"This isn't good... I have to help Luna and Crystal!" Xolvion thought as he pushed against the human warrior.
The warrior's sword was still pierced through Xolvions shoulder, pinning him against the stone wall against his will.
Xolvion had little choice as his eyes opened wide, being forced to drop down to avoid a dangerous blow from his opponent's shield, one that would have taken his head off.
The price of his manoeuvre, however, was that the sword had ripped clean through his shoulder, even cutting through the bone.
"Argh!" He screamed in pain, still managing to kick the man's knee back, giving him just enough time to roll away and cast heal on himself.
His body healed in a matter of moments, bringing him back up to full strength right away.
Xolvion smirked and let his magic burst to life in the palm of his hand, looking at his opponent.
"Fireball!" He roared, shooting another explosive blast at the human warrior this time next to point-blank range.
The human warrior was able to raise his shield again at the last moment, using it to block Xolvion's fire attack once more.
"Surely this time..." He said watching to see if his attack had any effect.
However, the human swordsmen was unharmed as before, his shield having absorbed the damage from his magic.
"He has a magic shield!" Xolvion said under his breath as the warrior suddenly charged out of the smoke unharmed.
Xolvion also had Elf to worry about, as she had continued to provide support to her comrade.
Doing his best to dodge another volley of arrows from the Elf, he had decided enough was enough as he burst into a sprint heading right for her.
The Elf seemed flustered as Xolvion charged towards her, firing a rapid shot of three arrows at him.
Of course, she had expected him to dodge them at the last second as he had been doing all this time. However, Xolvion let the arrows hit him dead centre, taking the blow so as not to delay his route to close the distance between them.
"Bet you didn't see that coming!" He roared, swinging his sword at her.
The Elf dropped her bow, quickly drawing both of her daggers as she crossed them against one another to block Xolvions strike.
The force of his blow knocked her back, taking her off of her feet. But, Xolvion was unable to follow up his attack as the male warrior had closed the distance between them pressing the attack.
Locked in another battle that he was unable to overcome, Xolvion blocked and clashed blades with the man, growing engaged as each time he countered, his opponents shield always found its way between himself and his sword.
"I'm getting sick of you now!" Xolvion shouted as he used all of his strength to wack the male warrior's sword out of his hand, leaving him without his weapon.
"Now for that shield!" Xolvion then shouted as he low kicked the man in the leg, dropping him to his knee from the force.
Xolvion quickly used his other leg to jump off the warrior's shoulder, launching himself into the air as he raised his leg over his head with amazing flexibility.
"Phoenix drive!" He roared, using a skill he had acquired from the adventurer Holly, who happened to be a great martial artist.
Xolvions heel suddenly burst into flame, smashing his axe kick into the warrior's shoulder, delivering a crushing blow.
The warrior's armour crumpled under the weight of Xolvions kick, with the man screaming out in pain before he hit the ground hard, sliding along the cold ground defeated.
"That's one down," Xolvion said, just before a knife hit him in the back, taking him off guard.
Xolvion dropped down and turned around, seeing that the Elf was charging towards him with more knives in hand.
"Looks like it's your turn." He said, pulling the knife out and casting heal on himself.
Meanwhile...
Luna was battling it out with the Tigerman, having been forced to transform into her werewolf form.
"Let me show you the difference in my power!" She roared, charging in with her impressive speed boost.
The Tigerman gripped his axe tight, doing his best to block her attacks as they came. However, the wooden staff of the axe could not hold against her razor-sharp claws, snapping from the force of them.
"Now I have you!"
Luna slashed down at the Tigerman's chest, landing a direct strike and ripping his torso open.
The beastman howled in pain as he stepped back, looking at the damage. The beastman dropped his hands and readied them for combat, entering a primal state.
Luna rushed in again, swiping downwards with her claws, while the beastman did his best to block and deliver a counter-attack.
After a vicious exchange of blows and razor sharp slashes, the two clashed in a battle of strength, as they had locked fingers, each of them trying to crush the other with all of their might.
Luna was amazed at how strong this Tigerman was, however, in her wolf state, her strength far outclassed his.
"It's over for you!" She roared, summoning all of her strength.
The beastman couldn't contend with her power as his knees started to buckle under the pressure.
Luna gave one final roar as she fully overpowered the Tigerman now, pushing him into the ground and laying on top of him.
Luna roared and now that she was close enough, she opened her mouth, sinking her fangs into her opponent's neck, ripping out his throat with one smooth jolt of her neck.
The beastman was powerless to resist as it squirmed in pain, its body riggling and twitching before the life slowly left its eyes.
Luna was covered in blood as she slowly looked up. Blood dripped from her mouth as she slowly stood to her feet, looking over to see how Xolvion was fairing.
Crystal was shocked by the method Luna had used to kill her opponent. But she understood it had to be done.
Now that the beastman had been taken down, she too turned her attention over to Xolvion, seeing that he had also taken out another of them, and was now battling with the Elf huntress.
She was quick, twirling her daggers with supreme skill as she attacked as if she were dancing.
Xolvion was doing his best to defend, however, each time to tried to move back trying to get some distance, the Elf would quickly closed the gap.
"You're pretty good, but let's see how you like this!" Xolvion said as he dodged another of her attacks before he slashed down with a heavy strike.
The Elf was forced to act fast, blocking his attack with both of her daggers, ending up fighting with all her strength to prevent his blade from cutting her in half, with her arms shaking from the effort.
Now that both of her hands were occupied and her weight planted to the ground, Xolvion finally had a chance to use magic.
"Charm!" He shouted as he looked into her controlled eyes.
The Elf was stunned for but a second before her undead eyes came back to life.
"Wha-what's going on..." She said as whatever spell had been controlling her slipped away, giving Xolvion full control.
"I think you should relax a little," Xolvion said slowly, waiting to see what she did.
The Elf slowly nodded, lowering her daggers and taking a small step back as she took a look around.
"Looks like my charm magic is working and whatever was controlling her has been cancelled out." Xolvion thought as he looked her up and down, taking in her well-toned features.
"Master!" Both Crystal and Luna shouted as they ran over to their master.
Luna had reverted to her human form now, her ripped clothes exposing her breasts ever so slightly.
Xolvion smiled to himself at the sight but soon turned his attention back to the matter at hand.
"Are you both alright?" He asked as they stood next to him.
"Yes master, it was nothing we couldn't handle," Luna said with a confident smile.
"Good. Don't let your guard down though. Whatever was controlling them is still here somewhere." Xolvion said, getting a nod from the two of them.
He turned to look back at the Elf, seeing that she was fully enchanted by his charm and awaiting his command.
"It's a shame, but I don't have the time to take you..." He thought, looking her up and down one last time.
"Sleep now." He said as he stroked the side of her face, casting his magic.
The Elf slowly closed her eyes and dropped to the floor as she passed out.
"Now, let's see what happens next," Xolvion said, turning to look around the castle hall.
It was silent for a moment before the voice started to echo through the halls once more.
"You foolish mortals! I will not tolerate such incompetence!" The voice shouted, causing the room to shake.
"What the hell is that!" Crystal shouted, sounding panicked.
"I've had enough of this guy, come on you two let's take the fight to whatever the hell this thing is!" Xolvion shouted before he quickly ran towards the next set of large doors that lead further into the castle.
"Master wait for me!" Luna shouted as she gave chase to catch up.
Crystal also jumped into action as she too ran after them.
"Why am I always getting left behind!" She moaned, running as quickly as she could.
Xolvion ran through the halls of the castle, using his wolf sense ability to track the faint scourse of magical power he could sense.
"It's coming from further below." He said as he continued to track it, heading deeper into the castle and down a large set of stone steps.
Xolvion was down deep below the castle grounds now, as he was coming up on where he could sense the magic.
it was strong now and coming from behind one last set of doors that separated Xolvion from it.
"Last stop." He said, placing his hand on the doors and pushing them open.
A bright light burst out from the doors, almost blinding Xolvions, taking a moment for his eyes to adjust to it.
Once they had, he could make out the details of the room. Although, the thing that a stood out the most was most certainly the woman chained to a large cross.
"What in the world is going on here..." Xolvion said as he examined the rest of the room, trying to make sense of it all.
The room was lit by a bright form of magic that gave off artificial light. The room was tiled all over with some kind of magic absorbing stone and Xolvion could feel his magical powers slowly being drained from him.
"This isn't good. I can't stay here for long." Xolvion said as he turned to exit the room.
However, the doors suddenly slammed shut, trapping him inside.
"Fuck..." He muttered to himself.
"I warned you not to come! I told you to leave!" The voice suddenly boomed from behind Xolvion.
Turning around with his sword raised, Xilvion was finally met with who had been behind all of this.
The monster hovered down staying just above the ground as its undead eyes glared at him.
The creature appeared to be a skeleton, wrapped in a purple cloak with a silver crown on its head.
"I will make you my slave just like the others!" It bellowed, drawing a large two-handed sword from its back, wrapping its bony fingers around the hilt.
"Not if I make you my slave first," Xolvion said, clutching his sword tightly in the palm of his hand before the two charged at one another.