Head to Head

The vampire screamed in pain as he felt his leg shatter. He had no idea how a human could have overwhelmed him so much. Even as a newly turned vampire, he had more than enough power to fight most rank C adventurers and win. Asher had almost reduced the bones in his leg to dust in one hit though. That took quite a bit of strength.

Asher simply asked, "What is the plan and how do I stop it?"

"Why would I tell you anything?" the vampire growled. "You're going to kill me anyway."

Asher sighed and shot a spike of ice through the vampire's stomach. "You'll tell me everything, because there are fates worse than death and I don't have a problem delivering that to you."

The vampire was still resisting and Asher used a new skill he had gained from the other vampires and strigoi. His nails elongated and he dug them into the vampire's stomach and twisted them around. "Someone I care for is very sick due to your master. I will kill you in the end, but it can either be painless or I can make it so painful it breaks your mind. It is your choice," Asher remarked coldly. There wasn't a bit of emotion on his face and that terrified the vampire.

As the vampire hesitated, Asher kicked it up a notch and began burning the vampire from the inside. The vampire screamed in agony and eventually shouted, "I'll tell you everything, just stop, please. It's a ritual meant to evolve the lich. If it completes, the lich will ascend to become a minor deity. We were all meant to receive boons of power from him. His name is Nyxus the transcendent."

Asher dug his nails in farther and inquired, "Anything else I need to know?"

"The ritual requires a large sacrifice. A large population must be baptized in death for it to work. If you can defeat Nyxus, the town will be spared. He is sending a sickness to all of them. By tomorrow they will all be dead."

Asher pondered for a moment and said, "Thank you for being honest. You can rest now." The vampire seemed relieved to hear those words, even as Asher flashed his blade quicker than the eye could see. The vampire's head rolled from his body with that same look still imprinted on his face.

Asher turned to head towards the room that the lich was having it's ritual in. He already knew this was going to be a hard battle. In order for a lich to be born, they already had to be a fairly impressive magic user. No matter how weak this one was, he knew he had to be careful of the thing.

As he approached the door he took a deep breath to steady his nerves. He peeked through a crack in the door to see the lich in full concentration for it's ritual. Now that he had a good chance to get a look at it, he could see it was a skeletal being hidden under baggy, tattered robes. Asher knew he had to use the element of surprise if he was going to have any chance at all. If his guess was right, the lich created the vampires. That meant the lich was talented and magically powerful.

Asher placed a couple of traps on the floor, but he didn't bother with a lot of them. He expected they'd be more of a distraction anyway. As soon as he was done with that, he rushed into the room and flash stepped to the lich.

As soon as Asher was in range, he stabbed his red hot sword into the lich and proceeded to slash with his other sword which glowed a light blue color. He figured one of his skills would work at least. All that happened from all of that, was he heard a raspy laugh from the cloaked figure. Asher had a bit of terror at the thought of that.

Before he could react, one skeletal hand swung back and sent him back through the open doorway. The lich began casually floating towards him. The fire trap went off and Nyxus didn't even slow down. The ice trap went off next with a spike of ice going right through it. Nyxus just snapped the spike off and continued pursuing Asher.

Asher rolled to his feet and began to flee from the lich. He was starting to rethink his decision to fight the creature. It was too late now. As soon as that thought completed, Asher heard a crack of lightning go past his head and it blew apart a stone block. Chunks of rock flew by him and cut his head open.

Asher flash stepped behind the lich and struck again with both blades. Again, it was the same result. Nothing he did caused any damage to the thing. He barely dodged the first hit it sent out. He wasn't so lucky on the second one.

The blow sent him flying through the air until he hit one of the stone walls. Asher shook his head, trying to regain his senses from slamming his head against the wall. As soon as he did, he bolted back to the ritual chamber.

He deadbolted the door that led into the chamber. Asher figured it wouldn't stop the creature, but he hoped it would at least slow it down. He searched around the room, hoping he would find something that was binding the lich's life force to the world of the living.

He found a small wooden box and he went to open it, but it was locked. He fumbled with his lockpick set and heard banging on the door. Asher bit down on his lip in concentration as he heard the blows getting louder against the door. He heard a satisfying click from the box right before the door blew off it's hinges into the room.

Asher opened the box to find the lich's still beating heart. He grabbed his dagger and held it over the heart threateningly while maintaining eye contact with the lich. "Don't come any closer or I will destroy it," Asher stated calmly. The lich pondered it for a minute before replying, "That will not kill me."

"It may not, but it will weaken you significantly," Asher remarked. "And I'm willing to bet with this gone, you'll be weak enough for me to take on."

"That is a sacrifice I must be willing to make. I will become a God with this ritual, with that power I will become unstoppable."

Asher sighed deeply and replied, "I was hoping you wouldn't say that." He dug the dagger into the heart and the lich physically recoiled in pain.

Before it could recover, Asher attacked once again and dug his blades into the lich. The lich looked up at Asher and laughed once again. "No matter how weakened I am, you still are no match for me." It struck Asher once again and sent him flying across the room. It began to advance on him and he had no idea what he could do against it.

The lich stomped his leg, breaking it. Asher laid there and stared at the lich defiantly. It stated, "You would have made a great addition to my army, but I think you're better off staying dead."

As the lich began to prepare an attack to end Asher's life, he heard a chilling voice inside his head. "Do you wish for me to help you?"

Asher screamed, "Yes! Help me!" The lich stared at him curiously for a moment before it sensed a presence behind it.

The being that had defeated Asher so easily was behind the lich. His black eyes bored into the skeletal being. The lich struck at him and it's hand came back, crumbling to dust.

Asher saw a lightning strike shoot through the room and the figure just stood and took it. It seemed completely unbothered by the lich who had just soundly defeated Asher. The being moved slightly and the lich's body crumbled into dust.

It moved in towards Asher and knelt down beside him. Asher shuddered at the sight of those pitch black orbs, completely devoid of any emotion. He had no idea what this being could even be considered. It was humanoid, but it was clearly more powerful than anything he could hope to face in his current state.

It smiled widely and Asher shuddered at the sight of rows upon rows of razor sharp teeth lining it's mouth. "You appeared to be in quite a bit of danger," the figure stated with its typical bone chilling voice. "We can't have you dying yet, Asher. I already warned you once, your humanity will be your downfall. Give up your friend before she ends up getting you killed."

Asher simply replied, "No."

The figure stared at him silently for a long time. "You will regret your decision one day. Until then, I am going to grant you the ability to transfer power from living beings now, as well as expanding that to humans." The being dug it's hand into Asher's stomach as he screamed in pain and he felt heat from his very core. As quickly as it had begun, it stopped and the figure was nowhere to be seen.

Asher laid there for a day before he could move again. He felt different after the experience. Quite possibly weaker than before. From what the figure had said though, things were going to be very interesting from here on out. As he got closer to the entrance of the huge expanse of the underground area, he felt dizzy and his vision went black as he fell to the ground.