Chapter 56: Sightless King

Chapter 56: Sightless King

The Huntress stayed in the air, stepping on platforms of golden light. Blasts of red energy whooshed high into the sky, narrowly missing their target as she quickly moved across Shoutwell’s airspace. Every attack, every skillful dodge, she drew back and fired off single arrows.

At this point the avatar’s body had turned to a pincushion, each one of his eyes punctured directly through the iris. He protected his main two, batting away every arrow while counter firing when it had the chance.

Around him angled lines littered the flat ground, rooting through the grass and concrete walkways. Iron filings completed the ritual circle, something the Sightless King kept in prime condition. Any damage to the avatar was acceptable as long as the circle remained.

The Huntress lined up a deadly shot, finding a glaring red eye as a bullseye. She fired it, allowing the arrow to travel true for as long as possible. Just as the arrow was about to hit, she activated her Legacy ability, forcing the arrow to change directories.

Abruptly a net of red washed over the area as the Sightless King fought to contain the attack. He threw out both lanky arms, amplifying his magic’s speed and power. He caught the arrow, sundering the attempt to break the ritual circle, but his slow reactions lost him an important eye.

Growling with silent pain, he ripped the conjured arrow from his left-main eye, tossing the golden spike to the ground. As it clambered against the pathway, it suddenly detonated into a great gold explosion. Grass and stone alike were blasted away, as well as part of an arc of iron filings.

The Sightless King didn’t so much as feel the attack, but his ire reached a boiling limit. His remaining eyes, all swiveled to the single minion left in the branch of operation. There she was, fighting the three boys that had been a pain since their arrival. He scowled at the sight, feeling the need to punish his servant.

A slight pull on his gifted power was enough. A warning, a reminder. The woman in white stumbled, allowing an attack to land. The Sightless King huffed at the sight, failure in his creations was something he was quite used to. But this one in particular had failed exceptionally hard.

Another arrow pierced one of the main eyes on his back. He growled, turning his attention back to the woman in the sky. One eye assessed the circle, finding it irreparably damaged. He needed to recreate the entire section, something that would take hours even if he wasn’t under siege. The eye rounded back to the woman in the sky, and a spell formed inside his mind’s eye.

The Huntress hesitated. Her instincts screamed to move, to run. And she did, as fast as she could, around and around all the while firing off more arrows. A crackle of red lightning was all she saw. It invaded her sight, encroaching in her mind like the after image of looking into the sun.

She suddenly was falling, her stepping platforms having malformed. She landed with a dull thud as her sight came back to her. Blood came next, followed by the growing pain of bruised bones. Finding her legs, she wobbled upright. With a guttural grunt, she shifted her jagged nose back straight. Then she discharged the blood pooling in her nostrils.

“Fun spell,” she muttered to herself, memorizing the attack’s signs and outcome. It would not hit her again.

At some point the Huntress had lost her bow, but with a simple mental command, it arrived back in her hand mid-draw. A golden arrow formed and charged, from the nearby light and residual mana. It blasted out, ripping across the battlefield like a screeching harpoon made of hot lava.

The Sightless King attempted to block the attack, his lengthy appendages failing him. The vessel’s body was lacerated deep and clean, the arrow sticking from his tall torso like a sword stuck in a stone.

Then, the arrow detonated.

The Sightless King slowly stood, pushing the woman off his dwindled form. She fell to the ground without ceremony, grieving, or guilt, just like the little good minion she was. His many eyes scanned the battlefield, finding Glenny approaching despite the relative danger of the situation.

The Sightless King and the Legacy of the Chameleon stared at each other for a long moment. Then, like a father wallowing away in a nursing home, the King spoke through his avatar’s haggard vocal cords.

For Glenny, the words were nothing but broken whispers. Pleas for help from a distant voice situated far in his head. It held no power, no real influence. It could speak, it could beg, but it still was only just a voice, one he could squash the moment he stepped to the microphone. The whispers didn’t control him, his Legacy made sure of that. He made sure of that.

To the others, however, the words were nothing more than garbled mess of broken syllables and the occasional string of words. It was obvious that the Sightless King wanted help, but multiple arrows quickly tore through his neck and throat.

Glenny only watched the Huntress kill the beast, not once falling for its fake persona or false woe.

Eventually the Sightless King’s avatar turned charred gray, the Huntress’ death mark finding no protest from the “Lord.”

All hope was lost for this branch of his “Church.” All hope was lost for this “attempt” to invade the abundant lands of this continent. He would try again in time, but for now he was content with searing the faces of his enemies into his mind.

He made a special note of the one called “Glenny.”

The Huntress yelled to the boys, “Make sure you all damage this thing. Otherwise you all won’t get credit for helping.”

That lit a fire under the boys, each of them attacking from a distance. Leland simply had a crow fly down to peck at the dying husk of a “Lord.” Glenny threw the dagger from his boot at the monster. And Jude picked up a rock and hurled it with all of his strength.

They all looked at him.

“What?” he asked. “I don’t carry throwing knives and no way am I throwing my axe at that thing.”

Leland and Glenny nodded with his logic but the Huntress only shook her head. She poured the remainder of her mana and stamina into a final arrow, letting it rip at the Sightless King’s vessel and finally killing it.

She then collapsed to her knees and would have fallen on her face if not for three sets of arms reaching for her.