Paladins' Parabellum

Chapter Twenty One: A Brutal Conclusion

Ulrika is the first one to make a move on Garret. She strikes his shield with the right-handed sword. He deflects her arm out to create an opening to thrust his sword forward. With her left sword, she smacks it away from her stomach. It goes past her waist. They're both in bad positions for a counterattack, so I come over to back her up. I activate my Delayed Gasm attack before reaching them. Once I'm a foot from her, it triggers, sending him through the crowd of the cultist. I catch her from the sudden backblast.

"Thanks," Ulrika says, standing upright. "Goodness, you shredded his armor."

"Hmm," I say, looking at the metal pieces on the ground. "Weak armor."

"Weak? I felt that power. You were aiming to kill him." The circle of cultists starts moving in, but Garret commands them to fall back. Behind me, the fighting from my initial point reaches over to us in a wave of roaring violence.

"Damnit. Here we go again." I scoot Ulrika past me to cover her flank.

"He's coming! Watch out!" She tackles me to the ground before I can evade it on my own. Garret flies over us and instantly stops in mid-flight.

"Die!" He says in a low roar. I raise my sword to block his downward thrust aiming at my stomach. Lightning sparks off from his sword, shocking me, but I maintain defense as I stand to my feet. His helmet is gone, and parts of his chest armor are missing. Some of his bruised skin is showing through the holes in his shirt.

"Oh, that has got to hurt," I jest.

"I'll make you suffer for that!" I blast him again using one of my standard attacks. This time I aim for his stomach. He slides back about six feet hunched over, scraping the dirt underneath his heavy metal boots. Slowly, he straightens, laughing with a sinister wide grin.

"Crap! My manna is low!"

"Fallback! Let me wear him out," Ulrika says.

"No. I can still fight."

"Guys," Haleema says, touching my shoulder. I can sense mana flowing down in the center part of my chest. She winks at me, then lets go of my shoulder. "We do this together." I agree with a head nod. Ulrika does the same.

Garret lunges at us. Ulrika takes the lead to engage. They clash with such speed and violence; I'm not sure when to jump in to offer my aid.

Damnit! Why am I so hesitant all of a sudden?

Haleema leaps into the action. Garret sees her coming, so he bashes Ulrika with his shield. She's shoved to the ground. Haleema swings for his head with her stuff, but he ducks under it. I break out of my mental wall to gang up on him. She gets kicked in the stomach so hard it sends her flying into me. I manage to catch her without hurting too much myself.

"Ugh! That was force magic," Haleema says. She retaliates using the same attack from her staff. He jumps over it, doing a side twirl, then fires lightning at us. I jump out the way, but she absorbs it with a floating clear yellow tinted shield.

Ulrika kicks her legs up to stand on her feet. Garret's shield fades away when he sees her. He blasts lightning from his fingers. She crosses her swords together, taking the brunt of the stream.

"Ulrika!" I say. The power of the electricity starts vaporizing her gloves and sleeves. I run to him with my sword aiming for his bare chest. The tip of my blade reaches about an inch from his skin, then I suddenly get shocked.

I instantly drop to my knees with my head facing the ground. My entire body is numbed from any pain. I'm out of breath and paralyzed.

"Kaioson!" Ulrika yells.