Final Confrontation

Tom struggled in the grasp of the huge Berserker. He couldn't breathe. Straining under the crushing grip of the man, Tom did the only thing he could think to do as blackness began to creep in around the edges of his vision. Pulling one foot back as far as he could, he struck the man right in the tender bits with his boot.

Eyes going wide from the pain, the brute's grip slackened, and Tom gasped in a breath of air as he began to cough uncontrollably. A groan of pain from the huge man before him was all he got as the grip began to tighten again.

From the left, a dark blur rushed across the battlefield and slammed into the man. Derek had used the additional power from his power suit to attack with a flying leap at the man's side. Knocking the man completely off his feet, he released Tom who fell to the ground coughing again and gasping for air.

Managing to land on top of the berserker, Derek began to punch the man in the face repeatedly as hard as he could. Back and forth, his head jerked as the punches connected. Reaching up, he grabbed Derek's right hand first, then his left in his meaty fists. Derek struggled to free himself, but the grip was like a vice locked onto him.

Squeezing harder, the metal of his gloves began to groan, and Derek cried out in pain. Bron was there a moment later delivering a kick to the head that any punter would have been proud of. The man's head jerked to the side so hard that Tom could hear the cracking sound from where he lay.

He released Derek, who quickly rolled off the man to get away from his reach. Rolling over, the man got to a knee and punched the ground in frustration, cracking the pavement again. Bron stood before the man, his axe stowed away so that he could fight the man with his fists. Kevin and Kirsten stepped up behind Bron on either side and all of them activated their own berserk abilities.

Getting to his feet, the brute before them bellowed out a challenge as he eyed each of his opponents. Charging suddenly, Bron sidestepped and punched him in the face, barely dodging the man's own punch. Kevin leaped forward and brought both of his hands clasped together down on the back of the man's neck causing him to stumble forward into the kick that Kirsten was executing aimed at his face.

Lifting off of his feet and into the air, the muscled man landed flat on his back with a crash. No one rushed him this time. deciding to stay back and prepare for the next attack. Bron, Kevin, and Kirsten were all breathing heavily from the adrenaline pumping through their veins, waiting for another opportunity to attack.

At the same time, another battle was being fought between the two guilds, albeit with far less enthusiasm than the one occurring between barbarians. There had been scuffles and a fistfight that broke out because of the killing of one of the members of Stormcrusher, but the fight was mostly taken out of them when they saw that Shandra had lost the battle and now there were only two members still actively trying to hurt the members of Vanguard.

Everyone else stared in awe and fear at the battle happening between the massive creatures in the parking lot. Seeing that they were far outmatched, the remaining members stared on trying to think of something to do to help. Briana cast a barrier between the man and Bron, Kevin, and Kirsten. When the Berserker got to his feet, he banged his fists on the barrier and cracks began to form. He turned to look at Briana who gasped as she realized what was about to happen.

He smashed the barrier again and it exploded into shards. Briana felt the backlash of the magic and cried out as she fell to her knees, Kedron catching her to break her fall.

"Fuck this! We can't just stand here!" Kedron said in anger as he stared at them and let go of Briana to try to move forward.

Bobby grabbed his shoulder and shook his head firmly at him.

"You'll only be in the way. They can't be trying to dance around you while they fight that thing." Bobby said to him.

"Fine, spells it is," Kedron said ripping his shoulder out of Bobby's grasp. "Mages! Cast whatever debuffs you can on that fucking monster!"

Kedron weaved his hands in an intricate pattern, muttering words of power, and then pointed at the Berserker. Others began to do the same and the skin of the man began to pulsate with different colors as debuffs were added to him. Slow, Poison, Stamina Leech, Life Drain, and many other spells hit the man at once and he staggered slightly. Turning to face the crowd that was standing back, he bellowed at them, appearing to get ready to leap.

A fist slammed into his face sending him sprawling to the ground again. Bron had used the distraction to bring the attention back to their fight. Grunting and then growling in rage, the man stood back up slowly but was knocked over again with a punch from Kevin, then Kirsten as they took turns hopping forward, striking, then hopping back to stay out of reach.

Suddenly standing straight up and spun around with both fists straight out to the side catching all three of his opponents with strikes, knocking them back slightly. The man's moves were slowing even further though, and he seemed to be out of breath.

"GRAB HIM AND HOLD HIM!" Tom yelled from where he was as he began powering up a spell.

All three members leaped at once and grabbed onto his arms, Bron on one and Kevin and Kirsten both holding the other. The Berserker struggled to get free and pull his arms together. Slowly they began to move closer together as the others grunted with the effort of keeping them apart.

"Get away now!" Tom called to them again.

Bron nodded at Kevin and Kirsten who nodded in return, and they let go at the same time, falling backward to the ground from their leaning positions. Tom brought his hands up and thrust them forward as he yelled out the words.

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"FINAAAAAAAAAL FLAAAAAAAAAAASH!!!!"

A beam of energy blasted out of his extended palms and shot at the monstrous man. The beam struck him in the gut and the Berserker's eyes went wide as they began to bug out of his head. The beam seemed to meet resistance for a moment before Tom channeled even more power into the spell from the mana he had been accumulating through the Tattoo's ability. It burst out of the back of the Berserker in a bright flash, causing people standing off in the distance to have to dive out of the way of the beam that slammed into the side of a building.

"HAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!" Tom screamed out suddenly as he poured every last bit of his power into the attack.

All the anger, the frustration, the stress he had endured, and the fear he felt were channeled through the attack as it widened even further consuming more of the man before him. The Berserker began to scream in a high-pitched wail of pain as the beam severed his body in half after becoming wider than he was.

Finally, the beam of energy faded as Tom dropped to a knee, completely spent. Both halves of the man were lying on the ground what was left of his torso shook weakly as he attempted to breathe in. Tom recovered slightly and stood to walk over to the man. His muscles had shrunk back to normal size, his Berserker Rage having been nullified by the damage.

"Keith, I presume?" Tom asked looking down at the man on the ground.

Gasping, still trying to take in a breath, Tom noticed that the bottom of the man's lungs had been burnt away along with his diaphragm. When he couldn't breathe in, he nodded ever so slightly.

"You won't have long. Your muscles for breathing are gone." Tom spoke softly to him, sorrow evident on his face. "I'm sorry. It wasn't supposed to happen this way."

The man's eyes began to move around erratically as he knew his time was coming to an end.

"I wish it could have been different," Tom spoke again, pulling a gun from his inventory.

Firing once, the bullet penetrated his forehead, and the body went still. Tom hung his head as he turned away from the body and fell to his knees on the ground, deactivating his tattoos. For a long moment, the only thing Tom could hear was the beating of his own heart hammering in his ears. His breath came labored as he fought back tears from the emotions roiling through him.

"This is so fucked up. Why did it have to be this way?" Tom whispered to himself as he knelt there, trying to find purpose in what had happened.

A heavy hand rested on his shoulder.

"Do you think you did the right thing?" Bron asked him in a low voice as he knelt behind him.

"I...Yes," Tom answered after pausing for a moment.

"Then get to your feet. You did what needed to be done. This could have been a war, with far more deaths, but you stopped that. Do not question yourself when you do what you believe is right." Bron said, standing to his feet behind him and moving off to the rest of the guild members.

The members of Stormcrusher stepped back as Bron approached.

"You have all seen what pride does to those with power. Stop the futile fighting and come together to stand as one against a world that also seeks to kill you." Bron spoke loudly to the assembled crowd.

As Bron walked away, the members of both guilds looked at each other with hope, but mistrust.

"If any of you want to leave now, I suggest you go. The rest of you will be welcomed to Vanguard if you so choose." Tom said in a now strong voice as he stood.

Turning to look at each other, the members of Stormcrusher seemed to hesitate in making a decision. Two of the members turned and ran off suddenly. Everyone else stored their weapons and stepped forward.

"We don't want to fight anymore. It's been miserable. No one could talk back to Shandra to tell her that what she was doing was wrong. We all watched Ezra get cut down when he tried to say something." A man said as he looked around at the others and then at Tom.

"That's over now. We can work together. This doesn't have to be a battle between humanity. We have too many other things to worry about." Tom said. "Those willing to work together, renounce your guild."

"Our guild was disbanded the moment the duel was over. Probably a combination of Shandra dying and the conditions of the duel." The man said again.

"Fine. We are heading back to Vanguard. Any who wish to join can follow. All others should leave the city." Tom said as he turned to walk away.

"You son of a bitch!" Someone yelled from the crowd behind him.

A man came rushing out of the crowd toward Tom. Turning with a speed belying his size, Tom slashed out with the greatsword he equipped straight from his inventory and cut the man's head off with one clean stroke. His head bounced on the ground and rolled a few feet away while his body slumped to its knees and then the ground, a small spurt of blood escaping the neck as the heart continued trying to pump blood.

"Anyone else?" Tom asked, a mask of anger on his face.

No one moved. Turning again toward their base, Tom began walking back. The others of his guild following behind. The majority of the remaining members of Stormcrusher began to follow as well. The somberness of the mood was almost palpable as they trudged forward.

"Are you okay?" Derek asked as he caught up to Tom.

"I'll be fine. Just need to get home so we can figure out what comes next."