Chapter CCXXIV: Fallen to Pieces ~Ria

Adrian looked to the map spread out in front of the Rip Watcher and focused in on the names. She sorely wished that Havering were one of those from which to choose.

"I want Necronimus,” She said finally. "Since everyone else involved with Zolott's destruction is either dead or apparently on our side, I need someone to take out some frustration on." She cast a prolonged glance at Ratch, who promptly ignored her.

"Are you sure Adrian?" CR asked. "I'm not even sure exactly where his lair is located…"

"Don't underestimate me. You have several times already this trip, and I'm going to prove I'm stronger than I was on Zolott. Besides, I have a one up on his powers with my own."

CR nodded. "Necronimus is yours."

The Auran nodded with a slight smile, and headed down the path towards where Necronimus had last been seen. The scenery changed very little as she moved along the edge of the cliff. A river of lava flowed from a small volcano down along the lower part of the ground. She paused, as her way was cut off by a rockslide from the mountains on her right. With a determined glare she climbed easily over the loose rocks, moving to return to the path on the other side. All was going fine until there was a rumble, and the rocks under Adrian's feet shifted. She tried to jump out of the way, but the rocks and dirt shifted once again, pitching the Auran to the side, and down a dark tunnel that had suddenly appeared.

Her breath was knocked out of her as she hit the ground in pure darkness. She pushed herself up, held up her hand, and there was a flash of light that flooded the whole cave. The room was quite small and very empty as Adrian pushed herself to her feet, brushing the dirt off her clothes.

She looked up towards the ceiling, seeing the outline of the door, which had opened to unceremoniously dump her into the room. She then turned her sight back downwards, spotting an opening in the wall to her right. She moved towards it, a ball of light appearing and hovering over her head. It cast light in a wide circle around her as she moved out of the room and into a narrower passage way.

She followed along it for a good distance before it opened into a much larger area. The ball of light shot up into the air, and exploded, casting light over the whole cavern, which turned out to be much larger than Adrian had expected.

The ground was littered with corpses, in different stages of decay, as well as numerous gravestones, which the Auran could only guess as those corpses who had been important enough to deserve the time it took to bury.

"Well, what a pleasant surprise. Rays of sunshine which shine down through the dark clouds."

Adrian turned with a sign to see Necronimus standing on one of the gravestones to her left. "I see your personality hasn't changed a bit," she said.

"And yet you have only grown more lovely, my dear."

The robot smiled and Adrian rolled her eyes. "Fine, How about you stand there and admire my 'beauty', while I disconnect your head from the rest of your body." The Auran pulled her sword loose from its sheath and twirled it once in front of her.

"I'm afraid I cannot do that," Necronimus stated.

He raised his hand and several of the skeletons that lay scattered over the floor pulled themselves together, gathering up makeshift weapons of non-raised corpses and moved towards her.

Adrian whispered the spell that caused her sword blade to begin to glow a bright yellow. She swung it forward, slicing through the bone weapons, and into her zombie attackers. Their bodies hissed like they were on fire, slowly dissolving into puddles of something green with only one touch from Adrian's sword.

"You're not going to get anywhere with your old tricks," Adrian smirked as the last of Necronimus' undead soldiers fell.

"Well, I suppose that means I shall have to try some new tricks then, doesn't it my dear?"

He smiled and a force of wind ripped up around him, slamming into Adrian before she could react, and slamming her into one of the gravestones with a sharp crack. The Auran quickly regained her feet, rubbing the back of her head, where a large lump was already forming. She clenched her left hand together and whispered a spell, there was a bright flash of light, and a lightning bolt shot down from above the Infect, sending enough extra power though him to slightly fry his circuitry.

"Beautiful, my dear," Necronimus said. "But I'm afraid it isn't enough."

There was a slightly rumble as the ground beneath the graves exploded upwards, revealing a fresh group of undead soldiers.

"Haven't you learned that your vulth'n don't stand a chance against me?" Adrian said, stepping towards them.

"But of course, my dear. But I also know that you are strong enough to stand any one attack I can send at you at any one time. More than one a time, however…"

As Adrian sliced into the closest of the zombies approaching her, the ground seemed to shift under her. A cloud of dirt and sand rose into the air, swirling around. She coughed and blinked as the sand flew into her face, cutting off all visibility around her. The Auran felt some of the bone weapons slice into her skin, and she quickly jumped back, muttering a spell, which cast a barrier of light up around her.

It blocked out the swirling sand, and any zombies that touched the barrier were reduced to a puddle the same way if her sword had cut them. The zombies quickly learned not to touch the barrier, staying just out of visibility range, though Adrian could still feel them moving around her.

Suddenly there was an explosion. The Auran looked up to see the last remnants of a fireball disappeared upon contact with her barrier. It held, but she felt the extra strain of holding it up instantly. Another crashed into the barrier, and Adrian muttered a few things I can't write under her breath.

She quickly focused her attention on the area past the zombies circling her, searching for Necronimus' mental signal. It was harder to do because he was a robot, but a few fireballs later she latched onto his mind, slightly to the right of where he had been before.

"I'm not going to last long like this," she muttered to herself. "Have to take out the source."

She waited until another fireball slammed into the barrier, and then sprinted forward. The zombies scrambled out of the way of the sudden monument, and watching the ground carefully as it became visible in front of her inside her barrier, she burst out of the sandstorm, bringing her sword in a wide arch towards Necronimus' neck.

Surprised by her sudden appearance he was only able to stumble back, the sword digging into the metal of his shoulder instead of through his neck. Even though her sword missed its mark, Adrian didn't pause. She brought her left fist back, and using ever bit of extra strength from her reinforced metal skeleton, slammed Necronimus into the ground, following after him with a strong lightning ball.

The robot lay still for a few minutes, then opened his eyes and again and looked up at her. "I would expect nothing less."

He then regained his feet and shot towards her in one swift movement. Adrian's sword was knocked from her hand and his hand slammed into the side of her face, and they both fell backwards.

The Auran kicked out with her feet, carrying him back over her head, and managed to grab her sword and roll to her feet. Another lightning ball knocked him flat, but as she tried to swing her sword down at him, she was pushed back off her feet by a strong gust of wind. The zombies were approaching now, and Adrian threw up a barrier before they could attack.

The wounds were beginning to throb on her body now, but she hadn't trained so long and hard to be beaten now. With a surge of power she pushed the barrier outwards, cutting down all of the zombies surrounding her, then she rushed towards the waiting Necronimus. He responded with another fireball, but Adrian was ready for it, and rolled underneath, swinging her sword along the ground and removing one of the Infect's feet from his leg.

He stumbled back off balance, and Adrian brought the sword up, slicing though his chest. Necronimus' face was a picture of shock as the top half of his body slid to the ground. He raised his hands and a fireball exploded in Adrian's face before she could block it. She fell back as pain raced over her body, and she passed out.

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Adrian was not sure how much time had passed before she regained consciousness, but her light spell had already faded and the only light came from a few torches scattered around the cave. It took several minutes for her to regain her feet with the pain every time she moved. When she was able to cast another light spell, she saw the pieces of Necronimus' body lying where they had fallen, unmoving.

Adrian looked around, and found another exit to the cave, which eventually lead to the surface. She stumbled off towards the Spectrum, trying to decide what the best way to beg for a healing pill from the sky-blue Yoshi was.

The Auran was crawling back over the rockslide she had fallen into when she heard someone groan. Lying a short distance away was a Mazzic. She made her way over, finding herself relieved to see he was still breathing, though he was in worse shape than her.

Adrian tapped his cheek, bringing him back to consciousness. She helped him to his feet, and they both headed back to the Spectrum.