Norbert shook his head, not wanting to be distracted, focusing on the energy coursing through his body again, not knowing if he had slackened off on sending it around his veins while examining the star or if he had kept it up.
Rounding the barrier, Norbert saw he hadn’t been hidden as one of the enemies within the barrier continued staring at him, a spell already lined up for him, just waiting to step out from behind the barrier his teammates had erected.
Stepping out, he saw it was unleashed; the ground rippled out as a tidal wave of sand approached him. Knowing they must have seen the last time the arrow hindered him, Norbert leapt as high as he could, making it over the wave as he landed on the other side, quickly clearing it.
Once he landed, Norbert knew what they wanted. His feet instantly stuck to the ground, and he could not move them correctly. Standing still, Norbert confirmed that he wasn’t sinking into it, which was a bonus, but currently, he was stuck as a bug in a rug.
Looking around, he saw the ground around him having a yellow sheen. Turning around, Norbert saw the mages inside their barrier preparing spells, swallowing as he realised their plan. Changing his vision, confirming their plan and the meter area on either side of him being the no-walk zone, Norbert tapped his daggers as he thought of what to do.
The first peppering began, spell after spell heading his way and just blasting him from his spot with everything they had. His skin was peppered by sand and dirt. Large rocks are being hauled in his direction. Arrows bounced off his head, and daggers pierced into him, blowing out the other side of his body.
Twisting his body around, he saw a pile of projectiles scattered around him, sticking up out of the ground where they first struck it, also sticking there. Moving his attention to the rest of the battle, Norbert looked to the side, seeing his team slowly win. Now, the tides were being pushed their way, and Norbert was occupying two of their opponents.
Feeling the energy within him still coursing, nothing currently going amiss internally, Norbert just waited, letting the battle of attrition continue, knowing that he could quickly last the two of them.
Crossing his arms in front of him, not even trying to dodge the attacks heading his way, Norbert began whistling a tune, going through the standard scales as he tried to find the same rhythm as before when he was in the training halls and repeating countless tiBelievingieved he was there, the barrage stopped for a moment. Fazed by the change, Norbert stopped whistling as he looked around to see what had happened to cause the pause. Looking about, he saw their attention go to the only two fighters they had left. Norbert’s team had lost two more people, lying on the side, the healer no longer paying attention to them as they continued to stay there.
Seeing it was time to start moving again, Norbert turned his magic vision on. He saw the ground around him having lost the magic, causing him to be stuck, the objects on the end now falling to the ground and laying still.
They were moving his attention to those behind the barrier, confirming that they weren’t trying to do some power move at the end and sway the tide their way in their eyes, the only part that Norbert could see desperation in their eyes, all the paths leading to their destruction and fall in this fight.
Not seeing the point of letting them struggle anymore, Norbert leaned down as he undid his boots, making sure not to get his sword stuck in the ground. He stepped out of them; Norbert took his socks off and rolled up his pants.
Barefoot Norbert wiggled his toes as he stepped onto the sand, which stuck him down again. Unlike with the boot where it held, Norbert grunted, his foot releasing as a trail of blood trickled onto the ground. Norbert waited a moment for the skin to heal before taking his next step, ripping the skin off his next foot before placing it down again.
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Faster than people would think, only needing to pause in his stride to heal himself again, Norbert progressed out of the sticky situation, becoming easier the further he went out until he could finally step without ripping anything off him.
Turning to the warriors still fighting, Norbert dashed towards them, having watched previously the weapons used clanging off the mummies harmlessly. Whatever was underneath those rags was able to protect them from most shots.
He was taking out his sword, Norbert charging on the side. One of them turned his way, scimitar in hand, as he moved it down, trying to block Norbert’s strike. Having two hands on the weapon, Norbert pulled it back as he twisted his body around, using it more like a baseball bat than a bladed weapon.
Not letting the energy fall into the weapon, not wanting to see the effects as it once more met with a ting at the sword, instantly snapping through it as it continued to the body. The clang resonated again, the sword embedding itself as it hit something, the metal folding over itself, pulling the sword out of Norbert’s grasp.
The individual flew, hitting one of their companions before the two crashed into the ground, churning up the dirt until they stopped. Norbert chased after them, not knowing if he could retrieve his sword later.
As Norbert was about to grab onto it and start dislodging it from the body around it, Norbert felt his feet get kicked out from under him. He was falling to the ground as the two bodies crowded on top of him, pinning him there, one locking in his arm and the other his leg, both putting pressure on him.
“Resistance will only cause further pain”, the one holding onto his arm shouted towards him. Norbert turned his head a little, looking out of the corner of his eye as he shook his head, the energy moving about his body once more.
Feeling the pressure increase on his arm, Norbert sent energy into the joint, forcing it to dull his pain the moment before he felt it break under the pressure. Holding back his cry, the extra movement gained, now having the hold relaxed on him for a moment as his elbow was now extra flexible.
Twisting his body around, Norbert grabbed their leg as he dug his fingers in, feeling the hard shell underneath the wrapping give way. A scream came out of them, releasing their grip from his shoulder and arm. Untangling his broke right arm, rebrokenng it Norbert , grabbed a dagger and slammed it into the leg once more, needing to hit it twice before it found purchase, easily sliding underneath and into the flesh it was trying to protect.
Moving it about, Norbert felt it's little resistance to vertical movements once penetrated. The bandages on the outside give more protection to movements like that than the metal underneath. His dagger easily slid through it like butter as he racked it up their leg.
The person is letting go completely, now trying to scramble away and grasp onto their leg. Norbert is twisting his body, throwing him as far away as possible, trying to make it as difficult as possible for their healer.
Turning down to the one still strapped to his leg, Norbert started to grapple, untangling himself.
WHOOSH
Flashing right next to his head, Norbert saw a golden piece of metal ducking out of the way as it slammed into the person strangling onto his leg. Knocking straight into their chest, letting go of Norbert’s leg as they slammed into the ground. Looking up, Norbert saw they had already defeated everyone else; the only one left was this.
Wondering how they got through the barrier so quickly, having to take so long as Norbert stood up, moving to the one he flung, everyone else heading back to the platform since it was over.
Picking up the sword, Norbert once more heard the commentator start to speak. “And what an interesting turn of events at the end, Norbert, the one that was stuck somehow passing through the barrier of their opponent, seemingly breaking it without his notice before taking two of them.”
Norbert, having dislodged his sword, saw the blood on it as he wiped it down with the rags around the body, a black smear over their chest, looking more ruined than intact, knowing even for himself it would take some effort to heal. Staring at the crowd, Norbert saw the Kreevss starting to move out, of the stand heading to the exits.
Wondering what they were heading out for, Norbert hoped it wouldn’t be because of him. Waving his hand out, he saw one of them take a blade out of their belt, looking straight at Norbert as they kissed it.
His hopes shattered. Norbert headed towards the platform, which lowered into the ground as people rushed onto the arena to help those who had been left behind. Just before the platform lowered into the ground hiding the view of the arena, Norbert saw a tenth of empty seats. Not a single Kreevss left in the stands.