Final Holdout in the Bastion

“I could only see darkness. That darkness dissipates into grey dust. And that dust clears away to reveal a large green horse’s mouth right in front of my eyes.”

Kitezh couldn’t believe what she was looking at. It did not make any sense to her. Lev was far from that horse statue, yet he happened to shatter the paneling in a way that would have it fall directly on her and Marigold.

Kitezh looked down at Marigold. She couldn’t see her left leg. Kitezh was astonished, as she could tell what had happened. She quickly crawled to Marigold and saw that her leg was wedged between the statue and the rubble.

“Kitezh- OOP!“

Marigold was about to speak, but Kitezh quickly covered her mouth.

“He’s still around. You need to be absolutely quiet,” Kitezh whispered.

As Kitezh kept her hands on her, Marigold began to disappear. Kitezh quietly made her way from under the statue. As she crawled under the bronze horse, she immediately spotted Lev approaching the statue.

The rubble crunched under her feet. She was still invisible, but she had to be careful of the steps she took. However, Lev had already caught on.

Lev slammed his head against the floor once again. Kitezh covered her own mouth and held her breath. She stood absolutely still. Kitezh could tell from his face that he was seriously concentrating on Kitezh’s motions.

Lev lifted his head back up. He started walking forward carefully.

“Did he catch me?” thought Kitezh, as she started to shake in place. “No, if he did, he would start charging after me right now. I'd better move now.”

Kitezh tiptoed through the rubble. She kept looking back at where Lev was going. He was now up against the bronze horseman statue. Kitezh was only a few meters away from Lev now.

SLAM!

“AH!” cried Kitezh in a panic.

She quickly covered her mouth again. She stood absolutely still, sweating from fear.

Once again, Lev did absolutely nothing. Kitezh was sure he heard her.

“Is he trying to go after Marigold instead?” Kitezh thought once more.

Once Kitezh got the courage, she turned to Lev. He had his head pressed up against the head of the horse statue.

“That must be where that loud bang came from,” Kitezh thought.

Lev started rubbing his hand on the horse, almost like he was petting it. While he was distracted, Kitezh quietly made her escape again. Every crunch under her feet had Kitezh looking back to make sure she had not been caught yet.

Finally, Kitezh placed her foot on the smooth surface of the bastion floor.

TINK! TINK!

“What was that?!” Kitezh quickly thought.

She instantly turned around. She saw Lev had one of his brass knuckles against the statue. That was where the noise came from. However, Kitezh looked carefully at the statue. She realized what Lev was doing.

Above the fallen horse was the bronze warrior sitting on top of the statue. He had his sword bravely swung up in the air. And that sword is actually pointing right at Kitezh!

“No!” yelled Kitezh.

BANG!

Lev smashed the statue. It cracked all over and shattered into green shrapnel. The sword shot out like a harpoon gun and straight into Kitezh.

“AAAAAAAH!”

Kitezh was once again knocked to the ground. The horseman himself basically attacked her. The bronze sword pierced Kitezh’s leg.

“He knew where I was the whole time. I figured it out. The way he felt the statue earlier. The way he got that statue to fall in the first place. The way he slammed his head against the surface. He could trace sound through surfaces to figure out which point of contact his shattering would take place. He figured out where I was moving. He figured out how to shatter the statue to burst its shrapnel into me. All from standing in one spot! It was the perfect ambush,” Kitezh comprehended.

Lev fiercely sprinted right up to Kitezh like a lion hunting its prey. He witnessed the blood pouring over her invisible body.

“I am sick of this invisible shit!” yelled Lev. He stepped on Kitezh’s body, and grabbed a hold of where her head was located. He carefully traced the edge of Kitezh’s helmet, then violently shook her head.

“Ow ow ow!” cried Kitezh.

Finally, Lev successfully pulled the helmet off Kitezh. Her colors melted back on her. Lev finally got a good look at Kitezh of who she was again.

“I still need you to be alive, but that sword piercing looks serious. You still got those healing vials, right? You know, the ones that you stole from me? I wish I could kill you just for that.”

“I-I don’t have them!” replied Kitezh.

Lev gripped the bronze sword.

“Bullshit! I’ll force you to heal up then.”

SHANK!

“AAAAAH AHK! AHK! STOP IT! I DON’T HAVE THEM!” Kitezh screamed.

“You can’t be using your invisibility to hide them since I rendered those powers useless.”

Lev looked at the bloody bronze sword. He looked down at Kitezh’s body. She was still wearing her bra and panties.

“You must be copying my hiding spot. I’ll just have you feel up your body again. I don’t really mind. Maybe I’ll have to do a deep search… right down there…”

Lev carefully lowered the sword down so the tip was touching the edge of her panties. He began to tear them a little bit.

“STOP IT RIGHT NOW!” screamed a familiar voice.

Lev swiftly turned around. He saw another girl in underwear. It was Marigold. She stood idly at a distance in front of the winding staircase.

“What?! You’re still alive?” Lev questioned as he threw the sword on the ground.

“Leave Kitezh alone right now!”

“Or what? You have absolutely no magic. Hell, you don’t even have your magic wand!” boasted Lev. “Even if you had your powers and wand, you’re honestly weak and pathetic. You’d have absolutely no match against me.”

Marigold began to tear up.

“We’ve gone on adventures, and worked together. Why did you suddenly become such a jerk?!”

“Marigold, I teamed up with you because I knew you wouldn’t have the capacity to protect someone like Kitezh.“

“I can’t protect Kitezh?” Marigold was dumbfounded.

“Same with Frigyes. I needed the perfect combination of idiots who stood no chance against me and my forces.”

Marigold began to well up with rage.

“Fine! You think I’m a pathetic loser who can’t protect Kitezh? You would have no problem defeating me in a one-on-one match.”

“Hahahaha!” boomed Lev. “You have no magic nor weapon. I know your physical strength. You’re too scared to face up against even a slime with just your fists.“

Lev slammed his head against the ground once again.

“Alright then, how about you give me your best shot!” Lev had a malicious look on his face.

“Marigold, don’t do this!” yelled Kitezh from the ground.

Marigold paced away from the staircase. She kept walking around in circles. Marigold had a panicked look on her face. She stared down at Lev, who had his head against the ground still.

Marigold was shaken up until she had made a half-circle path around where Lev was standing.

Lev was breathing silently, but then let out a few chuckles as he knew how helpless Marigold was.

“YAAAAAAAAAAAH!” screamed Marigold, as she rushed with arms up in the air toward Lev.

BAM!

CRACK!

Lev pounded the ground. The ground shook and splintered into sharp stones. The stones smacked into Marigold’s face and body, throwing her to the ground.

“Cough. Cough. Ack!” Marigold hacked up blood.

“What a pathetic attempt, you stupid failure of a mage.”

“I know. I can’t save Kitezh,” said Marigold, as she picked herself back up. “But with a little teamwork, we could.”

SHANK!

“AAAAAAHK!”

The bronze sword was suddenly thrust all the way through Lev’s chest. Blood splattered out through the front. Lev turned around immediately to see who stabbed him. It was Frigyes!

“No, I thought I smashed your- AH! THE HEALING VIALS!” exclaimed Lev.

“That’s right. Shortly after you knocked that horse statue on me, Kitezh approached my broken foot. She then shoved something in my mouth. It immediately made me feel much better,” explained Marigold, holding out the empty vial in her hand.

“After she turned me invisible, I made my escape while you were too distracted going after Kitezh. I was able to save Frigyes, who had both the physical and magical abilities needed to save us!” continued Marigold.

“Now, burn in hell!” roared Frigyes, as he shot fire magic like a dragon.

The flame burned up the front of Lev’s belly. The bronze sword impaled through Lev's body began to glow red. Frigyes was deliberately aiming to create a searing hot sword inside Lev.

“AAAAAAH HAH!”

CLANG!

Lev pounded the sword in his belly with his brass knuckles. The sword inside shattered into red hot shrapnel, and pierced Frigyes.

“OW! DAMN IT!” yelled Frigyes in pain.

Frigyes looked down at the red hot shrapnel, and back at Lev. He looked carefully at the brass knuckles. Lev used it to shatter the sword, the bastion itself, and his own face. He realized that was the source of his shatter phenomenon.

“That’s it! HAAAAAAAA!”

Frigyes blasted the flames directly at Lev’s hands with all his might.

“AAAAAAH!” Lev was yelling in pain as his hands began to burn. The brass knuckles began to glow. They were burning hot.

“I’m going to AAAAAAH!”

Lev’s hands began to boil from burning blisters. The knuckles have become red hot and started melting through his flesh.

“AAAAAH! AAAAAAAAAH!”

SLAM!

CRACK!

Lev smashed the floor. However, it wasn’t just the ground the shattered. Lev’s knuckles have broken apart! His brass knuckles lay on the ground, sizzling up.

CLANK!

Frigyes chucked Marigold’s magic wand at Lev's face. One could infer he had run out of magic power. Frigyes improvised and grabbed the shattered stone flooring pieces with both hands and ran up to Lev.

“DON’T YOU EVER FUCK UP MY FACE AGAIN, YOU BASTAAAARD!”

BAM!

BAM!

BAM!

Frigyes repeatedly smashed the stones against Lev’s face like boxing gloves. He was shoving the monster backwards and out of the bastion. Blood was flying out of Lev’s face, as he futilely tried to fight with his stubbed hands.

“HYAAAAAH!”

Frigyes made one final slam to Lev's face, causing him to stumble backwards and off the pier, into the water.

Frigyes dropped down in exhaustion and breathed heavily. He began to break down crying, as he had to kill his own party member.

“KITEZH!” yelled Marigold from the bastion. Marigold clumsily walked over and fell on top of Kitezh. Tears fell from Marigold’s face as she embraced Kitezh on the ground.

Kitezh knew this time that this quest was completed.