This was… strange.

Necromancers weren't this reserved. Their opening assault on me usually decided the battle, as they would send their entire skeletal army at me.

This necromancer strategised, using his weaker skeletons as the first line of defence.

They weren't meant to outright stop me. They simply stopped anyone else from coming in to help me.

It felt like a cavern. The deeper I went into the mass of skeletons, the stronger they got, not to mention the smog getting thicker.

Did I hear something? A buzzing sound got closer as I felt something running through my arm. It was a… skull? It didn't matter. The thing left a shallow cut across my arm.

As it readied itself for another attack, I brought out my sword and sliced it in two.

It was more grotesque than I initially thought. Decaying flesh clung to it, with several patches of mosquito skin sewed onto the flesh.

The mere sight of it made me want to vomit. But it wasn't the last I'd see of the skulls, as several of them were circling overhead.

The skulls jumped at me all at once. As I jumped away I bumped into my next enemy, a homunculus.

Its sheer weight was pushing me back. So I plunged my sword into it, pulled it up and over myself, then threw it against the floor with all my force.

The skulls had been too fast for their own good, and struck the ground right as the homunculus was thrown down.

Let's hope that's the last of them. My hopes were trounced as I heard buzzing again.

***

I finally reached the necromancer. I was expecting someone in a cultist robe, or an old man who was more skeleton than human. But no. He was just a guy, in a hoodie.

“Well, it seems I have to get my hands dirty. I will give you credit though, you got further than I expected.” He was way over his head. A necromancer was nothing without their army.

I readied my fighting stance. All I had to do was get in close quarters combat, and the battle would be over.

My thoughts were interrupted as I saw his fist inches away from my face.

I barely managed to block it, the sheer force of it making me fly backwards.

But how? Necromancers sacrifice their strength to gain that type of magic. His bones should've broken after punching me.

I dashed at him to deliver my own punch, which he redirected downwards. I moved my foot backwards, and used the momentum of the redirection to flip my body. As I was flipped, I managed to extend my foot and kicked him with enough force to make him fly into the nearest wall.

I pressed on my advantage and hit him with a flurry of punches as he was flying backwards.

My punches were interrupted as he grabbed my arm and flipped me up and over himself into the wall he was about to hit.

We perfectly countered each other. Every attack getting blocked or dodged. I guess the necromancer got bored because finally brought out his weapon, a staff.

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I guess that's the que to bring out my weapon.

I brought out my sword. And a hand emerged from the ground, and a hand emerged out of the hand, so on and so forth until they grabbed my sword, all in the span of a second.

I didn't have the strength of like… 20 skeletons, so they managed to grapple it from me.

I had to dodge his attacks now that I was on the backfoot. I needed to wait for an opening, and it quickly showed itself.

Or so I thought as his opening was actually a trap. A skeleton hand came out of the ground to punch me, whilst two other hands put me in a chokehold.

I gave a quick chuckle, before breaking out of the chokehold, spinning around so I faced his foot, grabbed on, and boosted my feet off the ground and into his face so fast he couldn't react.

He had collapsed to the ground where we rolled around trying to gain a chokehold. Whilst his combat skills were notable, his strength wasn't.

As I gained a chokehold, I felt his heartbeat, it was too fast. I would estimate two hundred beats per minute. This meant… oh no.

He activated a huge spell, so strong that it made me levitate upwards, all I could do was block the attack… wait, that isn't an attack.

I could feel my skin dry under the chant's pressure, as if I was being turned into a raisin.

The dust around us began to float, coming together into bones. The bones charred and came together into a skeleton. The very shadows gathered together to serve as its cloak.

The deathly being looked at me, extending its arm towards my direction. I could feel the ground shake as several vines came out of the ground.

They all attacked at once, leaving me little room to manoeuvre. Eventually I made a wrong move while manoeuvring and the vine grabbed me.

It held on tight as it smashed me against the floor. Several more vines grabbed on, trying to trap me. Turns out I will need to use magic.

My magic ability was deceptively simple. I could summon sticks, and the sticks would explode when unsummoned.

Any sort of armour would stop the explosion, but exposed flesh and soft materials were particularly vulnerable to it.

The ground shook again. The power of a thousand explosions destroying the road.

As I looked behind me I noticed the necromancer, priming a strike using his staff. I couldn't avoid it in time and was sent flying upwards.

My momentum finally dissipates as the summoned being grabs me.

"My lord has requested your death be particularly gruesome. The 'rat' sends his regards." One fast vine rushed at me from the ground. It would slice me to bits if I wasn't careful.

I grabbed onto the thing's arm, dragged it down to my level, grabbed its skull, flew down and split it in two using its own vine.

Oh this is going to be glorious. His type always lost their cool when I killed their trump card. It's always funny to see them babble an explanation out.

"I give up" What? Did I hear that right? "You are a powerful warrior, and I am drained of magic, you win."

"Are you sure? I mean… a suicidal charge would be more honorable." I still couldn't comprehend this, it's like backing down from a heated argument.

"Honour means nothing if I'm dead." He paused, inspecting me. I quickly get in a defensive position.

This has been a trick. I knew it! He planned it all so I would have my guard down.

"I would like to fight you again someday. Perhaps when brother death teaches me more" Brother… death? That explains how he could be a necromancer and warrior at the same time, his necromancy must've been a gift from death himself.

As he snapped his fingers I felt dust all around me, the dust of his skeletons. His entire army snapped out of existence.

The necromancer took a final look at me before summoning a portal beneath him. I was sure that wouldn't be the last time we met.

As I took a breath of the dusty air I seemed to remember something. Didn't I have clients to protect? Oh, I did.

I'M SO FUCKING DEAD! I had to think of a way to not get fired. Think Emmet, Think!

***

How did they mess this up so badly?

The battlefield was covered in ice, and the girl was unconscious on the ground. But the boy had taken off shirt in favour of looking like a barbarian, too bad he didn't have any muscles to show off.

"You." One of the guards was walking towards me. They took a long pause after that, looking at me through their helmet.

"Where did you run off to? My lady was dying over here." How inexperienced can you be to not know what's happening?

"She's gonna wake up. It's probably a result of overusing magic. And I was going straight for the necromancer, since killing him would destroy all his army. It's not my fault you can't do your job." They were fuming, but had kept calm until the last remark.

The guard's eyes were practically popping out. She removed her helmet, calmly gave it to the boy, and just went ham at me.

She was not letting down, insult after insult, slur after slur, not even taking a breath. I guess she really is a fiery redhead.

"Woah, I'm sure the mercenary didn't mean it as an insult." Oh? You know what? I woke up on the wrong side of the bed today.

"I meant it as an insult. You are a guard, your job is to protect, and I thought you could do your job." I somehow made her even angrier than before. Right as I readied myself for another beatdown she stopped and looked at the boy.

"Please, don't do this to yourself. We can find another mercenary." Suuuuuure. Those mercenaries won't be taking that job, unless they have a death wish.

"No, you know what?" I knew it was too good to be true, she's gonna start insulting me now.

"For your and the princess's safety, I, Silvia of the golden generation, shall accompany you on your journey."