Out of nowhere, a loud clapping echoed throughout the crater, and a familiar voice sent shivers down Alf's spine as it said, "Yes. Well Done. Well done indeed."

Alf swung his head towards the large ramp portion of the crater and froze in horror. Vackzilian himself walked down its length and towards them.

The breath caught in his lungs as he stared in total disbelief at the man that had single-handedly brought all of Alfireá to its knees. The usurper had changed since the day Alf had been killed by him. His once slender, gaunt form was no more: his cheeks had filled out; his formerly pale, white skin now gleamed with bronze ruddy youth, as if he had somehow gained years of his life back, and glowing magical runes ran all the way up and down his toned, muscular arms. Ebony black hair flowed down his back, over a sleeveless, onyx leather breastplate, and fell to his waist, fading into dark grey wisps of smoke that slowly curled around him. Dark leather armor clung to his well-muscled physique, replacing the wizard robe he had once worn all those weeks ago, and a pair of obsidian bracers adorned his wrists while the imperial, dragon scaled cape hung around his waist, clearly showing his blatant disrespect for its former bearer.

Gone was the gaunt hermit wizard that had plagued an empire. Instead, before them stood an emperor clad for war.

The Emperor took another casual step towards them, an evil light shining out from behind his topaz eyes, and his dark and immensely powerful presence washed over Alf, squeezing his heart in an icy grip. Alf's limbs stiffened as he was petrified in fear.

Mr. Havanger yanked The Energizer out in front of him and yelled in exertion as he expanded the shield around them.

Vackzilian glanced at the older man through the golden shield then raised his hand and clenched his fist. The barrier shattered, and Rex's father fell to his knees. Vackzilian turned his attention back to the rest of the group. His right eyebrow raised in interest. "You were most impressive. If I had not been watching myself, I would have a hard time believing it. My Empire could use people like you."

Olivia shot to her feet and shouted, "We will never swear a blood oath to you."

Vackzilian's icy gaze fell on Olivia and she froze as if he had cast a powerful paralyzing spell on her. "You're a rather feisty one, aren't you?"

Alf smashed his still wounded left hand into the melted ground. Pain rocketed up his arm, piercing into his brain and freeing him from his paralyzing fear. He grabbed his sword, jumped to his feet, and stepped defensively in front of Olivia.

A hint of a smile cracked Vackzilian's face, and he continued to speak. "Still, I see why you would not want to be turned into something like my now dead and rather useless commander here." He waved at the beheaded Dy'Ixion.

"So I have an offer for you." Vackzilian ran his eyes over the group. "You see, I'm looking for someone to be the general over my armies, but they have to be strong and able to think for themselves. My blood oaths are just not cut out for the job. You, on the other hand, Alf I believe it is?" he look directly at Alf, "not only killed my most powerful blood oath, you also helped kill two others, if I'm not mistaken." He stared deep into Alf's eyes and said, "You are exactly what I'm looking for in a general."

Alf held his stare, his eyes full of defiance, but said nothing.

"If you agree, I will leave the city in peace, and you can give all these people here any position you desire in my army."

Alf didn't blink.

"And to sweeten the deal, I will give you the girl as a concubine." He waved at Olivia and Alf gasped.

Vackzilian's lips curled in a twisted smile. "Yes, I can clearly see your desire towards her. It's quite visceral. What do you say? You can have all this and much, much, more. All you have to do is say yes and swear a binding oath of loyalty to me."

Alf fought the fear rising in his heart and pulled himself to his full height. He stared down at the man who had named himself Emperor and growled as he said, "No! I would never serve someone like you. My loyalty belongs to the Maker of heaven and earth, and to him and him alone."

In response to his answer, Vackzilian pointed his finger at Rex. A small strand of indigo lightning jumped from the tip of his finger and hit the young man in the chest. Rex screamed in pain and fell to the ground, writhing violently.

The evil, self-proclaimed monarch smiled as he continued to cruelly electrocute Rex. He turned his attention back to Alf. "I know this one has the skill I sought for earlier this morning. You may have thought he could use it to help you escape, but now... ," Vackzilian enlarged the strand of lightning pouring into Rex, and the vice champion screamed again. "He's not going anywhere. Are you still certain your answer is no?"

Alf slammed his blade into its sheath, whipped up his hand, and using the blood from his fingers, tried to throw an ice spike at the man in front of him, but Vackzilian flicked his wrist as if he were slapping a child. The air popped in front of him, and an invisible force smacked Alf's hand, ripping his arm out of its socket and casting his half formed spell to the side. With a groan of pain, he fell to one knee and gripped his dislocated shoulder.

Vackzilian sighed, "It looks like I am going to have to do this the hard way." He glanced off towards the horizon, stamped his foot, and made a small come here motion with his right hand.

Soul Knight and four others chose that moment to attack. It all happened so fast Alf wasn't sure exactly what happened. One second, he heard the hum of frequencies as they prepared their spells, and the next, all five of them lay on the ground curled up in pain. As far as he could tell, Vackzilian had only spread out his left hand in the tiniest of movements, but somehow he had incapacitated all five of them like the hardened warriors had been mere toddlers playing at war.

The Emperor studied them for a moment; then his eyes fell on the object Mr. Havanger held and his left eyebrow rose. He returned his attention to Alf. "The Tokef? Impressive, you will serve my empire well."

Alf swallowed hard.

A large, circular black stone flew over the ridge of the crater, and Vackzilian held out his hand, guiding it down to the melted earth beside him. The massive, flat rock hit the ground with tremendous force and sent shivers vibrating up Alf's legs. As Alf stared at the strange object, he suddenly realized in dread, it was the teleportation stone.

Vackzilian gave him the slightest hint of a knowing smile. "You thought you had destroyed this didn't you?" He flicked his wrist at the stone and a powerful gust of wind blew away the charred dirt covering its surface. "However, these stones are indestructible. All you managed to do is bury it under some rubble." The dark lord glanced up at the moon. "It is time to go; we have business to attend to elsewhere. I would be most pleased if all of you would gather on the stone."

Not a single one of them moved. Alf wasn't certain if it was because some of them were still paralyzed in fear, or if they, like him, weren't about to obey a single thing Vackzilian said.

An audible, agitated sigh came from the newly crowned Emperor. "It would seem I'm going to have to escort each one of you at a time." The strand of electricity still running into Rex switched from Vackzilian's right index finger to his right pinky as he used his left hand to motion towards Olivia. "Let's start with the pretty one so you will be more willing to come." He cupped his hands and three slightly visible, swirling brown walls leapt into existence. They clamped around Olivia, immobilizing her, and Vackzilian pulled his hand back towards himself. The three constructs dragged Olivia towards the teleportation stone.

Alf screamed at the top of his lungs and threw both of his arms forward, fully intending to blast the Emperor away with two powerful lightning bolts. But as the electricity crackled in his hands, Vackzilian pointed his right index finger and something slammed into his chest. He flew backwards as the impact pushed the air out of his lungs, and with a teeth rattling smack, he landed heavily on his back.

The walls around Olivia dissipated and the ruler of all Alfireá glared down at him in disgust. "Enough of this foolishness! Get on the teleportation stone now or I will start killing your men one by one."

Alf struggled to regain his breath as he stared up at Vackzilian. After all they had come through, after actually defeating Dy'Ixion, they were now going to be captured, and there was nothing they could do about it. Hopelessness flooded his being; they were utterly powerless before the man in front of them.

Then, out of nowhere, Drake appeared behind Vackzilian. Gripping Rex's sword with both hands, his young face shown with fierce determination as he drove it down into Vackzilian's back with all the strength his little ten-year-old body could muster.

***

Zaphaniea shot up out of the infirmary's medical bed. "Where are they!?" she gasped.

The handful of soldiers left behind to guard the infirmary stared at her in surprise. Several of the male soldiers gazed at her in awe and admiration, their jaws hanging wide open like a bunch of star-struck schoolboys; one of them even dropped his sword with a loud clang on the floor. Zaphaniea rolled her eyes in agitation and twisted around. As she looked for an intelligent one in the bunch, her eyes latched onto Gerhard and Katerina. "Where are they?" she demanded once again.

"Where is who?" Katerina asked in confusion.

"Southwest end of the city, fighting the blood oath," the silver haired maid answered.

"They're in trouble!" Zaphaniea threw her legs over the side of the cot and came flying to her feet. Her fiery, copper red hair tumbled down her shoulders as she ran over to the hole in the infirmary floor. Right before she jumped down into the tunnel, the others had used to escape, she glanced over her shoulder. "Gather everyone here and flee to the east side of town. We'll meet you there."

As she disappeared down the hole, one of the soldiers belatedly yelled, "Can I get your autograph!?"

***

Drake plunged the sword into Vackzilian's spine with every ounce of his strength, knowing full well this was his one and only shot.

His blade plunged deep into his father's murderer's back... and kept on going, its weight pulling him with it till it slammed into the ground.

The prince's mind reeled as he tried to comprehend what had just happened. He stared at the ground as he ran through the options, and like a finely oiled machine, he quickly arrived at the answer, no matter how implausible it may have seemed.

Vackzilian glanced down at his stomach where Drake's head poked out and hmphed. "Enough of these childish games."

With a flicker of light, Vackzilian's form dissipated and reappeared several feet behind Drake. "I grow tired of this," the usurper stated, agitation building in his voice as he swished his hand at Drake. Unknown frequencies flowed from Vackzilian's hands, and the air directly in front of him solidified.

The invisible, solid air flew through the empty space, smacked Drake in the backside, and sent him flying face first into the ground at Alf's feet. Drake winced in pain as his chin scraped against the jagged earth. As the prince struggled to regain his balance, Vackzilian clenched his fist, and one of the men screamed in agony as the sound of snapping bones echoed throughout the crater. The usurper opened his hand, and the poor fellow dropped to the ground, barely alive. "That was your final warning. I am through with playing with you. Get on the stone now, or someone will die."

None of their number moved.

The space around Vackzilian rippled and a cascade of blurred lights formed an aurora around him. As the man's palpable anger charged the air with electricity, Drake's heart pounded furiously in his chest. Through all of his years as a spy master, he had faced many dangers, beheld much darkness, and conquered what he considered trivial base emotions. But today, faced with the man who had murdered his father and wreaked havoc on his kingdom, he found himself frozen in fear and anxiety.

"I see," Vackzilian said calmly; then he slowly raised his hand and pointed his finger at a young man clad in dirty embroidered clothes. With a sound akin to popping air, an ice spike boomed into existence and shot straight for the man's head.

Drake looked away and cringed, dreading the sickening thud he knew was coming, but instead of the screams of a dying man, the sharp sound of scraping crystal sounded in his ears. His eyes flew open to see the ice spike fly harmlessly off into the night sky. Then the ever present ,low humming sound of electricity flowing into Rex suddenly changed pitch as the strand bent ninety degrees in midair and plowed into the earth. At the same time, a beam of light appeared, blazing high above the crater. It curved in midair and shot down at an angle, hitting Rex and curing his paralysis.

"RUN!!" a female voice boomed as it bounced around in the night sky, seemingly coming from multiple directions at once.

Drake stirred in confusion; blue outlines of small, invisible floating spheres zipped around their ragtag group and Vackzilian. Then it dawned on him what the voice had just shouted. He turned towards Rex just as the vice champion sprung to his feet and glanced back at them through his badly damaged mask, the message clear in his eyes; he wanted them to follow him. Message delivered, he shot off running as fast as he could as Drake and the bedraggled men followed him via Traverse Wake. All of them, that is, except for the man who'd almost been crushed to death by Vackzilian a few seconds ago. Drake's face slammed straight into him as they shot past him, and he barely managed to grab a hold of the man's belt, dragging him along and almost yanking his own arms out of their sockets in the process.

The prince grunted in pain as he hung on to the man for all his worth only to see Vackzilian reach out for them in a large sweeping hug. A hurricane of wind and ash blotted out the world around them as it raced pass them, and frothing upwards like the waves of the ocean, it formed into one immense, circular wall. Rex collided with it headfirst and bounced backwards onto the ground, stopping the group dead in their tracks.

"You are trying my patience and I am not a forgiving man." Vackzilian's dark hair whipped in an unseen wind and his arms bulged as he pulled his arms in. The wall slid across the ground, pushing them back towards him.

Rex's father hauled his son to his feet as Olivia spun around and channeled two holy beams at Vackzilian. The beams of light shot straight through his skull to no effect. Alf roared in exertion as he released a massive gust of wind. The roughly formed spear whipped the ash littering the ground into a typhoon that obscured the tyrant from sight as it careened into him. But the maelstrom didn't stop when it hit, it just kept on going as if he weren't there at all.

Drake had known what would happen even before Alf had launched his attack. The figure before them wasn't Vackzilian at all; it was just a hologram of him.

Which meant there was no way they could fight back.

The hologram stepped to his left and tightened its embrace. With the grating sound of heavy machinery, the circular wall around the group shrank as it pushed them towards the teleportation stone. In seconds, they would be on it, and then they really would be in Vackzilian's presence, their fate's forever sealed.

Suddenly, Vackzilian's hologram flickered and reappeared several hundred feet away. The solidified air forming the wall dispersed, showering them in ash, and Rex, who had miraculously recovered from his collision, stared blankly at the flickering form of Vackzillian for a moment, then hollered, "Follow me!"

Soul Knight snatched the comatose man from Drake, heaved him over his shoulder, and once again, the exhausted group followed Rex as he dashed away.

Tairex Julian Havanger sped across the war-torn basin, scrambled up the side of the crater, and vaulted over its jagged crest, leaving Vackzilian far behind.

"Don't go to the arena. That'll be the first place he'll look," Drake warned him as he ran through a maze of shifting side streets.

As they disappeared deep into the city, Alf fell to one knee and sighed heavily in relief. "That was bad. Just being in his presence caused me to seize up. And even when I was able to move, he tossed me around like a little child."

"I know what you mean," Olivia said. She motioned for Soul Knight to lay the crushed man out on the bed-shaped shield Rex's father was currently forming. "I couldn't even breathe after he stared at me."

"I have been a warrior my entire life, but even I was paralyzed in fear upon his arrival," Soul Knight admitted.

Mr. Havanger finished forming the shield and shook his head in disbelief. "That was just a hologram of him. If it had been him in person, Zaphaniea wouldn't have been able to redirect his image. And we would not have survived."

Rex reached under his mask and rubbed his forehead as he ran. "I don't even want to think about what would've happened if he'd succeeded in getting us on that teleportation stone."

Drake had his ideas, and none of them were pleasant. "Rex," he asked, noticing the blood pouring down the side of Rex's mask. "Are you alright? You collided with Vackzilian's construct at an incredible speed."

"Yeah, I'm good. I'm used to smacking my head. Not only that, the inside of this mask is lined with visco-elastic polymers so it's pretty shock absorbent." Rex turned the corner and came to a particularly dark alley some distance away from the arena. After assessing the location, he slowed to a walk. "It's far more important that we decide what to do next."

The man that had nearly been skewered with an ice spike spoke up, "We dig a hole underneath the wall and get out of here! That's what we do."

Soul Knight shook his head. "No, the grand champion is awake. It's imperative we retrieve her and the men we left behind before we make our escape."

At that exact moment, Zaphaniea came flying around the corner. Snapping her fingers off to the side, she did a ninety degree turn into the alleyway and rocketed towards them at a blistering speed. In a daredevil move, she threw her legs out, dropped to the ground, and skidded to a halt right in front of Rex. "I'm here, and I told the others to meet us at the far east end of the city."

Alf stared at her in confusion and haltingly pulled himself to his feet. "How did you know where we are?"

"Visions," Rex replied for her. "She most likely projected herself forward in time and checked every possible location. That's why I stopped here, so she could find us."

"Thank you, and that's exactly what I did, but in doing so, I used up most of my energy. So we need to flee before we meet up with Vackzilian's hologram again."

"Give me just a few more seconds to stabilize him without the light constantly shifting," Olivia interrupted.