Galactic High

The laser fire of the klowns dissipated harmlessly against Svaartal’s magical shield, before he suddenly blinked forward and lashed out with sword, severing the useless laser rifle in two before the Nirah followed through with a lunge that sliced the Klown’s stomach open.

“Disgusting,” Svaartal spat as his familial link informed him that Carrow had set fire to two more klowns in a room to the side.

He silently slithered up to the end of the corridor as both he and Carrow heard panicked screaming and sounds of resistance in the chamber up ahead. Peeking carefully around the corner, Svaartal could see several Klown Katchers trying to restrain several of the partygoers, though why they were trying to take them alive was unknown to the Nirah, who used the distraction to easily blink to the tunnel opposite.

Though as he kept moving forwards and listened to the screams and pleas for mercy he suddenly stopped and glanced back out of the corner of his eye, remembering the words of the human.

Help me stop them… We can help save a lot of people…

He knew he shouldn’t. Any time he wasted put Svaarti at risk. But…

“Master?” Carrow queried, awaiting his command…

*****

“COME ON THEN!” Jack roared as the Klown’s laser fire had no effect on him, being no more than an insect bite to the incredibly angry human as he returned fire, putting two photon blasts through the chest and one in the head of the Klown, not even waiting for them to hit the ground before unleashing a rapid burst on the next one, not bothering to snap into cover. There was no time - there were a lot of Klowns down here and he needed to get everyone still alive to safety. There were a few survivors cowering behind him, with the few ones with guns covering their rear.

“ANYBODY HERE MAKE YOURSELF KNOWN!” Jack called out to the now-cleared chamber.

“Jack!” he heard a familiar voice nearby, as Kritch cautiously opened the cover to the vent he was hiding in. “Thank the gods! I managed to get a few of us in here in time, but they were just looking for us!”

“Is there not a way through?” Jack asked as the four people began crawling out. Jack had no idea how Kritch got them in, but he was impressed by the unimposing Lizta.

“I was trying to cut through the metal security bars at the end enough for all of us to slip through!” Kritch shrugged. “Could have worked.”

“Alright.” Jack nodded. “That’s Plan B. Dante and I can get you through if we don’t have another way up.” He indicated Dante with a quick point of the finger so everyone knew who he was talking about.

“What’s Plan A?” Kritch asked.

“I kill every single Klown between here and safety, and rescue everyone I can.”

“Fuck,” Kritch replied with a heavy sigh as he tried to calm himself. “You’re not joking, are you?”

“No,” Jack confirmed as he moved forward and peeked around the corner, quickly dispatching the two Klowns before they could even think to shoot. “Can you fight?” he asked Kritch. “I may need you to keep overwatch while I clear rooms.”

“I know how to use a gun, though I work better from the shadows,” Kritch confirmed as he shakily moved up to the human.

“Good enough,” Jack assured, controlling his breathing and trying his best to put on a brave face as he put a hand on the Lizta’s shoulder. “Stay behind me and Dante.”

“Corridor ahead has a few side rooms, then there’s a big chamber ahead.” Kritch whispered so quietly even Jack could barely hear.

“Glad you remember this place better than I do,” Jack whispered back as he quickly and quietly moved to where the tunnel turned, taking half a second to listen before he and Dante rushed out, having heard the sounds of fighting nearby. The ‘dog’ barked aggressively as he dashed forward to the group of Klowns with their backs turned, zapping a bunch of them with a lethal bolt of chain lightning as several plasma rounds were blind fired from cover ahead, ricocheting down the corridors and keeping the other Klowns at bay.

Jack ran in after the wayward ‘dog’, rapidly clearing the small side rooms of klowns with liberal use of photon gunfire, before checking to see who Dante had rushed to help.

“There you are!” Sephy threw her arms around Jack, who returned the embrace. “I knew you were nearby, I traced your last known comm signal!”

“Jesus, Sephy, it’s hell down here - you should have gotten to safety!” Jack scolded.

“Not without you,” the Skritta replied, with a serious tone he had never heard from her before that left no room for argument. “And not without them.” She pointed back towards the room she was shooting from, revealing a small group of partygoers.

“Well, I’m glad you’re alright.” Jack sighed. “What about the others?”

“Alora and Nika are on the main floor, and Chiyo’s on the other side of the complex,” Sephy confirmed, checking an app. “Hopefully things are safer there.”

“Yeah,” Jack agreed. “Not too far, but we need to be quick! Let’s go!”

*****

Nika dodged a sword slash and parried another with her bo staff as the Klown Kaptain cackled, relishing the thrill of the fight as they backed away from one another, the crowd giving them space as they did so. She had no doubt this was one of the Named, the Klowns that were second only to the Killer Klown himself and controlled the horde in his absence.

“FUN! WHAT FUN!” the Klown roared, rallying his troops to him. “Mister Scissor gonna cut you to bits!”

The Kaptain cackled in murderous glee as he flourished his weapons in a dazzling flutter, clearly looking to intimidate Nika with the display, though the disciplined Kizun would not back down. She was surprised that more Klowns had not backed up their Kaptain when he realised that Nika was a competent opponent, but she wasn’t going to complain, quickly dashing forward with an overhead smash as the Klown deftly dodged and launched forward, with Nika using her tail to leap to the side to avoid the attack.

Holding her bo staff in a strong grip, Nika deflected two rapid strikes before countering by swinging her staff in wide, unpredictable arcs, hoping to finish this quickly as the Klown skipped backwards while she chased him.

But before she could land a hit, something strange happened.

From behind her, a pulse of golden light lashed out in a bubble which expanded harmlessly around Nika and the other guards and partygoers around her, even giving them unusual feelings of courage and strength, but caused the Klowns clear visible pain as many clutched at their faces, giving the defenders a serious advantage. Nika wasted no time in lashing out at Mister Scissor, catching his leg with a bone-shattering strike as he fought to get away, rushing to get to the safety of his fellow troops.

“Izorinn!” Nika heard a familiar voice call out as chains of light shackled the Klown Kaptain helplessly to the ground. Alora was limping over to her, with a few of their friends injured behind them.

“See you in oblivion, asshole,” Nika growled as she executed the struggling Klown Kaptain with a point-blank shotgun blast to the face. “Alora, what’s going on? Where are the others?”

“I don’t know!” Alora panted in response to both questions as she fell to one knee. “The Klowns are everywhere slaughtering whoever they can, I thought we could escape out the front! We wouldn’t have, had it not been for whoever cast that Ward!”

“That wasn’t you, Alora?” Nika asked, confused.

“No, it’s beyond my power, and it’s still active, I think it’s keeping the Klowns at bay, at least for now.” Alora breathed heavily as Nika quickly moved to support her, looking around to see who had saved them.

Glowing with a light golden aura like a celestial guardian, Svaarti’s eyes were shut tight in concentration as she supported herself with her mother’s staff. From the point where the base of the staff met the ground, glowing symbols and runes were expanding out along the cobblestones, while several golden strands emerged from the crystal at the tip, feeding towards the fully expanded bubble of light.

The Nirah whispered words of power as she stayed there, which Alora assumed fed and enhanced the shield she had summoned.

She had no idea Svaarti could cast something so powerful!

“We have to cover her!” Alora shouted out, getting the attention of anyone she could. “Anyone that can fight, either help the guards on the walls or cover the gates!

“Carry the wounded to the base of the wall if it’s safe to move them!” Nika added. “Anyone that can heal, keep them alive until help gets here!”

Crill and Zayle hurried past them, carrying the limp, lifeless form of Rayle and laying them down next to the wall, as close to Svaarti as they could get. As they worked on keeping her stable, the runes of light snaked along the floor towards them and the other wounded laid on the floor, channelling radiant energies as the cries of pain from the injured died down, to be replaced by calmed emotions and raised spirits.

“How is that possible?” Crill asked as the Squarri began quickly casting whatever healing and support spells he could. “She’s adding more layers to the spell even while maintaining the primary repulsion field!”

“It’s highly advanced magic, but it’s got to be taking a huge strain on her!” Alora replied as she observed her friend fighting to maintain the spell. “We need casters to join her and help control the spell!”

“If you can cast any magical juju shit and can’t heal or fight, get the fuck here!” Nika called out to the crowd as she looked to the walls where more Hoduth guards were rushing to.

“Hey! You two!” A newcomer urgently rushed up to them, a Hoduth with Clan Bharzum insignias who sort of looked like they were a clan official barely much older than their classmates. Nika recognised her as the Bharzum noble that was on the stage next to the Elder who greeted them all, and also gave her food earlier. “Both of you sound competent, so I’m deputising the both of you until backup or an Elder arrives. We have the wall, but we need to hold the gate and evacuate anyone still inside until then.”

“How the hell was this even allowed to happen?” Nika asked angrily. “Didn’t you check this place before hosting an event here?”

“We triple checked!” the Hoduth yelled back. “But over half our guards didn’t show up tonight when they were meant to and most of the ones that did are all greenhorns! I think there’s something else going on behind the scenes, and if we survive tonight you have my word we will hold ourselves accountable, but right now we need to hold out!”

“She’s right!” Alora cut Nika off before she could start an argument. “I’ll coordinate here for now, Chiyo says she’s with Luvia and heading towards us and doesn’t know where the others are. You get to the gate!”

“Follow me!” The Hoduth Noble beckoned Nika, holding her assault rifle in a practised grip as she yelled out orders to nearby guards. “Use the furniture to give us a makeshift palisade! No, I don't care how old and expensive it is!”

“You have a name?” Nika asked as she took in the pitiful defences that were being assembled as the remaining guards retreated. “We’ll need a channel for survivors to get to safety.”

“It will be done.” The Hoduth nodded before bellowing orders to the guards. “Leave an opening in the centre for friendlies to get through. We need elevation so we can see them and give them cover, get some platforms up!”

Once her orders were being carried out, she sighed before looking to the Kizun, taking a quick swig out of her hipflask. “I am Sigrin of Clan Bharzum, acting Elder for now by the looks of it. Pretty sure my sisters mentioned you and the Eladrie being in their class.”

“You’re their older sister? They might have mentioned you,“ Nika acknowledged, relaxing slightly as she remembered the stories the triplets had mentioned of their wildcard elder sibling.

“We have a huge family, so I don’t blame you, and it doesn’t matter anyway if we get overrun.” Sigrin shrugged before she turned towards a group of guards working at a nearby security post. “Do we have access to our security system?”

“No, ma’am.” One of the guards quickly turned to address her. “It looks like we’ve all been manually shut out from the central security station, timestamps say it happened around the time the attack started.”

“Fuck,” Sigrin snarled. “We have an infiltrator.”

“What systems do you have access to then?” Nika asked. “Could you send a message with public speakers?”

“We can try,” Sigrin confirmed…

******

Jack and Sephy burst into the large secondary chamber, where the sounds of fighting had begun to die down. Bursting through, they spotted several dead Klowns nearby having been gunned down and could see several Clan Bharzum guards making a stand against the Klowns pouring through the exposed tunnel at the end, though many of their number had already fallen. Jack’s heart fell as he recognised many of them as the undead mercenaries he had met not even an hour ago…

“Hold on!” Jack yelled to the guards as he rushed forward, laying suppressive fire on the klowns as the friendlies fell back to more favourable cover and switched batteries with nods of thanks to Jack. “Kritch? How far to the main floor?”

“Just one more floor up!” Kritch confirmed. “There’s a maze of tunnels connecting to this chamber that lead up to other parts of the complex, but that passage over there will take us right to the entrance!

“Where are the rest of the guards?” Jack asked the Hoduth who looked the most senior out of the terrified squad.

“Floor above us! They’re reporting trouble at the walls and are trying to get non-combatants secured, it’s chaos! We were meant to have way more people here!”

A loud roar suddenly bellowed out from above, temporarily drowning out the sounds of fighting before they quickly resumed.

Jack! Sephy! The voice of Chiyo echoed faintly in their minds. What are you still doing down there? We’re holding them back for the moment but you need to get up here now! Alora and Nika are safe and are mounting a defence outside, but the Klowns are getting numerous and they’re starting to bring in their advanced troops!

It sounded bad. They needed to act quickly!

“Sephy! I need you to lead the others up to the main floor if it’s safe while I cover you. I want to get these guys out, too!” Jack looked to the Skritta pleadingly as he pointed to the guards, knowing she wouldn’t like the idea.

“No fucking way! I’m not leaving you!” Sephy refused, as everyone they had rescued so far looked on.

“Sephy, please!” Jack put his arms on her shoulders to try and calm the Skritta down. “Link up with the others above us and get these people out of here if you can. I’ll cover the retreat from here and follow you if I can. You go with her, Dante!”

“WOOF!” Dante barked, roughly nudging Sephy with his nose. There was no time to argue.

“You better be right behind us!” Sephy chastised Jack, quickly pulling him into a hug and giving him a quick kiss on the cheek.

“Go!” Jack yelled as something big started charging towards them. He waved everyone to follow Sephy as he and the remaining guards laid down some heavy covering fire. The escape passage was small, acting like a bottleneck that slowed the flow of bodies looking to escape. The creature leading the charge reminded him of a rhino, if said rhino was twice the size, with more bone protrusions at key points along its body, and heavily maimed and ‘altered’ by the Klowns. It trumpeted loudly as it shrugged off the laser and plasma fire the Hoduth guards were sending it’s way as it sped towards them.

They weren’t going to get through in time…

Without thinking, Jack ran forward and to the left, trying to lure the attention of the Klowns away from the crowd. The ploy worked, and the giant Klownified beast turned to charge at him!

“Fall back, now!” Jack yelled to the remaining guards. “Get in that passage and collapse the tunnel behind you, I’ll find another way out!”

Sorry Sephy. Jack thought to himself as he steeled himself for what he knew he had to do. “OVERCHARGE”

His heavy shot hit home, just to the side of the beast’s nose as he dodged, the gargantuan animal smacking into the wall behind him, but not before Jack had seen the look in the creature’s eyes. It was the look of an animal that had suffered a lot of pain and agony, and it made him sick to think about the tortures the Klowns could have inflicted on an innocent creature.

Though perhaps many of the Klowns were similar such victims?

Jack quickly let loose a quick burst at the base of the creature’s neck, hoping it would put the animal out of its misery as he backed away, the Hoduth guards prepping several grenades to collapse the tunnel as Jack had ordered them to. In its maddened death throes, it flailed around, smashing into walls and Klowns alike as Jack did his best to maintain his distance while keeping the attention on himself.

On hearing the cluster of small explosions to the side, Jack legged it, turning around and sparing a quick glance to confirm his half-assed plan worked before running as quickly as he could. He aimed for the tunnel he had come from, having no other options, as the Klowns howled in sadistic glee while chasing him.

Jack cursed as he quickly rounded a corner and took aim, blasting the first Klown to follow him before continuing, hoping he would be able to find a place to fortify or hide at.

He had gotten everyone else out, but now he needed to make sure he stayed alive!

*****

Greta Bharzum desperately flailed her legs at the Klown that was atop of her as she saw others being dragged away. She didn’t want to know what the Klowns would do to them, but she would not let them violate her!

“HELP!” she screamed again, kicking the Klown in the face as it tried to tear at her noble garb. What happened to the clan guards? Where were they? Were they all dead?”

Suddenly, the Klown jerked back as a black crossbow bolt slammed into its forehead, dark thorny barbs ripping and tearing through lobotomized skull and brain matter alike, violently punching through and embedding itself in the rock behind. As its compatriot looked around, it took another bolt straight into the torso, caving in its ribcage and pinning it firmly to the wall a split second before a third took one in the shoulder, spinning several times from the sheer force of the impact.

Greta then saw several orbs of blue light zipping around the room, homing in on several of the klowns who were trying to drag some of the others away, knocking them back and stunning them. A strange bird of reddish black moved in close to attack and finish off the ones on the left, while a serpentine form leapt through the air, spinning in a corkscrew as it summoned a sword to slash at a Klown on the right, before landing and swiping horizontally in the air, shooting out a arc of energy that roared over the struggling partygoers on the ground to slice into the last Klown. Wasting no time, the figure pointed a wand at the ceiling of one of the tunnels and growled a word of power, collapsing the support beams and sending rocks and rubble crashing to the ground in a tumble of debris, burying the Klowns trying to reinforce their comrades.

Except for one.

Dashing through with seeming ease, a thin avian Klown with flowing electric blue hair dodged the debris and skidded to a halt several metres away from the Nirah who had taken down several of her best troops like they were nothing!

“Ooooooh! You’re interesting!” The Klown Kaptain cackled cruelly as she flourished her twin rapiers with a practised two-handed display. “I was worried that murdering everyone here would be far too boring!”

“You’re more well-spoken than your brother was,” Svaartal snarled as he noted the confident motions of the twin blades. “Though he won’t be saying anything anymore.” The Nirah would need to call on his magic to give him the edge in this fight.

Or involve Carrow. They could communicate nonverbally after all, but he didn’t want anyone knowing that, and Svaartal had no qualms whatsoever about fighting dirty. However…

Remain hidden, watch for treachery and get ready to engage if needed. Svaartal mentally instructed his familiar, who silently understood and acknowledged. She is my kill alone.

“I like you! The Kaptain grinned, licking her powdered beak in lust before she lunged forward with a twin slash. “You’re not like the others! You’re special! I’m gonna make you my new brother just for me!”

Svaartal dodged one blade and parried the other with his own sword, attempting to press forward and lock blades. The Klown Kaptain was quick, and though he could just about keep up with her speed, he had more of an advantage in physical strength and magic.

The crazy woman dove to the side in a roll, denying the blade lock and carefully avoiding a powerful swipe to the legs as she disengaged. Svaartal quickly used his own enhanced speed to stay on her, though, not letting the Klown fully get back to her feet as she desperately tried to parry or avoid his powerful blows, before she unexpectedly jumped high in the air, spinning twice in a dervish of blades before landing on the ground.

“Little Miss Slash gonna flash and dash!” The Klown grinned as her form began to shake and quiver. Quick as a bullet, she leapt forward, spinning and twirling her swords quicker than Svaartal could follow. He quickly blinked out of the way to avoid the landing before letting loose a slice of arcane energy from his sword that Little Miss Slash avoided as it sailed past and crashed into a wall.

Damn. Svaartal thought, remembering that there was the potential for collateral damage as someone on the floor nearby squeaked and moved away as the Klown Kaptain jumped at him again with a furious charge. This time, the Kaptain was just barely able to get past Svaartal’s defence, shallowly cutting him in several places along the arms even through his magical protections, though the Klown caught an injury much more fierce, as the Nirah had predicted the move and blasted Little Miss Slash full force with his acid spray, catching her full in the chest. As she tried to wipe the acid off of her with her already-mutilated hands, he could see the right side of her face had been caught as well.

If there was any collateral damage on any of the hostages from that, it was their own damn fault for being in the way!

Svaartal muttered a cantrip that quickly and easily closed his ‘wounds’ as he thought about how he would finish this. Time was something he didn’t have in abundance. The memory of his fight with the human edged on Svaartal’s mind; what trick would Frost try if it was him?

“By Jingubash, you will suffer for that!” Little Miss Slash cackled. “I will slice you apart! Then I’ll put you back together and make you my pretty!” She rushed forward and Svaartal met her charge with one of his own, acting on instinct to parry an overhead slash before spinning his sword to parry another and riposte with a flurry of his own, forcing the Klown back before she repositioned and spun, blocking Svaartal’s downward strike with one blade as she slashed across with another. She thought she was going to hit, but instead met an unexpected resistance as the rapier twanged against something metal that had suddenly pressed against her.

Little Miss Slash barely had time to contemplate the barrel of Svaartal’s sniper rifle aimed point blank at her chest before Svaartal fired, ripping the Klown apart at the molecular level as the overcharged concussive sonic round punched through the Klown and smacked into and through the hard stone of the cavern wall.

Svaartal shook his arm to dissipate the pain of having fired the powerful gun one-handed, unsummoning it as quickly as he had brought it to bear in a flash of inspiration. He was glad he didn’t break anything. Though he had the rifle custom ordered and his magical enhancements were still going strong, the recoil still stung like a bitch.

Greta Bharzum had pushed herself as close to the nearest wall as she could ever since she got loose, and made herself as small as possible. The Hoduth cowered on the floor in shock throughout the fight, and hadn’t even noticed the end of it before Svaartal slowly slinked up to her, looking down at his terrified classmate.

“Lady Bharzum.” The Nirah addressed Greta, but the Hoduth was still in shock and didn’t react.

I don’t have time for this shit. Svaartal thought to himself.

Groaning internally at his foolish decision, he tried a different tactic as he slunk down to her level while putting on the closest thing to a friendly face he was capable of, ordering Carrow to secure the area. “Lady Bha-....Greta, you can’t stay here. You and the others have to come with me.”

Something inside of Greta compelled her to nod in understanding, and she barely noticed as Svaartal pulled her to her feet, before promptly abandoning her and seeing to anyone else that looked alive. By the time he got to the third partygoer, Svaartal had dispensed with the pleasantries as a waste of his valuable time and instead used his magically enhanced strength to drag people up to a standing position and even slapped one to get their attention and stop their mewling. Fortunately, not all of the people around him were gibbering wrecks, and once they realised that they had been saved they quickly helped the Nirah in rallying everybody with more kinder words and hugs than Svaartal cared for.

“I would have thought we would have received more challenges appropriate for our combined power than this, though I have no doubt that can be found on the front lines of this conflict,” Carrow mused.

“You will get a taste of worthy combat soon, whether we seek it or not,” Svaartal dismissed his familiar as he checked over the drow-forged crossbow he had claimed as his own from House Mal’Kar’s armoury before unsummoning it back through his dimensional rift. “Getting to Svaarti and escaping this shitshow is my only concern as of now.”

He decisively slithered to the only entrance he left unblocked, which he knew likely led to the main floor. The sounds of roaring and fighting were quieter now, as if it had retreated further away from his position.

It would be a fight to get to safety.

Svaartal turned around to address the survivors as he formulated a plan in his mind.

“Stay close to me if you want to live, but don’t get in my fucking way.”