Sorrow

Twisting his body underwater, Leezy turned and swung his great-sword down at his leg…

Lightning boiled the water as a deep roar echoed from the depths. The tentacle that held him loosened its grip in a haze of purple blood, allowing him to finally throw himself out of the water.

Coughing and gasping for air, he stared at the surface of the oasis while pulling himself away from it, paying no mind to the strangers around him.

"Well well well, what do we have e're ey? Looks like this one got a taste of what was in that pool mate."

One of them stepped towards Leezy as he laid on the cave floor. Reaching out with their hammer, the person gingerly pat Leezy's helmet.

"That's a good boy, stay down e're if you know whats gud for ya. How about you elp us out here and find your bruva for me to make our job of killing you lot a great deal easier, whaddaya say?"

Finally able breath steadily, Leezy pushed himself off the ground in an instant and struck the man square in the face, moving faster than he could react and sending him flying into a wall of the cave.

Rocks began falling as the cave began to collapse around them all, although none of them paid any heed to it.

"You'll pay for that mate, i promise you that. Nobody lay a fucking finger on em, i plan on giving em a proper thrashin!"

The man shouted, charging at Leezy with eyes full of rage and hatred with blood leaking from the corner of his lip.

"You treated me like a fucking dog! You think I'm the type to let that shit slide!?"

Leezy roared back, dashing toward him.

The two clashed in the middle of the area with their weapons, sending a shockwave that sent a few rocks flying as they fell around them.

With no time to react, the man let go of the hammer, grabbed both of Leezy's arms, and headbutt him in one smooth movement, stunning him.

From the corner of his eye, a glint of light barely gave him enough warning to duck.

Sparks flew as the hammer scraped against his helmet. Before a retaliatory swing could thrown, the man had already twisted his body, throwing a hard kick into Leezy's chest which sent him sliding back a good distance.

Pain spread through his left side. The taste of blood that spilled into his mouth brought with it an intense anger along with the realization that one of his ribs were probably broken after that kick.

Seething with anger, the tattoos under his armor began to shine blue, the pain he felt in his body melted away to a mere afterthought as he tightened his grip on his sword.

"What is this? Looks like the wounded dog has some tricks left ey?"

The man laughed and dashed toward him.

Leezy let him come as he repositioned his great-sword into a reverse style grip.

'Just a few more feet until i make you regret testing me.'

He thought, as wrapping his sword with lightning.

Before the distance was fully closed between them, a stalagmite broke off from the ceiling above and fell in the man's direction. Swinging his hammer, he turned the stalagmite into dust before it could strike. Using the distraction to his advantage, Leezy made his move.

He rapidly made a flourish of swings in the air before him, sending blue lightning flying all over the place. The area before him was covered in a web of lightning and instead of a spider, Leezy stood at its center.

The man was caught completely off guard and had no choice but to block. There simply was just too much lightning baring down on him though, and like a fly, he found himself completely wrapped.

Boom!

A bright explosion occurred as the attack connected. Through the smoke, lightening could be seen bouncing and arcing down to the ground, slithering across it like a snake. The sound of blood sizzling in the air, brought a devilish grin to Leezy's face.

"How dare you...."

It was easy to hear the pain lacing the man's voice as the smoke cleared.

There he stood before Leezy, barely holding himself up on his hammer. His blood soaked clothes were shredded enough to reveal the deep wounds and burn marks that now traced his body.

As Leezy readied himself to finish the man off, a high pitched scream echoed through the collapsing cave. Shifting his gaze, Leezy sucked his teeth once he noticed whom it had come from.

The shockwave caused by the clash earlier had sent a rock crashing into the skull Melony was hiding in. In fear, she had run out to avoid getting crushed. With nowhere left to hide, she had been discovered.

"Let me go!"

She screamed and fought desperately at the hand that now held her suspended in the air by her hair.

Leezy didn't dare move a muscle, he had actually forgotten about Melony in his rage and was even more furious now to see that she had been captured.

"Make one more move toward him and I'll kill this little bitch right here and now."

Upon hearing the person speak, Leezy couldn't help but feel a sense of familiarity from it. The voice belonged to a woman, but he couldn't recall exactly where or when he had heard her voice before.

For the moment, he cast the thought aside and scanned the area with mana sense. Her other comrades were hidden nearby among the rubble, waiting for their chance to attack had he attempted to free her. Gritting his teeth, disappointment flooded his thoughts since didn't sense his brother's presence at all.

'Where the fuck is he at a time like this, had i been getting my ass jumped by all these chumps, i would probably be halfway dead by now.'

Taking advantage of Leezy's distraction, the man across from him threw his hammer. In an attempt to bring his sword up to block it, Leezy realized he couldn't move. After his previous attack, his tattoos had stopped glowing and now the pain was starting to come back even stronger than before.

Up until now he hadn't realized that the tattoo's power up had a side effect. He tried his best to move but his drained body could do nothing as he stared at the incoming hammer.

Clank!

The hammer was just a few inches away from his face when a loud clang changed its trajectory, sending it flying toward a large rock behind the woman holding Melony.

One of their hidden comrades jumped out from behind it, dodging the incoming hammer, but as quickly as they had dodged, their life ended as well. Blood sprayed the ground as the figure was severed completely in half with a flash of steel.

In shock, the woman holding Melony's hair fixed her grip even tighter and held the tip of an arrow to her throat. A small bead of blood rolled down Melony's throat forcing tears into her eyes from the pain.

"Come out or she is going to die right here and now!"

The woman quickly shifted her gaze around the room.

Slowly, Reyes walked out into the open, blood dripping from his face and hands like something out of a horror movie.

"If I were you…I would put her down before you lose a hand."

The very air almost froze with how cold he spoke as he stared at the woman.

Both of his katanas were pulsing now that they tasted blood, giving him a boost. Even though it felt significant enough, he knew he couldn't take any chances with Melony's life on the line.

"If you so much as blink I swear her blood will be on your ha-."

Before she could finish, an orb of red aura enveloped the hand that held the arrow to Melony's throat, slicing clean through skin and bone as it formed.

"Aaaaargh!"

Her scream of agony cut through the cave as another stalagmite fell from the ceiling right above them. Everything moved in slow motion to Reyes as he dashed toward Melony.

The woman's remaining comrade leapt out from behind a rock, thrusting their spear in an attempt to impale Melony before he could get to her.

'Faster!'

Reyes thought, pushing his speed to the limit. In the blink of an eye, the distance between them was closed.

He dove and caught Melony, twisting his body at the same time to shield her from both the stalagmite and the incoming spear. Both struck his body, making him gasp in pain as his blood spilled to the ground.

The impact sent him skidding back to the side of the cave he had came from while Leezy just looked on completely dumbfounded while kneeling upon his greatsword.

Coming to his senses, he forced his body to move despite the pain and exhaustion surging through it.

He swung his greatsword at the man he was fighting earlier, but as it was about to connect, the he rolled and extended his hand toward his hammer. An unseen force pulled him to it and back into the vicinity of his comrades.

"I will repay you for this!"

The woman pointed at Reyes with her remaining hand and shouted at him through the pain she felt as the orb that held the woman's hand broke, dropping her severed hand to the ground.

While she leaned down to pick it up, her comrade twirled their spear behind them, opening a portal that they both stepped into.

The man whom Leezy had fought earlier just glared at him and pulled his hood back to reveal a middle aged man with fiery orange braids that had small birdlike bones weaved into them. His orange goatee glistened with blood from their battle. On the side of his face was a tattoo of a skull with the number 4 resting on it's forehead.

"They call me Thorin, remember that name mate, cuz I'll be the one diggin ya grave."

He gave Leezy one last cold look before turning and entering the portal.

As it closed, Leezy struggled to stay conscious. He looked toward his brother, who lay on his side in a pool of blood.

"Mister Reyes, please wake up! Wake up!"

Melony's voice was the last thing Leezy heard before he passed out as the cave continued to collapse around them…