Switch your partner and do-si-do

*Matt's point of view

I hadn't finished healing myself, but Amalthea was incoming, and I could tell that she was holding Tessa. She was pale; I couldn't tell how bad her injury was, but I knew it wasn't good.

"Matt! Tessa is badly injured. She needs healing immediately!" Amalthea yelled, dropping to her knees. "Her leg is almost severed. She is bleeding out. Please help her."

I took Tessa from Amalthea, grunting as I took the extra weight, my ribs still unstable. But I immediately started to heal her. Thankfully, she was **** as I had to manipulate her leg. The pain would have been unimaginable. I turned to Amalthea, telling her that it would take a minute for me to heal her.

"Amalthea, go help Kamaria and Bianca with the hell wyrm; I will send Estelle after I am done healing Tessa!" I said.

"But Matt, what if you are attacked? You would be defenseless!" She breathed. "You are the only way we can beat this!" She finished.

"I will be fine. I know you are worried, but I will take care of myself. Help them; that is an order!" I said firmly.

A slight glaze formed over her eyes. "Yes, Master." She said, rising and pulling out her blade. She took off towards the wyrm.

I continued to heal Tessa, growling because it was taking so long, and I was **** to watch my girls, my family, struggle to survive the onslaught of evil while I was sidelined.

Finally, Tessa was healed. I did my best to wake her, kissing her tightly; her eyes opened.

"Master! Thank you so much for healing me!" She squeaked. I stood and put her on the ground, immediately continuing my own healing.

"Of course, my love, I need you to get your head back in the game. I saw Jen, Ash, and Nancy run that way. I think that is where the generator is and possibly Maddy and McKenzie. If I give you this dagger, can you make it to them on your own?" I asked, handing her my secondary weapon.

"Yes, I will find them and get that generator stopped if it kills me." She said.

"Good, go and do that, but please be careful; I don't want to lose you!" I said forcefully.

Her eyes glazed slightly, and she nodded, then turned and grabbed her backpack and took off after the others.

I grabbed my sword, my healing almost complete, and launched myself with everything I had at Igor and Estelle.

Estelle was not faring so well, having had to take the mechanized villain on her own for too long; she had lost a sword and had an arm hanging due to injury, her blood crimson but mixed with an almost luminescent gold. It was beautiful and terrifying at the same time.

In the seconds it took for me to close the distance, I leapt while Igor's back was turned; I slammed into the back of the mech, sword plunging to the hilt. My momentum and the power of my hit were enough to topple the bipedal mech, landing on its "hands and knees.".

I landed by Estelle; I grabbed her, quickly forcing a kiss to aid in her healing. Only having 10 seconds or so until the mech had righted itself.

I pulled away from her; her arm and a few of the serious cuts had improved a bit. "Estelle, grab your sword and help your teammates take down the hell wyrm. I'm sorry, I will have to finish healing you later. I will finish Igor myself." I finished.

A smile and a glazing of her eyes is what I was met with. "Yes, Master," she said, turning and grabbing her discarded sword. She leaped into the air, flying towards the other celestials.

I turned just in time to block the large forearm blade of the mech before it took my head off.

"AHH! Finally I have you back in front of me, Mr. Cole! I was tiring of fighting your bitches." He cackled.

"Igor I will crush you and avenge the deaths that you have caused. I will make sure I hear the snap of your neck this time." I growled; having parried the attack, I was able to turn, grabbing the mech's arm above the blade and turning it into a judo throw. The large mech again was brought far enough off balance I was able to flip it onto its back. Giving me a clear shot at Igor.

I brought my blade down as hard as I could, and it was deflected by an energy shield. I tried again, flipping my grip and stabbing downward in an attempt to bury the blade. But again the blade was repelled by the shield. It was at this time Igor was able to retaliate with a combination of electrifying the mech and shooting out a dozen or so forearm-length missiles. I was stunned by the electricity long enough to get hit by the missiles. Blasting me in the chest and face, it sent me flying about 30 ft.

While my skin wasn't penetrated by the blasts, I did have crispy skin from the burns, which hurt like a thousand paper cuts and road rash at the same time. Cursing, I attempted to get up, stumbling a bit. I immediately started healing myself, at the same time coming up with a plan as I saw the 3-story-tall mech moving quickly to span the distance between us.

I saw that the mech had not gone unscathed. Its one arm was damaged and its ankle as well, and my strike to the back also managed to add some bugs into the works. Just as I raised my blade, ready to try the same block and parry move as last time, a large explosion and fireball struck the other arm of the mech, making its last few steps towards me off balance. I took advantage, and instead of parrying the large blade, I rolled to the left, launching myself off of a boulder and into the mech, leading with my blade again. I looked to fully disable that leg if possible. My blade struck true to the hydraulics, severing the hose to the thigh of the mech, causing it to pitch towards me. I jumped clear as it tried to stop itself from collapsing.

I took that second to look at where the explosion had come from, squinting. I saw Murphy with a grenade launcher and her sniper rifle. Giving her a wave of thanks, I didn't want to let Igor have time to recover, so I headed back in, focusing on the area. I thought the generator for the shield was. I took some wild swings at the armored back plates to try and uncover the power source. Murphy tried to help by using those tungsten-tipped rounds, blowing holes through what she could see.

I wasn't successful at getting through the back armor by the time Igor had righted himself. This time, he decided not to attack me but instead went for the much more **** Murphy. He used two machine guns on the shoulders of the mech. I knew that Murphy wasn't going to be able to dodge that number of rounds being barely behind cover. I threw myself between the two, but I was a little too late; I heard Murphy yell out. I took the rest of the bullets to the back. Thankfully, my skin was plenty strong enough to handle the rounds. They only managed to shred most of my clothes.

I yelled to Murphy to see if she was ok; Murphy yelled back. "I took two to the vest, but I caught one in the leg; didn't hit anything vital, but you will need to heal me when you kill this fucker!"

I turned; the mech had run out of rounds a few seconds ago. Unfortunately, Igor must have started moving before that one of those forearm blades. The mech has slammed into my arm, cutting deeply, stopping at the bone. I cried out as the pain pulsed through my body. My adrenaline must have kicked in again because the pain faded, and the heat rose up in my chest. I channeled all my strength into my sword arm and brought it down on the forearm blade, snapping it in half. The blade came out of my arm with the blow. I started to heal myself to stop the blood. Running through the mechs legs, I was able to score another hit on the ankles, finally disabling the mech's ability to ambulate. The mech rotated on its hip joint one hundred eighty degrees. I managed to stop the other forearm blade as it swept for my head.

After dodging a few blows, I tried to buy some time by getting Igor to talk.

"So Igor, you have been hiding down here trying to make toys to take over the world?" I said sarcastically.

"You have no idea who you are dealing with, Mr. Cole. The only reason you are still alive is because of my orders not to have you killed when you were captured and taken to the church." He seethed. "The fact that you repaid that gesture by again meddling in my affairs is bad form."

"Well, I do like to clean up my messes, but I can't take credit for this one. Murphy came to me because your dumbass tried to **** her husband—poorly, I might add." I laughed.

"You know nothing of what you talk about, Mr. Cole. You will die here, and then your companions will die as well. Even if you manage to beat me, you will weep when you see what has happened to your whores!" Igor screamed, laughing.

Finally healed and now proper furious at the insane man before me, I used my speed and reflexes to get behind him again. Before he could turn the mech, I had jumped on its back. Storing my sword, I used my bare hands to plunge into the back of the armored area, using the holes that my sword had made earlier. With all my might, I pulled, using my legs and back to aid my arms. I felt the flesh of my hands being sliced open from the edges of the penetrated metal, but I **** myself to keep going. With a deafening roar, I ripped the back off the mech.

The glowing donut of energy is exposed. I wasn't sure what to do; I had to stop Igor, but I didn't want to blow all of us up either. Damn, I wish I had Tessa here to tell me what to do. I had to remove it, so with little else to go on, I plunged my hand into the energy shockingly; it had form. I was able to grab the donut of energy. Pulling as hard as I could, it dislodged from the mech. I realized as I was pulling it out that I could feel my body absorbing the energy from the power source. It felt like jumping into a freezing cold pool. I quickly tossed it behind me. If you have ever tried to forcibly drink water even though you were full, that's what absorbing this ring felt like. I felt like I was brimming with power.

I climbed over the back of the now disabled mech, looking to end things with Igor, only to see him missing from the cockpit. I looked up to see him running towards the passage Jen and Tessa went.

I turned towards Murphy and yelled, "How are you doing, Murphy!?"

"Not bad, all things considered. Do you have time to heal me?" She yelled back.

"I'll be right there! Then we have to get Igor; he took off again!" I yelled, starting to get down from the mech.

Just as I found my footing, something unexpected happened. I felt an enormous feeling of heat, and I was hit by something from behind me that knocked the air out of me. Speaking of air, I seemed to be cartwheeling through it; I couldn't see anything strangely, just the momentum of me hurling through the air. I had to have been thrown at least 50 ft or more because I was in the air for some time. Finally, I landed on the hard rock floor of the cavern. I still couldn't see, but I did gasp for air; my throat was raw, and my hair smelled burnt. Weirdly enough, I couldn't feel much pain, but I was able to feel the wetness; it seemed like I was covered in it. Which was strange to me. Maybe I got sprayed with hydraulic fluid when I got hit?

I thought I heard footsteps coming my way, but it sounded like one foot was dragging. "No, no, no, please God, don't be dead. Matt, can you hear me? Oh my GOD!" Murphy screamed.

"Uat's rong?" I said, "Rait ay do I sound like that?" I finished sounding like there was definitely something wrong; I couldn't feel my face well, and my mouth and throat felt super dry even though I could tell I had liquid in my mouth.

"Matt...uh...ugh....Blaggh!" Murphy was obviously throwing up. In my brain, my consciousness was sort of separated from my body at the moment. I knew that her getting sick after seeing me wasn't a good thing, and the reason why I was having these issues I have observed.

"Oh God, Matt, how are you still alive? How are you still talking to me? I don't know what to do! Can you heal yourself?" She said panic in her voice.

"I can't tell yauts gong on; there is umthing ong ith ai outh" I tried to say.

"Matt, you don't have any lips left. Your face is gone! Your eyes are gone! Your whole body is burnt, and you are bleeding everywhere! I don't know what to do! You shouldn't be alive!" She sobbed.

OK, well shit, it was the first thing I thought of. The second thing was to try and heal because, based on her description, I wasn't going to be alive for much longer.

"Urphy! I ayn going to try and eel ay self." I tried to get out. I immediately focused on healing my whole body. I started to feel the wetness slow down, my breathing became a bit easier, and my throat hurt less. It seemed like my body was healing from the inside out, or maybe healing the most vital parts first. After a couple of minutes, it seemed all the blood had stopped leaking out of me. Unfortunately, something else unexpected happened.

I started to regrow the nerves that had been cauterized by the explosion. All of a sudden, every inch of my body suddenly lit up like a sun. The pain was unimaginable, absolutely overwhelming. I thought I had heard Murphy screaming; I imagined what it must look like to be regenerating like this. I started to tell her that it was ok. When I realized it was me that was screaming. Then I felt my healing powers stop; it felt like when you are trying to wring out that last bit of water from a washcloth, but it just won't release it. This has never happened before, but at the same time, I have never been hurt this horribly before.

I was able to stop my yelling for a few moments to tell Murphy, "Get the energy source, don't touch it, it will kill you, but it will recharge me!" I was able to get out before continuing to cry out in unimaginable pain.

"I'll get it, Matt, hold on! I'll get it if it's the last thing I do!" She said before taking off, I could hear the step and drag she had to deal with, but it sounded in haste. Still blind, I tried to see if I could meditate to control the pain, but it was so immense and overwhelming I just tried to hold onto my sanity. It seemed like forever before I heard something loudly scraping along the floor. Getting closer. But before I could yell out to see if it was Murphy, I heard her voice.

"Got...to....got...to get to....Matt....can't....pass out....come on, Murph...you can do this.....do it for Matt." She was mumbling, getting closer to me.

Finally she was there by my side, based on my hearing and smell. She collapsed next to me.

"Murphy put my hand on the power source." I commanded with all my might, knowing she might not be awake much longer.

"Yes, Master," she slurred. Grabbing my arm and hand. Which felt like pure white-hot liquid fire, my hand came to rest on the power source. Just as Murphy passed out from blood loss.

Come on Matt I said to myself, We need to fix this situation, as I felt my body absorbing more and more radiation from the core.....

To be continued....