Chapter 5

Rex gripped the sword pommel a little tighter to ready himself to enter the fight, feeling a sudden warmth enter his palm, quickly flooding his entire body, the sudden increase in power even caused Fafnir to quickly gaze over to him before turning back to move to the side as one of Deacon’s conjured spears grazed this upper arm.

‘Hurry now Rex, use the power she loans you to help me get rid of the traitor, his spears are highly distracting!’ he snarled.

‘Yes Rex, let me taste the blood of the traitor,’ Sküülen said, sounding desperate for Rex to drain his blood.

‘I hope I’m not going to regret this,’ Rex said to himself, getting a haughty chuckle from Fafnir and a few quizzical worried probes from Lacey, Minet and Marcia, ‘It’s fine, I’m ok,’ he reassured them, ‘I hope.’

Using the extra strength and speed Sküülen was lending him, Rex closed the gap between himself and Deacon quicker than he could have by himself, so quickly that Deacon swore loudly as Rex appeared in front of him, sword drawn, causing him to change from creating another spear to raising his barrier just in time as Rex brought Sküülen down, a loud *GONG* echoing out, a few cracks appearing instantly.

“How the…” Deacon stuttered, seeing large cracks appear in his shield after one blow.

‘Please sweetness, no more of that, I want to taste flesh and blood, touching magic directly pains me,’ Sküülen sighed, slightly annoyed.

Using the short distraction of the interaction between Rex and Sküülen, Deacon quickly pushed his palms together, muttering a spell at the same time, producing a bright light inside of his hands, once he was satisfied, brought his hands back and pushing both hands outward he pushed the bright light toward Rex.

‘Do NOT let that hit you!’ Fafnir snarled, puffing a quick flicker of flame from his mouth to make Telagus dodge away from him, giving himself time to look over to Rex.

Just as Deacon’s spell was about to collide with Rex, he quickly leapt into the air, twisting his body as he did, the spell passing within inches of striking him, and as one of his feet touched the ground, he darted forward, using his heightened reactions, aimed a well-timed stab in through a gap he had created in Deacon’s barrier, the sword slicing the top of Deacon’s shoulder.

“AH!” He screamed as the blade sliced a sizeable cut into the top of his left shoulder.

‘YES SWEETNESS, give me more!’ Sküülen said, her voice turning into pure ecstasy.

As Rex cut Deacon’s flesh, he felt the power being loaned to him through the sword begin to strengthen, ‘It seems the more I hurt people, the more power she gives me, this is a terrible power.’

“Help me you fools!” Deacon screeched to a group of their soldiers who had just successfully dispatched a smaller group of Rector’s army who had become surrounded and cut off from the larger group.

As they turned to Rex, he readied himself, speaking to Sküülen, ‘You want blood, you’re about to get your fill.’

As Deacon’s soldiers charged Rex, he danced easily in and out of battle, slashing and dismembering the soldiers so easily it scared him slightly, ‘Some do not have blood to taste sweetness, those will need to be beheaded or they will continue to fight.’

He had failed to notice that only some of the soldiers he had dispatched had cried out in pain and had begun to bleed, with others still standing ready to fight, some missing arms, and one missing a leg, but they still stood with their weapons in hand ready to continue fighting, he was trying to distance himself from this unnecessary waste of life so it had not dawned on him until Sküülen pointed the fact out.

Sighing loudly, Rex leapt back into action, quickly and easily dispatching the soldiers who had been brought into the battle through necromancy, trusting Sküülen’s words and beheading them all within mere minutes, with the remaining soldiers who were not under a necromancy spell strengthening Sküülen even further, to such a point it had begun to burn Rex’s hand where he gripped the pommel.

‘The f**k?’ he asked, flicking his wrist around to try and find the source of the burning sensation.

‘Do not be alarmed sweetness, it means I am nearly saturated, I have not bathed in this much life source in a long time, let us dispatch the traitor and assist your old one with his battle against the abomination,’ Sküülen said.

Turning his attention back to Deacon, who looked shocked and surprised at how quickly Rex had dispatched the seasoned soldiers, Rex could see he had begun to repair his barrier, in preparation for their next battle, he knew after last time he could not use Sküülen to break through, so his only other idea was to attempt to break it using the dragon claw he had summoned a few times in other battles.

 Rushing forward quickly, he concentrated as he did in previous times, allowing the magic to be isolated to his non-sword hand and as he brought his arm back and forward again ready to collide with Deacon’s barrier, he allowed his arm to transform into the familiar black claw.

‘Rex!! When you do that, I do not have the use of my limb!!’ Fafnir cried mere seconds before Rex broke through Deacon’s barrier, the sound of broken glass shattering echoing out, causing Fafnir to stumble slightly as his left limb disappeared.

“HAHA! Such a moronic move!” Telagus cackled, rushing forwards as Fafnir attempted to catch his balance, stabbing and slashing in a few well-chosen places, his blade cutting through small parts of flesh not covered by his armoured scales, making him roar in pain.

Quickly releasing his hold on the magic, returning Fafnir's use of his limbs back, Rex scowled angrily, sweeping his sword quickly across Deacon’s neck, cutting cleanly, Deacon’s eyes bulging from the suddenness of Rex’s decapitation.

As Deacon’s body crumpled to the floor, Rex had already turned his attention to Telagus, who was looking smugly at Fafnir, his facial expression changing seeing Rex now targeting him.

“It seems Sküülen truly favours you, she has lent you so much power, it will do you no good!” Telagus said loudly, placing two fingers into his mouth and whistling loudly.

‘AH, why is he whistling?’ Rex said, covering his ears for a second, the sound sending a quick ring through his ears.

‘The correct question is, what is he calling?’ Fafnir growled.

Moments after whistling, Telagus smiled broadly, before darting back into a group of his soldiers who were moving back to their lines with shields raised to prevent fireballs and arrows from killing any more of their troops.

Just as Fafnir was about to jump into the group of soldiers, he and Rex both felt the ground begin to shake, ‘Something big is coming,’ Fafnir said, placing his claw onto the ground to feel the vibrations.

‘If they had something THAT big we would have already seen it,’ Rex replied, jumping onto Fafnir’s shoulder to get a better view, scanning the battlefield, ‘The vibrations are gone, must have been a scare tactic.’

‘No, it…’ Fafnir began to say, as the ground beneath them opened quickly and a black beast burst from the crack it created in the ground, roaring as it did, knocking Fafnir back and causing Rex to fall from his place on his shoulder, rolling as he hit the ground to prevent any broken bones.

‘What the f**k is that?’ Rex asked, staring at a jet-black horned beetle that was now staring them down with small red eyes.

‘He has seemingly tamed a royal lava beetle, I thought them on the brink of extinction, even during my time,’ Fafnir replied, ‘Judging by its size, it is fully grown so its armour is practically impenetrable.’

‘So we can’t attack it from the top, so from underneath might not be armoured?’ Rex asked, keeping a close eye on the beetle, which was still staring at them with its small beady eyes.

‘In my day we would wrestle them and remove their heads by force, but neither of us is strong enough to perform that feat with a fully grown one yet, it may have to suffice, MOVE!’ Fafnir snarled.

Rex had already begun to move, he had already seen the beetle leap upward, tucking itself into a ball, and rolling toward them, it crashing into the barrier loudly that was not far behind them.

‘Holy shit, it left a small crack in the town's barrier,’ Rex gasped after the beetle had untucked itself, recovering from a quick dizzy spell, and was already scuttling back toward, hissing loudly.

‘We must not let it continue hitting the barrier, even by accident, it will not take long for it to break through,’ Fafnir growled, leaping toward the beetle, using his claw to scratch the armour over its back, it left shallow scratch marks, but did no actual damage to the beast.

“I need you to keep it distracted so I can try our plan,’ Rex said to Fafnir, who nodded while growling loudly, he swung his tail around bringing it down and striking the top of the beetle’s head, causing it to screech loudly, stagger a little and face him with a glare.

‘Let me help Rex,’ said a familiar voice as a large shadow appeared over the beetle.