Long Live the King

The swords of the two men came together as they both swung at each other. While Lord Brighton was clearly a physically strong member of the Abyss, he was no match for a **** God empowered John Newman. Lord Brighton’s arms strained against the superior strength he now faced. Lord Brighton grasped his hilt with both hands in an attempt to push off against this powerful lich. This, however, left him open to a powerful punch by John, who only needed one hand to hold off Lord Brighton’s attack.

John watched as his strike to Lord Brighton’s head sent the older man flying off to the side. Blood poured from the wound as the man struggled to get up. John slowly made his way over to the injured man, savoring every last second of this clearly one sided fight. I will humiliate him in front of his troops and his daughter before I kill them. That way the last thing they see before they, too, meet their end is their leader’s lifeless corpse! A smile crossed his face under his Helm of Domination replica as John closed in on his target.

“By the Lady’s light, I will be healed...” Lord Brighton said softly as his left hand covered the wound on that side of his head. He could feel the warm light of the Lady as it stopped the bleeding and closed the gash in the side of his head where the gauntlet made contact with his head. The older man looked up as he saw his opponent slowly making its way towards him. “By the Lady’s power, let my weapon shine with Her grace...” whispered Lord Brighton as his free hand rested on his weapon’s blade. A bright light engulfed the weapon.

John stopped in his tracks as he was **** to cover his eyes with his left forearm. The sudden bright light hurt his eyes as he felt a sudden pain from the emanating light. John took a few steps back until the pain subsided. As the light died down, John lowered his arm to see Lord Brighton back on his feet, his head perfectly fine, and his blade glowing with a dim light.

“This is the end for you, lich. With this light infused blade, I shall strike you down with the blessing of the Lady!” Lord Brighton said in a completely serious tone. Lord Brighton slowly but steadily moved towards John, his weapon ready to attack once in range. John matched his opponent’s pace, just as ready to attack as Lord Brighton.

The two men traded blows with their swords. Unlike before, however, John could not as easily overpower the man who had attempted to kill him multiple times. Instead, every time their blades met, the dim light of the blade would pulse with power and Lord Brighton would be able to match the power of John’s attack. John’s anger built up as this crazy old man ruined his plans of enjoying his **** and instead put up a fight.

“RAAAAAAAAA!” John yelled out as he grabbed Frostmourne with both hands and began to wildly swing it at Lord Brighton. The experienced fighter took blow after blow, his weapon pulsed with each hit but even then, his arms felt the strain of such powerful blows in quick succession. Lord Brighton fell to his knees as John continued his brutal ****.

If this keeps up, I will lose. I will have a split second to perform one strike. I must put my trust in the Lady and hope she blesses me with a fatal strike! With his mind made up, the leader of the Order waited for his chance to strike. When John lifted his blade above his head for another strike, Lord Brighton lashed out, his blade pierced the chest armor of John where his heart was. The blade let out a pulse like it did whenever it came into contact with the cursed runeblade.

“AAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!” screamed John in pain as his right arm fell to his side with Frostmourne firmly in his hand while his left hand clutched his chest where it was pierced. Smoke seemed to rise from the pierced point as John clutched the wound and moved away from Lord Brighton, who now had a reprieve he desperately needed.

“So, you can be harmed by the Lady’s light. That’s good to know,” Lord Brighton said as he got up to his feet once again. John took a defensive posture with his sword-hand as his free hand continued to cover his wound. He could feel the pulse of holy energy reverberate in him with every step he took. It was weaker with each pulse as was the pain, but the fact that he felt it in the first place was unsettling to John.

“What just happened?” asked a confused Miho.

“John seemed to be winning easily,” Idena remarked. There were murmurs from the fighters as they watched the fight between John and Lord Brighton, knowing its results determined their fate.

“Lord Brighton’s power comes from Gaia while John’s comes from Lady ****. They are opposites yet the same. Yin and Yang. Two sides of the same coin,” Mica said as she continued to watch the duel. “Lord Brighton has empowered his blade with a portion of Gaia’s power. That power is deadly to those of the realm of ****. Just like our power is deadly to those of the realm of life. We both need each other, but also want our work to take paramount over the other. Such as when John Newman died. One of Gaia’s minions was going to fetch his soul in an attempt to revive him, but I...persuaded her to leave and allow me to take the soul to my mother. As a result, all of John’s power is now that of ****, the opposite of the power that the Rose warriors use. While it makes John powerful against them, it also makes them powerful against him,” explained the collector of souls.

“Does he not know this?” asked Gali, slightly confused as to why John would be shocked by what was happening to him.

“We did not expect him to...play around like he has been. Mother figured he would quickly end the fight and the power would be taken from him. There would be no need for him to know the weakness if he made quick work of his enemies.”

“Yeah, about that. John tends to make mistakes when he wants **** or is angry. Not nearly as much as he used to, but he still does on occasion,” Mikuru told Mica.

“So I see,” was the only thing she could respond with.

“He’s the friggin’ Lich King tho! He’s got this!” Miho said with a hint of excitement in her voice.

“Let’s see how you deal with this!” John said as he thrust Frostmourne into the ground. In a matter of seconds, corpses that were not revived in the first wave of his resurrections now stirred to life. The dead bodies of elves, humans, and even a few Jedi rose to life once again. Their screams and howls unnerved those that still lived, but the ghouls made for Lord Brighton once they were back on their feet.

“You think these undead filth will beat me?!” Lord Brighton asked as his sword cut through a former Order soldier. The pulse of holy energy from his weapon made the undead creature burst into flames before collapsing into a pile of ash and armor. More and more of the undead reached Lord Brighton as his Gaia blessed sword made quick work of the increasing number of undead.

“No, they are to buy me time as I do this!” John said as his sword once again found it’s way into the ground. Where is it? My necromantic powers can feel it. A long dead powerful creature. One that can give me the edge against Lord Brighton’s newly enhanced weapon. John closed his eyes and focused as his consciousness traveled deep through the ground until he found what he was looking for. Yes, yes! You’ll do nicely! I’m not sure why or how you are here, but I’ll take it!

The ground began to shake as John’s eyes shot open and he stared directly at Lord Brighton as he cut down the last few ghouls that he fought. The ground slowly cracked open as a growl could be heard escaping from those cracks. Lord Brighton backed away from John as the cracks became wider and wider until the very earth began to flip over as a skeletal back made its way out of the ground. Two large clawed feet tore into the stable earth as they pulled up the rest of the creature. Once all of the back was above ground, two skeletal wings unfolded from the creature’s side as it’s maw broke free from its underground prison. A howl that pierced the very core of every living person echoed through the battlefield as the skeletal dragon finally made its way fully above ground with John on its back.

Every single bone of the creature was cracked. Besides the cracks, strange symbols seemed to be written on the bones that now glowed faintly purple. Two purple orbs floated in the eye sockets of the dragon’s skull as a purple aura seemed to run from the skull to the end of the tail of the creature. John was not positive if that was his own magic or maybe the magic of this long dead dragon from when it was alive. Either way, John did not care, he had his ultimate weapon and it was time to use it.

“Now, Lord Brighton, prepare to die!” yelled John as the undead drake flapped its wings and took to the sky. The creature opened its maw and unleashed a torrent of purple fire from its mouth. Lord Brighton barely had enough time to dodge the attack as some of the flame touched his boots. The purple fire did not burn his boot, however, instead the boot began to twist and turn while still on Lord Brighton’s foot. He quickly used his free foot to kick off the boot as it continued to distort itself as the fire reignited on it. Lord Brighton watched as the boot seemingly burned itself up as nothing remained once the fire was finished.

“Well, that’s rather curious...” Mica said as she stared intensely at the undead dragon after she watched what happened to the boot.

“What is, exactly?” asked Mikuru, who was now interested in what the **** god knew.

“That beast should not exist, it’s power should not exist. It should not be here. Yet it does and it is. I will have to ask my mother about it later. What do you know about this little kingdom of yours?” asked Mica now very curious about John’s kingdom.

“All we know is that Gaia gave it to John after completing one of his quests. We did discover that the Order once besieged the castle and its original inhabitants,” Mikuru told Mica.

“I see. Thank you for the information. It seems that John has finally decided to end things,” Mica said as everyone looked back on to the fight between the two rulers.

Lord Brighton’s sword was lodged in the maw of the dragon as it attempted to eat the Order leader. The blade, forged with some of the most powerful magic and metals of the Abyss, was able to withstand the pressure of the dragon’s jaws. Lord Brighton, however, had to abandon his beloved blade when he saw the familiar purple flames begin to form in its chest cavity. The older man quickly leapt out of the way as the fire hit his weapon.

The moment the flames touched Lord Brighton’s rapier, a massive explosion was created. The dragon’s skeletal head was completely vaporized from the explosion as it’s skeletal remains broke into thousands upon thousands of bony shrapnel as the explosion and its reverberations tore the dragon apart. John was thrown off the creature while he was pelted with the shrapnel. His armor was able to absorb all of the pieces thanks to the dark magics of Lady ****. Lord Brighton, however, was not as lucky as the shrapnel tore through his armor and into the man. Thanks to Gali’s quick thinking, she was able to raise a large barrier around the remains of the army to protect them from any wounds. Moira’s shield was easily able to absorb the tiny projectiles as she and the remaining Order warriors did their best to hide behind her shield. The undead they were fighting were not as lucky as they were torn to pieces from the attack.

After a few seconds of unconsciousness from the fall, John was able to get back on his feet. He looked across the battlefield and saw the devastation from the dragon’s and Brighton’s magics coming in contact with each other. He saw his companions as they hid behind Gali’s barrier as well as Moira’s shield that was planted in the ground with a row of soldiers all trying to hide behind it. He saw some of them as they tightly grasped an arm or leg where they must have been hit. He also noticed Lord Brighton as he lay gasping for breath next to a small crater from where the dragon’s skull exploded. John made his way over to his nemesis after he collected his new favorite blade.

“So...it looks...like...you won...after...all...” Lord Brighton said as he gasped for air after each word.

“Not as long as you draw breath, I don’t,” John said in a cold tone as he raised his weapon and pierced Lord Brighton through the heart. The man let out one final gasp as his hands grabbed ahold of the weapon that had just destroyed his heart. His eyes met John’s and the Gamer could see the fear in the man’s eyes as the life in them slowly left. Lord Brighton’s hands fell to the ground as the man was finally and truly dead.