Chapter CCCLXXXVII: To Kill Lightning ~Redaz

Redaz was surrounded. Anyone in the city was essentially surrounded, but he knew he was surrounded, and he knew who surrounded him. Some people may have had an epiphany of how their life had turned out in the position he was in, others would have dropped to their knees in self pity, others would be a small red smear by now. Redaz took pride in being none of the above.

He'd felt the familiar ripple in the fabric of being that was caused when a being was summoned by magic; he just hadn't realised how much that ripple had brought with it. He'd managed to avoid direct confrontation with anything big, but when he'd encountered the strange blue figure that now stood before him, glowing with barely contained energy, he couldn't help but be interested.

He was surrounded by about a dozen strange creatures. The demonic beasts had arrived by various means; now they stood around him, blocking the streets leading to the square he stood in facing his electrical enemy. A few had wandered, blood stained, out of the smithy who had helped fix Kenzo, a shame. They weren't attacking him because moments ago two others had done just that, with unfortunate results. The first had been a wiry creature with wings larger than its body; it had gotten caught up in the swirling winds around him and been thrown clear across the pavement. The second was a larger beast, with leathery skin; at the moment it was lying on the ground a foot away from him with its chest smoking.

With the other beasts held at bay Redaz stared down the featureless being of energy. "Giving mass to energy…what a quaint idea," the wizard tilted his head at the thing. It looked like it was waiting for something, thought he'd seen others like it attack townspeople unprovoked many times out of the corner of his eye. "What are you waiting for?"

The creature raised an arm and uncurled its fingers, webbed together by arcs of electricity. It curled all but one back, and beckoned the wizard with the digit.

"Big mistake," The wizard charged the thing, pulling one arm back with his palm aimed at the Electrophorm. He thrust his arm forward, a ball of flame materialized in his hand and rocketed at his enemy, impacting it square in the chest with a loud explosion. The wizard skidded to a stop with a grin, "Too easy."

It was with understandable dismay that he saw a blue light shining through the rapidly thinning smoke. With a loud crackle and spark of energy the mar in its form sealed itself over. The thing then raised its arm quickly, a bolt of electricity extending out from it as an extension of its form. The bolt hit the wizard's chest and sent him flying into a stone building. The winds around Redaz dispersed and he hoped the demons around him weren't encouraged by it.

The Electrophorm was silently smug in the direction of its victim and seemed just as surprised when he managed to stand up.

"Lightning huh? Yeah, I do some of that myself, care to see?" Without waiting for any response he pointed a fist at the glowing man and fired a bolt of lightning out of it.

The static discharge hit the thing in the chest, sparks surged over its body and another bolt flew out of its chest toward the wizard. He was once again thrust into the stone wall and once again stood up, albeit shakily.

"Okay, so you're better at it than me, that's okay. We'll do it the hard way…for me." As he was saying that, he reached into his robe and removed a long sword from within. The whole weapon was black, strange symbols were carved in the flat of the blade and the guard curved up to claw-like tips.

The wizard charged the Electrophorm, his sword held out to his side. Just as he approached his opponent he thrust the sword into its chest. For a heartbeat all was still, the Electrophorm raised its arms and placed its hands on Redaz's shoulders; then, the circuit was complete.

Electricity coursed over both their bodies wildly, covering them in a sphere of dangerous energy. Gritting his teeth in an attempt to concentrate, he poured energy into his blade. Within the glowing being, the runes on his sword lit up. The energy coursing over him mingled with the magic he had summoned up and was siphoned into the blade. Between his leeching of energy into the sword and the destructive energies emitted by the sword, the Electrophorm's body slowly withered, its statuesque form (aside from the few errant sparks) turned into an electrical skeleton, then disappeared.

Redaz staggered and took a few deep breaths as coils of smoke rose from scorched spots on his robe. The lesser demons crept toward him, either recognizing the posture of a drained warrior, or wounded prey. With a growl he waved his sword in their direction, the runes glowing so brightly it looked like more of a torch than a sword. The creatures wavered, but didn't back down. It was at that point the wizard realized that their numbers seemed to have doubled during his brief battle.

"One way or another, this is gonna be messy."