Nekros roared once more, his deathly aura contaminating all life around it. A storm of crows wreaked havoc on the camp and everything that once surrounded it. Ishigo and Victor constantly found themselves moving out of the way of the crows that screamed past them. They had witnessed the consequences of falling victim to the crows' assault - it was a surefire way to sign oneself off to death. Victor, whose blood boiled in his avenger's rage, charged forward at the massive reaper, his blade held high. Nekros thrust his left hand upward, and a huge flock of crows burst out from a trigram that appeared near the ground on which Victor stood. Spinning out of the way of the pillar of crows, Victor charged forward once more. Nekros responded by launching two more pillars of crows, this time aiming them horizontally in front of Victor. However, Victor didn't stop, he simply swung his sword vertically with great force, cutting a clean line through the crows.

Ishigo took this time to dash through the shadows on the right side of Nekros. He came within reach of Nekros rather quickly, having warped from shadow to shadow at great speeds. As he shot out of the nearest shadow, Nekros swung his scythe at Ishigo, causing Ishigo to have to flip backwards and dodge the scythe. Instead of following through with his attack, Ishigo was forced to land in front of Nekros and roll out of the way of his scythe once more. At this point, Victor reached Nekros, and he jumped onto the swinging scythe that nearly hit Ishigo. Swinging with the scythe, he only let go when Nekros brought it up, and in doing so, he successfully created a downward path towards Nekros' head. But gravity didn't bring Victor down quick enough, as Nekros simply looked up and roared, shooting a pillar of crows out from his unseen mouth. Victor crossed his arms in front of him, blocking the crows from piercing through, but the force of the pillar was enough to knock him upward. He fell down on the ground beside Nekros, hitting the concrete hard. "Ugh... fuck...." he groaned, his armor still vibrating from the shock of hitting the ground. On the other side of Nekros, Ishigo had managed to spin around and shoot up a thick shadow cord from the ground. He weaved it around Nekros, moving his hands like a puppeteer, and it wasn't long before the cord successfully spiraled around Nekros. Ishigo then performed a pulling motion, tightening the cord, and causing Nekros to jerk and nearly drop his scythe. 

Victor then rolled backwards and pulled out his Spak pistol. He fired a single shot and watched as the bullet tore through Nekros' spirit, causing crows to burst out the exit wound. Nekros roared and reared back before spitting a pillar of crows at Victor, but Victor simply sidestepped, rolled, and then shot another round, this time hitting Nekros right in the head. While the attack had successfully landed, it only caused Nekros to roar in anger. Several trigrams appeared on the ground around him, and crows violently flew up from them. Ishigo was forced to let go of his restraining cord, and Victor found himself ducking and weaving through relentless crow swarms. 

When Ishigo found himself in a safe spot, he crouched and placed both hands on the ground. Focusing, he closed his eyes and let his senses merge with the shadows. Soon, the various shadows that formed around the battlefield began swirling into a dark circle in front of Nekros. The various shadows seemed to pool together until the circle was large enough; Ishigo then thrust his hands downward, seeming to penetrate into the ground. As a result, a large, humanoid shadow burst from the circle of shadows. The upper half of the shadow figure matched Nekros in size, and the many shadow cords connected to its back from the ground seemed to give Ishigo control of its movements. The shadow golem reared its large fist back and thrust it forward, slamming it into Nekros' chest. Nekros was forced backward, and a massive swarm of crows was flung from his shoulder, though it regenerated almost instantly. Nekros swung his scythe at the Shadow Golem, but it caught it with its left hand, and then slammed its right fist into Nekros' head with a straight jab. This caused Nekros to nearly lose his scythe once more, but he pulled it back in anger. The force caused the Shadow Golem to tip forward, and as Nekros regained his senses, he let out a large roar. Instantly, the entirety of Nekros burst into a black mass of swarming crows that flew forward, towards the Shadow Golem. The Golem raised its hands to stop the crows, and did so successfully, but Ishigo strained as he felt each crow sting at his spirit while the golem absorbed its impact. Eventually, the crows overpowered the golem, and pierced through it, flying into its front and outs it back. Ishigo coughed as he felt his own spirit torn by thousands of little crows. The crows reformed into Nekros behind the golem, and he brought his scythe up and slammed its blade downward through the golem, effectively splitting in two halves. The massive Shadow Golem was reduced to a mess of shadow cords that then coiled around the scythe. But Nekros simply pulled his scythe up, causing Ishigo to be flung through the shadow from which he controlled the golem. He then burst out of the corpse of the Golem and was brought down to the ground hard as Nekros slammed his scythe down once more.

Ishigo coughed, feeling immense pain through his body and soul. He didn't have to open his eyes and look, he could hear and feel the chains coiling around his body. To top it off, Nekros raised his hands and brought them down, bringing forth a massive pillar of crows upon Ishigo's body. The crows blasted right through Ishigo, tearing him up at the spiritual level, as well as cutting and bruising his body. Victor saw this and ran forward, past the crows that tore through his own body. He ignored the pain and the chains that began creeping out of his chest, and he fired off two Spak shots at Nekros. Both of them caused Nekros to turn around and swing his scythe. The scythe's blade hit Victor spot on, and he found himself lifted off the air as the tip of the blade nearly pierced through his armor. He had to hold onto the blade as it swung him to prevent from being stabbed. Nekros swung his scythe and slammed it through a nearby building's wall, causing Victor to be blasted through the wall as well, still holding onto the blade. Nekros then dragged the blade of his scythe through the building's side, forcing Victor through the wall until he finally brought the scythe to the ground near Ishigo. Victor coughed, feeling the massive scythe slightly stab him, but not all the way through. He felt cracked ribs and every part of his body ached.

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Ishigo's breathes were weak, and his vision was blurry. He felt useless, his body refusing to move. His eyelids began stuttering, and he had to fight simply to stay conscious. The humming of a shuttle engine gave him the strength to turn his head and notice the bomber shuttle take off, flying towards the wall. He held his breath and gulped, watching it leave the battlefield. When it reached the clear, he took a breath of relief. They were going to make it. They would be safe. He didn't fail them.

"He killed Hector..." 

Ishigo heard Victor's voice through the crows' screams. It was clear, but weak and hoarse. Time seemed to start slowing.

"This bastard.... he KILLED Hector..."

"AGHHHHH!"

Victor rose to his feet and roared as he charged at Nekros. Nekros swung his scythe at the enraged man, but Victor clenched his fist, causing his forearm armor to light up. He then simply swat away the scythe with immense force. "I'LL END YOU!" he yelled, as Nekros was swung sideways. Victor kept charging, past the pillar of crows that tore through him, past the continuous scythe swings, and past the roars of the reaper. He reached about ten feet away from where Nekros stood, and charged up his strength, causing his leg armor to glow. He then jumped into the air with great force, holding his broadsword high. When he neared Nekros' chest, he brought the sword down onto the reaper's throat, piercing through it and lodging his blade in place. Nekros tried to roar, but crows simply flooded out of his mouth and swarmed around his own body. Victor roared with him and pulled himself upward via his planted broadsword. He grabbed the cloth of Nekros' robe and climbed up until he grabbed the sides of Nekros' hood.

Crows swarmed Victor, but also Nekros' head. The crows pierced both entities left and right, and the Tome's pages began flipping wildly as the two names that were forming were replaced by random blotches of ink.

"YOU ARE NO GOD OF MINE!" Victor yelled as he reared his head back and brought it forward, headbutting the darkness that was Nekros' head. In a huge flash of crimson light that burst from the abyss in his hood, Nekros exploded into a mass of crows that consumed Victor and Nekros's robe and scythe. The crows stormed the area, screeching louder than ever, and the red atmosphere turned a haunting black. However, as the crows flew off, the world around Nekros' battlefield returned to normal, save for the warring mercenaries and soldiers.

Ishigo's breathing slowed to a near-fatal rate, and his vision began to tunnel. Moments before passing out, he saw and then felt a trail of black smoke enveloping his body.