Nalia was at a loss. Jared was in a bad shape after he unleashed the massive spell and drained all of his mana. Matthew fell down into the ravine. She didn't know how far down it went or if he was even still alive.

She wanted to find a way down but what if even more creatures called this place their home? The fight with the Gnoll just now had proven how they weren't prepared to deal with such creatures. The kobold three was a surprise, but they managed it but that gnoll was on a whole other level. So she took the only most logical action possible, making sure she got her friend and herself to safety. She'd get to town tell them what had happened and hope that Matthew was still alive by the time she got back with reinforcements.

She got Jared on his feet and brought him to the tunnel entrance and jutted him against the wall. Nalia walked back for their supplies and the torch. With a final look at the dark ravine and with tears in her eyes she turned around towards the tunnel entrance and Jared. Having regained some of his mana and mobility he leaned on her shoulder as they made their way back through the tunnel and back to the surface.

Glowing moss slightly illuminated the dark cave around him. With no visible way up and the river in his back Matthew had nowhere to go. The sound of footsteps echoed closer to his location. With only his shield and without a weapon it would only be a matter of time before whatever creature would pop out overwhelm him and end his life. He only had two real options. Either find a weapon or a place to hide. Neither of which seemed to be a valid option.

He could try his luck in the river to find his sword but that would only be possible if he fell into it right here and since he had blacked out and woke up on the river bed the chances he'd find it were practically zero.

So that left him with the hiding and hope the creature would find him and move on. Shallow crevices would hide him enough and holes that looked like tunnels were too small for him to fit through. He eyed the walls to see if climbing was an option but the moisture on the rocks would make it a difficult climb even if he was in full daylight. One wrong move would not only make it impossible to get away it would also mean that if he had an unlucky fall he'd be in an even worse shape if he had to fight.

He could try his luck behind one of the large boulders but that blocked his line of sight for any form of sneak attack. Think!

What could he do to get out of his situation? Was there anything, anything at all he could use as a weapon? Anything you could even remotely consider a weapon was nowhere to be found. Either a savaging creature took it with them or the river washed it away.

The footsteps sounded only yards away, but he now had a good idea of where the sound was coming from. But how did that even help him he only had his shield and that would only help whim to fend of attacks and not allow him to attack back, unless . .

He got into position and faced the direction his opponent would almost certainly appear from. Both his hands grabbed one of the straps on the back of his shield, and he planted his feet in the ground. He tensed up the muscles in his back leg and waited.

He took deep but silent breaths as he stood there waiting, prepared to take on anything that would come out to face him. His plan was simple and he only had one shot. The moment the creature showed itself he'd rush it, knock it down and hopefully that would give him enough time to either steal its weapon or overpower it.

The waiting seemed to go on for ages as eh stood there waiting, and then the silhouette of a gnoll stepped out into the dim moss light. He released all the tension on his back leg, and he charged forward, the heavy shield in his hand converted into a solid battering ram. And he let out a primal roar hoping it would be stunned by the sudden loud and aggressive situation.

He closed the distance almost instantly and slammed the shield into his opponent. He felt his opponent being pushed back, and he'd only need to topple it, but it didn't. The creature stood firm on the ground all momentum of the impact lost. A heavy blow impacted his shield, and he was pushed back instead. Only then did he notice the gnoll he thought he was fighting wasn't a gnoll at all. Well maybe it used to be a gnoll at one point in its life but its head had 2 demonic horn growing out of the side. One of its eyes had turn from black to red with a dark pupil and part of its flesh seemed to have warped and twisted into something else. The creature was converting into a demon spawn.

It licked its lips with what was now a serpentine tong and it hissed out words he didn't understand. How the hell did this thing turn into a demon spawn?

"Most likely that its made the corpse of the demon me and master Crom killed into its den and the corrupted energies has twisted its body and mind" the blade tip answer to his question.

"Well that's just great, how can i even defeat a demon spawn? Even the fight with a regular gnoll would have been hard fought".

'You might have a chance, but it's heavily dependent on this creature. Even if it does what i hope it does, you're not going to like my solution"

"So what does it need to do then?"

"I can feel it has the other part of me with it. If it draws me as a weapon you might have a chance".

His mind partially absent while he was conversing with the blade tip in his mind he was slow to block the mutated fist punch the demon threw at him. He caught it on his shield but the force of the blow left him of balance. He took a few extra steps back and refocused himself took up a defensive position.

"Try to avoid the punches instead of blocking them. Demons like it when they hurt something else so missed attacks piss them of., once it's pissed of its fist won't suffice hopefully he'll switch to the sword".

So that's what Matthew did. He danced around the punches only blocking them when he absolutely needed to and kept falling back out of punching range and 'dancing' around the demon. Each punch the demon threw and missed his target seemed to indeed make it angry. Its nose flared up with each breath after a missed punch and it started muttering it its, what Matthew assumed was, demon tongue. Then it did what they hoped for it drew the broken sword blade.

'Oke, it drew the sword and now what?" he asked now actively blocking the heavy sword blows with this shield.

"Now comes the part you're really not going to like. You'll have to get stabbed by the blade in the chest near the scar you have from our first encounter.

'I HAVE TO WHAT!?"

"Get stabbed. If I can reattach my part to the blade we can win this fight. But it was to be near the scar to give me the best chance."

"And you're sure this will work?"

"In theory it could. Either way if we don't at least try it will kill you anyway".

The blade shard had a point. There was no way he'd win this fight, if he was going to die anyway might as well put all his faith into the legendary sword. Getting stabbed by the broken blade wasn't going to be the problem the demon wasn't giving up its relentless assault. But how was he going to manage to get stabbed in the chest?

He had to angle it right enough. If he was to get stabbed he'd have to leave an opening for the demon but make it so a slashing attack wouldn't work. He thought back on his own sword training and decided his plan of action.

The demon used an alternation of left and right side swings. Each coming from the side the weapon was after the previous one. He would do it on the next left sided slash attack.

The demon slashed from right to left, and he let the attack slide of his shield. Coming back from the left side he side stepped the attack. The force behind the swing and the lack of an object to transfer it to make the swing reach its apex later than the creature expected this small gap between strike gave him enough room to get into his position. AS the slash was coming down he stepped forward and knocked the sword away. He purposefully overextended so he was beyond the slashing point. With its target right in front of him and inside his slash range the demon pulled the sword back and crooked its elbow. Just as planned, the creature now only had the option for a forward thrust. Ignoring all his training the muscle memory Matthew twisted his body to expose his chest area to the broken blade.

Getting stabbed felt really weird. It wasn't a feeling of pain but it was really discomforting. He also didn't feel any pain from his back where the broken sword would have exited his torso. He looked down to his chest and the broken blade, almost the entire blade up to the guard was inside him. The demon tried to pull out the broken blade but it was firmly stuck inside of hi. A light glow started to envelope the guard and crept its way onto the handle. The demon held onto the broken blade still trying to get it free from its victim. And then t it vanished in a burst of purple light.

Matthew fell to the ground gasping for air. The sudden outburst had left him breathless as the demon staggered backwards. Now lacking a weapon the demon took a quick step forward and threw a hasty and weak punch. The punch hit him in the side of his arm and still knocked him backwards and over.

"Now what?" he called out to the shard.

"Now focus on the form of my completed. Picture it in your mind. Image that you're holding it, firmly in your hands".

He closed his eyes and focussed. The world around him seemed to stop, and he was back in the church. Where he once saw a blade shard on an altar he now saw a completed blade. A light purple aura surrounding it as if all the power it contained was leaking out.

"Now grasp the blade, imagine how it will feel in your hand. The size of it, the weight of it and last the power of it. Will yourself to feel it all. Will yourself to wield it!"

He grasped the sword handle. The handle felt good his hands could easily grip it. He gave it a swing, the balance more towards the front of the blade signifying it was better at wide sweeping attacks where the extra weight would increase it's power. Then the aura also enveloped his fingers, then his hand and finally his arm. He felt it there in his mind the true power of this weapon.

He opened his eyes seeing the demon in full swing. The punch aimed at this head. Instinctively he raised his shield to intercept and caught it on the edge just in time. Thinking he still held the sword he slashed out with his other arm and promptly cut through the demons arm with the, now completed, legendary blade in his hand. The demon reeled back unable to understand how it just lost its weapon and an arm. Matthew didn't miss the opportunity of the demon's absent mind. He slashed wide binging the full force of the blade down and struck the demon across the chest. As it staggered backwards he dropped his shield and double gripped the sword. With a mighty thrust it paid the demon back in kind and ran the sword through its chest.

With the demon dead at his feet, sword still stuck in the demon's chest he sat down to take down all the things that had just happened, after a few minutes he pulled the sword out of the demon's corpse.

"Thank you" he said to the sword. "It seems your crazy idea worked out". The sword remained silent. He called out a few more times with his own voice as well as with his mind but the sword didn't speak back. Using the purple aura of the sword as a makeshift torch he started to make his way out of the dark caves hoping his two friends were still alive.

It took him a few hours to find his way back to the plateau with the tunnel they had used to enter. Maybe caves turned out dead ends. Luckily he encountered no other gnolls or kobolds. As he made his way through the tunnel and into the lair beneath the tree night had already fallen. A blue colored ribbon was tied to the bush next to the entrance, a sign left by Nalia indicating they safely left the caves as well. He was going over his option to either camp out here or try to navigate the forest at night. Then he saw the flicker of torch lights through the trees.

He started making his way towards the light when a figure burst from the treeline aiming straight for him. He wanted to raise his new sword in defense but found it missing from his hand. As he saw the form more clearly he realized he didn't need a sword for what would sound pounce him. He met it with open arms as Nalia jumped onto him.

She held him tight as tears rolled down her cheeks "Ï'm so glad you're alive!". He held her tight and kissed her forehead 'And I'm glad the two of you made it out as well. Let's go to meet the others and head back to town. I'll tell you all about what happened tomorrow". "Alright" she said as she wiped away the tears, and they went to meet the others.