August 4th
The sorcerer observed as the battle began in earnest in front of his eyes. The two massive summoned beasts rushed forward, one of them engaged by the two new arrivals that had been keeping him occupied earlier, while a black-clad hero swung into the air to take the fight to the other one, soon followed by an insect-like girl and a robotic woman. That left two Young Bloods, an alien girl who was on her knees and seemed too drained to fight anymore, and the leader himself, who had been previously busy trying to survive against Beast.
I don’t mind these odds. He thought, keenly observing his foes’ first few moves. The gargoyles would not need any guidance - after all, they were mindless beasts, born from warped memories of these furthest lands with the sole purpose of warding off intruders. With that in mind, he focused on Roy just as the hero seemed to swallow the shadows around him and then charge straight towards him, the sight playing out before Hex’s eyes as if in slow motion.
Right, the shadows… I suppose I should have foreseen that. Not that it mat- His thought was interrupted as soon as he saw Nightshade disappear, and his senses went on high alert as he tried to locate the hero, knowing well that he couldn’t afford to lose sight of someone who thrived in shadow.
Suddenly, Roy reappeared in the battlefield, right in front of him. The Young Blood launched a high kick but, as before, the event unfolded in slow motion from Hex’s perspective, allowing him to react and back away in time to avoid the blow. Then, with frightening speed that he had not displayed during the battle against Darklight and Cosmic, he closed the distance that separated him from Roy and delivered a powerful front kick to his midsection, sending him back.
“Nice try.” He conceded even as his mind worked overtime to figure out the best course of action. A highly skilled warrior with the power to use shadows as gateways and as a source of power… I suppose my best bet is to keep him too busy to disappear. He decided. With this in mind, the sorcerer decided to strike again before Roy had the chance to recover, opening with a horizontal slash. The hero used his momentum to continue moving back, well out of the sword’s range, though the villain’s black blade projected another wave of darkness that he was forced to jump over. Not letting up, Hex rushed towards his opponent and thrust forward three times in quick succession.
Roy was forced to use the shadows to jump back three times in quick succession to avoid Hex’s attacks. His foe was a lot quicker and more tactical than Beast was so he would have to change style to match it. As Hex reared back for a fourth thrust, Roy readied himself. When it came he didn’t teleport back but rather jumped quickly to the left, grabbing Hex’s arm and pulling him close. Hex reacted quickly and attempted to retaliate with a pommel strike to his face, but Roy used the opening provided to teleport behind the swordsman, sweeping out his legs with a kick.
Dammit! Hex cursed in his mind as he lost his balance and fell to the ground. His opponent wasted no time in delivering a kick to his ribs - the runes lining his vest minimized the actual impact of the blow, but the pain was still felt in full. Before Roy could follow up with another kick, the sorcerer rolled away and quickly jumped to his feet, adjusting his stance to have a more solid footing. “Not bad, Nightshade.” He admitted before immediately going on the offensive once more, slashing at the air in front of him and sending a flurry of black waves in the hero’s direction before running up to him and feinting another thrust, only to fire off a beam of darkness at point-blank range instead.
As Nightshade jumped, ducked, and dodged to avoid the waves of dark energy, he lamented the loss of his weapon. Without it he was mostly being forced on the defensive and wasn’t sure how effective his attacks would be. He would need to be patient and wait for an opening. Roy realized the thrust was a feint a second too late and was shot back by the blast of dark energy. Roy was knocked off his feet and while the attack hurt like hell, it felt oddly invigorating to Roy as well. He absorbed the darkness energy after the initial blow, but had a feeling he wouldn’t be able to take many more of those point blank.
“Hey Hex, you see I don’t have a staff. Your buddy Beast broke it before we kicked his ass. So why don’t you throw down your fancy sword and we settle this the old fashion way?”
The only response he received at first was another point-blank blast, sending Roy flying off some distance before dropping into the ash. “Good try. I’d compliment your little gambit, if it wasn’t a spectacular way of showing just how desperate you are.” The sorcerer spoke as the dust settled around his enemy, before taking a few steps towards him. “And last I checked, you were about to get your ass kicked before a timely intervention saved you.”
As if on cue, a white bolt of flame suddenly manifested above the sorcerer and shot towards him, striking him square in the chest. The spell was able to bypass his cape’s defensive runes and sent him back a few paces, but the sigils on his vest quickly dissipated the fire - he’d known for a long time that many of his opponents favored it, after all. Several more firebolts appeared, all of them aimed at the sorcerer - now that the element of surprise was gone, however, he simply used his blade to swat aside or block them, with frightening accuracy. Right, the alien siren… I’ll take care of her once I’m done with Nightshade.
The magical attacks, while largely ineffective, had nonetheless served their purpose, and Roy quickly got up while Hex was distracted, absorbing some of the shadows cast by the half-buried pillars surrounding the area and teleporting right above his foe, preparing the same attack he had used against Beast.
Rather than panic and look around frantically, though, when the villain saw Roy disappear yet again, he calmly switched to a reverse grip before promptly thrusting his sword into the ground - the corporeal darkness gathered around the blade violently expanded in all directions, passing through Hex harmlessly but kicking up a cloud of ash and knocking his opponent away.
“Now, I’m not going to descend to your level just because you’re at a disadvantage.” The sorcerer spoke as he turned to face the hero. He raised his free hand, and a myriad of symbols appeared on it, overlapping with those already present as he charged a new spell. He pointed his hand at Roy, who braced for whatever attack was coming his way.
Except it wasn’t an attack.
“But if you think a weapon is all you need to climb up to my level… well, be my guest.” He said confidently as an arming sword appeared on the ground in front of the hero, identical to his own in all regards except for the many enchantments on it.
Roy reached down and grabbed the sword from the ground. “Well, nice sword, a little renaissance fair for my taste but I like it. Now, let’s see if I’m right.” Roy said, charging at Hex with his sword high before swinging swiftly at Hex’s chest.
Hex stood still as his opponent charged towards him, observing both his stance and his grip as he recalled all the combat training he’d gone through under the Brotherhood’s wing years ago. When the hero reached his side and attacked, he immediately swung at Roy’s sword, the lowermost part of his blade making contact with the tip of his opponent’s and easily deflecting the blow. “Try to be a little less predictable, will you?” The sorcerer spoke as he took a step forward and then slashed at Roy’s midsection, though he was quick to return the blade close to his body afterwards - overcommitment was not favorable.
“Of course, wouldn’t want to disappoint you after all.” Roy shot back as his blade quickly dropped down to protect him from the attack. Hex was pretty good with a sword and while Roy had trained most of his childhood with blades he was a bit rusty.
“You always fight so timid?” Roy asked, taunting Hex into being aggressive. “Maybe that’s why you couldn’t stop us from capturing your criminal buddies.” Roy said, taking a defensive stance and preparing himself for an attack.
Rather than give in to the hero’s taunt and lash out, Hex laughed. “What did you just say? Captured?” He managed to speak in between fits of laughter - he made himself open to attack, but in reality he was completely alert. “Do you really think you ‘captured’ my criminal buddies? That’s amusing. I’d believe it, if I didn’t have all of you trapped in here with me.” He said, now calmer, though he still had a wide grin on his face underneath the mask. “I’d stop wasting time with pointless remarks and try harder to get out of here, if I were you. I wouldn’t want my team’s hard work to be in vain.”
“Fine, let’s finish this!” Roy shouted before charging, he had a feeling Hex was pretending to be off. Nightshade closed the gap between them and threw a quick upward slash at Hex’s sword to throw him off guard for real. Reacting quickly, the villain straightened his posture and then blocked low, stopping his foe’s sword in its tracks. Roy then pushed forward with his sword, forcing Hex backwards. This gave the hero the space he needed to enact his plan. As Hex prepared a counter attack Roy suddenly disappeared, only to reappear behind him once more. This time Hex was more ready and turned quickly to block the sword strike just in time. However, Roy wasn’t done. He disappeared again, and reappeared to the side with another quick strike.
That’s how it’s going to be, eh? The villain gritted his teeth as he quickly turned to the side and raised his blade to intercept the coming strike. No sooner had he blocked the attack when Nightshade teleported away again, forcing Hex to guess where he was headed to next. For a while, it worked - his battle intuition, coupled with his hastened senses, were sharp enough to let him fight Roy on an equal footing, blocking sword blow after sword blow. Their small portion of the battlefield just underneath the massive stone arch became a beacon as the glint of clashing steel flashed across the desert over and over again while the sorcerer and the shadow danced around each other.
But Hex’s luck soon ran out. Blocking the latest of Roy’s blows, he believed he began to see a pattern in his attacks and turned turned to face him, but his presumption was off by a good bit and he was too late to sidestep the attack, the gleaming steel of the knightly sword cutting into his shoulder. His rent flesh stung horribly, but he was no stranger to painful mistakes and simply ignored the sensation.
I’m at a disadvantage if he keeps doing that… let’s try this.
Roy launched himself at Hex once more, but instead of looking for him in vain, the sorcerer crouched and then pushed himself forward, pressing his hands against the ground and then taking off again with a shaky handspring before finally landing several feet away from his initial position, where his foe dug his blade out of the ground with a firm tug. His landing kicked up a cloud of ash, and the sorcerer used it as cover while hastily shrugging off his enchanted cape, grabbing his wand and tucking it into his belt before wrapping the cloth around the arm that didn’t swing a blade, pulling with his teeth to make sure it was nice and tight. There we go.
Before long, Nightshade was upon him once again, but this time the villain was ready. A blade was swung wildly at his midsection as the hero materialized out of thin air, but Hex deflected it with his cloth-wrapped arm and then slashed at his foe, aiming at his dominant arm. What should’ve been a crippling injury was denied, however, as the Hex’s sword bounced off of a translucent white barrier that surrounded Roy’s body. The hero quickly teleported away to reassess the situation.
“That girl again, huh?” Hex mumbled to himself as he scanned the landscape for any sign of his opponent. “No matter. Let’s see how long your little guardian angel lasts, Nightshade.”
After taking a moment to recollect himself, Roy continued his shadow onslaught, but this time it was clear that he was at a disadvantage: his sword wasn’t sharp enough to cut through Hex’s cape, which was still protected by powerful enchantments, and the emboldened villain now used his arms to attempt all sorts of parries and grapples. He managed to avoid them, for a time, but eventually a thrust at the villain’s side was deflected by the cape’s fall, and Hex seized this opportunity to swing low, his black sword cutting deep into his right thigh and earning a grunt of pain before the hero managed to teleport away again.
Got you.
Roy only managed to teleport one more time until he fell onto the ground, heaving in pain. His leg was bleeding and he felt a strange weariness he hadn’t felt before. What the hell? Is this some kind of magic? He thought as he struggled to get to his feet. Hex didn’t press his advantage, he seemed to be waiting for Roy. Roy knew he couldn’t just lay back, he felt himself getting a little weaker by the minute. He charged forward swinging aggressively but Hex easily dodged twice, like he was toying with the hero.
“What’s wrong, Nightshade? I thought you wanted to finish this?” The sorcerer taunted as he deftly sidestepped a wild overhead slash and pinned Roy’s sword to the ground with his foot before smacking his foe’s hand with the flat side of his own blade, causing him to drop the weapon. With that done, he kicked the sword away and turned to his now disarmed opponent, holding him at sword-point. “Or was that an invitation for me to do so?” He continued, enjoying the impotent look on Nightshade’s face. “Well, I’ll gladly oblige.”
Hex moved his sword to the side as if preparing a powerful sideways slice, subtly shifting his grip so that the flat side would make contact instead - he wasn’t planning on murdering the hero, as that would only draw the ire of dozens of powerful heroes across the country - but before he was able to swing, he felt a sudden weight on his back, and a pair of claws laced with black scales wrapped around him as if to keep him from finishing the deed. You little-! The sorcerer thought as his expression changed to one of anger. He knew exactly who’s doing this was, and without losing an instant, he switched to a reverse grip and then swung around his shoulder, striking a mouthful of razor-sharp teeth with the hilt of his sword just a second before it dug into his flesh - a girlish cry of pain could be heard, followed by a weight being taken off his shoulders as the alien dropped and then attempted to back off, a claw over her mouth.
“Do you really think that’s going to work every time?” Hex told the Hadrian girl with disdain, before holding out his sword-wielding hand, a finger uncurling from the hilt and pointing at her. He chanted a familiar spell and as he finished, the girl’s armor began to glow red before suddenly breaking down, showering her now exposed form with dozens of tiny pricks and cuts from the falling crystal shards. At the same time, his free hand reached down towards his bet and pulled out his wand, swiftly pointing it at Kiris before swinging it off to the side. The girl suddenly floated off the ground and was violently thrown in the direction the engraved wooden stick pointed, causing her to slam back-first into a half-buried wall, a weak pained groan escaping her.
“Serves you right… what did she see in you, anyway…?” The sorcerer wondered for a moment before turning back to Nightshade to continue where he left off, only to realize that, once more, despite being little more than a distraction, the girl’s efforts had paid off.
Roy ran towards Hex right as he turned around and swung a kick right at his face. It landed harshly, knocking the villain to the ground. As he tried to get to his feet Roy kicked the sword away from Hex’s reach. Nightshade grabbed his arm for good measure and pulled it behind his back.
“Game over for you and your Cabal.”
Despite the unfavorable situation, however, Hex simply laughed once again, a hearty laugh directed at the hero. He looked around and laughed even harder as he noticed that both of the massive winged beasts he had summoned were defeated by Nightshade’s companions, one of them not even having inflicted significant harm on its enemies.
“What’s so funny, scumbag?” The hero asked, irritated.
“I’m sure you must be proud of your victory here, but it would’ve been better for you to have lost.” The villain spoke gleefully, though there was a hint of weariness in his voice. “Think about it. You had unexpected reinforcements on your side, someone with just the right power to neutralize the man who was about to destroy you, and even then, two of your allies are out of commission, the rest are halfway there, and how many of us did you capture? One out of three?” Another laughing fit rocked his body, though it turned to coughing soon enough. “Next time - and there will be a next time with spineless heroes like you running the show - I won’t underestimate you. I know more about you now than I did ever before, I’ve seen you with my own two eyes, I know what will work and what won’t.” He coughed again, specks of blood falling on the ashen sand in front of him.
“Doesn’t that terrify you?”
Suddenly, all of the heroes gathered in that ashen plane felt the ground sway underneath them, felt their bodies suddenly fall as if there was nothing at all below. The world went black and then suddenly, they opened their eyes and found themselves back in the suburbs of San Diego - the girl in black armor and the boy with the vampiric powers were nowhere to be seen, but Aleta was still there, still freezing.
Confused and at the same time relieved, Roy turned to look at Hex, but immediately felt the sorcerer’s body go limp while in his grip. He let him fall to the ground and noticed that the artifacts he’d wielded during battle had gone missing. Gone was the ornate wand. Gone were the enchanted cloak and the black blade. Perhaps most important of all, gone was the black engraved mask that had concealed his identity before, leaving his face exposed at last as he lay unconscious on the ground, his improvised extensive use of magic having finally worn him out.
Glad to have solace from Hex’s ranting, Roy piled the unconscious villain next to his comrades as the police showed up to arrest them and the newly minted metas. Roy asked Cass to make sure Aleta was safe while he picked up Kiris to carry her to the plane. She was a bit beat up, but didn’t seem to be in serious danger and seemed more exhausted than anything. With her safely in hand, he led the team onto the plane so that they could finally head home after a long day.
