The Codex Lacrimae: The Book of Tears

Chapter 46: The Caskets of Muspelheim

Moments before Clarinda stepped outside of time, Aurelius felt the Singing Sword of Arngrim lurch toward Mogthrasir. The knight stumbled forward, completely unprepared for this kind of betrayal. He'd expected the sword's worst danger might be a wild strike at Clarinda, not that it could be taken and used against him.

He grasped the sword and lowered the image of the firewall in his mind.

The Codex Lacrimae screamed as it returned to him in a rush, you complete and utter bastard, if you close yourself off with that kind of flaming wall again, after I slice off the limbs from your torso and ask Hela to help me resurrect you for the ninth time, I'll show her personally how to bring you the final death!

The Codex Vindicta, too, roared into life, Arngrim's sentience returning to Aurelius's control. With the magic returned, the pressure Mogthrasir had begun to exert on the codex-blade vanished.

The Huntsmen launched himself at Aurelius, reaching for the sword, as he cried, "I'm taking both books, Santini. With Lacrimae's return, there's plenty of dark energy here to make a runeporte back home. Give me that!"

Suddenly, the Arch-Mage Dietrich fell into their midst, ending the fall begun when Old Nick hurled him across the gallery. The dwarf rolled, using Verdandi's staff to tuck into a manageable curl, and leapt upward with a thrust at Mogthrasir's face. The Huntsman shunted the pole with a hand, but the distraction allowed Aurelius to spin away.

Unfortunately, Mogthrasir took advantage of Dietrich's staff. He yanked it, clacking the tip against Santini's jaw and checking the fast-moving Hospitaller's roll.

Aurelius grunted in pain, but took the hit and used the downward momentum of Mogthrasir's attack to twist sideways and kick the Huntsman's hip. The acrobatic move cleared enough space for Dietrich to bring the other end of the staff upward, and by that time sorcerous light ran up and down the length of the wood. Then he hit Mogthrasir's head with a tremendous crack and, as the Huntsman tried to reverse himself, Santini punched the back of the demon's head with the hilt of Arngrim. The Codex Lacrimae put its own touch on the blow, adding a fiery blast so that Mogthrasir simultaneously felt both the magic of the sword and the book in the knight's fist.

"Morpeth, Farbauti—he commands both Codices!" Mogthrasir shouted as he stumbled from Santini and Dietrich with a groan. "They're both awake, and obey only him!"

"Thanks, Dietrich," Aurelius gasped. Then, to the Codex he ordered, "Now, get Mogthrasir out of my way—I need to get to Marcus!"

You need to cast a Hämmern Schieben spell. Both Dietrich and the Codex Lacrimae simultaneously urged, Simply—

"No tutorials, damn it!" Santini shouted. "Just do it!"

The Codex Lacrimae took control of Santini's body and raised the knight's hand. It then uttered a short spell from his lips as Dietrich did the same with his staff.

An invisible force of something hammered into the Huntsmen, pushing Mogthrasir with a blurring velocity into Morpeth, who was in the midst of a leap at Perceval. The force of the Hämmern Schieben didn't expend itself with the collision; both Morpeth and Mogthrasir were cast through the gigantic hole in the wall that opened into space, and they fell out of sight to the bird-littered courtyard below.

"Sì, that's what I needed!" Santini cried, swinging his hand in Farbauti's direction and repeating the words the Codex had spoken. He felt the Codex's magic flow through him again, and this time the Hammer Push slammed into Farbauti's body, throwing the demon into a wall.

"Devrone," Aurelius shouted as the Grail Knight started to move toward him. "Dietrich and I'll go after Hela and Old Nick! Stay on that side of the room, away from that hole, and help Fatima and Khalil keep Farbauti from these caskets!"