The Necromancer

Chapter 8, Part 4

Amcerlizar strutted out into the plaza in front of the palace with the usual cocky snear back on his face. Behind him, a troop of demons marched out wearing intricate, silvery armor and each carrying a flaming sword. They flicked their yellow eyes between me and Mog, trying to look tough. Behind them, waves of undead soldiers formed up in ranks, awaiting for orders from Amcerlizar. I didn't need an army to back me up, though; I had the Ruby.

"So you really did have the Ruby of Mertialz," he mused, pacing in front of the doorway but not stepping out into the plaza. "Who would have thought that you would be the one to find it? I have two dozen lore masters combing the world for artifacts, and yet some nobody is the one that ends up with it? Ridiculous!" He smirked at me. "If you can do this much damage," he gestured at the plumes of smoke in the distance, "imagine what someone of my abilities will be able to do." Just for that, I sent another bolt of lightning at him. It didn't turn him to ash, but I hoped it at least hurt.

Finally he stepped forward, followed by his demon entourage. Each of them drew their weapons and spread out into a ring. "How about we make this fight between just the two of us?" I told him. For emphasis, I evaporated one of the demons. Instead of simply burning away like Sir Athaelwas, the demon's skin seemed to become flaky and patchy and then finally it exploded outward and disappeared completely in a bright flash of orange light. The other demons hesitated, looking to each other to make sure that they weren't the only ones having second thoughts about backing up Amcerlizar here. 

"Fine," he answered, waving them back with the Dragonheart's staff. The demons stepped back into the shadows, still trying to look tough but obviously grateful to not be involved. "I don't need them."

We eyed each other, not saying a word. The faint sounds of ringing metal and shouting Paladins seemed to come from every direction as the main force of Amcerlizar's army arrived to push the Paladins back. Roaring fires and plumes of black smoke obscured any sight of the battle, but it was the last thing on my mind anyway. 

"So." He swaggered closer. "I'm kind of impressed. All this, just because of that girl? She must have been pretty amazing in bed!" I gritted my teeth, doing my best not to give in to his taunts. He was trying to get me angry so that I'd be stupid enough to make a mistake. "I gotta admit," he continued. "She was a bit too scrawny for my tastes, but she had a pretty face at least."

Mog roared, and I hit Amcerlizar with a blast of fire. But it just seemed to roll off of him without so much as singeing his hair. He laughed, in that same damn condescending tone he's always had. Then I sent a wintery blast of ice at him, cold enough to raise little frozen stalagmites on the flagstones on its path. The demons behind him shook the frost from their horns and burst into flames to warm back up, but Amcerlizar just smirked. "You must be too stupid to remember our lessons," he taunted, waving the Dragonheart at me. "I'm untouchable! No spell can break through my shield. It's -- UGH!" 

Amcerlizar's rant was cut off halfway through as I ripped the head off of the large granite statute of him and sent it flying straight into his stomach, knocking the wind out of him. "No spell indeed," I taunted back. Seeing his own smug face being used against him was quite satisfying. He doubled over, clutching at his waist. The right arm of the statute, raised in a triumphant fist, came off next with an enormous crack. It hovered in the air for just a moment, and then went flying into Amcerlizar, knocking him on his ass and into the snow. The left hand (carrying the carved replica of the Dragonheart) came next, cracking over Amcerlizar's head.

He tried to stand and send a spell my way, but I used one of the statue's legs to sweep him off of his legs. He toppled over face-first into the stone and groaned. "You thought the Dragonheart would protect you?" I shouted, hurling the last of the statue's chunks at him. "You thought I'd let this go after you MURDERED Skip? After you ate Lirk's SOUL?" I tore stones off of the facade of the palace and sent them flying at Amcerlizar from every direction, burying him in rubble. The whole building groaned as more and more stones tore loose and came flying forward.