The Inner Gambit of Darkness - Continued (Part 2)

This was its moment, its blade abandon, it charged at Nuala and sent a strong uppercut at her jaw while she was distracted from the combination of her own power and the shockwave.

The punch connected and her neck cracked back. Nuala swung her blade across at the Diety as she stumbled a few steps back, her head spinning from the blow.

The sword cut across its chest and it groaned slightly. Annoyed that is had been hit it charged all the power it had in its being, two strong energies emitted from its hands, the Diety was gathering energy for a final strike.

Gwene could feel the energy and it was completely overwhelming, she tried to get up and help Nuala, but she was still unable to move from the previous hit.

Nuala raised her arm to attack again but her vision was blurry and her hearing was wavering. She felt like she was going to pass out; that punch had really hit her hard.

The Diety forced its hands together and aimed the strong power at Nuala, it intended to end this quickly.

As old as he was, Praenuntius moved swiftly and managed to stand in front of Nuala, his lance drawn and ready to attack, he sensed the powerful energy ready to strike. He looked back at Nuala "You all good?"

"I'm fine," she said, clutching her neck and regaining herself. "What are you doing, you'll get yourself killed."

The Dieties attack was ready to fire.

Praenuntius summed up the situation, if he attacked now, its attack could kill them all and possibly half of Death Mountain, he had no choice, he had to take the attack head on and contain it only to himself. "Then so it shall be." he dropped his lance and it fell to the ground with a clatter.

"What?! No, you can't do that!" Nuala said almost sounding angry, she gripped her sword and went to pull Praenuntius out of the way.

"No choice." Praenuntius said, accepting his fate.

The beam from the Diety fired with a sheer force it cut through the air as it sped towards Praenuntius and Nuala.

Praenuntius quickly threw Nuala away from the beam. Before the beam hit, everything around them went quiet and Praenuntius looked to Nuala, his final words hung in the air "Forgive me..." he opened up his arms and took on the full force of the blow, it carried him and slammed him hard into the cliff. Using the last ounce of energy he had left, he kept the beam contained upon himself, it exploded sending a thick cloud of dust around them.

Nuala quickly looked from Praenuntius to the Diety, on hearing his last words, she realised what he had done... She sent serveral rapid bursts of energy cutting through the air at the Deity followed by a series of vicious attacks with her blade.

When the dust had cleared Praenuntius was still standing there, by some miracle he had managed to hang on.

The Diety was still recovering from its attack, its target was not its intention but it had gotten someone nonetheless. It succumb to Nuala's attacks and fell to the ground, slain. It dispersed into shadows and dissolved into the ground.

"Its your turn to say something for Konbei Tango)

"Praenuntius..." Nuala said, looking back at him. She quickly went over to him to make sure he was alright and went to help him sit against a rock. "How badly are you hurt?" She said, checking him over for injuries.

-----

Konbei prepared himself and went for a quick upper cut to Deserax's stomach.

Dane looked up at the castle walls.

"How far would you say we are from the throne room, a room or two?" he asked Brenz.

"I think so..." Brenz said.

Dane rounded the hedge corner and walked quietly along the stone castle's wall. Just as he was about to make it to the other side of the garden, he stopped. A nose length away from him was a guard, and he was looking straight at him.

There was a moment of silence, neither one making a move. Suddenly the guard found his courage and started to shout for help. Before he could do so Dane had punched him in the face and grabbed him from behind in a strangler hold. The guard tried to escape as his face turned red, then purple, then blue. When he finally stopped struggling Dane put him down on the ground.

The gentry's face was pale as a ghost's. Did he just kill a man?

Brenz stared at the body, and then at Dane.

"...the fuck?" he said.

Dane just stared at the body. "I...I...I didn't mean to..."

He looked up at Brenz. "He was going to call for help. I panicked!"

"No shit!" Brenz replied. "...his buddies are probably already wondering why he shouted out."

While on his search for his uncle, Ryan thought of checking out the shadow temple to see if Epyhah ended up there. "That place does harbor dead bodies afterall." he mused with a nod and ran to Kakiriko village.

"We need to get out of here."

Dane looked frantically around for a place to hide, when suddenly he had an idea.

"Can your hookshot get us up to that balcony?" he pointed to a stone balcony two stories above them.

Brenz looked up, and fired his hookshot up to the balcony. It clung to the railing, and without asking if he was ready he grabbed Dane and they were pulled up.

Dane pulled himself over the balcony's railing and lay close to the ground.

"Stay down and keep as close to the floor as you can." he whispered. "They'll find the body and start looking around for us. Hopefully that'll make getting to the Royal seal a bit easier."

"Listen, buddy. If I get thrown in jail for this, I'll find you." Brenz said harshly. "I was hoping I wouldn't be having my life threatened when I came here."

"And you think I wanted this?" Dane hissed. "You were the one who suggested stealing the Royal seal to forge a pardon letter, not me!"

He looked behind them to see a curtained door leading to the bedroom inside. He touched the knob and quietly opened the door. With one quick look down at the garden, Dane walked inside.

He didn't think he could ever forget that guard's face.

It reminded him of Attics.