Bauer found himself in a sticky situation. Despite having been able to deal with the occultists, a new problem arose in the form of nefandis knights doing all in their power to strike him down, while most of the black knights struggled to break past the rest of the front line.
The priest, who used a variety of spells ranging from green lightning, red beads and comets, to necromantic spells raising creatures of the likes Bauer had never seen before.
What are those things? he asked himself watching as not just the usual soul hounds and tortured souls rose from the dead corpses, but also shadow creatures, covered in bones, that flew into the air, pulling at the air whilst facing their foes.
A black pus burst from the ears, mouths, and noses of the black knights, piercing through the armour, and flowing to what he could only assume were the creature's mouths, followed by their shrills that shook everyone down to their bones.
"All shall fall," said the nefandis priest, raising his arms as the same black pus fired in all directions towards the black knight front line, who were quickly protected by the mages with their wind magic. "The Final God has decreed it!"
More time would go on, and more black knights would fall to the arcane attacks of the bone donned creatures, and Bauer's situation would on grow more difficult with nefandis knights chasing after him, bolstered by the deacons who were few in number.
Bauer ducked under a wide swing of a black glaive, quickly blocking another directed right at his torso, though the strength of it sent him rolling through the snow. With little time to react, he narrowly dodged a plunging attack, letting the blade deflect off his pauldron and dig into the ground.
Seeing an opportunity, he slashed at the nefandite's neck, splitting the head from the body, letting the snow become tainted in a dark and rich crimson liquid. With one fluid motion, he held his hands over his head, letting the flat end of the blade guard his back from another swing, but his awkward position made it hard for him to recover.
A green pulse landed square on the chest, sending a surge of electrifying pain through his body, making it hard to stand. But Bauer was resilient, and so he pushed through the pain, simultaneously blocking more bursts of green magic alongside two more knights swinging at him.
Their polearms sliced through the air, a rippling sound that traced their movement. Though, with good positioning and a strong foundation, Bauer's stance was immutable, allowing him to survive, but even so, it meant nothing when no progress was being made.
Fuck! I can't block and dodge at the same time! He slid between the knights, slicing at one's knee hollow, where there was a lack of armour, quickly standing up to block an onslaught of magic.
Of course, being armoured never meant that one was entirely protected, for whatever needed to be flexible could not be rigid, and so using this knowledge, he kept targeting joints, hoping that the black knights could do something about the few standing deacons.
But the situation was growing grim with each passing minute. More black knights fell to the flying creatures, followed by their shrills, the nefandis knights were thinning the black knight front line, and the priest's guffaw echoed against the clashing of metal and cries of horror.
Luckily, his wish would come through, and the black knight mages would clear out the remaining deacons with their long range spells, making the two versus one situation much more manageable.
"Die!" yelled one of the nefandis knights, swinging straight down, ready to let the teeth on his glaive feast on Bauer.
The other swung down as well, clearly a testament to how the knights were not well suited in cooperative combat, making it easy for Bauer to simply move out of the way and disarm one of them after their glaives dug in the snow.
However, with the reinforced plate armour they wore, there was a distinct lack in weak points for him to target, resulting in him choosing to kick the disarmed one to the ground, quickly recovering to block another swing, putting the two in a stand still.
"I will grind you to dust!" yelled the knight, sawing through the longsword's crossguard.
Bauer scoffed, and with one motion, he moved to the side and broke off from the stand still, letting his blade slide under the glaive's handle before he readjusted it above his head, slashing at the knight's elbow that lacked armour, cutting the arm off clean.
Using the knight's pain as a distraction, he grabbed the weapon's hilt and, with all his might, ripped it out of his foe's iron grip and tossed it aside. With a quick pivot, he maneuvered behind the knight, ready to slash at his neck, but the other knight arrived just in time to save his friend, forcing Bauer to leap back towards the glaive buried in the snow.
Without much time to think, he stowed his weapon and picked up the glaive, ready to explore an old fighting style he once learned with polearms. Only one issue presented itself, however:
Why the fuck are these things so heavy at the blade end!? he yelled internally, finding it incredibly awkward to use, resorting to dodging the nefandite's swings as he accustomed himself to the weight. "So those large swings aren't just for show, huh?"
"You'll find out now!" yelled the knight, taking a two-handed stance before swinging down with all his might.
Bauer held the handle up, ready to block. Instead, however, a loud crack followed the handle splitting in two, with his armour being ripped though the left side of his chest. He leapt back, gasping for air as blood spilled through his torn armour.
He wanted to take a second to understand what just happened, but the knight ran straight for him, swinging with an alarming speed that was hard for Bauer to dodge. It was worse for him since he'd rather block than have to deal with the heavy swings that he now knew could easily rip through his armour.
That's simply not human, so he thought, struggling to find an opportunity to unsheathe his longsword as he danced around the hungry glaive's edge. This must be some magic.
His spree of dodging perfectly would come to an end as a horizontal swing ripped through his the armour right under his collar bone, cutting into his skin and spilling more blood. He fell on his back, struggling against the desire to wail in pain, feeling his warm blood trickle down his torso.
With a heavy foot slammed against his chest, Bauer wriggled beneath it, trying to push it off, but with every movement he'd make, more pain surged through his body, making his efforts useless as he watched the knight hold the glaive high in a reverse grip.
Bauer tilted his head, letting the edge of the curved tip slice through the side of his helm, which followed through into the snow, digging deep within.
Even so, there wasn't much he could do, for the knight's sabatons crushed his already damaged armour, letting the jagged sheared metal dig into his chest.
Fuck, he clenched his jaw, feeling his vision slowly fade away. Everything slowly dulled as he felt his breaths slipping away, his eyes feeling heavy, and a gnawing cold creeping through his body from his chest. I didn't think it would end this way.
He closed his eyes, losing the strength to keep them open as he watched the knight raise the glaive once again, ready to stab straight through his head.
But then, a deafening wail of pain echoed through the tinnitus that ate at his hearing, and he felt drops of a warm liquid spill through the gaps of his armour.