|
|
CHAPTER
19: Clash of the Egos
Jedd stood up and looked around. There was Deranral, who was failing
miserably
in an attempt to intimidate him; Kaytosi, who was just now making
his
descent to the ground; and Losnyr, who was staring at Jedd with his
mouth
wide open; he looked like he had seen a ghost.
Jedd decided to make his move. He teleported himself over to Kaytosi,
caught
him and slung him over his left shoulder, then teleported over to
Losnyr,
grabbed his sleeve, and finally teleported himself, Kaytosi, and
Losnyr
to the ground.
Jedd continued to stare at Deranral. Deranral finally blinked. Jedd
smirked,
and then kneeled over Kaytosi, who was lying on the ground.
“Are you okay, man?” asked Jedd, who then
turned to face Losnyr. “Watch
Deranral,
he might try something.”
Kaytosi began to stand up. “Ugh… yeah, I’m all right.”
Jedd smiled. “You sure? You really got
your ass kicked back there.”
Losnyr, still watching Deranral, asked,
“How did you survive Deranral’s
attack,
Jedd? I couldn’t sense you anywhere on
this island…”
“Yeah,” replied Jedd, “That’s because the
son of a bitch blew me clear off
the
island. I landed in the ocean. After I got out, I was watching you
guys
fight him, sorry I didn’t step in… I was waiting for him to chuck that
sphere.”
“Good idea,” said Losnyr. “Deranral used a lot of his power in that
attack;
now he will be weaker.”
“No,” mumbled Kaytosi, who was now on his
feet. “He’s still as powerful as
ever…
he’s drawing it all from the Oceanoid Spear…”
Jedd looked up. “What if we destroy that blade on the end of it…”
Losnyr shook his head. “I don’t think we can… he’s been using it to
repel
our
attacks.
“That’s because he’s channeling energy
through it,” added Jedd. “If we can
hit
it when he’s not expecting it…”
Kaytosi nodded. “I used up most of my power in that last attack, I don’t
know how
helpful I can be.”
“Loz-near and I will attack this time,”
Jedd suggested, “You gather your
power
back.”
“Very well,” Kaytosi agreed.
Jedd turned to Losnyr. “Okay, here’s the
plan. Attack, but hold back. Use
your
power for mostly defense, I will do the same.
I’m going to search his
technique
for weaknesses. When we go all-out
later on, I will employ them.”
He looked at Deranral for a second, then
turned and looked back at Losnyr.
“I’m also going to piss him off.”
Losnyr chortled and nodded in
agreement. “Ready?”
“Yes,” responded Jedd, “on three.”
Kaytosi watched as Jedd and Losnyr
attacked Deranral. Jedd would dodge
Deranral’s
spear shots, then fall back and toss charged throwing daggers,
which
Deranral blocked. Losnyr would spear
fight Deranral and blow away his
blasts
of energy with a barrier. Suddenly,
Deranral’s spear grazed a cut
across
Jedd’s chest, and his hand came down to fire a huge blast… at
Kaytosi.
Kaytosi dashed back, but the blast homed
in on him. He tried forming a
barrier,
but he had spent too much time trying to dodge it…
Suddenly something hit the blast, which
divided into two and hit the ground
on
both sides of Kaytosi, creating a cloud of steam.
In front of him, Kaytosi saw the backside
of Kennen. Above him, he saw The
Lord
of the Night charging at Deranral.
Instead of an intricate black cape,
he
was wearing a black gi. Kaytosi
remembered that LotN was very well
trained
in unarmed combat.
CHAPTER
20: See Chapter 14
Mortimer rushed toward Deranral, but as
soon as he was upon him, he
teleported
himself over to Jedd and Losnyr.
“Heya,” said Jedd, “How was the fight
against that huge army?”
“It was a good warm-up,” replied
Mortimer. “How are we doing over
there?”
“Dear GOD are we getting spanked,” replied
Jedd, “ah well, at least I’m a
few
coins richer…” he held up a large blue and gold pouch.
“What th… my money pouch!!!” screamed
Deranral.
“Heh, always the master of psychological
combat,” said Mortimer. “Well, I
say
we regrou…”
He was interrupted as Deranral, coming
from behind, rammed his spear
through
Losnyr’s left shoulder.
Losnyr cried out in pain. Deranral maliciously yanked out his spear,
as a
spray
of blood spewed forth. Losnyr began to
fall.
“Hey!” shouted Jedd, “So that’s how you
want it? Fine!” Jedd put his left
hand
to his heart.
“I am tired of you whispering amongst
yourselves,” taunted Deranral, “It’s
time
to get his over wi…”
“FAXLZ!” screamed Jedd, thrusting his left
hand outwards. Deranral caught
the
blast without receiving damage, but he was thrown back with it until he
was
out of sight.
The Lord of the Night caught Losnyr before
he hit the ground. He was then
softly
glided down to where Kaytosi, Kennen, and Jedd were.
“Alright,” said Jedd, “I got an idea. It’s crazy, but hey, crazy ideas are
the
ones that work.”
“Well, Kennen and I are ready. What’s your plan?” LotN asked.
“Sorry, but I only need the Mauriacs for
this one.”
Jedd looked toward the horizon. He saw a small growing dot. Deranral was
on
his way back.
“Okay, here’s what we do,” he said, “We
attack him, one by one. First me,
then
Loz-near, then Ke-toesy.”
Losnyr shook his head. “We’ve tried attacking him all at once
before, it
didn’t
work at all…”
Jedd kept watching Deranral. He held his left arm out; energy began to
flow
and surge around it. A beam of pure
dark magic slowly extended 3 feet
from
his forearm, forming itself into a cylindrical blade.
“Don’t worry, I haven’t used up all my
tricks,” he said. “Here he comes,
get
ready…” Jedd held out his right arm, and created a second blade of
darkness.
“NOW!!!”
Jedd rushed up to Deranral, brandishing both of his magical
blades. Right before he met Deranral, he teleported
behind him, and
slashed. Deranral ducked, but Jedd’s slash still
removed quite a bit of his
hair. Deranral turned with a full force spear
swing, which Jedd dodged.
Jedd
swung his right blade across and sliced off the two-foot extension of
Deranral’s
spear, while his left blade thrust into Deranral’s left thigh.
Deranral
pulled back and clutched his bleeding leg, while Jedd rushed
forward
and brought his right blade up and across Deranral’s chest.
Deranral’s
cape ripped off and fell to the ground.
In desperation, he
brought
his left hand forward, and fired a large blast of water at Jedd.
Jedd
took the blast, falling back with a cry of pain.
Deranral barely dodged Losnyr’s spear,
which came from the front. Now
behind
Deranral, Losnyr fired a combination of a water blast he learned from
LotN
and an Amtgardian fireball. The result
was a steaming, orange-hot ball
of
water, which struck Deranral in the back.
Deranral flew forward into
Kaytosi,
whose hand had shifted into the head of an ice dragon. It opened
its
mouth, and shot a gale of icy wind at Deranral.
Regaining his bearings, Deranral brought
his hand forward, blocking
Kaytosi’s
attack. He then raised his left hand to
gather energy.
“All right, time for you all to DIE!” he
screamed. Power surged through
Deranral’s
arm, and then…
thok thok thok.
Three daggers struck the device on
Deranral’s spear.
CHAPTER
21: Losnyr’s Second Departure
Deranral looked at his spear,
stunned. Suddenly, power started
surging
through
it, through him.
“AAAAGGGGHHHHAAAA!!!!!!” Deranral screamed in agony as bolts of magic
seared
through his body. He tried to let go of
the spear, but it was
holding
him. Smoke curled from all of his
orifices. A blue light began to
surround
him, and he vanished with a crackle, leaving a shower of blue
sparks.
There was absolute silence.
“Yay!
We killed him!” Jedd screamed in
triumph.
“No… you didn’t,” Mortimer
interrupted. “He teleported.”
“What?!
Jedd’s face showed anger. “How
the hell did he do that? Where
did
he go?”
LotN closed his eyes. Seconds passed as
his senses scanned the universe.
His
eyes opened. “Amtgardia.”
Losnyr’s heart skipped a beat. “Wha… why did he go there?”
Mortimer shrugged. “Losnyr, do you have any friends in
Amtgardia?”
“Yes, I do.”
“He’s probably going there to either hide
for a while, as that device on
the
Oceanoid spear does have regenerative properties, or use your friends
against
you by taking them hostage. Or both.”
Kennen laughed. “Well, if he’s in Amtgardia, we probably won’t see him for
another
1,000 years!”
LotN shook his head. “I’m afraid not. My god friends and I linked Flaerie
with
Amtgardia; we now follow the same time frame.”
“I’m sorry to interrupt,” began Kaytosi,
“but Jedd… how did you attack
Deranral
like that? I thought that when Deranral
blasted you…”
Jedd smiled. “Yeah, I absorbed that attack, but I acted like it hit me
full
force. After that, Deranral didn’t know
I was waiting for him to let
down
his guard… waiting for him to give me a clear shot.”
“Clever,” said Kaytosi, “Well, I suppose we should follow Deranral.”
Jedd nodded. “Yeah…Mort, do you have a spell to teleport to Amtgardia?”
“No, I don’t. Do you?”
“Uh… no.
Ke-toesy?”
“I don’t.
Only Losnyr does.”
The Lord of the Night looked at Losnyr.
“You wouldn’t happen to know how to
teleport a large group of people, would
you?”
“No, replied Losnyr, “I can only teleport
myself.”
Kaytosi sighed. “Then once again, you are our only hope.”
“And that’s how I got back here,” said
Mauriac. Kaads was hanging on to
his
every word.
“So when is this Deranral going to show?”
Kaads asked.
“I don’t know; he didn’t teleport to
Crusader’s Cove, but he’s SOMEWHERE on
this
planet. I can’t detect him. But I know he will come here. It could
be
months…
Kaadiart nodded. “Well, all we can do is wait.”
Mauriac sighed. “Yes… well, now that I’m
back, what’s been going on here?”
Kaads chortled, and replied, “That story,
my friend, is just as long as
yours…”