The armoured figure stood up as fast as it appeared and without as much as a look around, unleashed hell upon the warriors standing nearby.
From the Commander's feet, a wave of sickeningly blue water splashed around with tremendous force, knocking the nearest of them from their feet and raising a bit in the air before letting them fall.
Soon after, a short sword followed - stroking mercilessly towards a Spear-wielding companion of mine who stood the nearest and was affected by the flash flood the most.
The weapon slashed the air and made a horrifying sound as the steel clashed against the steel. The warrior's aura was slashed apart instantly, not showing any resistance to the master's power, and the short sword tore apart the cuirass near the spearman's neck.
Fenfallal's subordinate would have fallen dead by now, if not for his leader's timely intervention - As he appeared from between the swirling colours, Fenfallal dashed forward and pushed his soldier away from the waterbending enemy, barely saving his neck.
Despite my honest hopes, Commander hadn't stopped for a second - determined to strike us down.
Seeing that the golden warrior that gave him so much trouble on the other side of the gate guarded his previous target, he spun around in one fluid motion - both creating a high wall of water that cut off the nearest path to the lightning-wielding warrior and reaching towards the other close-combat warrior nearest him.
This time, we weren't as lucky.
Like an unstoppable tidal wave, Commander tore through the warrior's shield with his sword, as if it wasn't encased in aura and was made out of paper.
A shriek of pain reverberated through the grassland, as the commander's sword shlashed through my companion's forearm, entering in the middle and leaving to the side, slashing flesh and breaking bone in the process.
Around the same time, another figure emerged from the Gate, this time though, Marvin and Tensyn - the archers, hadn't hesitated to shoot a barrage of arrows in his direction, all of us had already crossed to this side.
Following the painful howl of my friend, the enemy warrior let out shallow gasps as his throat became a macabre hedgehog in an instant, followed by a dull thud of a body hitting the lush grass.
As Fenfallal and the spearman dodged the tidal wave and circled to reach the Commander who had already bit his blade into human flesh, Algier finally moved, his reflexes were clearly slower than Fenfallals, or even Stellmo's - Who rushed at the heavily armoured water warrior from the other side.
As the warriors clashed, Algier rose to the air. His hair and robes flung around as if in a hurricane, and a ball of air mana slowly formed between his hands.
The man was so dense I could sense it from where Los stood, at least twenty metres from Algier, not accounting for the height he rose to.
Commander hadn't managed to inflict further wounds on the unlucky soldier, as Stellmo and Felfallal charged at him from both sides. Sensing the danger, he turned around once more, like water, and slipped between the two masters while unleashing a wave of unsettlingly blue water around himself, pushing the attackers away as much as he could.
While another torrent of arrows flew through the air with a distinct whiz and the ball of condensed air mana swelled further between the senior mage's hands, another victim fell to the commander's sword, elusive like fluid.
He moved surprisingly fast, not as fast as the golden warrior, but with his excessive use of aura on pushing Fenfallal back he managed to gain distance, even if meagre. Before, on the other side of the Gate, he didn't use such a tactic, probably in fear of harming some of his own people.
Marvin, one of the archers, was the one to find himself before the metal-clad commander. He tried to defend using his bow, a desperate, fruitless effort hadn't saved him from a deep gash appearing on the side of his stomach.
Blood splattered all around, but before the commander managed to finish off his prey, Fenfallal appeared before him - in a flash of red lighting, his face full of fury.
A quick and powerful strike of a golden sabre, clad in red lighting, staggered the commander back and sent a shock through him, weakening his aura barrier - straight onto a wrathful lunge of Stellmo's.
The hellish flames encased their master and his weapon as he thrust with all his mass, explosions further propelled him forward on a collision course with the Commander's back.
The terrifying roar that left his mouth shook me to the core, as the flame-bearing sword pierced the blue barrier and skewered the Commander's heart.
While that scream of horror was attention-grabbing, it was still only noticed by me unconsciously - most of my attention lingered on the orb of compressed air. It was so powerful and full of mana that I am sure everyone else felt it, not only Algier and me.
A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.
Senior's grip on mana was truly terrifying. He condensed and condensed, spinning the orb so fast that it picked up wind around us unintentionally, all the while adding more and more energy to his creation.
But soon, he seemed to stop.
Immediately after, from his outstretched hands, the orb burst with unimaginable speed. Its shockwave pushed everyone around with mighty strength. Los backed at least a few metres under the harsh wind, while the nearest men literally lost their ground and were thrown to the back without any control. the only one unaffected was Algier, obviously, as the one who controlled this reined force of nature.
A man stepped through the Gate at that exact moment. The orb flew next to his head, knocking him over and breaking his neck - which stretched unnaturally and if not for the spell's hellish sound and the Commander's scream, I am sure I would have heard an unnerving popping sound.
The orb disappeared in the Gate, a flash after it left Algier's hands - following which that swirling mass of colours dimmed and eventually completely greyed out.
As the spell left his hands, Algier fell from his position, limp like a corpse. Fortunately for him, the third close-combat Advanced warrior was close enough to catch him before he struck the ground.
I barely managed to keep Parcas in my arms while clutching Los' neck frantically, not to fall from the steed as I watched the battlefield from some distance away.
A few bodies, pierced by arrows in numerous places, spewed on the ground. Fresh blood flew from the wounds, dying the ground beneath the blades of grass red.
Similarly red were the clothes of those two warriors, who were unfortunate enough to meet the wrath of a master. They would undoubtedly died if not for Fenfallal's and Stellmo's intervention. We all would.
A few metres from the men tending to their wounds, another of close-range warriors lay beneath Algier, who after collapsing to the ground from the height of his flight, hadn't shown any sign of consciousness. His body was limp, which wouldn't hinder the warrior enough to not let him stand up. I think he didn't show the mage to the side deliberately, worrying that there may be some injury on our leader - and wanted someone to look at him before doing anything.
It was my chance to help them a bit, so after gathering myself on the saddle, I prompted Los - who was surprisingly calm in the face of such chaos - to near them.
As my steed walked, Parcas hid behind the flaps of my coat. I looked in the direction of where two masters of the same retinue as me had clashed with the enemy warrior of the same rank.
Stellmo was cleaning his blade from the heinous blood that stained it, while Fenfallal tended to Tensen's injuries. All next to the fresh corpse encased in kilograms upon kilograms of steel. The back of Commander's cuirass was punctured and dented, with sharp parts sticking outwards due to violent unsheathing Stellmo performed on the master's body. Here, blood flowed most vigorously, as the fiery master's blade met the opponent's heart. Red liquid squirted from the wound in waves for a few moments - until the pressure slowly disappeared along with the heart's activity. Then, it seeped out, like a spring high in the mountains - giving birth to a river, in this instance, a blood-red one.
Such a person. Able to overwhelm a group of well-trained and experienced warriors one rank below him, yet, dying at the hands of two of his status mere moments after they started to focus on him, and only him.
I pitied him. He died a worthless death, not having delivered any of us at the threshold of heavenly gates, nor stopping our escape... Not only that, apart from dying with no cause he brought his soldiers along - the only ones who definitely died, though they may not be alone. I can't be sure that Algier's spell hadn't decimated the entire outpost - even if it was doubtful.
About him - having checked his state, I came to the conclusion that he was just spent, tired in a magical way. I noticed that he hadn't let out any mana outwards - which considering that he couldn't currently control it, led me to believe that he used all of his resources, which in turn made him faint.
I wasn't surprised, every time mana leaves my body, I feel a bit nauseous - if I operated on higher amounts I would definitely lose consciousness after a while, especially if I emptied my reserves in one, big spell.
"Is he okay?"
Stellmo approached me from the side and asked - pointing at the mage who moved pillows, from the warrior's body to my knees.
"Yes, I think so. He doesn't respond or wake up, but his eyes respond to being exposed to the sun and I hadn't found any external wounds - I think he is just tired after using all of his mana." I explained as clearly as I could.
"Good, keep an eye on him though, if he dies, this whole journey would be for nothing." He stopped for a moment to sigh deeply, as if reminiscing. "I, on the other hand, will take a look at that Gate - let's see if it is truly closed."
As he walked over, I realised that I had forgotten about our only source of danger. After Algier's spell, the Gate became grey - but that said nothing about its workings beyond colour, it could still be operating, and spewing warriors just mere metres behind my back.
I positioned myself towards it hastily, following Stellmo with my gaze as he unsheathed his sword and poked the grey expanse between the Gate's frames.
Metal hit with a dull, stoney sound - as if it was a box with hollow insides. To my relief, the blade hadn't gone through.
"Seems stable, and closed... Hmm... Algier's spell must have thrown it off the balance - or some other stupid mage shit." Stellmo commented. "Anyway, all that matters is that we have some time before the Gate opens again."
Hearing that, a mighty question brewed in my mind.
"If the Gate is closed, how will we escape? We can't spend here eternity..."
Stellmo looked at me as if I was stupider than he thought.
"Right, all the dreams, none the knowledge..." Fucker. "We will probably beat the guardian, and escape through the other gate - as risky as it may be, it's our only option that doesn't include an outpost full of foes, with an unknown number of masters in their midsts... It's Algier's decision though, so don't take my words for granted."
"The other Gate?" I wasn't sure if I just didn't remember, or had never heard of such a thing, but I was sure that I didn't know at the moment.
Stellmo sighed, and I could swear he wanted to repeat the phrase with which he started the previous tirade.
"There is a Guardian somewhere here, guarding another Gate - leading to unknown places. It's very dangerous to enter it, as there is no way of knowing where it will lead you, but in my opinion, it's better than going back."
I didn't ask further, which didn't mean I was out of questions, quite the opposite. It was just that I didn't want to bother Stellmo too much. He seemed to still be agitated from the fight, understandably so.