The Overlord Saga
Vol I. Past, Present, Future
Chapter 23: The Final Confrontation
(Part 1)
She felt the Twin tighten the shoulder plates, cringing as the band holding them on pressed against her arm. The Overlord took a gander about the Insurgent Leader’s camp, watching the Insurgents as they busied themselves with getting ready. With a gloved hand, the Overlord motioned the Lieutenant and the Captain over as the Twin helped her strap on her scythe’s sheath, resting comfortably on her back. The Overlord offered the two boys a weak smile, then said, “I’m leaving the Zilant to you two. But don’t use all of your ammo on it. Use bazookas. That’ll teach him.” She glanced down at the gun at her side, a secondary weapon she hadn’t used in awhile. She figured, though, if Jack Bauer could use one of these babies for 24 hours and not get his butt killed (despite insane chances and likelihoods), that the Uberlord wouldn’t stand a chance.
“We’ll have to get in its range in order to fire some of the better weapons,” the Captain warned, “We may need assistance.”
“Hm. Take the Evocator and the Theurgist with you. You guys will be our first line of offense. We can’t go near that place with the Zilant still ruling the skies. He’ll pick off our troops one by one,” the Overlord shook her head, “The Evocator and the Theurgist can ward him away while you reload.”
“Got it, Overlord,” the Lieutenant nodded, “However, I think we might have a problem with some of the bazookas. Those aren’t used for aerial things... More like tanks. I can see if I can get some of the old FIM-92 Stingers working again. We haven’t used those in ages.”
“That’d be greatly appreciated, Lieutenant, thank you,” the Overlord nodded. As the two walked away, the Twin laughed and shook her head.
“Giving those two explosives is a bad idea.”
“Don’t worry. I’ll tell them where the dynamite is if we need it. I’d rather not blow up my own wall, though.”
“Understandable.”
The Soul-Keeper, who had returned earlier, had put on his new Phantom of the Opera-styled mask and was looking rather proud of himself. The Overlord stifled a chuckle as he walked over, leaning on his staff, “Your Soul-Keeper is here!”
“If anything is to happen to me...”
“What? Nothing’s going to happen to you!”
“Right... The Grasshopper. Watch over her.”
“I know.”
“Good. Now... I’ve an extra special gift for you. It’s in your tent. Go look for it.”
The Soul-Keeper’s eyes brightened up, “Oh! Oh! What is it!?” He dashed away, looking incredibly excited. The Overlord smirked and said to the Twin, “Orange chicken. I swear, he’s addicted.” The Master of Tazers walked over, the Scribe next to her. As the Overlord put her scythe in its holder, she said, “Scribe, I trust everything will be noted that happens in the fight?” Without waiting for his confirmation, the Overlord added, “Master of Tazers, keep an eye on Sexist. I don’t trust him. Or the Insurgent Leader. At the end of this, we might have a three-on-three war.”
“Gotcha,” the Master of Tazers nodded.
“You’re ready,” the Twin nodded, turning the Overlord around and patting her on the head, “You can do this. I believe in you. You’re my twin, remember?” The Overlord heaved a sigh, feeling uncertainty stir in her stomach. How awful would it be if she failed? What if they couldn’t take the Zilant out of the sky? This was going to be a nightmare... The Twin grabbed her by the shoulders and gave her a stern look.
“Right. I got this,” the Overlord nodded, forcing a smile. She glanced at where Sexist and Canada had fitted the Insurgent Leader with his new set of armor, complete with a new, fancy sheath for Muramasa. She held up a hand in a fist, grinning at the Insurgent Leader and calling, “Just like old times!”
The Insurgent Leader nodded and the two turned to face the timberline, where they could see the Fortress set up a mile or so away. The Overlord motioned for the Captain and the Lieutenant to take their places. She took in a deep breath and exhaled loudly, looking at the Insurgent Leader. She felt the buzz of the three Monsters she had just consumed override her normal functioning. She reached out and hugged the Insurgent Leader, pulling him in and squeezing him tightly, “I love you!” She exclaimed loudly, only warranting a bizarre look from her usual rival.
“I... Okay...” the Insurgent Leader nodded awkwardly.
“Twin! Jamie! Insurgent Leader! Tonight, we bring down the heart of darkness... And slay the Uberlord!” the Overlord declared, lifting her scythe into the air and throwing a friendly arm around the Insurgent Leader’s shoulder. ‘And tomorrow, it goes back to square one. You and me on the verge of killing each other,’ the Overlord thought with a cunning smirk, glancing at the Insurgent Leader.
---
“Damn Stingers. Wish we could use something better than these,” the Captain crouched low to the ground, holding the anti-aircraft launcher with both hands. He watched the Zilant as it circled the Fortress, releasing some piercing cry into the afternoon air as it searched for targets to attack.
“What the hell is that thing anyways?” the Lieutenant asked, squinting against the sun.
“I’ve heard stories. None of them good, either. Some say that thing is a monster from Hell. Others say it’s a spirit. An embodiment of something that died a long time ago... Just in the form of a large chicken lizard,” the Captain shrugged.
“A spirit? Are we pissing off a dead guy?” the Lieutenant quirked an eyebrow, “Is that allowed? I mean, God, won’t we get haunted or something for this? At least tell me it’s not sacrilegious..”
“Ehhhh... Sure?” the Captain shrugged, “Overlord said to do it. So let’s do it.”
“That could have sounded so gay right there,” the Lieutenant remarked, and positioned a Stinger to where it was aimed at the Zilant. The Captain fired the first missile, watching as it left a trail of smoke behind it. As it slammed into the Zilant, a screech resounded across the deserted plains. The Lieutenant fired as well, satisfied at a second scream from the Zilant.
“This is too easy,” the Captain muttered.
“I agree...” the Lieutenant glanced at where the Theurgist and the Evocator were absent-mindedly talking, ignoring what was going on. He scoffed- not like they really needed mages here with them anyways. However, the Lieutenant frowned, watching something materialize behind the Evocator, ripping forth in a cluster of dark magic. As the revenant took shape, the Lieutenant grabbed a pistol and promptly fired.
The Evocator jumped, screamed, and ran into the Theurgist, who was astounded that the Lieutenant would attempt to shoot the Evocator. Thankfully enough, the bullet hit the revenant between the eyes, causing it to stumble backwards. Clusters of dark magic surrounded the four Underlings, producing ten revenants. The Evocator held out both hands and closed her eyes. The Theurgist yelled at the top of his lungs as the Captain grabbed an assault rifle and began firing madly at the zombies, “Terra spirit, INVOKE!” Sand grains and particles from the earth rose around the Evocator, swirling and spiraling into the sky. As the spirals gave way into two hands, the Theurgist lifted his hands, a very brief light shining from his palms. He reached back with a fist and promptly socked one of the revenants in the face, watching as its head came completely off.
“Okay. I think I’m starting to appreciate them more,” the Captain muttered under his breath. The Lieutenant fired rapidly at a revenant that was attempting to creep around them, ready to grab his hatchet and hack into a few of the zombies if he had to.
The Evocator pointed at one of the revenants and the ground began to shake beneath it, caving in and sinking the zombie in all the way to its shoulders. She turned and moved her hand in an upward motion, watching as the zombie flew into the air and disintegrated. She turned and narrowly avoided the Captain as he threw a grenade at a few more revenants that appeared yards away. As they erupted in smoke and flame, the Captain laughed loudly, raising a fist in victory. The Lieutenant grabbed his flamethrower and began making quick work of the next wave of revenants, watching as they burned to a crisp.
“We’ll need the main army here,” the Theurgist said as he picked up a zombie with the sand-hands and practically chucked it ten miles, watching as it faded from view, “Evocator, go get the Overlord now! We’ll need back up at this rate!”
The Evocator nodded and began running toward the timberline, jumping as a revenant began to spring from the ground beneath her. She glanced back at the three underlings as they continued to ward away the revenants, hoping that the Overlord would be able to send more troops to help them. ‘How did the Uberlord know where we were!?’ she wondered, ‘We sent two missiles at the Zilant... That was it! There’s no way we can beat him if he has an unlimited supply of ZOMBIES at his disposal!’
“Need help?” the Ninja-Lord appeared next to her, katana in hand. The Soul-Keeper’s Apprentice came jogging over as well, waving her staff wildly. The Animal Tamer and Canada were a few yards behind the Apprentice, striving to keep up. The Ninja-Lord flashed the Evocator a smile, then muttered, “We’re here to help you.”
“TAKE THAT!” the Apprentice shrieked, sending a fireball at an emerging zombie. The Ninja-Lord bowed her head, and vanished, appearing in mid-air and beheading a revenant. She kicked the flailing body down, and turned to look at where the Overlord was standing on the timberline, scythe in hand and the Insurgent Leader by her side.
“So, he’s made his first move,” the Overlord said, attempting to calm her rapid speech (the fact that she had three Monsters was completely taking away from her usual suave attitude). Flicking a twig of dark hair back, she pointed at the zombies, then chuckled, “Clever. Take them out. All of them.”
“Should we really be wasting our troops on revenants? I thought the Captain had this covered?” the Advisor asked, glancing sideways at the Overlord.
“He’ll realize that his zombies have no affect on us before long,” the Overlord said simply, “And then, we will get rid of his pesky little defense mechanism that apparently is resistant to Stingers. And the Fortress is guaranteed to be ours before midnight.” The Twin caught the Overlord’s worried look, and frowned at her, hands on her hips. The Overlord shrugged it off, glanced away, and added, “Those are orders. Follow them.”
“You heard her! Let’s get to it!” the Animal Tamer’s Pet yelled, then blushed as the rest of the Underling army looked at her oddly.
“Aye... Let’s get to it!” Jamie held up her cutlass and began charging headfirst into the zombies, gauging one in the stomach as she did, “FOR NARNIA!”
“Jamie, wrong story!” the Overlord called after her, glancing at the Insurgent Leader, as if to stop him. He met her gaze, then nodded, understandingly. The Overlord looked at the Twin and said, “It’s all up to you now.”
“I... understand,” the Twin nodded, biting her lip and resting a hand on the Overlord’s shoulder.
“The Ninja-Lord won’t. Jamie won’t. Soul-Keeper won’t either...” The Overlord glanced down, then shrugged, “Just tell them... It’s one of those Overlord things. Got it?”
“Got it,” the Twin nodded.
The Overlord grabbed ahold of the Insurgent Leader’s arm and closed her eyes. ‘While the Uberlord’s watching the main army, we’ll be able to sneak in without a problem. He might’ve put up an anti-warp barrier, but we can warp in front of the back gates. He won’t watch what’s happening there,’ the Overlord thought as she warped the Insurgent Leader to the back gates.
“I don’t like leaving them out there like this...” the Insurgent Leader muttered, looking at the Overlord and rubbing his arm disdainfully. The Overlord looked away, shrugging to herself.
“Greetings!” A voice shouted from the wall top. The Overlord and the Insurgent Leader craned their necks back to look up at the Uberlord as he glared down at the both of them, “Nice for you to... Drop by.”
“I thought you said he wouldn’t see us!?” the Insurgent Leader yelled at the Overlord. There was no response... Just a fearful look upward at the Uberlord.
‘No... How could he have...!?’
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