Climactic Confrontation

"Liam! Dodge!" Sir Graff yelled.

His words were barely audible over the roar of the angry spirits that were even now trying to devour the four of them. Though Emmanuel had been able to keep them at bay with bursts of magical energy, there was little he could do as the armored giant descended on his co-worker.

Thankfully, the martial artist was quick to respond, and was already sliding out of the way as the fist passed through the dark, mist-like substance that was surrounding them. Although he avoided the blow, the resulting force behind the punch cratered the ground and showered the four living fighters with shards of dirt and rock.

Just as quickly as he arrived, the undead pulled back into the cloud with a dry chuckle, resuming the ongoing stalemate.

[This isn't good...]

Truthfully, this was probably the worst possible scenario. Emmanuel had hoped on avoiding a direct confrontation with the mastermind behind the invasion, specifically because he feared that it was powerful and deadly combatant that would require a concentration of assets to bring down.

It had been his intention to eliminate the necromancers responsible for maintaining the zombie horde, drastically culling the enemy's numbers, and then focus the combined might of the coalition army on the undead that remained. To do so, he'd originally planned to avoid the stronger members of the Lacotian command, but it hadn't worked out.

[If we could just move past the shield...]

While there were a few methods he could use to transport the group out of danger, it would require time and concentration, something that was in short supply ever since the Skull Lord unleashed a swarm of Hungry Ghosts. The semi-corporeal and unintelligent beings, created when an excessive amount of negative emotions accumulate in a particular area, were capable of slowly draining the life-force of living creatures.

Individually they weren't particularly dangerous, but in large numbers they could reduce a person to a dried-up husk in seconds. Emmanuel had been forced to divert his attention to keeping them at bay, but still had enough presence of mind to put together a possible counter.

"Keep me covered!" He yelled. "I'm going to try something."

Light Magic wasn't his forte, and he'd never advanced past the basics, but even he could make use of a rudimentary spell that was well suited to deal with ghostly entities. One of the few anti-undead methods he'd made sure to learn when the real threat had become apparent. Thanks in large part to his great understanding of Elemental Magic, it had only taken a few days of practice to get the words down.

Chanting under his breath, he started gathering his mana in one clenched fist, "Ki'th al foentina, dorestanti banto man feliz..."

He heard Sir Graff respond to yet another attack from Kultanis. The knight had slipped behind Emmanuel and was protecting his back when the undead creature broke through the cloud once more. Staggering as he took the blow on his shield, the retired knight yelled a war cry and took a swing at the half-seen form of his attacker.

Unfortunately, he missed altogether, and was left off-balance and vulnerable to Kultanis's follow-up. The armored uppercut should have slammed into Sir Graff's torso with all the power of a cannonball, but a quick thinking Aedrin managed to pull the knight back at just the right moment.

By the time he muttered a quick 'you have my thanks' the Skull Lord had pulled back once more. It was clear that he was angling for another attack, but Emmanuel wouldn't give him the chance. Finishing his chant, he opened his hand, releasing the energy stored within.

A sphere of light rose around them, pausing momentarily when it had achieved a roughly 2 meter diameter, before expanding rapidly in every direction. The Hungry Ghosts that came in contact with evaporated like so much mist. In less than a second, the area was cleared, revealing the figure of Kultanis a few meters away.

Emmanuel's Cleansing Light spell, designed specifically for use against the undead, was modeled after a variety of Divine Magic called Aura of Consecration. The original was capable of destroying or weakening certain kinds of creatures, depending on the religious alignment of the user, in a set area. Unfortunately, it was impossible for Elemental Magic to completely mimic this conceptual understanding of moral alignment, and instead could only cover down on creatures that relied on necromantic energies to sustain themselves. This of course made the effect much weaker.

With Emmanuel's level of skill, the spell was barely good enough to eliminate the swirling ghosts, so it was no surprise that an undead being as powerful as Kultanis was left unfazed. In fact the Skull Lord was even chuckling a little bit once the cloud had fully dispersed.

He hadn't expected it to be any different, but the sheer confidence displayed by the undead creature was disconcerting. Everything about the way he'd been fighting up to this point indicated that he didn't view the four of them as any kind of threat.

[We need a distraction, something to buy us enough time to retreat.]

A flicker of motion in the corner of his eye drew his gaze upwards towards an approaching shape, barely visible in the smoke wreathed sky. A rather familiar shape.

[That will work just fine.]

--------------------------------------------------

As the cloud of light washed over Kultanis, he felt a momentary itching sensation, and then it was gone along with the ghosts he'd brought forth to harass his enemies.

While he wasn't surprised that the old mage had such tricks up his sleeve, it was nevertheless entertaining to see the legendary figure rely on such rudimentary methods. Indeed, the whole scenario was strangely funny to him, and he couldn't help laughing in a way that he'd not done since becoming undead.

[Ah, it has been a long, long time since I've felt such amusement, or indeed felt much of anything at all.] He paused and thought about it more deeply, [This is quite abnormal, actually. Does it have something to do with the ritual? I'll have to investigate soon. I cannot risk anything going wrong during the execution phase.]

Focusing his attention on the quartet of enemies that he'd been fighting up to this point, he was surprised to see that they hadn't used his momentary period of distraction to escape. They were slowly edging backwards under the orders of the mage, but had not made any serious progress. Considering that the most reasonable option would have been to leave one or two of the front line fighters behind to buy time while the mage organized a partial retreat, this seemed rather foolish to the undead general.

[I will never understand the irrationality of these mortal beings.] He thought with some chagrin while mentally sorting potential attack methods. He'd been trying to conserve his mana as much as possible since he'd need it to complete the ritual in a hurry, but its seemed like he would have to work a little bit harder to bring an end to his four foes.

Gathering his mana, Kultanis was preparing to unleash a powerful life-sapping spell designed to render living creatures weak and powerless when he noticed that the ground around him was growing darker. Almost as if he'd been suddenly wrapped in shadow.

Looking up, he almost caught sight of the massive boulder falling towards him before it struck.

-----------------------------------------------

Mike gave a quick fist pump as the strange-looking undead warrior was crushed under the boulder. It was definitely worth it to have Red carry it all the way over here.

He slowed his descent with Air Magic and landed next to the four members of the strike force who had been facing off against the armored creature. While he'd seen Emmanuel from afar, he was surprised to recognize Sera's instructor, Master Liam, as well. The other two were a heavily armored knight and an elven warrior dressed in a similar manner to the ones he'd met during the party he'd attended a while back.

Frowning slightly at the sight of the elf, who brought back a few bad memories, he walked over to his teacher. "Are you alright? What's going on?"

Emmanuel had a look of intense concentration on his face, and it was clear from the mild mana disturbances that he was trying to pull off some kind of complex spell. Nevertheless he spared a few moments to talk, "We don't have much time. I'm going to take these three and head towards our primary target. While I expect you won't be able to finish him off by yourself, do what you can to slow him down."

Mike cocked an eyebrow, not exactly understanding what was going on. "Who are you talking about?"

No sooner had the words left his mouth than the boulder exploded in a barrage of stone shards. The heavily armored undead creature came striding out of the resulting dust cloud, looking no worse for wear. To make matters worse, he seemed to be laughing.

"What fun. Its been a long time since someone's gotten the drop on me like that." He spoke up in a hollow voice while casually brushing dust off his shoulders.

"Retreat if you have to, but keep him occupied." Emmanuel murmured after finishing his spell. The air around him and his team members warped momentarily, and suddenly they were gone, leaving Mike to face the powerful undead on his own.

[What the...Did he really just do that?]

"Hm. That was slightly unexpected. Based on his previous behaviors, I did not think him capable of abandoning a comrade, but I suppose I underestimated him. Nevertheless, our confrontation was more or less inevitable, considering the course of this battle." The armored figure commented dryly.

Mike turned his attention back to his enemy and used Appraise.

---------------------------

Kultanis

Age: 267

Race: High Lich

Class: Champion of Goeth

Title: Skull Lord

----------------------------

[While he doesn't seem quite as bad as Brutus, why am I getting the feeling that he's not far off?]

A palpable aura of power was radiating from the Skull Lord, one that even Mike found slightly disconcerting. For the first time since the start of the war, he felt like he was facing an opponent that was close to him in terms of power.

"Do you have nothing to say, Dragonknight? No self-righteous drivel about defeating me for all the evils I've perpetrated? No foolish offers of clemency if I only surrender myself to the authorities? Although I'd be interested to see what would classify as an appropriate authority nowadays. Regardless, I admit I'm a bit disappointed. It seems like the 'virtue' of your order has fallen quite a bit since that old bag of bones nearly destroyed it."

[Why do my enemies always feel the need to monologue right before we fight? Is it just a villain thing?] Mike thought to himself with a sigh, finding the other side's efforts to antagonize him a bit childish.

"I have to wonder if this is the best provocation I can expect from someone that's existed for a few centuries. I figured that someone who had the gall to pull this sort of crap would be a little bit more creative." He replied with a half-hearted wave at the battlefield. "Then again, you are probably suffering from an anatomical lack of the parts most commonly associated with audaciousness."

Oddly enough, Mike's words seemed to have impact, and even led to the Skull Lord staggering slightly. He was confused for a few seconds before he remembered one of the secondary effects of his Communication Magic.

[I kind of forgot about it, but it seems somewhat effective. Maybe I should start throwing more insults during combat.]

"What an unusual ability." Kultanis commented mildly. "Ordinarily, I would be interested in seeing more of it, but I'm afraid I don't have the patience or inclination at the moment. So, rather than continue this verbal duel with a notable disadvantage, I will be resorting to violence."

With that, he threw one gauntleted hand forward and released five ghostly green tendrils which shot towards Mike. Something about them gave him the creeps, so he jumped backwards, using a bit of mana to briefly activate his flight and give himself some distance in the process. However, the tendrils changed course and followed after him, faster than he would have expected.

Cursing mentally, he quickly threw up a mana shield. The green projections stabbed deeply into his shield, nearly shattering it. His momentary relief vanished, however, when he noticed that, even though they had been stopped it, the tendrils were still pushing forward, burrowing deeper into his barrier.

Thankfully, that all came to an end as a cone of intense fire engulfed Kultanis, causing his spell to fade from existence as his concentration was broken. Mike landed once more, and mentally thanked Red for the follow up. He readied himself as the cloud of smoke dissipated, revealing the Skull Lord.

Unsurprisingly, he looked completely unharmed.