The Mimic Becomes a Merchant King

The interior to the barracks was no more pleasant than the exterior, the walls and floor sporting thick coating of ash. Coin quickly spied a few human silhouettes scorched into the brickwork, and discarded bones littered among the bricks.

A thick stench hung in the air as they passed through the foyer, passing the broken weapon racks and melted suits of armour.

Essine lingered behind in the doorway, resting her claws against the decaying wood. She regularly sniffed the air. Nothing stood out, beyond the decay, yet she was paralysed with fear and her fur was standing to attention.

Coin clenched his fists tightly, power slowly pulsing through his flesh and condensing in his promethium ring. It felt as if any moment, the shadows themselves would come alive and attack them.

They entered the central chamber, lined on either side by the collapsed remnants of many bunk beds. The ruins would have been unremarkable, save for something glinting at the back of the room. Coin stepped forward to get a closer look, only to halt when Igrei lifted his staff to bar his path.

Something was embedded in a pile of fallen bricks, a sharpened dagger that had skewered the masonry as if it were a block of butter. Coils of black fog and stray particles of luminous green light wafted from the expertly sculpted metal. For all the years Charnyll had gone untouched, the knife didn't have a single speck of rust on the gleaming metal.

"A dagger?" Coin murmured, the bizarreness of the situation forcing him to bleat out the obvious.

"One rife with Bleak energy. Goodness... the wielder must have been killed on this very spot, their weapon left untouched by his kin. And in all that time, the charge from it hasn't faded. Impressive, truly," Igrei murmured.

"W-what do you need to do then? Do you plan to destroy it from here?" Essine warily asked. Even though the barracks was empty, she was nervously curling her clawed fingers around the hilt of her own blade. Her eyes fixated on the handle, made from elegant black leather with a sparkling silver knuckle guard.

"I'd like to examine it a bit first. Keep your distance, and whatever you do... keep your hands off that damn thing," Igrei said, slowly advancing with his staff aimed at the immobile blade.

Coin didn't need to be told twice. Everything about the glowing dagger told him that if he touched it, he would be lucky if he lived to regret it.

All was silent, save for the quiet shuffles of Igrei's bootclad feet. He paused when he was only a few paces from the knife. The flickering smoke grew wilder, more erratic, as if reacting to Igrei's presence. This did little to daunt the elf, who quietly took aim until a halo of white light blossomed around the tip of his staff.

The light was near-blinding to look directly into, generating a small gale that blossomed at Igrei's feet and kicked up a coil of dust and ash. The glow expanded, spreading outward as an ethereal tendril that slowly drew toward the dagger.

Slowly, carefully, it inched closer. Coin didn't even realise he was holding his breath, nor did he notice the uncertain sweat dappling his brow. This, everything about it, felt... off.

A shadow flickered, just beyond the reach of Igrei's luminous staff.

Coin found himself moving before he even realised it, lunging toward a figure that was weaving itself into existence from the darkness. A sleek shape, two heads taller than Coin, with scaly dark grey skin, spindly angular limbs, four glowing golden eyes, and a ridge of black quills running down the length of his spine.

Coin's fist, strong enough to smash stone into powder, collided with the incoming creature. The beast recoiled, hissing despite his lack of a mouth. But his counter was near-instant, a backhand that sent the mimic skidding across the floor.

Igrei turned in that same moment, the light on his staff swiftly morphing into unfolding waves of white hot flame. The blazing jet struck the creature, making him shriek and recoil. Yet, while the flames scorched and melted the surrounding wall, it seemed to do no lasting damage to his flesh.

"Phantasm!" the elf cried.

The phantasm whipped his arm forward, launching a flurry of sleek black quills that punched through the blaze of magic. Igrei hurled himself aside, avoiding the projectiles as they punched deep into the wall behind him.

"Essine," Coin huffed, watching the phantasm with an unblinking gaze. "Keep back!"

He took aim at the slim creature just as the smoke finished hissing away from his flesh. An ache rolled down his right arm as Coin summoned his magic and directed it toward his ring. A lightning bolt flashed from his palm and exploded against the phantasm, smashing the hissing mass against the wall. The stones cracked against his slim weight.

The creature loped toward him with lightning quickness, and Coin only barely avoided a few incoming slashes from his claws. The mimic ducked and weaved around the incoming attacks, landing more blows against his foe's scaly hide. Yet these did little to slow the phantasm, who only let out hisses and snarls of pain.

An aura of alabaster light suddenly engulfed the phantasm, producing an immense weight that suddenly forced him into a crouch. The ground cracked and buckled in protest, yet the demon was still actively fighting against the strain.

"Must be a spirit bound to the knife in some way. Waiting all this time for someone to come by to feed on them!" Igrei grunted, his voice strained. He pushed his staff forward, the glow of the promethium tip becoming steadily stronger. Yet, even as he poured more power forward, the phantasm continued to rail and strain against it.

The demon threw his head back and shrieked without a mouth, a crushing peal of sound that shattered the magic surrounding him. The outflowing shock wave struck Igrei and flung him back, while Coin was pinned further back against the wall.

Coin hissed, wincing as the pain of his sore muscles flared to life again. The phantasm's palm drove him into the wall, but Coin was quick to counter. Particularly with the plumes of smoke and dust obscuring him from Igrei. His neck elongated, his teeth growing and sharpening into an assortment of of shark-like chompers.

His jaws clamped down like a bear trap, puncturing the demon's collarbone and filling Coin's mouth with a burst of the foulest blood he'd ever tasted before. A strange combination of brimstone and bog water.

A pained shriek escaped the phantasm, his quad of eyes widening in alarm. He had undoubtedly killed many humans in the past. But a human taking a bite out of him with lupine ferocity was certainly new.

Coin was struck to the floor, the blow shaking his vision. He absorbed the demon's blood and shredded skin into his maw, but he glanced up to see the wounds slowly knitting themselves back together. Coin's eyes widened, his jaw morphing back into a more human shape.

A hard kick caught him in the ribs, flinging the mimic back. His body struck Igrei as he tried to stand upright, the two men tumbling and clattering in a heap.

"D-damn!" the elf cried, only barely keeping a grip on his staff. He tried to force himself up, while Coin scrambled to rise. Electricity and wind whirled around Coin's arms, letting out a flickering blue glow into the ruined barracks. Power hummed through his flesh, growing more intense by the second.

This thing was tough. Far stronger than anything Coin had ever fought before. Even if he landed a few direct hits of lightning, he doubted that would be enough to put it down.

Creatures like this were the norm for the Bleak? Small wonder people in Arcadia feared this place so fiercely if such monstrosities could spill from it.

The Phantasm swept toward him, the two men jumping aside as his claws smashed into the floor. Dust and wood chips sprayed up into the air, and the room shook and shuddered in protest.

Igrei took aim and launched a bolt of white flame at the Phantasm, just as a crushing wave of thunder shot from Coin's palm. The simultaneous impacts slammed into both sides of the creature, who hissed and staggered back, his quills bristling down the length of his spine.

Then, suddenly, he thrust his head forth and let out another shriek that surged toward the two and uprooted a swathe of the floor. Igrei had aimed his staff forward, creating a wall of shimmering in front of the two to act as a barrier. Yet the phantasm pressed his assault, while Igrei grunted and strained as he tried to maintain the barrier.

"Damnation," Igrei grunted, clenching his teeth tightly. "This one is something else! Can't remember the last time I fought a Phantasm this tough!"

Coin narrowed his eyes, reeling as the two waves of magical force crashed into each other with rising intensity. He was at least partially recovered from his prior illness, but he'd probably knock himself out cold if he poured too much magical power into a single attack. But a fully charged bolt of lightning, aimed directly at the creature's head while he was standing in place... would that be enough to end him?

He raised his right hand and took aim, a surge racing through every nerve of his body. Magic flowed through him, like a raging river crashing through a freshly formed stream, all racing toward the conduction point of his ring. Enough power to flatten a building, hot enough to melt stone like butter. Enough to kill a beast like this.

He hoped.

The roaring scream grew more and more intense, until the edges of Igrei's barrier were rippling. He couldn't keep it up indefinitely, his face straining from the exertion. They'd be lucky if the barrier held for a handful of seconds!

Power built more and more in Coin's upraised hand, while the flickering of Igrei's barrier began to glow with a near-blinding intensity. Coin squinted against the glare, hoping that his aim would still be good against the glare.

And in the chaos, Coin only barely saw a shape rushing toward the phantasm. A noise of splitting flesh echoed through the barracks, so harsh that the Bleak-born demon halted his shrieking entirely. Coin and Igrei stared in shock, the blinding glow of the barrier gradually melting away.

Essine stood trembling beside the frozen phantasm, burying the luminous dagger into the side of his neck. Bilious blood oozed from the wound in his neck, an injury that should have killed any living being... yet the creature stood idle, as if nothing had happened at all.

His quad of golden eyes flicked sharply toward Essine, who froze in place under his harsh stare. She was trembling, huffing for breath, her desperation and fear driving her to an action most would have called insane.

Then, suddenly, a harsh and ragged sound began to rumble at the creature's slim chest, echoing in the choking silence of Charnyll.

He was laughing.