A thunderous roar shook the battlefield as Malakar’s creatures surged forward-twisted bodies moving with unnatural speed and aggression. The ground shook beneath their charge, the earth crackling under the weight of their monstrous footsteps. The first line of the Bene Gesserit warriors stood firm on their feet, weapons at the ready, and their body aglow with enchanted energy in defense of their ho.
But they were not ready for this.
The first wave of Hellforged crashed over them like a storm of death.
With a swing of his runes-enchanted sword, a varrior clad in gleaming silver armor sliced into the torso of the nearest-which sizzled and regenerated instantly. The monster grinned, showing jagged teeth, and plunged forward, tearing his throat out with one vicious bite.
Yet another warrior loosed a jet of blue fire that engulfed two creatures. Rather than burning, however, the beasts absorbed the fla into their bodies and erupted in bright lights as they roared in euphoria.
A mont later they were upon her, claws ripping into flesh and bone.
Screams rent through the night.
The Bene Gesserit mages took up their counterattack, standing along the top of the fortress walls.
Protect the stronghold!" Eleanor shouted, raising her hands. The air around her crackled as she summoned a great arc of lightning down, striking a line of advancing monsters and sending their bodies into wild contortions before they fell still, their charred husks smoking in the cold night air.
Other mages acted similarly, hurling fireballs and ice shards and blades of wind into the opposition. Spells exploded left and right, filling the night with flashes of blue and red and white energy.
There was sothing wrong.
The Hell-forged creatures did not fall as they should have.
So rely shrugged the attacks off, their demonic souls impervious to the magic, while the others, though hurt and bleeding, breathed the elents into their bodies and were strengthened by them.
Eleanor’s heart was racing in her chest. "They are immune to magic!"
Lysander, who was still fighting in the front, ground her teeth. "Then we will cut them down with steel."
She brandished her golden spear-the sacred weapon of the High Priestess-and sprang into battle.
From his vantage on the rocky outcrop overlooking the battlefield, Malakar was hugely amused by this sight.
The carnage before him was a thing of beauty, a tableau of destruction.
The Bene Gesserit were strong, their warriors skilled, their mages powerful-but they had never faced an enemy like this.
Malakar raised his hamrs and brought them together. The boom was like an earthquake-the very air shook.
A column of blue fla erupted around him, and then, more of the Hellforged began to rise.
As dark energies seeped into the bodies of fallen, slain warriors, it twisted and reshaped the corpses.
Bones cracked and lengthened, flesh sloughed off and reattached, eyes smoldered into an eerie red glow.
They had been remade into Malakar’s warriors.
His voice thundered across the battlefield:
"Arise, my warriors. To battle for your new master."
The newly reconstituted beasts let out chilling shrieks and surged forward, striking their forr comrades with abandon.
The Bene Gesserit warriors stumbled backward in utter horror.
"We’re fighting our own people," one of them whispered, his sword trembling in his grasp.
Lysander’s expression hardened. "They are no longer our people."
She didn’t hesitate. She stabbed her spear into the chest of a revived soldier, ending its wracked existence.
But for every one she killed, two more took its place.
The fight continued until Malakar finally stepped forward, his boots crunching the bones of the slain beneath his feet.
His fire-engine-red eyes focused on Lysander.
The High Priestess of the Bene Gesserit.
He smiled. "I have looked forward to this."
Lysander turned to him, her grip on the spear tightening.
"You bring decay and death into my people, and for that, I shall end you," she told him firmly.
Malakar laughed. "You? End ? You don’t even know what I truly am."
In a blur of speed, he flung himself forward, his hamrs whirling like twin teors.
Lysander barely dodged the first strike. The second ca too fast-she raised her spear in ti, but the force of the blow sent her skidding backward, her feet carving deep trenches into the earth.
She steadied herself, then counterattacked-her spear shone with divine energy, slicing toward Malakar’s chest.
But Malakar caught the weapon with his bare hand.
A shock of black lightning leapt from his palm, up the shaft of the spear, and into Lysander’s body.
She gasped in pain, her vision blurring for a mont.
Malakar grinned. "You’re strong, priestess... but I am stronger."
He raised one of his hamrs high above his head, ready to bring it down on her skull.
From the walls of the fortress, Azrael watched in abject horror.
He saw Lysander struggling against Malakar.
He saw his people falling like wheat before the scythe.
He fisted his hands. He had to do sothing.
But when he tried to call upon his powers...
Nothing happened.
His system was still silent.
He swore under his breath. "Damn it... Why now? Why now?"
Eliza, beside him, touched his shoulder. "Azrael... we have to do sothing."
Azrael took a deep breath.
Then he unsheathed his sword.
If magic wouldn’t work, he would fight with steel.
Lysander dodged Malakar’s final blow, but she knew she couldn’t keep this up forever.
She was getting slower. Weaker.
Malakar, on the other hand, was only getting stronger.
Suddenly, in one final surge of dark energy, he swung his hamr-
And struck Lysander in the chest.
The impact shattered her ribs.
She collapsed to the ground, blood welling from her lips.
"I’m so sorry. She made do!" She said her voice barely audio able.
A stunned silence fell over the battlefield.
Malakar lood over her, his shadow swallowing her broken body.
And then, he raised his hamr for the final blow.
Azrael’s scream of rage echoed through the battlefield.
But before he could reach her—
The hamr fell.
Lysander, the High Priestess of the Bene Gesserit, was dead.
Azrael froze in place.
Sothing inside him snapped.
Then
A glitching noise echoed within his head.
And a warning ssage flashed before his eyes:
[ERROR. SYSTEM MALFUNCTION.]
[CRITICAL ENERGY LOSS DETECTED.]
[USER IS NOW IN LOCKDOWN MODE.]
His body went numb.
His powers completely disappeared.
And in that mont, Azrael knew—
They had lost.
The Bene Gesserit had been defeated.
Malakar and his monsters stood victorious.
And Azrael...
Azrael was powerless.
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