Grand Saint Alloy

Eve jumped in front of Bruce as gobs of flaming liquid splattered over the warehouse. The tier four artifact that Ruth gave her was a bracer that could generate an ice shield that floated right where a shield would normally be. The floating part was important, it meant she was not bearing the weight of the shield.

She expected the fire to burn or explode. Something painful, Eve was not afraid of physical pain, especially if it was for a friend. Fortunately neither happened, the fire hissed, and the shield melted a little, but nothing else happened. The big man with the fire kern, Regis, he said his name, was glared at them.

Eve jumped when Bruce yelled at the top of his lungs, “HELP.”

She winced, her left ear ringing. Eve was not entirely sure what Sage, Tristan, she reminded herself, could do. He could definitely punch above his weight class, but he was not some miracle worker. Multiple warriors were too much for even him.

“These two are-,” Regis was cut off when a bunch of lumber buried him.

What? Eve was stunned for a moment. She had a flashback to when Ray was crushed. Taking a deep breath, Eve tried to convince herself that this was a good thing. She failed, settling instead for pushing it out of her mind. Looking up she saw Tristan on the catwalk, how did he get up there, he didn’t come through the front door?

His next actions derailed her thoughts, Tristan smiled and gave a small wave. Eve could only shake her head at his audacity, at least he pulled two warriors away. Leo and Grant, if she remembered their names right. They were the two that had a bad attitude like Regis. The other two bundled Clive away, eager to keep his culinary skills around.

She briefly wondered why they did not retrieve their boss’s body. The answer, Regis was still alive.

BOOM. The lumber was torn apart with far more force than any fire kern had any right to project. Pieces of flaming wood pelted her shield, knocking her back into Bruce.

“Kill them,” Regis roared, “I want their scorched bodies!”

Eve would have taken another step back if Bruce hadn’t been there. Regis’s eyes were glowing, the ruby red of his fire kern was backlit by flickering essence. It made Eve wonder which group had the real devil.

“I have an idea,” Bruce whispered, “Can you keep him busy for a minute or two?”

He had an idea, not even a plan. Eve would have yelled at him if he was not already sprinting off. Did he just ditch her? She really did start to yell, when a fire artifact smashed into her shield. Eve’s focus snapped back to Regis as she slid back. She had already been bracing the shield, but even in a good stance, her entire body weight was not enough to keep her stationary.

Fingers wrapped around the edge of the shield, ice sizzled into steam as the heat boiled it away. Regis pulled his finger down like a claw, tearing the shield apart. Shadows obscured everything but his glowing eyes. Oh, hell no, Eve thought. Regis had just burned through a tier-four defense. Did Tristan attract tier-four freaks of nature or something? Before she met him, the only one she had ever seen was the civil protector of the River Caldera. She had met three in the last two weeks.

“You killed my brother,” Regis growled, “Your sister can feel what I feel.”

Eve drew the water artifact that Tristan had given her. It would have been sweet if he hadn’t stolen it. The tier three artifact was a sword designed for chopping, almost a machete, and it had a simple ability. The edge was attracted to liquid, the edge was much easier to align than an ordinary blade.

Eve jumped back and generated another ice shield. The bracer could create three before it needed to recharge, giving her one more. Regis did not let her go, his longer stride allowed him to keep pace with a simple step. The chop he made with the side of his hand jolted her arm and started vaporizing the ice. She took the chance and struck.

Her chop would have hit Regis in the thigh, however, he parried and reposed. The second shield was destroyed as Regis’s artifact punched right through it. If his sword had been any longer, it would have been planted firmly in Eve's cerebrum. As it was, the weapon’s intense heat, still gave her face light burns.

Regis switched stances to lunge forward. Eve wondered if she could summon the ice shield around the sword. She was far too slow to avoid Regis’s follow-up. Eve prepared herself to die, promising herself that she would haunt Bruce for the rest of his life. Then a crate full of corn smashed into Regis.

Eve could only stare at the spot where Regis had been. Looking over she saw Bruce using his spear to lever some of the higher crates into more precarious positions. She took back everything she had just thought, especially the haunting.

Another explosion rocked the warehouse and the crate exploded. Kernels scattered everywhere, popping and jumping as the heat cooked them. This time, Regis’s ire was directed at Bruce, unfortunately, Bruce lacked a shield. Regis swung his artifact wildly, sending gobbets of liquid fire at the stack of crates. The dry wood readily caught, and desperately Bruce shoved a few more crates at Regis.

He either sidestepped or held out a palm. When a crate made contact with his palm, it detonated outward in a ball of fire and shrapnel. Eve had to resummon her shield to avoid being filled with splinters. Regis laughed as he sent wave after wave of flame at the pile, taking a step forward with every swing of his blade. If Eve had not been on the receiving end, she would be in awe of the amount of essence that Regis had at his disposal.

Regis reached the pile of crates and tore one of the crates at the base of the pile out. It was so scorched that it crumbled in his hand, but it allowed him to get his hand on the second row of crates. Eve did not understand what Regis was doing, but Bruce seemed to. He immediately jumped off the stack landing on his feet.

The landing was bad, causing Bruce to collapse. He got to his hands and knees and crawled towards Eve. She ran towards Bruce, trying to get the shield between them and whatever Regis was planning.

“Run, Run,” Regis yelled, “Run, like the cowards you are. Hide from better men like you did before.”

The second row of crates exploded. Eve got in front of Bruce but was instantly blown back into him. With no route to escape, the pressure of the explosion threw the crates outward in the direction of least resistance. Surprisingly, that was mostly the charred and barely standing back wall. Pieces of fiery wood and corn were launched out into the cleared land. Thankfully the fields had already been harvested or the entire plain could have been lit.

Regis was breathing deeply as he limped toward Eve and Bruce. He had a piece of wood lodged in his calf, but he ignored it. He had finally run out of essence, but it did not matter anymore. Bruce was hurt, she was out of shields, and Tristan. She glanced over to see his fight had gone, only to watch him take a flying leap at Regis.

Regis’s reaction speed saved him, he slapped the long knife aside, losing a pinky, and deflected the sword breaker with his broad sword. The attack had come out of nowhere, though, not giving Regis enough time to deal with Tristan's knee smashing into his chin. A metallic thunk sounded and Regis staggered back. His calf gave out, dropping him to the ground.

Tristan went for the killing blow on the exhausted man, but his eyes snapped to something behind Eve. A tingle went up her spine when she felt something sharp at her neck. The warrior guarding Clive, Eve had forgotten about him. A fresh warrior would be more than enough to kill both of them and by the looks of it, the man with the light kern was fresh as well.

“Kill the boss, I kill the girl,” He said.

Tristan narrowed his eyes, “You people attacked first, why would I trust you?”

Regis struggled to get up, he probably had a concussion from Tristan’s sneak attack. He growled through several chipped and bloody teeth, “Kill her, cut her forsaken head off.”

Tristan kicked Regis in the side of the head. The man behind Eve flinched, drawing some blood, “Stop! Don’t you care about Elder River’s granddaughter?”

Eve watched Tristan's eyes. She had hoped that a simple yes would have come easily, but there was conflict there. He did not know how he felt, like a piece of him did and a part would be fine watching her die. Eve shuddered.

After a tense few seconds, Tristan nodded, “I don’t care about Elder River or his family, the man tried to kill me after all.”

Eve could feel the fear in the man behind her. These men loved their leader. They would follow their leader to hell and back. She closed her eyes getting ready for the sharp metal to kill her, but all she heard was the sound of a blade being sheathed.

“You’re right I do care for Eve though,” Tristan paused, “I think I would call her a friend.”