Three Square Meals Ch. 121

Blake burst into mocking laughter, making Larn'kelnar flush with embarrassment.

"Where's the gloating condescension now?" John taunted him, his voice echoing eerily. "You're strong and I'm weak? Such towering arrogance... do you realise how laughable your egotistical boasting sounded?"

Seeing John and the girls effortlessly avoiding his counterattacks was infuriating, making Larn'kelnar feel like he was losing the battle. Not only that, but the sheer indignity of being upstaged by Blake and his menagerie was mortifying, especially the taunts, which filled Larn'kelnar with a desperate desire to make them all suffer. He threw back his head and howled in fury, eyes blazing with an incandescent light as Ailanthia flooded him with eldritch energy.

*More! Give me more power!*

Glowing inscriptions appeared on the floor, the intricate patterns of Progenitor runes forming two huge circles to either side of him. A dark purple monolith materialised in the centre of each circle, throbbing with an inner glow like the pulse of a heartbeat.

"You dare mock me?!" he thundered, veins pulsing in his neck. "You insufferable little maggot... I'll teach you some respect..."

***

*Brace yourself!* John's guide called out in warning, actually sounding afraid.

*What the hell are those things?!* John blurted out, staring wide-eyed at the towering purple prisms that just rose out of the runic summoning circles.

The guide almost sounded scared as he muttered, *Disintegration matrix...*

*Tell the girls to duck and cover!* John warned Alyssa, darting a fearful glance at the blonde. *This is going to be bad...*

*I'm giving you more power, John!* Edraele volunteered, hearing the desperation in his voice.

He drove the tip of his runesword into the deck, then channelled energy into the Progenitor glyphs etched into the blade. They amplified the power he was funnelling into the weapon, using it to massively reinforce his psychic shield. Alyssa crossed her wrists over her chest, diverting all her harnessed energy into the sparkling white hexagonal sphere that surrounded her. The twins embraced each other, Tashana's fiery hex-barrier blazing in its intensity. Rachel shifted her grey psychic shield from Irillith to protect Dana, Calara, and herself, shrouding them in an opaque grey globe. Her shield began to rotate as Rachel copied the technique Larn'kelnar had used to extend the survivability of his barrier.

A deep bass boom made the ground shake as a thick purple beam blasted out of the monolith. The first hit John, buckling the front of his shield and making it bow inwards. Despite the hexagons cracking, with smoke drifting through the barrier, he managed to replenish them enough to maintain his shield. He was hit by another and another, unable to do anything other than repair the besieged sphere. Alyssa found herself on the receiving end of an identical attack, knocked back by the massive force behind each beam.

Suddenly one of the monoliths switched targets, aiming for the twins. The beam slashed into Tashana's barrier, warping the flaming globe with the ferocity of the assault. Miraculously, she managed to keep the shield intact, her hands upraised to keep it stable, sweat pouring off her forehead. The Maliri was at her limits though and when the second monolith focused its fire on her too, Tashana's hex-shield collapsed, unable to withstand that much psychic firepower. The beam blasted into Irillith, catching her in the torso and blasting a glowing hole in her flank. She screamed as she was tossed backwards, the beam winking out an instant later.

"Rill!" Tashana screamed in anguish, whirling around to look for her sister.

The next beam hit her in the back, making the Maliri shriek, before a grey shield slammed down to cut off the purple blast.

John was about to rush to help them when another beam from the disintegration matrix pounded his shield. It was all he could do to defend himself against the horrifying psychic bombardment.

Edraele sounded terrified as she blurted out, *John! My girls!*

*Are they alive?* John asked Alyssa through gritted teeth, his heart in his mouth.

*Yes... barely,* she replied, her voice trembling with fury. *Rachel's going to heal them...*

*No!* John's Guide said curtly. *I forbid it! Save the energy...*

*Fuck you!* Alyssa snapped, bristling at his total disregard for the twins.

*Impudent child, I should have just killed you when I had the chance!* the Guide snarled. Fighting back his temper, he continued with barely concealed contempt, *Just look at the Disintegration Matrix, you fool... do you think summoning one of those a mere trifle?*

Alyssa glanced up at the enormous obelisks; the energy crackling and seething around them reminding her of the Quantum Annihilator preparing to fire at Terra. *You want us to destroy them?*

The Guide snorted in disbelief. *How have any of you survived this long?!* With an exasperated sigh, he continued, *Larn'kelnar's burning through huge amounts of power to maintain them... and he's been here for nearly a year, so his legion of thralls is already depleted!*

Alyssa could only imagine the vast amount of psychic energy it would take to summon one of the terrifying constructs, let alone two. She could only assume that keeping them in existence must draw an enormous amount of power as well. Both of the gigantic prisms switched targets to Alyssa before she could reply, forcing her to concentrate solely on reinforcing battered hexagons to repair her shield.

*Take whatever energy you need from me!* Jade urged the blonde. *I've got plenty to spare!*

John's relief at no longer being the target of those blistering purple beams was tempered by seeing them attack Alyssa. He glanced up at the daunting purple obelisk and asked his guide incredulously, *You really think we can outlast him?!*

*Creating boundless amounts of energy out of nothing is about the only thing you've done right,* the Guide muttered with the barest hint of grudging respect. *I still don't understand how you did it... so he'll never suspect for a moment...*

Larn'kelnar laughed, watching with amusement as Alyssa fought for her life. He hurled a psychic javelin at her as well, the jagged tip piercing her shield between the two beams and slamming into her chest. The impact knocked her down, but the golden flare on her armour saved her from being impaled.

*Don't just stand there like a halfwit!* the Guide chastised John. *I can't stand the simpering bitch, but if he kills Alyssa, we're done for!*

John roared as he charged, cutting across in a jagged path to narrowly avoid a pair of beams directed at him. Drawing back his sword in a massive two-handed strike, he slammed it into Larn'kelnar's shield, making the barrier tremble with the force behind the impact. Blue flames burst out over the shield, lapping hungrily at the surface as if eager to scorch the Progenitor's flesh.

*That's enough of that,* the Guide said curtly, making the blue flames gutter out and die. *I'm sure you think they look pretty, but they're barely effective against his shield... another waste of energy.*

Larn'kelnar redirected his beams to fire on Alyssa, who had just staggered to her feet, then swung his sceptre at John in a backhanded smash. John parried the mighty blow, metal ringing against metal as the weapons clashed. He spun around to flank his foe, hammering at the hex-shield with a flurry of lightning fast two-handed blows. The Progenitor lashed out at John again, but this time the runes on his sceptre flared with light. When John parried this time, he was struck by a blast wave that lifted him off his feet, tossing him through the air. Without his Paragon suit's helmet he was unable to activate flight mode and crashed into the wall.

*Why didn't you anchor yourself?!* the Guide snapped, wincing at the impact.

*I couldn't exactly jam my sword into the ground when I was flying through the air...* John grumbled, hauling himself upright and wincing at the pain in his back.

*With telekinesis, you imbecile! Don't you know anything?!*

John shook his head, eyes narrowing in fury at the barrage of insults. *No... because my guide decided to try and take over my body instead of teaching me anything. Besides, wouldn't using telekinesis use up psychic energy, which we're trying to avoid?*

A flood of healing energy eased the pain shooting through his bruised body. *Yes, but not as much power as healing does...* the Guide said in exasperation.

Before John could charge at Larn'kelnar, the twin obelisks focused on him again, keeping him pinned as they hit his shield with alternating beam attacks.

***

Sakura sprinted along the corridor, following her psychic cord that connected her to Alyssa. The undulating white cable was level now as she was on the same deck, but it was pointing away to the side at the sinister black walls, the angle steadily increased as she reached the interrogation chamber. Punching the glowing rune to open the vast door, she bounced on her toes, keyed up and ready for combat.

*Is everyone okay?* she asked her matriarch.

*The twins are down, but Rachel stabilised them...* Alyssa replied, her voice strained with emotion.

Although Sakura was deeply worried for John, Alyssa, and the girls, she was surprised to find herself getting excited at the thought of fighting a Progenitor. Yes, Larn'kelnar was a monster, orchestrating the deaths of millions since his arrival in this part of the galaxy, and deeply in need of punishment for his crimes. However, it wasn't her sense of justice that wanted to see him brought down... there was a deeper need than that nagging in the back of her mind.

Shaking her head to clear her mind of those troubling thoughts, Sakura resisted the urge to simply charge inside. Her eyes were immediately drawn to the huge obelisks crackling with energy that dominated the centre of the room, the thundering boom as each fired an incandescent beam making goosebumps appear on her flesh. A grey javelin streaked across the room and she followed the glowing motes in the air back to the source.

Larn'kelnar was swathed in a nimbus of purple energy, his face twisted into a mask of feral glee as he blasted John and Alyssa. He was clad from head to toe in a suit of ornate black armour, with a hefty matching shield strapped to his left forearm. He clutched a glowing sceptre in his right hand, waving it in the air as he directed his psychic attacks, hurling shield-piercing telekinetic lances at his enemies.

Alyssa sounded fraught with stress as she said, *We'll create an opportunity for you. Just tell me when...*

Sakura crept inside, moving swiftly despite her cautious entrance, psychic speed making her appear to be walking at a brisk pace. She kept to the shadows, barely visible in her black suit against the black walls. With Larn'kelnar so thoroughly distracted by John and Alyssa, it was easy for Sakura to stalk her prey. The experience garnered from hundreds of assassinations served her well, letting her move into position directly behind him, without the Progenitor having the slightest inclination that he was being hunted.

Adjusting the grip on her ninjato, she carefully studied her foe, looking for possible weaknesses in his armour. She considered a decapitation, but Larn'kelnar's neck was well protected by the gorget beneath his helmet, the interlocking plates looking just as robust as the thick armour covering his back. Sakura watched as he raised his right arm to direct another salvo of javelins, his sceptre blazing with light... then froze when she saw the vulnerability she'd been looking for.

*I'm ready...* she whispered, inching closer.

*Five seconds...* Alyssa warned the assassin.

Sakura's heartbeat was slow and steady, despite the adrenalin pumping through her veins. She watched as Larn'kelnar slashed down with his sceptre, launching another pair of javelins at Alyssa, laughing at her distress as he toyed with her. A vortex of grey energy swirled around his shoulders, down his arms towards his sceptre, which he lifted in the air again as he summoned more telekinetic lances.

*Now!* Alyssa cried out, as she launched a quartet of her own psychic lances.

The dazzling white spears raced across to slam into Larn'kelnar's shield, knocking out clusters of hexagons from the whirling surface. At the same time, another four psychic javelins crashed into the hex-barrier from the right, John's guide joining in the barrage. They also knocked out small groupings of hexagons, which on their own would have been ineffective, but combined with all the others temporarily collapsed his shield as the structure destabilised.

Leaving the Progenitor exposed to the deadly assassin...

***

Larn'kelnar blinked in surprise as he was hit by a flurry of javelins from two directions, the coordinated assault enough to knock out his shield. Despite all the effort they'd gone to in dropping his psychic defences, both John and his thrall were under siege, so were unable to follow up with an attack to take advantage of his momentary vulnerability. He smiled confidently as he raised his arm to create a new hex barrier with a wave of his sceptre, thinking up some taunt he could throw at them for their wasted effort.

Suddenly, he caught a flicker of movement out of the corner of his eye, followed by a searing stab of pain under his armpit. He screamed in agony as the blade jammed into his ribcage, the blade twisting and slicing against bone before forcing the ribs apart. The sword rammed deeper and penetrated his lung, tearing a deep furrow through his internal organs. He coughed up blood as he staggered backwards, the agonising pain in his chest turning deathly cold as he felt like he was being frozen down to his soul.

*Help me!* he screamed at Ailanthia, desperately healing the savage wound and warding off the intense cold. *I need more power!*

As he crashed over onto his back, he stared up in fear at the assailant who'd brought him low, and was stunned to discover that a mere woman had come the closest to killing him in 9000 years. She fell to the ground beside him, her brown eyes narrowing with concentration as she twisted her blade, setting off a fresh spike of agony in his chest.

"You thrice-damned wretch!" he spluttered, wheezing with the hideous damage to his lung.

She winked at him and shoved the blade deeper, dragging a burbling scream of pain out of the mortally wounded man. "This is the first assassination I've actually enjoyed," the Asian girl whispered, pulling the ninjato back a few inches to stab him again.

Larn'kelnar dropped his sceptre and reached out to grab her, but she moved just as fast as him, nimbly ducking back from his grasping fingers. The assassin impaled him again, rewarded by another tortured scream for her efforts. After long millennia of brutal conquests, Larn'kelnar had become convinced of his own invulnerability, so this brush with his own mortality left him terrified. In a desperation borne of that terror, he unleashed an enormous telekinetic blastwave that caught the thrall and hurled her backwards, freeing him from his tormentor.

***

Sakura summoned the winds to stabilise her in the air, reversing the direction of flight so that she hovered safely instead of smashing into the wall. She still had her left ninjato, but her right was embedded deep in Larn'kelnar's chest, the hilt poking out from under his armpit. Just as she'd suspected, the armour plating was thinner there; a sensible compromise by the armoursmith to allow the arm full range of movement, but a dreadful liability against an assassin of her calibre.

A new glowing grey sphere materialised around her foe, giving him a temporary reprieve. However, Larn'kelnar was still grievously wounded and it would only be a matter of time before John and Alyssa could make him vulnerable to another attack. She launched herself towards him, blade drawn back in readiness, her right hand shrouded in glacial cold.

*Sakura look out! The beams!* Alyssa screamed in warning, but it was too late for her to dodge.

Both obelisks struck her with virulent purple columns of energy, overwhelming her hastily erected shield. She tried to twist clear, but one beam hit her foot, the other glancing her left arm. Sakura screamed as the beam vaporised her boot, cauterising the wound mid-calf and leaving nothing but a glowing stump. The sizzling strike on her arm gouged a glowing furrow through her bicep right down to the bone. Rachel covered her in a psychic shield before Larn'kelnar could adjust the obelisks' aim, but the damage was already done, with Sakura passing out from the pain and dropping like a stone.

John watched in horror as Sakura fell to the deck, Alyssa just catching her limp body in time with a telekinetic net. He charged at Larn'kelnar, hammering his shield furiously with a flurry of strikes as he tried to hack his way through the Progenitor's defences.

"Just fucking die, you bastard!" he screamed at his mortally wounded nemesis.

***

Larn'kelnar ignored John as he reached across to grab the ninjato's hilt and slowly yanked it backwards. He shuddered in agony as the blade grated across his ribs, but he was finally able to heal his lungs when he tugged it out of his body and tossed the weapon aside. Coughing up more blood, he grimaced as he regenerated the gruesome injury, pouring psychic energy into healing what should have been a fatal wound.

*Larn! What happened?! Please tell me you're alright?* Ailanthia begged him, sobbing with fear.

*One of Blake's whores...* he snarled, glaring at John who was pounding on his shield and forcing Larn'kelnar to repair scores of hexagons to repel his assault. *The bitch took me by surprise... stabbed me...*

His matriarch sounded stunned as she murmured, *You were nearly killed by a thrall?!*

Larn'kelnar reached for his sceptre, which swooped through the air to land in his gauntleted fist. *Not just any thrall... Blake's been augmenting them... giving them powers...* he spat, the very idea utterly revolting to him. He focused the obelisks beams on John, then hit him with a force wave, knocking him backwards. *That bitch had speed... Cryokinesis... maybe even Aerokinesis...*

*My lord... you're using so much power...* Ailanthia warned him tentatively. *Our reserves are-*

*And I'll be using more!* he interrupted in a furious growl, turning his vengeful gaze on the crumpled form of the assassin that had nearly been the death of him.

The Asian girl was unconscious, but she was still shrouded in a grey sphere, the orb rotating just as his own was. Larn'kelnar narrowed his eyes in suspicion, wondering who was shielding the slinking assassin. He'd already dealt with the Maliri, Blake's shields were blue, and that stubbornly resilient bitch was protected by a white barrier... which meant that someone else was shielding her from harm. His own shield was suddenly struck by an incandescent blast of white energy, shattering scores of hexagons and momentarily distracting him.

Exasperated with the constant interruptions, he drew deep, creating a third circle of runes and summoning another Disintegration Matrix. He wavered slightly as the huge obelisk flashed into existence, feeling the heavy draw of power on his personal supply of energy.

As his latest construct began blasting the white-armoured thrall and putting her on the defensive, Larn'kelnar said curtly, *I asked for more power, Ailanthia! Why are you making me draw from my own reserves?!*

*I've tapped most of your network, my Lord!* she replied in a rush. *You've been using so much energy and we haven't done any recruitment in nearly a year...*

*I don't want to hear excuses, just use up some thralls!* he exclaimed, shaking his head indignantly. *What's the matter with you, Ailanthia?*