Chapter 11: Ultimate Showdown of Ultimate Destiny
You wanna talk about sucker punches? Yeah, I just got the king of all sucker punches. Although, when you think about it, I was just asking for one with my little performance. I'm just amazed I managed to keep a grip on my sword. As I peeled myself off of the wall, I noticed Dracula had disappeared from sight. I looked around, moving slowly to keep from getting caught off guard.
...yeah, like that ever works.
The moment I hit the middle of the arena, I felt a huge blast of wind sweep me off of my feet. As I landed on my back, I saw the vampire in the air, flapping his feathery wings.
...............WHAT THE BLEEDING HELL?!?!?
When did he get a set of wings?!? And where can I get a set of my own?!? Unfortunately, neither set of questions could be answered right now, and the latter could never be answered, as his horn started to glow. Three orange spheres circled around him, and with a shout, they all converged on me. I regained my footing quickly, swinging my sword (which, amazingly, kept its aqua glow from way back at Jack's) and sending a torrent of water towards the fireballs. While two of them disappeared on contact, the third still clipped my right arm, burning a part of the sleeve close to my shoulder.
I didn't do as much as I thought I would as my counterattack hit Dracula. It hit his right wing (his right, not mine), causing him to lose his flight advantage for the moment. Other than that, though, he was undamaged. I charged towards him, sword in front of me with intent to skewer.
Wow. I am just NOT thinking things through in this fight.
The Lord of Darkness used that horn of his to push my blade to the side, leaving me wide open for him to turn on his front legs and give me a solid buck, breaking a good amount of ribs. Then, just to add insult to injury, he YAWNED as I got back up.
"Your performance is pitiful. If you do not step up your game, I will end it very soon."
I'll give you pitiful, I thought spitefully. Now was the time to focus. I put both hands on the sword and started to charge. Dracula seemed to get what I was doing, because he teleported right behind me and delivered a spine-breaking shot with his wing. Amazingly, my spine didn't break, so I guess I should be thankful for that. But this was getting bad; if I didn't turn this around now, I was not continuing, tournament or my new life.
I resumed charging my weapon, hoping I could get it battle-ready before the next attack. In spite of wishful thinking, it wasn't happening. His horn started to glow again, creating two shadow-fire balls. He fired the first, forcing me to stop charging my weapon so I could dodge it. The second one was let loose the moment I jumped out of the way of the first. At this point, I could only do one thing. I held my shield up, hoping I didn't turn into dust as the two forces collided.
What happened next was...well, undescribable, but I'll do my best. A huge explosion echoed throughout the stadium (and possibly throughout all of Necro City) as a bright light engulfed my vision. When my sight finally came back, I noticed multiple different things. For one, my shield had transformed from a kite shield to a huge, tower shield, switching between a solid white and a pitch black color. Dracula stood there, dumbstruck that his attack didn't turn me into an ingredient for alchemy. As I raised my sword (which had FINALLY obtained its white glow), I thought about matching his speed so I stood a chance. The glow became more golden, hopefully confirming my mental command.
I ran towards him, moving far faster than I could even imagine. He could sense my movement, however, as my first strike missed him completely. When he went for the counter, however, I flicked my shield wrist, knocking his hoof to the ground. My diagonal cross attack created a fresh wound in his side, causing him to wince. Even so, his wing still shot out, dislocating my shield arm. Pretty soon, it came down to who would tire out first, each of us exchanging blow after blow. For every time my sword created a gash, he would have a spell burn another part of my ensemble, and for every bone he broke with his hoof or wing, I had managed to land a shattering blow, though I don't think I broke anything.
The final attack, Dracula knocking me into the air followed by a spike to the ground, shut down any hopes of winning this fight. I picked myself up and reassessed my damage. Multiple broken ribs, dislocated shield arm, skull was probably fractured, spine was aching, multiple holes in my robes revealing my frame, and I barely had any strength to stand. Dracula, for his part, looked as if he had barely been touched. Already, the wounds from my first attacks were healing, only leaving behind scars to signify anything had happened.
He gave an evil laugh. "I must admit, your last ditch attempt was very entertaining. But I'm afraid this is where it ends." He charged his horn for one final attack: multiple orbs, some of darkness, some of fire, and some of electricity. I shut out the light, knowing that this was gonna hurt. Badly. And I didn't want to see any of it.
There was the sound of explosions. But...I felt nothing. I let the light back in, to see the battlefield engulfed in smoke. Standing in front of me was the badass himself.
His smile was still there, but what he said next was...uncharacteristic of what I believed in, even from the spoof that was "Dracula: Dead and Loving It."
"You wish to free this land, don't you?"
I couldn't quite speak up. But I did manage to get it out. "Y-yeah. But..."
"No buts. You wish to free this land, and that's all that matters. I will allow you to go on."
"What? But y-"
"Don't think I'm GIVING it to you. You can continue, but in exchange...I want your loyalty.”
I picked up my sword and, pointing it to the ground, started charging it. Don't let him catch on. You just need to charge it enough for a knockback. "My loyalty? What makes you think I would give it to you?"
"It's not a choice, Daniel. It's an order. Give me your loyalty, and what little life you have will be spared."
"Are you sure you're really Dracula? I don't remember him being a comedian." Just a bit more...
"I am as much the Lord of Darkness as you are a pitiful human."
Almost...wait, WHAT?!? How did he...actually, I shouldn't be surprised. "What gave me away?"
"Seriously? 'Symphony of the Night?' Do you have any idea how many humans have repeated that scene when they meet me? But your time's almost up. Join me, or else."
The smoke's almost cleared. He's going to end this soon. "Take your offer and shove it. You know where." There's the glow! Now, let's knock him out of this ring...
"Tsk, tsk. I thought you would be smarter. Now..." he held out his front hoof, which held a dark fireball, and shouted, "ENJOY YOUR STAY IN HELL, PEON!"
Against all of the logic I was taught, I did the only thing I could think of. I hit the fireball with my sword. Instead of splitting and destroying me, it actually flew back to Dracula. He back-hooved it, sending it back to me. Soon, it was a deadly volleyball match, where the loser was going to be burnt to a crisp. Every hit made the fireball go faster, and soon it was to the point where we couldn't even stop attacking for fear of swinging too late.
That's when the most idiotic of plans presented itself to me. The walls were actually angled, similar to an octagon. If the fireball hit the wall, it could bounce off and hit Dracula from behind! No logical flaws whatsoever! ...except that the arena PROBABLY isn't magic-proof, and even if it was, the fireball would PROBABLY hit an innocent in the stands, and even if it hit Dracula, he would PROBABLY...oh, screw it, let's try it.
As soon as I made my final hit, I hit the ground and rolled to the right. Dracula, as I predicted, hit the projectile where I had been moments ago. It flew fast, hit the wall...and went straight to me. I gulped as I used my sword as a futile shield, hoping beyond hope that I would not be incinerated.
Strangely enough, it worked. The ball of doom and sadness hit my sword and into a wall, rebounding and hitting Dracula in the back. He screamed in agony as the flames engulfed him. Soon, the screams died down and he collapsed to the floor. Grunting in pain, I used my sword as a cane once again. The glow was gone again.
"Okay...the fireball...was NOT...supposed...to go...at an angle!" I panted.
"WOW!!! Ladies and gentlemen, I don't know about you, but it doesn't get much closer than that! And what a comeback! The winner of this match is the Skeleton Knight, Daniel!"
The crowd's roar basically made the whole stadium rumble. I even heard a little chant from them: "Let's go, Daniel!" "Daniel sucks!" "Let's go, Daniel!" "Daniel sucks!"
...great. I am now the John Cena of Necro City's arena.