despite the young man being invisible. She charged, allowing her twin to launch her with unholy speed.

Dodging, Glenny suddenly found himself in a deathly game of cat and mouse. He pulled no punches and used everything in his arsenal to keep distance from the deranged woman. It would be hours at this rate before he would tire, something he kept in the back of his mind—

A bloom of golden light suddenly lit up the now dusk sky. The explosion formed into a miniature sun before hanging just above the ground. A guttural cry escaped the sanctuary of the red-walled legislation district along with an isolated earthquake.

The woman in white stopped cold. Her eyes widening, she turned towards her Lord and fired off. Her serving steps failed to protect the Sightless King, a red wall of his own design blocking her path. She wailed on the boundary, each punch only sending more blood down her crying face.

A person sized meteor crashed down next to her, his weapon mid swing. Jude’s eyes blazed as his axe found the woman’s spine, only for it to be stopped partway.

A smirk found his lips as he allowed part of the rage in. A red crescent flared to life at the tip of his axe’s edge before he reeled back and swung again. The twin caught the weapon but failed to grip the Berserker Legacy ability. Jude didn’t so much as try to wrestle his axe from the monster, and simply back stepped away.

The woman turned on him, the twin holding her spin together and aiding her movements. She snarled at Jude but another golden explosion caught her attention. Just then the red wall protecting the Sightless King faded away.

The woman in white didn’t hesitate. She turned and ran.