To say that chaos had descended upon the one and only city of this realm would be an understatement of a most vast nature, corpses littered the streets, the majority of the buildings had either been destroyed through brute force, blasts of soul energy, or were smouldering with intense flames, the very ramparts had been torn apart and even the main building, symbol of the strength and power held by the upper echelon, had received most dreadful damage.
All generals of the restless had fallen, and so had the majority elites, only the common warriors were left facing off against the enormous tide of restless, the larger ones were still rampaging, and many had begun to invade the central building, blue blood flowed en masse, carrying shattered shards of bones alongside it as neither side relented.
The temperature was growing nearly unbearable, waves of suffocating it would often pass over the city, signs that Alistel was still facing off against the golden lord of the twisted souls.
Meanwhile, at the very top of the main building, Alielil, second in command, and Maliah, The Death Dealer, enjoyed a most bloody fight, well, although the strikes and injuries were numerous, basically nothing of sanguine nature fell, be it red or blue.
As a slash landed right across the assassin's chest, forming an X as it was followed by another that was perfectly symmetrical, blood barely even gushed out, the wounds closing at a pace that could make one miss the healing if they did as much as blink.
Only the damage inflicted upon the clothes she was wearing remained as proof that damage had indeed landed.
With a swift counterattack, Maliah, struck the elite right across the face, the blonde showing no reaction and still keeping her eyes wide open as the heavy strike landed, instead of a single bruise, multiple ones formed, only a single one of them being actually where the attack had hit.
Indeed, she wasn't Alistel's right hand for now reason, her first step actually possessed more than a single trick, her own strikes would be given a perfect symmetry, but the attacks she herself endured would instead be mirrored in different directions, the strike had been broken down by some sort of percentile value and distributed across the multiple bruises, combined with Alielil's excellent body reinforcement and the weakened state of the Fin-Limier, the overall damage inflicted was negligible.
As it stood, both of the women had the means, and were fully willing to take hits to land their own, but one would just heal nearly instantly, and the other just barely took any damage at all.
As such, it looked fight would never end, as the only viable option available to bring it to its conclusion would be to land a strike that would be instantly lethal, which did not seem very plausible seeing the sheer level of adeptness both fighters possessed.
Maliah was totally content keeping everything at a standstill, even if not at her best, she found Alielil to be a fun opponent to fight and she didn't have anywhere else to be, The Death Dealer might go and see what Loimos was up to, or perhaps mingle into the fight between Alistel and Irlanx Xacobus if given the occasion, or maybe just descend and slaughter as many of the weaker warriors, that would be a nice moment, a call back to what she had done in Weafewand, or back in the underground of the Southern Shores.
Alielil on the other hand, she had more to worry about, her fellow elites were either dead or completely out of combat for at least the next few hours, the major restless threats had been mostly taken care of, only a few giants were left lumbering around and a handful of somewhat powerful one's, but those she trusted the warriors could deal with.
The blonde trusted her leader and anyways, it wasn't like anyone could fight alongside Alistel without being turned to crisps anyways.
No, what Alielil worried about were the odd presences she was sensing inside of the main building, there was one that was exceptionally dreadful, but both felt somewhat alien, like Maliah did, as though they weren't just anomalies, but simply not meant to be here at all.
'Even if we win, the casualties are simply too much, and this influx of bodiless souls will result in a rise in restless on the other side, we won't have the means to defend again if their king manages to escape, or even if another one rises to take his place… I better try to end this fight quickly to make sure as many of the warriors survive' the elite's expression stayed perfectly still, as though her mind was completely devoid of any thoughts.
Alielil rose her blade up after she and Maliah stepped back after another seemingly useless exchange of blows.
Spoken in an even tone, the jian did not change much, it's edge merely turning more glass-like, a cut from it would be incredible painful for certain, without hesitated she gripped her own blade and cut her palm, the dispersing effect worked still and spread the damage all around and resulting in just a few cuts, whilst Maliah's own palm burst open with blood before closing, not only that, but it wasn't just one, but both palms that did so.
"That does not seem like the most efficient skill to deal with me" she casually commented, smiling brightly at the inexpressive blonde.
"We shall work with what we have available" merely responded the elite as she brought the blade up against her neck.
Her second step was simple, and the name was rather accurate to what it did, and by abusing the effects of the first step, she could deal an absurd amount of damage by striking the easiest target of all, which was herself.
The attack could not be dodged, and the damage inflicted could not be actively reduced, as not only Alielil herself did not receive the actual damage she did upon herself, but the second step also had the effect of making the wounds the enemy received worse than what was actually inflicted to begin with.
All in all, it was an ability that could work on anything, but should be especially effective against enemies who could be harmed in the same manner as she could, Maliah fitted that category perfectly.
A cut upon Alielil's neck turned into a carved open jugular for the assassin, who shrugged it off without problem, a minuscule cut upon the eye became a deep laceration, cuts sliced right through muscles and tendons, and stabs that ended up as shallow for the elite, ran right through Maliah.
Although impressive, as they were also given a symmetrical companion upon the body of the Fin-Limier, she healed it all anyways and just stood in place, as though challenging Alielil to keep going, just to see which one of them would actually fall first.
The elite remained unreadable, directing the sword's point against her chest, right above the heart.
Even if lessened, any amount of damage inflicted upon this vital organ would be considered dire, but she didn't hesitate and drove the jian right through, making both her and Maliah suddenly pulsate, it resulted in a mere surface cut for the blonde, but for the assassin, it was like she had been stabbed twice right into the heart.
The assassin stumbled and-
"Just joking, I am fine" she stood straight "Why don't you try again, this is pretty funny"