Zalia woke up mid flight. She was arcing through the air with a torn body, tears, scrapes and pieces missing from her torso. It healed quickly, the remnants of her armour beginning to repair at a similar rate.
She landed, rolling a few metres before coming to a stop with a groan. Her bow was still firing arrows from overhead and the ringing in her ears faded as they healed. Healing Presence was similarly healing the others as well. Faian had it best, having been far from the point of impact, while the shield soldier was pretty torn up but okay. The spear wielder had it the worst, having been as close as Zalia but without heirloom armour to protect her. Zalia could feel that her anti-death had triggered on the woman and that her five earth elementals were no more.
The anti-teleportation ritual was still in effect; she had somehow kept it going through her temporary unconsciousness. That was good, because it meant that as she groggily got to her feet, the Astar was only sprinting towards her, not already at her side stabbing her with its swords.
Her bow turned into her blade once more as she prepared herself, casting a ritual that would help further protect her. Mana thankfully high because of Faian’s ability, Zalia inspected the Astar for wounds.
It wasn’t looking great either, with scorch marks, slashes and holes through its body. Even as she watched, however, she could see them healing over. Much slower than her own healing but still quick enough to keep it moving. The Astar was so quick now, reaching her within moments, swords swinging. It must have abilities like Larel; the longer the fight continued the stronger it became.
She activated Fight or Flight, only just off cooldown, and met its swords with her own.
They were evenly matched, for the moment, as she stepped to the right around a jab, deflecting with her blade as she did to throw the arm off balance. Her right hand came up and the Astar’s other sword scraped down the remnants of her armour there, hitting the ground to her right. With increased speed and a glowing power within the sword, Zalia swung with her left hand at the Astar’s arm. It had already managed to pull that arm from the deflection, however, and parried her own strike.
Zalia instead kicked at the Astar’s legs but the Astar intercepted with its shin which was guarded by a strange power she only now just saw. It had a similar power across its body, small places that were unharmed by Nature’s Wrath.
With her leg kicked aside, she used Mobility to instead push against the air in front of herself and jump directly backwards, coming to a stumbling stop as Fight or Flight ran out.
Then the spear wielding soldier was there, now with only a side sword, having healed faster because of the anti-death measure. She struck at the Astar’s turned back, managing a slash down the side of its spine. The Astar spun in place, disarming and then stabbing the soldier through the throat. Blood spurted as the soldier went down, gurgling.
Zalia yelled and struck out with her own sword, managing to impale the Astar through the chest, her blade leaving a wound that glowed with burning light. She could feel Healing Presence healing the soldier on the ground even as she choked and realised that the wound would not kill the woman. Zalia just had to keep the Astar distracted.
Without Fight or Flight however, she was far outmatched by the still increased speed and strength of the Astar. It was slowed considerably by its wounds, but not enough.
Zalia avoided having her head chopped off by a thread, managing to push the blade aside just enough to continue living. She received a sword through the gut for her efforts, the Astar’s blade punching through her armour. Attached to Zalia by the blade, the Astar came with her as she teleported next to the soldier with the shield who had recovered enough to rejoin the fight. He had another sword, Faian’s she realised, and grimly set to taking the Astar’s attention off Zalia as her wound recovered.
Faian joined the fight as well, though she wasn’t nearly as skilled with the sword as the rest of them, her powers mostly resting in the empowerment and leadership of an army.
The three of them managed to hold the Astar off as the spear-woman got back to her feet, one hand holding her sword and the other her throat. She looked scared, more wary of the Astar than ever.
There was a moment's pause in the battle as they surrounded the Astar. Zalia’s anti-teleportation was still active, its effects only applied to teleportation that wasn’t her own, and so the Astar could not escape. It could have flown up, yet it looked confident.
Zalia struck but had her sword deflected. The other three took the moment to attack as the Astar was distracted but it bent backwards under the spear-woman’s swing, twisting as it did to avoid the shieldman’s jab and stabbed its other sword through Faian’s leg, receiving a dagger slammed through the chest for the stab.
That turned out to be a bad trade for it as Faian’s leg quickly healed, though the dagger was left behind in its chest as Faian stumbled back.
Zalia continued the attack but found everything she did blocked or dodged. They continued until the shieldman had his sword arm severed. He gained Zalia’s respect as he continued to fight without the arm, moving forward with shield raised to present a threat to the Astar. Zalia managed to get a slash down the Astar’s leg in return with the Astar now having more than a few glowing wounds that refused to heal.
Most of the damage done by Nature’s Wrath was healed by now, however, though it seemed as if the Astar’s healing had slowed significantly.
Faian backed off, without a weapon, to retrieve the charred top of the spearwoman’s spear. In that time however, the Astar managed to disarm the spearwoman once more. This time, it took off her head.
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Zalia growled with frustration as the woman died but continued her attacks. She pushed for any advantage, struggling to get any hit in that she could. The Astar’s confidence had grown at the kill and it now pushed hard, mostly ignoring the shieldman. It had one of its swords knocked out of its hands for the mistake but the shieldman received a whipping backhand that knocked him out.
With the Astar’s sole attention now on her, Zalia struggled to hold her ground. She only had to worry about the one sword now, however, so had a slightly easier time of things.
Still, she retreated step by step, reaching the edge of the anti-teleportation ritual. Gritting her teeth, she held her ground and something clicked, a notification appearing and instantly vanishing in front of her. She didn’t need to read what it said though, as her bow appeared next to her. With sword still in hand, she knew that the heirloom must have ranked up as she had both forms active at once. Steeling herself, she pushed back into the fight.
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Hildebrandt had to ignore the continuing fight she knew was going on outside of the dome even as she felt an explosion so large that it reached her despite being inside the dome. The two Astar before her were too skilled to allow her mind to be distracted.
The greatsword wielder struck at her again but twisted the blade so it missed when she presented her shield towards it. The Astar had been learning to only strike her when it would hit anything other than her shield and her armour now had dents in its surface that represented that.
She had avoided being struck by the daggers so far but had to give a good portion of her attention towards that Astar to avoid it, allowing the greatsword wielder to get in hit after hit, each denting her armour further.
It was obvious what their play was in this fight. Keep her locked down with the threat of a dagger in the back while the greatsword wielder smashed her armour apart. Once that was done, they would have an easier time killing her. They couldn’t have known that when her armour was destroyed, her skin took on its properties.
She swung three times in quick succession, each strike throwing a bolt of energy that slammed into the greatsword wielder. The Astar arced with pain as her strikes inflicted damage on its soul, something not so easily healed as the body.
The Astar wielding two daggers appeared behind her but she was ready for it, they had already tried something similar a few times. A quick step of her foot and a twist of her upper torso allowed her to bring the shield up to block the dagger that was going for her spine, angled in such a way that it would slip between helmet and breastplate.
The triggered Backlash threw her attacker across the dome but as before, the Astar became translucent, slowing to a stop before reaching the wall.
Hildebrandt growled in frustration, uncertain on how to deal with the duo. Her attacks hurt them, that much was obvious, but they could also wait her out as their recovery was enough to counteract the damage dealt by her aura and Backlash triggers. If things continued in this manner, she would lose the fight… eventually.
She hefted her mace, considering doing something stupid.
Mutual Destruction, Warrior’s Mace (Heirloom) - Deeply Bonded Emerald Rank.
Tin - This mace hits with extra force.
Iron - Godly Strike (Previously Strike) is empowered when used through this mace.
Bronze - The damage this mace inflicts through physical attacks and Godly Strike (Previously Strike) is increased based on how injured you are.
Silver - The Bronze effect of this mace is now also increased based on how damaged Defender’s Godly Armour is.
Gold - Mutual Destruction. You may temporarily lose all bonuses to Vitality, Resilience and recovery related to Health and Mana from all sources. Each bonus lost in this way provides an equal boost to both Dexterity and Strength. When this effect runs out, you lose all bonuses gained by the effect but do not regain your bonuses to Vitality, Resilience and recovery related to Health and Mana until seven days have passed.
Emerald - The Gold rank effect of this weapon now also increases all damage dealt by you by an amount proportional to bonuses lost in its use.
Yeah, she was going to do something stupid.
She activated the Gold rank effect of her mace and felt all the stacked bonuses to her defences from armour, shield and numerous abilities and passives fade away. Strength flooded her body, her body which now reacted so quickly that her mind could not keep up.
The two Astar noticed something was wrong immediately. The burning aura flooding from her suddenly intensified, its damage multiplying to many times over what it had just been. The Astars’ skin began to melt off, though their natural recovery dealt with most of the damage.
Unfortunately for them, the aura was more of an ability for weaker foes.
She triggered Explosive Force on the greatsword wielding Astar and a deafening explosion filled the dome entirely. Hildebrandt remained in place thanks to Stand Your Ground but the Astar became a bloodstain on the wall.
The dagger wielding Astar stabbed her in the back, having become translucent during her attack. She felt a coursing pain ink its way through her body but the backlash that hit the Astar was well worth it. It caused the Astar’s body to explode in a gory mess leaving nothing but the stumps of two legs there.
Their bodies being destroyed didn’t mean they were dead, however.
As the first Astar began to grow back from the bloodstain on the wall, the second began growing back from the stumps that remained of it. Hildebrandt didn’t give it a chance.
Her body burned with a fiery pain as she slammed her mace into the soul of the Astar that remained there, hit after hit, each empowered by Godly Strike. She could see the panic in the soul of the Astar as her empowered attacks burnt away its soul, piece by piece.
The other Astar finally managed to free itself and came after her swinging. The strike landed, cutting her from shoulder to hip, all the way through.
She ignored the wound as that Astar blew up as well. Her body just managed to hold itself together as she pounded on the soul of the second Astar over and over and over.
With a final impact, the Astar’s soul dissipated. The heirlooms belonging to the Astar dropped to the ground, two daggers and an amulet.
She turned to the other Astar with a wicked grin wracked with pain. There was nothing to stop her relentless assault as she attacked the soul of the second Astar, each strike filled with power. She didn’t know how long it had been when that soul died too.
The grin never left her face, even as darkness pulled over her vision as the effects of the ability ran out. As she lost consciousness, the last sensation she felt was that of falling through the sky.