Fwoom!

Flames engulfed The Beast’s body as William aimed his hand outwards and attacked it with his fire magic. The beast let out a roar in pain as it frantically rolled on the sand to try to put the flames out. In a fit of rage, it slashed at William with the blade of his spear. William quickly ducked out of cover, and then began concentrating his attack on the Beast’s weapon. Within seconds the flames had consumed the spear and the blade fell to the floor, rendering it useless.

This angered the beast greatly as it began stomping at William, who could only back up and shoot, while trying not to get grabbed or stepped on.

Rodrick saw William was struggling and began desperately trying to get Gjörn, who had passed out, awake.

“Come on Gjörn. Wake up!” Rodrick yelled while shaking him. “If you don’t get up, William is going to die! Gjörn! Gjörn!”

The fire magic was causing the beast’s flesh to burn, leaving an unpleasant smell in the air. Unfortunately for William, the flames weren’t enough to take the beast out.

“If sparks barely hurt the Orc…” William thought; remembering his fight with Qualm “It’s not going to even faze this thing.”

The beast continued his relentless advance on William, who was starting to get tired from running away, and the pain from his broken arm was returning with a vengeance.

“Frost magic it is.” William flicked his wrist and the flames dispersed from his hands. He then began blowing on his palm until it turned blue and snowflakes seemed to be falling from them. He then aimed his hand at the beast, who was now only a few feet away and had already thrown a punch.

All William could do to avoid the blow was duck, so that’s what he did. He could feel the heat of the monster’s fist as the blow sped past him. A loud crash followed as the punch had collided with one of the arena walls, causing it to crack and break. Leaving a massive hole.

Before William could react, the beast had already swiped at him with his left hand. Trying to bury his claws into the boy. William felt a strong force push him in the opposite direction, safely away from the beast’s attack.

“Are you alright William?” Rodrick asked, revealing it was he who tackled William to safety.

“I’m fine.” William groaned. The collision putting much more strain on his broken arm. “Nice work.”

“William, your arm!”

“That’s not important!” William answered, coldly. “If we don’t kill this beast, we are going to suffer far worse.”

Rodrick glanced over at Gjörn, who was still unresponsive. “I don’t understand.” Rodrick said worriedly. “He’s healed every other wound like nothing. Why is this one any different?”

“Well we cant count on him now.” William said. “I need you to distract him.”

“What!?”

“Listen, if you can distract him long enough, I think I can muster up enough magic to freeze his legs.” William said in between grunts. “But you have to hurry. I wasted to much trying to burn him to death, which didn’t work out.”

“For how long?”

“Until I say so Squire!” William yelled. “Now go!”

William shoved Rodrick at the beast with his only functioning hand. Rodrick stumbled forward, but was able to prevent himself from tripping. The beast however was standing right in front of him.

“H-hey Sir Reed!” Rodrick said as he laughed nervously. The beast looked at him with pain in his eyes. Looking at his face sparked anger inside of him, turning his nervous look into one of determination. “You left me to die. But now look at me and look at you. I’ve become a better fighter than you ever were, and you? You’re an ugly beast now.”

Rodrick pointed his sword at the beast. “I’m going to be the one to strike you down. And prove to the entire world, that I’m more deserving of the title of knight.

The beasts face turned into one of unhinged rage, and he let out a roar! Melting Rodrick’s face of bravery back into one of fear.

“Oh dear.” Rodrick said to himself.

The beast swung at Rodrick, who dodged and pushed the blow with his shield. The beast however was unfazed, as he continued swinging it Rodrick with rapid strikes.

“Stop making him move so much!” William called from behind the beast. His hand blasting a mist of cold at the beast’s leg, turning them purple.

“Easy for you to say!” Rodrick called back, in between dodges and grunts.

Soon the frost from William’s hand began to sputter, and then stopped altogether. His magic had run out. Luckily for him, the beasts legs were now a shiny purple and he could see his reflection through them.

The beast noticed it too, as he was unable to move his legs and continue his assault. He frantically shook his torso, to try to get some movement, but his attempts resulted in failure.

“Now Squire!” William yelled.

“Now what?” Rodrick called back.

“His legs are brittle now!” William yelled. “Hopefully” he whispered to himself.

Rodrick planted his shield in front of him and rammed into the beast’s legs. As he pushed through, the legs shattered like glass.

The beast’s torso crashed to the ground. The beast let out a roar of confusion, as it frantically squirmed about.

“Heal that.” William said as he regained his breath.

Rodrick saw his opportunity and rushed at the beast’s neck. Right when he thought he had the battle won, the beast had smacked him in his shield, which sent him flying backwards and into the arena’s wall.

Rodrick slowly got up, but it before the beast began crawling at Rodrick, too fast for him to react.

“William snapped his fingers, but nothing happened. So William rushed over to Rodrick’s aid.

He was too late, the beast had launched himself at Rodrick, and pierced into his shoulder with the horn on his forehead.

Rodrick let out a hoarse grunt. Unable to make a noise, because of how overwhelming the pain was.

“Damn you!” William yelled as he climbed onto the beast’s back and began stabbing it repeatedly with his dagger. “Get off my Squire!”

The beast grabbed William by his broken arm and tossed him aside. It then slowly slid its horn out of Rodrick’s shoulder, causing his eyes to widen, as he began to take short breaths.

“Good…bye… Rod-rick.” Rodrick hears the beast say, he wasn’t sure if it was real, or he was hallucinating from the pain.

The beast then aimed it’s horn at Rodrick’s forehead, and was about to thrust forward, until it suddenly jerked its head upwards and groaned in pain. Rodrick’s eyes were getting blurry at this point, but he vaguely made out an axe buried into the beast’s back, and a green figure standing over it.

“Gjörn?” He said hoarsely.

“Don’t… die… on… me… yet boy.” Gjörn slowly said. He then mustered up His strength and dragged the beast off Rodrick with his axe.

With blood gushing from his chest, Gjörn gingerly mounted on the beast and pulled its head back from its horn. The beast fought back fiercely, which only put more strain on The Orc, who was struggling to maintain consciousness.

“Come on Rodrick, wake up!” Gjörn weakly yelled. “We have to kill it!”

Rodrick was slipping in and out of consciousness. When he heard Gjörn’s voice, he slowly regained his eyesight and saw his Orc friend struggle to keep the monster’s head back with its neck exposed. Rodrick got up and slowly but surely walked up to the monster, who was completely focused on Gjörn. Mustering all the strength he had left, he thrust his sword into the monster’s neck. Gjörn could see the blade exit through the back of it’s neck, so he pulled the horn while grunting in pain. Finally it’s head tore off. Spraying Rodrick and coating him completely in blood.

The entire arena was silent. Gjörn was barely awake now, but he knew the fight was over. Still holding the head, he raised it up and roared louder than the monster ever had, before falling on his face, unconscious.

@cbishop

@mikesterman: I read this earlier today on my phone. Nice end to the fight.