Bauer crossed his arms as he frowned, equally confused as he watched the light flash more frequently, with some pulses even flying in the air. There was one thing he knew for certain: A duel between wizards was taking place, and one of them were of the fanatical followers of Nefandyr.
Bauer cleared his throat. "I'll go investigate."
Kane shook his head, with eyes affixed onto the duel. "I don't think that's a good idea."
"I'm a trained swordsman. I'll be fine."
Kane looked at Bauer with furrowed brows and crossed his arms as he said, "Yeah, but you're forgetting two important things."
"So speak."
"I'm not a trained swordsman, and I'm not going back to Wymond's little dungeon... Besides, I told you I'm not getting in trouble for your bullshit. Either we get captured by Wymond, or we sit right here."
"Fuck that." Bauer drew a sword and dropped the other to the ground as he walked off. "You can sit right there if you want, but I'm going to check that thing out."
"Well fuck you too!" he yelled back, moving to the grass as he locked his hands behind his head and laid against the grass, facing the sky. "I'll just enjoy some time to finally rest."
And while he rested, Bauer began running, eager to see just what was taking place this close to Thalamar. There was one thing he knew for certain, however. He knew he could not stay put anymore. He knew that he needed to take up arms and fight the nefandites wherever they may go. For such was the purpose of his life ever since he realized the error of their ways.
With each stride he took, taking notice of lifeless guards and nefandites, the picture became clearer and clearer.
An army of nefandites? They've brought the deacons and occultists as well? They must've known that I came here, so he thought, but as he drew closer he noticed a familiar armour set, with a peculiar helm that he could not mistake for anyone else's. It's the bishop! Then who is... He looked at the one foolish enough to challenge the nefandites on his own, recognizing the blue robes as Maleagant's, which he thought impossible. No it is him, he reassured himself. I didn't see him anywhere else, but just how did he make it all the way there?
"Sage!" yelled Bauer, rushing over as fast as he could, grabbing everyone's attention.
Maleagant spared him a glance, reacting just in the nick of time to deflect the bishop's blasts of magic that echoed with a shrill.
"You look at me when you challenge Nefandyr," demanded the bishop, pointing his staff at Maleagant before firing more blasts of red pulses. "Nefandites! Seize the traitor! I want him alive, even if you have to cut off his limbs!"
The rest of the nefandites nodded in unison, leaving the duel and turning their attention to Bauer, who froze in his tracks, waiting for them to make the first move.
Four occultists, embroidered in more red robes than they were clad in white armour—tainted by specks of dried blood all across—raised their shiny red gauntlets to the sky, revealing hook like claws, joined by twenty deacons.
"Sa thoo ra kee mor tem," they chanted in alluring whispers, with each syllable like a beat on a metronome, perfectly spaced out and slow.
Bauer felt a shiver down his spine, receiving a flash back to the magic he tried to study when he was younger, he looked back and found the bodies of the dead contorting and morphing into inexplicable aberrations.
They shed a luminescent teal on the ground around them, finally completing the transmogrification process until several hounds with protruding bones, missing chunks of flesh, and missing eyes that glowed teal, stood with their necks high.
Flying above them were multiple teal skeletons, with misty lower halves and their jaws unhooked, as though they were emitting a silent cacophony of pain and terror, wrapped tightly around each other.
"Well then," said Bauer, frequently swapping his gaze between the encroaching aberrations, laymen, and militiamen, his voice transitioning into a yell, "come on you nasty fuckers! I'll take you all on!"
Without wasting anymore time, he rushed for the occultists, watching as the melee fighters intercepted and the spellcasters sat back, firing magic with their wands.
Meanwhile, Maleagant and the bishop continued their duel, with each of them firing and deflecting magic with their staves. Maleagant was forced to play it out defensively, however, given that the bishop fired away without a care in the world, intending to kill.
"You lack ambition," said the bishop, pulling a fast one and reflecting Maleagant's own spell back at him, watching as the old man nearly failed to react in time. "You lack the courage to kill."
Maleagant drew a deep breath, bearing furrowed brows as neither fired back. "I kill only when I must."
The bishop shook his head. "What is it with you old men spouting this nonsense disguised as wisdom?" He resumed firing away. "You stand before the enemy, yet you claim that you only kill when you must? When must you kill then?"
Maleagant quickly deflected, choosing words over magic. "You are not my enemy. Nefandyr is my enemy."
The bishop sighed. "Again with this nonsense... and what is this self-centered behaviour? Your enemy? We are the only enemy!"
Maleagant watched as no ordinary pulse was fired from the forked tips. This time a red comet flew forth, and he knew that there was no deflecting this one, thus forcing him to fire a blue comet of his own, initiating a more serious battle.
Bauer, on the other hand, had a more chaotic battle. It turns out, one versus at least a hundred wasn't something that he'd get through with ease, though he was still determined to take down as many as possible. At the very least, he remained mostly unscathed, only catching a few light scratches over his arms, though a new issue presented itself.
As it would also turn out, the laymen and militiamen that he killed ended up being a double-edged sword. For a few seconds, the nefandites numbers would diminish, and then it would return to normal after the occultists and deacons created aberrations out of the corpses.
What's worse is that without a soul to lose, the summons had nothing to fear, and so they attacked Bauer relentlessly. Even if they were struck down, they'd stand up after some time spent regenerating.
But against the odds, Bauer would fight onward, keeping himself in one piece as he cut down what remained of the melee fighters, leaving himself with an onslaught of magic to dodge and deflect.
Man am I glad to have their weapon against them, so he thought, pleased with the sword's anti-magical property, making his trek easier.
After spending enough time balancing between weaving through the magic and fighting off the summons, he found himself in the position to kill two occultists and all twenty deacons. But as much as he would have loved to slay the rest, he watched as the remaining occultists ordered him to halt as a familiar voice yelled as many vulgar insults as it could in the silence.
Bauer, without even looking back, cringed. His shoulders dropped as his jaw slacked while his eyes conveyed immeasurable disappointment. Ugh, no fucking way, so he thought, slowly turning around to observe two heavily cloaked figures—their faces hidden within a shadow cast by their hoods—wearing white, sheet-like armour that swayed in the air like clothing, dragging forth none other than Kane.
Nefandis assassins.
"Hey Bauer," he called out, struggling against the bone-grinding pressure of the assassins' grips on his wrists, "wanna fucking help out instead of staring at me like I'm Prince Charming?"
At the same time, the bishop put a hold to his duel, taking notice of the situation. Maleagant looked back, his brows raised as he watched the nefandis assassins stride through the battlefield like an unstoppable force freezing everyone in place.
"I'd suggest you give in while you can, wizard," said the bishop, revealing a smile through his malevolent tone. "For his life is in your hands."
Maleagant looked back at the bishop, frowning as he clenched his jaw, for he knew that the bishop knew he wouldn't do anything that would jeopardise Kane.
"Stand down, Bauer," he ordered, looking over his shoulder to see the bloodshed he brought. He returned his gaze to the bishop. "What do you want?"
The bishop took some time to respond, enjoying the moment of triumph in silence. "Initially, I came for the recusant," he paused letting out a baleful laugh, "but now, I have two more than I asked for... Surrender yourself and the recusant, and I shall let the boy go. Refuse and you will surely find us back here, ready to sacrifice each and every last one of you."
Maleagant weighed the options, rubbing his chin as he retired to his thoughts.
"Take them," he replied after much deliberation, "but you won't be taking me."
"What!?" yelled Bauer, his eyes bulging as a snarl appeared on his face. "You sly old man! You'd sell us out for your gain!?"
The bishop chuckled. "Very well. I will enjoy sacrificing each and every one of the denizens of Thalamar... Not that I didn't have plans to do so, anyway. I hope you don't run away."
And with that, the occultists grabbed Bauer, who glared into Maleagant's eyes, cursing the old man in his head, knowing that he was a fraud all along. Worst of all, there was nothing he could do. He and Kane were now nothing more than sacrificial lambs, left to squirm in the mire of inevitable death.
"That honour you so dearly value," said the bishop, turning away as he spoke, "is on the line now. Don't abandon it as quickly as you did these two."