With a swift motion, I throw myself forward, charging towards the portal. On the way, I make sure to cut down any of the barbarians that cross my path. I quickly approach the gate, the blood from several Mathric soldiers rolling over my skin as I throw my hand forward to touch the platform, starting to channel a spell forward, [Absolute Negate]. I get inches from the portal, my attention narrowed in on my goal. My head suddenly snaps to the side, a loud crack echoes through my body followed by an intense ringing in my ears. A single thought goes through my mind as I fall away from the portal.
[-25,000,000 HP]
[Recovery Failure]
W...what.
I land on my side, my face against the dirt. My body feels heavy, not wanting to respond. I hear a single footstep seemingly drown out the entire battle happening around me. I concentrate as hard as I can, only managing to pull my hand to my chest and cast [True Healing 11]. I feel the bones all along my neck and spine painfully twist and pop back into place, my palm also burning from casting the high-level spell. With one motion, I spin myself around and flip back away from whatever hit me. I look forward before I land on the ground, surprised to see a fist inches from my face. I get jerked to the side by someone beside me, the fist carrying through the air to where I just was. The person who threw the punch quickly spins around, revealing a tall, buff woman wearing animal pelts. Unlike the other forces of the Mathric army, she is covered head-to-toe in scars. I barely keep balance as I land sideways. I quickly look beside me, seeing Warren swinging his halberd towards the woman.
Surprisingly, she blocks the blade with her forearm, then quickly switchers her stance and grabs the blade with her bare hand. Warren tries to pull his weapon away, but he can't get it free. She quickly punches the halberd's shaft and breaks the head of the halberd away. Before Warren can react, she throws it towards him. I quickly pull him down as the head of the halberd flies over his head. The woman quickly steps forward and throws a punch towards me. I narrowly lean away from her solid blow. As I reach the back of my lean, she carries through with her punch and turns her back to me. I see an opportunity and plunge my sword forward. As I get close to her neck, she flips forward. One of her feet hits my wrist while the other hits my overextended chest. I feel all the air leave my lunges as I'm knocked high up into the air, in the opposite direction of Hexcalibur. I barely compose myself after about half a second and flip myself around in the air to see the woman, still feeling the effects of her kick.
I quickly extend my hand, prepared to cast a spell to pause her for a moment. I ready [Oblivion Cage 10], but she shows an intelligence the other barbarians haven't shown. She quickly reaches forward, grabbing Warren, and using him as a shield. I quickly look behind her, throwing a punch while teleporting behind her. I appear as the punch follows through towards her, her head already turned sideways, almost expecting that technique. She quickly spins towards me while backing away, but not enough to dodge my punch. Instead of stepping back further, she headbutts forwards against my fist. As we collide, I feel my knuckles buckle and break back, snapping the bones between my knuckles and wrist. I pull my hand back, and kick forward, ignoring the pain and HP notification. With no difficulty, she catches my foot and twists it quickly. I get flipped as my ankle snaps. Once again, I feel Nevereth's personality scraping at the back of my consciousness. I shake my head and point back towards her at an angle.
"[Titans PyroBlast 10]!"
I shout, the powerful flames whipping at my fingertip right before it fires off. In an instant, she ducks back and kicks my forearm towards the ground. I cancel the spell right before it slams against the army behind me. Gritting my teeth, I heal myself and quickly stand up, noticing she's still holding Warren by the back of his neck. He struggles to break free, gripping and clawing at her hand. I stand, unsure of what to do. Understanding I can't just stand around and wait, I kick dirt up towards her eyes then lunge forward. I punch forward towards her stomach, but my wrist gets snatched inches before contact. I quickly clench my other fist to attack, but suddenly she tosses Warren up above herself and forces my head to the dirt with her foot. Seeing another opportunity, I start to cast [Exsanguinate], but before I can I get hit from above. Liquid rolls over me as I feel my body sink into the dirt and a loud cracking sound assaults my ears. A screaming voice suddenly echoes across the battlefield, coming from beside me.
"WARREN!!"
I manage to my right, seeing Carrina charging towards us, her face covered in a look of rage. I manage to break away from the barbaric woman, her clearly distracted by Carrina. I rear up and start to throw a punch towards her but feel myself halt in place as I see her. Blood covers her, wielding the bottom half of warren in her left hand. She's using his left ankle and a handle, but his top half isn't attached. Suddenly I realize what I was hit with, Warren's body. I look back, seeing the top half of his body scattered all around the ground. My heart sinks, followed by a feeling of familiar rage. My blood seemingly boils under my skin, my heart pounding. I quickly clench my fist and look forward, seeing Carrina pinned to the ground already. I teleport forward and kick towards the barbaric woman, the way she evades causes me to grow even angrier. She forces herself up by crushing Carrina's throat and forcefully pushing herself up. She reaches her feet and stares down at me, a disappointed look on her face.
I narrow my vision.
"Fine, then I'll kill you all."
I jam my hand into my own chest, surprising the woman. I grip my heart and cast several spells.
"[Field of Life 1], [Overdrive 11], [God of Slaughter 11], [Wrath 11], [Bloody Wraith 11]. No matter the pain, I won't die."