Right now, Blood Stalk and I were staring at Allen who's right hand was trapped in the rocky wall of this dungeon. My eyes unblinking through this mist filled area that felt both dead and alive all at once. For the second time since I got here in this place. I thought about things I had tried to ignore. Questions that I asked myself before quickly throwing the thoughts away, not wanting to finish them. Ones like why did it have to be me? Why did my family have to suffer because of me again. I thought about the one thing that hurt most of all. The fact that girl. Freya. Was lying about my brother being here and that this was all pointless. I hated having doubts because the thought of him being so close was something that gave me hope. Hope that I could fix everything. To make it normal again.
I don't ask these things to pity myself or to get actual answers to these questions. I don't ask this for validation for my or their suffering. No, I ask this to myself this because it reminds myself that I am alive. That I can make a difference to at least one person. That I still have the chance make things better. Maybe that's all I have left now. My last dream that won't be crush. Protecting one last person from a world that takes and gives whenever it wants. Even if they are unbelievably stubborn, barley talks at all, and even risk killing themselves every day. I can't help but respect their resolve.
My life went from ordinary to life threatening over night. Every day, something or someone tried to harm or kill not only me, but Blood Stalk, a person who's life I feel responsible for. Who asked for a different name from a stranger. At times like this. I feel like I want to, no. I need to protect them. There is no 'if', only will.
I should feel a lot more stress about everything. Always getting attacked for one reason or another. But right now, in this moment. I've never been more calm in my life. I stared at Allen fully resolving myself to win this and continue to look for my brother in this crazy messed up place. I'll continue to protect Blood Stalk and help them with whatever they want to achieve. I, will be better than before.
As I finish my last thought Allen attempted to pull his hand out of the wall again, but it didn't budge which means that he is stuck in one place. Which also means that we have the advantage this time. I look over and see that I created three clones with the ninja bottle. Making this a four on one.
'I'm probably close to empty with this bottle, maybe one or two more shots if any. If I pull out the bottle now, will the clones stay or disappear? Better not risk it. I can change it latter if I need to.' I thought while looking between the clones and Allen.
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We approach Allen and swing our new Kuuga staff at Allen's head. He moved slightly dodging the attack leaving a slight scrape on the right side of his face. The staff smashes the rocks with electric sparks jutting of the impact Before we could back away Allen kicked us in the abs area sending us backwards nearly falling over. Two of our clones charge at Allen while a third stops our momentum and helps us stabilize. One clone tries to punch Allen in the stomach while an the other side kicks him in the leg.
Allen blocked the punch with his free hand and hopped over the kick before it could connect with his leg. The first clone tried to hit Allen with their elbow landing a hit on their neck. The clone tried to hit him again, but Allen bit the clones arm causing it to pull back. The second clone tried to kick with the other leg this time, however Allen swiped the planted foot causing the double to miss and fall. That clone then grabs onto his leg with their hands as Allen put his foot down
Allen saw how much we struggled to attack him and had thought about something. 'This knight has some kind of magic that lets them not only remake weapons, but also make duplicates of himself in an instant. I've only herd about five others that could do that. Something like this must be extremely rare. This must be why Goddess Freya wanted him so much.' Allen then kicked the clone that grabed his leg and kicked it off. 'Something isn't right. They seem too desperate when they have the upper hand. Maybe this magic can only last so long. I can wait it out until I get my hand free.' Allen thought while punching the third clone before looking at the wall his hand was trapped in.
The rock wall began to heat up and an ancient symbol appeared on it, glowing a black and yellow light. Allen tried to pull his arm out while we continued to hit him with the staff. Allen thought 'What is this? So that's his plan, he wanted to distract me from whatever this magic circle is. The knight must have used an item or something while I had my back turned. I need to get my hand free before the spells complete or I could lose my arm.' Allen desperately tried to pull his had away while the clones got back up. The symbol began to heat up to the point that the rocks began to melt and cracked. At the last second he pulled his arm out of the wall just before it exploded and only a few rocks hit his legs before he fell onto the ground. The rest of the debris was launched into our face.
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"You almost had me. If you weren't so desperate I wouldn't have caught on to your plan. " Allen said while picking himself off the ground. We also get back up but stumble a little more. "For all your dirty little tricks, skills, and weapons, like all weaklings you lack the strength to end things when it counts." Allen said while gripping his legs that got hit with exploded rocks.
"I... won't be weak anymore." Blood Stalk said for the first time in this fight with the sound of blood in their mouth, something that confused Allen for a moment because of the change in voice. This distracted him long enough for the clones to get back up behind him and tried to grab him. One grabs his legs while the other two grab both arms. While Allen tried to move away from them we then ran while swinging the staff like a baseball bat smashing the right side of Allen's head. Some of his skin tore off with a blood and hair covering the gap. This further disorientated Allen and allowed us to keep hitting him like he did to us before.
Allen kept getting hit over and over but he wouldn't go down. He stayed up and actually began to break free from the clones grasp. He flung the clone on his right hand and punched us in the face, cracking our visor and my vision. The other two clones were forced to let go and the all ran back to us.
Our clones move between us and each other, making it impossible to tell who the real one is and who the clones were at a moments glance. One of them goes to kick Allen but he side stepped and grabbed the foot. He then smashed one clone into another one, breaking the clones in his hands leg making it disappear into steam. The second clone used their sting wires to try and grab Allen but he slipped between the waving metal and kicked the last clone in the chest nearly dispelling it. We poll vaulted over as the other clone while they grabbed the bo staff and brought kicked Allen downwards, using gravity to our advantage. Once we landed on the ground we flung the clone with full force crashing into Allen's leg, right under the left knee pad which seemed to hurt him a lot. He started to limp a little while still avoiding our attacks Allen seemed furious at that and used his arms to out maneuver our strike and punch us in the face, cracking our helmet even more. He then moved to the second clone and punched a hole through its stomach, it shattered into pieces before dispersing into nothing.
He then grabbed a rock from the ground and threw it at the third clone destroying it's head completely, making it fall backwards into the mistful air air. Now it was just Allen and us. He ran at us with his injured legs and we charge at him while winding up the staff, aiming to end the fight with this last hit. We go for the swing and-.
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Allen lands one last hit on the right side of out face completely smashing the cobra face plate, helmet also started to crack from the impact and I lose my eyesight for a moment. Allen looked at us with a face that seemed confused and fear for a moment when they looked at the eye behind the mask. reviling a purple almost black eye with red blood flowing downward around the exposed skin. Bits of damaged hair fell from the hole, the color unrecognizable thanks to the blood. With our right hand I tried to cover the exposed eye. I was trembling uncontrollably as if the world was spinning faster. I couldn't keep our legs up much longer.
Blood Stalk let go of the staff and we started to fall to our knee's letting more blood drip from the hole. As the staff leaves our hand it starts to revert back into it's original form, lighting still coming off it. Allen then bends down and picks it up off the floor, waving off the remaining energy off it, completing its transformation. Our body then fell the rest of the way and we
Allen then looked down at us barley clinging to consciousness with a complex emotion, almost like regret mixed with understanding before turning to a frustrated anger. "Why did you fight like that? That wasn't a fight to save your life. It wasn't because you were scared. It was like- Answer me. Why did you fight like that?" I could barley manage to hear what he was saying. The tone of his voice seemed to flux every time he said something. I couldn't hear Allen anymore as a high pitch noise started to ring in my ears.
The Winner Is Allen.
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"Now!" Alcazar yelled as the ground exploded creating a dust cloud which blinded and defend him for a moment. Allen looked over and saw the smallest member that he didn't know the name of running away from a piece of metal that had a symbol similar to the one that blew up behind him.
"What are you idiots doing?" Allen said in confusion while the ground beneath started to give way. A gigantic hole started to open and drag both Allen and us down further into the dungeon. We started to fall in with him but Allen used his blunt end of his spear to hit us upward and away from the hole. The motion caused him to fall faster and with his leg hurt he couldn't get any footing. Allen looked up and saw the silhouette of a long ear and thought it might be that dark elf before it started to talk with a rude hand gesture.
"HA! Suck it prick. You might have won the battle, but we won the war. And the one who wins last gets the reward." Alcazar yelled down the hole with a satisfied tone before it started to close.
Allen thought ' These morons are risking all our lives just to get that knight to Goddess Freya first. I hate having to deal with new familia members that don't know their place. They don't realize how mush trouble they just got all of us in. As soon as I get back to the surface, there dead.' These were Allen's last thoughts before getting swallowed by darkness.
"Don't think your gona get away with-" Allen started to yell until his voice could no longer be herd.
"HA Ha, I've was waiting so long for that and it feels as good as I imagined." Alcazar said while moving away from the now closed hole.
"Ok, lets move quickly before that beast get back." Azure said while holding us over their shoulder.
"Hold your horses." Alcazar started to move closer to us and started to talk to us." You know, I think I'm emotionally ready to forgive you knight guy for making us go though this stressful unnecessary mission to get you back. As long as you follow the scrip Azure made for you to the letter, we promise to never attack you again unless told otherwise and make your stay with us barrable. Not a bad deal in my opinion." Alcazar said with delight expecting great results. "Tell him the events that happen on this mission Azure." Alcazar said while pointing to the scar faced man.
"After Allen found you he wanted to test you, but went to far and nearly beat you to death, we bravely fended him off before he could kill you in rage and ruin our Goddess's plan. Unfortunately there was an unknown sink hole spawned in because of the fight. Allen trying to atone for his mistake pushing you away from the chasm and thanks to his effort's that we manage to get away with you. That's the story, got that?" Azure said in an indifferent tone.
"Can't we just fully lie and make Allen the prick he is with us as the warriors that saved the day. I don't like how we have to make him the 'brave hero' that saves the knight." Alcazar said with a little annoyance but still happy.
"You should know that lies wound work on her after the last time we screwed up. We need it to be both truthful while not reviling anything that could be misinterpreted to our desired goal. And in case Allen does come back he wouldn't want to admit he was defeated by us to our Goddess and risk her anger or worse, disappointment. If he does tell her, that would make us look even better in her eyes for beating him." Azure said with confidence.
"You really thought of everything man. I'm impressed." Strixs said with stars in his eyes.
"Yeah, Its fool proof as long as everyone does their part. Right knight." Azure said with a little pride in his voice.
"Hello. Anyone there?" Alcazar said while waving their hand in front of our face.
"I think they might be dead."