Sanguine Paradise

∼ Day 237 ∼

The arachnid's body hadn't even slumped over before the necromancer bailed, fleeing for his merry life. There was no need to make chase as a dark shadow was already descending on the elf like a reaper of death. Still, he ran, retracting his harrowing spirits around himself in the hopes of warding off my pursuit in a hopeless attempt - for he was already dead, he simply did not know it yet.

Siphoning the blackish but potent blood from the arachnid's still warm corpse, I tried to regain at least some of the vitality I had lost to those ephemeral abominations. I had to be honest, however. Those wretched creatures' abilities were quite astounding as they had sapped away a great deal of my otherwise infallible life force without me truly being able to hurt them.

In my current state, my body was pretty much in tip-top shape, but my reservoir of mana has been greatly depleted with practically nothing left as all the damage I had taken had admittedly wrung me out.

Though I had already taken out five enemies with another being savagely mauled by the shrieking horror that was Sombra, I doubted that I'd be able to fight that many more as I would soon be running on fumes.

Gauging the situation with a discerning eye, I frowned.

Despite both my and the girl's killings, another four had joined the fight, and the girl was in a very bad shape, being swamped by four individuals of whom one seemed rather strong.

Commanding Ketsu to keep the turtleman occupied until Sombra came to support him, I moved to help the girl. While I did not owe the girl anything, I could not let her die since our survival was mutually reliant on both of us staying alive as I did believe I could trust her.

Although I've just met the young lass, deep down, I just knew from the look in her eyes that she was not one to betray and backstab. A person's eyes could tell you a lot about their character as the eyes were both the figurative and literal windows to the soul. Evident from the fact that the flame of my [A Undying Sovereign's Will] could be gleaned behind my own whenever inflamed.

Having melded into the shadows, I got the drop on the first of the four, a short ratkin-like beastman. He was incredibly fast and threw a seemingly endless tidal wave of daggers, bladed instruments, and whatever else had a cutting edge. He had been the one to throw that one hail of glowing blue daggers when I had killed the pyromancer, and I thought about time for a little repayment as those small pokers had hurt.

Turning into a sudden ball of fur that tumbled across the grass as the jittering ratkin stumbled and was carried along by its momentum, the small beastkin let out a howl of pain that bordered on being a squeak.

From the knee down, its leg had been sheared off. Courtesy of me as I had shot one of my blood spikes at the impossibly fast critter. Actually, the ratkin had been much too fast for me to ever hit it with one of my spikes used as a projectile. But of course, having applied Stagnation only moments before had made the feat manageable.

Hastily, the ratkin threw out a curtain of blades and daggers in all directions, the wall of steel practically covering the small monster from view. He seemingly activated some stealth skill as his presence greatly diminished and he disappeared from sight.

Even so, his level of skill was pitiful in the face of a shadow mage such as I, not even factoring in my own capabilities of raw stealth.

Another squeak of agony, this one both more pained and weaker than the last. It was the sound of a sealed death.

Impaled to the ground, a spike of blood the thickness of my arm pinned the small ratkin to the dirt. He clawed piteously as the ground before him, as if he could pull himself free. But with each stretch of his small little hands that raked small furrows in the dirt and grass, his strength grew faint, the life seeping out of him.

Standing there, half-wreathed in shadows, I found myself slightly panting in sudden bodily exertion.

Despite the kill being swift and easy, to do so I had tapped into my vitality and burned it so that I could fuel the magic I had used. It had been costly for that exact reason, and now I was facing three foes who all scowled at my intrusion.

My body was weary, the depleted stores of my mana and stamina taking a toll, including the missing vitality as I burned to power my assault.

But just as it appeared that the remaining three were about to turn their attention to me, the girl seemingly found a second wind, her bloody and battered body once again crackling with lightning from high above.

Two of the weaker were suddenly embroiled in the offense of the girl, warding off her destructive attacks as threw blue crackling death with wild abandon.

But as I attempted to keep my body from slumping over at the terribly taxing things it was being put through, the last, and arguably most dangerous of the three, turned to me. A sneer affixed to his lycan muzzle as it was pulled back to reveal his teeth in a surprisingly disdainful way.

Though as he eyed my weakened state, the look in his eyes quickly became filled with opportunity and his sneer turned into a smirk.

"If you wish to save your little human, then so be it. When I tear you apart, I will leave just enough of you to witness her being torn limb from limb." He growled.

Ignoring the beastkin's provocation, I focused on the deep senses of danger I now felt. And before I had time to react and take the initiative on this one, the world was engulfed in green vibrancy.

Trees, grass, and lush vegetation were suddenly overlayed on the torn and battle-scarred earth as only the sight of nature's life encased the land all around.

"A domain..." I cursed inwardly.

I didn't know whether or not it was all who had a domain as not all who I had met that should've otherwise filled the criteria of the second threshold in their advancement paths hadn't always used one. Still, it might simply be because of such skill's inane amount of strain it put on not only the mind but also the energies of the body, costly beyond belief.

Standing now in this otherworldly meadow of life and nature, I felt rather pleasant despite facing a dangerous opponent who stood not far from me.

Barely avoiding the sudden tendrils of roots that sprung from the earth like vipers, my eyes widened as the whole place practically came alive in movement, the lycan simply lifting his hand in a commanding motion - the meadow responding to every beck and call.

I felt one vine lacerate my leg, curling around me in an attempt to catch me. But even as I severed the serpent-like tendril with a slash of a blood-morphed blade, three more would take its place. Using the stalling force of my will with Petrifying Gaze, I managed to stave off his assault for a few life-saving moments.

But time was running out for me, my options becoming less and less.

While my Stygian Transformation and Domain of Life and Death remained as trump cards, they were both unsuited for these extended battles between multiple strong opponents such as Sanctioned Lords and Ladies. With the taxed state of my bodies, they would more surely kill me than allow me to stay alive.

Against single opponents or large swathes of much weaker enemies, they were perfect. But here, they were more a liability than anything if used recklessly.

In a brief lapse of focus, my escape as I attempted to take to the air was cut off abruptly as a literal wave of roots and plants surrounded me on all sides like some unruly and stormy sea of plants. They consumed my sight, and not even Blitz could save me here.

Darkness reigned my body was encased in vines, roots, and plants that all lacerated my body with nasty thorns and strangled the life from my body. In that ever-writhing body of mass, I was little more than a doll with its string cut, my body continuously healing itself as I was torn apart.

However, that too weakened ever so slowly, the damaged vitality of my body giving up.

But despite my impending doom and dire situation, only one thought was on my mind.

"Just... a little longer..." I echoed it as a mantra within my head, focusing on the depleted chaos within my core to stretch out just a little longer...

And there it suddenly was... the sweet, sweet sound of recourse.

Sombra's mind-piercing shriek suddenly broke through the constant noise of writhing plants as soon as what sounded like a massive body of glass shattering exploded from everywhere, accompanied by the howl of a certain lycan.

"NOOO!"