Chapter 103: Facing The Brotherhood(1)

Stepping throught the doorway, into the dark brotherhood sanctum, Lambert went throught a rather short hall and came face to face with a pair of old faded blue eyes.

The old face those eyes belonged to had a momentarily stunning look to them before it became cold and his eyes sharp as flames burst from his left palm towards Lambert while the left one gathered an incredible amount of mana as a ball of flaming horror started forming within.

Lambert would of course not sit still and be burned, kicking off from the ground leaving a deep crack on the cave floor on which he stood he charged at the old pyromancer.

The gush of flames engulfed Lambert, but the old Paladin charged on thought reaching the pyromancer just in time to see the old wizard push his left hand forward to unleash the flames he had gathered into a ball.

Lambert using his speed and absolute advantage as a close combat master smacked the old mage's left hand aside thus redirecting the flames into the wall not too far away from both of them. As the ball of flames flew away the old pyromancer used his right hand that he was previously using as a flame thrower suddenly stop and be brought up to the side of the pyromancer's face as it lit up into a tuques color when the old pyromancer half clenched his fist and when he unclenched it the color burst covering him in a thin membrane of turquoise light.

The light covered him just in time as the fireball hit the nearby fall bursting out with a minor shockwave and a fiery wave of flames slamming the old mage away while pushing Lambert, who covered his eyes, back.

Dust covered the room, and soon voices could be heard alerting Lambert of the approaching enemies. 'It seems I underestimated these assassins', Lambert thought as he pushed his body, quickly closing the distance between himself and where he saw the old mage land.

'Dammit...fuck...fuck', Festus groaned in his head after being thrown away by his own spell, not daring to dawdle in fear of that troll man abomination finding him he quickly rolled to the side and of good judgment to sinch a foot suddenly appeared where against the wall he was lying against leaving a deep footprint in the hardened cave wall and causing Festes to feel a chill run down his old and bitter spine. Still, on his back the old Pyromancer made both his hands ignite into flames as he place a fire rune where he was lying while also hurling a Firebolt at the Troll man. and then using the dust that still hung in the air to roll a bit to the side and crawl away.

It wasn't long before he heard the sound of his rune going off and an annoyed grunt from the troll man making it clear that his spell did little more than annoy the beast.

'Think Festus, think...' The Old Pyromancer thought while crawling away on his stomach. 'I can hear Astrid and Arnbjorn, they must be close. Just have to hang on a bit longer, just...' the old Pyromancer's thoughts were halted by a large and brought hand grabbing him around the ankle.

"Found you", he heard the Troll mans voice for the first time, which sounded weirdly refined for somebody of his looks, but this was no time to be thinking such things. The Pyromancer immediately turned around as he felt and then saw the beast of a man pull him closer.

Igniting his hands once more with his trusty flames that had been him for years, the old pyromancer quickly gathered his mana as to massive balls of fury formed within his palms, just as he was about to push both hands out to unleashed all his pent up rage into twin balls of infernal fury, the beast pulled with unholy strength and swung the old man's body against the closest wall, the walls cracked upon impact and the old mage felt his breath beaten out of him.

Unfortunately, before the old mage could thank whoever made ebony skin he felt himself being pulled again and this time he found himself below the troll man as the beast's massive foot rested upon his chest.

Finally having some time to get a clear look at the beast, Festis Krex Arch-Pyromancer and one of the oldest members of the Dark brotherhood felt his scalp go numb. 'What derange mage made this monstrosity', thought the man as he traced the muscle-covered beast, noting that there were no burn marks on the beast nor was there any sort of proof of damage other than the burned leather armor he wore.

Festus knew that he had very little chance of escaping at this moment since he was pinned down, but that did not mean the man would give up as his flames burst to live on his hands, even when he felt his ebony armor crack under the pressure of the beast's foot when it saw him ignite his flames.

"Then let's see you survive this!", Festus screamed as his eyes turned crimson and the flames in his hands became wild and untamed, seeing this the beast lifted its foot and slammed it down on the mage causing the magician to sink deeper into the ground as the cave floor cracked under him and the thin film of energy start to wane a bit.

Spitting out a mouth full of blood, Festus laughed hysterically as the entire person ignited into flames. Lifting his right hand gave the troll man the finger as he evoked his self-created and very mad spell.

[Burning Krex]

The old pyromancer had always had an obsession with fire and his dream was to one day die by his beloved flames thus he created this spell, in which at his end he would ignite the entirety of the manna inside him like a living grenade and take his enemies with him.

Lambert's eyes went wide when he saw what was happening under his foot, with the inhuman speed he turned around and pushed Vadne who had come to check on Lambert after a while, the force of his push lifted her off her feet as she was thrown back into eh entrance of the sanctuary.

Booom*

With a massive explosion, the pyromancer exploded, throwing Lambert into the air and slamming him into the room's ceiling, before falling back onto the burning and molten cave floor with a grunt.