Apocalypse Tamer - Chapter 126: Everyone vs Everyone, Part I

Belphegor choked her through layers of rock and steel.

While she didn’t fit the stereotype of an out-of-shape wizard, Vasi had to admit she was somewhat lacking in the muscle department. She had instinctively grabbed the Horseman of Death’s arm with one hand, but his grip remained too strong for her to overcome. He slammed her through wall after wall. Each impact was followed by a flash of light from the pain and Belphegor’s mocking laughter. His wax fingers were so hot that they would have burned her flesh had it not for the fire protection inherited from Bugsy.

Vasi needed to vocalize most complex spells. A squeezed throat made that difficult.

The key word being most.

Shapeshift, Vasi thought. Most would have transformed into another creature more fit for melee, but the witch knew she would never excel in it. Instead, she reshaped her body to open new mouths on her palms and used them to spellcast. “Superflare!”

An explosion of bright light detonated from her staff; Belphegor hadn’t expected her to use such a dangerous spell in melee and he was summarily blasted off Vasi. The witch took no damage. Her staff’s special ability excluded her from the area of effect.

Vasi gasped for air to the tune of her flapping wings. The terrible sound of grinding gears in the background was only matched by screams of panic. The witch quickly took a look around.

She and Belphegor’s flight had ended in what appeared to be a foundry in the very depths of the Parthenon dungeon. The two had crashed through a steel wall into a sprawling chamber held together by massive columns. Incomplete power armor parts traveled along an assembly line moved by brass gears. Ovens burned like the heart of the sun, spewing molten steel into bubbling pools. Traces of battle were omnipresent, from broken contraptions to broken barricades. Dozens of Ashok’s soldiers were present in the room, as were knights of the Swords of Saint-George and gunners from the French Armed Forces.

They were all choking to death on the floor.

Belphegor’s purple miasma had seeped into the forge, the heat turning it into a disgusting smog. Neither armor nor magic could stop it. The miasma seeped through all cracks and drained anyone breathing it of their very lives.

“Help…” An armored soldier crawling on the steel floor raised a hand at Vasi. She couldn’t tell whether it belonged to her allies or enemies. The miasma was turning his skin purple and caused his flesh to rot in some places. “Help…”

For the first time in her life, Vasi regretted not possessing healing spells worth a damn.

Basil Bohen’s [Death’s Banner] protected you from [Death Miasma]!

“What an annoying ability you have,” Belphegor mused as he leaped on top of an assembly line. He let it carry him away around the room while stepping over the dying. “But the rest will make fine vessels for my soul.”

Why are they all affected? Vasi quickly guessed why, to her horror. Only Apocalypse Force members are protected from the weather, but Ashok’s troops haven’t joined the faction yet. His troops are all going to die.

And from the gleeful look on Belphegor’s face, he couldn’t care less.

“You know, I’ve only felt fear twice in my unlife.” The Horseman of Death summoned a black violin and its bow to his hands. From the chalky look of it, they had been crafted from bones and the hair of the dead. “The first was when I met the Boss… and the second was when your own drove his halberd into my flesh.”

He applied the bow to a black string. “I’ve hated it both times.”

Belphegor used his [Danse Macabre] as a spellcasting wand! All spells cast with it will inflict additional [Wind] and [Soul] damage!

The others don’t look like they’re coming, Vasi thought as she glanced at the hole in the wall. None of her teammates stepped out of it to help. The fact Basil’s and Bugsy’s Perks still protected her meant they were still alive, but the inactive Logs prevented them from communicating. I’m on my own.

“Everything can be made into a pleasure, even pain,” Belphegor rambled. “Pain makes me feel alive, but fear… it makes me feel weak. Don’t get me wrong, roleplaying weakness is fine in my book, but actually being at someone’s mercy as they threaten to destroy you forever? Nobody can stand it, not even–”

Vasi had to hope her team would survive long enough for her to rejoin them. She was confident she could handle the Horseman alone.

Destroying him for good would be another matter.

“Wait, are you ignoring me? Me?” Belphegor played a sinister note on his violin. A mighty sphere of darkness and swirling wind erupted from his instrument. “Stop giving me the cold shoulder, you winged twit!”

Vasi flew out of the projectile’s way while preparing her own spell. “Ancient Meteor,” she cast, quickly followed by a second attack. “Crimson Lightning.”

Her magic swiftly materialized a mighty fiery rock right beneath the ceiling. The projectile all but popped into existence before swiftly falling upon Belphegor.

The Horseman leaped out of the way as the assembly line exploded in a rain of gears, right as a torrent of lightning fell upon—

Nothing.

Vasi barely had time to blink before she noticed Belphegor flying straight at her. Having learned his lesson from their clash earlier, he had decided to engage in close combat. He raised his violin like a club and tried to bash Vasi’s skull in.

She was utterly unfazed. “Ghostform.”

Her body instantly turned translucent. Belphegor’s instrument went through her… as did the Horsemen of Death.

[Intangibility] status! You are now immune to [Physical] attacks for ten minutes!

Belphegor only had time to blink in surprise as he continued his flight behind Vasi. “Ugh?”

Vasi answered by pointing her staff at his back and casting Superflare. The resulting explosion sent Belphegor bouncing onto the steel floor below.

“It is true that melee will never be one of my strengths, but it won’t be my weakness either,” Vasi mused. He had taken her by surprise last time. It wouldn’t happen again. “Ancient Meteor.”

Then she dropped an asteroid on him.

A fiery rock squashed the Horseman and the nearest oven, spilling a puddle of molten steel on the ground. Vasi immediately winced upon seeing some of it spilling over and burning a soldier lying nearby. From the lack of reaction, he was either dead or close.

Without protection, Belphegor’s weather magic killed in sixteen minutes in the best case. Wounded soldiers probably lasted less than half the time.

Are there survivors? Vasi scanned the room from above, but all she could see were corpses. She did notice a soldier shambling near a molten steel pool like a zombie. One.

The sight of the body turning to wax showed her mistake. The walking corpse burst into flames and Belphegor was reborn from the ashes.

“That hurt,” he noted with a smirk. “Thank you.”

“Here’s another!” Vasi replied as she started spellcasting. “Anci–”

A shadowy sphere appeared in front of her as time resumed.

Vasi flew downward to dodge without completing her spell, and was forced to run circles around the forge as more projectiles surged from the ground.

“I never really cared about becoming Overgod.” Belphegor’s melody hastened into a chaotic symphony, each note unleashing a black sphere of darkness. “Destroying worlds was just a way to satisfy my bloodlust. I don’t require much to be happy.”

Vasi ignored him. She struggled to dodge the onslaught of attacks before she managed to hide behind a steel pillar, which gave her enough time to breathe. The shadow spheres impacted on her protection with a series of booms and bangs. The ceiling trembled under the strain. The walls shook and molten steel spilled out of the pools.

“What I can’t stand,” Belphegor said from across the room, “is fear.”

I tried to trap him under a rock, but it didn’t work, Vasi thought while assessing her options. She opened the Guild Inventory, and to her joy she found what she was looking for.

A Petrification Arrow.

Vasi didn’t bring it out immediately. While Shellgirl could use her gloves to duplicate the item and use it repeatedly, the witch only had one chance to use the consumable. The arrow would be spent whether it managed to petrify Belphegor or not.

I need to immobilize him first, Vasi thought. Using Za Warudo would be optimal, but she had already used the spell against Maxwell. Each repeated casting increased the odds of failure as the timestream fought back. It took hours for this ‘cooldown’ to reset. Using the spell now would be risky. The best I can do is force him to waste his SP and try to freeze him.

With the attack barrage slowing down, Vasi flew from behind her cover and counterattacked. “Blizzard!”

A storm of ice erupted from her staff–

A second later, her ice melted next to a broken assembly line right as Belphegor reappeared at her side.

“And that’s why you have to die!” Belphegor played another note. “Blast Burn!”

A swirling torrent of blue flames erupted from his instrument, bolstered by cutting winds and screaming souls. All these elements battered against Vasi’s skin like water on a rock. The flames glided over her harmlessly, while small slashes appeared where the air sliced through her flesh. Ghostly wails echoed in her head as foreign voices begged her to surrender her soul.

It might have killed anyone else, but Vasi was more than human. She was a fairy lord of the Fomors and an archmage. Belphegor’s magic was strong, but it failed to pierce through most of her defenses.

[Fire] damage negated by Bugsy’s [Alexicacus]! 160 [Wind] and 160 [Soul] damage! Damage divided by four thanks [Fomor Lifeforce] to native resistances!

All in all, Vasi barely felt the attack.

“What was that supposed to do?” She taunted the Horseman as she emerged from the flames. “Tickle me?”

“I hoped your ally’s buffs had a range limit,” Belphegor admitted as he raised his bow for a new show.

Vasi acted quicker.

“Good try,” she said while pointing her staff at him. “Here’s a real spell for you.”

She shocked him with crimson lightning. Much to Vasi’s dismay, Belphegor’s screams sounded more like moans of pleasure to her. She quickly followed through with a blizzard spell and attempted to freeze him over.

He skipped time again.

Vasi regained consciousness above a pool of steel, a shadowy projectile flying straight at her. She moved right to dodge it–

–then left to avoid another–

–and another–

–and another!

Time skipped again and again and again. Each time Belphegor launched a projectile from a different direction without rhyme or reason. He attempted to use his time-skip’s disorienting effect to make Vasi slip up.

He failed.

Vasi was more than a magician. She was magic itself. She anticipated incoming spells before Belphegor finished even casting them. Each of them she dodged or countered, waiting for an opening. It might have been a close call without her allies’ effects protecting her from the worst of Belphegor’s abilities, but she currently feared little from him.

Eventually, Vasi found the right opportunity. She avoided a shadow sphere and blasted Belphegor with another Ancient Meteor. The impact sent Belphegor flying into a molten pool of steel and shattered his violin.

“You can’t kill me,” Vasi said. It wasn’t a boast, but a fact. As far as spellcasting prowesses went, she thoroughly surpassed the Horseman. “You can’t even match me.”

“You see… I don’t need to.” Belphegor emerged from the molten pool with his clothes burned and his wax body unharmed. The steel clinging to his skin and the bloodlust in his eyes made him look like a metal skeleton rising from the underworld’s depths. “All I have to do is wear you down until Brina kills your little knight and strips you of your protection.”

“You underestimate my partner,” the witch replied with confidence. “And you overestimate yours.”

However, he did have a point. They would get nowhere if the battle continued like this. Worse, the ceiling kept trembling. Vasi wasn’t in a hurry to see it collapse on her head again.

So she reached a decision.

Vasi summoned her stone arrow from the inventory and cast her trump card. “Za Warudo!”

Casting her time-stopping spell so soon after the last was a huge gamble; one that was successful. Time stopped to a halt for all but Vasi herself, Belphegor included. The Horseman was frozen midway through an attempt to form another shadow projectile.

Only one chance. Vasi raised the arrow like a dagger. Gods, smile on me!

She stabbed Belphegor in the eye. The stone arrow crumbled on impact. Belphegor reeled from the pain as time resumed as swiftly as it stopped.

And that was all.

Vitality check successful! Belphegor avoided [Petrification]!

The gods did not listen.

“Ah…” Belphegor checked himself, before exploding in laughter upon seeing Vasi’s angry scowl. “Ahaha! You missed! You missed!”

Vasi had to chew her lip not to scream in frustration. Worse, the ceiling appeared ready to collapse at any time. Belphegor’s laugh was drowned by the worrying noise of bolts flying off from corners of the forge.

“I gotta say, you had me scared for a second,” the Horseman smugly mocked her. The rumbling noise grew louder and louder. “I would say you almost had a shot at beating me, but that would be a lie–”

The wall behind them shattered into a thousand pieces.

Vasi managed to fly off to safety. Belphegor, meanwhile, only had time to turn his head and watch a familiar metal behemoth charge into the room.

Like any car worth its salt, Steve hit a road walker.

The blow propelled Belphegor across the forge. He ended his course against a steel pillar and hit it with such strength that it cracked.

Vasi’s relief only increased when she saw another friend step down from the Steamobile’s back.

“Hey, Vasi!” Shellgirl leaped into the forge with a stone arrow of stone in each hand. “Sorry to be late! It was a pain to track you room to room!”

“Shellgirl, you’re alive!” Vasi sighed in relief. “Are the others safe?”

“I don’t know where they are,” Shellgirl replied. “I hoped they were with you. I picked up other friends on the way, though.”

Steve let out a roar of steam, and an armored figure stepped out of the Steamobile; an armored knight with angelic wings. These two were supposed to help the Bohens attack Ashok in the initial part of the plan until Maxwell had them separated from the rest of the group.

“He is the source of this pestilence from what I understand?” Unlike his soldiers, Simeon appeared utterly unfazed by the miasma. An angelic halo floating behind his head protected him from it. “We must incapacitate him?”

“Yes.” Vasi raised her staff with a cruel grin. “Letting him keep his limbs is optional.”

“Good.” Simeon charged at Belphegor without another word, with Shellgirl closely following him. Vasi moved to cut off the Horseman’s exit.

He was soon encircled.

“I hate Paladins,” Belphegor complained, his eyes burning with spite. “It’s Killing Time!”

And time skipped again.

Pain followed the bitter kiss of steel.

Basil gritted his teeth as Brina’s claymore grazed his shoulder. The blade pierced through his armor and sliced all the way to the flesh underneath, spilling blood all over the floor. Had he not deflected it with his halberd, the blow would have severed his arm.

“Why are you fighting this relentless battle, Basil Bohen?” Brina asked, each sentence punctuated by a clash of their weapons. The valkyrie’s greater strength helped her push Basil back. “Do you covet the throne too? Or did your grudge against us survive Apollyon’s death?”

The duel had led them up a stairway and into a small stone chamber lit by torches. Debris littered the ground of this chamber: Spartiate weapons, hoplite armor, and ancient shields. Basil guessed it must have been some kind of armory exposition from when the Parthenon had been a museum, though he couldn’t confirm it.

“I’m fighting you because someone has to,” Basil replied while deflecting a swing. Brina’s claymore hit a nearby wall and left a slash through it. “If I had any other choice, I would be rebuilding my house and cooking for my friends rather than stand before you.”

It had been exceedingly difficult for Basil to hold his ground against the valkyrie back when he had both his shield and the support of his allies. Now that he had moved into a smaller room reducing his Double Jump’s effectiveness, his options were running dry.

Basil Bohen did not perform well in narrow spaces.

Switching tactics, Basil unleashed his corrosive breath as their weapons clashed. Poison flowed out of his mouth and briefly blinded Brina. He followed through with a halberd parry to send her stumbling and then a water elemental orb.

“So you fight me out of duty rather than ambition?” Brina brushed off the poison and easily deflected the elemental orb with her claymore. A flash of respect briefly appeared in her eyes, but only for a moment. “Perhaps you are worthy of Valhalla after all.”

A blue aura flared around her blade.

“However…” She swung her sword so fast even Moment of Prescience struggled to predict it. “I won’t let anyone stand in my way.”

Basil parried the blow with his halberd, hoping to push her back with a well-placed counter. His steel stopped her own.

It was a mistake.

Immediately he sensed magical power travel from Brina’s weapon to his own, and then the rest of his body. His senses dulled, his body slowed down, and he was swiftly stripped of the foresight afforded by Flash of Prescience.

Brina’s [Antimagic Blade] disabled your buffs. You are no longer protected by [Death’s Banner].

The stench of death filled Basil’s throat.

Time and space darkened.

To all but Belphegor, it appeared as if a negative filter covered the world. Colors were drowned into a shadowy sea of black and white. A peaceful silence swallowed all sounds. The very idea of motion, of communication and consequences, had lost all meaning.

Inside the skipped time, Belphegor was as ephemeral as a specter. The mimic’s stone arrow harmlessly traveled through him without inflicting any damage or ailment, as did the paladin’s sword.

Belphegor’s Killing Time removed himself from the timestream. Everyone followed the actions they would have taken had he not activated his ability. The fairy witch fired a lightning spell in Belphegor’s direction and her paladin friend rushed forward.

The Horseman phased through them all with a laugh. He couldn’t harm anyone inside the skipped time—no more than his enemies could harm him—but it allowed him to position himself better for a counterattack.

“Who should I hit first?” Belphegor wondered. So many choices… and all of them were terrible. The witch was too strong for him, paladins were always a pain to fight, the mimic could potentially put him down for good, and Belphegor had yet to see a machine feel pain.

Fighting these four would be a chore at best and his demise at worst.

However, the sight of rashes appearing on the witch and mimic immediately brought a smile to his face. It appeared Brina had finally managed to slay the Tamer and stripped his thralls of their protection.

“I overestimated my partner, eh?” Belphegor mused as he moved closer to the witch to better watch her die. “As if a boy could defeat the multiverse’s strongest weapon master!”

Belphegor had never doubted Brina since they met. Not even once. Only the Maleking could possibly trounce her in single combat, and if she ever caught up level-wise… She was truly the best.

“I win.” Since Belphegor had enough Special Points to maintain the time-skip for a while and no need to attack directly anymore, he would simply maintain it until his foes expired. “I can’t wait to watch the light leave your eyes.”

“Me too,” someone answered.

For the third time in his unlife, Belphegor felt the bitter sting of fear.

Killing Time had been his refuge since he first unlocked the ability. His sanctuary. No one could threaten him within this magical anomaly. Nobody else could adjust their movements, let alone speak.

Yet this hidden sanctuary had been invaded.

“I was waiting for you outside to do battle.” A mothlike humanoid with draconic features stepped out of the hole in the wall, as regal as he was intimidating. Belphegor immediately noticed the familial resemblance with the fairy witch. “But you cowards would rather bully my daughter behind my back?”

The stranger unsheathed a rapier, his eyes shining with murderous intent.

“As Father of the Year, I can’t let that stand,” he told Belphegor. “You better pick a god and pray, ruffian.”

Such taunt would have made the Horseman of Death laugh once, but he was too shaken to enjoy himself. “H-how can you move in the skipped time?”

“Skipping time is a trick used by fools too weak to command it.” The stranger looked down on Belphegor with condescension. “You’ve never faced a capped Chronomancer, have you?”

Flames swirled within the Horseman of Death’s hands. “Blast Bu–”

The stranger’s sword pierced Belphegor’s chest and came out on the other side.