Sacrifice

As soon as Alastair realized it was a human being they had imprisoned with them, he was about to rush them but was stopped by Marco," Its a trap you know that, right?". Alastair grumbled and replied," I know that but ..." Alastair looked at the Prisoners head being placed on a stump, while one of the Acolyte orcs was sharpening his axe. Alastair then had an idea but one that he knew came with risks. "Marco, Get the men into the forest ,as soon as I give the signal get the hostage and me out of here, you will probably have a short window so move quickly". Marco looked at him with concern as he grasped the gravity of Alastair's plan. 'Are you crazy?' he blurted out, unable to contain his worry. 'If you're thinking what I think you are, you won't have enough energy left to defend yourself.'

Alastair met Marco's gaze with a determined look, tinged with a hint of resignation. 'That's precisely why I need you to act swiftly,' he replied, his voice steady despite the underlying tension. With a grim nod, he turned his attention back to the looming threat of the Acolytes, steeling himself for what lay ahead

Marco knew there was no point in arguing and ordered the men to retreat into the forests. While Azaroth saw the peacekeepers and Alastair separating, one of his generals spoke up " It seems the humans plan on abandoning their comrades after all " . Azaroth didn't say anything but looked at the General who spoke " Tell the executioner to proceed" , The General Silently Nodded and signaled the orc to commence the Execution,. As the prisoners head was placed on the stump , and the orc was raising its axe. Alastair replaced his weapon for a katana, one with a black handle. Alastair did not remove the katana from its Saya. He just held it next to his waist while grabbing the handle ,getting into position as if he were about to unsheathe it. As the orc raised its blade about to slam the axe on the prisoners neck , Alastair releases the blade doing an upward slash , and all of a sudden a huge gust of air started flowing upwards. And as The orcs axe was about to fall on to the prisoners neck a huge slash went through him and all the monsters that were between him and Alastair started dying with there limbs being sliced apart. Even the executioners arms were sliced off instantly without anyone noticing. The sudden deaths caused confusion to the monsters which gave Alastair the opening he needed, as he immediately stepped forward sparks of lightning started emitting from his feet and eyes.

All of a sudden he was next to the prisoner and the executioner who was lying on the ground groaning from the pain , and before anyone could react Alastair stabbed his katana into the ground causing lighting to start generating around him and the prisoner making a transparent dome with sparks emitting from it. The Executioner however was lying between the dome and as soon as it activated his body started frying from the lightning , killing him and turning it into ash. The Gruesome death made the monster wary of the dome and too afraid to approach it, giving Alastair who was a bit tired time to release the prisoner from his binds. The prisoner then removed the bag on his head and revealed to be a blonde haired corporal with a moustache who was coughing for air while Alastair bent down to him on one knee and spoke to him," Listen to me, Marco and the rest of the peacekeepers are waiting for my signal , as soon as I blind the monsters I want you to run like hell into the forest and retreat with them , I'll cover you got it ?".

The Soldier nodded and said thank you to Alastair. Alastair then picked the sword up and the electric dome started fading away, Alastair immediately raised his sword as lightning came crashing down and hitting hit causing a bright light to appear at the tip of the sword blinding the monsters nearby. The soldier then began to run with Alastair behind him clearing the way for them through the small opening between the monster army who were slowly recovering from the flash. As soon as the soldier was out of the army ranks, he began sprinting to the forest while Alastair stayed behind to ensure they couldn't be followed. As the smaller foot soldiers and goblin tried to over whelm him Alastair cut them all down with single swings of his blade making sure none go past him. However there was no stop to the monsters , so he sheathed his blade and took a deep breath while his eyes turned yellow and pupils changed shape and scales started forming on his skin as he started Breathing fire out of his mouth, burning away all the monsters nearby instantly to ashes. While also covering the area in black smoke obscuring the monsters view, Alastair was now on one knee , breathing heavily knowing he was close to his limit.

*Thankfully the smoke gives me enough cover to get away* Alastair thought as he slowly got up to run back into the forest but as he turned around he was shocked to see Azaroth standing right in front of him, Alastair was able to see past Azaroth's hood and saw a weird skeletal mask covering a face until the bottom jaw , with pitch black eyes and no pupils. Although looking at his appearance made Alastair feel cold as if he saw something he shouldn't have . Alastair tried to attack Azaroth with a punch but his fist went through Azaroth making him realize it was an illusion , before Alastair could react he turned around again but as he did he suddenly felt an Incredibly sharp pain in his right Rib area. Alastair then looked Azaroth who was still making a dead expression at him , while looking down Alastair realized what had happened. A black dagger with strange runes drawn on it was stabbed into his body causing incredibly pain to him.

Alastair stumbled back as Azaroth let go of the handle of the blade, not even attacking anymore as if knowing he had won the fight already. Alastair tried to remove the dagger but as he tried to pull it out ,smaller blades emerged out of the knife and stabbed into his body , pressing the blade slowly in more. "There's no point in struggling" Azaroth said in a haunting voice " I crafted that blade specifically for you, with each attempt to remove it, the blade will press further in until it can find the heart and pierce it". Alastair fell on one knee trying to cover his wound but the blade felt like it was burning his organs. In one final attempt he tried to fire an attack from his hand but all that released was a breeze of wind , which Azaroth found amusing ." I seem to have forgotten another small thing, the runes you see on the blade , are dampening your abilities, Although it was already clear you cant even use them to there full potential but that I guess that should expected from vermin like you". He then kicked Alastair which sent him flying back crashing into several trees. Alastair was now bleeding from his mouth as his helmet was now completely broken, his armor cracked and the pain from the blade was constantly increasing. *This bastard was toying with me, he wanted me to get exhausted* Alastair thought to himself struggling with the pain through out his body.

He could hear Azaroth walking towards him and wanted to get up but part of him knew it was in vain , the Symbol of hope was losing his will to fight. All of a sudden someone was in front of Alastair with his back to him , Alastair looked up to see the soldier he just saved with weapon in hand staring down Azaroth. Azaroth looked at him with amusement while Alastair was confused and panicking," what are you doing ?" Alastair said to the soldier, while wincing from the pain caused by the blade," I gave you a direct order to run , why are you here ?". The young soldier gave a nervous laugh " Sorry sir , but you always told us to help a brother in arms , no matter what " he said as he looked back at Alastair " Besides I always was bad at following orders". The young knight then pointed his sword towards Azaroth readying himself to fight.

Azaroth gave a small chuckle as he was amused by this attempt of bravery " I must say ,you ants surprise me from time to time with your foolish actions " His then gave the knight a menacing look as he continued while holding up one finger," I will grant you one attack , I will not move or attempt to block it. You have one attack to save both of you and your commander's pathetic lives". Azaroth then placed his hands on his back to show that he will not attack or attempt to block this. The Knight hesitated at first but knew this was his only chance to do something so he charged at Azaroth while Alastair yelled at him to stop. The knight was using a regular short sword , he knew that a stab would be his only choice, If he mistimed his attack both he and Alastair would lose there lives and humanity could be at risk too. As soon as he got close to the towering demon ,he jumped up while placing his right palm on the bottom end of his sword and tried to thrust it into Azaroth's chest. The attack was perfect , it had enough speed and weight behind it to fatally wound anyone, However Azaroth was not just anyone and as the blade pressed against his body , it broke off.

Norton's heart dropped as he saw the blade break off but he knew that he couldn't give up right now, so he tried to go for Azaroth's neck this time with the broken blade but Azaroth quickly grabbed him by the neck and lifted him up." I already warned you that you were given one single attack" Azaroth said while smiling. He then slowly started to press Norton's neck , making him yell in pain as he couldn't breathe. Alastair saw his comrade in trouble and tried to get up but he had already lost too much blood and was already exhausted from the fights. In a desperate attempt Alastair grabbed a nearby small axe from the monster corpses nearby and tried to throw it at Azaroth , who without looking caught it with his other hand. Azaroth then stared at Alastair and spoke in a malicious voice " Oh do not believe I have forgotten you Alastair , I just wish to show you the pathetic hope you've given you fellow vermin , I want you to watch as I slaughter your kind while you watch helplessly as they beg for your aid". However because Azaroth was focused on Alastair , his grip on Norton loosened , which allowed Norton to see a small scratch at the chest area where he stabbed Azaroth. This gave Norton an idea as he spoke to Azaroth while grabbing his arms" You didn't think I was just a swordsman now, did you?".

As soon as Azaroth's focus shifted back to Norton a vein of Ice Shards started flowing across Azaroth's pale skin and directly into the small wound in his chest. The sudden attack to his organs caused Azaroth to be taken aback as he dropped Norton to stop him from continuing to attack , Norton however was quick on his feet and immediately froze the ground underneath Azaroth to make him lose his balance. As Azaroth fell down , Norton jumped on top of him and placed his hand on the wound which was slightly bigger because of his previous attack and immediately put everything into one attack. Azaroth couldn't even react because the ice had already spread throughout his body and had even paralyzed his limbs. However, Norton didn't stop there , he decided to go all out and make sure Azaroth couldn't regenerate at all and increased the output of his ice attack . Frost started generating ground them and Norton's hands were turning blue and numb from the cold but he didn't stop , He wanted to make sure Azaroth could never escape his Ice tomb, that he would shatter into pieces by the time he was done. For ten minutes ,Norton's attack continued creating a thick frosty air that even froze the grass nearby. Alastair sat next to a tree , placing pressure on his wound as he stared into the frosty air hoping that Norton was successful .

He soon saw Norton's Silhouette and smiled at him believing that he had succeeded , but that smile soon turned into despair as the frost cleared and he saw Azaroth with frost blue skin and ice shards sticking out of his skin standing behind Norton. Alastair tried to warn Norton but that was when he saw Azaroth's Frost spikes piercing Norton's heart and the young man who tried to protect Alastair was already dead. "I had forgotten to mention my gift to you" Azaroth said as he threw away Norton's body to the side." you see I can take any magic into my body and make it my own , so all your friend did was give me a vast amount of magic power". Alastair was in shock as tears rolled down his face from the loss of a comrade and a brother in arms. Azaroth now believed he had broken Alastair completely , he had scattered his forces, the Dagger in Alastair has done enough enough damage that no healing could save him now, and the person he came to save died protecting Alastair.

He smiled knowing that the goal of taking Alastair's power for himself was now close , So he approached Alastair to finally take his price. But all of a sudden a strong dark wave started releasing from Alastair that even Azaroth felt it .*Strange, the blade should have damped his magic and ability completely by now * Azaroth thought as he was now defensive against Alastair who he could still hear sobbing with his head down, but as soon as Alastair lifted his head Azaroth was shocked.

Alastair's eyes had become completely black with red pupils staring with anger at Azaroth, as blood red tears started flowing down his cheeks. While gritting his teeth , Alastair grabbed the dagger with both hands and tried pulling , the blade responded the same as before with more tiny blades springing out and stabbing Alastair , but this time he felt no pain or if he did, the rage he felt made it easy for him to ignore it, as he yelled in anger Alastair pulled out the dagger in one blow, finally removing it from his chest. As soon as he does this the energy around him started going haywire ,as the sky turned dark and thunder started erupting, the winds turned from light breeze to a terrifying storm, and Alastair was emitting red and black lightning from his body. He stared at Azaroth with a dead expression while speaking in a haunting voice," Azaroth , whenever I had to stop a corrupt king or take care of criminals and bandits ,I never despised or hated them cause deep down I knew my hatred and anger would make me no different from them" , as Alastair spoke, a Halberd started fabricating in his hand ," but now , all I want to do is make sure your I give you a fate worse then death". And with those words the final battle between Alastair and Azaroth commenced.