On the Road to Ruin IX

Once inside I see a large Khajiit mage, almost the same size as a werewolf, has erected a barrier cutting the main dining room/entryway in half as I see Bosska standing behind a kneeling and bound Marcus.

"Father!" Kasia cries out in terror.

"That's close enough!" Bosska warns, bringing his blade closer to Marcus' neck.

"Kasia! Thank the gods you're alive!" Marcus shouts in relief.

"And what do you know! The guardian lives as well! You did well seeing through my courier's facade." Bosska praises before sneering, "Yet you were still stupid enough to walk right into my trap."

"Kasia, you shouldn't have come. They were only keeping me alive so that they could get to you!" Marcus chastises Kasia.

"Exactly. Now that the family has been reunited, it's time to end this once and for all. My orders are to take the girl alive. As for you Marcus, you already know your fate." Bosska says drawing back his blade.

"No! How much gold will it take to buy your mercy? Whatever you do, do not hurt my daughter!" Marcus pleads.

"Gold? We may be mercenaries, but our allegiance with Project Purity goes beyond such pettiness. This is about saving the world. This is about killing the man responsible for Serenity's Sirens! Your unbridled expansion has not gone unnoticed. It was just a matter of 'when' we should eradicate your despicable band of whores! What better time than now? The chaos that blankets this province will drown out the screams of your dying legacy." Bosska monologues as the villain he is.

"You will never find them!" Marcus shouts in defiance.

"Do you recognize this sword? Elegant. Mystical. It's one of a kind." Bosska says, drawing my attention to the sword, which I instantly recognize to be a Katana.

"What?! That means-" Marcus exclaims in shock before Bosska cuts him off.

"Fort Pazarath has fallen. The walls have been painted red with the blood of your Sirens." The Khajiit says.

"Damn you! Damn all of you!" Marcus shouts in a rage.

"Bosska stop! Don't do this!" Kasia begs as she begins pounding on the barrier.

"Kasia, listen! I love you!" Marcus says as I see Bosska pull back his sword prompting me to try and blast through the barrier with my strongest torrent of flames as Kristy hits it with her sword, but it does nothing but causes a slight flicker as the mage easily holds us at bay.

"Your mother, she's alive! She's-" Marcus tries to explain, but is stopped abruptly as the sword cleanly slices through his neck and decapitates him.

"Rest in peace, old man. May you find redemption in Sovngarde." Bosska says before turning to the Khajiit, "Deal with them. Restrain the girl, kill the guardian. I will gather the rest of our brothers and prepare our retreat." Bosska says as he retreats.

"With pleasure, Commander." The large Khajiit says, pulling forth a giant war hammer that crackles with electricity.

"Damn you!" Kristy shouts recklessly charging toward the Khajiit only to be knocked aside with overwhelming power. As a large dent is formed in her ebony armor and she is thrown against the wall and knocked unconscious.

"Come now Orc! Let this one put you out of your misery!" The Khajiit shouts coming in with another large swing.

I slide on my knees to avoid the swing before popping back up behind him, throwing a kick powered by my shockwave ability straight into his back.

Unfortunately, it only pushes him a few feet away from me and he's able to regain his balance quickly before I have a chance to take advantage of the opening I had created.

"Not bad, but he will win the day!" The Khajiit shouts while charging forward and twirling their hammer as a wave of lightning shoots forward stunning me long enough for the second flourish of the hammer to make contact with my chest and sends me flying much like Kristy.

"Fuck!" I curse as I pull myself out of the bookshelf I had gotten embedded in.

"Now you die by this one's ham-" The large Khajiit shouts before I cut him off mid-swing with a shout.

"FUS!" I shout throwing off his aim and causing him to embed his hammer into the shelf I just pried myself out of.

I take the chance to drive my sword into an opening in the side of his armor before channeling frost magic through the blade to slow him down. But despite my best efforts he pulls his hammer free and launches another attack.

*Swish*

I shift to the out of the way causing the swing to miss before launching myself forward into his side after that swing before placing my free left hand on his head and letting loose a torrent of flame burning his fur and blinding him but that's still not enough to put the monster down.

"Aahhh! He will kill you!!!" The Khajiit shouts swinging wildly and without pattern making it almost impossible to get within range for another strong attack.

I grab a chair, throwing it at the Khajiit's feet causing them to stumble and giving me the opening I needed to bring my blade down on their exposed neck like what was done to Marcus just moments ago.

I walk over to Kristy to make sure that they're okay and discover aside from being knocked the fuck out, she'll be fine. I go over to a weeping Kasia who is cradling her father's dead body.

"No… This can't be happening. Not like this. Dad… I'm so sorry." Kasia cries out between tears.

"Kasia…" I say patting her shoulder, "This wasn't your fault… There wasn't anything anyone could have done." I try and reassure her.

"But it was! I should have stayed back! Maybe then you could have stopped them before they… Before they…" Kasia breaks into tears crying into my chest before continuing, "I wish I hadn't been so ungrateful. Now he's gone and I can't say that I forgive him!"

I struggle to come up with something that might soothe her fractured heart.