Zell found himself, stood in an unending void of pure, impenetrable blackness.

"Tuh, fe'fucks sake," he breathed quietly annoyed. He was not amused.

He looked down at his bare chest and every injury he'd gotten since waking up in the stone coffin, was open and bleeding profusely. Stab wounds, slash wounds, bruising from every hit. Blood even filled his mouth and spilled down his chin. The back of his head was leaking too.

"Weak," came a voice from the void that seemed to surround him. "Weaker than all of your friends."

The physical pain was only bearable because he knew it wasn't real. He was dreaming. However, the words from the voice cut him a little.

"Are we really gonna do this every-fucking-time I take a nap?" Zell said to the void. "Nothing better to do, eh? Lonely? All cooped up inside that sword."

"You're supposed to protect them. To be their shield. But you are weak."

Zell sighed just like his expression - bored. Very bored. Inside though, he couldn't deny the truth of Baphomet's words.

"Everyday that passes, you fall further and further behind. Without this sword - without ME - you'd be a passenger. A burden to carry." Baphomet's voice was low in pitch, deep, rough, laryngealized, gutteral. "This sword - by merely containing a piece of me. A slither - is so much more capable than you realize."

"Oh yeah?" Zell sounded interested.

"If you merely embrace it... in combination with your Ascension, it could put you beyond them. Beyond all. Zigmund: The one who held it before you. He was strong. But his limits were apparent. His ceiling, visible. You, however, have no ceiling that I can see. You are unique in that. Limitless potential. You could be something that this world has never seen."

All the blood suddenly reversed back into his body. Then his injuries closed up. Zell opened and closed his fists as he suddenly felt power surging through him. He was overflowing with Source and it felt amazing.

"Alright," the Englishman said. "If it gives me the power I need... I'm in."

"Embrace the sword. Embrace me. And I shall return the favor."

"Ha! You idiot, you thought it'd be that easy? Go fuck yourself, you freak." Zell threw his head back and laughed forcibly loudly. "You fucking dummy HAHAHA You need to work on your pitch, mate HAHAHA."

Zell could feel himself waking up, so he took a step forward, narrowed his eyes and pointed his finger at the void. "Take your little devil dick, yeah... and stick it up your fucking arse."

"Until next time..." were the last words from Baphomet. So patient. So persistent. So certain. "...Zell Brooks."

"THE NINJA IS HERE!!!"

Zell groaned as he rolled onto his back and rolled once more to be out of the bed and onto his feet. "Crap," he cursed quickly rubbing the sleep from his eyes.

Fortunately for Zell, he was in full armour, sword still strapped to his back and everything. When he found the personal quarters of Jon Gringot, he was so tired he just collapsed face first onto his bed and was alseep in seconds. So he was up and out of the room expediantly.

Unfortunately for Zell, he did not recognise where he was or how he got there, making actually getting out to the temple entrance a much longer task than urgency required. "Crap!"

After running into twenty different rooms, he finally found the kitchen and managed to get his bearings. Into the main corridor he flew and sprinted down the corridor, about to run into the entrance hall when the whole place came crumbling down with an explosion. Zell flew backwards and hit the ground hard. "Ugh!"

The battle had already started. He got up with a string of curse words, anger flaring within as he could just imagine Baphomet laughing at his incompetence. Again, forward he flew, clambering through a gap in the double-doorway covered with peices of building. Scrambling up, finding spots between the stone pieces to squeeze through. At one point in the mess, he got his boot stuck. At another point, he had to double back and find another way through the destruction. When he finally found himself through and atop the mountain of rubble, he saw the everyone. Including the man he'd promised to decapitate. "Rrrrrrrgh!"

Reckless as ever, he sprinted down the uneven, jagged stone and straight into battle, a fair distance behind Fenna who was rushing in for an attack.

"ZIGMUUUUND!!!!"

So incredibly angry. Sure, Zigmund deserved the disdain. Deserved fury. But this was not controlled. Zell was out of his mind. Red was all he could see.

This was no way to fight. Not even your worst enemies.

Nonetheless, he swooped in, drew the sword off his back, found a gap between his friends to get at Zigmund and leapt into wild swings.

Her! The unswattable fly! Couldn't see her until it was too late. Timing flawless.

Fenna's Ascended spear struck clean and true, the sharp tip striking magical steel armour, scraping up an inch and into the seam of the steel plates at Zigmund's waist, breaching the armour and penetrating flesh. A splash of blood and water came from the entry wound.

"Argh!"

Zigmund managed to slant Barracker's blade away as he stumbled, Fenna's charge pushing him sideways, her spear digging deep. Blood and water seeped down his hip, but he grabbed the shaft of the spear, his other hand swinging his bardiche at the woman to make her dodge, giving him time to pull the spear from his body, turn to water and drop into nothing more than a puddle.

He moved fast along the floor to safe space and jumped back up into form - first water then physical. However, the grevious wound in his waist remained.

How!? How can she possess the ability to bypass my defences? How are they all so strong!?

Now he was hurt. Now he was angry. And speaking of angry-

"ZIGMUUUUND!!!"

No more games.

The swings were so wild, Zigmund didn't have to do much anyway. But he was angry too. With an old Ascension power of his own, from back when he was a simple-minded human - an Adventurer just like them - he activated a temporary strength and endurance boost. Then he summoned dual Sai's - water upgrade-transformed to steel - easily dodged one of Zell's swings then- STAB -then dodged another then- STAB STAB STAB STAB STAB! It happened to fast, Zell was treated like a pin cushion and then spinning kicked 15 feet away.

Zell had taken critical damage and would be out of the fight for 2 rounds. A cure spell could reduce this penalty to 1 round.

Zigmund was about to attend to other fighters who weren't punctured up and eating dirt, until...

In my anger I did not see it, at first. But that man has MY sword.

Zigmund threw down a steam bomb to blind the entire area of his next move, then headed toward Zell to reclaim what was rightfully his and make his first kill of the fight. His dual Sai's turned to water and reformed into a exectuioner's axe. Fitting. As he neared, the axe turned to Titanrock and...

Suffice to say, considering Zell's condition, this attempted killing blow was undodgeable.

Had he the mental capacity for it he would no doubt be amused by his waking state, almost completely out of the bedroll and with his hair wiped in every direction, a distant part of his mind could also feel a thin layer of spite on his chin indicating he had likely been drooling in his sleep. He brought his hand to his chest while looking to the ceiling with his mouth slightly open, iddly he scratched at the bandages, head empty of any thought, . . . . . . . . . . . . . , perhaps he should have been more alarmed by the contents of his dreams -what he could remember at least as the memory was already beginning to disappear.

But alas, mornings did just not agree with James Sirius.

After some time simply staring at the ceiling he finally stood, zombie-like movements brought him to his pack and after rummaging a little he came across his bounty. A sealed rask containing some coffee beans, another with sugar, an ice box with frozen milk, and the necessary -if rustic- equipment to prepare it.

Slow steps filled the still-dark temple, some visage of his usual self remembered a kitchen and nothing could motivate him in the morning like the prospect of a hot coffee, it was no surprise he completely missed the presence of Adam despite being in the same room as the druid.



It wasn't until Adam left and (he took a couple more zips) that his faculties finally returned to him, a sort of snap back to reality that had him calmly taking stock of himself "Friends" Adam just left and the rest was scattered, probably still asleep, "Garments" Same as yesterday so gross, "Weapon" on the bed, "Villagers" most had left the night before, "Coffee" empty, refill. After making sure that his cup was once more full he allowed himself to relax, it was done, they had managed to beat the undead crap of the wraith and his pet cultist. Even better, they had managed to do so without losing anyone else in the party.

He allowed himself to ruminate on the party members who were not with them, he was still worried about Lilliana and he hadn't heard from Joji since they split, but despite the worry, he was glad they were still alive, unlike his other two late party members, he would be lying if he said he had got over it, Clive and Arthur deaths had been quick and brutal and he was sure they would haunt his dreams for years to come.

All because that-

"THE NINJA IS HERE!!!"

One moment he was frozen, the next he was sprinting back towards his weapon, his cu no doubt shattered where he had thrown it but he couldn't care less about that. Moving as fast as he could he ignored the screaming, as much as he wanted to help he knew that if he appeared without a means to defend himself from a direct attack then that asshole would no doubt abuse it.

That didn't mean he had nothing he could do, he chanted as he ran, last time his crystal had ascended it had brought with it a new spell, he had just given it a glance but its use was beautifully simple.

"Source infusion"

Grabbing his anchor he sprinted towards the sounds of battle, arriving just in time to see Zell get stabbed multiple times, the sight made him angry beyond words but behind all that was pure horror.

"Not again!"

The moment the ninja dropped a smoke bomb he made his move, with a yell his anchor sailed through the air at speeds almost comparable to that of the late Arthur Baker, his aim not towards Zigmund.

His objective was Zell.

The rapidly expanding smoke didn't let him see if his aim was true but lacking options he decided to trust his luck and pull with both hands, out of the smoke came the bleeding body of Zell, he wasn't Mac so it made sense that his throw wasn't perfect, rather than fetching the larger man by the armpit the anchor had instead latched on his belt.

The result was the same.

As soon as the swordsman was out close enough he grabbed him and cast Lesser Restore, the wounds were bad but not the worst he had treated.

He just hoped the others were able to restrain the fucker long enough for Zell to finish healing.

Zigmund saw the anchor come into view and tried to bring his Executioner's Axe down quicker, but the weapon hit hard-pat soil. He growled in frustration as Zell's body was taken from him. As he looked to see where the almost-dead adventurer was being taken to, he saw another that he recognized.

The Cleric. I'd recognize that scowl from anywhere. Giving the orders in the last fight. Smart. Quick to act and adjust. His mere presence is going to make this more difficult. And now he carries the weapon of weapon of his dead friend. Pathetic humanisms.



The steam was sucked out of the air and back into Zigmund's body, briging everybody into perfect view.

It is inconcievable how much stronger they've gotten, but I've beaten parties this strong before. And now only five of them are standing. As long as I don't make another mistake, I can floor a 2nd one of them. Yes. Enjoy this Zigmund. The kills will come soon enough.

Zigmund decided not to chase down James and Zell. Such a tactic would just see the other adventurers all flock to get in his way. Instead:

Zigmund summoned 5 Water Javelins above his head, then let them launch at Adam, Barracker, James, Zell and MacKensie, leaving him a chance to run at Fenna.

The Javelins were fast but not unavoidable for those with speed and not unblockable for those with the means to do so. However targets would incur a minor injury if not dealt with. For Zell, this attack is undodgeable.

"You're mine."

Zigmund rushed Fenna with the Executioner's Axe and threw broad sweeps and swings at her, water droplets raining to the floor as the weapon whizzed from all angles at the Ranger. He would hopefully injure her. Hopefully kill her. If she was not equal to his combat, she would be injured.

Although this entire ploy was for something else.

"You're mine"

As Zigmund rushed towards Fenna with the Executioner's Axe she twisted her body to face him. "I was about to say the same thing," she said as she ducked under the first swing, holding her spear to the side. "You're mine," she hissed. Duck, lean, jump back, block, Fenna did what she could to fend off the big blade and tried to find an opening to put in an attack herself.

Sil circled above, but couldn't find an opening to assist Fenna.

The water droplets rained down on Fenna as she was in closer combat than she'd prefer, but her spear matched the length she needed. Her feet moved almost instinctively. She moved out of the way when the blade came down, but she wasn't fast enough and the blade made a cut in the front of her shoulder and a part of her upper arm as she moved back. Thankfully not deep enough to make her lose her stance or to stop her right arm from pushing her spear towards the water ninja's abdomen.

Although Barracker had a well distinguished boot camp and early career as a soldier, his Paladin training was not amongst the very best. He was always excellent at following orders, combat training and keeping his armour and dorm clean. He lacked in a crucial area, and that was the strength in his source domain affinity. He lacked the ability to control his domain of magic, so much so that a couple of academic teachers spent a lot of sessions hammering into his head at least something he could manage at his low level. A couple of spells that would be useful for monster hunting, which were stoneskin and lesser barrier. Ironically earth domain and light domain were neither his domain affinity. His actual domain had never crept to the surface or really served much purpose. Until now.

When the steam bomb was launched, and Barracker lost sight of the enemy’s position. Somehow he realized he could still sense him, even as Zigmund moved towards Zell. His eyes followed, even though blinded by the steam cloud. It was so out of the ordinary that he was paralyzed for a second, wondering how this was possible. Luckily James was not so paralyzed and was able to save Zell with a bold move to say the least. His leader was a solid strategist but man, would he take insane risks when he had to. Zell would get to savor another breath, thanks to James’ quick and decisive action.

The steam cloud suddenly disappeared, his sight came instantly back. With a double blink, his eyes reset, adjusting back to normal. His gaze was set on Zigmund.

A water javelin was thrown his way. Barracker sprinted ahead, raised his shield arm, swinging to parry the javelin off target and past him. It flew off into the distance, evaporating into droplets. The Vampire joined his friend, Fenna. Back into the action he went, the Paladin’s vampiric speed so fast that he skidded low in the dirt, slowing as he slid just behind Fenna’s back, ducking the butt of her spear as she and Zigmund circled in their duel. Once clear of her and with Zigmund circling into him, the vampire changed direction, keeping his momentum and aiming to swoop into a sword swing with his claymore. The sword swung to meet Zigmunds legs, at the same time Fenna aimed for his abdomen.

Adam hadn't actually expected those roots to be enough to defeat Zigmund. No, this water ninja would be tougher than that. However, the Druid was grateful that his magic was able to support MacKensie and prevent her from being ambushed. When she said his name, he couldn't help smiling at her, an effort at reassurance perhaps. This wasn't the time to be distracted though; their enemy had thrown a blade at him, and he had to move out of the way.

Compared to the easy task of avoiding one weapon, Adam knew his teammates were dealing with much more. Barracker and Fenna were successfully battling the ninja while Zell-

What is he doing!?

The red-eyed man, while far from an expert on weapons, had seen enough of the “party idiot's” combat to know that this was not his usual competent self. This was a recipe for disaster, and the Druid had to do something. He began growing a tree, one that would…end up not being needed for that! In a swift and decisive move, James Sirius saved the group's Fighter from certain death. Adam sighed, thankful for the Cleric's intervention. 

Zigmund was not done though, manifesting water javelins to inflict more pain on Second Chance. I guess this is good for something after all, Adam thought as he moved the tree he had just grown to block the weapon aimed at Zell. However, in his haste to defend the Fighter, the Druid left himself open for an attack and ended up getting hit by the water weapon. The pain wasn't pleasant, but he knew he had dealt with far worse before. It would be okay.

Better to focus on how to defeat this enemy once and for all. Fenna and Barracker were fighting him now, so Adam didn't want to risk harming either of them with his magic. Instead, he prepared himself to grow roots below the ninja, ready to cast like someone with his finger on a gun's trigger. If Zigmund turned to water or overpowered his friends, Adam would attempt to ensnare the villain with his magic in order to prevent him from hurting anyone else. 

I'm hers? The gall of this woman. The unmitigated arrogance. That fire in her eyes. It won't be enough now that she's without her friends.

And it wasn't. Even though Fenna was not as reckless as Zell, Zigmund had almost cut her arm off inside of ten seconds of single-combat. Only her Ranger speed her saved her, not to mention her ability to keep distance with her spear. She would not last-

What!?

Zigmund's eyes could not help but be drawn to the brown flash that blitzed across view, flying behind Fenna.

The vampire.

He expected he would get a few more seconds alone with Fenna, but the water javelins hadn't even been enough. Even after underestimating how much Second Chance had grown, he could STILL not accurately assess their strength! And this new addition to their party - his speed and combat experience was so high that he alone was foiling Zigmund's current plan!

His focus flicked from a spear thrusting toward him, mid-height, to a greatsword swinging his way from a flanking angle, low-height.

My water form isn't back yet. I cannot dodge this. I thought I'd have more time to draw more of them into the trap. I must spring it now or suffer!

The red light on his visor glowed brightly and all of the water droplets that had rained onto the floor and onto Fenna, exploded into sharp icicles, big like blades. Sharp like them too. It was too soon, but he would at least take two adventurers out.

Wait! What now!?

Roots. Those roots from some water absorbant plant known for thriving in the driest of desert regions. Invigorated in size and magnified in power. The very bane of Zigmund's existence.

Curse that Druid!

Fortunately for Fenna, where she was stood, the roots grew around her feet sucked 90% of the water from her clothes and the floor around, so her damage was minimal. Her damage and injury resistance was enough to stave off serious bodily harm.

However, Barracker was not so lucky. He came in from the flank and was not yet in close enough range to where the roots, that grew mostly around Zigmund, were. What water he was stood over and the last-moment rain across his neck, visor and chest was enough to do critical damage. His visor cracked, his armour tore and he was badly wounded. Due to his vampire toughness, and the forced early spring of the trap, he would be incapacitated for only 1 Round.

Fenna's lack of serious injury, plus her grit, meant that she only lost a portion of power in her spear thrust, meaning that Zigmund's armour was torn once again, although it was barely a scratch on his flesh. But his armour was once more breached, meaning his overall damage resistance was lowered and he had two glaring weakpoints courtesy of The Unswattable Fly.

He did manage to avoid those dastardly roots though, with a leap backward out of the danger area. Instead of moving against another, he maintained a defensive stance for a brief moment to gauge his surroundings.

And pin-point that damned Druid.

Holy shit, this was new: Full of holes and leaking so bad he could feel the drain. It made everything before this seem like scrapes and bruises in comparison - a few 'Oww-ies.'

As he lay there, he was actually reminded of two things from his old life. The first being a nightmare he once had, during a brief and rare time period in Uni life when a few of his 'business execs' had fucked up and he'd winded up in debt to some horrible men. Horrible and powerful men in London. A stressful time, that was. He'd gotten himself out of it, of course - he's Zell fucking Brooks - naturally. But that short time had been stressful enough to give him a nightmare, once, where he'd ended up laying in an alley, somewhere, in just this very position - full of holes and leaking profusely. Anyway, that nightmare was the first thing.

The second thing he was reminded of was his death. That bus.

The lights were red.

That feeling of life just draining from one's body. The pain. The paralysis. It was so similar. That's how he knew he was dying, in this moment. There was no other feeling like it. He could've died a hundred times in a hundred different worlds - wouldn't matter - there was no amount of familiarity that could prepare him for the terrifying creep of nothingness slowly engulfing the mind and body.

First sky, then steam: That was his view. Then, as his eyes moved to the shadowy figure in his periphery, he saw Zigmund emerge from the cloud. Zell's breaths were slow and heavy. In his mind, he pushed away the terror and came up with a plan. One plan to take this bastard with him to afterlife. But would he have the strength to pull it off?

Zigmund came closer. Zell barely had the strength to tighten his grip on his sword. This was going to be a long shot. Two teleports left. And one, "T-t-t-take... Vor," he whispered. "B-"

YEET!

His body was yanked hard, pulled with such force he bumped lifelessly along the floor, out of the steam and away from Zigmund. It was pretty rough treatment - hurt like hell - but when he saw the face of his best friend, he was not complaining. Definitely a better a plan, he thought as he managed a smile for James who wasted no time getting to work, casting Lesser Restore.

The magic curing his body felt weird, like at the hospital with Ms Devil Doctor. It wasn't as fast or intense, but he could literally feel his body repairing. Didn't do much for the pain but hell, he wasn't gonna complain. "Cheers, Jay-dog," he said over heavy breaths. "What would I do without you, eh?"

Second by second, his strength to speak was restoring. "So, bossman...?" he asked. "Rushing an opponent roughly twice your strength like a wild caveman.... how would you rate my strategy out of ten?"

He rolled his head towards the battle in time to see the water javelins form up above Zigmund, "Incoming, James," and then come flying at them. A tree suddenly moved in the way of the attack targeting Zell himself, and he knew who'd save his ass. So long as James managed to avoid getting hit, Zell would just look back to the sky with relief. "Adam, you fucking angel."

The strength to move was coming back. And with that, he was itching to get back to the fight. Just a little more time.

A chaotic thump-a-thump of a horse galloping across the plains could be faintly heard amidst the sound of combat, causing gravel to shift as the source of the thunderous beat of the beasts hooves against the ground grew louder and louder until the unmistakable bray and whinny of a horse echoed off in the distance.

Clive the Legend, was alive and pressed against the ghostly visage of his steed pale and ethereal her mane whipping like the wind through his ears bum-bump-bum-bump his heart beat in rhythm with Daisy's.

The Texan clicked his tongue, and tugged at the reigns slowing her down a little as he felt Zigmund's presence closer than ever before...When he opened his eyes they were glowing with a similar ethereal light as the spirit of his beloved mare.

"Yah!" the southern man looking determined more than ever before whipped at the reigns of his horse with a crisp crack.


A fierce high pitched whinny caught the attention of everyone as suddenly and seemingly from out of nowhere a lone rider appeared mounted upon a steed that glowed with a divine ethereal light.

"Life is getting up one more time than you’ve been knocked down. An' I came back to be sure you never did." the rider said, his voice familiar with a southern twang.

The hooves of his steed pounded against the ground like a war drums, a rhythmic cacophony of thunder or heavy rain as he whipped at the horses reigns. Clive leaped off Daisy, his muscles coiled like springs, ready to unleash a devastating blow on Zigmund unaware of the kinetic force behind his attack.

The vampire is down, at least. Now where is that Druid? There. He must go next.

But then something else caught Zigmund's attention. His ear turned towards the sound of...

Horses. Multiple, judging by the volume. Wait. No. Just one.

A faint red light rippled outward like an ever growing sphere to cover the entirety of Temple Hill. It was difficult to see as the orange light of the sun crept over the eastern horizon.

A Source Crystal User. Must be a villager I'd not accounted for. With two adventurers down and the Druid about to be next, they should be no problem.

But then he saw the horse and rider clear the summit of the hill, the horse whinny signalling their arrival on the battlefield. And the horse was itself was quite the sight, all on it's own. Zigmund had never seen anything like it. He simply had to assume it was some kind of Light Domain Magic Boost at work, for speed or protection.

But while an unobserved phenomena of a steed was enough to tingle a sense of anxiety, nothing could possibly compare to the spike of anxiety, anger and confusion at THE RIDER!

"You! How!?" Zigmund involuntarily took a step backward. "I killed you! I Felt you die in my arms!"

"Life is getting up one more time than you’ve been knocked down. An' I came back to be sure you never did."

Zigmund took yet another step backward, so shocked that he had no reply.

There was no more time for talking as Clive charged toward him and lept from the horse and served Zigmund a punch that sent the Elite Scout Unit flying. Then he tumbled and rolled across the ground for a length almost as far as he flew from the initial kinetic power. He couldn't dodge the punch. He couldn't even gracefully and quickly get back to his feet. He simply and slowly rose after spending a second in stillness. He was still shocked. There was a long crack up the side of his metal head-piece.

What am I fighting? What are these people from another world?

Of course the bastard could joke at a time like this.

"2 out of 10, too much brawn, not enough brain, you fucking idiot" Okay maybe he was angrier than he thought, but seeing Zell almost die like that brought back memories he would rather not deal with right now "Gather your strength, you should be able to return to combat soo-"

"Incoming, James,"

He acted by instinct, the moment Zell's warning left his mouth he automatically adopted a defensive posture, a small but strong profile with the anchor at the front. Sadly a weapon made from water was too difficult to block like that, the moment the javelin hit his anchor most of the water simply splashed back with all the force stripped from it, less than 20% however, slipped past his guard, cutting the right side of his brow in what would have been fatal had he been a few centimeters to the right.

"Fuck"

A hand went to his brow and returned red, it wasn't more than a tickle but it was worrying nonetheless. The moment his eyes saw the blood his eyes widened and looked towards his friend, he was defenseless!

That was when he caught sight of the tree.

"Adam, you fucking angel"

With some room to breathe he focused back on the battlefield, things were not good, Kass had a nasty injury and Fenna appeared wounded as well, Mac and Adam were better, he couldn't see Sil but trusted them to keep safe. They could win this! they just needed to- "Are those horses?" For a moment he allowed himself to hope, that reinforcements were sent from the guild in order to help them.

He didn't expect to see a dead man walking.

He watched, shocked and paralyzed, not having expected Clive fucking Michel to return from the dead -Again!- just to beat his killer. However his inaction ended the moment he saw their enemy on the ground, awe gave way to anger and viciousness. In a singular movement he casts Lesser Counterspell. He wasn't aware if his disappearing act was a spell or if his own would do anything, but this was an opportunity he was not going to pass.

"He is vulnerable, attack!"

Following his own advice he spun the chain and let his anchor fly against the ninja using the last flashes of strength bought with his spell.

MacKensie skidded to a halt and dropped to her knees next to James and Zell, her panic subsiding as the light of James' healing spell glowed over her Zell's body. She asked James if the other man would be okay and he appeared confident, so she put a hand on each of her two friend's shoulders and nodded briskly, about to head back into battle, but paused after a step to throw her own answer into Zell's dumb joke.

"So, bossman...?" he asked. "Rushing an opponent roughly twice your strength like a wild caveman.... how would you rate my strategy out of ten?"

"Maybe try not to take the 'Mindless gorilla' thing so far next time, yes?" she said angrily.

James verbalized his agreement, although with appropriately increased intensity and language, making her smile, albeit through a stern reprimanding expression for Zell. Aside from Zell's outburst of stupidity, she knew James' tone well enough to know that the swordsman would be fine. And then there was Fenna and Barracker's teamwork that had been effective enough to injure Zigmund. Even her own brief clash with him at the very beginning of battle had been world's apart in difference to her last showdown with the ninja. They were all stronger and she was confident that they could kill this agent of evil.

She saw the water javelins and Zell warned James in time for all of them to escape direct hits. MacKensie herself had pulled off a a corkscrew flip that saw her spin horizontally over the javelin, it flying past her harmlessly. As she landed, she saw James had blocked most of the damage with his anchor, a little blood trickling down the side of his face from a minor cut. And Adam, who'd taken up a position to cover the battlefield, had saved Zell by throwing a tree into the javelins path.

This really was a different party than the inexperienced, unascended one Zigmund had faced last time. And she was sure that he knew it too.

And then, as she watched the beautiful chemistry of assault from their resident Spear and Greatsword, that confidence she had was ripped from her at the sight of the ice explosion. She gasped, her sharp eyes catching the details of Zigmund's counterattack. The damage was apparent. Adam had once again showed his effectiveness with his magic - his root system somehow mitigating damage, but while Fenna had escaped with minor injuries, Barracker was hurt badly.

"Oh no. Barracker."

Once again, she went to help her friends but was paused mid-step by unexpected noise. Hoofbeats. She looked towards where the horseman appeared, but with glow of the rising sun behind him, horse and rider were almost a silouette. Almost. Her mouth opened, her brow furrowed as her mind told her that she could not really be seeing what her eyes were telling her.

I saw him... die. With her own eyes, she'd watched him drop lifelessly to the floor. With her own hands, she'd helped dig his grave, with the farm man's own broken shovel. Her and Joji had given him his own funeral on the hilltop overlooking Valhiem. How could this be?

"Life is getting up one more time than you’ve been knocked down. An' I came back to be sure you never did."

"Lord in heaven, it is him," she confirmed by his thick accent. She didn't even realise she was crying. "Clive."

Clive Michel was back - riding a ghostly, glowing horse. And he entered battle with a mighty mega-punch that sent Zigmund across the dirt. It was enough to break her from her pause, and while tears still rolled down her cheeks, Second Chance's leader's command was enough to re-engage her mind.

"He is vulnerable, attack!"

MacKensie rushed in, blue flames dancing into existence along her hands and arms, her maximum foot-speed a sight to behold. Knowing James was hoisting up the anchor as she left him, she jumped high and out of the way, to one side, then started her Deadly Flurry in sync with the results of the anchor flying towards Zigmund, aiming for the cracks in his armour. Mid air, she would fire her grapplehook at the ground next to her enemy and speed in like an air-to-ground missile, activating a second Deadly Flurry and baseball sliding right by the metal ninja while letting off 4 bolts-per-second until her blue flames disappeared.

Just like MacKensie: Zigmund was brought back from his stupor by James yelling. His head turned sharply toward the Cleric and the impending danger in the form of a Ranger and an anchor flying toward him.

Fast but not fast enough. Not as smart as I thought, yelling like that. Bringing me back to my senses.

His body turned to wat-

What!?

The molecules of his body blinked into H2O and right back to flesh and steel, his very being feeling the handcuffs of the Counterspell.

That insolent little...!

Zigmund adjusted instantly, throwing up crossed forearms in an X-shape, a Water Ward materializing just in time for the giant anchor and a hail of iron bolts hitting it. The anchor was of the Water Domain for sure - the large weapon sticking to the ward, grinding as it tried to break through, bits of hoarfrost covering the weapon and turning bits of Zigmund's shield to ice. At the same time, the bolts of MacKensie were hitting the shield and chipping shards of ice off it.

As the combined attack ended, Zigmund stumbled backward and his Water Ward disappeared. The armor on his forearms was full of cracks.

That was close. How does a weakling of a Cleric so powerfully wield the weapon of the Deep-One Reaver before him? It doesn't make s-

He wasn't allowed to finish his thought, because the blue blur that was MacKensie zoomed past him, even faster than before. Last sighting she was high up and medium-range distant. Now she was speeding low on the ground and right by him. And let off a hail of close range shots that he had no chance to counter. So many bolts. Half of which left little dints in his armour. The other half found the cracks that her fellow Ranger, Fenna, had created and burned into flesh. Some even found the new cracks in his forearms. Point blank power, they buried deep into his flesh.

"Ugh-ugh-ugh-ugh-ugh-ugh-ugh-ugh..."

The sheer force pushed him stumbling sideways. The attack felt never-ending, so he reached deep into will to power threw himself out of the line of fire, diving and rolling back to feet, but limping a little.



I am... losing?

Blood and water now bleeded more obviously from his waist, abdomen and a single forearm. But he was by no means done.

Zigmund Mugba-Zarak will not be defeated so easily! Not by these novices! This I swear to her Her Majesty!

He let out in intimidating shockwave of steam that rushed past everyone on the battlefield, then activated another Strength and Endurance boost. The shockwave would do no damage, but it was enough of a show to allow him a single free attack at his closest enemy.

He launched himself at MacKensie and hit her with a head-punch, body-kick and spin-kick combo that sent her to the ground.

Activating his final boost - Speed - he walked toward to the floored MacKensie, listening out for her party members to rush to her aid, then dropped another small steam bomb.

Out of the steam he rushed at great speed towards his real target.

Now Druid: Let's see how you handle close-quarters combat!

The steam bomb ploy would undoubtedly give him time alone with Adam. And unlike Fenna, he was caster - A Mage - a handful of seconds would be all that was required. With Strength, Endurance and Speed Boosts - Adam would need a miracle to survive the pain that Zigmund was about to unleash on him. Around the ninja's fists water formed punching-gauntlets. One his toes and and knees, water formed puncture-spikes. Then all weapons upgrade-transformed to steel.

Time to end this pain in my neck for good.

Adam felt cautiously optimistic, seeing the overall results of the attack on the water ninja by himself, Fenna and Barracker. The latter being severely injured wasn't a contribution to this emotion of course; the Druid was obviously concerned for his friend, but deep down he knew the Paladin would be okay. No, it was the results of their combined assault, and more importantly nobody dying that made the red-eyed man feel that everything would be okay. He wouldn't let down his guard, but the sheer terror of the last fight wasn't there right now.

What should I do now? Zigmund is still very-wait, what is that? It sounded like a horse, but nobody in Second Chance had one. A villager, perhaps? Adam would have to-

Suddenly, he heard a whinny and did a double-take at what he just saw - a certain Texan that he thought was dead. 

“Clive!?”

The incredulous fisherman wondered if this was some kind of dark magic Zigmund used until the horseman proceeded to punch their common enemy. Okay, not an enemy. We can address everything else later, Adam thought, wiping a single tear from his eye. And James and MacKensie had kept their focus on the villain, successfully assaulting him with their own abilities and weapons. Yes, this will hopefully end soon.

“MacKensie!”

When the ninja struck the Ranger, the Druid struck a defensive pose, ready to cast. Growing some roots like last time would probably be sufficient. But as Zigmund advanced towards him, Adam realized that a very different sort of magic would be required now. It wasn't ideal timing, though what in battle was ever ideal?

Preparing himself mentally in the seconds that he had to spare, the shrill voice of Gilligan rang out in his head. “The shapeshifting transformation won't be easy the first few times. You'll struggle to think rationally and logically, and be yourself mentally.” Yes, Adam knew that he would have to fight in more ways than one right now. He sighed, then cast the spell. A green aura enveloped the Druid as he changed form, taking the shape of a black bear. Zigmund attempted to harm the newly transformed man with a boosted, gauntlet-powered fist, but it would do no good; the latter shifted his body, easily blocking the punch with his left foreleg before slamming his opponent down to the ground with his right paw.

After this, the ninja tried attacking once again, attempting to kick his adversary into submission. It would not connect though; instead, the bear forcefully bit Zigmund's helmet, denting it and lifting the elemental into the air. Unable to maneuver, the evil one was completely unprepared as the shapeshifter let go of his head, only to expose him to a barrage of bear claw slashes. Even with the endurance boost, these attacks would damage and chip his armor significantly, including adding a new five-line scar to his helmet. Adam followed up on this with a terrifying roar, feeling more like a beast than a human at that point. Focus, Adam. This isn't you. He then knocked his opponent a considerable distance away with a final strike of his paw before ending his transformation early, returning to his original form.

In his brief brush of the shoulders with Death, Zell had missed some of the battle. He didn't realise that Fenna was hurt and Barracker was outright floored. He hadn't realised that the Ranger and Paladin had previously put on a mesmerizing display of weaponskill and teamwork - Adam a mastery of support magic with impeccable timing. What he did see, once he was hail enough to prop himself up on an elbow and view the battle, was the last thing he expected.

"James, I don't think you're healing is working cuz I am fucking seeing things, my mate."

It was Clive! Zell blinked hard a few times to make sure the American was actually there. He still wouldn't believe his eyes until his once-dead team mate rode up on Zigmund and dove off his ghostly horse with a punch that would've laid out the greatest heavyweights of all time. Zell open-mouth grinned in joy, looking to James and MacKensie to see that they were just as shocked as he was.

"Life is getting up one more time than you’ve been knocked down. An' I came back to be sure you never did."

"Lord in heaven, it is him," MacKensie's reaction said it all. "Clive."

"Ho. Lee. Shit," Zell said as he struggled to take a knee. It was time to tag back into the ring.

James was a step ahead, issuing the call to action with that power-version of his voice that showed up when it counted, as opposed to his usual 'yeah, whatever' tone he liked to adopt. "He is vulnerable, attack!" He and MacKensie were into a tandem attack before the Englishman could even get to his feet. While Zigmund was struggling with them, Zell was checking himself for holes, giving himself a police-style pat-down and casually nodding with approval at James' handiwork. "Not gonna lie; you're good at what you do, mate," he said loudly enough for James to hear.

The unseriousness masked his prudence.

It was important to make sure that he was fully fit to be in the fight and be effective, this time, not just be a burden. The majority of his attention while patting himself down was gauging the battlefield. Adam looked perfectly fine. He always does. He could see Fenna had taken minor injury. She'll be fine. Barracker was wounded badly. I should check on him first. And of course; James and MacKensie's attack was simply sublime, MacKensie looking especially cool as fuck when she zoomed down from the sky for a second 'MacFlurry.' She gets better and better with that gauntlet. Incredible.

Zell picked up his sword and made quickly toward Barracker, but circumstances changed everything when MacKensie took a beatdown. It wasn't the beatdown per-say. It was the steam.

"Fuck, he's gonna kill her!" Zell shouted. "James!"

He waved his best friend to join him and sprinted towards the steam, but just as he was about to test if his teleport could work without a clear visual of the location he wanted to teleport, Zigmund went speeding out of the steam cloud in the direction of Adam. On the edge of the steam he stood in limbo, thinking, There's no way he managed to kill her that fast, he was in there for a second. It was a trick, which meant Adam needed help.

Or did he?

"What in the fuck..." Zell tapered off in awe as Adam transformed into a bear. It was a sight to behold. It was only when Adam started man-handling Zigmund, one on one, like a man versus a child, that Zell felt the tension disappear. "Just how many powers has this guy got!?"

"How you doing there, doll?" he asked MacKensie as the steam cloud dissipated. "You still good to go?"

He already knew her answer before she'd spoke. MacKensie was as tough as she was virtuous. It would take more than a punch and a couple of kicks to keep her down.

"Hey Clive," he called. "Bloody hard to get rid of you, ain't it?" Zell laughed. "You do know we'll be docking your pay for sleeping on the job all this time."

It was about this time that Adam the Bear was done tearing Zigmund apart. Zell had to believe that Barracker's tanky nature (not to mention the vampiristic physical traits) would be enough for him to hold on while the rest of them took this golden opportunity. So he said to all who could hear him, "I think this is as good a time as any to finish this fucker, once and for all. What do you say? Let's fucking do this!"

And he started charging. With the differences in speed of everyone, plus the differences in proximity to Zigmund, Zell would be ready to smartly (not wildly,) level-headedly (not raging mad,) syncronize with his fellow comrades, acting like the swordsman (not caveman) that he was.

His jumped in with quick slashes and leapt back a step to quickly circle and find new angles, stylistically mimmicking how he'd seen MacKensie fight. In and out, taking his turn to throw a combination of strikes and moving aside to let another apply their own pressure. If James still had Counter Spells left, this would not be looking good for Zigmund. Against the broken-down ninja, Zell would not stop until Second Chance were all stomping a lifeless metal body into the dirt, because that's what this bastard deserved.

At one point, when Clive let loose a ferocious combination of punches, Zell full-on leap frogged the broad shouldered Texan into a powerful two-handed downward strike onto the enemy.

It was pretty wild. But Zell wouldn't be Zell without, at least a little, indulging in the utterly ridiculous.

"Hey Clive," he called. "Bloody hard to get rid of you, ain't it?" Zell laughed. "You do know we'll be docking your pay for sleeping on the job all this time." Clive barely suppressed the smirk playing at the edges of his face - Clive shook his head 'same old Zell', didn't even miss a beat seeing a bona-fide dead man walking.

"Joke later funny man, there's a son of a bitch whose late for his dance with death..." the farmer's voice trailed off as he watched their Druid if that bear was Adam, toss Zigmund aside with violent ferocity.

"Shucks ya'll got a few things to fill little old me up on after this-" the moment to talk had long passed "I think this is as good a time as any to finish this fucker, once and for all. What do you say? Let's fucking do this!"

"Heh...Couldn't have said it better myself. Let's." he followed suit with Zell, charging at Zigmund. The swordsman zigged and zagged, jumping in to slash then leapt back to repeat a dance of steel.

Meanwhile while Zell pushed the other swordsman, his attacks harrying the man and thn Clive came in and socked Zigmund with a kinetic punch aimed to slam him into the dirt, he wasn't one to fight gracefully in fact he was right mad, throwing his all into beating the bejesus out of Zigmund with a combination of punches.

Barracker came crashing down, flying ten feet, his body whistling through the air. If it weren’t for his increased attributes of endurance and constitution, he might have been a goner. His armour was torn and his visor cracked nearly in half. His body felt mangled and neck felt to a near broken state. With the icicles still in his body, running from his legs to one giant icicle lodged in his neck. It took all his strength plus his willpower to stand up on his feet. Legs shaking while resting onto his sword hilt to aid him up. Barracker could only see out of one eye, the other totally shut, preventing him from seeing through. The gash one of the icicles made was now pouring away with blood, located just above his eye. His head rang with concussion, drowning out every other sound in the battle. His vision swam side to side as if he was drunk.

His body did not react, it would only demand rest, he felt useless. The Paladin was just stood there looking at nothing in particular, trying to focus on the battlefield, but it caused more pain just to focus. On second thoughts, I must quickly rest. I will be no use to anyone like this. Rest will regain some of my strength back. Barracker took his time edging slowly towards the walls of the Temple. Once there he turned and faced the battlefield, his back against the wall and let his feet drop, his ass came crashing down hitting the floor. His eyelids were heavy, the battle taking place in a reel of pictures. Wait, who is this? An ethereal horse?! Barracker tried to see the rider's face but couldn’t see much. Then suddenly. A new fighter has entered the fray, a hell of a punch was thrown and connected clean with quite a bit of magical force behind it.

Barracker felt like he only shut his eyes for a moment but then, “A bear? On the battlefield?” Even half conscious, the monster hunter knew there were no bears native to this region. It must be Adam. Incredible, how has he learned specialized powers to sub-classes of the Druid field, already?

That was it, suddenly he fell to sleep, his tower shield lost somewhere out there on the battlefield. His eyes closed and his mind wandering, flashes of his loved ones popped in and out. But then came one of his recurring dreams. This was not a lovely dream, it was uneasy, even terrifying. A visual clip played out...

-----Barracker in chains and that voice, that slimy slither of a voice. “So you dream about me, often aye, ah well that pleases me greatly.” The voice carried on, Barracker could not see him, until he made his presence known and came close enough... Viktor Battousai came eye to eye with the Paladin. Still in chains, this forced his heart to beat faster than ever, he needed his revenge. The look in his eyes grew cold and with anger he shouted in the vast blackness towards the other vampire----

“Y-you,” Barracker muttered in his sleep.

----"I will have my revenge before I die, this I vow, you monster!" Then a smile came across the Viktor's lips, and he whisked a seat out of thin air and took a seat.

“Look around you,” the Paladin was faced with the faces of his loved ones stuck in chains also. Evelyne, Krillen, Areleth, Anne, Katrina, even his long dead mentor, Odis was there too, all of them now within reach of a world of hurt. Viktor grabbed the hair of Barracker's most precious, Evelyne.

“Viktor! Don’t!”

“You don’t get it,” Viktor stopped for a moment and pointed. “You can’t kill me, you’re just a toy nothing more. An insult. A weak little worm with a slither of my power." His face came all the way close to Barracker’s again. “And nothing more. You will never defeat me, not before I decide to take another one of your so beloved loved ones.” He stood there turning his head from Barracker, back to the chained ones. “Eeny, meeny, miny moe.” Viktor paused a moment with a finger to his lips. “I choose you all to go”.

“VIKTOR!!!”----

His heart began to beat even faster, his fingers flickering. Movement began to circulate back to his body, a fist curled up.

The words of his late mentor Odis Visigni came into his mind. If I’m not dead I can still be an effective soldier.

His eyes flashed open.

As Fenna attacked, roots appeared around her boots and she glanced only briefly towards Adam to determine they came from him. Just a moment later sharp and cold pain erupted on areas of her body that had been rained on, mostly around her head, shoulders and arms. It wasn't enough to stop her attack, but blood trickled down her face where the skin on her skull was pierced. Luckily the wounds weren't deep, and the cold pain seeped into her body. After the fire attack of their last battle she recognised the feeling as it travelled towards her hands and the spear seemed to frost over. First fire damage, now cold damage.

Fenna wiped the blood from her face, the water ninja had lost his interest in her, but she had not lost her interest in him. She was about to move when she realised Barracker was not where he was before. She found him and hesitated for a moment, but before she could made a decision the sound of an approaching horse caught her and everyone else's attention.
"Clive!" she exclaimed.

When Barracker was seemingly safe - he managed to walk towards the temple by himself - and James shouting the order to attack, Fenna rushed forward, only slowing down when the shockwave of steam hit her. As the water ninja hit MacKensie to the ground she prepared to strike him with the spear, but he was faster than her and suddenly went for Adam. She turned to try and keep up with Zigmund as Sil came down, but the sudden appearance of the bear startled her.
"It's okay, stay back," Fenna told the falcon, who complied and flew up to circle above the battlefield once more.

With the bear attack and the two warriors attacking Zigmund, Fenna couldn't get a good opening to get an attack in, but that didn't matter. She was patient. With her spear ready she waited for an opportunity to strike.

It took a surge of effort to wash away the dizziness as she lay on the floor. The ninja's strikes were powerful. Eyes squeezed shut, she shook her head to regain herself, then opened her eyes to find herself in a steamcloud. He is in here, she suspected, grasping her dagger and one-handed crossbow from the floor and getting up. Her Ranger perception was good enough to hear him and she braced for defensive action, but she heard him running off. Strange.

After a moment, she walked out of the steamcloud to see Adam was now fighting the ninja. The Druid had used his Shapeshift ability and was doing very well against the weakened ninja. He was marvelous - by some margin, the most powerful member of Second Chance. Just as I guessed, she thought, remembering when she'd first seen his magic back on their first day in Hommas. She walked forward to stand next to Zell and watch Adam, effortlessly and without a scratch, deal with their powerful nemesis. Nature is the world, and she is his ally.

"How you doing there, doll?" Zell asked MacKensie as the steam cloud dissipated behind them.

"I am fine. Thank you," she answered, unable to take her eyes off the fight.

"You still good to go?"

"As long as I live."

Zell and Clive exchanged a little banter, prompting a smirk from the frenchwoman. Adam threw Zigmund away like a piece of trash and MacKensie gripped her weapons tighter. Zell said loudly what she was thinking herself: It was time to swarm their injured predator-turned-prey. Everyone heard the call to attack and promptly rushed to engage Zigmund.

Their syncronicity was beautiful - like their minds were connected. Fenna, with the long reach of her spear, waited patiently for opportunities to attack. Zell and MacKensie had become that whirlwind of blue and green again, capes fluttering all over as they danced around Zigmund, in and out, with attacks of dagger and sword. Clive took brief openings to throw huge powerful punches. Whatever James was doing to contibrute, he would no-doubt be making himself useful in some shape or fashion. In spite of their Zigmund being more powerful than The Listener and The Greater Wrath combined, Second Chance were even better than before they'd walked into the Temple of Hades. Ascension was really something special.

As Zell stepped out of from one of his turns in the team blitz, she ran and grabbed his free hand, him spinning 180 to give her massive momentum as came flying around and into enemy range with a strong kick aimed at Zigmund's head.

MacKensie mainly focused her own role in the team blitz as the initial phase of 'Ruse de guerre' of sorts - meaning that she would loosely act as 'The Decoy' in the fight. She knew that her magical gauntlet was connected to her soul, Ascending as she did, but her weapons were not. They were simple, mundane and not as powerful as the others'. So she lunged in with her dagger mostly head-on, targeting Zigmund's weakpoints in an effort to force Zigmund to block, so that the others had openings to land. She whirled around, dropping bolts into her crossbow - a one handed (dagger-fisted) cartwheel, the action an effort to forcibly draw Zigmund's attention, so he would that see she was aiming - upside down - and firing at his weakpoints, forcing him to react. Again, this was all to create free attacks for the more powerful weapons of her friends.

When Clive threw a punch combo and Zell leapfrogged him into an attack, MacKensie was quick behind in the queue to join in. She jumped high to land a light foot on the shoulder of the American, then pushed off into a sideways-flip, taking a keenly-aimed shot, as she sailed over the target, at the five-slash rip in Zigmund's helmet. She landed behind the ninja, then lunged into a stab, aiming to sink her dagger into Zigmund's hip where fenna had first cracked his armour.