Ultimate Assassin Saga: Woodlands

The Star Elf had knocked another arrow back and was ready to let it fly when she heard it. It was a word of power and one that she knew well. The word wasn't formed by Elven lips though. No, she knew who had spoken the word, but even as she identified the person that used the word, she wondered why he would use it. Why would Acheron use the word that would allow him to leave to the Mortal Plane, freeing him from this battle?

The woman could see the silvery portal in the distance, but she couldn't see who stood in front of it. They were hidden by the battle, and despite what she knew to be true, she denied it mentally. There was only one way for her to know for sure: she had to get closer.

That thought in mind, Rachel slung the bow back over her shoulder and she raised from the crouch she was in. Then, she turned to the next tree and she leaped to an empty branch. She landed nimbly with the grace of a cat and she wasn't even there a second before she was leaping to the next tree. Her tree hopping was taking her closer and closer to the shimmering stone as well as where the silvery portal was. Finally, she reached a good vantage point and she looked down, frowning in confusion as she saw the person standing in front of the portal.

It was indeed Acheron and he was looking ready to go through. Just as that though entered her mind, he leaped forward and was swallowed up by the portal. She watched this uncomprehendingly, her mouth dropping open and her eyes widened in surprise. He'd just fled from the battle! He was leaving them to fend for themselves! Why would he do such a thing? She'd thought that they could trust him and that he would be there for him when he needed them. So why would he leave at the last moment, when they needed him the most?

Her surprise was quickly replaced with rage. It was a rage that she'd never felt before and it almost scared her, but she decided to embrace it. The rage was white hot and filled every nerve ending of her body, galvanizing her. Knowing that there was no way to turn it on the man who deserved it, she turned it on the one group of people that she could: the Undead.

Going into a crouch, Rachel unslung her bow from her back once more and she knocked an arrow back, letting it fly. Her process of firing and reloading was shortened to three seconds with her anger being her fuel. It was the only thing driving her, and to her surprise, her accuracy was spot on. Each one of her arrows hit either in the head or the chest and both were kill shots, mowing down the Zombies in the way. She didn't understand why they would be betrayed, but she would fight until that betrayal didn't hurt any more.

Rachel's arrows continued to fire and fell the Undead.

XXXXXXXXXX

Acheron stepped out of the portal and he stopped in his tracks, head spinning from the travel. He was disoriented and confused for a moment, but he was sure that he would get his bearings soon enough. Sure enough, only seconds later, his vertigo returned to normal and he was able to focus on what he was doing.

Holding his Diamond Blade tightly in one hand, he turned his gaze outward and he started to search for the stone. It had to be around here somewhere. The Mortal Plane was a direct mirror of the dimension the Star Elves lived in and that could only mean that the stone would be around here somewhere. There could be some foliage obscuring it that wasn't in the mirror dimension, but he would find it.

To do so, the Chaos Demon reached out with his aura and searched the area for the power of the stone. It only took a few seconds before he sensed it, and a second after that, he took off at high speed in that direction. He ran at full speed towards the power, passing straight through the foliage in front of him and he stopped on the other side. His gaze took in what was in front of him, and once again, he felt the awe that went with seeing the stone.

However, there was a huge difference between this stone and the stone visible in the mirror dimension. This stone wasn't floating above open ground, but above that of a large pedestal. It was as if it were an egg being fostered by something that wouldn't let it go. That didn't matter to him though. He tightened his grip on the hilt of his Diamond Blade and he readied himself to do what he'd come to do.

The stone had to be destroyed.

"This ends here." Acheron said to the stone, though he knew it wasn't a sentient being. It just made him feel better to say it. Just as he said that, he gripped the hilt of his Diamond Blade in both hands, holding it back and he darted at the large, egg shaped stone. With a battle cry, he leaped into the air and lifted the sword high over his head, bringing it down against the glowing stone.

The moment the blade struck the stone, the Chaos Demon felt a surge of energy go through him. Then, pain erupted along every nerve ending and he cried out in pain. At the same time, he was thrown back and he felt himself being smashed into a tree. When his large body hit the trunk of the tree, it passed right through it and the tree fell over as if cut with an axe instead of a large body crashing into it. He fell to the ground on the other side and he groaned as he lay there, pain radiating from his toes to the roots of his hair.

His body spasmed with every second that went by and he wasn't sure that he could get up. He knew that he had to though. He had to get rid of the stone and save the Star Elves. Otherwise, the Elves on the other side would be destroyed and his conscious would never let him live that down. If he didn't save them, he would continue to relive the things that he could've done different over and over again in his mind until he was driven mad. These were his friends and he was here to save them. If he couldn't do that one simple thing, then what good was he to anyone?

Gritting his teeth, the Command Assassin drew his sentient mind together and focused it all on one thing: getting up. Fingers digging into the ground beneath him, he forced his body to move despite the pain, and before long, he was on his fours. His head was bent low with his eyes closed and he panted heavily, the pain filling him making this harder than it usually would've been.

Rising to his knees, he stared down at the sword laying in the grass and he knew that he had to pick it up. It was actually picking it up that was going to be the problem. He forced his arm to reach out and wrap around the hilt of his sword, lifting it into his hand, closing his other hand around the hilt. He panted as he held the sword and stared at the gleaming, razor sharp blade. This sword was suppose to be able to cut through anything, but somehow, it had been repelled by a simple stone. No, not a simple stone. A stone glowing with magic and carved with runes from a language he didn't know.

Grunting in pain, Acheron quickly pushed to his feet and he turned his emerald gaze to the stone. It seemed to be mocking him by floating there, seemingly uncaring that he was even there. Since it wasn't a sentient creature, it wouldn't care that he was there. It just existed and none of its deeds could be classified as good or evil and that was the real problem. If this was sentient creature, he could fight and overwhelm the creature, but it was just an existing power.

He knew one thing about the stone so far: physical attacks didn't work. There was only one other kind of attack that he really knew: magic. Maybe if he hit magic with magic, he could overwhelm the power of the stone and lower its defenses long enough to cut it down. It was worth a shot.

Pushing the pain to the back of his mind, the Chaos Demon slammed the Diamond Blade down into the earth and he began to draw magic into both of his hands. Closing his eyes, he focused on all of his magic, drawing it into pure and unrelenting force. This magic couldn't be elemental, time, black, white, or green. If he chose either one of the magics, it could counter and possibly even send it back at him. He couldn't take that chance with such a dangerous edifice as this stone.

Feeling the magic gathering, he opened his eyes and stared at the glowing white energy that gathered around his palms. Feeling that he had enough gathered, he drew it between his palms and he condensed it into a tighter form. White energy pressed together into a ball of pure power, he pulled his hands back and then sent them forward, the pure power shooting from his hand. He watched the pure force fly from his hands and arc in a pure wall of energy towards the stone.

The magic slammed into the stone and a loud boom filled the area. Dust was kicked up by the two forces colliding with one another and obscured the stone. He gritted his teeth and he waited for the dust to fade even as he allowed his hands to fall to his sides. Unable to hold back the pain any longer, he grunted in pain and sank down to one knee, staring at the leaf covered ground, panting heavily.

The Command Assassin could feel sweat pouring from every pore on his body, drenching him in it. The armor on his chest felt heavy and suffocating, but he knew that he couldn't take it off. Not because he was afraid of anything, but he simply knew that it would expend to much of his energy and fill him with too much pain to do so.

After several minutes, Acheron raised his head and stared at where the stone had been. The dust had settled now and he could see where the stone had been. To his surprise, the stone still stood, looking as imposing and uncaring as before. It continued to glow with that powerful green force and there wasn't one scratch marring the surface of the stone.

His attack had failed.

"Fuck." Acheron gritted out between clenched teeth and he stared at the stone. How was he going to get rid of this stone? It had stood against both physical and magical attacks. What else was there that he could use against the stone? There was only one more way of doing this that he knew of, but seeing as how it had resisted both physical and magical attacks, he didn't know how combining the two would work.

Well, he still had to try. He couldn't simply walk away and not try something. There had to be a way to destroy this stone after all. It wasn't a God, infallible. Hell, even the Gods could be killed by other Gods so even they weren't invincible beings. If Gods could die, then this stone could be destroyed. That was all there was too it and the destruction of the stone was the only thing that he was going to accept as a possible outcome.

Pushing the pain back once more, the Command Assassin struggled to his feet. Once on his feet, he wavered a little, nearly losing his balance, but he managed to keep his balance. Taking a deep breath, he gripped the hilt of his Diamond Blade and he began to focus his magic into it. When the blade was shimmering with white energy, he knew that it was time. He had one last attack in him and that was it. Anything beyond that and he wouldn't be able to handle it. He'd used too much magic already and it had drained him to near nothing. Hoping that this worked, he let loose a battle cry and he darted towards the egg shaped stone.

With both hands, the Chaos Demon swung his magic imbued sword and it slammed against the stone. In the second before the blade hit the stone, he prayed that it wouldn't send shockwaves through him once again. If it did, they would surely kill him. He couldn't die here, he knew that. He wouldn't accept death in this place to this egg shaped stone.

When his blade struck the stone, there was nothing. No shockwave of pain, no killing blow. However, there was another sort of reaction. When the magic surrounding his blade came into contact with the shimmering green energy around it, it obliterated the green light around the stone, and when the blade struck the egg shaped stone, it bit through the stone, cutting deep. Then, after a second of hesitation, the stone exploded into a thousand pieces, flying in all directions.

Shocked that it had worked, Acheron smiled and dropped to his knees. Then, his hand was unable to grip his sword and it fell to the ground. The moment the blade hit the ground, he fell forward and hit the ground hard. He lay there for a moment, blinking and feeling the pain filling his body. It wasn't a death like pain. He had just exceeded his power limit for the day as well as his pain threshold. Just as that though entered his mind, his eyes closed, and before he knew it, he was unconscious.

XXXXXXXXXX

Acre ducked the attack of a Goblin, leaping to the side to avoid the strike of an Elf. Free of the corner he'd been backed into by the small group of Undead, he smiled and hefted his blade, holding it at shoulder level, pointing the blade at the small group. The creatures turned to him and growls went up among them, their only thought for killing and possibly devouring him.

He loved battle so much that this was actually enjoyable for him. He liked a challenge, and even though he felt sorrow for the men that were dying at the hands of the Undead, he wasn't going to allow that ruin his joy of battle. There was nothing like a good battle, and better yet, surviving that battle. Especially when that battle seemed hopeless and endless.

He didn't know how yet, but the Star Elf was going to survive this battle. He might have to retreat eventually, but not before he'd killed hundreds more. He'd already killed over five hundred of the Undead, keeping count with each stroke and kill shot. True, it was a morbid thing to do in the middle of a life and death situation, but he couldn't help himself. This was just who he was and he wasn't going to change that.

"Come on, you bastards." Acre goaded them, though he knew they didn't care. They were unthinking, unfeeling creatures and a little goading wouldn't do anything to them. They could feel no hunger, only a maddening taste for live flesh and he was going to use that against them. The Zombies moved towards him, moving in a loose line and he could see the weakness' in that line as he watched them approach.

Lowering his broadsword, the Warrior Lord shot forward and swung his blade. The Elf tried to lift its spear to block the strike, but it was too late. The broadsword cut deep into its chest and sent it staggering back, falling to the ground. Before the others could attack, he leaped back out of their range and raised his blade once more, watching them.

To fight them one at a time was the only way he was going to win this fight and he knew it. However, since the Undead couldn't form any coherent thought, and thus, couldn't for strategies, they wouldn't know what he was doing. They would fall and they would be blissfully unaware of the fact that their own brainless actions was what brought about their own deaths.

He darted forward once again, knocking aside the axe the Human Zombie raised and decapitating the creature. Then, he leaped back once more out of the way and he repeated the process. Before too long, he'd cut down all dozen of the group and he hadn't received a single wound. However, his body was beginning to seriously hurt from the injury he'd taken from the Giant earlier and it was starting to slow him.

Shaking it off, Acre turned and searched for another combatant to kill. There were no Zombies close to him at this moment and he watched the battle for a moment. More than fifty men had been killed on his side, but each one of them had taken hundreds with them, earning their deaths and making them honorable one's. Arrows reigned down on the area, cutting down the Undead from all sides and they didn't stand a chance at reaching the archers in the trees of the Jungle.

Zombies couldn't climb.

Suddenly, a loud boom filled the area and he felt a manufactured wind rock him. He sank to one knee to prevent himself from flying back, and when the wind stopped, he rose back to his feet. Looking around in confusion, he searched for what had made that noise. Looking over at where the stone was, his eyes widened in surprise when he saw that the floating insubstantial stone was no longer there. Acheron had done it.

He'd destroyed the stone.

Just as the stone disappeared, obviously destroyed by their Demon ally, a chain reaction went through the Zombies. The Undead let out a collective groan of either peace or pain and they fell to the Jungle floor, inert once again in death. He blinked a couple of times, turning his gaze to the once Undead and now fully Undead. So, it would seem that their Demon friend had been right. The power was tied to the stone and kept the Undead coming, even spawning them into the mirror dimension.

There was a pause, a moment of unsurety among the Star Elf ranks. Then, they raised their hands and began to cry out in victory. He smiled as he watched his brothers do this, but he didn't join in. No, he would wait until Acheron returned and they could celebrate together.

The Star Elf turned his head when he heard something hit the ground next to him and he was surprised to see a member of his own Wave standing right next to him. Her eyes were dark and meaningful, obviously not understanding what happened to the Undead. He knew Rachel well as well he should considering she was the only woman of the First Wave, but to his surprise, he saw the shortbow clenched in her hand. When had she taken up archery? The last he knew of her, she was a specialist in hand to hand, face to face combat, not long range archery.

Oh well, that wasn't important.

"What the hell happened?" Rachel asked, her own curiosity coming through in her voice. Her brow was furrowed up in confusion as she stared at him, waiting for the answer. She held the bow down by her side, and for some reason, he zeroed in on that. There was no reason for him to do so, but he did for some unknown reason. "Where did that stone go and why did the Zombies suddenly fall? I know that you know so tell me, my Lord."

"It was Acheron." Acre replied with confidence and he turned to look at the battlefield once more. Smiling a little, he bent down and cleaned the blood from his broadsword. Straightening once he was done, he sheathed his weapon and he turned to look at her. "He figured out a long time ago that the stone was what kept the Undead coming. They had a link of sorts I suppose you could say. He went to the Mortal Plane because that stone isn't in this dimension. It appears here, but because its based on the Mortal Plane, it can't be in two places at once. He destroyed the stone and now it's over."

The woman stared at him, her eyes growing bigger as he explained what he knew of the situation. When he was done, she quickly collected her composure and she looked at the ground. He frowned as he looked at her, wondering why her shoulders were slumped that way and biting her lip. Then, she answered his unasked question without even seeming to realize it.

"I'm such a fool. He wasn't betraying us." Rachel said, her voice filled with self condemnation. He frowned at her words, and while he knew that there was nothing he could do for her lack of trust, he wished that she had more of it. She was a good woman and an even better warrior, but there was nothing he could do for her emotions. That was up to the individual and he couldn't influence anyone that way. Then, to his surprise, she raised her head and looked at him with the widest, happiest smile he'd ever seen in his lifetime. "He was saving us."

The Star Elf smiled at her words and nodded his head. He didn't think that he really needed to confirm what she'd just said, but he did anyway. With a smile on her face, she turned away from him and she walked away, apparently comforted by the fact that their Demon friend was indeed that: a friend. He watched her approach a few of the soldiers who were talking amongst themselves, obviously confused. After a few moments of her talking to them though, they straightened and smiled. It was obvious what she'd done.