4E 202, Tomb of Labyrinthian
Kiera Fendalyn
It didn't take long for the chamber within to descend into a chaotic combat.
The instant the shaft buried itself in Krosis's neck, the draugr stirred. One sarcophagus creaked open… then ten more. Groans of the ancient dead layered over the rising shouts of Mythic Dawn spellcasters as the whole tomb erupted into a battlefield.
Krosis ripped the arrow from his neck with a violent jerk, frost gathering around his palm. He unleashed a blizzard toward the shadows Karliah had fired from—the entire right side of the chamber encased in ice.
Kiera would have been worried, until another arrow whistled in from pitch darkness, slamming dead-center into Krosis's mask. His head snapped back, the dragon-priest staggering, yet the mask itself, forged in the Merethic Era, remained unmarred.
Ruma and Raven Camoran didn't even spare him a glance. They sprinted toward the massive ornate chest in the corner, shoving aside draugr as they threw spells wildly at anyone who approached.
Kiera bolted behind a stone platform as a wave of fire roared overhead. The flames washed over the pillar, searing the carved markings and leaving the air thick with smoke.
With nary a thought, she cast Ebonyflesh. Her skin rippled, taking on a hardened onyx sheen. She didn't wait for the spell to settle, she lunged.
Dawnbreaker flashed in her grip, hungry. Three cultists raised their hands to cast, but she was already there.
The first cultist died instantly, Dawnbreaker pierced his chest, holy fire bursting outward as his summoned Dremora evaporated in a scream of banishment.
A second Dremora Lord roared and brought its greatsword down. Kiera caught the strike on Dawnbreaker, twisted, and plunged the glowing blade into the gap of its hip plate. It let out a guttural scream as Meridia's light ignited across its form before bursting apart in a shower of molten sparks.
Two more cultists froze, horror widening their eyes.
Good.
Dremora Lords were supposed to be creatures of unparalleled might, considered terrors to the average mage or warrior. But Kiera had long surpassed them. She cut down one, then another, moving through the cluster with clinical precision.
But she couldn't unleash everything. Not here.
The tomb was ancient. A single misjudged shout could collapse the entire place and bring tons of rubble over their heads.
She needed to be fast without being reckless.
Black arrows flickered again from the shadows. Karliah, unseen, thinning their ranks one precise shot at a time. Her cover fire allowed Kiera to push deeper into the fray.
Up on a high platform, Savos Aren battled Krosis directly. Krosis hurled a storm of lightning; Savos conjured a ward that shattered instantly but bought enough time to roll aside before the follow-up frost blast hit.
But Kiera's eyes weren't on the fight, they were on the great chamber's center.
The spectral ghosts—the ones fueling Morokei's containment—were flickering.
Despite them interrupting Krosis' ritual, the barrier surrounding Morokei was still weakening.
"Savos! What's going on?!"
Savos deflected a sweeping staff strike with bound weaponry, answering in a strained voice, "Krosis sabotaged the binding! The ritual's already in motion! Even killing him won't stop the weakening, only slow it down!"
Which meant they needed to eliminate everything else. Fast.
Kiera narrowed her eyes. 'Very well.'
She took a step forward, Dawnbreaker blazing with golden fire.
"ZUN HAAL VIIK!"
A shockwave of Thu'um tore through the chamber.
Weapons clattered across the stone floor. Everyone within a sixty foot cone—every draugr, every cultist, every Dremora Lord—staggered helplessly as their weapons were ripped from their hands.
And she wasn't done yet. "SU GRAH DUN!"
Wind burst across her skin, a cyclone forming around her arms as Elemental Fury took hold.
Kiera became a blur of motion.
A streak of golden fire carved through stone and spell and flesh alike. Every swing of Dawnbreaker roared like thunder, sending bodies tumbling behind her. Destructive magic flew past her harmlessly, she was too fast, too relentless.
Karliah's arrows continued to pick off stragglers. Each shot perfectly synced with Kiera's assaults.
She continued charging forth, cutting a swath through her enemies as she aimed to reach the leaders of the Mythic Dawn.
Ruma and Raven Camoran were on the opposite side of the chamber, floating telekinetically behind them were the ornate chest that Kiera saw before.
They turned to see her approaching, only to show a look of surprise and shock at the state of their cultists. A look of resolve appeared on their faces.
Raven charged first, his ruined throat emitting only a guttural rasp. Kiera remembered what happened to him, all told from her mother's lips.
Raven and Ruma were the ones who led the attack on the Hall of Vigilants all those years ago. And it was there that Raven suffered severe injuries from a discharge of opening an Oblivion Gate.
The discharge had completely fried his vocal chords, making it impossible to use magic.
An elven sword was swung at Kiera. She parried, pivoted, and bisected his sword arm at the shoulder. The limb hit the floor with a thud.
Ruma screamed, fury trembling through her voice as she conjured twin bolts of lightning and combined them into a single roaring beam.
All it took was a single sidestep, and the lightning bolt exploded uselessly against the wall.
By the time Ruma's eyes widened, Kiera was already upon her.
Dawnbreaker arced up, blazing. The blade passed through ribs, flesh, bone—splitting Ruma open in a clean, merciless cut. Her upper body slid away from her lower, both halves hitting the stone with a wet squelch.
A loud grunt came from behind her as Raven lurched behind Kiera, still trying to fight with one arm. Admirable, but pointless.
She pivoted, drove Dawnbreaker straight through his chest, and felt his weight collapse around the blade before she pulled free.
She flicked the blood from Dawnbreaker.
'That was for my mother,' she thought coldly. 'For every Vigilant you butchered, Mythic Dawn scum.'
She didn't spare the Camoran twins another second.
Kiera turned and sprinted toward Savos Aren, Dawnbreaker blazing as she moved to join him against Krosis.
…
4E 202, Battlefield outside Labyrinthian
Gerron Ironbreaker
Gerron swung the Spellbreaker sword down in a brutal arc. Harkon met the strike with the curved black longsword, sparks dancing as metal scraped metal. Before Gerron could twist for a follow-up, the Mace of Molag Bal whipped around like a falling star.
Gerron brought up his shield, the impact ringing like a temple gong struck by a titan.
He could feel the slight numbness from his arm, the first time it has happened ever since he awoke the Forge Eternal.
Ever since awakening, ever since Zenithar's blessing reforged him into something more than mortal…blows simply didn't register like this.
He possessed the body of a demigod, strength and stamina that was unparalleled.
The only other people Gerron had seen to be capable of matching him was Kiera, along with Odahviing and Alduin.
Now, it looks like he had to add someone else to that list.
The Vampire Lord pushed forward, his strength monstrous. Gerron gritted his teeth and shoved back, boots carving trenches in the snow.
His eyes flicked to the weapons Harkon wielded.
[Umbral Sword]
'A long, wickedly curved blade with a bat-winged crossguard and edges black as void. The Umbral Sword pulses with a cold, sanguine heartbeat. It allows the wielder to conjure and manipulate darkness, and in a vampire's hands, it injects their own blood into their victim's bloodstream. That blood acts as a virulent poison, seizing muscles and choking magicka flow.'
'So that's what happened to Serana.' Gerron realized. His eyes went to the other.
[Mace of Molag Bal]
'A Daedric Artifact of Molag Bal. Any mortal impacted with the Mace of Molag Bal shall suffer a feeling of lethargy, their very lifeforce absorbed into the mace and invigorating its wielder. Those slain by it—body or soul—are claimed forever by the Lord of Lies.'
Against weapons like these, not taking hits was impossible.
It was only due to the newly upgraded Ebony Armor that Gerron held out this long. The first time the spikes of the mace hit his armor, the black plates glowed faintly as it absorbed the magic from the artifact.
A burst of golden radiance exploded to his right as Isran slammed into the fray, his golden warhammer letting out powerful, scorching rays of light.
Good. Gerron wasn't sure how long he could hold Harkon alone.
Harkon snarled, baring fangs. "You gnats cling to your delusions of strength. Let me educate you."
He vanished into a cloud of shrieking bats, swirling around them in a vortex of wings and shadow.
"Stay sharp!" Gerron roared.
One bat re-formed into an arm. Another into a leg. Then the full shape of Harkon ripped back into being behind Gerron, sword stabbing for his spine.
Gerron twisted, Spellbreaker sword catching the strike just in time.
Isran followed in, a spear made entirely of golden light forming in his grasp. He hurled it at the vampire.
Harkon flickered again, the spear stabbing only snow.
He reappeared above them.
A crescent wave of darkness tore from the Umbral Sword, a swarming arc that darkened this side of the battlefield.
"DOWN!" Gerron yelled.
He brought up the shield, a shimmering ward forming a dome around him and Isran. The impact detonated across its surface, cracking it.
Isran charged out of the smoke, summoning a great hammer of pure sunlight and swinging it with both hands.
The hammer struck Harkon, but the Vampire Lord dissolved into blood red mist, the blow passing harmlessly through before he reformed several paces back.
"Futile," Harkon hissed.
He swept his hand.
Blood pooled from his palm, transforming into a writhing spear that shot toward Isran.
Isran conjured a radiant barrier. The spear hit and shattered into droplets that stung like acid and steamed on the snow below.
Gerron lunged to close the distance.
He crashed into Harkon with the weight of a landslide, slamming the Spellbreaker sword forward, forcing the vampire into a defensive guard.
Gerron struck from overhead that Harkon blocked.
Again, a low sweeping blow which Harkon twisted to dodge.
Another stab that Harkon parried with the mace, countering with lightning-fast ferocity.
The back and forth didn't slow nor did it stop.
His blood sang.
His body burned with fury.
Every movement became instinct, forging motion into weapon.
Harkon ducked under a horizontal slash and hissed, "To keep up with me for so long. You are impressive…for a mortal."
He snapped his fingers.
Frost erupted in a ring, freezing the earth and coating Gerron's armor in rime. The temperature plummeted to below zero temperatures.
Yet Gerron was unbothered. The Crown of the Rift had rendered elemental attacks such as this useless against him.
"You talk too much." His horned ebony helmet thundered forward, head-butting Harkon.
The Vampire Lord slid back, annoyed more than hurt.
Isran rejoined just then, conjuring chains of light that shot from his hands, wrapping Harkon's arm and torso.
Harkon snarled as the holy bindings seared his flesh. Smoke rose from the glowing wounds.
Gerron didn't waste the opportunity.
He raised the Spellbreaker sword and aimed for the heart.
Just as it was inches away from hitting, Harkon's form burst into a hundred bats, the chains exploding apart.
They swarmed Gerron, fangs biting into exposed gaps of armor, shadows whispering curses in his ears.
"Get off me!" He swung, cleaving several from the air.
Isran's hand ignited, forming a discus of light and flung it like a fiery wheel.
It carved through the swarm of bats, reforming Harkon in mid-air with half his body smoking from the holy burn.
Harkon growled as he extended his hand. A sphere of blood-red frost gathered in his palm, the cold and hunger of vampiric magic fused into one spell.
"Die!"
He launched it as a beam of piercing blood.
Gerron raised his shield in defense, Isran conjuring a radiant barrier once more.
BOOOOOOM
Blood-red crystals boomed from the impact, sending shrapnels of red ice tearing across the snow.
Gerron skidded back several meters, boots carving trenches again, though mostly unharmed.
The same could not be said for Isran, who kneeled on the ground, coughing blood. But his eyes still burned like a beacon of Stendarr. He wasn't out of the fight yet.
Harkon advanced, Mace of Molag Bal dripping crimson vapor. "The prophecy demands sacrifice. Every one of you shall offer your souls to me. Only then shall I bathe Auriel's Bow with my daughter's blood."
Gerron's eyes narrowed as he steadied himself.
Isran rose beside him.
Together, they'd make this bastard bleed.
They charged forward, only for a blinding white radiance to erupt across the battlefield.
All three turned to see Serana—who was barely standing upright a moment ago—now floating off the ground, twenty feet into the air.
Her entire form was bathed entirely in brilliant white light, swirling like a star being born.
Gerron's breath caught. Isran froze mid-step.
Even Harkon faltered, eyes widening in disbelief and fury.
The light intensified, and the world turned white.
…
AN: While it wasn't written outright, Kiera felt a tremendous amount of guilt and anger for the attack on the Hall of Vigilants all those chapters ago. Many Vigilants lost their lives that day, and Carcette's curse by Mehrunes Razor still remains.
She can be a monster if she wants to be. Luckily for her, the Camoran twins appeared just as she was feeling that anger.
Anyway, the whole fight scene between Harkon and Gerron / Isran was quite difficult to write and I don't know how good it ended up being. But I really enjoyed coming up with the bunch of different Vampire abilities. Some classic ones like being able to dissolve their body to mist and bats were really fun to work around.
Serana was long overdue for a power-up. We'll get to see what a full fledged vampire with the blessing of Meridia could do in the next chapter.
The sale on my Patreon is also still going! Don't miss for a good deal. Plenty of content that should make you happy :). Just make sure to use the code JANSALE26 and you'll get it.
More chapters are available on my Pat_reon. Chapter 92 should be available by the time this chapter is posted. Just look up my name, TeemVizzle, and you'll find me.
Cheers guys and see you next time!