Nightmare Realm Summoner

An echoing bang rang out as the massive throne room doors slammed shut. It was rather cliché, but that did nothing to stop Alex from stumbling at the wind from the force of their closure. Goosebumps ran across his skin.

There was only one way forward now.

"This is where your help comes to an end," Alex said, pushing his surprise at the sight of a speaking boss monster down. He couldn't afford to get distracted now. Even if the System hadn't identified the Night King as an Adept 1, there was an invisible pressure that gathered around the monster like a cloak and set his senses on edge. "Stay back."

"You won't have to ask me twice," Orchid said warily.

"Question," Derek said. "Am I allowed to try to kill you? Because that sounded like a challenge, but I just wanted to make sure it wasn't a miscommunication. You can never be too careful."

"Come," the Night King commanded. "Be ferried upon the edge of my blade unto the next life."

"That's definitely an invitation," Alex said, sending a slew of mental commands to his monsters. "Go at him without reserve, Derek. Anyone spouting off one liners like that is probably desperate to die. He's had to have been sitting here bored out of his mind for ages if he's come up a fancy speech like that."

"Yes!" Derek crowed.

"Bleeding hell. What is it with monsters that have no fucking blood?" Claire demanded as she readied her blade. "And Derek, just wait for us to back you—"

Her sentence was lost as a delighted howl filled the air. Derek bounded forward, each of his steps covering a dozen feet at once. He ripped his axe free of his chest and bounded into the air to bring the weapon down right on the Night King's head.

The Night King reared back, its entire body twisting as it shifted its position. Its heavy sword reared back in a slow, almost ponderous movement that somehow still only took a moment.

Then the skeleton swung its sword. The massive blade screamed through the air, somehow seeming to move both fast and slow at the same time, and slammed into Derek like a bat striking a squeaky ball.

Derek launched backward like he'd been shot from a cannon. He sailed through the air and slammed into the doors behind them with an echoing bang before pitching forward. The axe tumbled alongside him and clanged to the ground just as his body splattered beside it, pulverized.

Pops and squelches echoed out as Derek pushed himself up from the ground a second later, letting out a groan and grabbing his axe.

"I've made a discovery. His sword isn't very sharp, guys," Derek provided helpfully. "It won't cut us!"

I don't think that's going to matter for anyone other than you, Derek.

"Plan?" Alex asked, glancing at Claire out of the corner of an eye.

"It's a goddamn skeleton," Claire snapped. "I want to bite something! I'll look for an opening. You… do your thing, I guess. I'll let you know if I think of something smarter, but I don't know what that thing is capable of yet."

The skeleton took a ponderous step forward. A loud screeching scrape rang through the room as it dragged the huge blade along the floor behind it, sending up a shower of sparks. It advanced toward them, burning green eyes affixed and unblinking.

"Princess," Alex ordered.

Then he drew on his Qi and cast Rift Flood. They couldn't afford to play around with a monster like this. Adept 1 was so far above their league that a single mistake could end up spelling the end for them.

His Dredge shuddered. Her body bubbled and bulged as purple veins lit with energy within it. She enlarged; the spindly legs protruding from her back split apart and multiplied until a sea of grasping centipede legs swayed upon her.

Princess loped forward, using her huge arms in conjunction with her legs to propel herself forward like a charging gorilla.

The Night King swung its sword.

It slammed into Princess, carving clean through her body and shattering the grasping limbs on her back. Even as she was split, her hand continued toward the other monster's face.

At the last moment, the skeleton shifted to the side. It ducked out of the way of the strike, letting it pass by it harmlessly. Princess' two sludgy halves splattered against the ground behind the King.

It took a step forward past Princess to continue its advance toward Alex and the others.

Princess' other hand shot out, grabbing the Night King by the leg. Strands of black sludge connected her two halves back together and she heaved, trying to yank the monster off its feet.

The skeleton didn't even budge. It turned back and brought its sword down, slamming it straight through Princess' back and into the stone beneath her. Alex winced as black sludge splattered across the ground.

It's really fucking strong. Anything other than princess would have gotten instantly killed by a single blow, much less two.

"I got this!" Derek yelled.

He charged forward.

A moment later, he was sailing through the air again. The doors banged, and he splatted to the floor a moment later. Alex suppressed a sigh. Derek was great, but strategy was far from one of his strong suits.

He adjusted his orders to his other monsters as the Night King pulled its blade out of Princess. She remained unmoving and the monster turned away, satisfied she was dead.

As soon as it put a few feet of distance between them, all of Alex's summons burst into motion.

Princess exploded up from the ground and drove into the Night King's back, wrapping around the monster with her entire body. Glint and Spark raced forward, and Alex activated Rift Flood on the Glasmir.

The mirrors covering Glint's body shimmered. Glass protrusions burst out of his wing, elongating it into a flowing cloak. Glossy glass armor tipped with spikes shot out from his knees and shoulders mid-run.

Glint's cloak snapped out, transforming into a snaking whip that raced through the air for the Night King's neck. The attack sliced through the air in a blur, only giving the other monster an instant to react. It ripped a hand free of Princess, unable to free the rest of its body, and lifted it before its face defensively.

Glass scraped against armor with a loud shriek. Glint's attack cut deep into the Night King's arm, but it failed to completely penetrate the black metal covering it.

Spark arrived before the monster, leaving a shadow to escape with before unleashing a hail of blows into the larger monster's chestplate. Each one sent a crackle of electricity arcing up — but the Night King barely even seemed to notice.

It slammed a hand down on Princess' head and shattered her mask. Her body sloughed away and splattered down all around the skeleton. In the same motion, the monster twisted and brought its sword crashing down for Spark.

The Echo Wraith swapped spots with its shadow an instant before the huge weapon carved through the air where it had been.

Instead of waiting to raise its sword again, the Night King stepped forward. Its hand shot out to grab Glint. The Glasmir blurred to the side, narrowly avoiding the other monster's grip, and slashed at its arm with his claws.

They screeched against metal, leaving deep furrows within it, and the Night King shifted to the side. Bone creaked and it whipped its sword around, sending the blade blurring through the air.

Glint leapt back. The massive weapon howled past his chest, narrowly missing, and he landed safely out of range.

Adrenaline pumped through Alex and a droplet of sweat rolled down his neck. He was sending commands to his monsters nearly as fast as he could think, but this wasn't enough. Princess had already gone down — she hadn't been quick enough to avoid the skeleton's sword. He needed to get a better opening.

Drawing on his magic, Alex poured energy into preparing Funhouse. The best way to land a good blow on the huge boss monster would be to get it off balance. It was just large enough to be barely at the limits of his power if he made the spell as powerful as possible.

There was only one problem.

That meant getting up close.

"Cover me as best you can!" Alex yelled, his heart pounding in his ears as he sprinted forward.

"I got you!" Derek called, sprinting alongside him and overtaking him in just a few steps.

The Night King swung his sword.

"Don't got you!" Derek's voice howled past Alex as the large man rocketed back for the third time.

Claire blurred past Alex as the skeleton raised its sword again. Black wings protruded from her back and her veins had turned the same color. She brought her katana down on one of the scratches that Glint had left in the Night King. Her sword bit deep into the monster's arm — and lodged in place.

She gave it a jerk, but the sword was stuck fast.

The Night King's other hand shot for Claire in a blur.

Alex closed the last of the distance between himself and the boss, getting into range. He thrust his hands forward and unleashed Funhouse.

Reality around the skeleton shattered. Fragments split the air and its entire body shifted as it was suddenly redirected to the left. Instead of grabbing Claire, was spat out to Alex's right — which was not where he'd been hoping it would go.

He lifted his arms before himself an instant before the back of the Night King's hand slammed into his chest.

The world snapped. One moment, he was in front of the skeleton. The next, his back slammed into a wall; the breath exploded from his lungs. Pain shot through his arms and he dropped to the ground face-first. A pained wheeze slipped from between his lips.

Loud ringing shook his skull. The world spun around him. He could feel the cold stone pressed against his cheek and something warm trickling down the side of his face. His arms didn't respond properly to his commands — but the pain vanished as quickly as it had come.

Black sludge crawled across the ground before him as his body pulled itself back together. Magic drained from him at the automatic use of Princess' powers. He shoved his hands against the ground and rose again, his teeth gritted.

His team hadn't wasted the moment he'd bought them.

Glint's wing-blade carved through the air with a shrill scream for the second time. It slammed into the King's hand, right next to where Claire's sword still remained — and sliced clean through it.

The arm crashed to the ground with a resounding bang, denting the floor from the weight of the armor covering it.

A wave of shadow exploded out from the Night King. Spark threw himself forward at Alex's mental command, putting himself between the magic and Claire an instant before it collided with her.

His body shattered, ripped to shreds in a split instant, but he absorbed the brunt of the attack for her. She was still thrown back and sent tumbling across the ground until she slammed to a stop against a wall.

Glint brought his cloak up a moment before the magic hit him, but he was hurled to the opposite side of the throne room.

"Shit," Claire groaned, staggering to her feet. "Thanks for the save."

Alex didn't get a chance to reply.

Green energy flashed within the King's eyes. It lifted its sword with its remaining hand, then stabbed it straight down into the ground before it.

Verdant energy exploded out from within the weapon, lighting the gem at its hilt up like a star. Dark smoke poured out from within the sword and washed across the surface of the throne room like black mist.

"End your slumber. I command you." The Night King boomed, its words echoing through the halls. "I command you, rise!"

Magic thrummed. Smokey black hands shot up from the ground, their forms solidifying, and dug into the ground. Dozens of shadow soldiers rose up within the mist. Their eyes burned with molten green light.

The Night King grabbed the hilt of its broken blade and ripped it free from the ground — but it was broken no longer. It was now nearly twice as long as it had been before, the missing piece completed by twisting darkness.

"Purge them," the King commanded.

Oh, shit.

The soldiers charged.