Kastori Devastations (The Kastori Chronicles Book 2) (34 page)

“Yes, I am capable of killing,” she said with a wink.

“That was supposed to be my kill.”

“You took mine anyways, it’s only fair.”

Cyrus smirked but was distracted by the guttural scream of Typhos. He grabbed his sword, and Celeste joined him at his side, both holding their blades in battle-ready positions.

“You both are too much of a nuisance to try to convert,” Typhos growled.

“So then come down here and fight us,” Cyrus yelled raising his arms in challenge. “You stood back thinking that your guardians could do the job. You’re afraid to kill any of us, so you sent your pawns, and look how that turned out. Fight us yourself.”

Erda walked up behind them, but Cyrus didn’t dare take his eyes off the enemy.
We have him off-kilter. This is our chance to kill him. End this once and for all.

“Celeste, remember what we promised,”
he communicated to her, reminding her of the oath to kill Typhos. The lack of response upset him, but he didn’t have time to focus on it as Typhos took two steps down and stopped.

“I will fight you when you prove you can defeat everything else I send at you,” he growled. “The guardians were useful for Monda and your pitiful human friends, but ultimately mere figureheads. But can you defeat the perfect soldiers?”

74

An ominous, far too confident laugh came from Typhos. He looked behind him and up on the walls, but saw nothing abnormal. He looked behind Typhos, but peering into the void was a fruitless endeavor.

“I always anticipated that such a day like this might come when mere Kastori wouldn’t do the trick,” Typhos said as Cyrus got a sick feeling. “You need to combine the best of everything. Nature’s monsters with the powers of the Kastori. It amuses me that I get to use them here. I’ve always wanted to see them in action.”

Three figures emerged from the void, but with the storm having turned into a dark fog, Cyrus could not see anything other than their sheer size—larger, even, than Typhos. Typhos laughed again, letting it carry out.

“Caliphae!” he yelled.

The three figures jumped high in the air, and Cyrus saw for the first time multiple swords coming from each enemy. He backed up as they seemed to be targeting them. At the last second, he jumped back with Celeste as two blades swung in the area he had just been. The ground shook as the three figures landed. Cyrus gulped when he recognized the figures.

The figures stood at least eight feet tall, all with black body armor and four arms, each holding a long sword. But that was not the part that disturbed Cyrus the most.

It was the fact that it had the face and body of Calypsius.

The same disturbing yellow eyes, eyes which had given him nightmares for months. The same scaly skin, with scales Cyrus could still feel in his hand.

It didn’t quite have the same magical powers that Calypsius had, but it had more than the guardians did. Each enemy—a Caliphae—was colored in accordance, Cyrus suspected, with the type of magic it cast. The black one stood closest to him and was flanked on the left by a red monster and on the right by the white one. He looked to Celeste, whose eyes remained steeled on the enemy.
She killed them once—no, we killed them once. Let’s do it again.

“Say hello to my greatest weapon,” Typhos said.

“I thought we already destroyed your greatest weapon,” Cyrus yelled.

“Cyrus,” Celeste mumbled, but it was too late.

“Kill them all!” Typhos yelled angrily, the lightning above accentuating his anger.

The magicologists had not completely acted in tandem, but these monsters moved as one collective mind—they rushed to corner Erda, and Cyrus and Celeste could only push them off course temporarily.
They know she’s the target. Typhos wants Celeste. I’m not as strong.

“Erda! Get out of here!”

Erda quickly teleported, but the monsters converged on her new spot. She teleported again, but this time, the Caliphae paused. The black and white monsters looked to the red one and split apart moments later.
They’re communicating. He controls them.

“Celeste,” Cyrus said. “Celeste?”

He looked and didn’t see her, then looked ahead and saw her charging, throwing her hands out and holding the red monster in place. Cyrus sensed that Celeste could not attack the beast and hold it in place at the same time.
And I won’t have time to get there either.

The thought seemed risky to Cyrus, but he went by instinct, and in less than half a second, made up his mind.

He took two steps forward, leaned back, and as he shifted his weight forward, he chucked the sword at the beast’s throat.
Hold hold hold hold hold hold hold.
All it took was a split second of Celeste dropping her spell for Cyrus to lose his sword for the battle.

But his aim was true, and the sword pierced the neck of the creature just as Celeste lost control.

It howled in agony, not yet dead. Cyrus sprinted, fearful that the creature might dislodge the sword and use the white monster’s power to heal. He jumped on the back of the creature, wrestling with it as he twisted the handle of his sword. The creature continued to cry, bucking with such force that Cyrus thought he might break all his limbs. He continued twisting the blade until the monster slowed down.

Finish him.

The creature fell to the ground, and Cyrus rolled forward. He grabbed the blade from the neck of the creature and raised it to chop the head off, but another blade killed the beast.

“You’re not stealing another kill of mine,” Celeste said with a smirk.

“Don’t be jealous that—”

But the loud roar and the thud of the black monster landing inches away shut Cyrus up and put him back on the defensive. Much to his horror, all four blades had a different element—fire, ice, electricity and water.

“Erda!” he screamed. “Now would be a really splendid time to help us out!”

Erda, who had retreated to the left side of the wall, silently cast a spell on Cyrus’ sword, but it came in too slowly as Cyrus defended against the fire and electric blades attacking him. A shattering noise came when the swords collided, knocking the beast backward.

Slowly, Cyrus opened his eyes and saw a green, pulsating energy covering his sword. He sensed an incredible power emanating from the blade. He saw Erda resting at the entrance of the wall, on one knee, the spell having taken her strength. In front of him, two of the swords of the black monster lay on the ground, broken in half.

“Go!” Cyrus yelled, and he rushed the beast as Celeste cast multiple fire spells at the monster. The Caliphae deflected most of the spells, but Cyrus’ enhanced sword overwhelmed the monster, and with a strong slice through the creature’s gut, the beast fell.

“That is my kill,” he said, and he wasted no time setting his eyes on the last remaining monster, the white-scaled Caliphae. Cyrus almost felt sympathy for the enemy, which clearly was designed to augment the other two, not attack. It stood little chance against the forces of Cyrus’ enhanced sword and Celeste’s magic. It took them less than ten seconds to subdue the enemy, each one piercing the chest of the beast.

“Guess it’s only fair we split this last one, huh,” Cyrus said with a smirk.

“I really wanted this, but I suppose I’ll share,” Celeste said.

Both ran to Erda as Typhos screamed in frustration, pounding his sword on the ground in a fury.

“No one should be able to defeat the Caliphae!” he yelled. “Perfect soldiers!”

“Only in comparison to your men,” Cyrus yelled.

“Shut up! Kastori! Crush—”

Several Kastori fell from the wall. One landed near Cyrus, and he saw the bullet wound in the back of the head.

“Looks like you forgot we didn’t leave the soldier behind, and the soldier didn’t leave us behind,” Cyrus yelled as he approached Typhos. “That’s where you lose. You have no one left to help you. No one wants to fight for you, Typhos. Everyone fears you, and no one respects you. You rule by hatred and destruction, instead of kindness and fairness. Do you see any Kastori ignoring the bullets above us? They are all running for their lives, unwilling to give you theirs, because they know you won’t give yours.”

“Shut up!” Typhos yelled as he walked down the stairs and stared down Cyrus, mere feet away. Beside him, Celeste appeared. The bullets still whizzed above them, and Typhos raised one hand. A strange barrier surrounded them, and barely encompassed Erda.

“No more distractions,” he sneered.

He pulled out his blade, with a disgusting amount of fresh blood on it. The black stone on his hilt pulsated with power, and Typhos held the blade menacingly in front of him.

“No more relying on others to help,” he said in a growl. “It’s the three of you and I. I have failed to kill all of you at different times, for reasons only one of you fully understands. But the anger I feel now, and the hatred you produce in me, will not stop me now.”

“Typhos,” Celeste said, her voice a plea.

“Give me your power and your spirit!” he yelled as he lunged forward.

75

Crystil did not want to fire until she saw other bullets flying. She did not want the magicologists to isolate her, hunt her down, and kill her with ease. So she waited and watched with immense frustration as Cyrus, Celeste, and Erda fought heavily armored magicologists and monsters that looked like humanoid Calypsiuses.

She kept her eye on her scope, watching the battle as if mere feet away. To her relief—and, admittedly, surprise—the Orthran twins and Erda dispatched all of the threats.

Then the first Kastori fell.

She immediately pulled her trigger.

She shifted to the left and took out the next magicologist.

And the next.

And the next.

She continued down the row, ruthlessly killing the people who had killed her husband. After she had killed ten magicologists, she turned her attention to Typhos, who had taken a couple of steps toward the siblings.
Sorry, guys, but I have just as much a fight as you do.

For Dyson.

She squeezed the trigger and fell backward when she felt something violently whistle by her, missing her head by a couple of inches. It lodged in the roof, blasting a hole open and splintering wood on the ground. Crystil cursed as she looked back in the scope and saw that Typhos remained unaffected.
That spell.

She turned her attention back to the magicologists on the wall, who were scattering and in some cases jumping off the wall, running for their lives.
They’re no threat,
she thought, and she pulled back. She checked her clip and had 29 rounds left. She lined up another shot on Typhos, who had not yet moved, and lowered herself before pulling the trigger. The same thing happened, except this time, the bullet lodged in the wall, coming to a stop inches from Crystil’s side.

“Too close,” she said to herself.

She quickly reconned the battlefield. Magicologists fell, but some turned and attacked the humans perched in different areas. As far as she could tell, no one had spotted her yet.

She turned back to Typhos and saw him charge. Her commander instincts kicked in, and she told herself she could not stay where she was.
They’re in trouble. If one of them falls, you can take their sword and help.

She grabbed her gun, even though she suspected it wouldn’t do much good, and leaped down the stairs of the building, rolling to avoid breaking her ankles.
Maybe if I go through the barrier, I can shoot him
, she thought.
As long as he’s distracted and not quick enough to deflect my bullets.
She felt like she wasn’t moving fast enough, even as she jumped over dozens of steps at once.

She exited the building and heard the sounds of gunfire and the thunder above her. She looked up the hill and could see the opening on the wall, but not the battle.

She broke out in a full sprint, praying Cyrus and Celeste held their own.

76

Celeste and Cyrus raised their swords gainst Typhos, but with disturbing ease, he pushed them both to the side, knocking them back about five feet. He walked with an absolute fury toward Erda.

“I am not waiting any longer!” he cried out as he raised his sword, and to Celeste’s painful shock, Erda seemed to have no interest in resisting. “For all that you’ve done!”

With all of the force she could muster, Celeste concentrated her powers in pushing Typhos backward. It did not have the same effect that his powers did, but it pushed him off balance enough that Cyrus could distract Typhos. Their blades collided as Cyrus pushed him backward, but Typhos had more strength than a guardian, and after a couple of steps back, the two came to a standstill.

“You have no chance against me,” Typhos yelled as Celeste got to her feet and ran to him. “Surrender now and I will still spare your life!”

“Fat chance,” Cyrus said, but Typhos overwhelmed him with a push behind his sword, knocking him back. Celeste timed her lunge well, however, and cut Typhos on the arm.