The battle raged through the dark and gloomy city of Crertin.
Two major conflicts unfolded simultaneously—one in the city square, where the fighting had reached its most brutal crescendo, and another at the obsidian warden's imposing tower house.
In the square, the combat was reaching its final, desperate strokes.
Two light but slightly clunky footsteps echoed across the battlefield.
"More bone walkers!" a soldier shouted.
A bone walker with a spear thrusted it into one of the soldiers' necks. Four soldiers lunged at him, but two were shot down by precise arrows. The other two continued their attacks. The bone walker swiped its spear at one while simultaneously unsheathing its short sword and blocking the other's strike, entering a clash with the soldier.
The soldier it swiped at managed to deflect it narrowly, stumbling to the side. The soldier smiled for a second, thinking he had this—as soon as the bone walker turned its attention from him and toward the one it was clashing with, an arrow hit him straight in the temple, killing him on impact.
The bone walker with its short sword pushed the remaining soldier away, then flipped its spear around and thrusted it into the soldier's stomach. The soldier let out a deathly groan as the bone walker ripped it out causing blood to gush, his body slumping to the ground.
Bone Walker Two stood resting its spear on its shoulder, blood dripped off its rusted edge, while its short sword remained in its other hand, leather belts wrapped around its waist and body for its weapons. Bone Walker One walked up behind it, holding its bow with an arrow nocked, a quiver full of arrows on its back and a belt with two daggers and leather satchels on each side.
Their sockets burned blue. As more soldiers spotted them, they rushed in—no hesitation.
"GET THEM!"
Bone Walker One rushed in ahead, his bow raised. He shot down two soldiers, and Bone Walker Two slashed a few more down. But three more appeared in the battle before them—these weren't just any soldiers. These were sergeants.
Bone Walker One raised his bow immediately, but as he fired, the arrow was blocked by a 5'2" dwarf in heavy Armor, bearing a large shield.
"Nice try, bony!" he chuckled, taunting the bone walker from under all his protection. He charged in with his shield yelling, "Take that!" but he missed as the bone walker backed away and continued trying to fire arrows. The sergeant kept blocking them.
"Ha! You'll have to do better than that, bony!"
Bone Walker Two was cornered by two sergeants, both human. One had a hand axe and shield with black leather Armor on, and the other had a halberd with light Armor on and a helmet.
They attacked first, with the axe-shield sergeant trying for strikes at the walker continuously, but the bone walker managed to deflect each one continuously. The other sergeant took advantage and charged in with the point of his halberd. He missed, but it disrupted Bone Walker Two's rhythm, and it got shield-bashed away harshly by the axe shield sergeant.
The halberd sergeant growled. "This one's tough."
The axe-shield sergeant nodded. "Yeah, mighty tough. Most of them snap or fall after a blow like that."
The halberd sergeant replied, "Not just that—it's dodging and keeping pace with our strikes. We've slain about a dozen of his kind today, and not one of them ever moved like that."
"True enough. We must fight even harder then." axe-shield sergeant said.
They both agreed silently, gripping their weapons tighter.
One of Bone Walker Two's ribs were cracked from the bash, but it changed nothing as it charged back in, adjusting its skeletal hand near the butt end of the spear as its blazing sockets drifted down below the axe-shield sergeant.
Then, as it moved closer, it spun its body with the spear extended out.
The sergeants collectively held their guards high, but the bone walker didn't go high—it went low, lowering its body as its spear came down, sweeping across the axe-shield sergeant's ankle and leaving a gash. The sergeant fell to the ground in agony, dropping his weapons in the process.
Bone walker two walked over to the sergeant holding his ankle in pain, about to end him with its spear.
"Clintcieon!" the halberd sergeant yelled in panic.
This caught the shield bearer's attention as he looked back for a moment, and in that same instant, Bone Walker one's socket blue burned brighter. Bone Walker One ran over to a nearby pile of broken barrels it jumped on to it then flipped off it into the air as the barrels crumbled from the pressure, the bone walker readied its bow and arrow, getting a clear shot at the shield bearer from above. The shield bearer himself noticed too late as the bone walker fired two arrows into through gaps in the dwarfs armour on each of his shoulders. This caused him to stagger as the bone walker landed on top of him, forcing him to the ground. He tries to push back, but before that, before anything bonewalker one grabbed a dagger instantly from its leather belt and stabbed a gap in the dwarfs armour through to his neck. Finishing him—
After the halberd sergeant yelled in panic, he immediately got ready to throw his weapon like a javelin, but Bone Walker Two saw this and threw its spear first.
The spear connected in his chest but barely made it inside for real damage, but it was enough to make the warrior jolt from the pain, but only for a moment as he ripped it out. The weapon only left a shallow wound in his chest, as he threw it to the side.
"I'm coming, you bag of bones!" he said, as he charged in with both hands on his halberd raised high, roaring, "ARGG!"
Bone Walker Two stayed composed.
Three arrows darted into his back, but the sergeant pushed through, and as his weapon was about to come down on it. The bone walker sockets shifted below to see Clintcieon trying to get hold of its leg. It gripped its short sword with both skeletal hands and jumped straight into the sergeant's stomach, plunging the sword directly into his abdomen.
The attack sent them both falling down.
"AH! GET OFF ME, YOU BAG OF BONES!" He gritted through his teeth as he tried to hit the bone walker on the head with the butt of his halberd—as they were falling, Bone Walker Two, with one hand still on the sword, used its other hand to pull the helmet off the sergeant's head, throwing it to the side. This gave way for Bone Walker One to fire an arrow through his scalp—the arrow went straight through, protruding from his chin.
As they hit the ground, blood quickly flowed out of his head.
Bone Walker Two stood up, hunched slightly, as it pulled its bloody short sword out of the dead sergeant's body.
Sergeant Clintcieon now stood, his leg wrapped up poorly in his own clothing, blood slightly leaking from under it. The attention of two blood stained bonewalkers shifted to him, he limped backwards with his axe and shield raised up.
He spoke. "Hey, grave scrap! Bet you can't fight me by yourself!" he said, taunting Bone Walker Two.
Bone Walker One raised its bow, aiming to kill.
Still limping backwards, a smug-filled smirk painted his shield-covered face.
Bone Walker Two raised its hand, causing Bone Walker One to lower its bow. It walked forward, its sockets a glint of pride, as it assumed a stance—its sword in front of it, other hand outstretched.
Clintcieon began to circle around the bone walker, taunting it by banging his axe against his shield constantly.
Bah!
Bah!
Bah!
"Come on, grave scrap! I know you want some of this!"
Bone Walker Two's skeletal fist tightened on its short sword's hilt. The sergeant went round once, but Bone Walker Two didn't move—it just stayed facing forward.
He then hit harder, getting mad. "YOU'RE NOTHING BUT A PIECE OF SCRAP FROM SOMEONE ELSE'S GRAVE!"
BAH!
BAH!
Everything tuned out after the last bang—nothing but a quiet step from an unseen angle.
Bone Walker Two backed away immediately, dodging the first strike, but the sergeant was relentless in his assault. The bone walker kept dodging each strike as the sergeant threw out blows so ferocious they would scratch its very bone.
Then the sergeant went for a cleave upward. The bone walker dodged, but nothing happened—the sergeant had feinted it and went diagonally from the top. As it came down, he slashed a scar through a socket, Bone Walker Two narrowly avoiding the true severity of the attack.
The sergeant didn't stop there. He went for a shield bash. It hit the bone walker, striking its rib sternum and pushing it off its feet, but as it was hit, it held the shield from the top, keeping itself on its feet and pushing the shield to get a clear view of the sergeant, allowing it to thrust at him. It managed to drag the blade along his cheek. The sergeant dashed to the side to get away from the full strike, but Bone Walker Two this time rushed in for its own consecutive strikes—relentless but not mindless—as it struck the shield, wooden pieces flying off with each slice.
Clintcieon saw an opening to smash the bone walker's blade. He ducked to the side with his shield, then swung his hand axe around to intercept Bone Walker Two's blade, but bone walker two hadn't committed fully to the attack.
"A feint?" he muttered to himself.
Clintcieon, in panic, tried to go for a mindless shield bash to make space between them, but Bone Walker Two weaved past it entirely. Its blazing sockets drifted toward his neck.
Sergeant Clintcieon looked down mid-attack, thinking, My neck—it's wide open! I have got to try—
As he tried to slash upward to intercept the strike, Bone Walker Two had already swiftly gashed the side of his neck open.
Now behind him.
Clintcieon dropped his shield, blood pouring from the side of his neck, but he slapped it shut as he tried rushing toward the bone walker one last time. "I WON'T DIE WITHOUT TAKING YOU WITH ME, YOU PATHETIC BONE RATTLER!" Axe raised, fury in his eyes. But Bone Walker Two just dropped low and slashed deep across his gut. Then, as Clintcieon stumbled back, even more blood sputtering from him—this time via his gut and mouth, his eyes about to roll back as he choked on his own blood. Bone Walker Two finished him off by forcing its blade through his chin and the tip reaching out the top of his scalp.
As blood sprayed, Clintcieon didn't breathe. His eyes rolled over completely, and he died.
Bone Walker Two slipped its short sword out. It stood over its victim, even more bloody.
The battlefield around it had gone subtly quiet after its display of carnage. Any alive soldiers ran. Its sockets glowed with great triumph.
Its spear and the used halberd were thrown near it.
Bone Walker Two looked at them and picked them up, holstering its halberd on its body leather strap behind it and holding the spear, resting it on its shoulder. It also took the axe and shoved it into its leather waist belt holster. It held its short sword and spear.
They both gathered themselves and looked on in the distance where the main fight was happening—the last defence, a giant tower house. A large portion of the area in front of it was barricaded up. Bone walkers, thralls, wisps, and many soldiers fought vigorously just before the barricade. Pikes also stuck out of the barricade, keeping the undead from hacking away at it.
But the fighting around them had died down, especially after the bone walker's bloody display and victory against the sergeants. It had pretty much died down completely compared to near the barricades, which was still raging.
Bone Walker One looked at the barricade, holding its skeletal chin.
Bone Walker Two looked to its fellow and pointed to the barricades.
Bone Walker One replied by shaking its head, looking to its fellow bone walker, then looking back at the barricades, this time rubbing its chin. Then it looked around, seeing many dead bodies, rubble, and broken structures, but its sockets stumbled upon a horse thrall crawling toward the battlefield with only three legs.
Bone Walker One looked at the barricade, then back at the thrall, then again and again, rubbing its hand on its chin. Taking its hand off its chin, it ran over to it. Bone Walker Two, still locked on the battle up ahead, didn't notice.
Bone Walker One, seeing its leg off, looked around and found the leg wiggling on the ground a bit away, so it retrieved the leg and with all its skeletal might forced it back on. The horse thrall quickly stood up, ready to go.
It made a guttural neigh, which alerted Bone Walker Two as Bone Walker One got on, waving over its fellow bone walker.
Seconds later both bone walkers are riding the thrall horse, toward the barricade.
Within the barricade, two sergeants stood in front of the large tower house, overseeing the battle. One was half beast-kin with one green eye and one red eye. His hair was black and spiky, his ears were animal-like , and he stood at 5'9". He had dual blades at his sides with just an iron breastplate as Armor. He barked orders from time to time.
On the ground, cross-legged, was a woman with cyan skin and black hair. She wore chainmail Armor all over her body. She was a mix between an orc's strength and an Artimar's pure affinity to mana. She sat completely calm in a meditative state, eyes closed.
The male sergeant spoke. "Hey, Hannok."
She said nothing.
"Hey, Hannok."
She doesn't answer.
"Hey, Hannok. Hey, Hannok. Hey, Hanno—"
"What..." She finally answered.
"How's the barrier holding up?..." The male sergeant looked up. "and why can't I see it? And what's it for again?"
She sighed. "Am holding it up just fine, you can't see it because fighters aren't as attuned to mana as mages are, and it's here to keep those pesky wisps out and any other entity like them."
"Mmmm... okay." he nodded looking back at battle field satisfied
"You know, you've asked me that question fifty times now."
"You've been counting? Didn't know I was that important to you, Hannok." He said it with a hint of sarcasm in his voice.
A vein popped on her face as she spoke. "You know I need to focus to keep this barrier up. Don't make me mad. I'm serious, Veridin."
Veridin just laughed, rubbing the back of his head. "Okay, okay. Won't happen again."
He then made a mocking face at her.
Another vein popped on her forehead as she felt his smirk behind her.
Then he coughed a bit. "Anyway, back to business. How is the current state of battle?"
She breathed out as an orb of blue mana manifested beside her. Then it flew to the battlefield.
"Not looking very good. We have about 1,250 soldiers still out there fighting versus about... 3,500 undead."
Veridin's face went serious. "How many within the barricade?"
"1,750."
Veridin, hearing this, looked ahead at a fully armoured, tall skinny soldier holding a flag.
"Hey, Baruss!"
The soldier holding a very dark green flag stood in front of them.
"Yes, sir!"
He ran over there.
"Did you hear that, kid?"
"So—sorry, what, sir? Wo—would you mind repeating?"
Verdin face tensed, as he began to yell
"OPEN YOUR EARS, KID! YOU SAID YOU WANTED TO HELP! WHY AREN'T YOU LISTENING?"
Baruss flinched, dropping the flag
"DID YOU GET TOO STUCK IN THE MOMENT OR SOMETHING, HUH?"
"NO, NO, SIR! I HEARD YOU! I HEARD YOU!" Barus shouted back in panic.
"No, I don't think you did!"
"I DID! I DID!"
"REPEAT!"
A blue mana from Hannok washed over the kid.
The kid's face turned horrified.
"I thought..." realising the weight of their situation.
Veridin mouth straightened,
"Go tell the lieutenant. He'll know what to do. Don't worry."
He ran off into the building, shutting the door.
Hannok and Veridin talk once more.
"I'm glad we could give him this at least."
Veridin replied calmly, still overseeing the battlefield. "What do you mean?"
"Well, you know his father doesn't even look at him... he acts like he's not there half the time."
Veridin replied, "Yeah... I mean, we all know the story of the Shattered Obsidian."
"Mhm, very true."
It goes quiet.
Veridin gazed on his surroundings within the barricade, soldiers grovelling, medics scrambling, the atmosphere filled with the clanging weapons, the tearing of flesh and groans of pain all beyond the barricades.
Veridin spoke again, his tone grim,
"My problem is this might be the last thing I see. last thing I hear. Our last moments Hannok."
"Don't worry, the captains, they wil—"
Veridin interrupted her "Don't start with that. They're probably dead. I mean, we all saw how two of them got taken out by that undead horseman."
"Veridin— I— I think you're right. This might actually be our last moments...but I assure you, we will through this" Hannok reassured
She looked up at him, her eyes glowing, but they slowly phased to beautiful blue pupils as she looked at him, her gaze kind and pure.
Veridin looked back at her, smiling brightly. "HEH! GOT YOU! SERIOUSLY, WHEN DID YOU START CARING SO MUCH ABOUT ME? YOU GOTTA TELL ME!" He laughed
She turned away, in embarrassment, focusing again as her eyes glowed again, gritting her teeth. "You are really starting to piss me off, Veridin!"
Her eyebrows twitched in annoyance as she closed her eyes.
Veridin looked at the distance again. "I'm glad I get to spend these moments with you... Hannok."
She smiled. "You to—"
"GOT YOU AGAIN! YOU MUST LIKE ME OR SOMETHING!"
A ball of blue light appeared in front of him, blowing up in his face and sending him back.
"MY EYES!"
She chuckled. "Serves you right."
Within the large tower house, the kid ran through all the layers. The main floor was a large hall full of civilians. He had to pushed through them to reach a spiral of stairs that went straight up.
He went past another hall of civilians then past a kitchen, a living room, a storage room, a large bedroom, then finally he reached the top of the spiral steps. He heaved and huffed before opening the door to a spacious office.
"Lieutenant Casieon!"
He entered a room with two sergeants. One was a male half-elf—his complexion the darkest in the room. He wore black leather Armor, his straight black hair gleaming, while his eyes shone light brown. He stood at 5,9 arms crossed, with circular daggers hitched on his sides.
Beside him was a rough-looking woman, the same height as him, who held a slightly frazzled expression. She wore the same leather armour too. She was human. Her skin tone was the lightest, and she also had a large leather brown satchel that was half her size wrapped around her.
They all stood in front of a long table with loads of papers and diagrams on it.
Hands slammed against the table.
"What is it!"
A tall, slender elf—his ears long—had full black leather armour. Planted in the floorboard beside him was a large black steel greatsword, its hilt and handle a dark purple.
The kid ran up. "We are losing the battle beyond the barricade, sir! The men are starting to tire. The undead will soon go full force on the barricades, and if that happens, I don't know if we will survive!"
"How many do we have within and outside the barricade?"
"1,750 within and outside, 1,250."
"How many enemies are out there?"
"3,500."
"Alright then—Julz."
The woman sergeant, Julz, turned to face the soldier still standing at the door. Opening her leather bag and rummaging, she took out a small iron bomb. It had multiple gold rings around it all the way to the bottom and a long rope fuse. She walked over handling it gently as she put it in his hand and didn't let go of it.
Casieon spoke. "That bomb has been infused with holy essence, so it should take care of all the undead."
"Give it to the sergeants below."
Julz gazed at the bomb. "You take care now..." her face sad, but it shifted to seriousness as she looked at the soldier "Take good care of her."
The soldier replied, "Yes, Sergeant!"
He ran down the spiral steps, then to the main hall, carefully avoiding the people.
When he got down, he walked to the sergeants. "Finally, kid, you're back," said Veridin.
The other sergeant is still meditating with her book open in front of her, hands raised.
"I got this bomb. The lieutenant said it will take them all out."
The Veridin grabbed it,
"Here goes nothing!"
With a wide smirk, he takes a run up, then, swinging his arm, he throwed it out and over the barrier...
Little do they know, as going over to land, two bone walkers rode their thrall horse and they saw it too.
As it's about to land on the battlefield, Bone Walker One spotted it, looking at the barricade, then back at it. The bone walker raised its bow promptly and fired an arrow at it.
The first arrow broke on impact. It then drawed another one immediately after, aiming for the rope this time.
It hit it, and the arrow took the bomb flying toward the barricade but slowly descended as the arrow couldn't hold the weight of the bomb. The bone walker sees this and fires another arrow at it before it can descend fully. The arrow hits the rope, and it gets stuck to the bottom of the barricade. No one noticed.
The thrall horse began to run a bit faster as Bone Walker Two switched its weapons to its new two-handed halberd. As they got close, the fuse on the bomb went ticking on its last few seconds.
As they got there, the thrall horse neighed loudly, alerting its approach.
The bomb exploded—a raging spray of white fire spread throughout the battlefield, searing everything, even the soldiers. This also exploded the barricade, sending all the soldiers behind that part back.
Two pairs of blue sockets seared through the cloud of dust and debris. Soldiers all over the barricade looked scared and ran the other way, gaining space. Most of the thralls and wisps were taken out by the bomb's holy essence, but the many bone walkers survived, slightly damaged—some more critically than others. But they poured in through the breach, attacking the soldiers inside.
Both bone walkers rushed out. Bone Walker Two swept soldiers with its halberd, and Bone Walker One terrorized them with its arrows.
As the sergeants saw all this, they immediately sprang into action.
From the sky, Veridin with dual blades descended, his blades crossed. He drew them at Bone Walker Two, clashing with it.
As Bone Walker One readied to fire at the sergeant, a bolt of mana flew its way. It narrowly dodged and fell. It's Hannok, her eyes surging with blue mana.
Mana softly surged around her. "You're dead, walker!"
As the bone walker fell to the ground, it fired multiple arrows at her, but her skin seemed to harden, causing only the tips to pierce the surface level. She then picked up a bunch of debris with telekinesis and slammed it down, but the bone walker rolled out of the way, firing more arrows. But they hit her hardened skin. She he grabbed another large pile of rumble and slammed it down. Then the bone walker rolled again and continued to fire arrows. They continued to hit her hardened skin, her eyes shifted towards the hole in the barricade which a large amount of undead poured out from.
She took all the rubble she had used and threw it toward the hole knocking some undead away, managing to partially block it up.
Some bone walkers started to run toward her and attack her. She fired mana bolts at some of them, destroying them on impact, and she telekinetically pushed some of them away.
While she dealt with this, bone Walker One reached behind to its quiver but didn't feel anything. It looked behind, realizing it only had five arrows left.
Instead, it sheathed its bow on its back and grabbed its two daggers, readying itself...
Bone Walker Two, on the other hand, was going blow for blow, clashing with Sergeant Veridin. Bone Walker Two thrusted with its halberd, forcing the sergeant to block. The blow forced him back. As he skidded, he grinned. His red eye went into a predatory slit as he ran toward Bone Walker Two.
He growled as he slashed down on its ribcage, cutting both straps of its leather belts, and the slash broke a line through its ribs, leaving a long gap from top to bottom.
Then he growled again. As Bone Walker Two stumbled back, he went for a slash to its jaw, but Bone Walker Two dodged it this time and countered with a downward slam of its halberd. But the sergeant did a backflip, dodging it completely. Immediately, as soon as he landed, his eye caught a halberd thrown his way, but he easily stepped out of its range as it planted in the ground. His eye gleamed again as he ran on it until the butt end, then used it to propel himself into the air.
He roared, "Your end is now!"
But Bone Walker Two had simultaneously grabbed its new axe and threw it at him. It slashed through his fingers, cutting them clean off. This distracted Veridin enough for Bone Walker Two to run up and grab its halberd, extending it as long as possible and slashing down. It caught his leg—the attack took him down from the air, with a slash, slamming him on the ground, his leg now halved.
Bone Walker Two didn't relent and raised the weapon for the fatal strike, but the sergeant scratched at the air, distracting the bone walker from the strike as he rolled away. He managed to grab his sword and threw it at the bone walker in desperation.
The bone walker raised its arm to block it as it ran toward the sergeant with the halberd raised again.
As it was brought down on him. Blood spluttered everywhere—Death.
Bone Walker One saw Hannok distracted by the undead and ran in another direction.
Hannok looked forward. "Where did it go?..."
She felt a tingle behind her eyes widened. "Flicker veil!"
A blue glassy barrier appeared around her as Bone Walker One slashed it, but it instantly broke.
She turned around, extending her arm. A bolt of flame left her hand, but the bone walker instinctually dodged it, then went for a strike to her neck with one dagger.
She concentrated her hardening spell on that one spot, causing the dagger strike to literally bounce off.
Bone Walker's sockets burn with confusion as she fired a telekinetic push toward it, sending it tumbling away.
Dust kicked up as it skidded to a halt laying on the ground. She stared at it down, her eyes able to see it even through the smoke.
Bone Walker One gets up soon after with both its daggers. It ran back toward her as she sent bolts of fire toward it, but it dodged them while running.
When it got to her, it went for the neck again. She scoffed. "Predictable."
But at the same time, it goes for her stomach, slashing it. Due to her concentration being on her neck, she couldn't protect her stomach, completely allowing the dagger to leave a shallow slash there. A purple liquid also licked off it as the slash concluded.
"That's all!?" She focused both her hands toward the bone walker's midsection and blasted it with her mana.
It cut the bone walker in half, obliterating some of its spine.
She sighed, but then she felt instant pain as purple veins of mana started to spread from it and span all over her body. Her eyes slowly turned purple as the venom ate at her.
"I should be able to resist part of this! "
She resisted it, still struggling as she flexed her whole body, trying to overcome it. Her body shook violently.
But then a halberd was driven through her stomach.
Life quickly left her eyes. She fell flat.
Dead.
Bone Walker One tries to get up, but it can't even reach its legs or control them.
Bone Walker Two walks up, throws Veridin's dual blades beside the bone walker.
Now looking at its fellow's body, seeing that its torso spine was obliterated but its top and bottom half of its body seemed intact.
Bending down to fix it up, it put it back together by connecting both sides, but the spine parts it lost made a difference. As they stood up next to each other...
They were both 5,9 feet initially. But now Bone Walker Two towered over the now 5'7" Bone Walker One.
Bone walker One picked up the dual blades putting them in waist belt somehow, as bone walker two looked at it.
Bone Walker Two then proceeds to put its hand beside its own head, then moves it down to Bone Walker One's head, measuring the distance between them.
Bone Walker One noticed this and looked at the difference and smacked bone walker two in its slashed ribcage.
Bone Walker Two stepped away, holding its crumbling ribcage.
Someone leaped above them, coming down. They both dashed in opposite directions out of the way.
Now stood Lieutenant Casieon, his presence demanding, a black cape now adorning him.
Bone Walker Two raised its halberd immediately, charging in for this big elf. But Casieon just slashed it away and out of the bone walker's hands. His face was serious.
As he walked forward, Bone Walker Two stumbled back, its sockets blazing blue with a special kind of fear... inferiority.
"You're the ones that caused all this ruckus?"
Two arrows hit his lower back. He turned around, his face twitching, as he pulled them out and crushed them in his hand. Looking ahead, he saw the other bone walker.
He rushed in hastily with his greatsword raised high. Bone Walker One raised its two new dual blades.
They instantly get shattered before it could properly form a block. The ground ruptured as the blade hit the ground. Then a hand axe sunk deep into Casieon thigh. His imposing frame turned around to see bone walker two sockets flames get smaller as Casieon grabbed the handle, ripping it off his leg and out of the bonewalkers hands, throwing it up, slashing it and breaking the blade completely while simultaneously grabbing the skull of bonewalker two who was stuck, locked in place.
"Stay down!" and slamming it into the ground.
Bone Walker One jumped up behind him and tried to stab him, but he saw it coming. A thin black layer of mana flared up around him. As soon as the dagger hits, it bounced off and out of its hand on impactt.
Then Casieon turned around, slamming the end of his weapon into the bone walker's side, sending it tumbling away. He then lunged toward it.
The bone walker swiftly got its bearing on the ground and fired two arrows and lodged another one on its bow. But as the two arrows hit, they merely bounce off Casieon's mana reinforcement.
Then, as Casieon gets to the bone walker, he goes for a simple swat of his blade to the right, but the bone walker dodged backward. Then he goes for a slash, this time properly. The bone walker narrowly twisted out of the way as the blade cuts its bone slightly. He didn't stop there as it turned around with an arrow now aligned and lodged, tension rising, its sockets blazing relentlessly.
It fired the arrow with its force.
It hits Casieon reinforcement mana, penetrating it and hitting his eye.
Then Bone Walker One almost fell, as it stumbled backward. That was its last arrow. It threw its bow and quiver away and grabbed the dagger it had on it..
Casieon stood there for a second in shock, then started to scream loudly. Everyone on the battlefield is alerted.
He called out, "Julz!"
She ran over. "Casieon, I'm here! What's going on?"
Casieon, with purple veins fast spreading all over his body, continued to wobble around screaming, even dropping his great sword.
"Julz, help!"
He was in so much pain he didn't even realize she was there. Seeing the severity of the situation, she yelled, "LAY DOWN, CASIEON!"
He fell on his back with a thump. She kneeled beside him in haste, dropping her bag beside her and rummaging through it.
Bone Walker One tried to rush in to finish him off, but a circular dagger whirled toward it, slicing its arm off at the joint. Bone Walker One grabbed the with his dagger in it before it could fall and dashed away before the blade could fully wave back.
A half-elf sergeant appeared, grabbing the circular blade.
"I'm the top sergeant here."
His face was completely focused.
Bone Walker One reconnected its arm and readied with its only dagger as they rushed at each other for the fight.
Julz rummaged for a potion within the bag.
"Julz, am I dying?... I feel so weak."
"Not on my watch, mister!"
She shoved a crystal in his mouth. "Chew on it now."
Crunching into it Casieon condition seemed to soften and calm down.
Julz's face still tense proceeded to take out an utensil and vial, using this utensil to carefully trace around the arrow and scoop the remnants of venom placing it into the vial.
She drew a small sigil mid-air on it.
The sigil sat there as she spoke "Identify." Causing the sigil to rewrite and start to write itself in sentences, but in a runic language.
She reads, "Volvic venom; eats your mana, causing the crippling of one's body."
"There has to be more. It's too extreme for it to be just 'eating mana'."
Dammit I should have grabbed more MRF when I could. she thought to herself, looking at Caseion state now worsening.
She took out a blue potion bottle and fed him it.
"This will keep your mana high for the time being"
She then drew a large runic sigil mid air spanning on top of his body.
This revealed an X-ray through his body via the sigil. She looks through, seeing the venom spreading to all of his organs, even in his bloodstream.
"No, it has to be deeper."
She swiped the sigil, going deeper. Now the sigil showed his soul surrounded by a body of recessing mana. Then she saw the soul also quickly getting recessed and withering.
"Okay, I see it now!"
She looked around in her bag and brought out a green liquid. "This is an antidote for venoms, but if I just turn it into soul mana..."
She wrote runes on the vial. As it bubbles and then steamed into green soul-like mana, she guided it as it flowed into Casieon mouth.
She looked at the X-ray. The green soul mana went in, covered it, and stopped the recessing, but didn't recover it.
"Now his soul and mana should recover by itself."
Casieon opened his one eye, pulled out the arrow, grabbing his great sword. He said, "I knew I could count on you, Julz. Pass me a healing potion."
She said while huffing, "I told you." As she gave him a healing potion, they smile at each other, and he drinks it.
He threw it away, then stood up. His reinforcement flared up again, as he opened his previously damaged eye now fully healed, same with any visible wounds on his body or physical ailments.
He sees the bone walker fighting his sergeant. "You're in for it now." he grunted
He lunged. As Bone Walker One swung for the sergeant's neck, its arm was suddenly obliterated by a greatsword.
Staggering back, the creature rattled in shock. Casieon didn't even turn around—it just stood there, steady and cold. When the Bone Walker wobbled into reach again, he smacked it to its front with a shove, then slashed his greatsword down. The blade tore through its shoulder bone and ribcage before stopping halfway. Casieon yanked the sword free, leaving a gaping wound across the creature's torso—its arm and shoulder hanging on by only two ribs.
With a final, brutal swing, he brought the flat of his blade around and slammed the Bone Walker clear across the barricade.
He ran toward the bone walker. Its sockets still burn with that same burn, willing to fight. As its sockets burned defiantly, staring in face of its impending doom, it did not speak. It does not waver.
Lieutenant Casieon spoke. "You're competent for a pile of bones. I'll give you that."
He lifted his leg up stomping on the bonewalker with all his might until it was nothing left but pieces.
Now walking back.
The battle within the barricade had mostly stopped as the barricade had now been fully painstakingly blocked up by the soldiers , but undead still howled on the outside.
Casieon glanced at it briefly. "I'll deal with that soon."
A spear is thrown at him, but he puts his great sword in the way. The spear broke on impact, then split in half due to the greatsword.
Bone Walker Two stands up, its bones crumbling, but mana flowed around its body thinly, barely stable. It stands strong even in its defeat, eyes burning with pride.
It wasn't going out like that.
Bone Walker Two holds its old short sword and goes into a stance.
"Reinforcement? A monster?"
"Never heard of that before... whatever. Come at me, you pride-filled piece of scrap."
They stand off.