From above the skies Gale can be seen in their new form of a wyvern trying to scout ahead and to report to the others later of what they can find. However, Gale heard thunder cackling around them, along with a burnt smell in the air "that is not Ralian's magic" they said as Gale quickly flew back into their amour of the three guards were carrying as Gale reforms back into their original form in the armour.
"Gale what happened?" Ralian asked "its Hazard, he knows we're coming, we need vines Ralian". Ralian quickly creates vines from the ground making a barrier on top as lightning strikes them from above, but it was blocks but the vines made by Ralian sees Hazard levitating. "Everyone go, I'll handle him"
"No Ralian we need to stick together"
"I'm the only one who can handle this moron, meetup with the others and I'll catch up". Then they hear another lightning strike damaging the vines "just go!" Without hesitation she quickly ran out of the barrier of vines and retaliates with a lightning strike of her own crackling from her hands, unleashing a surge of lighting at Hazard which he quickly dodges in a flash of lightning. "Well, look what we have here, miss Thorner learns how to control lightning, which is not surprising from her path of being a pathetic Druid." Railian, fed up with Hazard's pure hatred of words, then grabs arrows and ignites the tip of the arrow and fires at Hazard but a swing of his staff as he summons lightning, destroying the arrows as it turns almost into dust and metal shards lay onto Hazard's clothes.
"Do you really think those weak arrows could do anything against me" "no it isn't" with another crackle of lightning upon her hands she summons another strike of lightning hitting Hazard as he began to lose his balance from his levitation spell beginning to fall "alright now your finish" Ralian summons more vines heading towards Hazard. But Ralian couldn't notice his smirks but as the others were running only Gale, and Yamma noticed "Ralian watch out!" They called out her name, but it was alright too late as Hazard touched the vines lightning began to affect the vines surging with electricity, as it affected all the way towards the ground to where Ralian is standing. With one raise of Hazard's hand lightning strikes upward hitting Ralian as she falls to her knees and is knocked unconscious. Hazard approaches her unconscious body "hope you can sleep well Druid, the enchantress would want to see you" as two golems then appeared from the ground and picked Ralian's body as a portal also appeared behind them "you two head in, I'll be keeping the others busy" he chuckles to himself, as he levitates away. While the two golems walk through the portal with Ralian's unconscious body before closing behind them as they kneel before someone in front of them as she begins to smile deviously "put her in my quarters, I'll be having a word. With our familiarity here" she cackles. Leading the golems into her main quarters as they lay her onto a mattress made of straws as she sits on a chair waiting for her to be awakened from her sleep "take your time little Druid, I can wait".
Meanwhile the others running towards the entrance can hear the lightning strike from a distance "Ralian" Gale uttered her name" "Gale, you know Ralian more than I do now, but she want this nightmare to end" Yamma continue to run as Gale looks back, but runs with the others still hoping for her safety. But continue to run for her friend's sake, as they hurry and hurry towards the entrance. They suddenly heard more lightning crackling viciously "that's Ralian's lightning?" "No, that's Hazard's lightning".
They look behind to see Hazard levitating towards them "looks like Ralian wasn't enough to stall him" "she bought us a bit of time, and that's all that mattered" as they begin to see Hazard charging another lightning strike coming from his staff.
"you know what, I had it with this moron" Yamma grabs one of her daggers and throws it towards Hazard as it did hit him in the shoulder. "Yamma, you traitor, well it ain't much till your dead" Hazard quickly blasted a lightning bolt at Yamma but Gale quickly intervene blocking the lightning with their shield as it showed no visible signs of damage "what!? How?" Hazard in question as Gale forgot to realize their shield is made of ancient obsidian "oops I forgot it can do that" "never mind that Gale you have the armour to defeat this moron, meaning we have a chance". Gale quickly unsheathed their sword made of ancient obsidian and points the blade toward Hazard "Hazard! You will pay for what you did to Ralian!"
Gale charges towards Hazard, as he quickly pulls the dagger out of his shoulder and retaliates with bolts of lightning at Gale but with every swing of their sword Gale blocks every lightning bolt they can. Then Yamma runs behind Gale as she shifts towards a different direction while the others watch as they would be killed if a single lightning bolt strikes them. Hazard, feeling frustrated over Gale's resistance over his lightning, then attempts to summon a giant lightning bolt from the skies above "Gale if you don't yield that worthless sword to you. You will never see your friend again!" Before, Hazard could summon his massive attack a bucket of water was then thrown and splashes him dousing him with water "what is this? Who did this to me!?" He looks around to sees Yamma waving at him while she's sticking out her tongue "why you!" Hazard tries to summon a bolt of lightning at Yamma the water he was doused with began to somehow glow brightly "huh?" Before he could react a dagger is shown emerging from the water and slices off both of Hazard's hands. He yells in disbelief before beginning to fall to the ground with no magic to levitate him but the person who cuts off his hands began to emerge from the water and catches Hazard.
It was Venny "you!?" Hazard shocked "hello idiot" Venny throws him to the ground "I guess you weren't aware about Moria's water warping magic" "Venny how did you know to get here" "when we heard the lightning strike happening from the other side, we already know you guys had to improvise the whole plan"
"You already knew this whole time" "yes and judging by a lack of a Druid. She's been captured I presume" "yes your correct" Venny looks at Hazard and begins to approach him as he tries to walk away "no get away" "oh what's wrong, I thought an elite like you would be all bite and no bark. I guess I was mistaken" as Hazard quivered in fear he realized something within and smiled deviously "I know your trick blood caster. But it's already too late for you. The moment she knew I was defeated by the likes of you, the seal on the back of my neck will kill me instantly the moment you tried to gain any information extracted from me"
Venny looked at Hazard a bit confused "a seal? I didn't see no seal on your neck"
"What!? No you're joking, this has to be your power of ruses and illusion"
"Hey idiot my powers are blood alteration I don't create illusions on a whim, that's mostly Jin's part, but I'm telling you there's no seal on the back of your neck. Which is helpful for us" Venny then uses his dagger to cut his palm and started to approach Hazard, but he tries to run away but something happened as Venny raised his hand and clenches his fist, causing something to Hazard's legs as if he couldn't move his legs as if they are paralyzed. "what is this"
He looked back to see Venny surging with electricity,
"that would be my doing." he said "Blood alteration paralysis. I can numb any of your parts as I choose, I don't use this often but it's very helpful for cowards like you who won't give anyone a straight answer". Venny steps onto Hazard's chest as he cut his head a bit and places his palm onto his wound as he used another blood alteration technique, ventriloquist. Hazard begins to tell him everything without resistance or without question every part of Hazard couldn't move but to tell him everything before Venny pushes him away. "Okay I know where they took Ralian" as he began to leave Hazard heading back to the others as if he's nothing but garbage.
"No, I cannot. I will not accept this". Hazard enrage started to summon lightning as it began to crackle around. The others look back witnessing Hazard still have some fight in him, before he could summon another large lightning strike, the puddle behind him began to glow as Moria emerged from the puddle and stabbed Hazard in the back through his chest with her trident made of ancient obsidian.
He can only look in shocked as he sees Moria murderous intentions "hi Hazy it's been a while, and I've been wondering when your going to give me that snack" she said grinning and licking her lips "M...Mor... ia" "just try to say my name with blood in your mouth it sound more appealing, don't you say" as she sees the others with shocked expressions, as she waved at them happy to see them all and not burnt to a crisp. "Oh hey guys good to see you alright, don't worry we're already at our location, I guess you guys should be doing the same. As I will enjoy my snack". She started to chuckle deviously before turning it into a maniacal laughter and began to descend down into the puddle while Hazard still has his body lodge into her trident as he yells, struggling for survival as all he could see are his former colleague before fully descending into Moria's water gate as it began to make bubbles then turn the colour of the puddle to red and the bubble started to appear less frequently the till no bubbles emerges.
(end of chapter 53)