Ralph was duelling Bertha, driving her back, his rage and his two swords finally giving her a fight. Her grin didn’t waver as she parried his blows with vicious ripostes tearing at his armor and forcing him to give ground. Abby whirled away from a Sand Pirate as his flesh cooked and smoked from her sparking fingertip, but I saw the final surviving pirate sprinting toward her—the mountain-man. His footfalls cratered the ground as I raced to intercept him.
The blood from my foes coursed through my veins and provided me additional speed, and I collided with him a second before he would have pulverized Abby’s brains with his warhammer. The impact sent us both to the ground, but he was on top of me in a second. Runes blazed across his armor, and the gauntlets covering his hands blazed with enchantments. They must have all been Might sigils because he had no trouble shifting his weight on top of me and pinning me down. I struggled to plunge my dagger into his chest, and he laughed in my face.
“Foolish elf. It will be the might Razen who slays you this—” The pirate’s eyes suddenly widened as a bolt of high-voltage electricity coursed through him. The energy chained from my opponent and rippled through my body, leaving me stunned.
The mountain-man crashed on top of me, his eyes twitching as he struggled to move. Abby came to me and heaved the pirate off me before she assisted me to my feet. Bertha and Ralph were still locked in battle, and the slight glance was all it took for Razen to jump to his feet and come for me. Before he could close in, Abby unleashed all her power in a final effort.
The entire First Floor shook as shimmering azure light exploded into every corner as she fried the mountain-man. He was flung through the air, avoiding a half dozen pillars before he smashed against the mural of Lilith. His body crashed to the floor and spasmed in what had to be his dying breath. A shattered vial lay next to his corpse, and the spilled liquid turned into a golden mist that surrounded his body.
I turned to Abby, but she was no longer there. I sensed a consciousness over my mind, too weak to communicate, and realized that she had returned to her core after that final effort.
I kicked up a scimitar from the ground and took it in my left hand. Then I moved toward Ralph, but before I could reach him, he finally scored a blow on Bertha. His sword punctured her abdomen and ripped through her flesh. She gasped as blood jetted from her mouth and onto Ralph. Again, the fucker licked his lips, but I wouldn’t let him enjoy the taste.
Bertha collapsed to the ground before Ralph wrenched his weapon from her gut. Her eyes meet mine, and she nodded as her hands found the wound and applied pressure to it,
Ralph stalked toward me with a blade in each hand as he walked over the bodies of his fellow pirates. He looked insane. Too much Infernal Essence was bathing his body and mind, feeding him power that he didn’t deserve.
“I told you, demon,” he laughed. “You will fall.”
I spun the two blades I held in my hands, testing the weight of my new scimitar. I couldn’t pinpoint its enchantment without my core’s senses, and a box hadn’t appeared in my mind. I figured that part of my power was locked off, just like my ability to manipulate my dungeon and craft traps. It didn’t matter—I could feel the scimitar’s power. It fed a bloody rage inside me, coiled and thorned, and filled my mind with hunger. I wanted to rip the entire world apart and fucking drink it dry.
My lips peeled into a smile as I realized the perfect method of executing Ralph. I would enthrall his weakened mind and force him to kneel before I cut off his head. A little barbaric, sure, but it would be a first for me .
Ralph charged, and his blades clashed against mine, but he didn’t take his eyes from mine. He pressed forward, and I parried his blows, instinct and elven agility protecting me from his overwhelming strength. His rage wasn’t dying, but it was becoming more focused. And, despite the maelstrom of power in his veins, he was reaching a breaking point. Desperation was starting to color his mind, and I waited for him to make a mistake. He thrust forward with is left blade while slashing down with his right, and I allowed the former to penetrate my stomach while dodging the latter. I dropped my weapons as if I was defeated, and Ralph took the bait. He grinned as he drove the blade further into me, but before he could execute me with his other sword, I gripped his head in both hands and stared into his eyes.
My consciousness blasted through my elf’s eyes and into his mind. I grappled with a tide of memories filled with desperation and decades worth of pain. A rope around a tree. An old man who’d made him believe he was worth something.
A notification flared into my vision as the blades fell from his numb fingers.
Charm test . . . Success!
Ralph Kraus the Sand Pirate Chieftain successfully Enthralled!
The human mind wasn’t anything like that of an Infernal Monster. No, they were complex, powerful, and dangerous creatures, with pathways that led to wastelands where shadows walked. I stared into his soul, and, then, as I met with Physical Essence, I reached out to his memories.
