Now this.. this is an awesome battle.

I don't want to say too much yet, other than it features both Bearsmashers.

"Konall," said Spaz, "You'd better get over here!"

Konall crushed through a burnt-out wall. "Just so long as it's not my good-for-nothing, Odin-forsaken, backstabbing sister who- Hi, Kadlin."

"Konall," said Kadlin.

"Where's your team of goblin scum?"

"I sent them on ahead. I think I've figured out a way to stop this plague."

"What?"

"A counterspell that might undo all this. I wanted to look through the city archives. Seaside Town was built on some ruins of an old temple. Thought I might be able to tap into their magic."

"Not interested."

"It's more efficient that lobbing the head off every single zombie."

"But less fun," said the Viking, fist clenched around his sword.

"You don't look like you're having fun."

"I'm not interested."

A roar nearby ended their conversation, and a giant behemoth plowed backwards through the remains of a store. His eyes had both been poked out with some sort of throwing knives, and his front was covered with gouges. He stumbled, and an invisible hand pulled him to the ground.

The beast slowly stood back up again. It was twenty feet tall, with rippling muscles and a reptilian hide. You could tell it had once been a goblin, but it was a monster now, a creature that could tear through squads of soldiers. It searched for something, snout searching the air for traces of some scent. Poisoned claws the size of katana flexed with anticipation.

A man in yellow armor ran toward it at a sprint. He vaulted the swiping claws, getting ten feet into the air, and threw a pair of knives into the beast's left leg. The creature ignored the pathetic attack.

But it hadn't been an attack. The man jumped out of the way of a crushing fist and leapt, landing briefly on the knifes and then jumped and teleported onto the creature's back. He stuck both of the short swords he carried deep into the creature's muscles. He took his breath, then cut open a rift in space and tumbled through, just barely teleporting out of the way as the creature furiously attacked, ignoring the bits of its own flesh that it ripped out in the process.

He got to the neck and began slicing open veins and arteries, spreading black blood all over the street tiles. The monster grabbed at its neck, but the warrior had already dropped to the ground, slowing as he reached the cobblestones. Then, with a blur he ran between the legs, avoiding stomping feet while slashing at hamstrings. The beast spat a glob of acid at him on the way down, but the mage conjured a force field that slowed the glob to a crawl, giving him plenty of time to move out of the way.

The creature hemorrhaged gallons of blood while struggling to get up and failing. The mage in armor was already walking away, barely paying attention to its death throes. He took a feather out of his pouch and activated it. As the phonics down cured the few scratches he had left and restored his energy.

Kadlin readied her glaive. "I spent a lot of work on that one."

The man turned "Thanks. Real challenge to kill. Nice work. Got any more?"

Kadlin glared, "How did you manage to get armor made from petrified time?"

The mage shrugged.

"My name is Kadlin, and I don't believe I've heard of you before."

"I'm Slit, thyme wizard. New to the area. Heard there was fighting here. Came to fight."

"Dare I ask what happened to the rest of my squad."

"Killed 'em," Slit said, looking bored. Kadlin's grip on her glaive tightened.

Konall lowered his sword. "Well, congratulations. You've got skills. Glad you decided to join up with the good guys."

"The ones with the tiger heraldry?"

"Yeah."

"They went down pretty easy." Slit made a wave of his arm and several throwing knives appeared in his hand, all coved in black blood.

Konall: "Hey, whose side are you on?"

Slit laughed, "My own."

Kadlin looked at Konall, "You want to help me pound this guy?"

"Fine." Konall switched over to his haxxor. "I think this calls for an extra large helping of pain."

They studied their opponent. Five foot three, with brown hair and a foreign complexion, one that was hard to pin down. His yellow petrified time armor appeared well-made. It was designed to be lightweight and allow for maximum range of movement while offering a fair amount of protection. Petrified chain mail covered the gaps.

His throwing knives had no handle, just two blades cemented together. Konall's trained eyes recognized them as made from good quality gristle. The mage's swords were both forged petrified time, and Kadlin could see the enchantments on them. They amplified the force a user put into them, making them faster and deadlier. His armor was enchanted with constant levitation. It wouldn't make him fly, but he'd run faster and jump higher, and fall slower. His aura burned bright; he had plenty of magic, and he was trained in manipulating the forces of space and time.

Slit smiled. "There's two of you. Not fair. I heard you're both decent fighters. Maybe almost good enough. I'll summon the ultimate warrior." Slit began chanting a spell, and an exact duplicate of himself appeared while he was still chanting. No, not quite an exact duplicate, the new Slit's helmet was damaged, and he had a small wound. "Watch out for the witch," the clone said to the original, "Better with that blade than she looks."

Kadlin focused her mystic eye on the pair. Illusory duplicate? Cloning technique? No, he had called a duplicate of himself from the near future, and that duplicate had arrived BEFORE he had completed the spell.

Kadlin chanted the word for her tentacle spell, but a throwing knife came streaking at her. The time clone had even used his magic to guide the projectile and increase its speed. The knife missed her heart by an inch but knocked her off balance, stopping her spell in between the first and second words of the three-word incantation. The pent up elemental energy went loose and erupted as a mere gas cloud that expanded with the sound of an elephant farting.

Konall charged the original Slit as he continued the spell, but New Slit opened a teleportation rift and appeared right behind the Viking, kicking the shield on his back, knocking him to the ground. Konall rolled and landed, turning to face his opponent. He swung with the hammer overhand, but the mage managed to deflect the hammer to one side while dodging to the other. He slashed at Konall but the Viking took one hit and punched the mage back, putting him in range of the Viking's hammer. The hammer swept sideways, but Slit teleported out of the way.

Kadlin pulled the knife from her body and mutated some flesh over the opening. She'd find someone to heal it later. She sent a stream of tentacles at the original Slit, but he was already done with his chanting. He concentrated and through sheer will disbanded her spell. Kadlin retreated. She'd be leaving Konall to fight the two of them himself, but it would take a lot to bring that man down. It would be the work of ten seconds for her to open the gates of Hey Deze on this area, provided her spell went through. Let's see the time mage willpower that one away. Slit sent another throwing knife her way, but she focused her willpower on it. She ripped control of his spell from him and sent the knife away from her. Two can play at that game she thought.

The two Slits teamed up together, casting boosting spells on each other while harassing Konall with their swords. They circled him, trying to open up a weakness. But Konall had the reach on them. They had to get in close to hit him. And armor or not, one hit of that war hammer would open one of them like a tin can and leave a gaping wound as an added bonus. A single solid hit would leave one barely standing. A second would leave no chance at survival.

And so they played the defensive, Konall swinging like mad and the two of them buffing each other as far as they dared. Finally, they got to the point where they had left as much magic as they could on each other. Any more would risk crossing energies, and could result in almost anything, probably something bad. Their eyes glittered with hidden knowledge while their limbs moved faster than humanly possible.

Eventually, Konall got tired of their antics and annoyed with the throwing knives chipping into his armor. He let out a roar of unbridled rage and berserked toward the twins. The two of them backed away, staying away from the furious wall of meat.

And that's when the spell hit. The gates of Hey Deze opened up, and terrifying demons rampaged through the pentagram that contained their fury. The chaos was such that Kadlin couldn't even spot the two, and then she saw them, sitting safely outside the spell's area of effect, smirking. But how? There wasn't more than a half-second's warning? Oh, their eyes. The two could see into the future, not far, perhaps only a second. But that was enough time to know when an enemy's attack was coming and be somewhere else when it hit. The demons returned to their realm and the two mages attacked.

Kadlin slashed at the first Slit, barely missing his head. She just barely saw the injury on the second's head disappear, his helmet undamaged. "I told you she was good with that thing," said Slit to himself.

Slit smiled, "That's a nice weapon. I want it."

Kadlin did her best imitation of a helpless farm girl. "Okay, you can have it. Just don't hurt me anymore." She threw the weapon to the original Slit. The mage caught it, and examined it for a second. "What's the catch."

His precognition warned him to drop the glaive before it burst into flames, but it still wasn't quick enough. Dark flames engulfed the weapon and sucked the light from the air, leaving behind shadowy burns on Slit. The copy from the future mirrored the damage.

Kadlin did the smirking now. "That blade and I have an agreement. I'm the only one that touches it." She focused on the glaive and it teleported back to her.

Throwing knives smacked against the shield Kadlin threw up and she called down a rain of pasta. The two slits took minor damage and charged her from both sides.

One of them dodged Kadlin's glaive and slashed her twice across the stomach. The other went down with a pair of Konall's hatchets in his back.

Hatchetback stood up while his older companion slashed Kadlin one more time and kicked her to the ground. Konall ran at him, haxxor drawn, but as he swept his hammer toward the man, the mage disappeared.

"What in the name of Loki's underpants?" said Konall.

"He went back in time to when I summoned him." said the remaining Slit, pulling the pair of hatchets out of his back. "Just you and me." Slit pounded Konall with throwing knives and the berserker tried to push through them. But while his attention had been diverted, Slit teleported beside Konall and began slashing at him. The Viking had lost one too many drops of blood and he collapsed.

"Not that challenging," said Slit.

"Oh, really?" said Kadlin, now on her hands and knees.

"You're done fighting?" said Slit.

"My brother loves me. Loved, at least. He got me a gift a while back, an avatar form. 'Something to make me as tough on the outside as I am on the inside,' he said. Nice guy. I'm out of mana, but you are too. And all those buffs are wearing off. It's time for me to tear you apart." Kadlin shifted, bulking up and sprouting hair as the avatar form worked its magic, transforming her into her alternate self. She grew bigger, twelve feet long, and three tons heavier. Her wounds were still there, but they were now pathetic scratches. And her newly acquired sinews and gristle would protect her from similar blows. She reared back up on her hind legs, displaying her true form, claws, fangs, and muscle.

"You're a bear?" said Slit. "Aren't you a bearsmasher?"

"We Vikings respect our opponents. There are worse things than becoming someone you consider strong and imposing."

Slit ran at Kadlin, slower than he used to be, but still faster than most men. Kadlin stood her ground and swiped at the mage with her massive paws. She managed to scratch him a few times but didn't land any solid hits. Meanwhile, the wizard's throwing knives bounced off of her while his swords barely managed to sting. She wasn't as large or as strong as the behemoth Slit had faced earlier, but that smaller size made it easier to hit her target.

Finally, she saw an opening and took it, slashing with her right paw while channeling the last of her magic reserves into a CLEESH spell. She had said she was out of magic, but she had lied. There was enough mana left for a single spell. The claws barely connected, but it was enough. Slit turned into a tiny gecko and scampered around. Kadlin tried to stomp him, but he managed to climb up the back of her leg. He made it to her head and finally shrugged off the spell, his willpower overcoming her magic. Slit dropped down and pulled both of his swords across her throat as she grabbed him. Furious, she threw him to a wall, rewarded by the sound of snapping bones. But it was the last move she'd be making this fight.

As her vision was going black, she saw was a platoon of goblin soldiers approaching while Slit limped away.

"That's Mistress Kadlin," one said.

"Better get her to a healer," said another.

It was the last thing she heard before she blacked out.

Told ya it was awesome.

I loved the little touches.. like the battered helmet on the second vanishing after the original avoids a key attack. Or the author avatar. Plus, of course, Kadlin and Konall reforming to fight this new threat.

This might be 'the' battle of the mission, although there's at least a few that might give it a run for its meat still to come.