After spending the past half hour in a dead sprint across the forest just to catch up to Monica after the pain from the burns she’d experienced had nearly knocked him out cold, Rick wasn’t exactly certain of what he’d be able to contribute to the fight. Thus why the chemistry teacher had been a bit too focused trying to close in on the Baron without being detected.

He’d wanted to sneak in closer, ready to use the Phoenix feather or the black vial on the guy to bring it all to an end if the chance arose. But then he’d seen the guy pull out the gun, and all bets were off. At the provided distance he couldn’t throw anything effectively, so instead, he used the crossbow he’d picked up from one of the dead maidens.

The metal arrows bounced off of the armor like they were no better than nerf darts. Leaving Rick as merely a spectator to the firearm wielding Baron taking aim. The gun was practically the size of his arm, the muzzle wide enough it would have made a tight fit for his fist. It was a hand-held canon.

And then the gunshot rung across the forest like a clap of thunder.

Rick had felt more than seen or heard it. A gut-punch that knocked the air right out of his lungs and left his knees feeling like melted butter. His mind whirled, a cry out to Monica almost made it out of his lips but it only came as a choking sound. Fire burned and coiled within his innards like an angry snake, weakness and pain all too suddenly.

Monica’s roar of agony rattled his bones, the chemistry teacher pulled at the feeling as best he could, trying to hold it down, pin it in place, remove some of the worst of it from Monica lest it leave her too out of the fight. But there was just so much of it that Rick wasn’t even sure he had the strength to do more than struggle to breathe. The pain was a forest fire and he had no more than a glass of water to put it out.

Raising his gaze at the Baron, the man had dropped the gun, the barrel glowed red hot, smoke sizzled out of the muzzle, the canon bent from the heat. The lord’s own armor had cracked, the recoil on the firearm being apparently monumental enough to shatter it. The nobleman’s face was split by a wide eager smile as he walked forward, not even sparing a glare at Rick. “Hold her in place.”

The teacher barely found the strength to rise to his knees, looking towards Monica and feeling his blood run cold.

She was pale, gasping, and weakly struggling against the two maidens pinning down her arms. And in her belly there was a large red hole, big enough Rick could’ve sworn he could see through it, blood pooling as the feline’s eyes moved wildly from side to side. “Rick.” She managed to speak with a gasp.

It sent a chill down his spine, the red hot and electric, the localized agony in his gut drawing out every ounce of strength he had.

“Nurse! Make sure she doesn’t die, or else all this would have been for naught!” The Baron spoke with a jovial grin, laughing as the maiden with pink hair rushed to kneel in front of Monica.

The nurse’s hair hid her face as she didn’t look in Rick’s direction, hands glowing with a dull gray light, but he knew who she was. Dia. “Brain and heart weren’t seriously hurt… I can keep her alive until she reaches the hospital.”

“I want her to be stable.” The Baron snarled. “Can you?”

“…with all due respect, my Lord, even if we used every potion available, it would be tough.”

“Then do that.” He dropped a bag next to her, turning around and facing Rick. “Mimi.”

“Yes, Lord.”

Rick tried to move, to get out of the way. His legs were weak, his mind spun with the dizzying white hot burning sensation, his eyes unable to look away from Monica. She was growing paler, breathing becoming weaker, he could feel her presence slowly slipping from him, like a tree being ripped from the soil by a furious wind.

But he couldn’t keep his focus on her any longer, the mousy maiden with a deep tan had him pinned within the next three seconds. In following two, she’d emptied his pockets and tossed the crossbow well outside his reach.

“Rihck…”

Monica’s wheeze came with a slight cough, her face an ashen gray.

The Baron laughed, and the human fought against the mouse’s grip. She was lighter than him, but her hands had an iron hold on his wrists, her tail keeping his ankles tight together as well.

The sight of the Baron’s metal-coated boot forced Rick to look upwards.

“You lost.” The noble chuckled, walking back and forth, staring down at the chemistry teacher as he glared hot coals of anger in return. “The only reason you got this far was because you took what was rightfully mine.”

The glare was a silent one, Rick’s jaw held tightly enough his teeth ached.

“Unlike you, I’m not a barbarian. So rejoice! You’re not going to die tonight. ”

The laughter became all the louder as the chemistry teacher’s expression faltered, feeling something was deeply wrong with the situation, that what the cold angry eyes looking at him could not truly allow for his survival.

The Baron kept talking. “You’re a pure human. Killing you would be a loss to the kingdom. There is much good your genes could bring to this land.” The man reached into the pouch hanging from his belt and pulled out a singular round piece of metal the size of his palm. “I will put you to good use.”

The coin glimmered under the floating orbs of light that cast the clearing into a yellow gloom. The only defining feature of the item was the ‘5’ etched on its side, and a sense of dread that churned within Rick’s stomach when looking at it. Every hair on his body stood on edge at the mere presence of the thing.

“My Lord…” Dia’s voice rang out, her healing faltering as she looked at the coin, and then at Rick. Fear was painted across her every feature. “Fiving coins are too powerful for use on humans!”

A slight snarl crept across the Baron’s face, his grip on the coin tightening as the metal gave a slight black glow that appeared to suck the light out of its surroundings. “It won’t kill him. He’ll just never truly recover. Which works just as well. His mind is of no value to me.”

Lowering himself, crouching so he could meet Rick’s eyes, the Baron’s lips curled into an upwards smile.

“Any last words?”

“Monica will never be yours.”

The smile grew. “I’m sure she’ll cry your name a few more times.” He smirked, lowering his voice into a whisper, one gauntlet covered hand grasping Rick’s jaw tightly. “But don’t worry, the shock of having your mind erased will break the bond… and if it doesn’t, I’ll just do the same to her. One way or the other, she will be mine and no one else's.”

Rick spat at the man, wildly struggling against the iron grip of the tiny maiden that kept him firmly immobile. The noble grimaced, whipping the spit off, the edge of amusement not entirely gone. “As your friend told me: ‘I hope you rot in hell’.”

Leaning down, the Baron pressed the coin against Rick’s forehead. Its surface cold and hard and electric.

It started with an intense tingling sensation, a ticklish itch that quickly spread all over his skull, turning into lightning and ice. Rick screamed, fighting with everything he had against the restraints of the maiden atop of him, the sound drowned out by the intense ringing that exploded within his skull. His vision turned white and every muscle on his body seized at the same time right as his sense of touch began to become numb. For a fraction of a second, he almost thought he’d manage to throw off his capturer, but his thoughts didn’t get to exist for much longer let alone any sensation from the rest of his body.

A storm of white noise spread within him, his thoughts battered away against a growing sphere of nothingness. There was no chance to fight back, everything that touched the nothingness vanished. His mind scattered, trying to escape, but bound within the confines of his brain, there was nowhere to run. Thinking was pain, feeling was pain, and through the pain, everything in its wake was left in void.

“RICK!”

The voice screamed within the nothingness like the ring of a bell.

He blinked.

The first thing he felt was his own breathing, hard and raspy, struggling against a heart that beat so fast it felt like it was going to explode. The next was the warm wetness on his face and head, and slowly, the whiteness that covered his vision was receding. And what he saw in front of him as his eyes regained focus was slowly pushing thoughts back into existence.

The Baron was kneeling, eyes wide in horror, face pale, hands trembling and reaching upwards. A blade struck out of the noble’s throat, blood pouring down the man’s chest.

The coin had fallen off of Rick’s forehead and somewhere to the forest floor.

Dia was the one holding the dagger, pushing it forward with another spurt, and then... pulling it back. The Baron collapsed.

“My Lord!” Two voices rang out at the same time.

A third voice leaned over Rick and spoke in barely a whisper. “Close your eyes.” The force binding his wrists and ankles released.

He managed to look away from the surge of blinding white light that engulfed the space in front of him.

As soon as the dazzling flash ended, the weight that had been keeping Rick pinned in place was off. The human was fighting to be able to focus, his head felt like it had been dunked into molasses. Everything was a painful blur if he tried to summon thoughts. So he didn’t think, his eyes locked onto the brown vial along the black glass thimble with a stopper, two items that had been in his pocket merely seconds ago, and he grasped at them both as he found the strength to rise to his feet. Emotion led his actions, fear and anger urging him to move.

The Baron’s dying body was knocked over backwards, and Dia was caught by surprise, almost falling as well. The nurse said something, but her words were left as a numb ringing in the chemistry teacher’s ears.

He didn’t pay attention to her, nor to the canine that was fighting the glowing mouse. Rick's eyes were locked onto the green-skinned maiden that was screaming and covering her eyes in pain from the flash of light. Something inside Rick told him she was his enemy. Nothing else mattered. With stumbling steps, he moved forward, his palm slammed against the right side of the green-skin’s face, shattering both vials on impact.

The fire that erupted from the liquid wreathed both his hand and the maiden’s left temple. It brought a sudden sharp jolt of pain. The sensation a sharp knife to his brain that pushed his mind to move, to wake up, to drag itself back into action. Pain, the forest, the Baron, Monica. MONICA!

Snarling, Rick pushed forward, using his whole weight to ram against the shocked and half-blinded Orc. She fell by his weight alone, dropping her short sword and clawing at her face, the green skin frothing under her fingers. The maiden was too concerned on the searing pain. There was something in the flames, green and bright, the smell they gave off stung Rick’s throat. But he didn’t have time to think, to feel, the sensation was almost distant in his mad search for a weapon. He found her sword and grasped it, seeking to give its sharp edge something to sink into.

The Orc’s wildly flinging free hand almost knocked the weapon out of his hands, sheer luck letting him keep hold as he swung down at her head. The second attempt struck against her throat, exposed, unburned, and yet it barely scratched her. The Orc barely did more than cough and begin moving more wildly.

Letting out a scream of frustration, the human pulled at every ounce of anger and strength he had.

“HEY BITCH!”

The shout made her stop only long enough to look at him with her unburned eye. And that pause was all he needed. The blade came down towards her burning eye-socket, and her free hand grasped at it before it could strike true.

Her singular eye seared with growing rage, a snarl rumbling out of her chest as her face burnt under the liquid fire. “You!” She screamed, her fingers gripping the blade more tightly, blood oozing out of her grasp. Rick pushed down with both hands, putting his weight into it as best he could. The moment she knocked him off, he was dead.

And with the green flames dying out, she was slowly regaining her strength.

That is, until black veins began to spread from the burn-wounds. They pulsed and spread across her skull, the burns turned into pustulant blisters, skin boiling and melting.

Rick pushed harder, shoving more of his weight down on the blade, unable to look away as the flames that covered half her face were being replaced by frothing flesh, leaving behind blackened skin and bone. His own arm still burned, but everything felt too numb for him to be able to properly feel more than a slight pain from it.

“GO JOIN THAT ASSHOLE!” He roared back at her, reaching down with his burning hand and pressing it against her free eye while his other hand used his weight to push down, heels digging into the dirt.

The Orc screamed, the arm that had been on her face falling numbly as she held the edge with the remaining one. The blackness was spreading further across her face, Rick’s searing fingers pushing into the good eye until it began to sink. Opening her mouth, she roared, a primal scream as she shook and tensed.

Her fingers slipped.

Weight and gravity took its course.

The blade pierced through her eye, a singular solid thunk and the Orc abruptly went limp.

Rick stumbled and fell next to her, his body shaking and mind reeling. Silence spread within his mind. Strength left him with a sudden gasp. His gaze was blurring, and the world was suddenly spinning very fast. His legs gave out, falling to his knees. Only then did he become aware of the nasty purple burns that covered his right arm all the way to his elbow. He could barely make out black tendrils creeping up under his skin, their presence chilling his bones as they moved.

“Rick.”

The single word made him raise his head to look at Monica, the feline laying against the tree as she stared at him with those blue-green eyes. A pale smile lingered on her lips, her face almost white as a sheet. Rick figured he didn’t look much better.

All around him the world seemed to be getting darker at the edges.

“I’m sorry.”

That caught his attention, he turned his head to look over his shoulder barely in time to see the glowing blade strike his arm. In a single burst of pain his mind became lucid again. Hit heart began to pump wildly once more as he screamed. The noise became muffled as something cold was pressed against his lips, a liquid pouring into his throat that turned into fire, glowing hands pressing against the bleeding stump. It was too overwhelming, he coughed out, struggling for breath.

"DRINK!" The voice rung, Rick in haled air and gulped, everything was becoming a whirlwind of confusing sensation.

Everything was blurring again as he collapsed back to the dirt.

“It’s the only way to stop the poison.”

The voice was distant, poison, the black thing, the black thing he’d smashed with his hand. “Monica.” He grit his teeth. “Heal…”

“Sir, if-.”

Summoning every ounce of strength he had left, Rick’s left hand reached out for the first thing he could see. A piece of leather, armor, a woman with pink hair. He yanked her closer, meeting violet gaze and snarling. “That’s an order.” He put everything into those words, everything he had left. Only after realizing it was Dia. Her name was Dia. He did not let go until she nodded.

Her face was pale and splattered with blood, her eyes wide with shock and panic. There was little room to doubt she'd follow it.

With that reassurance, he didn't have anything else keeping him focused. Rick collapsed, all strength gone in a poof of smoke, his body taking the opportunity to overwhelm him with every bit of sensation it could throw his way.

A pair of soft hands grasped the sides of his head and slowly cradled it. Rick barely managed to spot the mouse that had pinned him down earlier. Purple light emerged from her touch, and a soothing wave of calmness swept over him. His body felt further and further away, the pain and tiredness something increasingly distant and foreign.

He caught sight of Dia’s hands glowing over Monica’s injury right as his eyes became too heavy to keep open.

Time slipped from his grasp, and the world spun into darkness.