Debauchery of a Soul-Eating Wraith

*Bam!*

With quick thinking and fast reflexes, Gillert knocked the Spear aside and took on an attacking stance.

With a smile, Captain Donan simply pulled his Spear back and struck out again but Gillert moved out of the way and successfully avoided getting stabbed through only to retaliate with a kick into Donan's midsection sending the Captain sliding a few feet back.

Donan grinned as he slid to a stop and with excitement in his eyes, he put on a burst of speed to charge again at Gillert who was ready with his fists raised and his stance strong.

Fists however hardly had the range that Gillert sorely needed to counter Donan's spear. With an impressive show of agility of his own, the Captain dodged Gillert's thrown jabs and slammed the stem of his Spear into his side.

*Wham!*

With eyes widened at the pain of the contact as well as an open mouth that could not let out a scream on account of having the wind knocked out of him, Gillert was sent flying with painful impact into the wall of the building.

*Bang*

When he fell, he was quickly encircled by Elite Guards holding out their weapons at him as well as enchanted bounds they were ready to use to tie him up.

"Rarrrrrrrrrrr!"

With a bold roar, a masked Gryon ran and slammed his body into as many of the Guards as he could, resulting in a resounding sound of impact.

*BAM!*

Anyone who knew Gryon would have seen that his already large frame appeared even more enlarged now as he barrelled through his enemies and cleared the encirclement quickly forming around his ally.

Enchanted bounds were tossed out at Gryon from behind but before they could make contact, Ember slid over swinging a sword that sliced them up and left them in tatters on the floor.

Enchanted bounds, at least the ones the Larnak's Guards had been entrusted with, worked on a principle of contact. Once the bounds wrap around their target, their constricting, trapping enchantments are activated.

As long as the bounds surpass the level of Martial or Arcane aptitude of the target, they can transform any physical or magical effort into a proportional strengthening of their hold.

Only a third-party effort before or after contact can free a captured target.

Carleine joined in the slicing up of bounds and ended her slicing rounds by stabbing her long dagger into the neck of one of the Guards who dared try to capture her allies. She became the first to claim a life during the siege.

Gillert stood to his feet and even though he addressed his Crew, his eyes were on Donan's smirking face.

"Why on earth did you come out so early?" he asked in annoyance.

"Tah, they were storming the mansion. Since when has Lord Larnak or any of his men shown any sign of reason?" Ember asked, her voice a bit muffled by her mask.

As the one with the most distinguishable hair color of the bunch, Ember's mask was accompanied by a headpiece to hide away her bright red hair.

"She's right," Carleine said, her face covered by a much simpler mask that allowed her black hair to swing free, "Unless we wish to plead for Lord Larnak's leniency, the earlier we try to escape, the better."

*Rippp*

Gryon tore off his sleeves enthusiastically but large as his biceps were, they were not the main focus of the display. The peculiar patterned tattoos on his arms were.

The Tattoos appeared burned- branded into his skin and upon closer observation, they moved and shimmered with active Spiritual energy.

With a primal roar, Gryon charged ahead to clear a path he and his fellow Crew members could make use of.

The first Guard he came in contact with, Gryon delivered a sound backhand that sent him flying many feet out of the way. The next received an aggressive blow that was so deep, that it threatened to go right through the victim.

Gryon's movement was slow to the eyes of everyone on the scene either in the Third Order or beyond it. He reacted to attacks and movement around him so sluggishly but all that was the necessary drawback for possessing strength that surpassed that of anyone who was in the same Order as he.

The Tattoos that adorned him increased the density of Gryon's muscles granting him strength greater than his usual but at the cost of his fluidity. Luckily, he had the support of Ember and Carliene.

With two ladies watching his back, he was free to be the barreling tank their Escape needed.

Donan frowned at how quickly the crew was on the move but the moment he took a step to intervene, he found himself in the path of a kick swinging towards his face.

Reacting quickly, the Captain dodged and thrust the blunt end of his Spear towards Gillert who met it with a focused release of his Spiritual Pressure.

The impact of the Pressure knocked the Spear off course and Gillert finally delivered a solid blow to the side of his opponent's head.

*Bam!*

In the second Captain Donan spent recovering from the strike to be ready to attack again, Gillert grabbed the lapel of an Elite Guard nearby and kneed him in the stomach.

In the face of superior Physical strength, the Guard doubled over and his grip on his sword loosened. Gillert seized the sword and cut a deadly gash in the Guard's neck before advancing on Donan. Sparking the start of weapon combat between the two.

*Clang* *Clang*

.

*Clang*

*Clang*

Ember and Carleiene were alertedly repelling whatever attack came at them and while their blades managed to reap a few lives, they were also ultimately at the receiving end of many cuts.

Gryon's strategy of charging through enemies and overwhelming them with strength had not done him much good either. The opponents' numbers were very quickly turning the tide.

Ember gritted her teeth behind her Mask.

Their path of breaking free was looking more difficult by the second. Gillert occupying the one Captain on the scene had unfortunately not even made their job easier.

"Umph, Ember, do it!" Carliene said quietly but urgently at some point in the battle.

The two ladies had their backs to each other. Their weapons held out at the Guards that surrounded them with weapons and enchanted bounds.

Even before she was urged, the redhead had already thrust her hand into a spatial pouch hidden within her clothes. Out of the pouch, she retrieved two vials of liquid.

"SHIELD YOURSELF!!!"

It was a yell of caution that left very little time before the event being warned about occurred but Carliene heard and obeyed. Gryon heard the yell too and with Spiritual energy seeping out of his body, mainly from his tattoos, he shielded himself as well.

Ember infused spiritual energy into the vials in her hand before tossing them to opposite sides almost simultaneously.

The vials exploded seconds after they left her hand, turning into wild flames that splattered all over the Guards.

"Ahhhhhhhhhh"

Some had the good sense to instinctively protect themselves with Spiritual energy or quick movement and the others who got scalded hurried to quench the flames licking at their bodies only to have their moment of spazzing attention taken advantage of.

*Sksh* *Sksh*

*Bam* *Wham*

Ember and Carleine stabbed enemies while Gryon punched or slammed them aside.

The attack of the flames already created a wide berth around the trio and by working in unison, a path was finally cleared. Trouble still awaited behind the Mansion walls but getting out of the grounds was a victory that the Crew was determined to take. Besides, although the vials were a finite resource they did not have a surplus of, they still had enough to maybe keep their escape going.

Carleine opened her mouth to call Gillert's attention to the Escape so he could begin pulling himself away from combat with Captain Donan.

Alas, she never got the chance.

*Crack!*

"Hmm!"

Carleine's eyes widened as her mask was crushed off her face and a hand wrapped around her mouth, kept it shut before she was slammed into the ground.

*Bam*

Captain Amira's brows were furrowed in focused loyalty to her Lord as she held Carleine down. In the span of a few seconds, she retrieved an enchanted bound and wrapped it around Carliene leaving the black-haired lady unable to break free.

Ember was in shock, startled by the sudden arrival but she and Gryon reacted fast.

Amira stood to her feet, dodged Ember's sword swing, and caught Gryon's punch with only a slight look of struggle. Gryon might have been unrivalled in the Third Order but his advantage was nonexistent in the face of the strength of a Fourth Order Captain.

Ember did not give up.

She swung her sword again.

*Clang*

*Bam!*

Amira parried it and kicked her to the ground before turning around and stabbing her sword through Gryon's stomach until it thrust out his back.

The large man's eyes bugged as his body lessened in mass, his Tattoos lost significant shine and his knees went weak.

"That's it," Amira whispered confidently,

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