Ch. 9 Tomb of The Undead King Final

Zephyr sliced through a Zom, fire spiraling around him as he looked at four open caves in the room. 

"Which one would Orion be most likely to pick?" Zephyr asked himself aloud, resting the golden rod in his hand on his shoulder. 

He understood Orion's eagerness, but adventuring wasn't safe by any means. He was only 22, but by the time he was 13 Zephyr had been adventuring professionally, many times almost dying.

Tombs were known in the adventuring community as the most dangerous adventuring spots, mainly because when someone builds a tomb for a person, they tend to not want people poking around.

"furthest to the right it is," Zephyr finally said, making his decision and walking into the door, as soon as he went through he knew he'd been wrong. If Orion had chosen a door, it would have been the right one, not the one with ten foot Zom's surrounding him, all with full battle armor and broadswords.

"This is gonna be a long time isn't it..." Zephyr said with a sigh, the fire starting up again and swirling around him. "Fine, stay alive Orion," He whispered before the flames burst out all around him.

At the same instance Zephyr began his fight, Orion began his own, smiling with his usual confidence at The Undead King, or King Arthur, he still wasn't entirely sure what to call him.

"Haha... You're making a mistake kid," King Arthur said, still seated on his throne, a broken sword laid across his lap.

"I guess we'll see," Orion said, his body rejuvenated, which clearly made the king uncomfortable.

"Kill him," The man ordered, and instantly there were ten zoms lunging at Orion.

Just as quick though, the Zoms disentegrated, falling by his feet in piles of ash. 

"As a man of science and fact I really do hate resorting to this stuff, but hey, Technomancy is only half technology, the other half is..." Orion raised his hand, a silver circle forming on his palm. "Magic."

A burst of energy soared toward The Undead King, slamming into his chair with a bright flash. When the dust settled, Orion saw him still sitting in his throne, his eyes hard and his shoulders tense, he was now holding the sword.

"You're quite annoying," The King said, his sword glowing a golden color as he raised it, the part of the sword that was broken off glowed with the same gold magical energy, materializing as a tip before he pointed it at Orion.

"May all your anger, wrath, and misgivings be returned back to you 100 fold."

Orion's hairs stood up on the back of his neck, the smell of Ozone filled the air around him as a golden beam of energy surged toward him.

If Orion was normal, he'd have been killed by the attack, hell even if he was superhuman like the United Empires army were he'd have died. 

Orion wasn't either of those though, he jumped to the right, the energy cutting into his rib before he fully got out of the way.

Black blood flowed from the wound, but Orion ignored it as he held out his hand again. "I assume that's the artifact I'm looking for..."

"The Divine Artifact, Caliburn," The King said, smiling as he stood up from his throne. "Forget the undead, I'll kill you myself."

Orion shrugged. "Then I guess we'll see who dies first."

"You're not going to survive this," The King said, laughing as he descended the steps gracefully, a true king.

"I don't need to survive this. I just need to kill you," Orion replied confidentally, a twinkle in his eyes as if he knew something The King didn't.

"You really are a fool, aren't you?" The King said, a wicked grin on his face as he surged toward Orion, slashing the sword down toward his neck.

Orion barely dodged, feeling the blade missing him by less than inch, he punched the side of the disfigured king repeatedly, smashing into his ribs before jumping back and dodging another slash.

There was no more banter, it was kill or be killed, and Orion didn't plan to die.

He dodged another slash, noticing they were speeding up. Kneeing The King in the face, he made a grab for his wrist.

"Gotcha," Arthur said, smirking as Orion grabbed him. Orion widened his eyes, feeling the sword slash down on his own wrist, cutting off his hand in one clean swipe.

Ignoring the pain, Orion rolled to the right, looking at the floating sword Caliburn next to King Arthur.

"I liked it better when you were a children's tale..." He muttered.

"You'll make a good slave," The King replied, rushing Orion once again.

'God i hate doing this...' Orion thought, a burst of Mana exploding in front of him and Arthur, sending The King flying back toward his throne, landing in it with a heavy thud as he looked at Orion in shock.

"How did you..." He said incredulously as Orion shook his head.

"Shut the fuck up for a second, I hate condensing Mana," He said with an annoyed tone as silver balls of swirling magical energy, or mana, appeared around him.

"You... You can't be human..." Arthur said as he grabbed the hilt of Caliburn, the golden mana tip glowing even brighter. 

"I get that a lot, thanks for the reminder," Orion said before rushing Arthur, dodging his blade and headbutting his stomach. As Arthur keeled over, Orion stood up straight with a firece emphasis in hitting Arthur's nose, sending him back into his throne. 

Orion let one of the mana balls fly at Arthur, exploding on impact and shaking the throne room.

"A human who can freely control Mana? You're just like Lancelot... How annoying," Arthur said, spinning the sword next to him at super sonic speeds, the whistling of the blade sounding like the promise of death and he and Orion rushed each other once more.

"You're really good, but I'm not one to lose," Orion said, dodging Caliburn and leaping behind the King, grabbing his arm and pushing it toward the spinning blade. Arthur's arm fell uselessly to the ground, his eyes widening as red blood splattered everywhere. 

"What?!" Arthur yelled as the sword flew uncontrollably to the side, Orion kicked the King in the face, knocking him back into his throne before kicking him again, then again, and again and again until Arthur's face was bloodied on his throne.

"Hah... I guess I got too old..." Arthur said quietly. 

"Well, you were pretty good," Orion said standing up straight as he felt his systems returning online. His wounds healed instantly, and Qece's shrilly annoying voice was screaming in his ear. "I've never seen someone hurt me that much."

"What's your deal?" Arthur asked as he sat up, holding his stub as he looked at the lifeless Caliburn behind Orion.

"My deal?" Orion said, confused.

"You're just too good to be human. You must be a half breed like Lancelot, or perhaps you aren't human at all?'

"Yeah, that's what you'd think, but no," Orion said, turning and picking up Caliburn. The sword hummed in his hands, and he looked at it with interest.

"This sword," He said quietly, feeling a connection. 

"Never turn your back," Arthur suddenly said, grabbing Orion's neck and throwing him back, kicking the sword away.

"No more magic, no more weapons, I'll kill you how God intended..."

"Which God is that again? The world's changed since you were popular buddy," Orion said, dusting off his clothes as he glared at Arthur. 

"I suppose the sword was blocking my systems?" He asked, cracking his neck as Arthur bit his lip, blood flowing as he rushed Orion.

"Guess you won't be telling me anything..." He said, his eyes shining as he grabbed Arthur by the chin, stopping him in his tracks. 

He materialized a silver disk in his pain, forcing it down Arthur's throat before kicking him to the side.

Orion grabbed Caliburn, storing it away in his infinity box before walking back toward the dark stairs. 

"Zom's get him!" Arthur yelled, coughing and choking on the disk as it slid down his esophagus.

The Zom's, who'd been staying back and watching silently, looked between Orion and Arthur, their red eyes normal colors, and their skin less disgusting looking.

" These aren't normal Zom's are they? They're just people who's bodies you controlled with the sword, even after they were long dead... How disgusting," Orion said as the Zom's rushed forward.

Not a single one touched Orion, instead they grabbed at Arthur, tearing chunks of flesh from his body, biting into his legs and head. Blood splattered everywhere as The Once and Future King screamed like a little girl, crying out for help as Orion yawned. 

"Semper Fi," He whispered, and the disc he'd shoved down Arthur's throat exploded, cutting through all of the dead as Arthur's bits were strewn across the lifeless throne room.

"Qece, remind me not to ever be an adventurer, this is so unhygienic," Orion said with a sigh, patting at the blood all over his clothes as he walked up the steps.

He quickly reached the top, seeing Zephyr covered in blood and leaning against a stone wall, his eyes closed with a golden rod in his hands, earing on his ears, a crown atop his head, and a long sniper at his side.

"Yo-"

Zephyr opened his eyes, the sniper inches away from Orion's face before he sighed in relief. "Please tell me you just got here and I beat you into the tomb?" Zephyr said hopefully. 

Orion shook his head while Zephyr sighed, dematerializing his artifacts and standing up, looking exhausted. "Did you at least find what we came for?" He asked.

"Yep... I'll show you later, being in this place is starting to give me the creeps."

"Oh? Look at you Jenson, frightened of the dark?"

"Yeah sure, whatever you say Zephyr, whatever you say."

They got back to the hotel late into the night, Ash slept on Orion's bed in her bra and underwear, snoring loudly as he collapsed next to her. 

He didn't sleep though, he didn't need to sleep.

"Not human huh? Well... I guess he was right." He said silently, slowly cutting his hand with Caliburn, watching his blood drip, the wound not healing. As soon as he put it away, the cut disappeared as if it was never there. 

"Yes... Perhaps he was right."