Hobbs dived behind a nearby stone house as a fireball raced past him. He reached into his pouch for more gun ammo, but only pulled out one last ball.

  Bersi dropped down beside Hobbs as they both watched Malkin and his skilled Death Elves fend off the Elf soldiers of Damaran, who struggled to find any openings or cracks in Malkin’s rock-solid shield and coordination with his team.

  “We are at a standstill, but those Death Elves will outlast us at this point. They are barely breaking a sweat while Damaran’s Elves are reaching their limit.” Hobbs said as he slid the ball into his pistol.

  “Agreed, let’s hope Adell gets here in time for their sakes, but I’m in my element here,” Bersi said as she enveloped his curved knives with ugly purple and liquid Mana. Hobbs looked at the Mana-covered knives with a frown.

  “I always disliked this form of Mysteria you used, but I’ll give you permission to go wild here for our survival.”

  “Really?”

  “Yes, just don’t hit our allies. Move!” Hobbs said before they both jumped away from the stone house as it blew up into rubble from a fireball that smashed through it.

  Bersi ran past the rubble before pushing an Elf soldier away to slide under Malkin’s shield and slash his legs with her blade.

  He shrieked as he fell back, destabilizing his purple shield of Mana and opening his tight defense up for an attack.

  “Hit him!” Bersi said as she continued to run. The elf soldiers lifted their spears and then shot fireballs at Malkin. A fire erupted on impact, illuminating the night sky in orange.

  The smoke cleared to reveal two walls of earth made from Damaran's white stone roads. The walls of earth receded back into the ground as another Death Elf walked up to Malkin, who was unharmed from the last attack. The Elf soldiers backed away as the arrival and presence of this new threat made them hesitate. He smiled as he waved his finger at Malkin.

  “Malk, I keep telling you that your knowledge of Mysteria is lacking. You know every complicated Skill but not the basics. You would have been ash if I did not come to save you.”

  “Silence, Halkiss. Can’t you see that the situation is dire?”

  “It is?”

  Halkiss cocked his head to the side and eyed the enemies in front of him.

  “I see the usual elven riff-raft of Damaran with a few Scouts who appear to be half-ears. I am a bit surprised to see Humins here, but they should not be a problem. I honestly don’t know why you are struggling this much anyway,” Halkiss said as he raised his hand and formed a purple triangular prism.

  “Well, this is nothing that a few Mysteria Skills will not fix.”

  Purple lightning jolted with the clap of thunder as each purple bolt struck the defenseless Elf soldiers, who didn't even have enough time to scream.

  A purple disc sliced through the air and slashed the wrist of Halkiss while another one just barely missed his neck, causing him to lose concentration and dissolve the prism.

  Black blood streamed down his wrist as he leaned back to dodge the same two purple discs that boomeranged around.

  “Ow,” Halkiss said as he placed his glowing green hand over his bleeding wrist, closing the wound.

  Bersi stood on the top of a house as she caught her two knives. Bersi quickly jumped off the white house to get out of sight of the two Death elves who were staring at her from below. Halkiss raised a brow as he glanced at Malkin.

  “That was quite unusual. A half-ear was using Dark Mysteria. I always thought half-ears and lower-elves were too scared of the dark to use it. Very interesting.” Halkiss said as he formed two triangular prisms in both hands.

  “Enough talking. We have bigger issues at the moment. That Scout poisoned me when she slashed my leg. I can barely stand.” Malkin said as he raised his shield to block another barrage of fireballs from the Tamaran elf soldiers.

  “She likely used a mixture of Dark and Poison Mysteria. I was poisoned as well, and my vision is actually blurring, but I am currently analyzing the poison flowing through my body for an antidote. However, this current conflict has got me thinking,” Halkiss said as he shot purple bolts of lightning at the Elf soldiers, scattering them even more.

  “What is their aim for keeping us here?”

  The lower-ranked Death Elves protecting Malkin and Halkiss struck down the electrocuted and fatigued Elf soldiers in front of them and then broke through the Damaranian defenses. A Meteorite artillery blast crashed into the advancing Death Elves and Ogres, blasting flames and screaming Death Elves into the air and allowing the Elves of Damaran to regain their defensive stance.

  “They are trying to keep us away from their tower of war so they can use Artillery Skills to hold our forces off. But they are in for a shock when Master Felssi strikes them at their heart.” Malkin said as he pushed his shield forward to knock Elf soldiers away from him.

  “That’s the logical conclusion, but something seems off about this situation,” Halkiss said as he side-stepped two purple discs aiming for his neck.

  Halkiss dismissed his two triangular prisms and created a purple sword of Mana to swat the two purple discs away as they came back around. The two knives clanked on the stone road.

  Halkiss smiled as he looked in the direction of where the attack came from. Bersi stared back down with her arms crossed into the shape of an ‘X’.

  “You should have made that last attack count because your little tricks will not work twice on me, sweet Humin,” Halkiss said as he shrugged his shoulders.

  This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

  Bersi didn’t respond but began to make choking sounds as her body convulsed. She shrieked as a purple aura flowed from her body, and her glowing yellow eyes locked onto Halkiss.

  Halkiss dropped his smile and then launched the purple sword of Mana at Bersi.

  Bersi leapt off the house and then punched the Mana projectile away. The Mana projectile crashed into the battle area, causing both Death Elves and Tamaran soldiers to be blown away once the Mana exploded.

  Bersi continued to shriek as she fell down towards Halkiss.

  Halkiss muttered a few elven words to form a bright red shield of Mana to block and repel the incoming Bersi away from him.

  Bersi bounced off his shield and slid across the stone road while screaming.

  “Ah, everything makes sense now. You are an assassin, are you not? Not just anyone can use the Basilisk Skill.” Halkiss said as black flames outlined with white energy ignited over his hands.

  Bersi’s yellow snake-like eyes never looked away from Halkiss as she bared her two elongated fangs. Her body was now covered in black scales that ran from the side of her face, down to her snake arms. The two snake heads also stared down Halkiss as they slithered on the stone road where her hands used to be. The snakes attached to her arms had the same primal yellow eyes as she did.

  Malkin began to sweat at the sight of Bersi’s transformation before blasting away Elf soldiers with one of his purple orbs.

  “Halkiss, this is becoming a problem.”

  “You scare too easily. I will deal with this assassin myself. Focus on the elven riff-raft.”

  Halkiss thrusted himself into the air by propelling himself forward with the black flames engulfing his hands.

  The two snakes connected to Bersi’s arms stretched forward before shooting off toward Halkiss.

  They zipped through the air at high speed. Halkiss flew past the flurry of strikes from Bersi’s snakes as he boosted himself closer to Bersi. He extinguished the flames on his hands and then pulled out a jagged dagger as his momentum carried him towards Bersi.

  Black flames erupted on the dagger. He slashed at Bersi’s chest, igniting a wave of black flames across her body. Bersi screamed as Halkiss slid past her while smiling and waving his flaming dagger at Bersi.

  “I am uncertain if you are still sane, but I wanted to let you know that our professions are cousins! You see, I am an Assassin Mage.”

  “Shut up…and die,” Bersi said with a hissing voice as she held her chest wound.

  “Oh, you still have some sanity left, but I bet you cannot hold this form for long. I am still working on that poison you inflicted on me, so let’s see who will drop first.” Halkiss said, raising his flaming dagger with a smile as black blood oozed out of his nose.

  Bersi shrieked and brought her arms back and then let out a barrage of punches at Halkiss.

  Halkiss dodged each punch and blocked the fangs of the Bersi’s snakes with his dagger when their mouths opened to bite him.

  He coughed up more blood before ducking under one of Bersi’s snakes and chopping off its head with his dagger.

  Bersi screamed in pain as Halkiss darted forward towards Bersi’s head.

  Bersi closed her mouth and expanded her cheeks before shooting out a purple gas from her pursed lips.

  Halkiss hurriedly boosted himself away from the gas with his black flames as the purple gas streamed onto a stone house that instantly began to melt like ice in the sun.

  Halkiss continued to boost himself away using his flames as he ran away from the gas spewing from Bersi’s mouth.

  Both the Death Elves and the Damaran soldiers backed away from the fight between Halkiss and Bersi. Either side would die getting caught in the crossfire.

  Bersi launched her remaining snake hand at Halkiss. It snaked through the air before getting close to Halkiss and puffing its cheeks to shoot purple gas at him point-blank.

  Halkiss gritted his teeth as he formed a ball of green wind in his left hand to blow the gas away from his face. He slashed at the snake's head with the dagger in his right hand to decapitate it and end the stream of gas.

  Bersi roared again as Halkiss continued to slice through her scaled arm with his dagger while he ran towards her. She spewed more gas from her mouth, but Halkiss countered with his ball of green wind, blowing the gas away from him.

  Halkiss jumped at Bersi and then slammed the ball of wind into Bersi’s open mouth, sending a powerful gust that violently jammed open her mouth and blasted her away.

  Bersi gagged as her body slammed into the heavy wall of a stone house. She slid to the stone ground unconscious with a twitching, broken jaw as Halkiss walked toward her with his flaming dagger. He coughed deeply as more blood streamed from his nose. His now frizzled white hair and armor began to melt from getting too close to the acidic gas now streaming out of Bersi’s open mouth.

  “It seems I underestimated you just a tiny bit. This poison has quite the effect, but that doesn’t matter now. Ah, you cannot hear me. It seems I have beaten you unconscious,” Halkiss said as he increased the size of the flames on his dagger, preparing a finishing blow on Bersi.

  Halkiss gagged as his neck exploded with blood. Shock came over his body as he dropped his dagger and fell to his knees.

  Hobbs came running in with his smoking pistol and Adell behind him. Adell charged forward and tossed a handful of orange cubes at Halkiss.

  Halkiss grabbed his neck with a glowing green hand and then sent a wall of black flames at the incoming orange cubes, causing a huge explosion that stopped Hobbs and Adell in their tracks.

  Hobbs and Adell covered their faces as black smoke rushed past them, but they quickly looked upwards to see Halkiss flying into the air uncontrollably.

  Malkin and the other Death Elves raised shields around themselves as more Scouts and Elf soldiers arrived. Malkin stared up at Halkiss flying over his head.

  “Halkiss, you coward! The Damaran elves and Humins have brought reinforcements, and now you leave us to die?” Malkin screamed as Halkiss flew further away.

  ?

  Halkiss ignored Malkin below him. He was, unfortunately, duty-bound to serve Felssi, not Malkin, so there was no need to die with that fool. His body felt weaker by the second, but his eyes were focused on the white tower of war ahead of him. His senses as a Mage told him that an immense amount of Mana gathered inside of it, which wasn’t unusual since this was the main point of attack for the Elves of Damaran. However, his instincts told him there was more to this tower.

  He got closer and felt the dense amount of Mana emanating from the tower itself. The thick and raw Mana made him nauseous, but his eyes went wide as the truth dawned on him.

  This was a Mana Bomb!

  There was no other explainable reason besides this. The elation of Halkiss was short-lived. Blood began to stream down his mouth, and he felt all of his strength leave his body. He fell from the sky and crashed into a demolished stone house, where he lay paralyzed and unable to draw Mana from his Base. The poison from Bersi’s attack and the wound on his neck left him unable to move.

  Yet he had to move. The city of Damaran was a trap in itself. They knew that this was a lost battle, so they were going to blow themselves up with their enemies. Every fight up to this point was a distraction to lure them deeper into enemy territory before wiping everyone out of existence. Mana Bombs were rare in this age, but he was a fool to not even consider this a possibility with Kaleen’s sly nature. He had to warn Felssi, or their deaths were a certainty. They played right into the hands of Kaleen.

  Halkiss screamed in frustration and pain as he tried to speed up the process of getting rid of the poison in his body, paralyzing his body.

  “F-Felssi…this place was made to be our coffin!”