Felix dodged another attack from the archer before he threw a punch with his right hand. His left arm dangled uselessly, most definitely dislocated. Felix fought through the pain, yelling as he kicked at the archer. He glanced to his side, watching Harald and Haggard fight the woman marauder, the veteran sporting a bloody wound on his side from the previous marauder.

Haggard was somehow having fun, swinging his hammer at the woman as she blocked and dodged their attacks. The guard moved his focus back to the enemy archer, who had pulled a dagger and started swinging at Felix. He did his best to dodge the attacks, feeling sharp pains as the dagger’s edge made marks on his skin.

Still, Felix kept his cool, finding an opening in the bastard’s attacks. Felix kicked at his knee, forcing the archer to one leg before he tackled him, both men struggling for control. He threw the dagger away, keeping it out of reach as he punched and wailed on the marauder beneath him.

“Should’ve stayed out of my town!” Felix yelled angrily, his hand grabbing at the man’s black hair. He raised the marauder’s head, slamming it onto the cobbled ground. The man was dazed at first, his hands aimlessly moving to grab at the archer. Felix repeated the motions, slamming his head against the cobbled ground again.

“Fucking die!” he shouted, slamming the man’s head again and again, even after he had stopped struggling. Felix finally stopped when he realized that the hair he had grabbed was now in his hands, ripped off the man’s scalp. He let go of the hair, looking down at the man’s lifeless eyes, which stared at nothing as dark red blood pooled on the ground.

Felix looked away from the sight, trying to focus on the other fight. Harald looked worse for wear, obviously hindered by his wound, which was given to him by the same archer that Felix had killed. The guardsman slowly got up, stumbling to a wall as he watched Haggard deflect another blow from the spear woman. She was having trouble fighting both of them but was handling it very well.

“Old geezer! Get to the guard! I’ll hold her off!” Haggard shouted. He looked exhausted. The several drinks he probably had back at the tavern were obviously not sitting well. Still, he held his grin, swinging his hammer at the woman again as Harald took his advice. Felix watched as Harald made his way to him. The guard slid to the ground, resting against the nearby wall as the old veteran knelt beside him.

“Are you bleeding?” Harald asked as he gestured towards the blood that had stained his clothes and hand. Felix hadn’t even noticed it, his eyes blinking as he realized the blood on his body wasn’t his own.

“I don’t… I don’t think so,” the guardsman responded before looking down at his left arm, which was still radiating pain now and then. “But I can’t move my arm and shoulder…” He winced as he tried, his left arm unresponsive. “I think it’s dislocated.”

Harald nodded, moving in to grab his left arm.

“Alright, brace yourself. This is going to hurt. A lot.”

Felix took a couple of deep breaths, watching as Harald suddenly forced his shoulder back into its socket. The pain was so blinding and sudden that Felix couldn’t even scream. After a couple of seconds, he felt a pop and a fresh wave of pain.

“F-Fuck! You couldn’t make it any more painful!?” Felix shouted at the man.

“Believe me, it could’ve been worse,” Harald responded before wincing as he held his wound. The veteran sat down on the ground with Felix. He was out of the count, the fight with the marauder and the spear woman draining him of whatever energy he had. Felix struggled to get up, looking over at Haggard as he fought with the spear women.

The drunkard had a couple of fresh cuts on his arm and clothing but seemed unfazed as he deflected another attack, using his hammer to counterattack. He missed by a couple of inches, resulting in the marauder’s helmet flying off. The woman stumbled back in surprise, her eyes wide as Haggard went for the finishing blow. Felix watched as the woman quickly recovered, using her small shield to deflect the hammer. He saw how both fighters were open, a small window where both were vulnerable.

Felix didn’t think, his weak legs propelling him towards the woman marauder.

The weak guardsman collided with her and, thankfully, did not get stabbed by her spear. Both landed on the ground in a cloud of dust, with Felix struggling to hold her down. He kicked the spear away, putting all his weight on her left side so she wouldn’t use her shield to bash him. Still, Felix was surprised at how strong she was, her arms easily capable of throwing him off. But she had been in a long fight, her breath heavy and tired as she tried to force him off. Felix held his ground, even through her constant punches.

“Haggard! Get her!” Felix yelled. He waited for Haggard to swing his hammer and cave her skull in, but the blow never came. “Haggard!!” he shouted again, looking up at the drunkard. Haggard's face showed a disappointed look.

‘What is he doing? Kill her!’ Felix thought furiously before he felt the woman beneath kick him off, catching him by surprise. She was now above him, her fist raised to punch Felix.

Then, suddenly, Haggard’s hammer came in, hitting her head and knocking her off. Felix panted as he rested on the ground, looking up at the idiot who had nearly cost him his life.

“What took you so long?” He asked venomously, struggling to sit up.

“It wasn’t fair. To kill her like that,” Haggard commented.

“I could’ve died!” Felix pointed out. The guard focused his gaze on the woman. Anger filled him when he saw her armored chest rise and fall, rhythmic with her breathing.

‘She’s still alive…’

Felix scrambled to find a weapon, settling on the heavy debris around him. The guardsman picked up a heavy rock, grunting as he moved to finish the job. Haggard’s hammer blocked him, the drunkard’s head shaking.

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Felix felt his anger boil.

“She’s a killer! A monster! Like the rest of them!” He argued.

“We don’t know that,” Haggard responded.

Felix dropped his heavy rock in disbelief. “What makes you so certain that she won’t try to kill us at the first chance when she wakes up?”

“She could have easily done so earlier.” Haggard gestured to his own wounds, which were minor cuts and gashes. Felix realized they were all on his arms and legs, none near his vitals. “She was deliberately aiming for non-lethal spots. Perhaps she was trying to wound me, make an opening. But I have a feeling she wasn’t.” He gestured at the woman herself, a red welt forming on her forehead as she lay unconscious.

“She also didn’t use her knife on you,” Haggard pointed out.

Felix blinked, focusing his eyes on what looked to be a dagger’s hilt. “It doesn’t matter; we’ll have to deal with her, eventually. She’s a marauder, not some random adventurer in a bout.” Felix sighed, falling back on his ass as he rested finally. Haggard nodded, agreeing with Felix.

“Do what you must, but don’t kill her,” he said.

“Why are you obsessed with keeping her alive?” The guardsman asked.

Haggard grinned a spark of excitement in his eyes. “She’s one of the toughest warriors I’ve had the pleasure of fighting. I still want to have another rematch with her someday.”

----------------------------------------

Embers floated around the smoke and fog, more so than before. It lit the area around James, and some embers landed on his skin, burning him. He gritted his teeth, slowly getting up as he took a breath of air. He breathed in more ash than oxygen, making him cough and spit onto the ground. There was the taste of blood and ash in his mouth, forcing him to spit on the ground again before he wiped his mouth with his bandaged left arm. His once-white bandages were now a dirty gray and black, a smear of red on them. He had bitten his lip at some point, which explained the stinging pain in his mouth.

James looked around, looking for any signs of the Abomination. Nothing but the burning buildings nearby, which had increased in intensity. There were bodies around, those of Thomas and the two dead marauders.

‘Did she kill it?’ James thought.

Suddenly, a familiar, horrible noise sounded out.

Click click click

It was fainter, slower, and weaker. Yet it still sent shivers down his spine. James tensed up at the sound and continued to trudge through the smoke and ash. He felt so tired, so exhausted, but he needed to stay awake. The embers helped to jolt him awake as they came into contact and burned his skin.

‘Drop!’ Faust shouted out of nowhere, surprising James.

Still, the young man didn’t hesitate, letting himself drop to the ground as something fiery and jagged swung at him out of nowhere. James looked up to see the thing, his eyes widening as he saw what had happened to it. Half of its body was smoldering, embers rising from its body as heaps of burning flesh fell off of it. Its single eye blazed a furious red.

“You!” it shrieked before it swung its flaming left arm at him again.

James barely dodged, fighting the pain and exhaustion as he tried to stand. The creature was on him again, using its leg to kick James in the chest, knocking him down. James flew back, rolling on the ground as pain spread throughout his torso. It took him a couple of seconds to finally breathe again, gasping for air as he looked for the monster. The flaming Abomination was limping and dragging towards him, its teeth clicking as it neared James.

A flying rock stopped its advance, hitting it square in the face. Dahlia's voice yelled through the smoke right after.

“Over here!”

The thing moved to the source of the shaman’s call, turning its back on James.

James took the chance to grab himself a piece of the nearby burning debris. He clutched onto a beam of smoldering wood, raising it with all his strength before he swung at the creature. He broke the flaming board over its head to no effect. The creature turned, its deformed right hand shooting up to grab James by the throat. The thing’s grasp was ice cold, a stark contrast to its burning condition. It rasped out to James, the remaining eye burning into his.

“We will strip the flesh off your bones and consume your beating heart before—”

“Just shut the fuck up,” James interrupted, gritting his teeth as he reached into his jacket’s pocket. “Villain monologues are way overplayed.”

Without hesitating, he jammed Dahlia’s dagger into the side of its head, right at the jaw. The creature screamed in agony, dropping James onto the ground.

“Dahlia! It’s open!” James shouted, regaining his breath. The shaman ran out of the smoke, dodging the creature’s feeble attempts to attack. She seemed to have noticed the dagger, and her hands immediately grabbed it. The shaman yelled in effort as she forced it across its jaw, the sound of bone breaking and tendons ripping as she cut through it. She fell to the ground right after, dagger in hand, as the creature stumbled.

The thing’s jaw hung from its mouth, unable to talk or chatter. Yet, it screamed in agony at the two.

“James! Finish it!” Dahlia shouted.

James looked for a weapon nearby, his eyes scanning the street. He soon spotted Thomas’ sword in the burning debris nearby, its blade buried in the flames. Without hesitation, he grabbed its burning handle, screaming with pain and effort as he stood and lunged at the malformed creature. It tried to block with its crystalized left arm, but James swung at it, the burning sword shattering the arm like nothing. The air glittered with the crystal fragments as he locked his stare with the creature once more.

Without pause, the man from Earth lunged at the Abomination’s head, his heated sword inbound. The red-hot blade pierced its open maw, sizzling as it burned and cut through skull and brain. James pushed the sword to its guard, the tip protruding from the back of its head.

He stared into the Abomination’s lone eye, watching as it changed through several stages of emotions. Anger, relief, sadness, and pure hatred before it slowly faded into darkness. James panted as he released the sword’s handle, both his hands burnt and raw as he dropped to the ground, the thing’s body falling next to him. It was finally done. The creature was dead and gone.

James watched as the fog spell finally dissipated, letting him glimpse the beautiful gray sky through the black smoke and dust. His body was exhausted and in constant pain. Right now, he just wanted to sleep.

“James…” Dahlia spoke out, her voice quivering. “Get up.”

James grunted with effort as he sat up, wondering what she needed. His eyes widened in realization as he stared down at the last of their problems. The bald marauder, the one who had accompanied Deimos, was standing there, sword in hand, as he looked upon them. James could remember his name.

“Havor…”