Tristan wanted to turn in immediately and head towards the Lord of the underworld. Unfortunately, as soon as he pushed off to sprint that way, his leg gave out. He wasn’t sure why it did not hurt, but the leg felt more uncomfortable than painful.

“Hey, you doing all right, kid, “ Cole limped over to where Tristan had fallen.

Tristan tried not a snap at the big man. He had done substantially better against the elemental Lord than the civil protector had. Still, pride was no reason to reject the goodwill that Cole was showing.

“I will be fine,” Tristan removed the amulet filled with healing alloy.

Filled was the wrong word. He removed the amulet guttering with healing alloy. It was tier seven, and a sliver of healing was just as potent as the tier two reservoirs he normally used. However, it was still the last time it would be useable in this conflict. He glanced past Cole to where Dane had hit the side of the fort.

The water was shallow enough that he could see the man’s shoulders and head slumped against the side. Dane’s water kern would stop him from drowning even if his head was below water, but the other injuries were bad. Nothing had been cauterized, and losing an arm was most definitely a deadly injury due to blood loss. Tristan could completely heal himself, or stabilize Dane. He had almost killed the man once through incompetence, he did not intend to let it happen again. Tristan started back towards the dying elite.

Cole glanced back and instantly understood the situation, placing a hand on Tristan’s shoulder he shook his head, “Heal yourself. One fighter is better than three wounded. I’ll take care of him. There is a lot more riding on winning than just Dane’s life.”

Tristan wanted to argue, but Cole was right. There was not enough essence in the amulet to get Dane back up and fighting. He was not arrogant enough to believe that his contribution would be enough to win. Tristan was not the strongest fighter here, he was a distant third. What made the decision was not what he could add to the conflict, but what he could take from it.

While Tristan was not the best fighter, the constant stream of adamance from Vulcan made him the most durable. He could take the beating no one else could. While the Lord of the Underworld was beating him, Luke and Siren would be able to put the undead down for good.

“Thank you,” Tristan nodded to Cole before placing the amulet against his knee.

Cole nodded, “No problem kid. I won’t be much help against the big guy, but I should be able to stabilize Dane and help Merrick out.”

Cole ran off, while Tristan reset his knee and started the healing. Once it was finished, he shoved the amulet down into his armor and started towards the conflict with Luke, Siren, and the Lord of the Underworld. It was not going well.

The elemental lord gripped Luke’s gauntlet and squeezed. Absorption reservoirs dimmed as they were pushed beyond their limit, and eventually, the metal started glowing and deforming under the elemental lord's molten anima. Luke yelled in paint, slashing at his opponent with Hestia’s Sickle.

The Lord of the Underworld was not a proponent of the Law Predation because he was weak. This trick had been used once and it would not work a second time. The air around them was made flammable by the power of the sickle, but before it got to a potent enough volume, the lord of the Underworld’s anima flared. Lava as it turned out, was hot enough to light fires.

Siren hooked the point of a war pick behind the Lord of the Underworld’s ankle. He jerked back, pulling the foot up, and in the same motion brought his trusty axe down. It was a setup that would have worked on anyone Tristan had ever met. A distraction of fire and erosion from Luke followed by a brutal physical follow-up from Siren could kill just about anything.

Unfortunately, the Lord of the Underworld ignored gravity. It held itself in the air by controlling the metal it was wearing. The hooked foot lashed out and struck the side of the descending axe, knocking it to the side. Without touching the ground, the Lord of the Underworld did a horizontal spin that brought Luke whipping around like a mace.

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Siren was sturdy and Luke, while well muscled, had an air kern. The comparatively light Luke barely caused Siren to take a step backward. He did stop the warrior from responding appropriately when the Lord of the Underworld brought the edge of its open palm down on Siren's shoulder.

Black cohesion force carapace shattered as the strike destroyed the pauldron. Siren did not yell in pain, all Tristan could make out was a grunt of discomfort. His right arm sagged, his trusty axe falling into the lake. The Lord of the Underworld tried to strike again, but Luke stabbed out with Hestia’s Sickle, saving Siren from the killing blow.

Tristan arrived like a runaway cart. He remade the construct hammer and brought it down on the Lord of the Underworld. Contrary to Tristan’s expectations, the blow did not come as a surprise. The response was so fluid that it almost looked casual, the elemental lord’s hand reached up to catch the hammer.

It felt like he had just struck a mountain. The reverberations rattled back down the handle.

“Cute.’ The Lord of the Underworld scoffed before kicking Tristan in the chest.

Tristan stumbled back, but that was it. He weighed nearly a quarter ton in his armor, attacks on his center mass would do little to him. Surprise crossed the elemental lord’s face, but Tristan did not give it the chance to move. He brought the hammer back down and this time it did not dodge or catch.

Tristan wished that he could say it was due to his skill or power, but truthfully the Lord of the Underworld was forced to pay attention to Luke. At the last moment, Tristan infused gravity into the hammerhead. He was not completely familiar with gravity, but he knew it pulled things down and he just wanted to do that better.

Luke’s flaming slash was deflected, just before the gravity hammer slammed into the elemental’s face. Superheated stone anima cracked and shattered, exposing black bone teeth that reflected no light. Those were cracked as well, revealing the inside of the Lord of the Underworld’s jaw.

“You dare?” The Lord of the Underworld appeared to be more angry about the headshot than the arm it had lost previously.

“Traitor all the way,” Tristan grinned at the undead, though it would be unable to see it through his helmet.

The Lord of the Underworld let out a bestial roar. Cracks tore through its chest plate giving Tristan only a moment to interpose himself between his allies and enemy. The armor exploded, sending out a wave of shrapnel. None of it got through his armor, and Tristan thought that was all there was to the attack.

Unfortunately, he was not dealing with a common warrior. Tristan was facing the remnants of three of Vulcan’s generals. The metal stuck to whatever it hit, molding to any crack and crevice it could. Tristan’s armor was well made, but it still had edges that the small globs of metal could grip.

He staggered forward as the metal was all dragged back towards the Lord of the Underworld. Just because it could not control force imbued materials, did not mean that it couldn’t plant any controllable material. Tristan tried to resist, but the mud of the lake bed offered little traction. There was little he could do as he was dragged into the elemental lord’s punch.

He saw stars for a moment as he was rocked backward. Tristan grunted as his backward fall was reversed and he was dragged into a second punch. It took a third strike for the Lord of the Underworld to realize that he was wasting his effort. Despite the concussion that Tristan was sure he had, it was better than the metal fragments piercing Luke’s flesh and then tearing him apart. The metal control would most likely become ineffective once within his body, but metal objects cutting into flesh were a danger regardless of how they got there.

Siren and Luke were on top of the Lord of the Underworld, throwing out strikes as fast as their considerable abilities would allow. Their injuries slowed them enough for the elemental lord to not only keep up but also counter. Luke had a claw rake across his face, barely missing his eye. Siren took a kick to his elbow, breaking his already injured arm. Neither of them was able to touch the Lord of the Underworld.

Tristan gritted his teeth and tried to clear the stars. He needed to help. Tristan lunged at the elemental, a hammer blow struck him upside the helm, but it gave him the opportunity that he wanted. Tristan latched onto the Lord of the Underworld’s arm like a parasite. He pulled himself onto the arm, clamping on as tightly as he could.

It tried to throw him off. When Tristan did not let go, the elemental started thrashing its remaining arm back and forth. Siren thrust with a midnight spear, scoring a strike. Hestia’s Sickle bounced off Tristan’s back plate, but it did not penetrate. A few more similar exchanges occurred before the undead realized that Tristan had no intention of letting go.

“Release me, mortal!” The Lord of the Underworld’s steady demeanor seemed very concerned.

Tristan smelled victory, he did not need to do anything more than hold on. Then he couldn’t breathe. It took a moment to realize that the elemental lord had jumped into the lake and was heading for the deepest part. It intended to drown Tristan at the bottom of the lake.