XXXIV
We rushed out of Pyrrhus’ palace and returned to where Fulcan’s army stood, only to be greeted by the high lord himself and ten of his legion members. We couldn’t keep up with Pyrrhus’ pace, falling behind by a couple of steps and failing to stop him in his tracks.
The Army of Light and Purity was still surrounded by the Pyromancer’s ring of fire, and the Pyromancer showed no sign of peril, confirming my guess.
Tyrannust was hovering in the air, as usual, and he had his right fist held up. Swinging from his tightly clenched fist in the hot breeze was the Pyromancer’s pendant, glowing the same, bright red.
Fulcan instinctively stepped in front of Pyrrhus, and our two guilds blocked the lord from Tyrannust’s view.
“My faithful servant, what have you done?” Tyrannust began, approaching us.
“My...my lord...O highest lord in all of Grozorg...”
Pyrrhus stuttered in his words, his facade rapidly fading.
“Don’t play games with me anymore, dog!”
At once, the high lord snapped his wrists down and two whips appeared, dropping the Pyromancer’s necklace. At the same time, Pyrrhus and his four order members pulled out their revolvers, each gun cocked and pointed towards Tyrannust. Simultaneously, the Almega Legion surrounded the order, each holding up a tainted, black blade against the outnumbered order. The Pyromancer turned to face Pyrrhus, arms up in an offensive position.
“‘O highest lord?’ Is this how you treat your ‘lord’? Don’t think I don’t know what you are doing!”
“Don’t interfere,” Fulcan whispered harshly towards me, backing away. “My men need to make it to the next war.”
I quickly passed his message to the guild members beside me, stepping back subtly to observe the confrontation between the uncorrupted lord and the high lord. Lord Pyrrhus’ knuckles turned white from the firm grip on his two silver revolvers and sweat beads formed across his pale, fear-coated face.
“I would have wished for more time, but other overlords can stall this useless king and his army longer than you. Didn’t I warn you of the consequences that would rise if you let a word slip from your lips?”
Pyrrhus winced, lowering his head and shutting his eyes tight. There was something disturbing him, as if something was clutching his skull. He lifted his head and let out a howl as the veins across his neck tinted a familiar black. His eyes were wide-opened, and the bloodshot, dilated pupils were flooded by darkness.
“I’m a man of my words, overlord - or should I say, lord, as you wished. The day I gave you powers, the day you resisted, was the day of your downfall. If I told you there would be consequences, you should’ve expected it when you decided to leak everything to this man of a king. It won’t matter in the end - it’ll all end the same. Nothing can stand against me!”
Pyrrhus let out another inhuman shriek, shaking his head violently as if he was demon-possessed. The four Ignis Ordo members stepped forward and fired their pistols, but at a supernatural speed the ten almega warriors around Tyrannust leaped forward and deflected the four bullets with their swords, leaving the unflinching high lord unscathed.
“Today, another order goes extinct. In a matter of time, the multiverse as you know it will become the same!”
Tyrannust lifted one arm, and the necklaces around every member of the order’s necks were ripped off, making their way into the high lord’s open palm. Tyrannust clenched his fist and the amulets shattered, bits of metal trickling to the parched clay ground.
Pyrrhus howled again in deep pain, and his entire face was red with a dark tint of black corrupting his circulation.
“O unfaithful servant, I never needed you anyways. So what if the overlords die? Only the Mancers are the masters in their elements! You’re just as weak as Naterra, Geonyte, and Helterium. I’ll help end your suffering.”
Tyrannust opened his palm and let the remaining chains and scraps of metal fall out. He then slowly rotated his wrist, and pointed two fingers towards Pyrrhus. In response, both of Pyrrhus’ hands rotated and pointed the two muzzles towards his own temples.
“Not like this, your honour! Please!” The lord gargled through shrieks of pain. The veins in his arms had turned a dark black; he could not control his convulsing body.
Pyrrhus flailed around uncontrollably, screaming out inaudible phrases. His two arms were locked in position, pressing the muzzles against his own skull. Tyrannust turned to King Fulcan with a wicked smile.
“Four down, eight to go.”
“No!” Pyrrhus screeched. “N-”
Pyrrhus’ inhuman scream was cut off by two deafening gunshots. The lord of fire lay lifeless on the desert floor, a pool of blood expanding around his deformed head, drenching the thirsty ground and soaking the parched land. In quick succession, four more gunshots were heard, and the rest of the order fell lifeless around Pyrrhus.
“I’m tempted to destroy your army here and now, but then it’d ruin the fun,” Tyrannust began, face locked on Fulcan’s. “Well, it wouldn’t hurt to say that Askar and her Sisterhood is much stronger than this pathetic fire order anyways. I’ll be waiting for you, king.”
With a thunderous cackle, the high lord bolted upwards in a flash, disappearing in the clear blue sky. The legion around him vanished in a black mist, fading away in the hot desert wind.
No words were said. No looks were exchanged. We stood there in silence, in shock, in anger. But there was nothing we could do.
The Pyromancer had vanished in a blaze of flames as well, releasing Fulcan’s army from the ring of fire. We stood in the hot air in silence as the island witnessed the death of their ruler through closed curtains and boarded blinds.
Doors began to open as civilians started pouring out, surrounding their dead lord. No cries filled the air, however. Passersby glanced at the lord, scoffed, and walked away, carrying on with their deeds before Tyrannust’s interruption. Pyrrhus must have played his guise well, fooling even his own people. There would be no burial for him from the nation, no one to pay him homage, no one to attend his funeral. The nation was insensitive to their ruler, all because of their ruler’s will, their ruler’s love, to protect them, to protect Grozorg.
I was disappointed, frustrated, but the people wouldn’t listen to what I had to proclaim about Pyrrhus. He was dead with his order, and there was no one left the people could trust who would have testified Pyrrhus’ true intentions.
Pyrrhon stepped in front of me and pulled the two revolvers out of the dead ruler’s darkened hands. Slipping them into his belt, he pulled out the last Ignis Ordo pendant from his pocket as tears trickled down his face.
“I will avenge you, brother,” the last order member vowed through gritted teeth. “I will avenge the order. Tyrannust VI will be crushed, and the Ignis Ordo will rise again.”