Dirge of the Afterlife - Chapter 6 The White Destroyer

The trio arrived at the Temple without much hindrance, the demon sent after them slain. There, the mage hunters fell to their vengeful blades, deadly magic strikes and powerful psychic attacks.

They reached the Ellcrys' chamber...

Only to find a distorted figure out of nightmare standing next to it, cackling in twisted pleasure.

'It is dead. The seals have failed. You are too late!' Nero shrieked, cackling madly. 'Now all I have to do is wait for my mistress and the Shadow to come...and you will all DIE!!!!!!!'

'Like hell.' muttered Felicia, already charging at the demonic apparition, blade in hand. He responded with a runeblade fused with incredible chaotic energies.

Kaffleen dove into the clashing fray, Ristaccia right behind her. The three powerful soul warriors struck simultaneously again and again at the Death Knight, who seemed to be powerful enough to ward off their blows without difficulty, even managing a couple of tags on them.

Then another dove into the fray, taking Nero completely by surprise and hit a deep, gouging wound in his back. 'Xepher!' The said Guardian brought another fighter with him, one with a massive broadsword.
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Three hours back...
Xepher exclaimed in triumph. 'Found it!'

He hefted the massive, handwritten tome, thick as a brick and a foot tall. Flipping it open, he perused it quickly, slight nostalgic feelings rising up as he beheld his mentor's handwriting.

After several minutes, he found the exorcism spell, which he quickly prepared and cast at Huntagon. The controlled warrior's eyes glazed over, then flickered as a dark shadow rose over him, then separated. It let out a wail of despair, and dissipated like the mist before the sun of the dawn.

Then Huntagon insisted on coming with Xepher to destroy Nero. He had agreed, and they set out.
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Nero gasped as the blade sank into his back. Then he dashed away, the gaping wound spraying ebony blood onto the ivory marble flooring. He laughed.

'Too late...too LATE!' he shrieked. 'In but moments, the binds on the Shadow will shatter, and doom is come upon this world!'

'Then you'll die before that happens!' shouted Huntagon, his blade flashing forwards and striking hard at the demon. He shrieked, but retaliated with a great arc of a slash, striking across Huntagon's chest.

Nero fell with a gasp. 'This world is doomed......' With a final shriek, he exploded in a massive blast that knocked all present backwards.

The Ellcrys seed floated out of Kaffleen's pocket to the rotted mother tree. Fusing into it, the tree grew strong again, life flooding through it with astounding speed.

Felicia let out a relieved sigh. 'The seals are back on. We're just in time...'

But little did they know that one lone figure made it through the temporary window of release. One powerful enough to tear apart the wards without destroying the Ellcrys.

The White Destroyer, Weiss, also known as the Death Knight of Light.
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Nero gasped as he flicked open his eyes, to behold his great and terrible mistress. She loomed over him, a cruel smile playing around her lips as she contemplated him like a tasty morsel.

'No......wait......give me another-' began Nero, sweating profusely.

'Too late.' Her smile widened more, becoming a wicked grin. 'You said you won't fail me...you failed to destroy the Ellcrys...you failed to bring me that world.'

'And so you will suffer...' Her fingers curled around Nero's prone form, smooth and impregnable like a band of quicksilver. She squeezed Nero like a tube of toothpaste, while attacking him with mental lances to his mind. His screams echoed through the empty, dark place with only the all-powerful mistress of the Great Dark Beyond, and the failed Death Knights were. Her grand palace, surrounded outside by countless miles of demons of any size, shape and type imaginable.

The failed Death Knights themselves were screaming, albeit not with as much intensity as Nero. They were merely assaulted by her mental strikes, not Nero, who was physically crushed as he was mentally impaled.

'But no matter... Weiss has never failed to deliver a world to me... Soon Raphael will be able to send our armies over to that little world. And my sister will be brought to her knees.' She laughed softly. 'But now while waiting for Weiss to open the way...why not punish you for your disobedience...' She laughed cruelly yet excitedly and her fingers crawled towards the spasming Nero, shivering in fear from the powerful being's wrath.
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Weiss landed on the blasted grounds deep in the ground. The massive portal behind him, rippling and dark, was sealed with an equally massive sigil, lined with powerful runes. He couldn't do anything with the seal itself, so he left the underground chamber, to begin his mission.

'I will open the way...' he vowed, shining blade raised in honour to his mistress, and to the Shadow.

The very walls rippled with power, and were warped, cracking and oozing red magma from the raw power exuding from the Death Knight. Fires crackled over Weiss as wings of pure flame sprouted from his back.

'Now...it begins...'