The Gateway (Harbinger of Doom Volume 1) by Glenn Thater

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of their ilk lay in a heap about the knight, having fallen victim
to his desperate swordplay. He bashed one of his attackers back
with his battered shield as he deflected and blocked blow after
draining blow with his long sword. His strength was quickly ebbing;
soon he’d have only his magic to sustain him. He managed a series
of furious counterstrikes that drove the devils back long enough
for him to tap the sorcerous arts he’d honed as a Caradonian
Knight. Through Odin’s grace, he summoned a roaring column of flame
from on high that engulfed one of the fiends, instantly
incinerating it, its ashes crumbling to the stone floor. The
remaining fiends turned and fled. Though calling down such power
had drained him terribly, to Sir Gabriel’s side he sprang, to aid
him as best he could.
    Claradon summoned all remaining mystical
strength from deep within his very core and empowered one last
sorcery. Unleashing his oldest and most forbidden words of arcane
power, words he never dared utter before, he discharged a
screeching blast of fiery death from the tip of his blade, a
crackling azure bolt with the numinous energy to vaporize any man
or beast. It struck Korrgonn unawares, enveloping its entire form
in ravenous flame. But after only a moment, the flame’s power
waned, then vanished, consumed by the demon’s stony soul.
Claradon’s magic was spent, though it mattered little since he
commanded no words that could fell this abomination; that much was
clear. But he had other tools.
    His Dyvers blade in hand, he charged the
beast. Though he struck with all his strength, his finely wrought
steel blade merely bounced off Korrgonn’s exoskeleton, sending
sparks flying. Korrgonn ignored these ineffectual attacks and
continued to parry Gabriel’s deadly blows.
    At last, Claradon’s blade fractured against
the thing’s armor. Drawing his Asgardian dagger, he lunged in,
thrusting the point at the fiend’s back. To his surprise, the blade
sliced through, puncturing its exoskeleton near where a man’s
kidney would be. Korrgonn howled in pain, spun around, and slammed
the back of its spiked fist and forearm down on Claradon’s head,
crushing him to the floor where he lay bloodied and
stunned.
    Korrgonn maneuvered about and caught Gabriel’s
next blow with the hilt of its blade. It kicked Gabriel in the gut,
sending him reeling backward, causing him to trip over and fall
beyond Claradon. The beast stepped forward and raised its red blade
high to finish Claradon who still lay dazed.
    “ No!” cried Gabriel. Bounding
upward and forward over Claradon’s prone form with blinding speed,
Gabriel executed the reckless Valusian thrust maneuver taught him
by Kull, king of that far-off land. Gabriel’s war blade arced
upward as he came in. The ensorcelled blade pierced Korrgonn’s
black heart, sending green ichor spurting everywhere. With all the
knight’s power behind the blow, the wide blade sunk halfway to the
hilt. Completing the vicious maneuver, Gabriel immediately pulled
the sword back, nearly out the wound, before swiftly plunging it
back in, sharply turning the blade as it entered. This merciless
attack was designed to eviscerate the opponent, instantly sapping
his strength, but it left much of the attacker’s head and torso
exposed. The chaos blade fell from the beast’s grasp and its
massive body dropped to its knees. It roared in pain and rage as
its lifeblood showered the floor.
    “ I’ll have your soul yet Gabriel,”
spat Korrgonn, as it threw an uppercut toward the knight’s chest.
Gabriel, in the midst of wrenching his sword free, moved to catch
the blow in his gauntleted hand. But from Korrgonn’s gnarled fist
sprang a twelve-inch long barbed spike. It pierced clear through
Gabriel’s hand, and on through his thick steel breastplate, and
sank deep into his chest. He stiffened at the blow and tried to
pull away, only to have Korrgonn return the favor by twisting the
blade and jabbing it in ever