Ceremony and Ball- The Others

Across the room, Grace was struggling with an enemy of her own; she had already dispatched three men and two women. It was getting impossible to tell who was an enemy the fighting was so chaotic, but every person who turned a blade on her she would attack without prejudice. The enemy that she was fighting at the moment was a rather large man with a huge battle axe his strength surpassed her own, so she had to rely on speed to fight him.

The man swung his axe at her head and just barely missed her, but she was not going down without a fight. She came straight up through his guard and launched a punch with her gauntlet directly at his face. The man staggered back, stunned for a second, only to look back up and see another punch heading his way. Grace was relentless in her fight; she aimed for every weak spot in the man's head that she could find until her enemy was laying on the ground.

Even then, the Paladin leaped on top of her enemy and kept striking him in the face until it was clear that he was dead. That's when she heard a familiar voice scream from across the ballroom.

****

Lilliana, the Poison Master, was no stranger to combat against other humans; she had been a war hero for this country even though she knew that the things she had done were things that could never be forgiven. Even so, this fact would not stop her from performing her duty not only to the King and Queen but also to protect her students' friends.

The woman calmly walked through the fray, activating a tattoo that acted as a necrotic poison. She would walk up to an enemy that was busy attacking people that she recognized as friends and just barely touched them with the tattoo. Whoever was her target would fall to the ground screaming as the venom took effect, quickly eating away at her targets flesh.

Lilliana had one more nickname being The Venom Queen, for even as she looked down at her targets writhing in pain, it was a look of royalty looking down on a subject kneeling. She was snapped out of her stare, though, when a bloodcurdling sound came soaring over the battle.

****

Sarah and Derek were fighting back to back against a group that had surrounded them; when Derek would block an incoming attack, Sarah would follow up with a deadly one of her own. It was a dance of sorts with those two. They were in perfect sync even though they hadn't said a word to each other since the battle started.

A woman came screeching from one side wielding a large knife, but Sarah spun entirely and stabbed an arrow straight through the back of the woman's neck, severing her spinal cord. She was not the kind to enjoy killing others, and it did affect her. But she knew that it was either them or her or worse, Derek.

Derek, on the other hand, had only one thing in mind as his sword flashed faster than the eye could see. He had to defend Sarah, two enemies came at him, but he was fending them off as well as he could. His speed was his friend, and he would use every ounce of it to defend the Archer before his mind could register what was happening through his body moved. He instinctually fell to the ground as an arrow whizzed straight over his head, killing one of the enemies.

He then jumped back up, spinning around to the back of the other one lopping off his head. Sarah met Derek's eyes for a second, and they nodded confidently to one another. They would survive this no matter what. They had doubts about this fact for the others when a torturous scream was heard above the clang of battle.

****

Laura was not as good of a fighter as the rest of them, so she relied on Jake, who had come to her aid. The large man was clearly a skilled fighter; she didn't expect any less of him though as a platinum level adventurer. He fought with a skill that could only be achieved after years of battle—killing any enemy who got too close in an instant.

Laura was defending her date as well as she could; she knew that Sean was not a fighter, he may have passed his tag exam, but against intelligent enemies like this, he had no experience. So she would fire off a spike of ice at any person that would lift a weapon against him. She did her best not to kill anyone, but in the heat of battle, she knew that she had done so.

It was hard to tell when she had started crying or why, but she had one more reason to as a horrible sound traveled to her ears, making her look towards the thrones.

****

Tim felt like he was going to be sick as he pulled the blade out from Todds back. He expected it to come out quickly, but it was like Todd's body was latching onto it. The Cleric knew that this was the only way he could he'll his friend though, the one person he knew that he wouldn't recover from losing in this world.

So he braced himself and pulled with all his might. The scream coming from Todd was deafening, and it made bile rise up in Tim's throat, but the blade was almost out. He gave one last pull, and the blade finally freed itself from the inside of the Alchemist body. The Cleric had already begun his prayer when he had started pulling at the sword, and the healing was beginning to take effect.

But Todd looked like he was already dead, there was so much blood, and he looked so pale. Tim flipped the man over onto his back and continued healing. Somehow Todd had kept consciousness through the whole thing and was looking up at the Cleric working so hard to save his life.

"You're gonna be ok Todd, you have to be ok," Tim said to him as he continued to heal his friend. 'Why is it always him? Why is he always the one getting hurt? Why can't I protect him?' A million "Why's" were going through Tim's head as he continued healing to the best of his ability. He could hear the king and queen fighting enemies around them. Lighting was being shot from the Queen's wand, and the King was overpowering his enemies with intense sword strikes.

The wound was almost completely healed, Tim could see it closing up, and even while he was healing he continued to pray to the goddess of healing, begging with her to save his friend's life. He didn't even notice when an enemy had snuck up behind him. But Todd did.

****

I felt the pain in my body, I felt the weight of my injury, and I knew that I was not completely healed yet. But there was no way that I could stay down at this moment. 'Tim needs you to move, so move!' I screamed at myself inside my head while a guttural scream came out my throat. My body moved to toss Tim to the side. I reached my hand up just in time to have the blade meant for my friend to enter into it.

I reached up my other hand with my tattoos on it and grabbed the man by the throat. I activated my electric alchemy, trying to burn him as I had done with other monsters I'd been able to get with this move, but I was too injured. I couldn't pull up the magic into my body because my body was already too damaged. Any energy that I could bring in felt like it just exited my body just as quickly I was just too exhausted to hold the proper intent.

The most I was able to do was a quick shock before I fell to the ground. It was enough to stun the man at least, but not enough to kill him. Tim dove at the attacker, tackling him before he was able to retrieve his knife from my hand and finish the job. All I could do now was watch as this man put his entire body into trying to save me.

Tim was ripping at hair and biting; he would hit in places that were usually taboo in a fight and head butt his enemy in the face. I watched as my best friend killed this man with his bare fists to rescue me. It was more than any person had ever done for me before, and I couldn't help but feel grateful at this moment, even while I was still bleeding from my gut and my hand. Even when I was too weak to move, all I was feeling was grateful that I got to meet a man like him that would put his life on the line to save my own.