"They might be inside," said one of the voices as they approached the door.

Danalii squeezed my hand tightly in fear.

"Don't worry," I murmured. "Stand back."

She moved away as both Carol and I readied ourselves for the fight.

The door slowly creaked open; two goblins stepped in, and before they could realize what had happened, we struck.

They fell to the ground as the door opened further. Two more goblins were waiting outside. They glanced at us for a second, then towards the bodies on the ground, and started to run. Carol tried to catch up, as I shot one of them in the back, causing him to fall. However, I missed the second one, and he began shouting ;

"INVADERS!!! ALARM!!!"

Carol finally caught up with him and pulverized his head with her hammer.

She turned towards me and scanned the area. The guards in the tower were all dead, so no one seemed to have heard. I quickly went back inside and grabbed Danalii by the hand ;

"It's clear, let's go!"

She nodded and followed. We rushed towards the wall where the rope was, but just as we were about to climb the stairs, spotlights turned on.

"Well, well, well," a voice said loudly. "What do we have here?"

On one of the ramparts across us stood a tall and muscular Watoo, holding a big war hammer. Next to him was a smaller woman in white ceramic armor with intrigated designs and a full face helmet.

"Thank you for joining us!" she exclaimed.

The Watoo waved his hand, and enemies emerged from multiple sheds, surrounding us. There were at least a dozen goblins and Watoo, along with two Oxanes that were glowing red - most likely due to the buff they got at night. On the ramparts, five or six Watoo armed with pistols were aiming at us.

"Kill them!" the woman shouted.

And they all rushed us at the same time as multiple shots came our way.

We quickly retreated as bullets rained down on us. While trying to protect Danalii, I got hit in the back, making me fall to the ground, but at least my armor protected my health.

"Fuck!!" Carol shouted as she turned back.

"Danalii, run!!" I commanded.

Carol grabbed the Enki, and they swiftly evaded, climbing stairs heading to the ramparts.

I stood up, and one Oxane was already on me. He smashed me with his shoulder, and I flew backward with force, hitting the ground violently. My health dropped to 191.

I shook my head quickly and got back on my feet. Four Watoos and the second Oxane were right in front of me, and my reflexes kicked in. I triggered Ceto's Wrath.

A wall of flame burned and pushed them away, leaving only the Oxane standing, his forearms now on fire. He punched me as I tried to protect myself with my sword, but I got hit and propelled backward, hitting the stairs with my back. My health dropped to 176.

The second Oxane, armed with a battle axe, swung towards me. I rolled away as his weapon hit violently against the metal wall, getting stuck. He tried to pull it back.

Behind him, more enemies were coming as the burned Oxane stopped the flames on his arms.

Out of nowhere, Carol leaped down, her hammer held tight as she smacked the head of the Oxane that was trying to retrieve his battle axe. Blood spilled in the air as the monster took a few steps backward, trying to keep his balance.

She was stronger than before; the last time she attempted this, it barely bothered the beast.

Without losing a moment, she swung again, aiming for his head once more. She hit her target, and the Oxane spat blood and fell on his backside.

"Get up!!" she shouted.

I complied quickly. The other Watoos and goblins hesitated to attack as they saw Carol going head to head with the Oxane. The second glowing red monster didn't care and pushed them aside. The fur on his arms burned, revealing bloody flesh still emitting smoke.

Carol attacked, but he grabbed her weapon with one hand and dragged her towards him, landing a quick punch to her stomach that made her fly back, losing her grip on her hammer. I took that opportunity to slide right beside him and slashed his ankles with as much force as I could.

He screamed as blood splattered on the ground, and he lost his balance. But not before smashing his giant fist on my head, sending me sprawling onto the ground. My health dropped to 132.

My head was spinning, and before I could realize, two goblins and two Watoo came in and started to beat me with their weapons. I quickly tried to protect myself with my sword, but it was in vain. They were too many. My health plummeted to 78.

We can't win this. I thought. We need to escape.

I used Blood Wall and the shield materialized quickly, pushing everyone, the smaller ones and the two Oxanes flew away with force.

I quickly stood up and ran towards Carol;

"Let's get out of here!"

She nodded, grabbed quickly her weapon from the ground and followed me, climbing the stairs. We ran on the ramparts, catching up with Danalii, who was hiding.

"We need to go now," I shouted.

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She grabbed my hand, and the three of us ran along the ramparts towards the location where the rope was attached.

Bullets rained down, but as we were now higher, luckily, no one got hurt.

I used a health patch, restoring my health to 103.

Behind us, the enemies were back on their feet and rushing the stairs to catch up.

"Faster!!" Carol shouted.

I let go of Danalii's hand;

"Follow Carol, I'll be right there!"

She realized that she didn't have time to complain and just followed the order.

I pulled out my crossbow, swapped to explosive bolts, and shot two of them at the same time, hitting the group of enemies violently, killing at least two goblins and a Watoo, and slowing them down drastically as metal sheet and debris felt from the protective walls. I turned back and kept running to catch up to the two women.

We reached the place where the rope was, but something was wrong.

"The rope isn't there!!" Carol said as she caught her breath.

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"It was here, right?"

"Yes, where is—"

I stopped mid-sentence as I pointed in the distance; Uabo's boat had left, and he was now far from Kage's fortress.

"He fucking left us!" Carol shouted. "The fucking rat! I'm gonna smash his head; he fucking left us to die!!"

I didn't say a word; my eyes turned to Danalii as she stared at me in fear. Then I turned and looked at the enemies coming our way. The two red glowing Oxanes in the front, and half a dozen goblins and Watoo in the back.

"We have to fight," I said.

"Stand back," Carol said firmly.

I immediately grabbed Danalii by the shoulder and pulled her behind me.

Carol tapped her Red Gem, and as it glowed, she started to levitate, preparing her attack.

The two Oxanes picked up the pace, shouting, while some of the goblins took their chance by leaping over the rampart and landed violently in the courtyard.

Carol unleashed the power of her Gem. A colossal red fist materialized before her, obliterating everything in its path. The rampart was blown apart, and flames engulfed everything. To our surprise, one of the Oxanes survived, but he was badly wounded, his flesh torn away, revealing his now visible muscles. He growled in rage.

"How is that possible?" Carol exclaimed.

"The night!" I replied. "We need to finish him now!!"

Without wasting a moment, I reloaded my crossbow with explosive bolts and shot in his direction. The double explosion pushed him backward.

Carol rushed him and swung her hammer at his head, but he blocked it with his arms, the metallic weapon splashing blood as it made contact with his exposed flesh. I quickly followed her and went to slice with my sword, the beast didn't have time to cover his other side, and the blade cut into his biceps, stopping at the bone. As I pulled back, the monster screamed in pain and anger.

Carol attacked again, smashing him on the head and he fell backward. We were about to finish him when out of nowhere, both of us were knocked to the ground.

I turned around quickly, and there stood the main Watoo who was on the rampart, holding his war hammer.

"Ok, time to finish this shit," he said with a smile on his face.

Though not an Oxane, he was remarkably big for a Watoo, with a bare chest and strong muscles visible under his fur, he was holding a similar war hammer to Carol's.

"Kage," I said.

He nodded.

"You aren't for me, don't worry. I'm only here for the girl," he replied, pointing his war hammer towards Carol.

"I'll take care of you Simon," a feminine voice came from behind him.

It was the woman, and she was holding Danalii by her arm. Her white ceramic armor was covering her whole body and face, the design was almost scary with hard edges and spikes. Feeling almost like made of bones. Even though the helmet was covering her face completely, two eyes were glowing purple, it was nowhere anything I had seen before.

"You came to save that little fish, huh?" she asked.

Carol and I stood up, facing Kage, Keres, and Danalii. Behind us lay the badly wounded Oxane, still on the ground.

Before we could say anything, Kage swung his war hammer with incredible speed, hitting Carol right in the chin, sending her flying backward. I quickly tried to attack him, but Keres shouted ;

"STOP!"

I turned around, and she now had a knife to Danalii's throat.

"You and I," she said. "If you try to go away, or help your friend, the Enki is done."

I raged with anger.

"Why?!!" I shouted.

"I'm finishing what I started, of course."

"Cleo..." I said.

Her helmet opened from the center, moving on its own similar to Iron Man, and it was indeed Cleo. Her face was quite different from the last time I saw her, she had a scar on her left eye that was now glowing purple, completely missing it's iris.

"Long time no see," she said.

Kage pushed me aside as I hesitated to move, my focus on Danalii. Behind me, Carol was trying to stand up, but Kage smashed her head with his hammer in a swing. She flew from the ramparts and hit the courtyard with a violent impact.

"Carol!!" I shouted.

Kage jumped to meet her as she stood up again.

"I got... I got this, don't worry."

I couldn't see where they were from here, and my attention turned back to Danalii. She didn't seem scared, not for herself, but she was sad for Carol and me. She nodded to me.

"It's okay," Danalii said. "Save your friend."

"I can't," I replied.

"Oh, look at that, she is willing to die," Cleo interjected.

In my head, my thoughts were racing as everything else felt like it was in slow motion; was Danalii real or just a part of a scripted game? Could Carol handle Kage on her own? What about the Oxane? And how did Cleo manage to find us?

The influx of questions overwhelmed me, making it hard to think clearly. Too many voices echoed in my mind. I took a deep breath, attempting to regain my composure.

I had to trust Carol, and I firmly believed that Danalii was real. The same went for Malii and Tabi. They were all genuine individuals. I lacked tangible proof, but there was an undeniable sense within me that they were real. I believed it with every fiber of my being. The journey I embarked upon initially under the assumption of a game had evolved beyond that. I now cared deeply for all of them.

I took another deep breath, slowing down my heart beat, the way I was told when trying to contain my panic attacks, before I joined this world.

Danalii was staring at me, I smiled, and she smiled back. I was calm. I could do this.

"Alright, Cleo," I said, pointing my sword at her. "Let's finish this, you and me. Unless you're scared."

The woman laughed.

"Don't you need your Clonazepam for your panic attacks anymore?" she laughed.

"How did—"

Before I could finish, Cleo took advantage of my surprise and quickly pushed Danalii aside and out of the palm of her hand emerged a big ball of fire flying in my direction. I barely had time to jump from the rampart as the ball burned everything on its way, including the Oxane that was still laying there.

The metal from the rampart distorted with the heat, and anything made of wood caught on fire. It was a powerful spell, and as the ball came crashing on the guard tower on the other side, it destroyed it, blowing burning pieces of wood and red molten metal in every direction as the structure collapsed and fell away from the floating platform and into the hazy ground far below.

I landed violently on the ground, hurting my foot, my health dropping to 98.

"What the fuck!" I shouted.

Behind me, Carol was fighting with Kage, but before I could really see who had the upper hand, Cleo leaped from the wall as her helmet closed back and did a superhero landing right in front of me, pushing me with force.

"Let's finish this!!" she shouted.

I looked at my cooldown; I still needed 3 minutes to be able to use another patch.

I pulled my crossbow with explosive bolts and shot at the woman.

She dodged the first one and got hit by the second, protecting herself with her sword.

Surprised by the explosion, she lost her balance momentarily. I rushed forward, holding my sword tightly with both hands. I swung at her, and she blocked my attack with her weapon. We both battled to gain control. Her helmet suddenly opened;

"I know everything about you, Simon."

She laughed and pushed me away. Then, in a surprising, graceful movement, she pivoted in the air and slashed with her sword. I tried to block, but she was stronger, and I fell to the ground. Her armor had glowing purple lines lighting up as she moved, it was way more advanced compare to Enkis or Watoos technology. Giving her a almost sci-fi look.

She dashed quickly to the side and swung again, cutting deep into my forearms. My health dropped to 77.

She was more agile, faster, and stronger than me. There was no comparison.