Darkness and Hellfire

Isaac had exactly a split second to decide how the entire combat scenario was going to go. If he played it safe, then he and Edward could get a good feel for their opponent, or be crushed instantly by overwhelming force. Based on what he was feeling from the newly reanimated corpse, Farlen's power was… wider, more spread out, diversified. Farlen's oathbound power was twisted into a cursed counterfeit of what it once was. The power of Dri'El was brought to the forefront instead of the inherent power of the oath being what was expressed. Underpinning that power, where Dri'El's used to be, was something that simply felt wrong in every way. It was true undeath. The being, concept, power that defied the will of The Reaper, the amalgamation that was also the antithesis of both life and death.

There was a chance that Farlen could instantly overpower them, but that chance wasn't very high. He had foregone any attempt at being overwhelmingly anything but undead. Isaac could also throw all of his authority over dark mana, all of his willpower, at trying to lock Farlen in place so Edward could execute him as soon as he had returned. If it worked, it would be the most satisfying 'And stay down.' moment. His last option was to just boost himself as much as he could and try to go blow for blow against the undead monstrosity. His exact methods, teleportation versus blocks and parries, would change based on what Farlen's corpse did, but the essence of it was still very much 'the V'Nova way'.

When Isaac took too long to decide, around a quarter of a second, both Farlen and Edward exploded into motion. Farlen went straight for Isaac as if Edward wasn't even there and Edward set his sword up to perfectly lop off Farlen's head as he charged towards Isaac. Unfortunately, it appeared that Farlen had not lost all of his self preservation instincts or his skill with a blade. Edward barely got his own blade out of the way as Farlen tried to attack the incoming attack with a weapon that had far more durability. A rapid exchange of feints versus counter attacks ensued as both combatants tried to get a leg up on the other. If Edward's sword was damaged or destroyed, then both he and Isaac were going to have to actually finish Farlen off with platinum coins, probably in a sock, that had been quickly prayed over for Lua's blessing. If Farlen's head was cut off, they had no idea how much it would hurt the undead but it would open a clear path towards his heart through the gaping neck hole in his armor.

Isaac decided that it would be best to just fight Farlen blow for blow as he formed his sword and boosted himself to his highest sustainable limit. He also doubled his gravity and tried really hard not to forget about his deployable shield. The problem with the shield was its one second formation time. He never had a one second head's up. Well, he did that one time against Judgment, and that other time against Shamsha's meteors, but he rarely had that much of a warning. With how strong Farlen's corpse was, Isaac was slightly concerned that his Truth or summoned shield would not hold up to a direct clash with Farlen's weird purple energy coating his blade but there was only one way to find out.

Isaac launched into the fray with a brutal stab into Farlen's breastplate, directly in front of the corpse's heart, but his weapon was stopped by the metal that should not have been that durable. As it was, Isaac was thrown backwards from the force of his own stab hitting an immovable object, because Farlen didn't even flinch. Isaac vanished and reappeared, this time using his momentum to launch a spinning back kick into Farlen's back, but once again the corpse was dimensionally locked. It appeared that Farlen could only be moved if that was what he wanted to do.

"Keep it up." Edward told Isaac as he was forced onto the defensive for a moment. Isaac did just that and moved into an endless cycle of attacking and then using his backwards momentum to fuel his next attack as he pushed his boosted body to the limit. "Every time you hit him, the chains and stitching flare and then dim slightly." Edward explained as Farlen seemed entirely focused on destroying his sword. The corpse wasn't even going for Edward himself, just his sword.

"What's with this thing?!" Isaac called out without slowing his barrage.

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"I think whatever power is causing this also fused with him entirely. They are one in the same. Any damage is helpful." Edward explained as he managed to snake his blade around Farlen's and stab him in the chest. It was shallow but there was an instant reaction as one of the over one hundred chain links broke apart. A moment later the injury vanished.

Isaac growled as he let go of Truth, and sent it into his Inventory, as he pulled six platinum coins out and held them in his clenched fists. Only a tiny ridge from each coin peaked out past his fingers. It would have to do. Isaac's next punch left three small gashes in Farlen's armor. Three more links broke apart but then two of the chains entirely unraveled and started thrashing in the direction that Isaac had just hit him from. In the next three seconds, Edward landed two more hits and Isaac had to turn his attack into a faint four times, via shadow-stepping into a new attack trajectory, but somehow still managed to land two more punches. With that, the number of thrashing chains increased to ten. All of a sudden, Isaac couldn't get close enough to punch him and every attack Edward tried to make ran the risk of being captured and subsumed by the chains.

Isaac and Edward both tried to make some space but the closest chains to Isaac always tried to reach out to him and Farlen maintained focus on Edward's sword. Something that they had quickly learned was that if the injury was substantial enough, more than one chain link would break. They had learned that when Edward's second attack to land had entirely removed Farlen's ankle, only it didn't fall away, instead five chain links broke apart to undo the damage. It did appear that Farlen gave platinum zero resistance but gave everything else the feeling that it had hit a Reality Shield backed by an archmage's entire mana pool.

Isaac sighed and put four of the coins that he had in his hands back into his Inventory. "This is ridiculous." He grumbled and just started throwing platinum coins at it. Each one left a tiny scuff or dent, but only the ones that got through. The purple chains appeared to be entirely impervious to the platinum but at least they couldn't absorb it.

"Ok, now what?" Edward asked while he continued to let the undead paladin chase him around in circles.

"You don't have any holy water on you, do you?" Isaac wondered.

"Of course I have holy water on me, what kind of double platinum doesn't… you don't have any on you, do you." Edward asked rhetorically. He shifted into a carrying stance for his sword with the back of the blade resting on his shoulder as his other hand dove into his Bottomless Bag. Edward quickly found a canning jar filled with holy water and chuck it into the path of one of Farlen's charging attacks that was aimed at his sword. The holy water jar burst apart and sent glass and holy water flying in all directions.

Farlen didn't slow but steam did start cooking off of him and every second or so, with longer intervals as time went on, one of his chain links would break. "What in the unholy hells is this thing?" Isaac demanded of the Guild Master.

"I don't know yet." He replied as quickly as he could. "It is either a revenant or a death knight. Every death knight is different but so far it looks like a revenant."

"How will you know the difference?" Isaac wondered as he stopped a dozen feet from Farlen. He spread his arms wide as he dropped his boosting entirely.

"If it uses magic." Edward explained. "And if it does, I doubt we'll see it coming."

"It'll be soon." Isaac stated and reached out to all of the 'True' shadows under each of the platinum coins that now littered the battlefield. Mana ran through him in a torrent as he prepared to use nearly his entire mana reserves on one attack, and an improvised attack at that. With a colossal force of will, mana, and intent, all thirty nine coins were almost instantly shot into Farlen from every direction. Isaac had turned the shadows under them into poles that grew towards Farlen with lethal intent. Each of the polls would have loved nothing more than to punch straight through Farlen and out the other side but alas, their task was that of a courier and driving force.

Out of the thirty nine black poles that formed in barely longer than a blink, only seven managed to make it to Farlen without first being intercepted by the mass of arm's length chains floating off of him. Those that made it, went straight through him as the high speed platinum coins refused to be stopped. Isaac felt his hardened shadow poles be crushed out of existence as Farlen was instantly put back together. The sound of dozens of chain links snapping and dozens more coins clattering to the ground had immediately followed. Farlen's mass of tentacle-like chains had been reduced to twenty or so single links that clung to him like hair under water.

"You know, my bother always told me that I just needed to throw more money at my problems…" Edward commented as Farlen stopped chasing him. Farlen was anything but open as he eyed both Isaac and Edward equally. "… I don't think this is what he meant."

Isaac and Edward locked ever widening eyes as they both felt power start to build inside of Farlen. Five of his remaining twenty or so chain links withered away in barely more than an instant before a ring of corrupted death formed around him and blasted outwards in all directions.