"It's Hammer Time!"
*BOOOOM*
Verhund saw the new arrival from miles away, though he didn't expect her area attack to be so devastating.
Okay, perhaps he did.
The power of a dinamite socked into the hammerhead blew off the dust and concrete, along with Verhund himself.
As the smoke cleared, he appeared once again, this time with a crack on his blade and bruises covered by dust on his body.
The power of the impact was mostly mitigated, but he still suffered a fairly heavy blow since he was only level 3.
His grin never left his face, however.
Meanwhile, Brenna – the newcomer – and Beatrice regrouped.
"It's tough being handsome." Beatrice commented after checking her own dishevelled state.
"Tough is this creep." Brenna started. "Hey, friend! Wouldn't you have some time to fight 'after' this whole shit-show is over?"
Beatrice spared a look at the woman on her side, who licked her lips while playing with her warhammer.
Verhund straightened himself, his damaged sword held firmly on his right hand.
"Show has just started." He said. "Besides, I'm kinda living in the moment."
Beatrice scoffed.
"What a risky moment, that is."
And Dashed ahead.
Her spear appeared to whisper as it cut through the air and reached its destination, only to be evaded once again.
Beatrice kept running onwards, as Brenna approached just behind, hammer raised once again.
She swung at an angle, like she was playing golf, sending several rocks flying at Verhund, who was retreating to the side.
Verhund evaded the bigger projectiles and blocked the smaller ones before flickering off once again.
*BANG!*
Brenna descended with level 5 strength, causing the paved ground to quake and almost successfully staggering her target.
Beatrice was a little slow, but she wasn't late for a follow-up. Her spear flew forwards and stabbed at the place Verhund had reappeared.
She didn't expect for him to get yet another power up. Her spear was pushed aside by the sword just before she felt a kick rattling her insides and sending her body crashing towards the approaching Brenna.
"Watch it!" Brenna jumped above the incoming body and swung her weapon down after Beatrice flew past her, the edge of her hammer shaving at the ground and raising another dust cloud.
This time, Verhund didn't wait.
He charged right into the smoke and cut at Brenna's location, his attack was parried, and he had to roll aside to evade a smash.
He stood up next to Beatrice, who was trying to regroup with her teammate. Another cut was sent, this time it was evaded.
Verhund leaned to the side to dodge a stab and then hit the other's head with the handle of his katana.
He backed off just as another hammer swing was sent at him, the dust starting to dissipate by now.
"Ugh..." Beatrice groaned as she held the side of her head. "I think I'm being bullied."
Brenna snickered, but remained silent.
"What gave it away?" Verhund said with all the sarcasm he could muster.
Beatrice narrowed her eyes before releasing a long breath. No dark clouds were released, but the energy surrounding her seemed to come out of its unnatural stupor, snaking crazily throughout her surroundings before finally enveloping her body like a long scarf.
"This time, I'll try to be on top." She said, and flashed ahead.
*Rumble!*
The sound of thunder wasn't exactly deafening, but her speed was terrifying, surpassing Verhund's flicker.
He leaned to the side again, allowing the spear to trash his non-dominant arm while he slashed with his sword.
Beatrice was too fast for the current Verhund, getting away with a mere scratch at the waist while his severed arm hit the ground not far away.
Of course, Brenna wouldn't let such a chance escape her, she struck down, aiming to suppress the opponent before he could get his bearings.
*BANG!*
Verhund scurried away once again, the bleeding on his arm completely stopped.
"Okay." He mumbled, that grin etched on his face. "Second Life."
A dark, transparent limb sprouted from his stump, it was skeletal and longer than his normal arm.
The appearance of this new appendage brought immense pressure to the two adventurers facing Verhund. Though, their first reaction was to look blankly at this spectacle.
"Well..." Brenna dawdled, her hammer loading with mana. "Seems like we're back to square one?"
Beatrice smiled wrily, a drop of sweat traveling down her forehead. "Maybe a little behind. That thing is scary, so big too..."
Her spear was still sending waves of lightning with each hit and it only got stronger with each level of her breath, but Verhund treated it like it wasn't even there.
Beatrice initially hoped that she would win by dragging things like always, but her opponent proved to be even more adept in that regard
She shrugged helplessly before thundering forward once again, already expecting to get beaten again.
When Verhund bashed her weapon aside with that shadowy hand of his, she was grateful for still being faster than him.
Ducking under a slash, she enchanted her weapon with lightning before swatting at him.
When Beatrice saw him tanking the burns and bearing with the stun to push her spear towards Brenna's incoming hammerhead, she cursed his mother.
*BANG!*
Unable to completely let go of her spear in time, she watched as the blow that munched her insides and broke a finger in her hand sent her spear skewering through Verhund's right leg, the paralyzing effect of the lightning had finally pinned him down.
Stuck with a long stick piercing his leg and burrowing into the ground, Verhund used his skeletal arm to hold down Brenna's follow up strike and slashed with his sword at her head.
*Crack!*
The already damaged blade finally broke after hitting the intended target, drawing a line of blood from her head that fell by her cheek.
The two of them looked blankly at the broken sword for a moment, before Brenna snorted and kicked at the spear on Verhund's leg, sending him tumbling to the ground.
The attack also dislodged the spear from the ground and opened the wound further, completely severing the bone and taking yet another limb from Verhund.
The mangled leg would lay limp and bother his movement if it kept hanging by his flesh, so he simply used what was left of his sword to cut it off.
Instead of forming yet another limb to continue the fight, Verhund reduced himself to an animalistic crawl while his grin turned more and more inhumane.
"Third Life." He mumbled, the new tip of the sword resting on the ground to help him maneuver in that awkward position. "And we're back to one on one."
Brenna turned to look at Beatrice, the other girl's hands were red and the fingers a faint blue with busted skin, one finger had even turned the wrong way, not to mention the piled up damage from the continuous fighting.
Verhund was right.
"Loki should be leaving right about now." Brenna said, doing quite well to mask her excitement. "If you find Caleb on the way, tell him to save my ass."
"..." Beatrice stood silently as her spear flew from the ground to her less damaged hand, eyes looking from Brenna to Verhund before she spat a curse and turned away. "I was promised a date for coming here, we're definitely having a barbecue later!"
With Beatrice out of the game, Verhund and Brenna went back to facing each other, silence stretching uncomfortably.
"Well," Brenna started awkwardly, red colored mana surging to embrace her weapon and body, leaving only her head an a few other body parts in the open. "Party is back on track!"
In response, Verhund raised his fake hand, and struck it down.
*Crack!* *VOOOOSH!*
Once again, steel, stone, concrete and wood rose from the ground to float in mid-air.
The balloons were set.
With a crack, the ground broke as Verhund shot forward. He jumped over a thunderous smash and slapped with his fake left hand, pushing Brenna to the side.
In response, Brenna swiped at him while he descended, and missed as he kicked off from the floating debris.
Landing not too far, he set off once again. The wind whistled against his inhuman hand as it opened in a claw stance, aiming at the girl's head once again.
Brenna missed another swipe before ducking under the claws and bashing him away. It didn't seem to have caused much damage.
She groaned as Verhund set his distance, and then groaned again as he slapped a rock beside him, sending it hurling at her stomach.
When she started growling, her body was already barrelling like a mad rhino towards Verhund, the floating rubble in her way getting slammed outwards.
Very much like her first attack in this fight, the impact bruised Verhund even as he rolled away from the attack. Worse yet, the mana coating Brenna's warhammer did not fade this time.
Using the recoil of her own strike, Brenna pushed herself off the ground and onto Verhund once again.
*BOOM!* *BOOM!* *BOOM!*
Even though he used the floating debris to run away from the brunt of it, the injuries accumulated on his body, yet Verhund only grew faster, stronger, and more dangerous. Suddenly, the enchantment was back on his weapon as he rolled behind Brenna as she descended once again.
He swung his half-sword at her head once again, the dark colored blade impacting her unprotected head without much damage besides another scratch, that was when the enchantment blew up.
*Bang!*
It definitely wasn't anything scary like hammer-girl's attacks, but it was enough to send her crashing to the ground in a rather brutal manner.
Still, Brenna was not Beatrice, and instead of getting disoriented, she swung her weapon once again.
*BOOOM!*
The confusing melee started once again.
By this point, the arena was already filled with dust clouds, forcing Brenna to take half-guesses in regards to her opponent's position.
While Verhund didn't suffer from that with his Death Sense, his crawling form rather limited his movements, ruining countless chances he could have had to inflict risk-free wounds on the challenger.
In the middle of getting pressed under the explosions and charges from Brenna, Verhund stilled.
Death approached.
Of course, Brenna would not miss this chance, she struck downwards, aiming at his head.
Right before she could hit him, however, another Aria flashed in his hands.
"Revolve." Was all Verhund said as he twirled his sword to block the attack, his defense looking rather precarious.
*BOOM!*
Once again, there was destruction. This time, though, it was aimed straight at Brenna, even while the strike itself headed towards Verhund.
Failing to dodge her own destructive potential, Brenna flew off like a ragdoll until she hit a building close by. Meanwhile, Verhund sprained his wrist and lost the rest of his sword as he took the recoil from the strike straight on.
Mana finally dried out, Verhund feebly collapsed on the ground, his vision blurry and body battered. Blood leaked from the gashes covered in white dust while his breath weakened by the second.
Even still, he felt Brenna rising unsteadily in the close distance, her Mana Armor saving her from getting crushed by her own strength. The wolf beast-kin also approached swiftly, and soon rested his eyes on the battlefield, eyes stopping on Verhund the moment before spotting Brenna.
"These retards..." He muttered as he approached the girl while looking around. "What did you do now?"
"Hey!" Brenna pouted as she tried to raise her arms to protest, but only half-succeeding as her body weakened and the warhammer got in the way. "I was just fighting a crazy dude! Guy wrecked Beatrice just a minute ago!"
Caleb spotted several bodies strewn about, the smell of blood also came from under toppled walls and broken roofs, a few monsters even got caught in the cross-fire. It totally didn't seem to be caused by a single person.
Thinking to here, Caleb once again looked at the fallen Verhund, he noticed that the man's smell was somewhat familiar, but didn't dwell on it.
The end wouldn't change anyways.
"Hey, you retard." He stopped a meter away from Verhund. "The heck you think you're doing?"
His grin reduced to a smirk, Verhund pointed with his chin towards the burning part of the city.
"Seeing the sights. Want to waste time with me?" He briefly thought of starting yet another life, but his Boss' message of 'mission successful' stopped him short.
While contemplating the fire in the neighboring district, Caleb raised his leg, and kicked!
*Crack*
The kick broke Verhund's neck, ending his life in this world once and for all.
"Haaah... Fucking retards." With that, Caleb helped Brenna get moving to kill monsters and actually be useful for the city – what's left of it, anyways.