Anima, Ch.32: Infernal Light

--01-- [Scene: Barri Dungeon] <BGM: O Glorious Sword of Light>
(Esras)
I'm surprised a mere girl like you can resist Tabhartas at all...
No matter. You can't hold out for long.
Give up and accept your fate.


--02-- <BGM: Scene 13/Dark Knight>
I can't hold it much longer...
No... Not here...not like this...
I don't care where I get it from... Give me the strength...to save...
I'm sorry, Redire... You're...going to be...disappointed...

--03-- <BGM: Scene 13/Dark Knight> {SFX: huge explosion}
Please forgive me...




--04--
(Price)
Huh? What happened?
What in the... Meara?



--05-- <BGM: Goddess of Terror and Destruction>
Eldritch power and forbidden knowledge permeate my very being.
"Hahahahahaha..."
Magnificent!


--06-- <BGM: Goddess of Terror and Destruction>
Redire stared at me with a look of shock and fright.
"Take your leave, my dear broken knight. My wrath is not fit for you to behold."
He used a waxen wing, and vanished.
"Now we end this, Esras..."

--07-- <BGM: Goddess of Terror and Destruction>
(Esras)
What?! What devilry is this?! ...What are you?!




--08-- <BGM: Goddess of Terror and Destruction>
"You schemed to ensnare all of Uladh in your spider's web.
You slew your lord and master.
You profaned the dead.
But the sin I'll have you burn for is holding those dear to me in bondage."

--09-- <BGM: Goddess of Terror and Destruction>
(Esras)
We'll see about that! Tabhartas! Crush her!




--10-- <BGM: Goddess of Terror and Destruction> {SFX: explosion}
With a power that's more art than magic, I wove raw energies of fire and destruction
into a sphere of pure force, and flung it at the golem.
The impact blasted it across the room, tearing an arm off.


--11-- <BGM: Goddess of Terror and Destruction>
(Esras)
Wh...what is this magic?! You...you fiend!




--12-- <BGM: Goddess of Terror and Destruction>
"A fiend, am I? Then a fiend I shall be, as good men dared not hold you in check.
I stand as arbiter of your judgement, to swing open the gates of hell to admit thee."
The golem stands again.


--13-- <BGM: Goddess of Terror and Destruction>
(Esras)
Tabhartas, I order you! Destroy this fiend!




--14-- <BGM: Goddess of Terror and Destruction> {SFX: huge explosion}
"You don't know when to quit."
With both hands, I conjured an even stronger burst and launched it at Tabhartas.
The sphere of force shattered its torso.
Its remaining limbs fell to the ground, inert.

--15-- <BGM: Goddess of Terror and Destruction>
A red-haired boy's corpse fell to the ground amidst the broken remains of Tabhartas's body.
Such magnificent power!

"An annoying plaything. Your puppet lies broken. Now to break the puppeteer..."

--16-- <BGM: Goddess of Terror and Destruction>
(Esras)
No...! Impossible... T... Tabhartas... destroyed... just like that...?
You... You...!
Skeletons! To me! Rise, and obey my command!


--17-- <BGM: Goddess of Terror and Destruction> {SFX: explosion}
Eight pitch-black skeletal warriors rose from the earth in a circle around us.
"My patience wears thin."
At my command, a ring of fire erupted around us, reducing the skeletons to ashes in seconds.


--18-- <BGM: Goddess of Terror and Destruction>
"Your strings reach even into the grave, to make bones dance to your tune?
The dead may heed your call, necromancer, but the fires of hell answer to mine.
No more games. I bring the end."


--19-- <BGM: Goddess of Terror and Destruction>
(Esras)
No... No...!
What do you want from me?! I'll give you anything!! Anything!!
Please... Spare me!!


--20-- <BGM: Goddess of Terror and Destruction>
"I come not to treat with a slaving usurper, but to deliver unto perdition. Spare your honeyed words."
The raging circular wall of flames completely encircles us. The puppetmaster is herself ensnared.



--21-- <BGM: Goddess of Terror and Destruction>
"I grant you no mercy. I desire only for you to *burn*, and burn you shall."
She stared at me in abject terror, realizing she was trapped.
Defeated.
Doomed.
"There is no escape. Prepare thyself."
--22-- <BGM: Goddess of Terror and Destruction> {SFX: explosion}
I wove into being a conjuration of baleful fire that would grant a torturous demise.
I poured all of my anger, all of my hatred, all of my vengeance into it,
forming a huge skull-shaped fireball.


--23-- <BGM: Goddess of Terror and Destruction> {SFX: huge explosion}
The blazing death's head surged forward to engulf her.
Esras screamed, frozen in terror, as it ignited her entire form.
"Oblivion awaits you. May the Reaper carry your black soul to the dark abyss."


--24-- <BGM: Goddess of Terror and Destruction>
She writhed and wailed, trying to quell the flames.
Every bit of her is ablaze, inside and out.
Vestments and skin charred.
She tried to scream, but instead of sound, flames erupted from her mouth.

--25-- <BGM: Scene 07> {SFX: explosion}
Her skin blackened and split open, and more flames erupted from the fissures.
Esras fell motionless.
The hungry flames soon consumed every last bit of charred flesh, searing it to a dry gray ash.


--26-- <BGM: Scene 07>
The ashes fell away from her smoldering bones.
Too quick of a death to be entirely satisfying, but not completely unenjoyable...

I allowed the wall of flames around me to die as well.
It is over.
--27-- <BGM: Scene 01>
(Morgant)
Tabhartas? ...So this is what caused all that chaos in the dungeon...?




--28-- <BGM: Scene 01>
"And now Cichol's lapdog? What hole did you crawl out of?"
At his side was a young man with red hair, clad in a black robe.
The Dark Knight was looking over the wreckage of Tabhartas.


--29-- <BGM: Scene 01>
(Morgant)
It looks like one of those ancient Golems...
Then this must have been controlled by the kind of magic that isn't proper by any means...
A human sacrifice...
Only a human could have done such a thing.

--30-- <BGM: Scene 01>
The red-haired man spotted the corpse in Tabhartas's broken hulk and rushed to it, taking it in his arms.




--31-- <BGM: Scene 01>
(Ruairi)
Rian! Rian!! Brother!! Who did this to you?
Tell me!!!! Who did this!?!



--32-- <BGM: Scene 01>
Far too late to extract a confession. Naught remains of the guilty.
"I must speak for the dead. By her own boasts, it was your dear minister, Esras,
who claimed credit to that corpse."


--33-- <BGM: Scene 01>
"The vile serpent attested it; she offered your lordling kin as sacrifice to her fell ambitions.
A traitor's death was her due.
If you wish your own vengeance, then her bones and ashes must suffice."


--34-- <BGM: Scene 01> {SFX: explosion}
The red-haired man fell mute, clutching his slain brother.
"What of you, black knight? Abscond, or stand and do battle!"
I launched a modest fireburst at him, which struck his helmet and cracked it.


--35-- <BGM: Scene 01>
(Morgant)
Urgh!
Morrighan, you fool...
You thought to create a new champion of light, but instead awoke a profound darkness...
Let's leave, Ruairi. That girl is far more dangerous than she appears.

--36-- <BGM: Scene 01>
(Ruairi)
Esras... Why...? Why did you...?!




--37-- <BGM: Scene 03>
The two shadowy men vanished with Rian's body, leaving me alone in the vast chamber.
The vile necromancer who ensnared Emain Macha is now but a pile of ashes and scorched bones.
Judgement is served.


--38-- <BGM: Scene 03>
I felt the maelstrom of power that rages through me fading...
The mastery over the fundamental powers of magic, the power to unmake the world...slipping away...
So...I cannot...hold it for long...


--39-- <BGM: Scene 03> {SFX: explosion}
No...! Stop this! What am I doing?!
I...I didn't want this! I didn't mean it to go this far!!
What have I done...?! Oh, gods, what have I done?!

The ashen skull of my vanquished foe glares silently.
--40-- [Scene: none] <BGM: Scene 05>
The sight of my dirtywork disgusted me.
I looked down at my hands. For a moment, I swore they were blood-red...

My strength drained away. I feel...light-headed...
I think...I'm going...to faint...