A chain of lightning incinerated another soldier. Traveling further, it struck the wall with a deafening boom that echoed through the chamber. Dust and debris were scattered across the room, blocking my field of view in a thick, choking haze. I began coughing slightly when I inhaled the dust, the taste of ash coating my tongue. Bargrave blew the dust away with a single wave of his hand, as if it were nothing more than an inconvenience. Boredom was evident on his face while looking at the ruins of the palace, his eyes devoid of any real interest. We stood in front of the throne room doors. All our intel suggested that behind this door, the main command structure of the Yemeni soldiers was issuing their orders. Without wasting a single breath, I kicked open the large double doors. Coming face-to-face with the stunned commanders sitting around a large wooden table with various papers scattered across its surface. Besides the commanders, there were a few runners present. We had killed a few of them on our way here. But it seems some still live, not for long though.
The throne room looked exactly like I remembered it. Gray walls and floor, with pillars lining the sides of the room like silent sentinels. Some parts of the stone were cracked from a lack of maintenance, fractures spiderwebbing across the surface as if the structure itself was beginning to fail.
The enemy quickly got to their feet. The sharp sound of weapons being drawn from their sheaths accompanied their rise, metal scraping against metal. Holding my own nodachi in a ready position, I charged. A fire spell flew towards me with great speed, leaving a trail of heat in its wake. Shifting my weight to my left leg while changing my center of gravity, I leaned to the side. Allowing the fireball to fly harmlessly past me, close enough that I could feel the air distort. The heat from the spell caressed my face, dry and suffocating. But within a moment, I was already back in an upright position. Bargrave did not remain idle. With a downward stomp of his leg, the tiles beneath his feet shattered as he leaped forward with explosive momentum. A single swing of his flanged mace popped the head of a commander like a pimple. Blood, bones, and gray matter splattered across the floor with his headless body, painting the stone in crimson.
Recognizing the superior threat, the soldiers turned their attention towards Bargrave. A foolish mistake if you asked me. It gave me the perfect opportunity to blink in their midst. I tried decapitating one, but he avoided it at the last second, his instincts barely saving him. The blade struck the top of his head. Meeting great resistance, it could only barely pierce the skin. I saw my mistake too late. An aura-empowered fist struck me in the stomach, knocking the wind out of me in an instant. I could feel my bones creaking under the pressure, as if they were on the verge of giving way.
My own aura flared to strengthen my body, surging instinctively to protect what it could. Right in time, as one of his allies tried to gut me with his bastard sword. Still struggling for breath, I managed to somewhat deflect the blow. The sword gashed my inner thigh, drawing blood that quickly soaked into the fabric, while I jumped backwards to create distance. An intense energy to my left alerted me that Bargrave was still hard at work, his presence impossible to ignore. The two enemies took positions opposite me. The one with the bastard sword used the reach of his blade to force me to my right, pressing me with calculated precision, directly into the waiting hands of the pugilist. His fist hit my right arm like a hammer. Something cracked within as he broke my arm. Bone stuck out from under the skin in an unnatural manner, the sight alone enough to unsettle most. Right before he struck again, I blinked behind the swordsman.
Pain lanced through my arm, sharp and unrelenting. But even then, I focused on my goal. Wielding my nodachi one-handed, I stabbed it through the chest of the enemy swordsman. With my body strengthened with aura, the blade pierced through flesh, stopping only when it reached bone. A muffled gasp escaped his lips before his body stiffened. Dropping the heavy carcass to the ground with great effort, the weight of it pulling at my already strained muscles. All the while glaring at the pugilist. Not wishing to enter close quarters again, I began pelting him with lightning bolts. In the beginning, he dodged most of them without a problem, his movements quick and precise. But the more attacks that struck him, the slower his reactions became, fatigue and damage taking their toll. At one point, he pushed through my spells like a charging bull.
He took a lot of attacks on his large torso, the smell of burnt flesh beginning to rise. But it allowed him to get within range. My blade moved quickly, acting as a deterrent. But he seemed to have lost all sense of reason, driven forward by sheer will. Another blink brought me further away. I continued shooting at him with lightning. After a few more minutes of this, I felt that he was weakened enough to be taken out. I was exhausted at this point, my body heavy and sluggish, but I still trudged forward. Leaning on my sword like a cane, I approached my downed opponent. He was already hardly breathing. Many burn wounds covered his body, the skin charred and cracked, but in his eyes I saw only hatred. The intensity of his gaze made me hesitate a little. Having regained my composure, I prepared for the killing blow. Right as my blade was about to strike, a bright light blinded me.
Before an extreme heat seared my back with overwhelming force, flinging me across the room, directly onto the stone throne. The impact made the throne crack, fragments of stone splintering apart as parts of it were pulverized on impact. A pained groan escaped my lips, forced out despite myself. Black spots took up most of my vision, swallowing the edges of my sight. My broken arm was caught between the throne and my body, making the already severe pain a hundred times worse, sending waves of agony through me. The only part of me that remained intact was my hearing. The sound of heavy footsteps approaching me sounded deafening, each step echoing like a hammer striking stone.