The Last Flame

The Final Charge

"Back the way we came, now! We've got to go, lead them to a choke point. We can deal with them then!" Alex shouted.

Before they could start running, two wizards floated up the path they had come from and cast a barrier, trapping them inside.

"What's the plan here boys?" Christian's voice was tense.

The knights were shifting anxiously, but not attacking yet.

Alex had one final command, "Hold the line guardians."

Kazun's voice boomed, "Snuff out their light."

The knights approached and the guardians sprung into action. Alex placed his shield and Ryan his rift. Christian drew his sword and started swinging. They ducked and weaved around the countless blades that came at them. Alex punched a knight in its face, grabbed its sword from its hand as it fell, and stabbed it. He continued to use the sword at the following knights that approached him. Ryan alternated between firing his smg and meleeing the knights as they came within swinging distance of him.

The knights proved too much for them. Soon they were all back to back, Alex and Christian blocking the hive swords with their own, and Ryan with his gun. All three guardians yelled as they used every bit of strength they had left to stop the swords of their enemies from progressing any closer towards them. Even if they had managed to fend off the three knights that loomed over them, there were more waiting to take their place.

"I only need a little bit longer," Alex struggled to speak as he focused on keeping his attacker at bay.

"For what?" Ryan asked, he himself being just as breathless as the titan.

"For my sentinel shield."

"I don't know if we can last that long," Christian looked at his two teammates. He could tell by the tension and shaking of their arms that none of them were far from faltering.

Ryan's arms started to shake more than they already were. Christian saw that they were about to give way. He pushed back against his own knight with all of his strength, causing the knight to take a step back. He used this second of relief to rotate to the right and clash his sword with Ryan's knight, and send it backwards as well, giving Ryan a chance to point his smg towards and shoot and kill the knight. Christian saw his knight begin to swing again and braced for a bitter end, but it didn't come. Alex had done the same thing as Christian had. The titan had thrown off his knight and blocked the oncoming attack coming from Christian's knight. The only problem was that there was no one to stop Alex's knight from swinging at him again. Ryan shot at it, but the knight was almost unphased as its blade was brought down on the titan.

The blade connected with Alex's shoulder. As it did, the titan cast his sentinel shield. He threw the sword off of him with his shield and bashed in the head of the knight to his right. This left Christian a second to recover as Alex tore through the rest of the knights. It was like being in the eye of a hurricane watching Alex destroy all of the knights encircling them. Christian knelt with his sword pointed towards the ground as he watched the carnage unfold. Ryan was next to him with his hands on his knees. They were both breathing hard and their muscles were aching. Alex finished off all but 2 of the knights with his super. His fireteam quickly assisted him with taking care of the leftovers, but it used up the last of their ammunition for their heavy weapons.

Now they stood, the three of them surrounded by the three twisted reflections of themselves. This was the moment that they all had been waiting for, the moment that they had feared. No one spoke, and the only sound that could be heard was the rustle of fabric and heavy breathing.

"So we come to it at last," Kazun spoke slowly, basking in every moment of his imminent victory, "No more tricks, no more escape. It is here that you meet your fate."

"Maybe it is," Christian took a step forward, "But then I'll see you in hell."

Kazun laughed, then spoke once more, "Your move, guardian."

Christian looked back at his fireteam, "It's been a pleasure my friends."

"The pleasure was all ours," Alex looked at him, Ryan nodded in agreement.

Christian turned back to the wizards and started to charge. Alex and Ryan followed close behind. The hive guardians followed suit. Alex ran for Nekrax, Ryan for Zanur, and Christian for Kazun.

Weapons hadn't been drawn yet, only fists and knives. Punches were thrown and blades sliced. Fists were caught and knives redirected. Blows were dealt and blows felt.

Alex landed some good hits on Nekrax, but Nekrax dodged most of the titan's bombardment. Nekrax's knife worked slowly in between dodges. It would connect with Alex's armor once every few punches that the titan threw when Nekrax saw an opening. Most of the time, the blade would scrape armor and nothing more, but eventually, it found a soft point. Alex felt a spike of pain and grabbed his arm. He felt the blood dripping down it.

Ryan did his best to stay out of Zanur's reach. He glided over his opponent before they met and hit him from behind, causing him to stumble forward. Ryan hit him again before the Titan turned around and swung back. Ryan was knocked back, but he jumped out of the way of the titan's follow up fist and hit the titan in the side of the head. The titan backhanded the warlock off his feet. As he tried to stand back up, he noticed a small chip in his helmet.

Christian jumped before he reached Kazun in order to meet the hive wizard's head with his shattered knife as he fell back down. Kazun blocked the advancing blade and struck at the hunter's side with his other hand, but the hunter grabbed the attacking hand's wrist, pulling it down and kneeing Kazun as high up in the chest as he could. As his knee made contact, the guardian winced from the pressure put on his still fresh wound. The wizard was knocked back, but he charged again at Christian. The hunter went for another knife jab. Kazun raised his arm and again connected with the hunter's wrist, but this time he angled his arm to slide the hunter's knife off of him. He then grabbed the wrist with the knife and twisted it, leaving the hunter's elbow facing up. While he did this, his other hand came down on Christan's elbow, causing the hunter to drop to his knees as Kazun raised his other hand again to strike.