Life in a new Kingdom

Defeated and broken, Caleb lays on the ground with blood pouring from his lips. Uzel is still wounded and blind as he tries to fend off the ogre. Lukia pained by the grief and sorrow of her mother. Only Nana stood with one workable arm to defend against such a massive creature. Her wounds stung, burning hot. Gritting her teeth as the blade in her hand trembled at the freakish strength of the creature before her.

Unsure how to save everyone or buy them time to escape even if it costs her life couldn't be thought of. The only way she knew was to kill this creature, grab whoever she could, and make a run for it. Would she be able to move after this fight? Would she die trying? The hopeless questions filtered through her mind, searching for some kind of answer. The broken arm that dangles to her side continuously bleeds profusely.

Lukia draws her bow and fires an arrow into the ogre's shoulder, but there is no reaction. This lack of emotion and reaction causes her to take a step back, frightful. Uzel unable to make a move, listens to various footsteps approaching in the distance, a force of goblins swiftly approaching.

"More are approaching! We need to leave!" Uzel shouts. Nana, frustrated, taps into her beastly heritage, unlocking the inner strength within; she pushes the ogre back with extreme force. Uzel grabs Lukia and backs away so as not to get caught by her savage onslaught.

With a quick motion, she swings her greatsword forward, deflecting the ogre's strike and slashing at his chest. For the deep slashes she makes, barely any blood comes out of the wounds. She doesn't let up her assault, giving no time to let the brute retaliate, she pushes her muscles and bones to the limit and forces through the pain to unleash a devastating blow after another. The sounds of her bones cracking under each strike echo inside, and the amount of blood loss slowly drains away the burst of power.

"Nana! Are you trying to die?!" Lukia shouts to her, trying to convey any words to the rabid form shown by the Guild Master. Until the ogre adjusts to her speed and delivers a stunning blow with its fist to her jaw. A split moment of her consciousness fades in and out, time slows in her eyes, the numbness overtaking her body just before she realizes that she is about to die.

Nana felt a sharp pain rock through her back, the massive club striking her dead on, launching her into the air with a twirl. Landing on her stomach and knees, she hesitantly faces the threat on her knees, looking up as the looming death approaches her. The ogre swiftly swings the club down, ready to crush her instantly.

"Sword Art: Swift Strike!" In a blinding blur, a loud sound of metal clashing on stone sparks into an echo. Caleb parries the ogre's strike, causing it to hit the stone ground instead. With a surprised looked, the bloodied visage of Caleb stands before Nana, holding a roughly chipped longsword.

"C-Caleb?" Left in a bit of a daze from her wounds, Nana could hardly believe that he was able to move at all after sustaining his injuries. She watches as Caleb draws his dagger and stabs the ogre's wrists, severing the tendons in its hand.

Lukia smiles and is relieved upon seeing Caleb just in time. Uzel rushes to Nana's side and aids her out of danger. Leaving Caleb alone, he ducks under the creature's hand, stabbing into its wrist with the dagger.

"I won't let us die here... Not today!" Caleb slices up with his sword and leaps onto the ogre before flipping upwards onto its face. Stabbing his sword into its eye, causing the giant monster to flail its arms. Avoiding being grabbed again, Caleb leaps over its head and slides down the creature's back, slashing it with his sword in the process. The dark red blood spills onto the ground, but the ogre shows barely any signs of actual damage and narrowly hits Caleb with the club.

"This thing must be undead! The body has been reanimated with dark magic!" Caleb suggests after examining the wounds. He slides under the legs of the creature and slashes its ankles with the sword and dagger before standing in front of everyone.

"If this creature is undead... Then we have no holy magic to make it stay dead..." Lukia says as she draws a couple of arrows and attempts to blind it, striking the eye, but it looks on ahead without issue. The creature continues to pursue Caleb and strike after him. Nana lets out a profound sigh and speaks to Uzel.

"I am going to defeat this ogre with our only option. I need you to back away; otherwise, you'll be affected too."

"But, your wounds-"

"Listen to me, dumbass! This is for your safety... I need to give Caleb a chance to finish it off once and for all."

"Tsk..! Understood!" Uzel lets go of Nana, and she nearly falls over. However, she regains her composure as she slowly walks closer. Holding her broken arm to keep it from swaying, she soon switches to her eyepatch. Beginning to undo the straps, she presses it to her eye, and a yellowish glow bellows behind the eyepatch.

"Caleb! Get all the way down now!" Hearing the intensity of her wounds, Caleb dives to the ground without hesitation and as far from Nana's sight as possible.

Unveiling her hidden eye, a bright yellow-green light sparks to life, and a cone blasts forward. Caleb barely sees her eyes for a split second, noticing the lime green reptilian eye where hers should be. Around the eye is a dull grey coloration that is filled with cracks and a stone texture. Turning his attention back to the ogre, the light emitting from her eye swiftly takes effect on the giant creature. As it grows stiff, the creature's entire body turns a dull grey. Just as Nana placed her eyepatch back on, shutting off the glowing light, the whole ogre had been turned into solid stone.

"Destroy it now! Before it wears off!" Nana commands. Tightly gripping his sword, Caleb rushes forward and, with all his strength and might, strikes the petrified ogre; the sword shatters on the stoned flesh but is brittle enough to cause enough damage to shatter the torso of the ogre. Tipping over until entirely breaking upon impact with the ground, subsequently killing the undead ogre.

The approaching sounds of goblins arrive nearly at the same time as their leader, Shaar, who witnesses the fall of his prized creation. He snarls in disappointment, as such a great puppet has been lost. Turning his attention toward Nana and Caleb, he raises his finger to command his current followers to attack. Seeing the approaching horde of goblins, Caleb quickly acts and throws his broken sword into a charging goblin. The blade lodges deep into its skull before falling to the ground dead.

"Uzel, take Nana and run as fast as you can!"

"Don't you dare die here!" Uzel, understanding what Caleb is meaning to do, quickly pulls on Nana. She struggles a bit, but her strength is all but gone, and she is easily moved. "Lukia, let's go!"

"I'm staying! Someone needs to back him up, and the bastard who killed my mother is right there! Just go! We can handle these things!" Lukia tosses her sword at Caleb, drawing her bow at the same time to pick off the encroaching goblins.

"Damn it, fine! I'll see you on the other side!" Carrying Nana with every ounce of his strength, they quickly vanish from sight. Caleb strikes down the first few goblins before realizing that not too many were able to traverse through the collapsed path from Nana's attacks.

"Keep the goblins off of me; I'll take care of Shaar!" Charging forward, covered by Lukia's arrows, rushes upon Shaar. The Hobgoblin wields his staff, chants a dark spell through the focus, and fires a dark bolt of energy. Caleb rolls to the side and continues to charge forward.

Noticing his speed, Shaar twirls the staff in his hands, reciting a chant, then slams it into the ground, which causes a powerful shockwave that pushes Caleb back with extensive force. It causes the entire area to shake unstably from the vibrations. Shaar looks at the ceiling, noticing that any more spells such as that would bring the whole place down. Caleb notices the situation and lets out a laugh. Blood trails from his forehead from the spell, and he gets up, wiping it off.

"Looks like the original plan is still our best bet at stopping you..."

"Grrr!!! You come into home! I make sure you die, filthy human! Those women will be mine!" Shaar grits his sharp teeth, which cut his mouth open, blood dripping past his lips. He uses it as a catalyst of magic missiles. They fly directly at Caleb, who quickly wraps himself in a barrier. However, Shaar redirects one of the shots at Lukia, which strikes her shoulder. She gasps in pain as the explosion leaves her entire arm bloodied.

Shaar redirects a couple more, aiming right at her head. Caleb, unable to let her get hurt anymore, dispels the barrier to protect her. Shaar smiles with glee as the final missiles strike into Caleb's back and chest, blood exploding from the wounds. Gripping his sword, Caleb defends against another barrage, slicing each missile as they approach, with only one grazing his cheek but still causing the explosion.

"Caleb!" Lukia pounds on the barrier until it slowly vanishes away. She quickly runs toward Caleb, but he raises his hand out to her, stopping her.

"I'm fine..." Blood gushes from his mouth and cheek. "He is using a lot of mana to cast those powerful missiles... Ugh... I need to collapse this place somehow..."

"Forget about that; we should run while he is recovering! I'd rather we live to fight another day!"

"We won't make it far, I'm afraid... But... Seeing as he won't use any big spells to stop us, then I won't hesitate anymore." Getting to his feet, Caleb looks at his hands. "I'm sorry, Lukia.. But this is the only thing I could think of."

"What are you talking about?" Confused, Lukia is quickly stopped as the remaining goblins advance toward Caleb. She draws her bow and fires, keeping them off of him. He smiles and silently thanks her for doing what she needs to do.

"It's been a while... Let's see if I still got it in me..." Stripping off his right glove, he takes a good look at his mother's artifact that is embedded into the glove. He places it into his bag and clutches his fist. A soft spark emits from his eyes.

Shaar observes Caleb for the moment. Looking with awe at the aura around the young boy. Until the sudden realization occurs to him, Shaar is filled with a new sense of wonder and hunger. A greasy grin coats his face as his heart beats faster.

Clutching both fists, Caleb feels the familiar power coursing through his body flow into his hands and up his arms. However, his output strains, and it doesn't manifest. He pours everything into his body, visualizes, feels, and senses all the elements to push his mana through his body. A sudden burst of energy swirls around his arms and down to his hands. The electric power flowing out of his skin, the pain of his blood vessels expanding by the flow of magic, quickly causes a high rush.

"That's it... This feeling once again... This power...! The blues of his eyes glowed with the lightning element, closing his hands together, focusing the energy into a single point, superheating the air around him. "Lightning Bolt!" With both hands, an arcing blast shoots forth directly at Shaar, who cancels it with his own dark magic. Shaar is even now engrossed in Caleb and witnessing his magic.

"Caleb... That power... That power is-" Lukia trails off as she stands idle, witnessing the complete casting of a descendent. The last wave of goblins charges forward against Caleb, who focuses on them.

"Let's try this for once..!" Fueling the power into his right hand, he swirls the lightning within his palm, causing it to spin and twirl with his magic. The strain was far greater than any spell he has done before, but with the twist of his hand, he focuses a spiral of the lightning to shoot forward. "Chain Lightning!" Jumping from each goblin to the next, the bolt of lightning rips through the creatures, leaving a massive gaping hole in their chests, felling them all.

"Yes!!! More! Show me more! Your flesh! Your blood! It will be mine to take! Your power, mine!" Crazed by his own desires, Shaar sprints toward Caleb, his staff in the air, ready to deflect any blast thrown at him.

Caleb, knowing full well that his magic wouldn't reach Shaar, quickly feels the burning sensation in his arm. He turns his attention to the ceiling, the unstable stone ready to be struck down. Overwhelming focus and pressure swell into his arm. Pouring everything into one single bolt, a flashing blue light emits from his palm as he aims right at the center of the ceiling.

"Lightning Bolt!" Unleashing a powerful stream of electric power, it slams into the ceiling with brute force. But, in the sudden use of this power, Caleb pours even more mana into a continuous stream of magic, shaping the bolt into a beam of unstoppable power. It carves through the rock, blasting it away and causing the ceiling to collapse rapidly. However, a bolt of dark energy strikes Caleb's left shoulder as the Hobgoblin attempts to stop him.

Just before Shaar reaches Caleb, Lukia unleashes an arrow infused with magic that blows apart Shaar's right eye. The creature screeches in pain as it halts its advance.

"That's for my mother, you bitch!" She fires another arrow that hits the creature's leg, allowing Caleb to unleash one final wave into the stone. It shatters and causes the entire system to shake violently. At the same time, blood explodes from Caleb's arm from the drawback of using his magic. Crying in pain, Caleb steps back just before a large rock crashes in front of him and onto Shaar. Sending him backward, he hits the ground into a tumble.

Unable to move from his injuries, Caleb looks up to see a piece of the ceiling crumble and shatter. The rubble quickly falls toward him. A hand grabs his collar and drags him out of the way. Lukia, barely saving his life, drags him with all her might until she leaps with him in her arms just before the falling debris blocks the path...