Storming the Castle Part 6

*huff huff huff*

A little girl was running through the forest, holding the hand of an armored woman. It was nighttime, but the moonlight lit up their way.

"Wait! We- we have to stop! Sto- ugh"

The girl had fallen over; she couldn't keep up with the pace of the female knight who accompanied her. The knight let go once she fell and proceeded to try and help her up.

"Princess, we need to go."

"NO! NO, I WON'T! WE CAN'T LEAVE!"

Tears and snot streamed down her face as she made an expression that was unbecoming of royalty.

"Shh. You need to be quiet. We might be found if you don't quiet down."

"Take me back… I- I order y- you… please…"

"…"

"I'm sorry… I- I can't…"

The knight picked the child up and continued making distance from the royal capital. The little girl wiped away the tears from her eyes and laid her sights on the castle one last time. A fire had engulfed parts of it, and distant shouts could be heard. It was then that a large beam of white light shot through the castle and into the sky. It was horrific watching one's country and home being destroyed, but something about that light was… beautiful.

An arrow flew through the sky, and pierced the knight's armor, hitting her on her right shoulder. She immediately dropped the girl and fell to the ground. She got back up and pulled the arrow out of her shoulder. Pieces of it had broken off, but after examining it, it was poisoned. What it was poisoned with no one knew, but it was doubtful whoever poisoned it would use something weak. Two silhouettes of people could be seen getting closer.

"RUN! NOW!"

"B- bu- n-"

"SHALENE!"

Shalene turned to run but fell again before quickly standing back up and running deeper into the forest. The knight tried using her right arm, but it wasn't moving properly; that arrow really did a number on her. Since her sword was sheathed on her left side, she couldn't unsheathe it fully with her left hand, so she unclipped the sheathe, it fell to the ground, and she then took the sword out of it. She was right-handed and taught to wield her sword with both hands at all times to not disrespect her nation or peers as well as to show honor, but she physically couldn't. She felt that fighting for as long as she could outshines the rule of fighting properly as a knight, but she couldn't help but feel deep down that she was doing something wrong.

"Forgive me…"

She then rushed at the two people who were getting closer while dragging her sword in the dirt behind her with her left arm.

-Present Time-

"The spell is finally complete."

Shalene lowered her hands away from the black orb and turned toward us, but it continued to grow. How was the orb still getting bigger? It only grew before when she was giving it her full attention, so what changed? She held out her hands and pulled out two daggers which seemed to be made of the same red material as her scythe and charged at us. She attacked one person after another, but her movements were easily seen through this time and the players were able to properly block her attacks and occasionally parry them. The fighting between the players, the demons, and Shalene continued with her losing more health, and the players losing more party members. Eventually, the black ball grew large enough to touch the floor, and it was only a matter of time before it reached everyone in the room.

*huff* "GUYS! I MADE IT!"

Some people turned and saw a low leveled player entering the room. He was probably left behind due to his low agility when everyone rushed here. One of the remaining tanks walked up to him, grabbed his shoulders, and threw him into the black ball. The player was screaming, but once he entered the ball he went silent.

"…"

"WHY DID YOU DO THAT TO HIM!?"

"I DON'T KNOW, I THOUGHT HE COULD TELL US WHAT HAPPENS INSIDE THE BALL!"

"HOW CAN HE DO THAT IF HE'S DEAD!"

"…"

"…"

Josh, Mike, Olivia, and a few other members from the original guild were still alive, but not more than from the other guilds. Josh was keeping up fairly well, Mike was having a little trouble since he didn't stockpile XP to get to the new max level, and Olivia was only alive due to the large amount of revive tokens Josh had lent her for this battle.

"Uhh… guys… this is looking pretty bad."

"Yeah, I can see that."

"When the ball reached us, we'll probably die."

"Yup."

"Can't you pitch in with something helpful?"

"Wh- what? Brother, you hearing this? Josh thinks I know enough about the game to help him."

"No, I'm Not!"

"Honestly Josh, that was pretty stupid; she's been playing for like a month."

"Two months"

"What was that?"

"Nothing"

"STOP IT! WE'RE GOING TO LOSE IF WE DON'T STOP HER RIGHT NOW! DOES ANYONE HAVE AN IDEA!"

Olivia raised her hand

Josh looked exasperated, but pointed at her, indicating she could talk.

"What if we just like beat her up a bunch, then we'll win or something and the magic will maybe stop."

"…"

"…"

"WHAT DO YOU THINK WE'VE BEEN TRYING TO DO!?"

"YOU WERE THE ONE WHO COMPLAINED I DIDN'T PITCH IN WITH ENOUGH IDEAS!"

Shalene stared at us while the orb went over her and she was engulfed by it. Some of the players tried to leave the room, but despite the doors being open, when you got close enough to the doors a red box appeared saying you can't leave in the middle of a battle. Everyone got as far away as possible from the orb, but it kept taking up more space. By this point the players who remained had their backs to the wall, trying to delay the inevitable. It slowly grew over them, until they were consumed by the darkness.