The shockwave activated the moment I landed on his shield, and the blast blew me back like a hurricane wind. But this was exactly what I had wanted. It propelled me into a far higher leap than I could have made unassisted. I somersaulted over the second Crusader, landing behind him just as he returned to his fighting stance.
In the split-second before he could spin around and face me, I buried Grave Oath into the back of his neck, through a tiny gap between the bottom of his great helm and the top of his gorget. He shuddered as I sucked his soul out of his body before he collapsed in a heap at my feet, shriveled and very dead. I could almost feel Grave Oath swelling with power from the mighty soul I’d just captured.
Just then, another soul entered my blade, and then another, sucked in via the black anti-light threads that connected my dagger to Fang and my skeletons.
“Good work, skellies,” I said as I glanced across the sanctum.
Elyse was feeding her golden rope through the eye slit of a Crusader’s great helm. The object must have wrapped around his neck because he dropped both his sword and shield before tearing off his helm and trying to pry off the rope.
Another soul raced through the air and entered my dagger.
Rami sidestepped a Crusader’s broad swing before she gripped him around the waist. In an impressive feat of strength, she flipped him over her shoulder, then jammed both sais through his helm’s eye slit.
Another soul soared into Grave Oath.
I shot another look over to my left as a Crusader sent out a shockwave from his tower shield. The blast hit one of my skeletons, and it exploded in a cloud of bones. Then, Sarge engaged the Crusader in a one-on-one duel, swinging his golden greatsword with effortless speed and skill.
At that moment, Grave Oath pulsed slightly in my hand again as yet another soul was sucked into the weapon via the anti-light pathways. I heard Fang bellow out a triumphant roar.
A groan came from my right, and I saw the captain pluck out my throwing star from his eye socket. He grimaced as he tossed the object away. From either side of his bloody eyes, black veins expanded, like rivers on a map.
“Lord of Light, hear my supplications!” he yelled, and a burst of light suddenly pierced the stained glass above him. The colorful beam split into two and struck the captain’s butchered eyes. Then, it was gone, and he stared at me with eyes glowing like two small suns.
“Now, necromancer, I will cleanse your stain from this world.”
“You seriously have to come up with some better lines, asshole,” I muttered, Grave Oath at the ready in one hand and a throwing star in the other. “Come on, let’s see what you’ve got.”
Chapter Fourteen
The captain stormed across the space between us with a wordless snarl, and I sprang forward to meet him. Our weapons clanged, and sparks flew as we both cut, slashed, lunged, and parried in a blur of speed. The captain’s agility and dexterity were off the charts. I couldn’t help thinking that I’d met my match.
Every attack I threw at him, he was able to dodge or parry, but I was able to do the same. Back and forth we pushed each other, exchanging blow after blow, trying combination after combination, switching stances and guards, each searching for that one crucial gap in the other’s defenses that would end this deadly duel.
As I fought, I felt more souls flowing into Grave Oath from my allies’ kills. We were winning, all right. In a moment of respite, with both myself and the captain circling each other warily, breathing hard from the intensity of the fight, I noticed that he was the last Resplendent Crusader left alive. Three of my skeletons had been destroyed, but Sarge was still standing, his greatsword dripping with the blood of our enemies. Elyse and Rami were looking exhausted but unharmed, and Fang was wolfing down a chewed-up Crusader, plate mail and all. I could have called all of them in to finish off the captain, but I didn’t. I wanted to win this fight on my own.
“Stay back,” I said to them as I weaved beneath the captain’s wide swing. “This one is mine.”
“Pride is a squalid vice.” The captain blocked my dagger with his shield, then pushed me back.
“Get him, Vance!” Elyse yelled.
“Suck out his soul!” Rami cried.
Fang simply rumbled with satisfaction, ignoring me and focusing on his half-finished meal.
The captain and I continued to circle each other, and an idea popped into my head as I passed the corpse of the first Crusader I’d killed. They channeled magic by commanding their voices; the shields themselves weren’t enchanted.
As I jumped over the corpse to dodge an attack from the captain, I wondered whether, since I possessed some magical powers of my own, I couldn’t channel them through the shield. If so, I could use their powers against them. It was worth a shot, so I rolled back to where I’d come from, dropped quickly to my knee, and scooped up the dead Crusader’s tower shield.
The captain whirled around and turned his glowing eyes on me. “You dare defile that sacred shield with your unholy touch?”
He charged, his shield held in front of him like a battering ram.
“I’ve heard about enough of your self-righteous bullshit for one night, you pompous asshole. So I think it’s about time that I made it… stop!”
As the captain closed in, I could feel Isu’s presence all around me. Magical power pulsed out from my heart, surged through my every vein and nerve ending, and crackled
