Apocalypse Tamer

Chapter 115: Man vs Duo

What were the odds that two Horsemen of the Apocalypse would invade Earth through the same rift the Bohens just happened to visit? Pretty much zero.josei

Henceforth, it couldn’t be a coincidence.

“You’re after Kalki,” Basil guessed as he raised his shield. Shellgirl took refuge behind him and summoned buffing items from her inventory. “You teleported as close as you could to his prison.”

“Clever boy.” Belphegor’s grin widened. “We would have opened a rift to the Avatar’s hiding place if we could, but someone is blocking the way. Guess we’ll have to take a detour.”

“I don’t care for the Avatar,” his false angel of a teammate snapped, her weapon pointed at Basil. “Where is Nidhogg?”

“Who?” Basil wondered right as she raised her sword. “Shell–”

“Too slow!” Belphegor cackled.

Time skipped forward. When it returned to normal, Basil found himself staring at a sword flying straight at his head.

He barely deflected it with his shield, only for Brina to dash at him at lightning speed. “Blitzkrieg,” she said as two khanda sabres materialized in her hands. “Favored Target: Humanoid.”

Damn it, she’s fast! Basil cursed as he barely dodged a cross-shaped swing of hers. Her sabres cut an after-image left by his mirage buff. He countered with a thrust of his spear, only to hit empty air. He was soon forced to parry a blow with his shield and was thrown two meters back for his trouble.

Worse, his Moon Shield was in its New Moon mode; the one granting him intangibility. Her swords should have harmlessly phased through his protection rather than bounce off it.

Shellgirl summoned her Christmas bag and moved to flank Brina. “Christmas Hose!”

A pressurized torrent of water poured out of her bag like a laser. Brina leaped into the air to dodge, with the attack piercing through the amphitheater’s stone stairs. The winged woman gracefully landed on a stand above.

Only then did Basil notice someone missing. “Where’s Belphegor?”

A dark shadow flew over him and Shellgirl, answering his question. Both party members fled in two directions and barely avoided a falling projectile. An explosion shook the amphitheater and blew dust across its fighting ground.

Belphegor floated above the arena with an amused look. Streams of flames coming from his feet propelled him upward, and shadowy spheres of solid darkness gathered in his hands. Meanwhile, Brina leaped from the stairs with murder on her mind.

“Reinforcements would help, Partner,” Shellgirl warned as she pointed her bag at Belphegor.

“One for All!” Basil shouted, immediately summoning his allies to his side. While he left Rosemarine and Steve to deal with the portal, Plato, Vasi, and Bugsy all teleported into the amphitheater.

So used was the team to battle that they didn’t show a moment’s hesitation. Bugsy helped Shellgirl blast Belphegor, his flames and her water clashing with shadowy spheres. Vasi and Plato, meanwhile, opened fire at Brina with crimson lightning and sharpened blades of wind. Electricity bounced off Brina harmlessly while she deflected the wind blades with her swords.

The Horseman of War flew at Vasi in an attempt to behead her. Basil jumped in front of his lady to protect her with his shield, parrying the attack. He was thrust back against his girlfriend while Brina parried a sword strike from Plato.

“Two Horsemen at once?” Vasi cursed as she and her boyfriend took flight. They floated above Brina, looking for an opening. “What is she weak against?”

“Let me see,” Basil said before activating Monster Insight on both of their enemies.

“They’re both vulnerable to Water and Frost, and the girl is a valkyrie,” Basil warned his team before empowering his weapon with the appropriate element. “Runestorm: Water.”

“A valkyrie? Good.” Vasi immediately pointed a finger at Brina. “Darkest Fear.”

A shadowy curse fell upon Brina as her swords clashed with Plato’s. She pushed back the cat with a parry and immediately shrugged off Vasi’s spell. The fairy magic vanished without affecting the valkyrie.

“Lord Odin is long gone, thanks to your loathsome master,” said the Horseman of War with vengeful eyes. She raised her sabres, whose edges soon caught fire on their own. “Only demons remain now.”

“I serve no one,” Vasi replied before summoning a storm of ice shards. “Blizzard.”

Brina hastily deflected all the projectiles with her swords, but Basil exploited her distraction by falling down on her with his spear. The valkyrie swiftly dodged by taking a step back, only for Plato to flank her. She casually parried a swing from Joyeuse nonetheless.

“Got you,” the cat taunted her. “Catnapping.”

The valkyrie slowed down and her afterimages dispelled.

Basil immediately pressed his advantage. Still perceiving the world in slowed time thanks to Hasten, his spear’s edge swirling with water, he lunged at Brina with all his might.

One of the valkyrie’s sabres immediately dematerialized. A heavy shield appeared in its place and swiftly blocked Basil’s blow. His weapon clashed with her protection with such strength that the shockwave blew dust all around them.

Brina did not flinch.

She’s stronger than Blackcinders, and quicker too, Basil thought. He was forced to jump backward to avoid a parry. Even without her buffs, his foe remained lethally fast. I can’t find an opening.

Worse, he could tell his enemy was only testing the waters so far. Brina struck cautiously, never risking too much or pressing an advantage. She was gauging the Bohens’ capabilities.

How long until she started giving her all?

Vasi summoned a small, flaming meteorite and dropped it over the valkyrie. Basil and Pluto backflipped to safety while Brina didn’t bother to move. She simply raised her shield to the sky, and a crimson, spherical magical barrier expanded from it right as the projectile fell. The cataclysmic impact swiftly collapsed what remained of the amphitheater.

While protecting his eyes from dust with his shield, Basil glanced at his allies to see how they were faring. Bugsy was chasing Belphegor in the sky, blasting sphere after sphere of cosmic plasma at the undead. The Horseman of Death zigzagged around to dodge the projectiles. Though he was immune to Fire, half the damage of Bugsy’s attacks were of the Light element, to which he was vulnerable.

Sensing an opening as Bugsy’s offense left him vulnerable, Belphegor counterattacked with spheres of his own; projectiles made not of cosmic light, but eldritch darkness. None hit their mark, for Shellgirl shot them all down from the sky with her water stream. Her Booster’s buff helped counter the negative effect of the Field on her attack. The Horseman of Death found himself purely on the defensive, unable to shake Bugsy’s hounded pursuit of him so long as Shellgirl covered her friend with suppression fire.

“When is the last one coming?” Plato asked with what could pass for enthusiasm. “We only get a reward if we kill all four of you!”

“Mammon?” Belphegor chuckled while flying out of the way of Shellgirl’s water stream. “That bastard arrived first, long before Apollyon.”

It took Basil a few seconds to properly register the implications. “What did you say?”

“How do you think we even got here in the first place?” Belphegor’s flaming eyes turned pitch black, and a shadowy smoke aura swirled around him. “Darkness Shroud.”

Brina emerged from the amphitheater’s rubble cloaked in shadows. Activating her Blitzkrieg, she charged at Basil while switching out her remaining saber for a spear covered in runes.

“Bugsy!” Basil called as he rushed to meet the Horseman of War in battle. “Time to try out your secret weapon!”

“On it, Boss!” Bugsy’s star of a tail glowed with a bright red glow, its deadly radiance blessing the entire battlefield. “Apollo’s Curse!”

“Huh?” Belphegor’s confused grunts turned to painful screams as his own flames consumed his body. Boiling bubbles burst on the surface of his melting wax skin, and his blackened clothes suddenly caught fire. Bugsy’s curse caused the very Field to burn the Horseman alive. “Agh!”

Bugsy immediately tackled Belphegor and pinned him to the ground not far from the team. The apolloworm coiled around the Horseman of Death like a snake, keeping his hands apart and crushing his chest. Steaming wax spilled over Bugsy’s body as his natural heat slowly burned his prey away.

“Ah… is this… how it feels…” Belphegor’s screams soon turned into moans, and then a burst of cavernous laughter. “To burn?”

The Horseman of Death was laughing.

While her teammate burned in joyful agony, Brina charged to face Basil. Both mirrored each other; each was a warrior wielding a spear and a shield. They raised their weapons at the same time, aiming to pierce the other’s head while deflecting the counterattack. Vasi and Plato flanked the valkyrie from both sides to give their ally the advantage.

But then Brina vanished.

Basil’s spear hit dust-filled air instead of her flesh. His momentum carried him forward, while his allies blinked in confusion.

Where did she go? Basil blinked in confusion.

The sharp pain in his back immediately answered his question.

He felt the spear pierce his armor and continue its way right between his ribs. His incorporeal nature did nothing to stop the blow. Brina’s weapon impaled him from behind with the strength of an Olympic javelin. It came out of his chest and nailed him to the ground like a boar.

Basil bit his tongue not to scream. The memory of Megabug impaling him with his dart at the beginning of his career flashed back to his mind, but ten times worse.

“Basil!” Plato leaped to rescue his best friend, only for thrown knives to hit him in midair and throw him back. Vasi furled her wings to protect herself from another volley, the blades shredding them and forcing the witch to the ground.

Basil looked over his shoulder and glared at the shadow looming over him.

“You are not worthy of Valhalla,” Brina said with a hint of contempt. A dozen daggers flickered to existence between her fingers, each of them shining with magical power. “Your movements are predictable, guided by the System instead of your own experience.”

Basil attempted to escape her grip, only for Brina to twist her spear and keep him firmly anchored to the ground.He grit his teeth so as not to grunt in pain.“Tell me where Nidhogg is hiding,” Brina said, “and I will give you a quick death.”

Before Basil could tell her to get bent, he noticed Shellgirl abandoning the fight with Belphegor to rush to his rescue. “Joyful Spirit!”

Predict this, Basil thought as he felt his ally’s buff empowering him.

He flipped his spear and stabbed himself through the chest. Thanks to his intangibility granted by the Moon Shield, his own weapon phased through his body without hurting him. Birgha was not his soulbound halberd, and thus couldn’t hit incorporeal targets; not even its own wielder.

But it hit Brina just fine.

The surprised valkyrie was impaled through the stomach. Basil would have pierced the heart if he could, but he could hardly aim correctly in his current position. Brina’s tunic and flesh both felt hard as steel.

She shed blood all the same.

Curse whoever invented damage reduction. With all his buffs and multipliers, Basil should have approached five-digit damage. At least she wasn't immune to critical hits. “Bugsy, combo her!”

Uncoiling from Belphegor, Bugsy took flight and gathered light. His star-tail glowed brighter than the sun. His fiery wings became like those of a phoenix and filled the sky with divine flames. “Nova Up!”

Still impaled by Basil’s spear, Brina threw her daggers at the Apolloworm. Shellgirl easily deflected them in midair with her water hose and allowed her ally to use his ultimate attack.

“Nova…” Bugsy inhaled. “Flare!”

Bugsy opened his mouth and breathed light.

From Basil’s point of view, it was like gazing at a supernova. A massive sphere of cosmic plasma expanded from Bugsy and consumed the entire area. Thessaloniki’s Roman Forum burned like Pompei. Its old ruins crumbled to dust. Stone skipped the melting stage and straight-up vaporized. So did Belphegor, whose remains returned to dust, and the spear impaling Basil.

The light and fire would have incinerated the Bohens too… but friendly fire was no longer an issue for them.

When the light dissipated, Basil stood amidst a ring of ash the size of a football field. All of his allies had survived Bugsy’s devastating attack.

Brina was nowhere to be seen.

“She’s like me,” Basil said while gritting his teeth and applying a hand to his bleeding chest wound. Her build was a near-perfect counterpart of his own. She could hit incorporeal targets like a Deathknight, stack damage multipliers like a Dragonknight, and hit harder than a Warrior Saint. “Except she can teleport and carries legendary weapons.”

“Sorry, Basil, you’re wrong.” Plato hissed as he pulled knives out of his own body. “She’s better than you.”

As much as it wounded Basil to say it, his beloved kitten might have had a point.

“At least we got the Horseman of Death,” Vasi said as the team regrouped around Basil.

“No, Vasi, we didn’t.” Shellgirl summoned golden apples from her inventory and tossed them to her allies. “That wax guy didn’t stay dead last time Basil nailed him.”

“He can possess undead allies to revive himself,” Basil confirmed as he and Plato devoured their apples. The fruit’s magic spread through them and miraculously healed their wounds. Basil’s chest gash closed within seconds.

“Do you know any spell that could kill Belphegor?” Basil asked his girlfriend. “My Deathknight Perks can’t keep him down.”

Vasi shook her head, much to his disappointment. “There has to be a loophole, though,” she said. “No ability is perfect.”

“Maybe he has a range,” Plato suggested. “He can’t jump into someone who is too far away.”

“Unless he’s using the Faction link to possess others,” Vasi warned grimly. “If so, then his range is global.”

If her theory was correct, nothing short of killing every Apocalypse Force-aligned undead on Earth would finish off Belphegor.

Before the team could debate further, Bugsy snapped his mandibles in alarm. The ring of flaming streets that surrounded the destroyed plaza spewed more monsters. A dozen skullfires arrived to surround the team, alongside a host of hellfire elementals.

“I think you still haven’t grasped what’s special about little ol’ me.” Belphegor walked among his troops, backed by Brina. To Basil’s annoyance, both had fully recovered from their wounds. “Let me help. It starts with ‘A’ and ends with ‘absolutely not mortal.’”

“I did it first before it became mainstream!” Plato complained. “If you start meowing, I’ll sue!”

“Shouldn’t it be immortal rather than amortal?” Basil taunted Belphegor while trying to present a brave front. He couldn’t show weakness now. “Or you’re just poor at grammar?”

“Should be immortal, but you see…” Dark energies swirled around Belphegor’s hands. “I was never alive to begin with.”

Basil sighed in anger.

This was going to be a long fight.