The Flower Knight continued to impress, her moves lighting fast and yet smooth as running water. She snapped necks and planted flowers with the same small hands, her flower mane swishing left and right as she appeared to dance throughout the battlefield.
A huge Forest Troll roared at a great pitch, the smell of blood driving the monster into a frenzy as it charged into the fray. Throwing aside several humans at a time, the monster was both insanely strong and able to heal in an instant. Its favourite move appeared to be stamping on the others heads, skulls crashing like eggshells beneath the Forest Troll's heel.
Through the slaughter appeared one even more impressive than the Flower Knight, his blades like living creatures in his hands. In single strikes, he split others in half, with a flick of the wrist blood spurt, and in a single step he appeared several feet ahead to strike through another man's eye. Whoever this man was, he had the clear skills of an Assassin.
A brave warrior came to oppose him, using several skills to increase his defence and force the assassin to focus on him. To either side came another pair of warriors that used the exact same set of abilities.
"You've been caught by the green boys!" Sneered the first, smacking his hammer rhythmically against his shield. "Prepare to lose yea head!"
Immediately the assassin attacked. The first warrior swung, yet the assassin flowed beneath his arm, turned and drove a critical strike into the warrior's spine. Collapsing, the warrior twitched on the ground.
Two more warriors charged, the assassin seemingly enjoying dodging their blows until he could get into the position to deliver the exact same spine strike. All three paraplegics now twitched helplessly on the floor, while the assassin returned to the fray with a bloodthirsty smile.
Jack was pulling out a pair of rogues when the scene below changed. Skeletons pulled themselves out from various shadows, while the dead warriors arose as zombies. The culprit was a strange woman with dark-rimmed eyes and the symbol of the Three cut into her forehead.
In the next moment she muttered, and the [blessing-fire] appeared around several of her zombies weapons. The skeletons were just strong enough to slow the enemy down, but it was the zombies that killed. Each held much of their power in life, some few appearing more successfully raised than the others, and could even activate the abilities they had mastered in life to devastating effect in death. Paired with burning blades, the zombies made short work of most of their opponents and only became more ferocious when they set their own bodies aflame with holy fire. So devastating was the wall of fiery zombies that Jack was forced to take her out of the battle before her undead tide wiped away the many criminals she quickly cornered.
"Am I allowed to have such a spell caster?" Jack whispered, eyes flittering to Phillip at his side.
"You are not of the church anymore and given special permission by the One. There is nothing you can't do in the name of the Thunberad Crusade," Phillip answered through gritted teeth as the necromancer with priest powers was pulled up before them.
"Do you swear your loyalty to Jack the Warden?" Phillip said with all the charm of a boulder.
"Everything, good priest, I swear to him my soul, my life and my love. I would do anything to further this crusade for the great Three!" the strange woman spoke like a bird, her body twitching from side to side, and her veins popping as the conflicting blessings of the dark and the Three fought within her. For the mindpower to control such opposed powers, she had earned Jack's respect.
"She speaks the truth," Phillip hissed as if he would have taken great pleasure in seeing her set aflame along with her raised dead.
"Might you bring some of the corpses along too, good Captain? I could embalm them so they would survive a long journey, and surely having such sacrificial pawns would be useful in the great crusade," the necromancer with priest powers said, alongside much bowing and drivel.
Nodding, Jack returned his attention to the battle.
Below a claymore wielding barbarian was starting to make a strong impression, lopped off limbs and screaming men left wherever he charged. Entering a berzerkers fury he grew slightly larger, and his skin became a hazy red. Erratic and uncontrollable, he swung in wide arcs until he had the misfortune of running into the Forest Troll.
The first swing of his sword bit deeply into the Troll's side, but the troll hit back before there could be a second. Send flailing backwards, claymore still lodged into the Troll's side, the berzerker could only froth at the mouth as he scampered to his feet.
"Die little man!" the Forest Troll roared as he pushed the berzerker over, then stamped on his chest until his insides became his outsides and blood washed across the stone.
"Let's get the troll out next, he'll just kill everyone else otherwise," Jack said, pulling the troll up with all the strength his chains could muster. It was a slow process, but once he was pulled out the combat below became a little fairer. Next, he pulled out the berzerkers corpse and the 'Green boys' for the thankful necromancer. To do so with his holy chains hurt Jack dearly, but such were the punishments of losing his titles. This was what he was reduced to now.
Cracking his stiff neck, Jack continued to evaluate the performance of the four hundred criminals that already had been whittled down to a hundred.
With more butchery to go, Jack massaged his eyes, intent on watching to the very end.