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"Shit... Anastasia!"
It'd only been moments after he had felled the Stahlchildren in front of him that Josh had seen Anastasia go down. His eyes widened, before slowly lowering into a scowl as he would let his energy flow into magic. With that, he would decide to let Nador and Crystal finish off the stahlchildren around them while he marched ahead to try and quickly take her place. They'd be able to handle the stahlchildren just fine, he knew... He couldn't afford to tarry or more lives would be lost.
Josh would decide to get the attention of one of the Stalfos as he would quickly launch a fireball at it's back. Dividing them up was the wisest course of action right now, and he knew that he would have to take on the Stalfos on his own until backup arrived to pay for it, but at least it would give the Captain a fighting chance, and Anastasia a possible opportunity to get back up. The Stalfos would charge forward. Truthfully, Josh had never fought a stalfos in real life. He had fought one once when he had been in the world of dreams, but that wasn't entirely real... Sure, it was a real use of his combat skills against an enemy that was very much like a stalfos, but... Who knew if these would be similar? All he knew was that it had blinded him in one eye, and broken his windpipe, as well as sliced open several ribs in the dream world. He'd recovered fully when he returned to the world of the living, but... This time, it was no dream. This time, any wounds would be for real.
Josh would quickly hold up Dragelix to block the first strike, overhand, from the Stalfos, and would try to slice back to it's side but would hit the shield it was carrying. Josh would move to the left to dodge a swipe and would slice again with both hands on Dragelix, but he would hit it's shield again. The stalfos agility was just as much as the dream... And he knew that it was even stronger, even faster then it normally would be thanks to this black magic that had plagued the entire army of monsters. Josh would narrowly avoid a slice that was aimed for his neck, before picking right then and there to slash to the side, striking the bone and clearly dealing some damage. Josh had been about to take advantage of it's reeling and strike again when he felt a clubbing blow to the back of his head that caught him by surprise and caused him to fall.
The damned Stahlchildren.
Of course more of them would flock if he attacked their leader. A group of Stahlchildren, about four of them, had swarmed Josh which he hadn't been able to notice with how focused the Hylian was on the Stalfos. Josh would manage to get up, blocking a blow from one Stahlchild and then getting his blade in position to quickly block another. Swinging his blade, he would cause one of them to crumple, with it's head falling off. But it would leave the Hylian Soldier open as he would be struck through the back by a hard slice, vertically by the Stalfos. His armor had kept him from being sliced through the vital areas and killed right then and there, but the pain was insurmountable, more then he'd ever felt since returning to the field of battle a handful of months ago. Seething as he would fall to his knees, he would launch a fireball that would knock back another Stahlchild before facing the Stalfos again, his blade up as his breathing had quickened and was becoming more labored as he knew he was bleeding, and badly. Despite his pain making it harder to move, Josh would quickly block a stab from the Stalfos and strike again, this time an overhand blow aiming for it's head but it would be blocked by the shield. Josh would quickly, immediately spin and go for the side but a Stahlchild blow to the shoulder would stop him dead, as he would try to swat them away with his arm but another Stahlchild would knock him on the back of the head, and another blow would catch him on the side of the face as he was bounced between them. He would get his sword up to block the next blow aiming for his head, but the Stalfos would strike from the side while he was trying to parry a Stahlchild and the blade that felt like a million sizzling, white hot fires would strike his cheek, causing Josh to fall to the floor.
A kick to his ribs from the Stalfos would cause Josh to choke violently. When his eyes opened proper, he was almost shocked to find that it was his own blood that he had coughed up. The pain had become intense, and he found himself vomiting another round of blood after the Stalfos would land another sharp kick to his spine. He could see blood pouring from the deep cut on his cheek from the Stalfos' sword, and he knew his mouth and chin were likely caked from the blood he had vomited after the repeated strikes mixed with the pain he'd suffered. More then likely, Josh had broken a few ribs, he could feel it. His breath had become far heavier, far more labored, and he was having a harder time breathing the more this went on.
"I-I... S-son of a bitch...." Josh would manage to growl as he would stuggle to get back to his feet. He could see the Captain attempting to move to try to help him from where he'd been trying to hold off the other Stalfos with what remained of his personal guard, and he could see other soldiers of the Army Of Hyrule rushing to join the Captain, but not enough could be spared to help Josh, and the Captain was too preoccupied with the other Stalfos to help. No... He was on his own, he knew, until Crystal and Nador arrived.
The Stalfos would lift Josh's head up by the flat of it's blade, letting out an almost demonic sounding laugh, as though it were mocking him... Taunting him. He knew what it was setting up for. He'd seen this in practice before... A decapitation blow. The Stalfos was through with playing with him, he noted as he saw the Stahlchildren had stopped attacking him. He could almost see, feel... His life flash before him. He thought toward the wedding... The wedding with Maude that he was never going to be there for...
He could only think back to Nerina's words, when he had pretty much begged her to give her approval - her blessing - for them to be married...
"If you leave her forever — and you understand that I am pointing to your death here — she will break. Maude has thrown everything she has into loving you. If you are taken away from her, I doubt she'll live more than a year or two. She will not handle that kind of sadness again."
He found himself seething... That thought more then anything else terrified him more then if the whole world came crashing down on him. His death was not what scared him... If he was to die, he was to die... But if he died... Then according to Nerina... Maude would die.
He found himself almost ready to break into tears, not from the pain... But from the thought that Maude would suffer, Maude would break, and Maude would die because of it.
And from that, he found himself beginning to whisper to himself, without at first even realizing it...
"No... No no no no..." He whispered in rushed, hasty paces. "No, no, no.... No.... No, god damnit, no..."
The Stalfos would raise it's blade...
He felt... Magic. Magic coursing through his body. Sure, it drained his energy when it did, so he knew it was part of his own bodies magic, just as any spell he had casted had been, but it almost felt as though it worked on it's own...
And then he screamed.
His scream was loud. His scream would rock the eardrums of everyone in the vicinity. He would hold drop his sword, and his arms found themselves being held out as this vicious, bloodcurdling scream emitted from his tongue.
And with it, the magic within him would release...
A large blast of fire would launch itself from his body in every direction, going about eight feet in total... Maybe not too far of a range, but far enough to effect the group of Stahlchildren that had gathered around him, and sent them and the Stalfos he had been fighting flying back in surprise. The Stahlchildren, bodies and heads, would melt from the sheer intensity of the flames, but the Stalfos would survive it. The flames would disappear once they hit their maximum length and Josh would manage to get to his feet, adrenaline and rage filling every inch of his being, a desire, a determination to survive supplementing them. He would let out a scream, this time more akin to a fierce war cry as the Hylian warrior would charge toward the reeling Stalfos as he picked up Dragelix with both hands as his feet carried him faster then he could ever recall ever running. He would slice through the front of the Stalfos with a vertical slice before going for a downward diagonal in quick succession, both which would slice through and rock the Stalfos and send it reeling back as it hopelessly tried to defend itself against the enraged Hylian.
Josh would growl as he would slam an armored boot into the torso of the Stalfos, doubling it over before letting out a cry and bringing down an overhand slash on it's head. The Stalfos would reel back, clearly having taken heavy damage as Josh noticed more Stahlchildren approaching...
He had bought enough time for Nador and Crystal to clear through the Stahlchildren that had been multiplying like rabbits ever since he had engaged the Stalfos, and get to him, he hoped... Even in this state, the fact was, Josh was heavily wounded. He would not last much longer, a part of him in his mind knew... But all he could do was fight, he knew deep down, deep down in his heart of hearts... He had to fight. He had to fight to his very last breath if he was to go home and see his Maude again. He wanted to be there for that damned wedding! He had asked that woman a question of "Will you marry me?" and by Hylia's very soul... She had told him yes, and he would be sure to be there for that damned ceremony...
OOC Warning: Post is very graphic, try to skip the small details if you're squeamish or anything.
Spell Used: Flames Of Wrath
Tags: @crystal @nex Leon El Hyrule @arias Nador Vakarian @anastasia @kamo |