Skulduggery broke free, and the Grotesquery re-formed its arm and swung its massive fist.
Skulduggery drew in the air to block it and Tanith slashed at the arm, which healed instantly.
Valkyrie clicked her fingers, turned the sparks to fireballs, and threw them. The first missed, but the second exploded against the Grotesquery's side.
The stinger darted and Tanith ducked, then lunged, her sword piercing its chest, but the Grotesquery smashed down on her arm and the bone snapped. Tanith cried out and was shoved away. The Grotesquery removed the sword and dropped it, and the wound healed.
Bliss extricated himself from the hole he had made in the side of the building. He dusted himself off, as though being thrown through a wall was a mere minor inconvenience, but the first step he took was unsteady. He'd been hurt.
Skulduggery reached into his jacket, pulled out his revolver. Then he reached in with the other hand, to the other side, and pulled out an identical revolver. He thumbed back both hammers and fired. Twelve shots, hitting the Grotesquery with unerring accuracy, and then he dropped the guns and ran forward. Valkyrie saw something in his hand, a metal cylinder attached to a metal spike.
Skulduggery jumped, stabbing the spike into the area he'd been shooting. The Grotesquery took hold of him and flung him back, but the cylinder had a red light on top, and it was flashing.
The explosion sent Valkyrie to her knees, her ears ringing, spots dancing before her eyes.
She looked back, hopeful, but the Grotesquery was standing there as if nothing had happened.
A wound on its arm opened for a split second, enough for a drop of black blood to leak out, but then it closed. Was it weakening?
Tanith gathered her strength and sprang, but the Grotesquery batted her away. Her body twisted as she fell, and when she hit the ground, she tried to get up again but couldn't.
The Grotesquery raised its left arm, and Valkyrie dived. She held both hands out toward Tanith, felt the spaces between them, felt how they linked together, and when the stinger darted out, she pushed, and the air rippled. Tanith was sent skidding along the ground, and the stinger missed.
Valkyrie looked up, realizing that she was now the Grotesquery's main focus of attention.
'The Cleavers,' Valkyrie whispered. 'Somebody signal the Cleavers. ...'
And then Bliss was there, standing between Valkyrie and the approaching Grotesquery.
Instead of striking, Bliss pressed both hands to its chest and started to push. The creature kept walking. Bliss locked his body, but he was being driven slowly back. Valkyrie could hear him straining. Not even Bliss's legendary strength could stop it.
And then, amazingly, it faltered.
Bliss gave another heave, and the Grotesquery was actually forced to take a step back.
Tanith made herself get up on one knee and finally stand. The Grotesquery had stopped walking altogether and now seemed to be examining Bliss. It held up its left hand close to him.
'Tanith?' Bliss said through gritted teeth. His face was drenched with sweat. 'If you wouldn't mind ...'
Tanith looked quickly to Valkyrie. 'Sword.'
Valkyrie reached out, felt the air around them, used the air to close around the fallen sword, and then she twisted her wrist and the sword flew from the ground into Tanith's left hand. Tanith was already swinging when the stinger darted, her blade intercepting it before it could reach Bliss.
The tip of the stinger fell to the ground. Valkyrie and Tanith stared down at it.
'I hurt it,' Tanith said in disbelief.
'About time,' Bliss muttered, drew back his right hand, and let loose with an almighty punch that sent the Grotesquery reeling.
'Cleavers!' Bliss roared. 'Attack!'
Chapter Thirty-nine
FACING VENGEOUS
THE GROTESQUERY flailed and struck. out and three Cleavers were flung away, but there were more to take their place.
Skulduggery and Valkyrie stood together. Tanith cradled her broken arm. Bliss had taken a step back to catch his breath.
They watched the Cleavers attack, and it was a sight to behold. They moved as a perfect team, silently and without the need for orders. They knew what they had to do, and they backed each other up, compensated for injuries, reinforced, and provided distraction. The Grotesquery was not granted a single moment to recover.
Valkyrie saw the growth on its left wrist contract, spitting acid. It caught a Cleaver full in the chest and he went down, trying to tear his coat off but dying before he was able.
The Grotesquery's right arm unraveled again, and all five talons plunged into another Cleaver and then tore out. The Cleaver was thrown through the air like a rag doll.
A slice across the Grotesquery's tendon made it stagger. Another slice, across its back, splattered the ground with black blood. It lashed out wildly, struck nothing but air, and stumbled to one knee. The Cleavers swarmed over it as it tried to heal itself.
And just when things were going right, everything went wrong.
There came a voice from behind them — 'Heathens!' — and they looked around.
Baron Vengeous had returned.
He stood on the same rooftop they themselves had stood on, and the shadows whipped around him angrily. His armor shifted, became sharp, and when he walked forward, the shadows snaked over the edge and down to the ground. He strode on darkness, and the darkness lowered him to the courtyard.
The Cleavers broke off their attack. The Grotesquery was on its knees. Its body was trying to mend the wounds it had suffered. It didn't get up.
'How dare you!' Vengeous thundered as he stalked toward them. 'How dare you attack a living god!'
'It's not a god,' Skulduggery said. 'And it won't be living for much longer.'
Valkyrie looked closer at the shadows around Vengeous. There seemed to be a clump of darkness trailing after him. Suddenly the darkness unwrapped and let its captive go, and China Sorrows tumbled to the ground. Vengeous left her in his wake.
Bliss went to meet him.
'You will go no further,' Bliss said.
'Then stop me,' Vengeous snarled.
'That is my intention,' Bliss said, and punched.
Vengeous held up a hand, collecting shadows to form a barrier. Bliss hit the barrier, and they all heard his knuckles break.
The armor shifted, reinforcing Vengeous's fist, and he smiled as he delivered a punch of his own.
The blow caught Bliss beneath the chin, lifting him and sending him hurtling back.
Skulduggery raised his gun and fired, aiming for the head. The shadows became a cloud that covered Vengeous's face, soaking up the bullets and spitting them out again. When the gun clicked empty, the shadows settled.
'Well, that didn't work,' Skulduggery muttered.
'Cleavers,' Tanith said, gripping her sword, 'we have a new target.'
Tanith ran forward, and the Cleavers sprang.
Vengeous held his arm out straight.
'Oh damn it,' was all Skulduggery had time to say, before a wave of darkness erupted from Vengeous's hand and slammed into Tanith and the Cleavers. Skulduggery grabbed Valkyrie and dragged her down, the darkness passing above them. She glimpsed everyone else slump to the ground, unconscious.
