Happy New Year everyone! New ideas come with a new year! I've got plans for the next four acts, like NEW CHARACTERS!! And PLOT TWISTS!!! Yay! I feel so much more accomplished… I just have to get it out on FF dot Net now.

For all who were unsure (sorry Phreno!) Alseid is not related to Oread; they knew one another by being members of the same tribe.

I have a new reviewer! Thanks, Karaeborg, for your reviews! I'm a self-admitted review whore… but which fic author isn't? Also to my other loyal reviewers, especially Phreno and Drom, a big thank you to you all! I do apologise for the grammar mistakes and typos… I'm impatient for one, and English is my second language. Please excuse me :P

Enough… ONWARDS!

Disclaimer: Ditto as all my previous disclaimers.

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Chapter 9: Blood Wash

The Gates flew open; the gust of spiritual force knocked both Oread and me to the ground. Oread bounced off her hand, and by the time she had landed, she had fired two rounds, three arrows at a time, killing several small monsters that foolishly walked out of the great hall.

Feeling incompetent, I jumped to my feet and joined her. The thick haze of non-existent smoke was enveloping me now, seeping through my pores, through my organs, and inspiring within me a sickening fear of…

Death? Pain? No… this was the fear one would receive in Hell as eternal torment. This was the fear of insecurity, of the lack of peace, and knowing that one would never be able to escape from such fear.

So this was what Andariel had meant by 'Join me in Hell'. Well… knowing what it must be like now, I could not lose this battle.

I cast Inner Sight and took down the Shamans and their Minions by the left side of the chamber, Oread doing the same to the right. Neither of us dared to look at the centre, knowing that one glimpse would render us momentary immobile due to sheer fear.

But eventually, we had to.

Andariel let her minions die, snickering while they screamed their last. When Oread and I cast our eyes towards the looming figure, I froze, as expected, and I felt Oread's shock as she trembled quickly and back a step.

Before us was a looming giant of a female humanoid. Her blood-red hair stood on end, flaring like the flames that the ground was spitting out around her. Her flawless, immaculate skin was of an unnatural golden colour, stretched tightly over her angular skull and cheekbones, the only wrinkles and folds being those at the end of her snarling thin lips the colour of congealed blood. Her nose was thin and sharp, as were her other features: ears, eyes, eyebrows, lashes… oh, and her teeth, when she finally grinned and stretched to her full height, abandoning her grand throne.

She almost reached the high ceiling of the chamber. I felt myself swallowing a frightened gasp as she surveyed us with her cat-like orbs of a shade of acidic green. She was naked, save for a small loin cloth, and the ends of a length of chain links hanged off her nipples. At her forelegs and forearms, her golden skin faded into a red as bloody as her hair, and extended respectively into tough hooves and long, sharp claws of bright silver.

'Let's see who these are…' She grunted her eerie words that grated against my mind. I noticed that four sick-grey tentacles that tipped as golden spikes were connected to her back, which I had previously thought as adornments of her throne.

'A young Rogue…' She looked at me, and I felt my heart leaped into my throat, and barely kept my stomach's contents where they ought to be.

'… And a half-breed.' She identified as she switched her gaze onto my master. Suddenly, she brought her arm across, and a crescent of green light powered through the air. Before I knew what had happened, both of us hit the walls of the chamber behind us.

Stars danced before my vision as a bitter sensation spread through me, sending sharp but muffled, tingling pain through my insides. Poison.

Getting to my feet and trying my best to hold off the sickness within me, I fired a few Cold Arrows, before gulping down a full bottle of Antidote. I noticed that Oread did the same.

We reunited at the outside of the chamber, as Oread muttered some incantations and a blue portal appeared after us. 'Go through this yourself if you're low on supplies, okay?' She said as she fired another Cold Arrow, before sending out a volley of Fire and Exploding Arrows. She did not notice that I would never comply with such an order of hers.

We circled the walls of both chambers, trying our best to keep our distance with Andariel, but eventually, she had us cornered. Oread tried to open a Portal, but Andariel divided her arms, throwing us apart. My organs threatened to fail with the damage, and I hurriedly drained a round bottle of Health Potion. This was not working well; Andariel was tough, and the arrows only left minute holes on her flawless skin, though she did seem to suffer a little from the Fire. Cain was right, after all.

Andariel turned to Oread, cornering her before blowing her off her feet with another slice of glowing green arc. Oread fired at her continuously, flames exploding into her. I also tried hindering Andariel with Fire Arrows, but one of her spike-ended limbs extended toward me.

I leapt to the side, barely avoiding the sharp, lethal point, before finding myself engulfed in flames. I shrieked and jumped out in terror, rolling to put myself out before swallowing a smaller potion of red.

When my eyesight was restored with the receding of pain, I saw what was happening…

The empty vial dropped, and shattered on the stone with a sharp ring. The sound was soon drowned out by Oread's cry.

With her other spike-ended limb, Andariel had pierced Oread in the mid-section, pinning her to the wall behind her. Blood ran down Oread's body and Andariel's limb.

Before I could regain my tact, her other three spike-ended limbs shot toward me. Unsheathing Oread's sword out of pure reflex, I sliced through one, slicing the end clean off, and left a deep gash in another. The last one I barely dodged, the spike ripping across my back, sending stings seeping into my nerves.

Turning her angry glare toward me, Andariel yanked the spike out of my master. Oread uttered another cry, before collapsing onto the ground. I considered dragging her through the portal, but decided that in such circumstances, it was impossible to make it out alive unless Andariel was dead.

Betting all that I was, I yelled and fired continuously. Arrow after arrow; cold, fire, cold, fire… Andariel advanced toward me, but I did not cower. I had nothing to lose now.

She slapped me across the face, her poisonous claws leaving gashes along my cheek and skull. The poison was kicking in fast now, having added to the residue poison that the Antidote could not neutralise, as well as the Poison from the wound on my back... I realised I had no Antidote left.

There was no way out. I was about to scream my last and give in, when suddenly, Andariel stopped dead. An envelope of dark haze surrounded her, blinding her from her surroundings, it seemed, from the way she looked around in fear. She cried, and the sound was muffled.

Behind her, I saw Oread getting to her feet, despite the dark, blood-filled gaping wound in her body. Shadows hid her eyes from my view, and I felt a sinister air about her. Unusually sinister. It was dark, and felt like… death.

Tuning back to my enemy, I fired at Andariel. Her lost struggles left her critical areas open for my arrows.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Oread dropping her bow and grabbing her spear. She leapt up suddenly, anchored herself where the spike-ended limbs met Andariel's back, and jabbed – no, more like, hacked – with her spear. Blood ran from her hands down the wooden shaft, as the wood began to splinter. I cast Inner Sight and watched in awe; my arrows had run out.

Andariel screamed as her dark blood shot out of her wounds, splashing onto Oread. The two spike-ended limbs that I had not maimed shot at Oread. One was amputated as Oread twirled her spear head around, and the other pierced Oread's left shoulder. Oread's expression did not change; she merely planted the spear casually into Andariel's back, grabbed the end that jutted from her wound, and yanked the spike off though her own shoulder.

I screamed. I could no longer feel the pain from my own wounds; my terror had overpowered pain.

Andariel's voice mingled with my shrill scream as Oread continued to hack at her with the spear, each strike digging into deeper tissue. I noticed that the shaft of the spear had splintered beyond repair; the spear head's tip had broken off, and the sharp sides were badly chipped.

Oread shouted, and fired the spear right into Andariel. The shaft ripped into pieces within her body, and the spear head came through and crashed into the floor, before shattering along with the stone beneath it.

I looked at Andariel; the envelope of darkness had disappeared. She was splattered with her own black blood, and there was a hole through her chest. The chain that connected her nipples was broken at the middle.

Andariel's eyes stared with disbelief, at the pile of innards before her. Her own innards.

Then her pupils dilated, and she fell into the puddle of black. My master rolled off her back, and lied still on the ground.

Beside her, Andariel burst into flame. 'Rest in peace, Andariel.' I spoke; my voice coming out a lot calmer and gentler than I had expected.

I picked up the single Antidote that Andariel's cremation had left, and poured it down Oread's throat. My mind panicked, but my body was sluggish.

Oread swallowed once, and the remainder of the Antidote leaked out. I uttered a desperate cry, before reminding myself of the tact I need to save us.

I tried to lift Oread, but either my muscles were failing me because of the poison, or my master was heavier than she looked. Trying my best to stay up, I hooked my arm under her right shoulder, and, afraid to worsen the injury on her left shoulder, I grabbed her belt, noting subconsciously that its compartments were empty.

The moment I dragged us through the Portal, I surrendered to the protest of my own body.

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Wow!! That was fuuuuuuuuuun!! The Andariel fight rules!

I know there are inaccuracies as to what skill doesn't work on uniques and such, but hey; I'm the fic author, and I breach the rules because… I can.

Oh, and did you know that I'm exactly ten years older than FF dot Net? Just thought you'd like to know, you know.