THE DEATH KNELL-Chapter 65: The battle of shadows and steel

In the next moment, a series of nearly invisible electric lights streaked through the air and rushed straight into the crowd.

"Start!"

As soon as Slade Wilson broke free from the confines of the supernatural power, he seized the opportunity. He swooped down, tackling one of the priests to the ground. With swift precision, he rolled them both out of the fray, while Barry darted around the other priests, moving faster than the eye could follow.

Unlike his usual style, Barry didn't just run around the enemies. This time, he focused on manipulating the air itself. With a speed unmatched, he created a violent tornado in the heart of the battlefield, the powerful winds extinguishing the nearby torches. The entire cave plunged into darkness, disorienting everyone caught in the storm.

Each time a priest tried to break through the encirclement or cast a spell, Barry was there, rushing in from behind and pushing them off balance, disrupting their movements with a burst of speed.

Meanwhile, Slade Wilson had already pinned one of the koala-like priests to the ground. He wasted no time, delivering a swift, forceful punch directly to its face. From his previous encounter with the cat-shaped priest, Slade had learned from his experience. This time, he planned to employ a new tactic.

His mind wandered, flooded with memories. While some aspects of his identity remained elusive, Slade's past experiences allowed him to tap into knowledge from a distant, ancient world—knowledge he didn't even fully understand, but could still utilize. He recalled snippets of old teachings, things he had seen on various health programs and obscure advertisements. Concepts like acupressure and meridian theory—the kinds of things often associated with traditional Chinese medicine—flashed through his thoughts.

Though he couldn't quite place why he knew this, the fragmentary knowledge came together in a way that made sense. His mind locked onto one important idea: the 108 key acupuncture points in the human body. Of these, 72 were non-lethal when struck, but the remaining 36 were the deadly points, known as the "death points." Slade quickly remembered the specific techniques associated with these points, each targeting a unique part of the body to cause fatal damage.

In his mind, he chanted an old formula of death strikes: "Brainiac will fall to the ground, the Shenting will not return the sun, Doctor Fate was hit, ten people and nine people were killed, the sun and the dumbmen must see the king of Yama, and the spine was broken without a bone, and he died in a hurry."

Now, facing a humanoid opponent, Slade decided to put this knowledge to the test. His fists, encased in promethium metal hand armor, flew into action. His primary targets were the Brainiac acupoint at the top of the head, the Doctor Fate acupoint at the back of the head, and the temples on both sides.

He knew that to strike with lethal intent in such a short time, he would need to combine both raw strength and exceptional precision.

"All roads lead to darkness!" one of the priests attempted to shout, preparing to deliver some final battle cry. But before the words could escape its mouth, Slade struck. A punch to the chin silenced the priest. Then, with lightning speed, he aimed for the vulnerable temples.

"Welcome your sister! Die!" Slade growled, the words little more than a sneer.

With the force of his blow, Slade felt the priest's skull cave under his knuckles. The temples were crushed inward. He wasn't finished yet, though. To ensure his opponent's demise, Slade struck once more, driving his fist straight into the center of the Brainiac acupoint, located at the crown of the priest's head.

The priest's skull shattered completely. Blood and tissue splattered across Slade's hand as the mask that once concealed its face fell away. Beneath it, a gaunt, mummified visage stared back. It had the features of a bird, with a nose that was too long and sharp, its eyes wide and disproportionate to the rest of its face. The creature's true nature was now fully revealed, and it was no longer human.

Blood poured from its seven orifices as the creature breathed its last. With one final exhale, it collapsed into lifelessness.

Slade took a deep breath, momentarily suppressing the urge to indulge his bloodlust. He wiped his hand off and then called to Barry, "Push one more."

Barry glanced at the bloody corpse on the floor, a shiver running down his spine. He'd never gotten used to seeing such violence, even when dealing with these monstrous beings. But seeing that the monster had fallen, he was able to push past his discomfort. "All right," he muttered. "One more coming your way!"

"Everything..." the next priest began, just as it was sent flying by Barry's lightning-fast reflexes. Before the priest could finish its chant, Slade Wilson was already in the air. He leaped, his foot clamping around the priest's neck as they both plummeted toward the stone floor below. The cave's ground wasn't much of a threat to them; these creatures were resistant to blunt force. But Slade's boots—made of the same resilient promethium—still crushed the priest's jaw with a sickening crack.

With a swift motion, Slade tore the tongue from the priest's mouth, silencing it instantly. The priest's body slumped, its life extinguished. Slade made quick work of delivering a few final blows to ensure it was truly gone.

His blood still boiling with the thrill of battle, he calmed himself with a few deep breaths. While he was well aware that he couldn't rely on the Flash to take down enemies on his own, Slade knew that these monsters didn't deserve mercy. They weren't human—they were alien, hellish creatures. There was no difference.

"It's no wonder that Barry, with his incredible speed, can't really handle the heavy lifting when it comes to killing," Slade thought, his mind drifting back to their previous fights. "He's great in combat, but when it comes down to it, the big hitters are Superman and Wonder Woman. And even then, their lives are on the line. If you don't take the shot when it's clear, things get complicated fast."

Slade reflected on how, in many of these major events, Superman had often been incapacitated first, sidelined by the enemy while others were left to clean up the mess. With Barry at the helm, it was more about moving fast than dealing with the most dangerous threats head-on.

If someone like Reverse-Flash or another speedster were here, they'd make quick work of these priests. But Barry? He was more of a support player in situations like this. Still, at least he didn't hold back when it came to dealing with the creatures that needed to be put down.

"We're doing this the hard way," Slade muttered, shaking his head. "But that's the way it's going to be."

"Throw one more!" Slade called again, ready to continue the fight.

---

Meanwhile, as Slade and Barry continued to fend off the priests, Batwoman had slipped away from the battle. She moved silently, her eyes sharp and focused as she navigated around the chaotic scene. Her path led her to the back of the black well, where an altar lay, cluttered with strange artifacts.

Books, likely containing forbidden knowledge, sat alongside animal parts—mysterious limbs and organs in various stages of preservation. But there was something more she was after.

Though there was no sign of bat gold here, the area felt archaic. There wasn't even any metal present, and the surroundings seemed more akin to a prehistoric site than anything modern. Yet, as she glanced upward, her eyes narrowed in suspicion.

High above her, suspended by a rope, was the specimen of an owl. Its feathers were impeccably preserved, its claws and beak in lifelike detail. But the rope it hung by wasn't some simple twine. No, it was made of a brown cable, something far more advanced than what should have been available in this cave.

Puzzled, Batwoman inspected the rope carefully. A bird specimen as large as this should have weighed little more than three kilograms, yet the cable was unnecessarily thick and heavy for something so light. She reached to her waist, pulling out one of her trusty bat darts, which she flicked expertly toward the cable.

With a clean cut, the owl fell to the ground with a thud. Its dry body shattered, revealing a hidden piece of ore—an unrefined, rough crystal with sharp edges that glowed with a faint red hue.

This, Batwoman realized, was the bat gold Slade had spoken of.

Unlike other metals, bat gold didn't possess the ability to heal or forge armor, but it could amplify magic, serve as a medium for spells, and even communicate with the dark multiverse. It was a powerful material and prized by dark magic practitioners.

As Batwoman lifted the hefty chunk of ore, she realized its true weight—around 40 kilograms, though small in size. She carefully approached Slade, calling out, "Found it."

Slade motioned for her to toss it over. The ore sailed through the air, and Slade easily caught it in one hand.

With this new weapon in hand, the dynamic of the battle shifted. No longer did Slade need to rely on brute force alone. With Barry clearing the way, Slade could use the bat gold to strike with precision. A single blow to the head would be enough to finish these creatures.

The metal's edges were sharp, its power formidable. Each strike felt like smashing a rock against a nut, the raw force combined with the ore's lethality guaranteeing a swift death.

The priests, despite their resistance, were no match for the promethium armor and the sharp edges of the bat gold. As the battle raged on, the corpses continued to pile up, with fewer and fewer priests left standing.

Batwoman, uninterested in the violence, began examining the other tunnels nearby, her focus already shifting to what lay beyond the cave. The fight wasn't over, but the tide had turned in their favor.

50+ advanced Chapter on patreon....Visit patreon now to read my exclusive content... posting 5 Chapters per day,THE DEATH KNELL collection is now available on PATREON

visit patreon.com/Purhitee to view 50+ Chapters