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"Ah fuck," was the extremely strained voice of Zell Brooks. "That hurt."

He rolled over and struggled to even get to his knees.  The pain of the cutting wind was searing through his body still - no physical cuts to speak of, and yet he felt like a thousand sharp razors were cycloning around his insides.  He could barely feel the ground underneath him.  His nerves were shot, at this moment.  Unluckily for him, he took the brunt of power from the 360 wind attack of the Alpha Male, being right in front of the jaws of the beast when it barked the spell.  And now he was barely able to move his limbs, while he watched Joji make it up to his feet before the Englishman.

Beyond Joji, he could see MacKensie facing off against the Alpha Female and he smiled.  He could tell she was frightened, but it only made her more admirable, for her back was straight, her determination on display.  [i]Two drinks, huh?[/i] he thought.  [i]Sure... why not.[/i]

And then everything changed.  The menacing voice of the new threat.  The red light falling on the area.  The death of the Alphas and MacKensie's shout.

A new shot of adrenaline combined with James' stamina buff to boost Zell's muscles and get him to his feet.  He started running, but faltered and fell down to one knee.  As the metal ninja began barreling through his friends, brushing them aside with ease as he targeted Lillianna, urgency pushed him through the pain and back to his feet.  The fact that nobody's attacks seemed to be able to damage the powerful enemy occured to Zell as he continued towards the action.  Running off instinct, his brain need not calculate the benefit of grabbing the ninja's sword, which was sticking out of the Alpha wolf.  He didn't consider the consequences of touching a weapon tainted by a user who was clearly enchanted with evil magic.  Zell was never one to think much about anything.

He just did stuff.

Throwing his own sword to one side as he ran, he twirled as he passed the dead Alpha - gripping the ninja sword and pulling it free all in one motion - and kept on running, only a few steps behind Arthur, preparing to follow up the anchor-wielder's attack with a strike of his own.

When the ninja dropped into a puddle of water, Zell refused to take the time to be flabbergasted by the ridiculousness of the situation.  He instantly changed tack and continued to run, dropping into a roll to avoid Arthur's wide-sweeping attack, then back to his feet and heading right toward Lillianna.  Whatever the hell just happened to the ninja, if Zell couldn't track him, he could anticipate where the enemy was going.

[i]Bingo![/i]

And there he was, materializing behind the spellcasters.  But he was too far away!  Zell pushed his pained muscles as best as he could, sprinting with everything he had.  But the ninja was too fast.  He wouldn't make it.

"Lillianna!"

The impact of the water-blade making contact, felt like a stab in the chest for himself.  As the blade poked out of the wizard's back, Zell crumbled to his knees, his wide eyes watering, his jaw dropped.  He was too late.  He wasn't fast enough.  The distance was too much to cover.  And now one of his friends was dead.  He'd been trying to mentally prepare for the possibility this would happen, but nothing could've prepared him for this moment - this feeling of loss.  Unassailable, violent loss.  Right in front of his eyes.

Both wizard and ninja suddenly exploded into a crackling thunderstorm of electricity and Lillianna's screams filled the labyrinth.  Zell could only watch on in shock and awe.  The brave woman had replied to her enemy with her own powerful counterattack.  [i]She's not dead![/i] was Zell's thought - his only concern.

[color=6ecff6]"Zell! Separate them!"[/color]

He blinked back to reality so fast, a single bead of tears jumped off each eye.  Zell rose up and ran into the storm, grabbing Lillianna by her shoulders and kicking the plate-steel ninja backwards.  Electricity rushed through the Englishman's body, causing him to cry out in agony through a tightly-clenched jaw.  Nonetheless, he was successful in separating them, and fell to his knees with Lillianna in his arms.  Thank fuck that the lightning did not persist for long after that, because the pain was far beyond anything Zell had ever experienced in his two lives.  Even after the electricity dispersed, Zell's jaw remained clenched shut and he was growling in pain.  All his focus was on trying not hurt Lillianna anymore than she already was, as he cradled her in his voltage-stiffened arms.

When James came over and took her off his hands, Zell fell sideways, face hitting the scorched earth.  Seeing the ninja sword lay there next to him, reminded him that the fight wasn't yet over yet.  There was still the impossible task of defeating this ridiculously powerful foe.  He grabbed the sword and used it as a walking stick to get to his feet.

Dropping into Stone Stance, he stood in protection of James and Lillianna, waiting to see the next move of the enemy.  Stone Stance was a classic duelists discipline, tailored for one-vs-one encounters and embodied the art of counter-fighting.  For every enemy action, there was a solid reaction, with a deep theory of traps and counters laid into the foundation.  If the ninja attacked him, then this would be his best chance to land a hit on the enemy with his own sword - some kind of counter strike.

On the other hand, if there was no attack then at least James would get time to try and heal Lillianna.