Annabeth and Krush exchanged blow after blow, with neither able to land a clean hit on one another. But while Annabeth was going all out trying to overwhelm or overpower Krush, he seemed to just be playing with her. His simple wooden club moved quickly to parry her blows but attacked with a lot of wind up just to intimidate Annabeth. She wasn't shaken, but his defense was certainly hard to get pass. Things weren't looking good for everyone else either; while the city guard was holding their own Annabeth was pretty much alone at the gate. Occasionally a Hellhound knight would try to ambush her, but Annabeth or even Krush would end up killing them with nary a glance before continuing their duel. [i][color=fff200]"Goddamn! What does it take to kill this bastard!?"[/color][/i]

Slowly but surely Annabeth was getting weaker. She can't let this go on for much longer or else she won't even be able to put up a fight! All the while Krush twirled his club like a toy and smelled the air. [b]"Aaaah! Smell that? Blood, gore, and chaos! Not just the stink of the fire-fens either! Excitement and Enjoyment, that is how I do things. This was fun, little girl, but I think it's time I go after that pretty princess."[/b] Krush slammed his club down with thunderous force, fast enough that Annabeth barely caught it. She was only able to dodge fast enough to avoid getting her own head smashed, but the attack caught her arm and nearly ripped it off. Even still it shattered the armor on her gauntlet and broke her arm. She screamed in pain as she stepped back and fell onto one knee. No one was here to help her. The town guardsmen were either dead or on their own. Last she saw of Avery he was getting chased off. It seemed like Annabeth had no one to rely on but herself and she was about to lose.

[b]"Scream for me, little girl. Just one more time! I'll make it quick, I promise! Buwa ha ha ha ha!"[/b] Annabeth lowered her head in pain as Krush continued to gloat and taunt Annabeth before picking her up by the head, nearly crushing her head with his grip. He squeezed tighter just to get a response from her but she didn't dare give him that satisfaction. She struggled as he brought is club to Annabeth's chin, bracing it so he could crush her head with his head. His dirty, ugly face laughing right at her. But then underneath her skull-faced helmet, Annabeth laughed back. This made Krush stop for a moment. And then suddenly, blood came out from his mouth as he looked down. He'd been stabbed in the neck by Cassius' own sword. He tried to crush Annabeth's head with his final moments but she didn't let him, and instead she trust her blade out through the back of his head and decapitated him with one blow. Annabeth fell to the ground clutching the sword while her broken arm hung limp and bleeding. With the leader of the Hellhound Knights dead, all they needed to do now was beat back the brigands from the city. [color=fff200]"Easy... Yeah..."[/color] Annabeth grew lightheaded as she dropped the sword and stabbed Krush's head with a pike, propping it up at the town's gate so everyone could see the dead leader. With that done, she picked up the captain's sword and then collapsed.

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The knight who was chasing Cassius almost followed but stopped after he looked at his dead ally. Two against two would've been a decent match, but he wasn't so foolish as to try and face off against the both of them himself, even with Cassius carrying the princess. So the knight, Caulder, went to get more reinforcements. It would be easy enough since the rest of his men were pretty much running rampant in the streets, torching houses and pillaging shops. [b]"I found the princess! Follow me, we'll have fun with her, let's go!"[/b] Caulder would manage to get five more Hellhound knights to follow him to where he last saw the princess, though he doesn't have much luck finding her or Cassius at first. But then he hears some townsfolk saying they were going to try and sneak to the temple. This gave the vile knight an equally vile idea as he and the others kidnapped the family and had them lead the knights to the temple. When the eldest daughter tried to resist Caulder stabbed her in the stomach with a dirty piece of broken wood, making it clear that he wasn't asking for their permission. They threw the dying girl into a puddle and forced the remaining family, a mother and her two young children, to guide them to the temple or else share their sister's fate.

[hr]

[center][h3]Collab with [@Lucius Cypher][/h3][/center]

"Commander Diclonii!"

As the royal knight was tearing his way through the orcs one of his soldiers warned him of Malakaus's ambush. He was easily able to turn his staff around and knock away the half-orc's axe, followed by another blow that would shatter his skull.

When Malakaus's axe was deflected, he followed it off to the side, narrowly avoiding the staff and rolling to his feet. He turned towards his orcs and shouted at them to leave the knight to him; the others would just get in the way. Malakaus smirked at the royal knight but his arms were shaking; his attack nearly knocked Malakaus's axe out of his hands and would've really killed him if Malakaus had chosen to disengage at that moment. Glancing over his weapon Malakaus could see a notable dent in his axe's blade; another blow like that and it could sunder his battleaxe in twain. [color=00a651]"Hah... So this is the power of a royal knight! I'll make sure to send your remains back to your family."[/color] Orchid stood and flourished his blade, walking in a circle around the knight. [color=00a651]"I am Malakaus Ralthavar Vorinclex, son of Aeon Archange, knight of House Trevoste."[/color]

The commander didn't care to give this orc filth the satisfaction of his name; as far as he cared this bastard was just another stain on his staff. [b]"Impudent swine! You and your disease riddled mutants should have stayed in your caves and swamps where you belong. There's no victory for you!"[/b] Diclonii began to spin his staff again, quickly building momentum as he leaped forward to smash Malakaus's kneecaps off.

[color=00a651]"That arrogance suits you. It matches that hollow sense of honor!"[/color] Malakaus assumed his stance and quickly took the effort to avoid Diclonii's attacks. He had too; any effort he would try to mount and offense would just make an opening for the knight to crush Malakaus. He had superior reach with his staff, and at the speeds he went even if Malakaus could get the swing first, chances are that staff would hit Malakaus before he could even scratch the knight's armor. But there was one thing Malakaus could take advantage of; all of Diclonii's attacks were coming from one direction due to how he was spinning his staff. Now that there wasn't any distractions Malakaus could easily track the direction his staff was going. If he could time his strike right, he could get a blow in before Malakaus could get struck down.

After a sweep to the legs Diclonii saw the orc try and catch him in between his swings. Had he been younger and less experienced the orc might've actually landed a blow, but Diclonii was a veteran of many battles against enemies more cunning and quick than the orcs. Just as the axe sailed past Diclonii's staff, he suddenly reversed the direction of his swing to smack the axe out of the way again. Using the sudden rotation the commander rotated his body to deliver a mighty shoulder tackle to knock Malakaus down to the ground, followed by a very powerful slam with his staff onto Malakaus's body with enough force that it would shake the ground near the point of impact.

Malakaus hadn't expected the knight to be able to change the direction of his attacks so fast and with so little wind up! There was nothing Malakaus could do as commander Diclonii bashed his full body into Malakaus, sending him flying a fair bit away. Malakaus could only keep tumbling to get out of the knight's reach and eventually rolled onto his feet. He coughed out some blood as stood back up, a smile on his face but with fear in his eyes. He definitely broke a rib or two and it felt hard to breath; he hoped he didn't break a rib in his lungs or worse. Malakaus' armor was also notably dented now to the point it was useless. It was almost completely concave and could very well kill Malakaus if he didn't take it off, which he immediately did.

Looking at the knight, the warlord needed a new approach. This guy was faster than he looks and Malakaus could barely keep up. Without his armor he couldn't risk another frontal assault and come out of it unscathed. But he couldn't drag on this fight for long either; while Malakaus's warriors could no doubt take care of themselves, if any of the mercenary soldiers came by the odds would look very bad for Malakaus. He needed to do something, anything, to get a decisive blow on the royal knight. But what?

And then as Malakaus watched the knight come at him, he knew what he had to do.

[b]"Coward! For all your bluster and bravado, you orcs are all the same. You won't dare face a true knight, and can only prey upon the weak and stalk from the shadows like the vermin you are!"[/b] Diclonii roared as she began to build momentum in his weapon again and charged at Malakaus. This time he won't let the warrior get away; he would start with a flurry of blows to keep Malakaus on the defensive, then go to disarm the orc and finish off with a wide angle sweep, one that would knock the orc into the moat as well. Once the orc was dead Diclonii could easily clean up the rest of his forces and focus on razing this town to the ground. [b]"Just die already!"[/b]

[color=00a651][i]"Middle Stance, interceptor."[/i][/color] Malakaus thought back to his experience learning how to fight. he never had formal training per say; while he watched his father practice he was never allowed to pick up a sword to train alongside him. His skills came from observation and practical application. Compared to other knights Malakaus's form lacked refinement and played more like a savage emulating what a knight does. This isn't untrue. But Malakaus's strength came from the flexibility in which he can apply these techniques without being locked into the usual weaknesses they have; even if he can't make the most of his attacks, he won't sacrifice anything for them either. That's why Malakaus's middle stance is perfect for intercepting attacks; it doesn't give him any chance to put his full strength into an attack but it prevents the enemy from getting any openings onto Malakaus. And sometimes, in a controversial opinion for an orc, you didn't need your full strength to win.

When Diclonii went on the offensive Malakaus intercepted and dodged, parried and generally stayed on the defensive. It wasn't until Diclonii went for the disarming blow that Malakaus struck; with all of his force dedicated to the attack, Malakaus took the blow head on but instead of trying to force a deadlock Malakaus swung his axe against Diclonii. Not against his staff, but against his hand. Malakaus had realized that all of the power from the commander's attacks came from the wide yet swift swings of his staff. But the one point on his staff where there was little to no strength was where his hand held the staff itself; there was where the force was weakest. Using his intercept stance to get close Malakaus was in the perfect spot to smash his axe into Diclonii's hand and ensure he can't try to reverse his decision. With the commander putting everything into this attack Malakaus intercepted his fingers and would cleave them with his blade.

[b]"What!? Impossible!"[/b] Diclonii had expected Malakaus to run away as he always did, to try and avoid getting within range of his staff or any danger at all. When he instead got close Diclonii braced up confident that his armor could deflect any blow, but the armor around his gauntlet wasn't strong enough to take the full force of an orc's battleaxe. Diclonii's fingers were cleaved clean off and all of his momentum stopped as he stumbled back and clutched his hand. Diclonii cursed up a storm against Malakaus, Tamberle, Maren, and everything else in the world for putting him into this horrid position. The pain was unbearable and yet Diclonii stayed on his feet. On his knight's honor he could not let himself surrender, not to these beasts!

Taking heavy breaths Malakaus looked at commander Diclonii as he couldn't fight back properly now. With his likely dominate hand destroyed all Malakaus needed to do now was kill him. His body was exhausted but his work wasn't done. Taking on his high stance helmspliter, Malakaus rushed forward to finish the commander off. In a single chop he cleaved Diclonii's head clean off his neck, his helmet rolling around the ground. It was around this time that Malakaus's own forces were routing the mercenaries off, and a huge stone destroyed the last siege tower. There was still a matter of the enemies inside of the city but for now, the orcs had won the battle at the encampment. One of Malakaus's riders came up to him with reports of success so far. [color=00a651]"Kyyt. Nefi dni hutihm snemi tyzr dnymi zny wcii ert legi mohi dnia ehir'd e dnhied. Nefi dni wyyd myctuihm kednih pesg dy dni whyrd kedi nihi. Zi mducc nefi lyhi iriluim zudnur."[/color] Relaying his commands, Malakaus went over to the dead knight and made sure his remains were covered for now. Savage as the orcs can be, Malakaus at least could try and follow human traditions and make sure the body of a noble is sent back to their respective homes. If Malakaus wanted to create peace between his people and the humans, he must first understand and be willing to respect their culture, and they the same.