Lot to Lose, Lot to Gain (Rewrite)

Chapter Seventeen

The Phantom sat perched on top of the castle, simply observing. "Forgive me, but this needed to happen."

A shadowy, red and white-eyed figure stood next to Lady Stella in the courtyard. The witch's hat lay discarded on the ground, her hair disheveled. Rain was the first to find her, and was immediately cautious.

"Stella!"

She turned, alongside the figure. Her eyes were a blood red, pupils white. Her books lay scattered around her. He shook his head.

"What the hell?!"

"Sorry, grandmaster. She's ours now," the figure said.

Rain said no more, simply charging at the figure. He didn't even have a chance to react before the figure calmly brought a blade up, narrowly missing his throat. Rain rolled to the side, picking up the closest weapon to him. The End Greatsword, despite its massive weight, remained a powerful weapon for him to wield, swinging the hefty blade at his opponent. The figure- the name Djinn popped into his head, seemingly out of nowhere- ducked out of the way, being more than able to dodge Rain's clumsy strikes. Even more so, he was able to counter-strike, his katana finding purchase across Rain's eye.

The Dragon Tamer staggered back, and Djinn ran, Stella on his heels. Rain attempted to pursue them, running with all the strength he had, but several more figures emerged from behind the gate. A Blaze, a Pigman, and a Wither Skeleton. All three engaged Rain immediately. The Blaze charged first, her katana passing dangerously close to Rain. They were fighters on par with Djinn, and clearly they worked together. The Wither Skeleton was the next to take a stab- literally, as his blade's point found purchase in Rain's leg. Despite the wound, Rain reacted quickly, disarming him and picking up the katana himself.

"Give her back!" He shouted, raising the blade.

"No. Can. Do," the Wither Skeleton said, charging Rain once more, completely unarmed.

He knew it was suicide, but he charged anyway. Rain buried the sword into the skeleton's head, feeling it fall to the ground as the body went limp. That made that katana useless, as the Pigman struck with his katana, forcing Rain to retreat. The Dragon Tamer rolled to the side, but found he couldn't get up because of his wound. He got into a kneeling position, ready to continue the fight, when a blast of arcane energy obliterated the Pigman assassin. Rain looked to its source to see Amethyst standing to the side, her staff in hand.

"You don't get the mercy of death," the girl spat, staring the Blaze dead in the eyes.

"Do your worst," she replied.

Amethyst charged, right at the Blaze's raised katana. The assassin swiped the air with her blade, but caught only that- air. Amethyst had "blinked" behind the Blaze, striking her in the head with her staff. She collapsed to the ground, the Nether Mage standing over her. Rain got to his feet slowly, retrieving the Blaze's sword. The two stood over her until guards arrived, upon which Rain ordered her immediate arrest.

"Amethyst, they have Stella. If we hurry, we can catch them," Rain said.

Amy sighed. "Rain, they beat you. You! How are we supposed to beat them?"

"You can use Stella's books. You're a skilled mage, I know you can do it."

"Thank you, sir, but I-"

"Amy, let's go."

The Nether Mage collected Stella's tomes, including the Wither Tome. "Let's go."

The pair took off through the forest, slowed by Rain's injuries but pressing on nonetheless. A demonic screech was enough to give them their location. Coming to a clearing in the forest, they saw Stella and Djinn, the former now having bloody horns protruding from her head. Rain's good eye narrowed.

"Amethyst, take care of Lady Stella! I've got this one," he said, drawing the katana from before.

"Fools. Just leave us be and you'll live to die another day," the assassin scoffed. It was almost as if he was made of darkness.

The pair clashed, their blades locked. Rain opened his wounded eye, revealing one quite similar to End Matriarch Ceris's eyes. This took Djinn by surprise, making hit falter for just long enough for Rain to get the upper hand. He swept Djinn's legs out from under him, knocking the assassin down. In a blind rage, he buried his sword in Djinn's eye, and in one quick motion, decapitated the assassin with his own sword.

Looking back, he saw that Amethyst had been successful in using arcane magic to pin the demonic Stella to the ground, but the demon overpowered the magic and hit the Nether Mage with a fireball. The mystical bindings failed, and she charged at Rain. The Dragon Tamer, unable to bring himself to strike at his former ally, stood still. She saw this and, without hesitation, delivered several strikes to Rain. Regaining his focus, he caught one of her punches, swept her legs out like he did with Djinn, and fell on top of her, using all his weight to pin her.

"Amy! The Wither Tome!" He shouted. Stella screeched, as if in protest.

Amy summoned up the tome, immediately casting a spell towards Stella. The Demonic Enchantress raised her hands as a kind of shield, but it was ineffective. The spell made contact, and Stella let out an ear-piercing screech. Rain covered his ears, falling to the side, while Amy fell to her knees. While no visible change occurred, the Enchantress sat up, looking around. As she realized the situation, she broke down into tears.

"I'm sorry... I'm sorry..." she muttered over and over.

Rain stood and walked in front of her. He did the same as she'd done when his Wither Heart Curse was lifted, falling to his knees and hugging the witch. She hugged him back, crying into his shoulder, still repeating those same words.

The moment of calm didn't last, however, as an arrow sang through the air. Stella was only saved from the deadly point by Amy, who had intercepted it with an arcane sword. More arrows flew from the trees, and Stella forced herself away from Rain, taking off into the sky. As soon as she was out of view, the arrows ceased.

Rain stood. "Who's there!?" He demanded.

"Relax, you're not our target," a woman's voice came from the trees.

"Ciara, let's show ourselves. They're from that fort in the distance," a man's voice.

Two figure emerged from the trees. One, a man with short, dark hair and grey skin. He wore a mixture of leather and metal, and had crossbows mounted to his wrists. His purple and white eyes bore into Rain. The second was less harsh- a young woman with blue eyes, long hair, and similar in appearance to her comrade.

Rain collapsed. He didn't care who was around, he was weak. Too weak. He'd bled and bled, ran and ran... all to get Stella back. And now, he'd done it. His drives gone, he couldn't hang on. He collapsed and fell back against a tree. The male stood still, observing as the female- Ciara- and Amethyst ran to Rain's aid.

"Is he okay?" Ciara asked, Amy being the first to make it to him.

"He's running out of blood. We need to get him back to the fort," Amy reported.

She didn't trust these people, but she didn't have a choice. She wasn't strong enough to get Rain back to the Dreadfort alone, and he wouldn't make it if she ran back to get help.

"We can help. That demon... she did a number on him," Ciara remarked.

Amy shook her head. "No. That 'demon' is our friend. The headless guy over there is the one who did this."

Ciara and her comrade looked over. "Damn. Kane, help me here."

"Got it," the man said, almost sounding annoyed.

Kane picked up Rain, and stood. Ciara spoke up when she saw Amethyst's confusion. "We don't know where we're going. You do."

Amethyst nodded, leading the party back towards the Dreadfort. The Phantom watched from his perch, feeling halfway guilty for letting Stella turn.

(Just a little author's note here at the end. I know. I know that the Blaze is male as well. There is a reason for this change- this was a type of character I'd already planned and just saw a chance to implement her. As such, her name will be different as well, since this is not Rainimator's character. Putting this here to sort out any possible confusion. Thank you.)