>>5563879With only milliseconds to react upon noticing the flash, your hand deftly moves forward to snatch the flying object out of the air. Much to your own surprise, you succeed, and catch the throwing dagger mere inches away from your eye. Perhaps working more on your body’s own defensive instincts than anything else, you quickly hurl the dagger back where it came from with all your might. It sails back and lands directly into the chest of…
The little girl?
The pink-haired stablehand, whose name you had either already forgotten or never learned, lets out a cry as the dagger connects into her chest and sends her flying back into the wall with a thud.
“Unhand me, swine!” Nancy cries. The cleric gains the strength to stand up from where Theo had her pinned. She grabs the far larger berserker by his wrist and tosses him flying into the other side of the room. You sense a buildup of magical energy not unlike that which you’d felt in Edmund Woods. It’s coming not just from Nancy, but…the cook as well?! Before you can give the order to fight back or take cover, the two Agarthans cast their respective spells, and the room erupts into blinding chaos.
“Master!” You hear Martin cry. “Save me!”
A purplish orb of energy is set flying into the room courtesy of Nancy, barreling into Kendo and the Ordelian soldiers present in the room. Reminiscent of dark magic, the orb pulverizes the entire group of soldiers, as well as Martin, in a spray of blood and bone, all but destroying them completely in one blow. You manage to unsheathe your spear and ready to attack the woman when a wall of fire erupts from the ground. The flames almost engulf you, but you are safely pulled back by Scratch before that can happen.
“Blair d’Rusalka!” A voice cries over the flames. Wally. Or at least whoever was pretending to be him. “To think the Agarthan Hunter herself would find the time to visit me in my own home. I’m flattered. I hope you’ve been finding the castle so far to your liking. You’ll be staying a while, after all.”
>“Who are you?!”“Why ask what you already know? You wouldn’t be standing here otherwise if you weren’t acutely aware of who I was, right?”
>“Diogenes?!”The man bows behind the flames, which are still active and threatening to engulf the entire Great Hall. “Indeed. One of the Seven Sages of Agartha and the True Lord of Ordelia. I am so BEYOND pleased to finally meet you. To tell you the truth of it, I’m somewhat of an ardent admirer of your work.”
>“I had no idea I had any fans amongst your kind.”“On the contrary! I greatly admire your singular purpose and devotion towards killing us. In a way it reminds me of myself-”
