Battle

Outside the church, the two sides were staring at each other, both side hesitant to make a move. After some moment of silence, Thorn spoke in a calm voice, "Will just the two of you be stopping all of us?" He scoured the priest and Zaros from top to bottom.

"The two of us will be enough for you..." The priest replied back in his gravelly voice. "Why? Are you afraid to come at us even though you outnumber us?" He jeered at Thorn with a smug look on his face.

"No... We were only preparing for this!" The ones in the front quickly stepped to the side, revealing Haskell and the other knights behind. As soon as they appeared, they threw the Night Crystals from their hands towards Zaros and the priest.

*BOOM BOOM BOOM*

A series of explosions rang out from where they were standing. A dust cloud rose up from the explosions, blocking everyone's sight. "Did we do it?" A knight exclaimed in joy, thinking that they defeated the two of them.

"WATCH OUT!" Thorn screamed at the knight, but it was too late. Zaros appeared from within the cloud of dust and appeared before the knight. He thrust his hand towards his chest in one swift motion, taking out his bloody hand from his back, with his heart on his hand.

"NOOO!" Haskell cried from beside the knight and charged at Zaros in a moment of fury. Zaros flicked his hand towards him and sent a heat wave towards Haskell. The wave hit Haskell and flung him towards the back, dropping him on the ground.

The old priest also appeared from the dust and engaged with Thorn. They began fighting each other, Thorn swinging his sword at him and the priest blocking the hits with his crosier.

The battle-field was now divided into two parts, one group fighting with Zaros while another fighting with the priest. Buck was leading the fight with Zaros, while Thorn was the one leading the fight with the priest. The knights and the rogue seekers were finding it hard to even join the fights while the Night Leaders were only acting as supports.

The fight between Thorn and the priest was very flashy. They were striking each other with weapons and backing away constantly, using <Arcane> to keep each other in check. Thorn would send balls of blue flames flying towards the priest, which he would block with a wall of heat. They met each other with their weapons again, backing up promptly and using <Arcane> once more.

While they repeated this several times, the knights and rogue seekers would support Thorn by using their own <Arcane>. However, it was all for naught, as the priest would block them all with a thick wall of heat. Anytime some rogue seekers would come to attack him physically, he would use his crosier to send a small flick of flame towards them, injuring them heavily.

They continued to fight like this, slowly injuring each other with their <Arcane>. "Huff Huff..." Both Thorn and the priest were now breathing heavily, having used a lot of their essence. Asa and Lonz used this opportunity to charge towards the priest. Lonz charged towards him straight, his spear burning with a blue flame, while Asa hid herself and tried to strike the priest from the side.

The priest crossed his hands towards both side, blocking the spear with his crosier and flicking his other hand, sending small balls of hot red flame towards Asa. Widening her eyes, Asa quickly dodged the specks of flames by rolling to the side, which made her crash on the ground. The flame that was supposed to hit her also landed on the floor, which then melted like lava.

Lonz recoiled heavily and staggered back when his spear was blocked. The priest turned his head around, looking at everyone. He rested his gaze at Thorn who was breathing heavily and smirked. "Is that all you guys got?" Right at that moment, he coughed a mouthful of blood. Looking down towards his chest, he could see the tip of a dagger sticking out and dripping blood on the ground. He followed the dagger and turned his head towards his side.

He widened his eyes when he saw the person who stabbed him. "Y-You...." He spoke in a rough, low voice, blood dripping from his mouth. The person behind him grinned wide, all of his teeth showing. Stabbing the dagger deeper, he spoke. "Finally, I have been dreaming of this day ever since you locked me up in that fucking cell!" Vine spoke in a joyful but shaking voice.

On the other side, Zaros and Buck were fighting ferociously using only their bodies. They exchanged their fists and fought each other, tremors and shock-wave occurring every time their fists met. The shock-wave pushed back the knights who were trying to approach the fight. "You lot stay back. He is way beyond your levels." Buck shouted at the knights who were trying to approach them.

"You're good." Zaros gave Buck a compliment. "It's been too long since I've had fun like this." He threw a punch towards Buck and backed away when he blocked it.

"Yeah? Me too." Buck looked at Zaros, sweat on his forehead but a smile on his face. "I also wanted to let loose. But the time to joke is over now." He fixed his posture and pulled his arm towards the back of his body, ready to throw a punch. His whole arm and fist started glowing in a radiant blue hue. After he was done charging, he extended his arm towards him, striking Zaros with all he had.

Zaros looked at the incoming punch and smiled, he also readied himself, a stream of heat wave twirling along his arms, and threw a punch towards Buck, striking his fist in the middle. A huge shock-wave rang out when their fists met, which threw the knights and rogue seekers like rag-dolls.

Roe, Haskell and Price barely held on from being pushed back. "Marshall!" They tried to move towards Buck in order to support him by using their <Arcane>, but Buck stopped them from approaching any further. "You guys head towards the church! Find out what's going on!"

Zaros looked towards the knights in a panic. "I thought you were a gentleman when you were trying to fight me one on one. But you were trying to send them inside!?" He tried to dash towards them to stop them from going inside the castle, but Buck appeared in front of him, throwing a downwards punch aimed at his head.

Crossing his arms hurriedly, Zaros blocked the attack, but the power behind the attack was more than he had calculated, which made him kneel down and widen his eyes. "You must stop them! I'm telling this for your own good!" Zaros stared at Buck and spoke through clenched teeth.

"The only good you bastards think about is for yourselves!" Buck threw a punch towards him again. Zaros parried the punch and began counter attacking.

While Buck was stopping Zaros from approaching them, the three dashed towards the church. "Nearly there!" Just as they were about the reach the door. *BAM* The door of the church exploded from within. "DUCK!" Roe shouted out loud, causing them to stop on their tracks and duck down on the ground.

The debris of the exploding door passed from above them, while some debris hit them even though they were ducking. After the explosion died down, the three of them looked towards the door in caution.

*Tap Tap Tap* The sound of light but loud footsteps rang out from within the church. *Tap Tap Tap* Finally, out from the hole where the door was supposed to be, the Saint arrived.