Demonic Magician

Wind whipped around us as the rain pelted down. Any more of a storm and I would have admired the horror movie the world was trying to push us towards. No such joy for either of us, as I wasn’t about to let a little inclement weather ruin the greatest show.

Tyler raised a hand up and we tensed ready, still following behind Wolf as he closed in on their hammer fighter. For a brief second, everything went quiet, as if the sound had been drained from the area. My ears popped and the low vibration of his cast skill thundered through the floor.

The dried dirt eagerly soaking up the provided downfall started to shift and squirm beneath my footing. We slid to a halt as fingers and arms burst out from the ground, soon followed by the rotting heads of the undead. Wolf reared up and stomped down on a handful. My cards spun around on our left, dismembering limbs. Ren and Quinn took down more on the right.

“Stay near Wolf,” Tanya called. He had the protection idol that would allow us to be immune to zombification. As we gathered closer, she waved away the Spell Critical one I had held to replace it with a similar one to what the bear had.

Card Fan went up to deflect the swipe of two sneaking up on me, right before my cards severed their necks. I bowed, and Ren rolled over my back to lob a glowing bottle of water at the gathering horde. It burst and melted where it struck them. My cannon dropped and landed on a couple more. Two shots of confetti to wash through the throng like a tidal wave of Dazzle icons. So many.

They were making this too easy - as soon as the fighter got in range, I would just pop and stun him for Wolf. All these zombies around us would also-

A wash of energy washed through us, and a blue light blinded me as I was sent tumbling back. I collided with the press of decaying bodies, my magic cards darting around me wildly to prevent any hungry mouths from picking me off in my disorientated state.

I made it back to my feet with little issue, barely removing a pair of outreaching hands before turning back to my group. Although, now I couldn’t see them. Thunder struck ahead where the hammer-wielding fighter was engaged with Wolf, but between them, the other three of my Party, and my current position… the horde had filled that space in no time at all.

Finger outstretched, I put the upgraded Shuffle on the large man, hoping to assist the bear with some random luck.

Before I could start cutting my way toward Ren and the others, there was a sharp movement behind me. Too quick to be a zombie.

The pain of something long and pointed pierced through my suit fabric, breaking skin, scratching at the back of my ribs as it went past and into my lungs. Burning sensation. Blood where there should be air. Some manner of poison. My body felt slack, and I slumped down into the rain-slick mud.

“I know you’ve got a fake corpse skill, asshole,” the roguish character sneered as his cold eyes darted around the roving throng to find me.

He realized too late that I hadn’t used it. From my place on the ground, a burst of three empowered cards launched towards him. Whatever dodge or damage reduction he had only done half the job and the purple lines sliced through his jaw, opening up his cheek, one eye, and removing an ear. Stumbling, he stayed upright as his flesh began to regenerate.

An arrow then struck him through the other eye, a second through his throat.

Beside me, Ren rolled through a pair of zombies, a burst of holy water melting them as she gave me a heal.

“No sleeping on the job,” she said, too focused to pair it with a smile.

I nodded and stood to my feet, hitting the corpse with Roger’s card now that he was outnumbered back at the outpost.

“What, no smart comment to make? You’ll have me worried.” She turned to place a smite shot through the skull of a zombie.

Something about hitting the ground had knocked some of the bravado from me. Plus, it got my suit all muddy. With a sigh, and as a trio of cards encircled us, I took my jacket off and dropped it to the dirt. Roger stood to our side, and I held his mace in the air with my mind as I rolled my sleeves up.

There it was.

My right arm was… aflame. Purple energy lapped and swirled around it in a way that reminded me of my hellhounds.

No time for further ruminating over it. We needed to make sure Quinn and Tanya were doing fine. Incorrect, Max. I shook my head out - the stage needed me. I couldn’t hide in the back. They were depending on us to blow minds.

“Roger, go protect Quinn and Tanya as you would me.”

“Yes, boss!” He gave me a nod, his purple ears flopping over his face as he ran.

“Sure they’ll be okay?”

I turned my eyes back to Ren. The rain had dampened her suit, but not her spirit. She was fired up and ready for this. Too many zombies, though. We’d tire soon enough, no matter how much anger or justice we felt in our hearts.

“No. I’m not sure if I’ll be okay yet.” I gave her a soft smile, my cards illuminating the area as I protected us from crush of the unending horde. “But now is our time to shine.”

“Twice as bright, even if we burn out.” She nodded.

Wolf had done us the favor of being my opener, but it wasn’t fair for him to be under the limelight alone. My feet dug into the softening ground as I gathered my cards up. Purple energy illuminated my eyes as I burst forth, cards flickering like an omni-directional saw. Breaking down the undead into piecemeal sections as I thundered to our companion.

Over my shoulder, Ren fired an arrow. The one that increased the chances of debuffs. Surprisingly, it struck the fighter in the side. From what I could see at this distance, he already had a slow on him, dazzle icons, and a bleed. Oh, the bleed vanished. He was being supported and having the debuffs removed - annoying.

Two of my cards switched to my summoned demons, bringing up two of my new Shades behind him. I clicked my fingers and hit him with , turning his handful of Dazzle icons into a slew of different debuffs. Ren’s arrow seemed to have the effect of doubling the amount of stacks he had - and now there were almost ten different maladies attached to him with the addition of the Shade attacks. Too many for his healer to remove in good time.

A bloom briefly blinding me as a white spherical shield illuminated him, the debuffs now ticking down and falling away without affecting him. I slid to a stop, now only fifteen feet away and grit my teeth together.

Hand gripped my wrist, and I burned everything away into a single card. The air screamed as it moved through the short distance, the shield flaring even brighter as I struggled to push through it.

“Not happening, little man,” he boomed, a circle of energy in the shape of shields hovered around him, knocking the bear back as he tried to attack.

“Wrong,” I seethed.

A wide blanket of dark fabric swirled around me, obscuring his sight. Something provided by Ren, who had been clearing zombies away from behind me. Standing still was a bad idea. When the cloth fell down, I was no longer there - yet my card persisted, trying to burn its way through his defenses.

It was just a game where I couldn’t really lose. While they advanced under the cover of the horde of zombies, it also left them blinded.

He turned his head to try to spot me, perhaps noticing that neither of my Shades were behind him any longer. Relief probably would have washed over him, had panic not taken center stage as his shield dropped down.

Over in the background, my two doves had swooped low through the disinterested army of corpses to rise up into the face of the healer holding the spell up. A little bit of a tired track at this point, but what worked, worked.

My empowered card entered his side at a low angle, and I twisted it up at an angle, cutting through his arm on the other side. His own defenses faltered, allowing Wolf to jump forward and bite through his arm. All the way through, too - I was as surprised as I was dissociating. Which was a modest amount.

Card through his throat, and arrow in his head. Before I had even considered switching Roger over to him, a crackle of green energy flickered across the battlefield and struck the falling corpse.

Only, he was falling no more.

I gave Wolf a quick once-over. Not too unhealthy, the idol protecting him from the diseases the zombies held leaving them just weak attackers that barely made a dent in his powerful hide.

“Too easy,” Ren murmured, bringing up a glowing smite shot.

The zombified fighter raised his hammer, only to receive her shot in the shoulder. Skin and muscle melted away, the arm dropped from the rest of the body. My cards made mincemeat of what remained of his head, spraying remnants of brain and skull around the area.

A heal washed through me, but my eyes were focused ahead. It looked as though the rest of the enemy Players had started to retreat?

Mania tried to take hold of my senses - I wanted to laugh. Running so soon? Couldn’t stomach the show they had signed up for. Instead, my glowing eyes clocked Wolf as he swiped through a handful of corpses.

“We need to get to the outpost.”

He turned and nodded. There was a dullness to his eyes, but he didn’t seem to be slowing down. “Get behind me. I will clear the path.”

Ren renewed her shield on him, and I stood and wavered. My right arm was pulsing with… power? It was like a heartbeat, or a marching tune, readying to meet an equal. I knew now the curse of killing a Guardian.

I had to destroy anyone else that had one. Needed to be strongest. The best performer.

A shockwave of energy as Wolf powered up, and then he was off. I switched demons, two Stone Imps, just to see what they did. Although… my attention was soon drawn away.

As the bear pulped through the zombies with ease, the necromancer paused at the precipice of the outpost wall. His companions now moving out of sight, he held up a hand.

Probably not just to wave goodbye… although…

Green light flickered around him, and a corridor of zombies started to glow. Almost as if they were lit from within, like a lava lamp, or a-

Naturally, the three of us were in the middle of this corridor.

As Wolf slid to a stop, and our defensive abilities flared up, I was blinded and deafened.

The long row of zombies exploded, catching us off-guard.