Blard had defended against the creatures lazily.
He knew Cathera was as good as gone. Romeo had been her lover.
His captain on the other hand was very hard to kill considering his aspect.
So the likely target for a counter attack would of naturally been him, considering his stun utility.
So why then, had the intruder targeted his captain.
A feint then.
I can play into that.
Blard accepted several blows from the undead warriors, hoping to bait the intruder into attacking.
And as Dell swung at Blard, Blard activated his awakened ability.
The courtyard shone bright once again.
Dell had expected this. His eyes were unaffected by the stun this time.
But that wasn't Blard's intention.
As the light dissipated, Dell swung on empty air.
Blard had reunited next to his captain, who was healing from his wounds.
How…
Reyvan ran his hand into his lieutenant's back as Blard raised his sword into he sky.
The swordsman raised his blade intot he sky and the blade shone once more.
A translucent dome enveloped around the courtyard.
Dell and his servants stared at Blard silently.
What the hell are they up to?
Reyvan raised his scimitar and let it touch Blard's sword. It began to glow brilliantly too.
He stepped ahead of his lieutenant, and began to jog.
Dell and his servant rushed to meet him.
The first creature lunged at the captain, aiming for his head.
His blade cleaned straight through.
The second came at him, but this time, the creature landed first. The captains jaw rolled off, and his body was thrown to the ground.
Or so Dell thought. In place of what should have been the captain's body was one of his servants.
Another undead creature was torn to his left.
Then one to his right.
The captain was dispatching Dell's servants at a frightening rate.
The captain was clearly an experienced warrior of Song, able to deflect the major shots and tank the minor ones, his growing fury fuelling his healing abilities.
And when creatures did land a clean kill shot, the captain's body disappeared, being replaced by one of his other servants.
I see now.
Dell charged the captain, as he was distracted by one of his few remaining servants.
As he swung with his claws at him, the captain's body switched with one of his servants.
He had expected this.
Turning into a swarm of bats once more he flew past the creature and shot straight to Blard at the edge of the battleground.
This was his doing.
Dell reappeared and dug his fangs into the swordsman's chest.
Only it wasn't the swordsman.
The captain had switched places with Blard using an ability of the lieutenant's aspect.
He grabbed Dell's head, tore him from his chest, and slammed him into the ground, leaving deep cracks in the earth.
He raised Dell's head and proceeded to slam him again, only for Dell to turn into a swarm of bats again.
The captain roared.
Blard then used his ability more aggressively, displacing the captain between himself, Dell and his creatures at a frenetic pace.
The captain was close to being consumed by his rage. Dell assumed it was either a flaw or a an ability of his aspect that fuelled his healing.
Either way, he was taking a beating. When the Song warrior wasn't ripping his servants limb from limb with little care for the damage he took in exchange, he was beating Dell senseless, using himself and the environment around him to wreak havoc.
This time, as Dell desperately tried to reach Blard once more, the captain's sword bit into his shoulder, teleporting Blard to safety.
The captain grabbed Dell by the neck and flung him into a building, bringing the pillars down and watching it crumble him.
As Dell was dispatched, the captain let the intruder's last servant sink into his arm, in return he plunged his shining scimitar into the creature midsection, and swung wide. He didn't stop there. After several furious swings, the servant's body lay still across the cobblestone, separated in half a dozen ways.
The captain and his lieutenant were left heaving alone in the courtyard.
They stared at the rubble where the intruder was left under.
A single hand shot out. It parted the way for the rest of the body.
As Dell clambered out of the rubble, he activated his crown again. The maroon ruby shining a weak glow.
Holy shit.
He stood atop the rubble, his left arm gone from his shoulder. His already mangled body tattered with wounds.
The captain roared again, on the brink of madness.
The swordsman looked anxious, but ready.
Dell walked to meet them.
As he did, he poured essence into his servants.
One by one, their severed bodies began to shift around the cobblestone all on their own, their bodies reattaching together.
All six creature stood again, with not a trace of damage.
Including that the bodies of Cathera, and several other song awakened from the stronghold, also rose up, an eerie maroon burning in their eyes.
The captain fury was now split between the intruder and the reawakened undead, unsure which to attack first, his fury flirting berserk.
The swordsman's face dimmed. "What do you want from us?"
No answer.
"What in the gods do you want from us?"
Dell spoke, his words slurred with only half a tongue. "I wished to get some information out of Song Seishan, or even her sister."
Dell began to channel his essence into himself, his words becoming clearer as his body rid itself of its wounds.
"Song Seishan made a mistake leaving you two here. You two would have done great against the Valor dogs."
Blard paused. "Valor dogs? You're not with Valor. Why are you doing this then?" What do you need?"
"Ahh, both your clans are dogs. But if you really want to know…"
The intruder pointed at the captain. "I missed my chance to get to that witch. But he… he's my next ticket."
Blard's face drained.
Dell stepped out of the rubble, getting closer and closer to the captain. His servants stood still, eyeing the duo.
Gotcha. Blard raised his sword again, and a torrent of sunlight hit everything within the dome.
The nature of the dome changed, beaming a stark light inside.
The creatures stood unflinching, unaffected.
But Dell screeched. His skin began to burn. The captain, who had been standing in the same spot, to lure Dell out of the rubble, grinned and lunged at the distracted intruder.
Before he could connect, Dell disappeared into a swarm again.
This guy.
Dell had been put in a predicament.
The swordsman was on of the most intelligent fighters he had yet to face, and had put him in a position where he would lose either way.
Using this aspect, Dell was weak to sunlight. His servants weren't but that's because they lacked sentience.
The swarm of bats were immune, but they lacked any attack power.
Dell had hoped that with the increase in his numbers he would be able to shake off the troublesome duo and catch them by surprise.
But the duo must have noticed this weakness, and set up this trap, the surrounding buildings and cover within the dome had all been destroyed by the captain's rampage against his servants earlier, leaving him nowhere to manifest now that Blard had changed the nature of his dome ability.
The captain and Blard went straight to work, butchering the servants, tearing them apart despite being hevaily outnumbered. Blard even joined in on the offense this time. Both Song warrior bladed glowing effervescently as they switched positions with everyone frenetically.
Dell considered his options. Either he could switch to a different aspect, but that would release control over the dead and he would lose his number advantage, or he would let the duo crush his servants, as he dried out of essence powering them.
Ordinarily he could keep them going for a long time, but without being able to inflict any damage himself, he would not be able to recoup any of his essence.
The captain and the lieutenant had him at checkmate.
Ahh, they're good.
The swarm of bats hovered above as Blard and his captain shred apart their former comrades. Whatever the intruder's charade, he would not be able to keep it up for long. An ascended was powerful, yes. But even their essence reserves had limits. Their enemy should be close to their limit by now.
Blard then cut off Cathera's head and kicked her body away, sending flying to the other side of the dome.
He sensed something cackling and turned around.
The creatures had pulled back from the duo, giving them breathing room. And behind them was the intruder, standing atop some rubble, burning.
He had materialized as his skin was turning into ash, and flames began to lick him.
''What has Song done, leaving you two here. Such a waste of potential. But alas your end has come nigh."
The intruder outstretched his arms, flames beginning to engulf him. The creatures stood below on either side of him.
Then… the dome disappeared.
The intruder continued to burn. But the dome that allowed Blard, and his captain, to wantonly switch places between themselves and other beings had simply vanished, revealing the dusk of the Antarctic sky.
What…
A maroon glow began to grow behind the pair.
Blard and the captain turned around, but it may have been too late.
The leviathan's eyes glowed red as it gaped it's maw in front of the duo.
The captain rushed it, but unlike Blard he failed to notice that its red eyes died quickly, and was in turn replaced by a turqoise glow growing in its maw.
Blard raised his sword, but to no avail, it had lost its glow. His aspect was nullified.
He turned around, to gaze at their intruder one more. You basta-
The beam shot straight, engulfing Reyvan, Blard and Dell.
The creatures standing to either side of Dell, as they were commanded before, were untouched.
Dell bathed in the beautiful turquoise light.