Tender black feet landed on the ground, parting the pool of blood.
Before the Eldreth, two men walked closer; all dialogue had been exhausted, and now it was time for action.
The shorter of the two was nibbling on his teeth as the muscles of his cheek shook rapidly.
The taller one was different; he was in a serene state of calm and focus, his eyes scanning the beast's body from head to toe.
Ready to react at a moment's notice. 'I have syphoned a significant amount of his Mana, let's see where the two of us currently stand.'
Its slender hand flicked towards the two once more, blowing all the blood off the ground.
Shin was quick on the uptake and ducked behind Raghav, joining backs with him and holding onto his jacket with his left hand.
In comparison to last time, Raghav had to raise his hands to shield himself, yet despite that, he was pushed back a few inches.
"Ho! You were pushed back. When I had just begun to syphon your Mana, you were unaffected, but now I can push you back. That means you are under half your capacity. My guess would be somewhere around forty five."
The Eldreth tried to notice a change in Raghav's expression, yet it found nothing.
Shin peeked out from behind Raghav and shot six bullets towards the white sphere and rushed out behind them, but was caught by a burst of smoke from the Eldreth's torso.
Raghav too followed after Shin but had to stop to deflect the bullets that the Eldreth had stopped in the air, before firing them at Raghav.
He managed to deflect all the bullets, but for a millisecond, the sword came in front of his face, blocking his vision, and when the sword passed, he saw a streamlined beam of Mana heading directly for his head.
On instinct, his body pointed the sword forward and then down at the ground at an angle of forty five degrees.
The right hand reversed the grip on the sword to hold it firmly, while the left hand moved underneath the sword's tip.
Just in time for the Mana beam to collide with the sword and be reflected up into the sky.
If someone had been watching this fight play out without the advantages of enhanced perception. This would have happened in less than the shortest blink of an eye.
The force of the beam pushed Raghav back before he ran forward once more. Only to be stopped by a sword headed directly for his neck.
Raghav raised his right arm, stopping the blade on his forearm and pushed the blade back, twisting his body to strike the person with a left hook.
But he would have to abandon those thoughts as he looked at Shin, standing before him, with smoke exiting from his mouth.
"Shocked are you by my Charming spell?"
Instead of answering verbally, Raghav simply shook his head.
In his current state, the more time Raghav wasted around, the worse the situation would become.
So he did what was the most ideal solution, he speed blitzed Shin and the Eldreth, appearing before him and striking him in the chest, knocking the breath and the smoke out of his body.
Then, using his right hand, he threw his sword like a projectile, striking the Eldreth in the sphere, shattering his body into black goo for a single moment, before it began to regenerate.
The shockwaves from his incredible speed created a gust of wind, blowing away the smoke powder from the corpses.
By this time, Raghav had forced some air inside Shin's lungs.
Following this, he gave him a gentle shock of electricity, jolting him up and on his feet.
One glance into each other's eyes was all it took to get Shin back on track as he ran at the recovering beast and kneed it in the sphere, slowing its regeneration, before having to duck under a gust of wind, caused by the flick of the Eldreth's falling hand that blew a carriage off the bridge with the horse still being tied to it.
However, the horse would be caught in the air by Raghav and placed back on the bridge at a safe distance.
"Run!"
Raghav commanded the horse as he slammed his foot down on the bridge and pushed both of his hands forward, freeing all the horses that were left on the southern half of the bridge.
Meanwhile, Shin was pushing the Eldreth back towards Raghav, throwing barrages of attacks, ranging from katana slashes to shots from his gun.
In the middle of this, Shin kicked his right foot along the ground, the sole of his shoe, gliding against the edge of Dharm, before the inner side of his foot collided with the cross guard and kicked the sword handle first directly into Raghav's hand.
Raghav took hold of the sword with his left hand and, to control the momentum, spun to the left, guiding his right hand to the blade as well, before attempting to swing through the Eldreth.
Who wrapped its slender arm around the blade and pulled Raghav closer, spewing white smoke onto his face, which would get inhaled by Raghav through his nose.
"Shit."
Would be all Shin would say before a smirk made its way on his face as Raghav parted his lips and the smoke flowed out.
Using this moment, Raghav freed his left hand and plunged it deep inside the white sphere, shattering it.
Raghav used the opening to pull Dharm out of the Eldreth's grasp and turn the blade towards himself, sheathing it in one fell swoop.
An act that Shin followed, sheathing his Katana and tucking the gun in his waistband.
Then the two of them began circling the Eldreth, moving in the same direction so that the beast remained between them.
As the Eldreth got up on its feet, it roared out at the two before being punched in the sphere by Shin, stumbling back, it was punched in the stomach by Raghav, which made the beast bend backwards.
For the display of such agility, it would get kicked in the back of the sphere, making it stand upright.
Shin delivered a right hook followed by a left hook, which shook the Eldreth violently.
It would attempt to slap Shin's head from either side, who would duck down, getting on one knee, cocking his right hand back for an uppercut straight from the ground.
In an attempt to avoid the strike, the Eldreth would back up slightly, but would be forced to bend down and pulled towards Shin by Raghav, who jumped over the beast.
Somewhere in between Shin's fist and Eldreth's sphere would meet, creating a crack in it.
Before the crack could begin to heal, Raghav turned around, grabbing the back of Shin's head.
Slamming it in the sphere as even Shin jumped forward with a grin on his face. Diving through the hole in the Eldreth's chest.
As its shards began to collect together once more, the Eldreth came to realise something. 'This is why they sheathed their weapons, the weapons required a larger space and time to manoeuvre into critical strikes. Which is not the case with their hands and legs.'
When it got back up, the two jumped at it again, giving it no chance to use any spells.
The weapons from the corpses began to float around the two of them, rushing in to slice them open.
But they would shatter in the air before they could reach them as Raghav turned around, using his telekinesis on them.
The Eldreth would attempt a swipe at Raghav, only to get grabbed by the arm and pulled into a double kick to the sphere, when at the same time, his knee would be kicked in by Shin before being met by an eight hit combo from Shin.
Enjoying the moment to the fullest, Shin began to laugh as he taunted the beast at their mercy.
"Fight back."
Shin would dodge a mana slash by turning to the side and throwing a punch. "Fight back."
The Eldreth would once again get struck in the back by Raghav.
"I never really understood how these guys feel pain, they are made of blob, no organs, no bones."
Raghav would not answer Shin's question, but someone else did.
"They are like an octopus in that regard. Now focus on the fight."
"Thanks, Jacob."
Then he would skid under the beast's legs, dodging a double handed slam while Raghav would roll over it and uppercut it the moment his feet made contact with the ground, immediately following them, he would unleash a barrage of punches, his blood soaked hair bouncing around as he alternated between right and left hooks.
This, however, would not do anything to the beast as it laughed. "You are getting weaker!"
Announcing its declaration, the beast would attempt to grab Raghav, who stood there idly looking at the beast.
The moment it was about to touch him, the beast got knocked back across the road, with Shin barely dodging it.
It slammed through the divider and onto the other road, stopping when it collided with a wagon, knocking it off the bridge.
"What was that?"
Shin questioned, looking back at Raghav. "I collected the force and momentum that should have struck him, I held it back, and grew it more by adding the force of the other attacks into it and then, released it with a delay."
Clap Clap
The Eldreth clapped for Raghav as it stood up and began to join its hands and teleported back to the runes, sitting down on the ground.
"I hope you had your fun, because the two of you are out of time. Raghav, you are almost out of Mana. I can sense it, and our spell has been initiated. In just one minute you shall become fuel to the fire that is our Lord. Count your last moments."
Raghav closed his eyes, taking in a deep breath as his body jolted.
"I have shattered the totem that they were using to syphon your power. You can dispel the barrier. I will hold the city for now. I hope I was not too late."
"You were right on time, Eldrain. My reserves are at less than point five percent. Shin, there is no chance we are going to defeat the Eldreth one on one. So let us bring the two of them together."
"Enlighten me as to how you plan on achieving that?"
Raghav raised his empty hand with the palm facing the sky as he and Shin turned to the Eldreth.
The bridge shook slightly. "It would seem you failed to notice that the entire bride was broken from both ends, and I have had to hold it up for some time now."
The hole around the sphere widened as it looked at both sides, and Raghav indeed spoke the truth; the bridge was disconnected from both ends.
"Shin, I can get you one shot at this, make it count."
With those words, Raghav dropped his hand, and the entire bridge began to fall with the three of them on it.
Raghav ran forward, drawing his sword, and pulled out the white gun from his back, charging at the Eldreth, with a storm of bullets and Mana slashes.
Shin followed close behind, unleashing barrages of elemental and telekinetic waves.
They would all get blocked by a barrier of Mana protecting the Eldreth to prevent interruption to the grand spell.
The red energy flowed around its body as the primordial force of Chaos surged from within.
Lashing out at Raghav and Shin, blowing the two back at the railings on either side of the bridge.
Shin looked down at the bottom of the rift that seemed to get closer and closer by each second.
Gritting his teeth, Shin asked. "How will we break both barriers if we cannot break one?"
"There is only one barrier, it was never dividing the Mana to the other half."
As the two got up, they looked at one another and were slammed into the ground as the edges of the bridge struck the narrowing rift.
A sudden jolt shook the bridge, and it began to crumble into smaller pieces.
Luckily for the two of them, being at the centre of the bridge helped as it broke apart the quickest, continuing its fall.
The duo got back up and ran towards the Eldreth. Raghav reversed his grip on the gun, holding it by the barrel as Shin reversed his grip on the katana.
Shin tossed the Katana towards Raghav, who handed the gun to Shin, charging it up with all of his remaining Mana.
The two ran past the Eldreth, and Shin stopped at the railing while Raghav kicked off from the railing and ran back at the Eldreth with his arms stretched out wide and slammed both swords into the Mana barrier.
For a brief moment, a white glow emerged from his chest and into the swords, like electricity passing through a wire.
The moment it came in contact with the barrier, it shattered like glass, releasing a shockwave that knocked both the swords out of Raghav's hand and blew him towards the railing with enough force behind it to knock him several kilometres away.
But Raghav had other plans as he grabbed the railing, imbuing it with whatever Mana he could scrape from his body.
As Shin watched Raghav run at the Eldreth, he held the two guns close to his chest as he had dumped all of his Necroshade reserves into two bullets, keeping only enough to stick himself to the ground for what was about to come next.
The moment Raghav was blown back, Shin ran towards the Eldreth, pushing through the shockwaves as the Eldreth flicked its hand at him.
But Shin was gone, he appeared behind the beast, aiming the barrel of the white gun directly at the white sphere and the black gun was pointed at Raghav, who had just grabbed the railing and pushed it down towards the ground.
Flipping the bridge upside down, making Shin and the Eldreth plummet headfirst as the two kept themselves attached to the ground. In doing so, the railing from the other side of the bridge also flipped over and struck Raghav in the back, holding him in place as it dragged him along.
"I have always wanted to say this...."
Shin commented as before the barrel of the black gun came the black sphere of the other Eldreth.
He stood upside down with his arms stretched to his sides and the muzzle of both guns aimed directly at the two beasts. Raghav who was pinned under the inverted bridge, looked forward at the scene with calm and collected eyes, his expression unchanged.
The dark red glow of Chaos Magic appeared at both of the Eldreth's feet, ready to burst out at a moment's notice.
"Jackpot."
With that word, Shin pulled both the triggers as all four of them, along with the pieces of the broken bridge and all the debris, fell into the water.
For the next few minutes after the last of the debris had entered the water, silence remained unbroken, as the dead bodies of the mercenaries began to float to the surface.
Followed soon by two bodies, emerging from within the water.
One was black, the other was white; they stood high and tall.
The only thing odd about them was that their spheres were missing; that was when they were tossed to the side as Shin and Raghav swam in the corpse filled water.
"That was the best Sunday of my life."
Shin commented with a laugh, while Raghav hummed, causing Shin to shake his head. "Somehow, you managed to get through this entire event with the same bloody expression on your face."
Raghav did not say anything as he looked around. "So do you think we stopped the spell?"
This time, Raghav would respond with something more than a simple hum. "Aurelia, are you there?"
For a moment or two, he received no response until the voice finally came through. "I am. You did it, Raghav."
"Umm, hello, I was also here."
"Yeah, yeah, good job to you, Shin."
Came Jacob's voice as Shin rolled his eyes. "Can someone get us out of here? We've depleted our reserves."
"We are on our way."
Aurelia announced as Shin sighed in relief, before he took a pause and looked up. "What about the horde of monsters?"
"I located the totem that drew them to the city and undid the spell on it. After that, they retreated into the wild. This was around the time you two began fighting the Eldreth. We decided it would be best not to disturb you mid fight."
An explanation as Shin nodded. "That's good, can you hurry though, the water is cold."
Raghav, on the other hand, was smiling as he looked up at the sky and saw the dark clouds disperse.
"Aurelia?"
"Yes?"
"Would you like to go to a wedding with me?"
"I would love to, when and where are we going?"
"This afternoon in New Plied."
Pausing for a moment, Aurelia chuckled on the other side of the call. "Let's go back to the inn and get ready for the wedding."
Nodding to himself, Raghav closed his eyes. "I am waiting."