Bacorium Legacy (85 page)

She? No matter, Luca thought. There were more important things to focus on at the moment. “You can teleport, the same as I do?”

“Serpos said you can go anywhere you see before you,” Zinoro said. “You've got the true version of the spell, it would seem. I can only warp through the use of circles, like the one outside the city. I'm sure you saw it on your way in.”

“You used that circle to teleport your army to that valley where you ambushed the Saeticians,” Luca said. “You did the same thing earlier to attack Allma Temple, didn't you?”

“And your little town in Arimos, before that,” Zinoro said. “As well as in Sulin, where my mother and Emila were hiding before that. Yes, it's the first trick these dark powers gave me.”

“But none of those places had circles of their own. How did you warp to those?”

Zinoro started to laugh. “I don't need a circle on each end, of course. I only need one to initiate the spell. I can send my army anywhere I can see in my mind's eye. If I wanted to, I could go outside and warp us all to the very streets of T'Saw right now.”

“What...?” Luca gasped. “But-”

“Getting them back is the only concern,” said Zinoro. “I cannot do that when I launch my attack against T'Saw. So I must make sure I am truly ready before I do it. Tell me, did Gordon tell you about the prophecy?”

“Gordon?”

“Don't play dumb with me, I know he's the one who betrayed me. He hasn't been as careful as he thought he was being. Now answer me, did he tell you the prophecy?”

“He said that a seer told you I would kill you.”

“I suppose that's close enough,” Zinoro said. “But there's a bit more to it than that. We found that seer, and we tortured him for days to get an Absolute Truth from him. Uncertain Truths, he told us plenty, but those aren't what I wanted. Those are only the futures that could be. I wanted to know the future that was bound to happen. What I did get was an assurance - that in any potential future where I died, it would be you or a someone who shared my blood who ended me.”

“But Emila shares your blood,” Luca said. “Perhaps it is she who will kill you?”

Zinoro's face stretched out to a grin, and he laughed. “No, I think if that part of the prophecy were true, it would have happened already. In fact, I have my doubts as to whether there is any stock in that prophet's words at all. But I need to be certain, before I take my troops to T'Saw. I will fight you today, because if the Old Ones decree that you will end my life, I would rather it happen here, in my hall, than in the streets of T'Saw.”

Zinoro extended his arm, and at his open hand, there was a flash of black mana. A sword appeared from nowhere, and Luca recognised it as the very claymore Zinoro had used to slay Lodin.

“This is
Blight
, my sword. As I'm sure you know, it is a Rixeor Fragment,” Luca felt Zinoro's mana swell, and the blade of his sword was enveloped by black flames. “When mana is channelled into it, the blade attains a magick sharpness. No object in the world can stop it.” To demonstrate, Zinoro swung the sword across one of the pillars in the hall. The blade cut through it like a knife through butter, leaving a deep slash across.
 

Zinoro's mana faded, and the black flames flickered out. “For the sake of honour, I will not use this against you. It would not be a fair match if your sword shattered at the first parry.”

“Why not use that power?” Luca asked. He reached and drew his own sword. “Why even take the risk? Why not just wipe me out with all your power and be done with it?”

“Because it must be possible that I can lose,” Zinoro told him. “There must be a chance, however small it is, that you can stop me. Otherwise, my victory would be a hollow one.” After a moment of though, Zinoro smiled. “I like you. You ask the right questions. It's a shame I had to kill your father.”

Saying nothing in response to that, Luca stood in a combat position, ready for the fight to begin. This was it, he realised. The moment he had been waiting so long for. This was his chance to kill Zinoro.

He charged at Zinoro, and attacked.

The first swing of his sword was deflected by Zinoro, who took as step back as he did so, expertly wielding the long claymore with a single hand. Luca pressed forward, alternating between strokes, driving Zinoro back. His opponent made no move to turn the offencive - Zinoro was being careful for now, taking it slow, testing his opponent to see what he was capable of.

Very well, Luca thought. He would show him just what he could do.

Luca began to attack more aggressively, bringing his sword down in harder strokes against Zinoro. The Acarian dodged when he could, and blocked when he couldn't. But overall, he seemed unfazed by Luca's attacks.

“Why won't you fight back?” he demanded.

Zinoro chuckled. “Funny. I asked the same thing of your father before I killed him.”

Luca continued to force Zinoro back, pushing him towards one of the walls. Glass from the broken windows crunched under his feet with each step.

“Your father did not fight back that day, and since then, I've wondered why,” Zinoro said. He took another step back, and he bumped into the wall. He had nowhere to run. “I believe I have the answer.”

Zinoro wore no armour, Luca reminded himself. He only needed to land a single blow, and victory would be his. He moved in for the kill, thrusting his sword towards the spot in Zinoro's bare chest where his heart was.

The Acarian jumped, several metres higher than he should have been able to from a standing position. He kicked off the wall, and soared over Luca's head, even doing several somersaults while in the air. Then he landed on the ground, a comfortable distance away from Luca.

“Your father knew he could not best me, so he saw no point in trying,” Zinoro said.

Luca stared in awe. He had never seen another human being jump like that before. It was impossible...

“He was a coward,” Zinoro said. “A weakling who accepted the inevitability of his fate without struggle. The Old Ones may have fates chosen for us, but the future is not set in stone. Those who lack the will to fight destiny do not deserve to live.”

“My father was not a coward, or a weakling!”

“He was, but you at least have the will to fight,” Zinoro continued. “So I will give you what your father refused to give to me - an honourable battle.”

Zinoro then moved, closing the gap between them as a blur of speed. His claymore was swinging, and Luca brought up his sword just in time to block the attack. He staggered back under the force, and then it was Luca who found himself up against the wall. The attack was not meant to kill - just push him back. It would seem Zinoro was still testing him.

Luca warped away in time to avoid the next attack, and he found himself on the other side of the room, two pillars between himself and Zinoro. After a few seconds, Luca heard the sound of Zinoro's bare feet crunching against the broken glass. He was heading towards him - Zinoro knew exactly where he was.

“I have to fight carefully,” Luca muttered quietly to himself. “I have to fight smart. Being dumb will just get me killed.”

He focused his mana and built up a quick reservoir. He then created a few of his magick needles, which he held between his fingers. Zinoro was not wearing any armour. If the needles struck him, he would be hit with the full effect. Unlike Dreevius, who had managed to recover some amount of movement, Zinoro would drop like a sack of bricks.

Hearing Zinoro drawing near, Luca moved, jumping out from behind the portal. He threw the needles at Zinoro, who was approaching at a calm, slow gait. However, before they could hit him in his exposed chest, Zinoro dodged to the side with a burst of speed that no ordinary human could have accomplished.

“Damn!” Luca swore. He quickly conjured another handful of needles and threw them. The result was the same.

Zinoro then charged at him, swinging his sword at Luca's neck. Luca ducked, and the blade slashed the stone pillar in a shower of sparks. The sword did not have the magick-enhanced sharpness of earlier, but it was still indestructible.

Luca, who was now crouching in front of Zinoro, prepared to tackle him and try to push him down to the floor. However, before he could so much as blink, Zinoro struck him in the stomach with his bare foot, and then jumped back with the momentum. The force of it was enough to knock the breath right out of Luca, who found himself unable to stand up.

Zinoro, who landed a metre or so from Luca, waited patiently for him to rise. As Luca did so, it set in just how easy Zinoro was going on him. Even without the magick properties of his sword, Zinoro was having no difficulty in matching his attacks.

Alright, then - he would try something else.

Luca warped away, appearing on the other side of the room. Quickly creating a third set of needles, he hurled them at Zinoro. Predictably, the Acarian evaded them, dodging to the left. Taking advantage of his momentary distraction, Luca warped again, focusing on the spot just behind where Zinoro was jumping to.

His sword extended, he appeared right behind Zinoro, expecting the blade to appear inside Zinoro's chest, just as he had done to Serpos. However, he blinked, and realised that Zinoro was not in front of him.

He panicked. Had he warped somewhere else? No, he was sure he was standing right where Zinoro had jumped to. So where was...?

Above him.

Luca threw himself to the side, not having enough time to find a spot to warp away to. Zinoro's sword was the first thing to fall, landing blade-first in the spot where Luca's head had been a second ago. Luca rolled and pulled himself up just in time to see Zinoro himself touch down, his bare feet landing on the hand-guards of his claymore, standing on it with perfect balance.

Luca threw another set of needles at Zinoro, knowing that he would have difficulty dodging them while standing on his sword. He did not, but the needles did not hit him. A black hole of energy appeared in the air before Zinoro, and the needles fizzled out into mana and were drawn into the vortex.

Zinoro remained atop his sword, arms crossed, completely unfazed by the foiled attack.

Luca swore silently. He backed away, and began to circle around Zinoro. The mana vortex remained in the air, pulsating. Luca knew that it functioned similarly to his illuminating orbs, and that it would remain there until Zinoro dispelled it, independent of his actions.

The thing that confused him was how quickly Zinoro had summoned it. It was almost as is he had predicted Luca would throw needles again. Perhaps he was being too predictable. He needed to try something different.

After a moment of thought, a plan formed in his head. He started towards Zinoro at a run. The Acarian jumped down from his sword and pulled it from the ground.

Luca held up his hand, and a bright flash of light burst from it. Zinoro quickly covered his eye, smart enough to know that it would blind him. Luca scowled, knowing that Zinoro had avoided the full blindness of the flash, but even so, he still wouldn't be able to see for a moment.

He then followed up on that by throwing his sword at Zinoro.

Though blinded for the moment, Zinoro dodged, which Luca expected. He warped, appearing at the spot where Zinoro had been a second ago. Luca reached out, caught his sword in mid-air, and swung it at Zinoro.

Logically, Zinoro should not have been able to avoid that. He couldn't possibly jump in two directions at once. But somehow, even though he hadn't even landed yet, Zinoro was already moving away from the spot where Luca's swing had passed through. It took Luca a second to see that he had somehow kicked the ground and changed his course in mid-air.

Zinoro landed, not where Luca had expected him to be, but closer. Suddenly the claymore was being swung at Luca in swings too fast and too heavy for someone wielding a sword that size with only one hand.

Luca blocked two swings, and knew that he couldn't keep up with Zinoro's swordplay. He quickly found a spot on the far side of the room and warped to it. He gasped, beginning to feel the effects of his mana draining. Too much warping, too many needles. And all for nothing. So far, he hadn't landed a single blow on his opponent.

The Rixeor Fragment Zinoro wielded, even without the magick flame that gave it so much of its power, was a difficult weapon to fight against. The sword was huge, and must have immense weight, yet Zinoro wielded it like it was a rapier. When Luca blocked those swings, he felt the full weight of that sword slamming into him. His arms were aching from the shocks of just those strikes alone, and yet Zinoro could twirl the thing around like a stick.

Luca turned around, seeing Zinoro watching him from across the hall. His enemy showed no signs of fatigue in spite of the many physics-defying jumps he'd made, and the impossible use of his sword. To him, these things were nothing. Through a combination of his magick sword, and the dark powers of Ekkei, Zinoro had a set of abilities that Luca just couldn't match.

Were he fighting at his full ability, the battle would have ended in two moves. The first swing of his sword would have cut through Luca's sword, and the second would have cut through Luca himself. He felt cold, thinking about that. Gordon's warnings had not been misplaced. One truly would need another Rixeor Fragment to even match blades with Zinoro, much less be skilled enough to best him in combat.

But the hardest thing about it all was just how
fast
Zinoro was. Everything Luca threw at him, he reacted to without even the slightest of missteps. Had he used some of these strategies against Trunda or Serpos, he might have beaten them easily. Against Zinoro they were as effective as thrown pebbles. It was almost like Zinoro could read his mind...
 

Seeing the unconscious form of Emila on the throne across the hall, Luca began to worry. Things were starting to look bleak. He was running out of mana, running out of strength, and running out of ideas. If he was to kill Zinoro, he would need some kind of brilliant plan - something even Zinoro couldn't react to.

The Acarian king waited patiently for his opponent to attack once more. Some distance away, the floating mana void he had conjured earlier pulsated silently.