---
All of us nodded in agreement, and with a synchronized battle cry, we charged in again, but were still met with the same fire and fury as before.
I was still surprised at the fact that Abaddi was physically able to hold us at bay. I found myself asking Ed in my head "What do you think? What do you think I can do to get the advantage here?" I found myself asking, to a seeming wall of nothingness.
Just at that moment, Hagen's sword lit up in a brilliant blue, lighting his face up in an ominous way, outshining all of us.
Abaddi positioned himself in a way through which he was expecting Hagen's attack.
With enough force to crack the ground at his feet, Hagen launched himself at Abaddi with a speed which appeared more akin to a blur to me, and he was right in front of him, bringing his sword down in a lateral slash.
"Follow him." The voice in my head told me. "Follow Hagen, and go for the legs and go for it a little bit further than where Hagen's aiming."
Hagen's sword zoomed in again with a blur that my eyes couldn't perceive, Abaddi seemed to grunt a bit, as he dodged Hagen's attack with all the effort he could muster.
At the point where Abaddi landed, I swung my sword just like the voice had commanded me to, and Abaddi saw me, and was just a hair's length away from the tip of my blade, as I ripped his pants, and I saw a very small amount of blood on the floor as he backed off.
"Not bad, I commend you for trying to catch me off-guard like that." Abaddi said, as he positioned himself in a way to launch a thrusting attack, as a canopy of purple energy formed around him.
Then with calculated precision, Abaddi launched right at me before I could even comprehend, and time slowed down around me, as I could see the sword coming at my face.
"Dodge it!, Dodge it, now!" I could hear myself in frustration I turned to the right, to only see the vertical and smooth face of the sword roar past me.
In that heart-pounding moment, the distance between Abaddi's deadly sword and my wide eyes was minuscule, a mere breath away. I could almost feel the cold metal grazing my skin as I narrowly evaded the fatal strike.
Just then, I could feel something heating up beside me, and It was Selene charging up a flame attack.
"To the left."
I instantly ducked to the left, again narrowly avoiding Selene's inferno beam as it burned a hole through one of the castle walls.
I pondered for a second if she was using a different type of flame attack right now compared to the ones she used to cause those gigantic explosions at the start.
"Argh, Just what do I do!?" I screamed at myself as I quickly gained my composure and started pressing again.
While all of this was happening, Valeria was tag-teaming Abaddi with Viktor, who despite being a similar replacement to Zorro in terms of brute force, seemed to be much more in sync with Valeria.
Despite their combo being less potent, Valeria's blistering speed and Viktor's formidable strength was still enough to keep Abaddi busy, as Hagen instantly pulled me up from the warm stone floor, which had heated up after the volley of attacks by Selene.
"Damn it. I could reach him, if it weren't for that annoying mage." Hagen muttered to himself, as it clicked in me.
The key to defeating Abaddi right now, was taking Selene out of the fight first.
I realized at that moment. The key to overwhelming and putting and end to this monster that is Abaddi, lies with the fall of someone who's far easier to take down, Selene. But that's still easier said than done.
With determination in my voice, I quickly outlined my strategy to Hagen. "Brother, I think I may have a strategy to end this. We need to catch Selene off guard and get beyond Abaddi. While Viktor and Valeria continue to press him, you and I should sneak up on their backs."
Hagen nodded in agreement, his eyes reflecting the intensity of the moment. "Let's do it."
As Viktor and Valeria kept up the relentless assault on Abaddi, Hagen and I moved stealthily along the perimeter of the battle, taking advantage of the chaos and distraction. We could see Selene concentrating on her fiery magic, ready to support Abaddi at a moment's notice.
However, as we prepared to launch our sneak attack, Selene's keen senses picked up our presence. She turned towards us, her eyes caught off by a look of surprise.
"I was expecting one of you to jump me like this, but I wasn't expecting two, but oh well."
I could feel the air in our path heating up, and Hagen instantly pushed me away, taking a brunt of the attack.
"Hagen!" I screamed, my heart racing as I lost sight of him in the beam of inferno that Selene had shot.
As the beam blew past me, blowing dust and gusts of hot air my way, I quickly got up and started to search for Hagen.
Despite my concerns, he just stood there, pretty unfazed. His skin was a little bit red, and a bunch of the extremities of his clothing were burned off, and he wasn't seriously injured though.
Hagen was just standing there, and he had a stoic face.
"How the hell are you still standing?" Selene asked, her voice cracking a bit.
"You're just not strong enough," Hagen said as he took another step towards Selene, whose foot instinctively reached backward, to get away from Hagen.
Hagen continued to walk up, and Selene's legs started to tremble, she put up her hands in between them as some sort of barrier as Hagen continued to scale up.
Just then, a flash of dark purple energy zoomed in to fill the gap right between them, catching him off guard.
Following hot on the heels of that, was a surge of emerald green energy and a gust of wind, Valeria.