As William and Warlock could see the white’s of each other’s eyes, Warlock swung his blade in a diagonal arc, intending to cleave William in two. William began a thrusting motion and activated [Flash Stride], appearing behind Warlock as Echo appeared above the man, using his Mana Disruption attack, preventing any protective measures from him as William used [Vortex Thrust] and [Mana Investment] dwindling most of the accumulated Mana from the Essence Core he had drained. Even with the trickery, assistance of Echo, and the speed of his attack, Warlock managed to turn a chest blow into a blow to his right Arm, thankfully obliterating it at the shoulder. Warlock yelled in pain, having lost control of the Mana blade as it dissipated into thin air. William saw two casts of [Fire-Bolt] come from the treeline behind Warlock, impacting the man in the back, the disruption of Echo’s ability still in effect on Warlock, allowing the magic attacks to heat the metal where they impacted to a cherry red glow. It wasn’t enough to really heat the metal, but the attacks did make Warlock grunt in pain.
William felt [Danger Sense] trigger again from behind him, and managed to roll out the way of an icicle that had been conjured from behind William. As William came out of the roll, Warlock punt kicked him in the chest, making William launch back. He didn’t stay airborne for more than a second, allowing him even as he was once again winded, to desperately roll out the way of a follow up attack. The attack was not an icicle this time, but instead was an arrow conjured like the Mana blade had been. It seemed that the icicle attack was still on cool down. He didn’t expect the Mana arrow to be much better however, and so he sprung to his feet, staggering as the chill and numbing feeling made him stagger partway through.
Warlock suddenly yelled as another [Fire-Bolt] connected with the side of his head as he was focused on William. The attack only connected as it had come from his blind side. Warlock would tear apart either John or Stacey if he got a hold of them, and William couldn’t allow that. He summoned Flicker again in his free hand, and activated it, appearing to the side of Warlock missing an arm, and thrust into the fleshy wound with Flicker, striking true and forcing Warlock to scream in pain. William channeled the last of his Mana into Absolution and slashed for Warlock’s chest. The blade cut a gash in the armor, injuring Warlock’s chest further, but it wasn’t enough. William’s heart lurched as the twenty five percent chance of failure to bypass armor occurred for the first time since using Absolution. William had to leap back as another Icicle shot form his left, but he was too slow from the injuries he had to fully dodge the attack. His arm bearing Flicker and his Shield was sheared from his body.
William howled in pain, stumbling back and falling on his rear. Even though it wasn’t the first time he had lost his arm, the biting cold of the attack made this occasion hurt exceedingly more however. As he looked up, Warlock let out a grimacing grin that conveyed his glee and malice at William’s suffering. William thought it would be the end, but he had a brief moment of respite as two more [Fire-Bolt] projectiles shot at Warlock, one aimed for the flesh of his severed arm, still leaking blood down the once pristine armor, and the other aimed at the same blind spot. This time, Warlock conjured two small Mana shields to block the projectiles, seeming to even anticipate another blind side attack. Echo was only able to disrupt one of the shields at his angle and it was the one that would have intercepted the bolt aimed for Warlock’s bloody shoulder joint. The sound of searing made Warlock yell in pain before the smell of burnt flesh started to permeate the air nearby. The smell didn’t last as the wind wafted it away quickly. The rain however, was starting to lighten up. The fight needed to end and soon. To William’s horror, an icicle shot towards the direction of the [Fire-Bolt] that had connected and a feminine shout sounded form the treeline. Stacey must have been hit. He had to help her, but he wouldn’t make it before Warlock killed him and the others. He had to hope she wasn’t severely injured and that Jane was nearby. The [Party Interface] was a relief as he saw that Stacey still had two thirds of her HP. Meanwhile, William only had two hundred and thirty HP himself, so he had to end this as soon as possible.
Echo tried to scratch Warlock’s remaining eye out then, seeming to try and protect William without his command. William was on his feet and moving towards Warlock as a meaty fist knocked Echo from the air and into the ground hard. William screamed in fear, but felt that Echo was still alive through the bond, but was sadly to hurt to move for the moment. William saw another icicle appear in Warlock’s free hand as the Mana shield was now twice as large and circling his body. He managed to get between echo and Warlock but was unable to avoid the Icicle as it punched a whole in William’s lower torso. He felt searing pain, biting cold, then crumpled as he couldn’t feel his legs. He knew what had just happened. All he had to do was live through this and Jane could fix everything back up. That was an optimistic prospect, however, as Warlock still held the manic grin and formed a Mana blade in his remaining hand. William levelled absolution at Warlock from his prone position. He had one hope left to even survive the coming blow.
As Warlock brought his blade down, William flicked Absolution up, no Mana being channeled into the blade and used [Indomitable Parry] as the blades connected. William grinned briefly, watching the Mana blade fly off out of view, but it faded as Warlock kicked William’s hand with full force, shattering the bone in his hand and launching Absolution away from his grasp. William grimaced, he tried to reach for a Mythril dagger, but his hand was too broken for a firm grip. He had no way out. This was it. The moment he died. He wouldn’t see his mother, Jane or Stacey ever again, nor would he ever get to chat with John and Wallace. Stacey was Level twenty though, the current strongest besides him so he had faith that Greenwell would be in good hands. Another Mana blade formed in Warlock’s hand and he raised it up, ready for the kill. William considered closing his eyes, but he decided to face his death head on, glaring hateful eyes at his killer in a final act of defiance.
To William’s shock, a [Fire-Bolt] hit Warlock’s upraised hand, forcing the blade to dissipate and his hand to become blackened and charred flesh. Warlock yelled in pain and fury, spinning towards who William assumed was John, turning his blind side to William, and even further to William’s surprise, the red eyed, red haired captive with a dagger, punching it straight into Warlock’s upper spine, before twirling to his front, plunging two more thrusts into Warlock’s chest, before kicking Warlock backwards, making him trip over William’s immobile legs. William didn’t feel anything below his waist, but the pain running through his body was plenty to make his world almost consumed with pain. An Icicle however shot into the red head’s shoulder, making her wail in pain and fall back herself.
Warlock’s heavy breathing sounded beside William and an absurd idea formed in his head, but it was his only chance to finish the man off. He used his broken hand and arm to pull himself atop Warlock and seeing the man that had hurt Stacey and Echo chuckling with vicious mirth made William become filled with rage. William slammed his head down in a headbutt, breaking Warlock’s nose and some teeth. Warlock’s eyes were wide in pain, but William just roared in rage as a response, headbutting him again, and again, and again. William only heard fleshy thuds, breaking bone and muffled groans. His eyes were closed but every headbutt made a white flash in his head appear, dazing him. His mind had already disregarded that, however, and muscle memory kicked in, allowing him to continue his barrage of headbutts.
At some point the groans of Warlock stopped and a prompt tickled the back of his mind. He didn’t stop, feeling more warm blood and viscera coat his mouth, the taste of iron filling his mouth as his roaring shout left his mouth exposed to the bits of flesh and blood he was pulping from Warlock’s face, yet he continued. At some point he felt something swishy and weird smelling, yet he continued. He felt Echo down the bond telling him to calm down. William ignored it, tasting some weird, wrinkly meat in his mouth, before the taste hit him and he immediately vomited, clarity coming back. He opened his eyes and looked around, noticing Echo was flapping in the air in worry. Blood, flesh, vomit, and what he assumed was brain meat fought to overwhelm each other on his taste buds. The smell below him and on him was vile, making him wretch in disgust. The red head and William’s friends including a healthy Stacey looking on with horror. He then noticed the rain had stopped, and the gore on him wouldn’t be coming off quickly any more.
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The edge of his vision began to darken and as he saw Jane moving towards him in a run, darkness took him, the last thing he felt before it being the impact of his body on wet and iron smelling grass.
William came to consciousness some time in the evening, letting out a tired groan as memories of the battle came back to his mind. He felt for Echo’s bond and smiled with relief as he felt the little guy coming towards him. Next he checked his faculties and was immensely relieved at feeling both his legs and his other arm. He used the restored arm to feel his other wounds and noticed that whilst the torso wounds were fully healed, the one on his shoulder wasn’t and was now a slightly star shaped scar. He assumed one of the others had or found a HP potion to heal the last of the wounds. After all, he expected that Jane would have needed to heal Stacey and the red head woman too, and at her current level, he also didn’t expect her to have massive amounts of MP to use. William then played through events in his head and grimaced at his blind rage and the headbutting that followed. He noticed that his clothes were now clean, however and checked them closely. He noticed that all his clothing had Restoration Runes on them now and assumed that Jane must have enchanted them to clean him off while unconscious. He wasn’t complaining, though he did see one of the sleeves on his coat had a slightly skewed version of the Rune on it. Jane wouldn’t have done a massive amount of enchanting, however, so he appreciated it nonetheless.
With all his pre flight checks done, he got to his feet and noticed that the others, including the captive had gathered all the weapons and armor that remained up along with the mostly destroyed tents in a large pile. He noticed that Flicker, Absolution, and his Mythril dagger he had used were all laying on the ground beside him, cleaned and ready for use. He sheathed the dagger and stored his swords away in his ring. The others had set a fire and were sat around it now noticing William’s rise as Echo landed in his arms. He hugged his bond and gave the little Phaseling’s head some well deserved skritches. A blur of black hair wrapped its arms around him and he felt Stacey’s warm lips on his. He wrapped one of his arms around her and leaned in, savoring the moment. After what was not enough time in his mind, she pulled away and checked his body, clearly worried about any lingering injuries. He really didn’t deserve her.
He took her hand after a few more seconds and walked with her to the fireside as Echo flapped his way over to curl up near William’s feet, basking in the warmth of the fire. He looked at the captives and noticed that the red head was looking at him with curiosity and wariness. The two others were less catatonic, but huddled together, staring into the fire.
“You alright mate?” John asked, passing a water-skin to William.
William took it and drank greedily from it before stoppering the water-skin and handing the item back.
“Yeah, thanks, that was… rough,” William replied, wiggling his feet and fingers, shuddering as he remembered the pain.
“Thanks to Jane’s ministrations, I’m all good now. Thanks sis, I owe you one,” He added, smiling at her.
She walked over to his other side, kissing John on the cheek first, and wrapped her arm around William.
“Are you okay in here?” Jane asked, tapping her head, her face full of concern.
“Not really, no. Something in me broke as I thought on what that bastard had done to Echo, Stacey, and his captives. I had nothing but my head and teeth to use, but the last time I used my teeth was horrifying, and still haunts me. I think my mind subconsciously chose the headbutt route instead and so that’s what I did apparently. It’s just another thing to add to the nightmares I occasionally have. It won’t be the last time I doubt that something harrowing adds itself to the ol’ nightmare collection,” William replied, tapping his own head.
“You are the Bloodbane, aren’t you?” The red head captive asked, that wariness seeming to dwindle slightly as she watched William interact with his party.
William could see that she was an Elf, so wouldn’t be able to use [Identify] to figure it out.
“Yes, that’s me. The Everglade Councilors sent our group to find yours. We… found your companions’ bodies and I’ve stored them in my Spatial Ring to be buried or cremated at yours or Everglade’s desire.”
The Elf’s heart and expression seemed to sink and her two companions shared a grieving look with each other before they started crying. William felt bad about evoking those feelings, but he didn't think them wondering if the bodies were rotting or being eaten was any better. Closure was important after all.
The group sat in silence, as the captives including the Elf now all cried their hearts out. After what felt like a long while, John and Jane were curled up together as William, and Stacey did the same. The four bonded creatures all lay near their companions, enjoying the warmth. Cries subsided shortly after that and the Elf introduced herself to William.
“My name is Par’Maya, Maya for short. Thank you for saving us and killing that piece of shit commander,” Maya said, her fiery expression plastered on her face, the red eyes she had almost mesmerizing, like garnets flickering with the firelight.
“I’m glad we managed to save you three, and… I’m sorry you had to go through um… the stuff you uh… went through,” William replied, not wanting to say the words that he had his suspicions were what befell the three girls. He was relieved that they all had yellow cloaks wrapped around them. Bloodstains and char marks dotted across each of them, but the womens’ modesty was covered and that was a good first step.
Maya looked at him with a warm expression and replied, “Thank you Sir Bloodbane for your kind words. After the… conclusion tot he battle, I was worried that we had went form one maniac to another, but your companions were quick to protect your integrity and your words demonstrate that very thing.”
“No need for formalities, Maya, call me William.”
“I’ll do that then, thanks.”
William’s eyes widened as he remembered that inside his ring wasn’t just the bodies of the now freed captives’ companions, but all their personal effects and gear.
William summoned the pile off to the side of the fire pit and said, “We collected the gear left behind so feel free to go through everything and get your possessions.”
The three women didn’t hesitate, though the two other women he had yet to learn the names of were more subdued and took their time working their way through the stuff.
They were probably gonna need a lot of psychiatric help to get through their grief but it was better than having to suffer further or be dead, though he had a feeling they would’ve probably preferred that fate to the one they had gone through. Maya was kitted out quickly and looked like a very fierce warrior with a spear in a harness at her back, and two sleek daggers on her hips. A form fitting green and brown leather armor set covered her body and limbs, with an etched tree on the chest piece, the symbol for Everglade, the same one that had been etched on the armor of the other guards in Everglade, aside from the gate guardians made of wood. The armor was form fitting to her and accentuated her figure.
As her clothing was the most in tact she didn’t seem to mind putting the gear on in front of people, but the two other girls went behind a nearby tree to equip their gear. A few minutes later, the two other women emerged with the same armor that Maya had donned, both wielding bows on their shoulders and shortswords sheathed at their sides. All three women sat back down and looked at the pile of stuff remaining that William assumed belonged to their dead companions. William stored the items away in his ring and nodded to them, giving an empathetic smile, hoping to give them some reassurance.
Maya seemed to sit straighter, having her kit equipped again, looking straight at William as she said, “Thank you again William, John, Jane, and Stacey. My two companions are Shanna and Jula and all three of us are forever grateful to you all. We need to talk to you however, about matters we have over heard since our capture. It’s my hope that their brazen bravado will become their undoing.”
William and his group leaned in, their interest piqued as William expected that the news would change a lot of plans going forward, given the serious expression on Maya’s face.
“We’re all ears,” William said, fighting the worry in the back of his mind.