The second wave comes in full force. Everyone is fighting out of formation. Some people have to fight two, three, or more opponents at the same time. Ulrika and I, as of now, are lucky enough to have one-on-one clashes, but the rate of enemy fights is high. I can’t catch a moment with these assholes. After I take one down, another comes immediately.
“This is insanely tiring,” I say, thrusting my sword through a cultist’s neck and taking it out. I turn my head to the left to see where Ulrika is. A cultist charges from behind her. Before I can warn her, she stabs him with both her swords without even looking. He groans in pain as she uses his momentum to throw him over her head. She looks around before stopping at me.
“Duck!” She yells.
Instead of ducking, I roll forward over to her but remain on the ground. I hear what sounds like something moving through the air at an extremely high speed. It whistles for a short moment. I look behind to see what she did. There’s a cultist woman who has a gashing hole in her chest. She’s struggling to stand up, but someone bumps into her as they fight a cultist, knocking her to the ground.
“Hey,” Ulrika says, pulling me up to my feet. “Are you hurt?” We put our backs together to set up a defensive position.
“I’m good.” There’s so much carnage around me. I’m almost overwhelmed by how violent people are destroying each other. They’re like rabid dogs, fighting violently with their hands, weapons, and magic. “By the gods, Ulrika. Am I in hell?”
“Not even close to the madness I went through.”
“Really?” A cultist in front of me spits fire out his mouth. I absorb it with my sword, launch it through their stomach, then call it back to my hand. “Could this get worse?”
“Gods, I hope not.” All of a sudden, something transparent in a red color wraps around my arms. I drop my sword, then get catapulted into the sky. “Kaio!!!”
My body spins uncontrollably up into the sky. I try to call my sword to my hand, but tumbling up in the air makes it hard to focus on it. My last desperation to stop myself is to use my force magic to gain complete control. I pull my legs up, cross my arms over my chest, then quickly extend them out, blasting enough force to create a loud thunderous explosion.
“It worked,” I say, falling back down with my back to the ground. I immediately gain awareness of my sword. It comes to me in an instant, slapping into the palm of my hand. I safely descend back to the ground, far from the action. “What the fuck was that?”
“You’re not going anywhere,” a man with a deep voice says. I look around me to find no one around.
“Show yourself!” The pressure in my left ear pops. I swing to the left but get wrapped in the same transparent tether that threw me into the air. It locks my right hand against my body, but my left hand is free. “Damnit! Show yourself, coward!” The man reveals himself and kicks my sword out of my hand.
“Here I am, Paladin.” He puts my sword up to my neck but examines it like he’s seeing it for the first time. “Interesting sword you got here. Lyesanthir?”
“I’m not a Paladin.” With a simple flick of his free hand, the restraints around me tighten. My back ripples in popping sounds. “Ugh!”
“Lying what save you.”
“It’s the truth!” My restraints squeeze me some more.
“You know what, I believe you. By the way, thanks for the sword. Once this city is ours, this will be my memento.”
“That sword will never be yours.” He scoffs, then slides my sword against my neck, thinking it’ll cut open my throat.
“What the?”
“That tickled.” He comes at me with a jab to my neck, but I stop it by catching the tip of it my thumb and index. I have complete control of it as he tries to tug and shove to attack me.
“How is this possible? I can’t move it!” When I let go, he wildly swings it to his left. It cuts the tether, releasing its bond over me. I call it to my hand, then shove its handle deep through his stomach. Just to add extra damage, I twist the sword horizontally as I pull out.
“You lose.”
“Are you sure about that?” A massive amount of demonic magic begins rising within him. The veins in his face start to bulge then his body swells. Both of his eyes pop out, and thick dark liquid pours out.
“Shit!” I fly straight up into the air as fast as possible. He blows up in the same fashion the prisoner did at Thaa Alora. Nothing but steaming goo remains. “You still lost, asshole.” I dangle for a moment to catch my breath. The wind picks up, blowing in the direction where the fighting is. It blows into me like it’s pulsating. Very unnatural, unlike steady flowing wind. “Ulrika?”
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I hover back down to the ground and sprint back to everyone. Before I reach them, I send my sword out to the hill to kill the last mage. They’re not there, but Garret is. He’s sitting on his horse, watching the battle at a safe distance. I want to attack him, but I fear if I provoke him, he’ll make things worse for all of us.
“You’ll get your reckoning, Garret. Now, where is that mage?” I say. I hover my sword over everyone on the battlefield. “Where the hell are you?” After some time of scouring the field, I spot the mage fighting Ulrika. It doesn’t look like the mage is doing so well. Ulrika strikes are causing the mage to continually back up. They bump into their cultist ally and turn their head back. “Uh oh. Fatal mistake.” She slashes her right sword through their neck. The mage starts gushing out that same black crap and begins to swell up. “Oh no! Shit! Ulrika!” I thrust my sword into the mage’s back and lift them in the sky away from her.
My heart is beating against my chest. Just the thought of Ulrika getting hit by that brings me to my knees in fear. I stay on the ground, panting as I clutch my heart. With my left hand, I twirl my index finger to spin off any goo that might be on my sword, then call it down to me. I grab it and run back into hell, fighting my way back to Ulrika’s side.
After a bloody journey, I finally reach her. Her back is to me. She’s in a combat stance with her swords raised, ready to strike anyone who dares to attack her. We’re both panting heavily, unable to breathe steadily.
“Ulrika,” I yell. She turns her whole body to me in an instant. Her eyes open wide, including her mouth. I run over to her but keep my defense up just in case someone wants to fuck with us. “Are you okay, my love?
“Kaio!” She lunges into me for a hug. Her arms wrap around my waist with her swords touching my ass. “It was you! You’re alive!” She starts crying out loud. “Thank the gods, you’re okay! I thought I lost you!”
“Easy. Pull yourself together. We’re exposing ourselves for an attack.”
“Right.” She lets go of me. Her cheeks are drenched in her tears, and the whites of her eyes are red. “No time to weep for joy. We’re in combat.”
“Looks like we’re winning. I don’t see any cultists near us.”
“That’s good! Now, where’s Garret?”
“He’s still on the hill, spectating the fight.” I gaze at the hill he’s on. “Why isn’t he attacking us?”
“When I was a knight, I’ve seen leaders of a unit do this type of thing. There was always something up their sleeves that made the battle worse.” A knot forms in the bottom divot of my neck. She snarls with her mouth closed, eyes locked on Garret. Her face intimidates the living hell out of me. I have never seen her look so sullen like this before.
“How bad can it get?” She stops snarling. Right as I look back to the hill, Haleema comes running up to us.
“Hey, guys! Glad to see you’re okay!” Haleema says. Her face has sprinkles of blood on it. Some strains of her hair are detached from her central braid. Even her shirt is stained with spots of blood.
“Goodness, Haleema,” Ulrika says, wiping her tears away. “You look like you’ve slain many.”
“Yeah, it got... wild. I see it went crazy for the both of you.” Ulrika and I look at each other. I somehow manage to miss seeing the blood littered all over her chest on down.
“I’m blown away how hardcore this was, versus the one at Thaa Alora.” Ulrika notices my mediocre jest by shaking her head with tight puckered lips. “I’m lucky to be alive right now.”
“Lucky? It’s the mastery of your skills and magical capabilities that made you prevail.”
“Agreed,” Ulrika says. They’re making me feel optimistic about myself. I kinda want to hug Haleema, but we’re covered in blood.
“Thanks, guys.” A loud crack of thunder rips through the sky over us. Another storm rapidly forms over our heads, but a darker cloud sits above us. Lightning strikes down, sparing no one with its lethal electrocution.
“Guys! Get close to me,” Haleema yells. Ulrika and I get close to her. She forms a blue-tinted bubble shield around using her staff. Some people around us do the same. Lightning strikes our shield and bounces off, killing a nearby knight and a cultist.
“Wow, he doesn’t care about his own people?” I say.
“What a degenerate,” Ulrika says. Garret continues hammering down on us nonstop.
“I could try weakening his storm, but I might have to sacrifice the shiels strength,” Haleema says.
“I’ll do it, Haleema. I broke it before, and I’ll do it again.” Ulrika puts her hands to the skies. Her arms begin to shake as she moves them outwards at a slow pace. The clouds directly above slip open but start reforming back. “Oh no, you don’t!” She thrusts her hands up again, shooting up massive amounts of air. Parts of the ground we’re standing on start to fly up within the bubble.
“Whoa,” I say. The split comes back. It moves apart at the speed of Ulrika’s arms as she moves them outwards. The lightning strikes start lessoning, striking fewer people. “That’s it! Almost there.” She lets out a strained scream. Her arm swings down to her side. The storm clouds fade away as far as my eyes can see.
“Amazing. You’ve completely dissipated every single cloud,” Haleema says, gazing at the sky.
“Kaio,” Ulrika mumbles.
“Hmm?” I hum. Her body wabbles, then she falls towards her right. I grab her by her waist but have to swing out the bubble shield to fully catch her on the ground. “Ulrika?” Her eyelids are halfway closed. She’s breathing heavily with her mouth open.
“Oh, gods! Is she okay?” Haleema says.
“I think all that power she unleashed taking out two storms caused her to blackout.” I turn Ulrika’s face to look at me by her cheek and force some of my mana into her. She opens her eyes but closes them and smiles.
“Don’t waste your mana on me. You need all of it to fight Garret,” Ulrika slurs on some words. I ignore her and continue filling her up. She drops her smile when she looks up at me, but it comes back. “Stop. You need this power.”
“No. I need you by my side. We’re taking him down together.” As she opens her mouth to respond, something catches her immediate attention above me.
“Look out!” I don’t have time to turn around to see what is coming, so I call my sword to protect me. Something metal slams into it with such a force, that it rings my ears. Haleema grunts as if she’s in pain. I remain still, looking at Ulrika’s fully flushed open eyes. In their reflection, I see a dark figure.
“You just had to tell him I was coming,” Garret says in a muffled voice.