Battle of Reduna'z Gaze

The hooded figure responds with only a cold chuckle, pretty much confirming John's guess.

The assumed-to-be Imoga raises her hands and brings them to her hood before pushing it off of her head.

"I am Imoga. Darksister of the Nyll, Destroyer of the Grand Magisters of Keryne, Queen of the Darkcross".

The group are stunned as they see the face of the feared necromancer. Her shining scales only covering the left half of her face as the other half has rotted away, leaving only blackened flesh and piercing red eyes which practically bore a hole into John as she examines the man in front of her.

"Tell me... what is the name of this so-called saviour in front of me?".

John grins internally ad he says, "My name is John fucking Doe. Fresh drop-in, killer of the Darkcross and incredibly disgusted at the sight of your fuck ugly face".

Imoga lets out an unimpressed chuckle, "The wasted mewl of a little boy playing soldier".

"Well... it could be worse. I could look like you".

The undead Ivellise snarls at John, making Imoga raise her hand to silence her reanimated daughter before saying, "You may throw as many insults as you wish child but your fate remains the same, as does the fate of all those you try to protect".

"Not if we have anything to do about it!" Lani says confidently, drawing a grin from Imoga.

"Hmm... the fairy has guts.... interesting".

Lani then somewhat retreats behind John as Imoga intently scans her with those evil eyes.

John once again takes hold of the conversation as he asks, "Since you're gonna try to kill us anyway, tell me... why are you doing this?".

"Oh, that is very simple" Imoga states before continuing, "I am doing this... because of you".

John is confused as Imoga continues, "When you and your monstrous friends attacked the Darkcross... you... killed... my daughter! I felt her soul scream for me! I felt her light being snuffed from this world! ALL BECAUSE OF YOU!".

John is once again confused and a little shocked, "Because of me? What the hell do you mean?".

"What do I mean?! I mean that my daughter died because of you! You were the last thing she saw before her life was ripped away!".

Those last words finally clue in John on just who the hell Imoga is talking about.

"Wait... Ivellise was your daughter?!".

"She is my daughter! You and your friends may have taken her life but I have given her a new one! Now, I have one last thing to remedy... you were the last thing my daughter saw before her **** and now... I will be the last that you see!".

Imoga opens her right hand, drawing from her dark power as a blood red ball of magic forms in her hand. Not a second later, Imoga quickly raises her hand and fires a direct blast into his chest before he even has a chance to react.

John is sent flying backward, falling onto his back with a solid thud following.

"John!" Lani shouts in fear as she immediately flies over to him, trying to check him for any signs of life.

Imoga grins as she and Ivellise walk around the group, as the two are about to walk into the town, Imoga says, "Spare the fairy but kill the rest of them".

The mother and daughter walk away as the undead begin to rush toward the group who begin to fight for their lives.

As the group are fighting their losing battle, Sylus rushes over to Lani and days, "FAIRY! WE HAVE TO GO, NOW!".

"NO! I'M NOT LEAVING HIM!".

Sylus then responds, "AND IF YOU DON'T, YOU'LL END UP JOINING HIM! NOW, COME ON!".

Lani is heartbroken, unsure of what to do as tears begin to fall from her eyes but as Sylus swipes his axe to take out a few of the undead, she makes her choice as she flies on Sylus' shoulder.

Sylus then takes out another undead beast and as he sees the last of the group beginning to fall...

He and Lani make a run for it.

As the minotaur is running from the undead, Lani looks back at her fallen companion with pain in her soul as she just abandoned him to save herself.

---

MEANWHILE - TERRA'S POV:

Terra and Johtun along with Captain Parlo are fighting against the sprinting undead, slightly retreating back into the town as more and more of the soldiers begin to fall.

"We need reinforcements!" Johtun calls out as he swings his sword to cut down one of the undead.

"We're spread out like the only whore in a brothel! We can't spare anyone to get them!" Parlo responds as he beheads another undead.

Johtun thinks for a moment, trying to come up with a plan as he looks to his left side and sees Terra send a few of the beasts back with a large blast of air. As he watches the mage move around with great speed, he shouts back to Parlo, "Captain! Which gate is the most defended?!".

"The northern gate! It's our main protection against pirates! Why?!".

"Do you think they can spare the men?!" Johtun asks.

"Assuming they're not already overrun, I would say so!".

Johtun's plan finally forms as he then shouts to Terra, "Terra! Come here!".

Terra hits her staff over the head of an advancing undead before heading over to Johtun, "Yes commander?!".

"I need you to got to the north gate and try to get some reinforcements!".

Terra is confused, "But Johtun-".

"Listen Terra! We won't last long without help! We need you to do this!".

Terra listens to Johtun's plead, seeing the fear in his eyed and so she nods her head and says, "You better not die before I get back commander!".

Johtun laughs, "I wouldn't dream of it mage! Now go!".

Terra nods her head again before running back into town.

Terra runs through the streets, following the signs that point her toward the northern gate. Her breaths are becoming more and more rapid as she runs as fast as she can to save Johtun and the others lives.

The elf reaches the last stretch of street, seeing the final turn and so with a last mad sprint, she heads to the turn.

---

THE NORTHERN GATE:

Terra turns the last corner, ready to plead for help but her expression turns to one of disbelief as she sees...

Nothing.

The fear on her face overtakes the disbelief as she sees the gate is wide open and no guards in sight, however she sees one thing laying on the cobbled ground ahead of pools of freshly spilled blood.

Terra takes a closer look, she sees that it's not a thing... no... it's a person but not just any person... as she inches just ever closer, she sees the person in question is none other than...

John.

Terra is wracked with fear for her friend as she rushes over to his prone body, "John? John?! Oh no... no, no, no... wake up... wake up! Please, wake up!".

Terra shakes John, trying to stir any remaining life in the prone-laying man. Her next attempt is to give him some slaps to illicit something out of him but the result is the same.

Terra begins to lose all hope but finally she decides to make one last attempt and so, she winds her hand back while saying, "Don't hate me for this".

Terra then brings her hand back and slaps John right across the face as hard as she possibly can.

The slap echoes around the stone and as the echo begins to quieten, she waits for something to happen.

A few seconds later, John sits up, an inhale following as he does. His head shoots around, looking for Imoga and the others when he is wrapped in the arms of Terra.

"Oh thank the gods you're alive!".

John says nothing at first, instead opting to embrace his friend for a few moments before she lets go.

"What happened here?" Terra asks.

John thinks back to what happened and replies, "It was her.... she was here".

Terra is confused at first but eventually his words kick in as she realises who exactly "she" is, "Wait... Imoga was here?! You saw her?!".

John doesn't respond, instead he continued to frantically look around before saying, "Where's Lani?!".

"Uhh... she wasn't here when I arrived...".

John rushes back up to his feet, grabbing his sword as he says, "We have to find her!".

John begins to walk away at a pace just below a jog and Terra catches up to him, "We don't even know where to start, plus, we have other urgent matters right now".

"Lani is my urgent matter! I won't let that fucking rotten bitch get her!".

John then begins to look around for any sort of clue as to where Lani could've went but as they do...

A massive explosion is heard and a column of smoke rises above the buildings. The duo look at each other with sorry as Terra says, "That's coming from the east gate".

John realises what that means as he says, "Kyuala!".

Without hesitation, John begins sprinting toward the south gate with Terra catching up and saying, "John! What about the west?! They're getting overrun!".

"We're all getting overrun but I am not letting my friends die!".

John takes off again at full speed, leaving Terra to make the difficult decision this time and she does. She watches as John is just about to turn the corner before shouting, "John!".

John stops and turns around as Terra says, "Get the others and regroup at the Kauldron! But if all is lost, get to the docks!".

"Okay! Stay safe Terra!".

John takes off once again as Terra says to herself, "Stay safe John".

Terra then begins running back to the western gate to regroup with Johtun and the remaining soldiers.

---

MEANWHILE - KYUALA'S POV:

Kyuala swings her battle-axe with hefty effort as she cleaves one of the undead diagonally in-half before moving over to Amilia.

"We have to move! We're getting surrounded!".

Amilia takes out another of the undead before responding, "How the hell do you suggest we do that?!".

Kyuala looks around before stopping at the burning building caused by a few exploding oil pots. Her eyes then move down to an opening in the wall caused by the aforementioned explosion however her gaze moves over to the right where she sees Radvar and a few of the remains group struggling with the advancing beasts.

"Rad needs our help!".

Kyuala and Amilia begin to move through the battle, cutting down every undead that gets within a few feet of them as they head over to Kyuala's brother.

Radvar plunges his axe into the skull of an attacking undead, cleaving the skull in two. Radvar then lifts his axe up with the body of the now formerly undead falling afterwards.

Radvar hears the roaring of a familiar orc which makes him look over to his right where he sees Kyuala and Amilia heading toward him.

The friends get right beside Radvar as the orc asks, "What were you two doing?! Sleeping?!".

"Oh y'know, talking about girl stuff! The cutest guys around town! What new dresses to buy! Oh, and trying not to get fucking eaten!".

"Alright! As much as I love the brother-sister bond and all... how the hell are we getting out of here?!" Amilia asks as she drives her dagger into the eye of an oncoming undead.

Kyuala scouts around before saying, "Let's cut through the building!".

The other two don't have any better ideas so they begin to move over to the open wall of the burning building. They're about to step into the building but that's when a few of the undead emerge from within, teeth bared and ready to gnaw at the flesh in their gaze.

The trio ready their weapons, preparing to fight their way out again when all of a sudden...

They hear a roar.

The roar however isn't a ghastly, gut-wrenching one like the roars of the undead, no, this roar... is the roar of a man.

The roar attracts the attention of the undead in the building which proves to be their downfall as a flaming beam of timber falls from above, crushing the undead within.

However, while it gets rid of the undead, it also blocks the trios escape, forcing them to find another way to escape.

The roar gets louder and as it does, they finally see who the roar belongs to...

John. Fucking. Doe.

The raging and potentially insane human rushes in and immediately begins to cut down every undead in sight while keeping that roar going.

Left and right he slices like an experienced swordsman, taking on every beast that runs toward him with ease as his inner fury guides his blade.

The trio are shocked with Amilia commenting, "Okay, when did he get possessed by fucking berserker?!".

"Doesn't matter! Let's help him out!" Kyuala says as she rushes over to his side with Amilia and Radvar following just a moment after.

The now quartet begin to cut through the undead who rush toward them. Swing after swing, the undead fall, their bodies beginning to litter the ground around the four.

The remaining guards along with Mordroe see this as the undead who are attacking them actually pull away from them to attack the group in ****.

The last guards look amongst each other and then to Mordroe before the captain says, "Form up on them!".

The soldiers do as their captain orders and all join up with the group, turning the quartet into eleven fighters strong.

The group fall into a circle formation, weapons readied as the undead stop rushing forward and seemingly have a plan of their own as they begin to encircle the survivors.

"What are they doing?" Radvar asks.

Mordroe answers with, "They're making a plan of attack... seems they're smarter than we thought".

"Intelligent or not... they're getting killed all the same" John comments as he reaffirms his grip on the hilt on his sword.

After hearing John's words, Kyuala thinks to herself, "When this is over, I am absolutely fucking his brains out".

The undead all simultaneously roar and as they do...

They charge...