Her voice, amplified by magic, echoed through the ravaged town, a promise of fiery devastation.
More explosions ripped through the silence, each a percussive punctuation mark to her threat. Homes, or what remained of them, dissolved into clouds of ash and embers.
Demonic voice: "GO! KILL HER! KILL HER -- OR I KILL THIS CHILD...!"
The dagger's voice, a grating blend of desperation and raw malice, scraped against their nerves.
Bazren's hands clenched, rose-colored sparks, eager and hungry, crackling around her knuckles. The air around her shimmered with barely contained power.
Bazren: "Dammit Xayn, I hate being pushed around like this... Why don't we just kill them all and move on?!"
Her voice was a low growl, frustration simmering beneath the surface.
Xayn's other arm erupted in ethereal blue flames, coalescing into a longbow. It was a weapon of otherworldly design, elegant yet menacing, with two large spikes cruelly adorning its tips, its very form radiating an alien, intimidating aura.
Xayn: "Stop being so impulsive, Bazren."
His voice was sharp, a rebuke cutting through the chaos. He began moving towards the shattered doorway, his movements fluid and purposeful.
Xayn: "Saving this child could give us the credibility we need to make trustworthy connections in this world... We'd be fools to pass this up. Now come on, it's just a human -- we'll get this done and over with in no time."
A heavy sigh, laced with reluctant acceptance, escaped Bazren's lips, a sound of weary resignation that seemed to carry the weight of centuries.
Bazren: "Fine...! Getting kind of rusty, anyway. Hope at least she's good practice..."
They ventured out into the blood-soaked street, stepping from one nightmare into another.
The hooded sorceress, alerted by the creak of the ruined door, whipped her head around, her eyes widening, momentarily stunned by the sight of their undead forms.
Xayn made the first move, meeting her startled gaze with an unnervingly calm one.
Xayn: "Apologies, caster."
His voice, even and devoid of any discernible emotion, was somehow more unsettling than a shout.
The woman's eyes widened, pupils dilating as she took in the sight of their undead forms.
Sorceress: "H-how in the...!?"
Bazren cut in, a predatory smirk playing on her lips.
Bazren: "Look lively -- you're dying today! No hard feelings, alright?!"
The sorceress's eyes darted around frantically, struggling to reconcile the impossible reality before her.
Sorceress: "U-undead...? Here?!"
Her hand flew across the pages of the worn leather-bound spell tome she held, her fingers tracing the embossed symbols with frantic urgency. Glyphs, intricate and glowing with arcane power, began to materialize in the air before her, shimmering like heat haze.
Her gaze locked onto Xayn and Bazren, narrowing with a sudden, chilling realization. A cruel smile twisted her lips.
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Sorceress: "Of course... It only makes sense that your kind'd be behind this -- you're the ones who *birthed* it!"
Xayn: "We didn't birth anything, we-"
Her voice cut him off like a shard of ice.
Sorceress: "SILENCE, DISGUSTING CREATURE!"
Pink flames, hot and hungry, exploded from Bazren's right hand, a mirror of the rage simmering beneath her pale skin.
Bazren: "There they go again..."
A massive, spiked flail materialized in her grasp, its chain humming with barely restrained energy. The weapon seemed an extension of her own barely controlled fury.
Bazren: "I'm already getting sick and tired of how repulsed this world seems to be by our presence... You do realize we're still human inside, right?!"
Her voice was a defiant snarl, a challenge to a world that breathed life into them, now readily shunning their return from a realm beyond the living.
The sorceress merely scoffed, her eyes burning with contempt.
Sorceress: "Human...?"
Orbs of pure fire, coalescing from the heart of the glowing glyphs, began to orbit her like miniature suns.
Sorceress: "... Don't make me laugh."
With a flick of her wrist, the orbs were hurled towards them, streaking through the air like fiery comets.
Xayn, with a grace that belied his undead state, moved with preternatural speed. He ducked and weaved, sliding across the blood-slicked ground and beneath the fiery projectiles, his movements a blur of motion, narrowly avoiding a direct hit.
Bazren, however, stood her ground, a grim confidence etched on her face as she spun her flail at her side, without a care in the world -- a provocation.
Just moments before the fire orbs converged on her, she slammed the flail down onto the ground with earth-shattering force. The chain, imbued with her unnatural strength, extended far beyond its normal length, propelling her upwards in a sudden, gravity-defying leap.
The orbs missed their mark, colliding with the ravaged house behind her, detonating in a shower of splinters and flame.
Sorceress: "Hngh... Cunning, for a couple of shambling skeletons!"
As Xayn slid, he nocked three ethereal arrows onto his bowstring in a single, fluid motion. He then released them simultaneously, the arrows whistling through the air towards their target.
The sorceress reacted instantly, a shimmering sphere of wind conjuring around her, deflecting two of the arrows, sending them spiraling harmlessly away. The third arrow, however, flew wide, disappearing into the distance.
Seizing the moment, Bazren swung her flail, the sheer force of the pull dragging her through the air, transforming her into a living projectile hurtling towards the caster. The sorceress, eyes widening in alarm, reacted with desperate speed. With a swift, intricate gesture, she reconfigured the runes of her glyphs.
The protective sphere of wind transformed into a powerful gale, a concentrated blast of air that slammed into her, pushing her backwards, sliding her several feet away from the approaching danger.
Bazren's flail smashed into the ground where the sorceress had stood moments before, the impact creating a small crater and sending tremors through the blood-soaked earth.
Bazren: "Not too slow on your feet, either...!"
There was a hint of grudging admiration in her voice, quickly masked by her usual sardonic tone...
... Yet, without pause, a new glyph materialized before the sorceress, this one crackling with a far more dangerous, volatile energy.
Sorceress: "This is pathetic... I'm wasting far too much time with you already."
Xayn and Bazren began a slow, deliberate advance, their movements unhurried, almost casual, despite the imminent threat.
Bazren: "Oh, come on... We were just starting to enjoy ourselves!"
Xayn: "Don't underestimate her -- now's our chance."
His voice was a low, warning murmur.
Bazren: "You're a real buzzkill Xayn, you know that?!"
Xayn: "... Do you get the finishing blow, or do I?"
A theatrical sigh escaped Bazren's lips.
Bazren: "Get her on her knees -- I'll end this myself..."
The sorceress's eyes narrowed, her face contorting with fury at their audacity.
Sorceress: "You dare discuss my death so nonchalantly in front of me...!? How sad, that your final words will be a meaningless, arrogant plot to destroy someone far above your league...!"
Bazren: "Sheesh... Talk about arrogant."
Fueled by fury, the sorceress unleashed her spell. A blinding beam of raw, crackling energy erupted from the glyph, a torrent of pure destructive power aimed directly at them. It was too wide, too fast to dodge, a wave of annihilation bearing down on them with terrifying speed.
Bazren, without hesitation, stepped in front of Xayn, planting her left foot firmly on the ground. Just as the beam was about to make contact, she raised her left arm. Pink flames, fierce and protective, engulfed it.
The beam crashed into her, a cataclysmic explosion of light and energy. The sorceress, however, didn't relent. She poured more and more magical power into the spell, the beam growing in intensity, a roaring vortex of destruction. Rocks were torn from the ground, swirling in the chaotic energy. The remnants of walls and roofs were ripped apart, adding to the debris field.
The sorceress laughed, a wild, manic sound that was slowly choked by panting as her energy stores depleted. Finally, after nearly half a minute of sustained assault, her power waned.
The beam flickered and died, revealing the aftermath of her attack.
Xayn and Bazren stood, relatively unharmed, protected by an intimidating, shimmering shield overflowing with magical energy. Bazren, chest heaving with exertion, held the shield aloft with her left arm as it hummed and pulsed, as if craving more destruction. Her right arm, however, was gone, ripped away by the blast, still clutching the flail, which lay on the ground, its chain slack.
Xayn, without a single scratch, gave her a couple of light taps on the back, a silent acknowledgment of her sacrifice. He moved forward, taking her place at the front. He dematerialized his bow, the ethereal blue flames dissipating into nothingness.
Sorceress: "T-THAT'S IMPOSSIBLE! HOW ARE YOU STILL -"
Her words were cut short. A sharp, piercing pain erupted in her back.
A stray arrow, the one that had missed earlier, had found its mark. It pierced her from behind, exiting through her chest in a gruesome spray of blood.
Still dripping crimson, it flew back towards Xayn, who had his hand raised high overhead.
Xayn: "Simple --*never* reveal your whole hand."
His voice was cold, devoid of any triumph. He caught the arrow mid-air, the blood staining his skeletal fingers.
The sorceress collapsed to her knees, her body wracked with tremors, blood welling up from the gaping wound in her chest...
... She bit down on her lip, drawing blood, a desperate attempt to hold onto consciousness.