Blood sieved out of the Trolls skin and floated into the sky. The blood also left from their eyes, nose, and mouth.

A roof of blood was created above the Trolls.

"A….."

That was the last sound the Trolls made. They collapsed to the ground. Their bodies were deathly pale. The life had been sucked right out of them.

What?

A red rain fell upon John's body. It covered his skin and drenched John's clothes.

John glanced up at Nathanial. An orb of blood in the shape of a skull was where his head should be. The blood shimmered and changed colours slightly. Until it finally took the form of a head.

Nathanial looked down at John. His skin had changed from deep purple back to deathly pale. There was a slight smile on Nathanial's face.

"Fuck you. Fuck you!" Nathanial middle-fingered the sky.

"YOU NUDIST BITCH! TAKE THAT DEATH!" Nathanial bellowed

The blood rain stopped.

John pulled himself to his feet as fast as he could. John's face had taken on a pale hue. And his eyes were darting about Nathanial's body. Nathanial was a monster. A being who could have his skull shattered and still continue on as per usual. It made John's heart thump in his chest.

Nathanial looked off into the distance at something behind John.

"We need to get out of here." Nathanial said

John looked behind himself.

The giant Trolls were marching towards John. They were organized into rows. Each one held a weapon of some kind.

It wasn't just two men against a small group of enemies. It was two men against an army.

John grit his teeth even though they weren't running. Even though they were only moving at a marching pace, John knew that he couldn't get away from them. He was too slow.

"I can't." John said

Nathanial's lips curled into his mouth. It looked like he was sucking a lemon.

"Well, shit. What do we do?"

Nathanial didn't say a word about abandoning John.

But for some reason, that didn't make John happy.

"Let's find our way back to the cellar," John said

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Nathanial smiled.

"That sounds like a great idea."

No one should smile when they're in the middle of a warzone.

John's heart started thumping harder in his chest.

"Okay. Let's go." John said

Nathanial and John walked through the battlefield. They cut through any Trolls that got in their way. The ordinary Trolls were so weak that John and Nathanial could kill them quite easily.

They walked for about half an hour. In that time the Trolls advanced to become much closer to them. But they still weren't in attacking range.

Finally, after that time, they found the door to the cellar. Nathanial opened the cellar door. He slowly walked down the ladder.

They shut the cellar door beneath them.

"YIP!"

"YIP!"

"YIP!"

Stove opened its mouth to provide a soft fire light to John and Nathanial.

PAP! PAP! PAP! PAP!

Footsteps echoed above them.

John's heart was furiously thumping in his chest. He was breathing heavily. Fear was squirming through him like maggots.

PAP! PAP! PAP! PAP!

John glanced to look into Nathanial's eyes. His face was blurry in the weak firelight. But despite John could still see his face.

There was a look in his eyes. A look John had seen before. Hungry. Wrathful. Lustful.

His eyes almost seemed to glow with a light that melded between red and green.

John knew that look. He'd seen that look so many times before.

PAP!

A single large footstep echoed from above. Then there was silence.

For a few moments, John and Nathanial just sat in the silence. Not a sound was made. John had stopped breathing.

The light in Nathanial's eyes shined with greater luminosity. John knew distinctly where he was. He was in the eye of the storm.

The storm shifted.

John leaped forward. His fist was pulled back.

"I'm sure one of us will live."

Realstically. What are the chances of me making it out of this anyways?

John didn't want to die. He couldn't let himself die. He had to live. Because….. Because.....

I won't enter the empty library. I won't put the book down. I'll keep it in my hands because I won't quit. I can't quit.

Nathanial ducked to the side. John's fist shot through the air where Nathanial once was.

"Bleed"

John felt something within him being pulled. It almost felt like he was being lifted into the air.

And then the motion stopped.

John swung his head in Nathanial's direction.

THUMP! THUMP! THUMP! THUMP!

John's heart wasn't strong enough to maintain this level of mobility for a long time. He had to kill Nathanial as fast as possible.

Nathanial's skin had taken on a deep purple tone. He looked like some kind of water-logged corpse.

John leaped towards him.

Again, Nathanial ducked to the side.

John grinned at that.

"YIP!"

Stove barreled straight into Nathanial's body. He tackled Nathanial to the ground.

John hopped into the air. The roof of this cellar was unreasonably tall, So he could get quite a nice amount of jump height.

Stove leaped to the side.

John fell.

The ground shook like there was an earthquake as John slammed into it. But John didn't feel the squelching of flesh. Or the bending of bones. All he felt was the hard sensation of his legs slamming into the ground.

John glanced around himself. He couldn't see Nathanial. There was only darkness.

"STOVE! GIVE ME LIGHT!"

"YIP!"

John felt the heat from Stove's flame on his skin. But the veil of darkness still remained.

"I shall do my duty. I shall assist the golden press. And press humanity. So therefor....."

"Pressure." John fell to his knees. He grit his teeth as he felt a titanic weight upon his back.

"Pressure" The weight doubled.

"Pressure" The weight tripled.

"Pressure" The weight quadrupled.

Hate boiled through John's mind.

You have to stand, John.

{Error. Human Constitution.}

John was immersed in a soft red light.

"AHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

A feral scream was unleashed from John's throat.

He stood.

The darkness shattered.

Standing just a few feet in front of him was Nathanial. His jaw was hanging open in bafflement.

I'LL KILL YOU!