Destined: The Six

40. Blessing of Armor

          The next day, Belle, August, and Tamara went down to the cave where Carnifex was located. The teens had ditched their exceedingly expensive outfits, but August had kept the golden top hat. The three skittered down the beach. It was a stormy day today, so the coast was deserted. Convenient, too, for the people probably would have been suspicious of Belle's katanas.

          Belle continued to take deep breaths, in through her nose and out through her mouth. She knew she was quite the scaredy-cat, so she needed to remain calm. Carnifex would have no mercy. Belle had looked up the translation, and it turned out it meant "executioner" in Latin. That wasn't necessarily a friendly name that would be accepted on Club Penguin.

          The teens neared a cave that looked ominous enough. Belle saw a blue light coming from the mouth of the cave. That must be the light from the pylon, she thought as August and Tamara looked at the instructions that Joshua had given them. They both seemed to have agreed. "That's definitely Carnifex's cave," August said. He and Tamara parted to let Belle through. After all, what were they going to do? Carnifex could only be hurt by a master--or mistress--of blades.

          Belle slowly tiptoed into the cave, peeking her head in first. She didn't immediately see anything, so she decided to go in further. She cast glances around the walls, seeing red marks everywhere. Also lining the walls were strange, crude drawings. Upon closer inspection, Belle could see that some of the drawing resembled Carnifex.

          Belle kept going. The blue light seemed to be just around the corner, and it was definitely getting brighter. Belle thought that her heartstrings couldn't get strung any tighter when a rumbling voice from behind her said, "Boo."

          Belle screamed and leaped up so high that she hit her head on the cave ceiling.

          She turned around. Carnifex was standing there, one pair of arms crossed over his chest and on pair on his hips. Belle immediately unsheathed her Awakened Impervium katanas. In response, the giant samurai unsheathed his blades.

          Belle was at least relieved that his blades weren't Awakened Impervium. That would have made fighting him quite a bit more difficult. Belle swung, confident in the abilities of her sword. However, unlike what she assumed, Carnifex blocked it easily, without even a scratch on his katana.

          "What? I thought Awakened Impervium destroyed everything!" she cried out, looking at the shiny blue blade. Carnifex simply laughed and began to perform the eloquent Danse Macabre. With the extra arms, his movements seemed even more fluid and powerful. Belle, however, was not one to skimp out on a Danse Macabre. She danced, too, her movements speeding up with Carnifex's.

          Soon, the two dancers were up at their maximum speed. Belle leaped in for an overhead strike, clashing with two of Carnifex's blades. She swiped again, aiming for the torso, but her blocked that attack, as well. Belle went for a spin, and Carnifex countered with his own. The two backpedaled, keeping up their Danse Macabre moves. 

          "You're just a ninny!" Belle shouted at Carnifex. "If you were only fighting with two blades, then we would be even! THAT'S how a true warrior would fight!" Carnifex immediately complied, his body shortening to more about Marionette's or Jeremiah's height, and his arms falling right off. "Oh," Belle managed after seeing the instant amputation.

          The two clashed at each other again. And again. And again. Then one more time. Finally, Belle scored a hit on Carnifex. He stumbled for a fraction of a move, but Belle had already began milking that small opening. She hacked again and again, this time without Carnifex blocking her strikes. Eventually, she cleaved right through the armor on his left side. Carnifex abruptly stopped his movements.

          Belle knew what to do next. For extra effect, she leaped in the air for a heroic spin attack. She landed her overhead strike right between Carnifex's helmet antlers, then struck again. This time, she split his head in half. With a flash of light and a loud Noooooooo!, Carnifex was destroyed.

          A wave of exhaustion suddenly rushed upon Belle. This had happened a few times before when she performed Danse Macabre, so she knew what to do. She pulled out a protein bar and wolfed it down. Instantly, she felt better.

          After another moment of rest, Belle began to search for the blue light. She followed it until she reached the giant blue crystal. A beam of light was coming from the sky to the direct center of the pylon, just like the others. Belle took out one of her katanas and struck the pylon. It shattered, and just like with the others, the light from the sky slowly crawled over until she was in the spotlight. 

Daughter of blades, you have bested the executioner. Take, now, the armor's blessing.

          It was just like how it had happened with the others, voices from every direction and so on. It was just that Belle wasn't expecting an entire suit of armor to drop from the sky.

          Belle shrieked loudly with surprise. After all,  entire suits of armor only fell from the sky on Thursdays, and today was Tuesday. The suit of armor was a great old outfit, a samurai likeness.

          The armor covered the entire body except for the joints. Even the eyes were covered by some translucent substance. The armor included some golden insignia on the chest, along with golden antlers, like Carnifex's. However, the rest of the armor was a deep black, and it was mostly jagged. Now, entire suits of armor, even if they fall from the sky, were not generally sentient and excited to put themselves on to their new masters. This entire suit of armor, however, did just that.

          Belle had been expecting something this strange, so she just stood still as the armor did all the work. Afterwards, she found her way out of the cave. August and Tamara were standing right there. August saw her first and promptly shot at her. "It's Carnifex!" he squealed in horror. However, not a single bullet pierced Belle's new armor. Impressed with her blessing, Belle held up her hand.

          "Don't worry, August, it's Belle," she told him. August stopped firing and calmed down. "So, you beat Carnifex?" he asked.

          "Yup," Belle answered.

          "I wonder how the others are," Tamara wondered aloud.