Azaan’s eyes slowly widened and he turned around to run. His heart beat crazily as he felt his body slowly heating up. Everything felt slow and he felt his thoughts clear up as if a fog had been swept away from his mind. Heat slowly reached up to him and he felt his skin fry.

Boooom!!!

As the explosion erupted behind him, winds exploded out, flying him away. He floated for a brief moment, mind still sharp, he braced himself for the impact that was imminent.

He crashed onto the ground. Then floated and then crashed. Old wounds reopened and new gashes joined them. His hairs were burnt, though the body as a whole did get affected by the heat as he had run far enough.

Coughing blood, he laid on the ground as his whole body hurt.

“Haha..cough..cough”

It was as if he was at a bombing site. The time, which now seemed far away, when terrorist bombings were normal occurrences and hearing about ten twenty bodies blowing up every week was a norm. It was better than that though, as it at least did not have any nails or pellets or other things that would rip any living being apart.

Shaking off the useless thoughts he tried to get up. His bones rattled and he felt as if he would collapse but using the sword, he got up. Wincing in pain, he turned around.

“Won’t really need pain immunity if it goes on like this, haha...cough...cough”

He wiped the blood with his sleeves. The fire had lit up his rescuer who was doing perfectly well even though a massive ball of fire had just struck him head on. The goblin was wearing black clothes, sleeveless. Currently, there were lines lit up on the goblin’s clothes and a blue film was shimmering around him. His color was green, his horns, though significantly smaller than the one who had captured him in chains, were starting to curve towards the sky.

The cloaked goblins' horns were even smaller. The cloaked goblin sent another fireball but this time instead of becoming bigger it instead morphed into a sharp stake and headed straight for the other goblin.

The target suddenly clapped his hand and it seemed that whatever he was doing was completed as he suddenly blurred, evaded the spike, rotated, and as his hand glowed blue, grabbed it and threw it back.

Cloaked goblin snapped his fingers and the spike faded away. But then though, the other goblin was already upon him, hands glowing with greater intensity as he launched a punch. A shield shimmered into existence to protect the other goblin but the glow of lightning transitioned into a deeper, darker blue penetrating the shield. The lighting sent the cloaked goblin flying through the air. Cloak on fire, he crashed into the ground.

He blurred in front and kicked the cloaked goblin but this time the shield stopped him, even enhancing the lightning did not help. The cloaked goblin kicked him which he dodge but instead of following further the cloaked goblin instead pushed himself back as he got up creating a bit of distance between them.

"Cough... cough… how did you… puke"

Blood came out of his mouth and he suddenly pointed towards his foe. The blood turned into white flames instantly accelerating towards the goblin who tried to dodge but they kept following him.

"Why such hostility, my dear brother. First your master kidnaps me and now you are going even further trying to kill me."

As he kept evading the balls of white fire his hands were again in the same state as before the start of the fight.

"How did you escape your master's notice?"

"Now that's a secret, dear brother, BUT..., if you tell me something I can..."

"Nonsense!"

The fires ganged up on him but he slipped through them. It was stunningly beautiful if watched from afar. Though he had made it look easy and beautiful, the pressure was increasing as they slowly increased in speed and their numbers coordinated better.

Again he evaded away from the cloaked goblin as they kept him tightly secure, always prioritizing the safety of their conjurer.

"Offer still remains, dear brother. Just tell me what you are going to do with this shiny town. See, it's so simple."

"How about you stop and I will then tell you my response."

"Can't do that, dear brother, I am afraid to inform. My feet just don't stop, they are completely out of control…hmmm"

Again the fireballs tried to surround him as he blurred away.

"Though how about you put these pets away, dear brother, then I will hug you and you stop me from moving."

Just as he was escaping the white balls of fire, they suddenly split into two parts becoming even faster and even more annoying. Two of them slammed into him as they broke through the shield instantly burning his arm.

"Gasp...fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu!"

He pushed himself faster, barely controlling the pain that he was feeling due to the fires that were both attached to his arms.

Clap!

He accelerated, his speed becoming even faster as he moved through the fire balls, extracting the two balls from his arm and then in front of the cloaked goblin. To the cloaked goblin it looked as if he teleported in front of him.

Then came the beating, first he broke the fingers.

"Fuuuuuu, dear brother, that was painful."

Crack

"How about you answer my questions in return, dear brother."

Crack

"Your fate will not be a good one once masters are done."

Crack

"Don't scare me like that, dear brother, I might slip."

Crack

"But you sure are enduring, dear brother, just tell me and I will free you."

He whispered.

…

Crack

"You are making me do unthinkable, dear brother, woohoo woohoo."

Crack

Crack

Crack

"How about now, dear brother."

"Won't… gasp… die… a… gasp… a pleasant… death."

Crack

"Ominous, dear brother."

Crack

As he broke another bone, the cloaked goblin suddenly lit up and then disappeared.

"Tsk"

He looked at his arm that had been burned.

"Bastard!"

He kicked the ground with full force causing it to smash inwards. His bones were becoming visible as the flesh around it was burnt black. Bigger problem still was the corrosive energy that had been incorporated into the fire that had remained even though the fire itself had been removed. He quickly sealed his arm from his wrist to his elbow. It reduced its usefulness even more now as the limited movement that it could make were even more restricted.

He looked around for Azaan and ran towards him as he saw him on the ground, unmoving.

-----

A consistent tapping on his face forced him to open his eyes. He tried to get up but his body felt powerless. He felt confused but the sticky feeling on his shoulder and all over his body enlightened him. His blood had been flowing out and this time his clothes were in no condition to be used as bandages. In the end, blood flowed out from the gashes and the old wounds that had opened up causing him to collapse.

Again warmth flooded through his body, it felt especially warmer at the damaged area on his body.

"Real lucky, otherworlder."

He looked towards the goblin that was squatting beside him, the darkness eluded the state of the goblin from his eyes as he sat there calmly.

"You won."

"That I did, otherworlder, but now I have to take care of this ritual and you are going to help."

"What do I do?"

"Let me see the poison that you talked about before."

Azaan handed him the sword.

"I have coated it in poison."

Sniff sniff

"No smell. How strong is it?"

"Single cut for a kill."

"Really, otherworlder, then we might have a chance to wreck this ritual and still escape with our lives. Take out all you have."

"You can not kill them?"

He asked as he took out the jar.

"Just as a child can't kill a mature adult in his prime, otherworlder."

The goblin shook the jar and stood up.

"But would they not be weakened if we interpret such a big ritual?"

"They will be, otherworlder, but I don't want to be there when 7 old monsters wreck havoc after having their project interrupted and neither should you. I am Incatu Fort nice, pleased to have your company."

"Azaan Ali."

Azaan took back his sword and tried to stand up. As his legs were trembling, Incatu propped him up.

"Want me to carry you, Azaan."

"No thank you."

Incatu shrugged as they both returned towards the tower.

"Now then, Azaan, I will explain to you the plan with the most likelihood of us escaping with our lives."

Azaan nodded as he used the sword as a walking stick.

"The one on the top of the tower still has some leeway to move around and thus you will be distracting him."

Incatu looked towards Azaan as he said that, facing an unchanging expression.

"But you will have to maintain a delicate balance. Just enough buzzing around that he is irritated but not enough to actually get out."

"He had previously chained me so will he not just come out and finish me?"

"That is a problem, Azaan. But unfortunately, you don't have the know-how to disrupt the ritual and if I do go there the old monster might actually just come out."

"Clarification: does disrupting the ritual result in the destruction of the tower?"

"Hmmm… no, the goal is to wait for the other monsters to arrive. Remember we don't want to irritate them so much that they go for a smack."

"Will they not attack us anyway when we disrupt the ritual?"

"I will be doing something that will slow them down enough for us to run away."

"The poison can not kill them?"

"As I have repeatedly said, Azaan, these are ancient beings and they are like cockroaches."

Azaan nodded and opened his mouth again.

"That carriage, how does it float?"

"There are crystals, Azaan, under it that have massive amounts of energy. They keep it afloat. Again, Azaan, I am telling you that it is very dangerous, if we destroy the tower I will have to stack my speed enhancement multiple times to run away and that in itself could kill us and if the old monsters sensed something we are done for…”

Azaan kept listening to Incatu as he kept explaining all the things that could go wrong and when he sensed the opportunity he asked.

"So, will you do it?"

Incatu stopped and looked deeply at Azaan and then replied.

"Azaan, you think I have a death wish?"

Without letting Azaan reply he continued.

"Of course I will do it, Azaan. If I was afraid of it I would not even have come here."

Then Incatu started describing his thoughts and both of them discussed how they would go about achieving this.

-----

Azaan spied as the emotional goblins waited with unconscious goblins by their sides. He looked at the jar that was now nearly empty. He slammed the hit on the building and suddenly all goblins' attention was upon him. He moved back in the maze of buildings creating sounds from the goblins to follow. Due to all the injuries he moved slowly allowing the goblins to reach him.

His face was fixed in a permanent agony as he made a cut and barely dodged most of the strikes. His opponent was constantly crying but that did not have any effect upon his skills. As the goblins sword bit into his sides, he closed in. The pain was unimaginable as the blade cut his flesh even more but he quickly made a cut on the goblin and retreated.

As he was moving behind more goblins came and the more injuries he was inflicted with. By now he was completely sure that if not for the ration he had eaten he would have been dead as even still blood dripped down his wounds. As he kept moving around, they did not get any time to seal up.

He kept playing this cat and mouse game with the goblins for a while until Incatu. Incatu shoved the goblins towards him and he inflicted a light cut upon them, enough for the poison to do its work.

As they finished the work, Azaan confirmed.

“You are done?”

“Yes, Azaan.”

“What will you do with the other captives?”

“Nothing I can do really, Azaan. It will be difficult to even save our skins after this.”

“You keep producing fake sounds.”

Incatu whispered quietly as he moved towards the carriage.

Azaan grabbed one of the swords from the ground and moved towards the glowing path where the carriage was, sometimes striking both blades. He moved back and forth to make sounds appear more real. It seemed to be working for now as the noises kept assaulting them, and the pressure was still there. The pressure had helped in slowing the blood loss as it made it difficult for it to get out.

Again he went towards the glowing road and looked towards the carriage. Incatu he put his hand up, as he had asked before. Azaan started moving closer while creating sounds. They were ready.