Nightmare Realm Summoner

For the second time that fight, Princess came back to life. She leapt up from the shadows and did her best impression of Mario smashing a block, driving straight into the Night King's chin from beneath the skeleton.

Alex's other monsters were right on Princess' tail. Spark crackled with power and flew into the Night King, unleashing a hail of strikes at the monster's head. It swept a hand for the Echo Wraith, only to connect with nothing but shadow as Spark swapped to safety.

Glint's shimmering blade sliced deep into the Night King's side, leaving a long furrow through the black armor and eliciting a roar of fury from the skeleton. Alex wasn't actually sure how a skeleton made noises in the first place — it wasn't like they still had a functioning voice box — but something told him the Night King probably wasn't going to be particularly eager to answer his questions.

Princess splattered as the Night king brought the hilt of its sword down on top of her, practically flattening the Drudge in a single blow. The skeleton turned toward Glint and lunged, but the Glasmir hopped out of range of the other monster's large sword.

Three shadow soldiers rushed toward Glint's back, but Spark intercepted them. He grabbed one and flung it into the other. Both of them exploded into shards of darkness. The third soldier raced through the shadows and thrust a spear at the Echo Wraith's burning blue core.

Spark grabbed the weapon with his gauntlets, ripping it free before bringing a fist down on the soldier's shadowy helmet and caving his head in. The Echo Wraith charged the Night King again as the skeleton lifted its huge sword to swing it down at Princess.

Energy crackled as Spark slammed into the skeleton's arm, knocking its blow awry and sending it crashing into the ground. Princess glommed onto the Night King with everything she had, centipede-arms encircling the other monster in a tight bear hug as her sludgy arms pulled the skeleton against her chest.

A shadow passed through the sky. Claire dropped down from above, her katana glistening as she brought it down in a long arc for the boss' head.

Yes!

The gemstone on the Night King's sword ignited with brilliant green light. That same light lit within the skeleton's eyes, and the blood rushed out of Alex's face as goosebumps rushed over his skin.

"Partial Soul Manifestation," the king rumbled. "Eternal Army."

Fuck.

Every single soldier in the room exploded into a stream of shadow. They flowed through the air like rushing rivers, all twisting into the Night King's chest. A wave of pressure slammed into Alex in a physical blow and knocked the air from his lungs.

Claire was launched back up into the ceiling. Her katana spun from her grip and her wings snapped out to keep her from plummeting back down to the ground at terminal velocity.

The Night King's missing arm lifted off the ground from where it had fallen near the start of the fight. Strands of shadow pulled it back onto the monster's body, but it wasn't done. Shadows twisted within the large monster, dim green eyes burning beneath its armor as if it were translucent.

Alex could make out individual gazes lurking through its body, as if dozens of souls had all been trapped inside the Night King's armor.

With a roar, the skeleton hurled Princess free.

She sailed through the air like a dropkicked toddler and splattered against the wall, her mask shattering from the force of the blow.

I'm starting to think we should have gotten Orchid that staff of hers. Fighting with 3 people has already made what would have been impossible a lot more manageable. We'd be able to sweep through this if we had 4… but as she is now, she's basically a glorified nightlight with a mild toaster function.

Glint darted forward and slashed at the Night King with his wing. Instead of trying to dodge, the skeleton's gauntleted hand shot out. It grabbed onto the razor-sharp mirror and shattered it before whipping the Glasmir into the air and slamming him back down on the ground with a tinkling crunch.

Two streams of energy rushed into Alex.

Claire dropped from the ceiling.

Tendrils of shadow exploded up from the Night King's back. Green motes shifted within them as they reached up in a blur and slammed into Claire, wrapping around her body and encasing it a cocoon.

No!

Alex charged forward alongside Spark. The Echo Wraith arrived at the monster first. Encore's time was already nearly up, so the best thing he could do was get one more brief instant of distraction in.

The Night King barely even flinched. Its hand snapped out and a closed fist drove into Spark's body, shattering every plate of chitinous armor that surrounded his core. Spark vanished in a crackle of light, his power entering Alex.

He imbued his shadow in the spot he stood with Spark's magic, not even missing a step as he continued his charge.

The Night King turned to Alex, already swinging its sword in his direction — not with the sharp edge of the blade, but the flat one.

Oh, fuck.

It was a huge chunk of shadow and metal whistling toward him like a wall of death. There was no room to dodge above or below the sword. The only way he could get out of the way would be to swap with his shadow, but that would lose all the momentum in the fight that all his monsters had just died for.

"Got it!" Derek's roar echoed through the throne room.

The massive barbarian charged past Alex. He slammed into the flat of the blade. A resounding crash echoed out. Derek wasn't nearly strong enough to completely stop the monster's attack — but he was strong enough to slow it.

Alex dashed past the sword and leapt into the air, a wing of glass snapping out from his back. It flashed, carving through the inky tendrils that had bound around Claire. They split apart, burning away and dropping the Dhampir to the ground as she gasped for air.

The Night King didn't let him land the blow for free. It thrust a hand forward, impaling Alex clean through the chest with one finger.

Princess' magic ignited within him. Sludge dripped from the hole in his chest, trying to seal it over, but there was still a certain mass of armor and bone directly where his heart should have been.

Magic burned away as it tried and failed to fix him. His reserves dipped from dangerously low to nearly empty.

"You are not worthy," the Night King rumbled.

It batted Derek away, then brought its sword up for Alex.

Alex bared his teeth in a grin.

"Glint," he ordered, drawing on the death energy that still lingered in wait. "Return to me."

Shattering glass rained down all around Alex, and the Glasmir dropped from a portal at his side. He landed on the Night King's arm and leapt off it, flying straight into the monster's helmeted head.

Then, like a furious cat, Glint ripped into the monster's face with everything's he had.

Claire picked herself up and darted around the skeleton. Her wings flapped and she bounded into the air, grabbing onto its arm and pulling herself up next to Alex. She planted a foot on his chest and launched him off the monster's finger.

He plummeted to the ground and landed with a grunt, the hole in his chest starting to repair itself now that there wasn't anything in the way. Out of the corner of his eye, he spotted Claire's katana. Alex rolled over, grabbing the weapon by the hilt and flinging it as hard as he could.

"Claire!" Alex yelled.

She twisted, still precarious perched on the Night King's arm, and grabbed the sword just before it could fly past her.

The boss monster ripped Glint away from its face and pelted the Glasmir into the ground. It lifted a foot and brought it down on his body. A crunch echoed out as Glint was ground to nothing but energy.

And in the moment it took the Night King to kill Glint, Claire leapt forward. She thrust her sword forward. It drove straight into one of the skeleton's glowing green eyes and continued all the way up to its hilt. Metal shattered as the blade broke against the inside of the skeleton's skull.

In a blur of motion, the Night King grabbed Claire and hurled her to the ground. She hit it with a crunch and a cry of pain. Alex staggered forward, the wound on his chest still pulling itself together and lethargy grabbing at his limbs.

He couldn't make it. He was too far away.

The Night King lifted its foot into the air. For a moment, it hovered above Claire's body. Then a crack echoed out. The shadows covering its body drained away and the light coming from the gemstone in the hilt of its sword dimmed.

Its foot crashed down — not on Claire, but beside her. The skeleton staggered, grabbing the sword in its skull and ripping it free. Its blade was broken off at the hilt, only about a foot of it remaining attached. The Night King's gaze lowered to Alex and Claire.

"Perhaps… you are worthy," the skeleton said. The sword slipped from its grip and slammed into the floor, digging into the stone and remaining upright. Then the light behind the monster's eyes sputtered out.

A wave of energy drove into Alex and stifled the breath in his lungs from its intensity.

The huge monster pitched back, almost as if in slow motion, and hit the ground with a resounding crash. A wave of energy drove into Alex like a gut punch. It froze the breath in his throat and his entire body stiffened. The gemstone in the hilt of the king's sword broke away from the weapon and clinked to the ground. It shimmered as dull golden energy lit it from within.

Gentle words sliced through the air above the gem.

Soul Gem [Ruler Aspect]

And then the room was silent.

The Night King was dead.

All that remained was for them to collect the rewards and find out how they could rip a way back to 274-50 so Alex could claim the Town Token before the Outworlders.