I grunted as Zul'Jins blade carved another line in my hide, the enhanced troll jumping away before I could retaliate. Lightning scoured the wound further as a laughing Witchdoctor channeled magics at me.

I ignored the wave of fire washing over me as the dragonhawk tried to attack me with heat. Fool.

We had been going at this for some time now. The trolls figured out I was stronger and more magically able on an individual basis, so they had been working together to fight me.

That wouldn't have bothered me too much if I wasn't already straining my power on their leader.

The only one able to keep up with me physically was Zul'Jin, but his experience and power made it a difficult fight one on one, much less my current situation.

The Dragonhawks flames did no damage but obscured my vision, the Hexlords magics tore at any vulnerable flesh Zul"Jin exposed.

Whats worse is the wounds the illustrious troll warlords blade caused healed considerably slower than they should.

I felt the last of a few gashes on my back finally close up, wounds I suffered nearly thirty minutes ago when he managed to sneak behind me and take a place along my spine.

They had been harrying me constantly in an effort to prevent me from casting any particularly complicated magics. It was getting annoying. I was still on a limited time frame.

However, it was a valuable learning experience. It taught me several foes on a higher level of strength, with the right planning, were a threat.

I snapped at the dragonhawk, taking his hand before he could dodge away, watching it begin to reform shortly after he landed.

That was another problem. They were fast, and what wounds I dolled out healed quicker than my own did.

I had burned the Hexlord to a crisp in the opening moments of the fight, and when my attention was stolen away by his allies he returned with nothing more than ruined clothing, chanting more dark curses so advanced I could barely recognize what they did.

I felt myself beginning to breath with more and more difficulty as time went on, the storms of mana I sent out towards my foes avoided, redirected, or simply ignored.

They had turned this into a battle of attrition. Something I hadn't expected to be losing with my new state of being.

I needed time to direct this in my favor, time to cast properly. I hacked up my tongue, coughing out my innards as the Hexlord directed some kind of chant at me.

I heard a whistle in the air above me, before I quickly turned into my human form, diving away as he landed with a thunderous crack onto the stone of my previous posistion.

I was done with this. I elbowed behind me, taking the breath from the weakest link, and locking my arm around the waist of the Dragonhawk.

I turned on a dime, using him as a shield against a bolt of lightning that had just left the Hexlords finger tips. The avatar of a god gasped as his flesh burned away, coughing at the blow.

I grabbed at the weakened flesh, throwing us both back in time to dodge another blow from Zul'Jin.

He screamed out as my fingers dug into his burned rib cage, growing louder as I pulled a bloody and broken rib from his wound.

His eyes widened as I brought the bone up to his face. "Help m-"

He gurgled as I used it to stab into his throat. I felt magic gather in the air around me, forming into something I did not recognize.

I quickly turned one of my fingers into a draconic claw, carving a symbol on his back before I dove backward in time to avoid a pillar of flame that formed around us both.

Zul'Jin intercepted me, driving his blade into my stomach, reaching at my spine for the third time today, finally severing it and halting my movement.

"Finally, time ta put ya down. Strange god" He chuckled, making to remove his weapon.

My hands grasped around his arm, holding it in place as several more cuts tore across me body, thanks to Malacrass The Hexlords magics.

I smiled as the troll yelled out behind us, my bloody grin growing as the witch doctor spoke. "Keep dat fool where he is, we could be usin dat powa for ourselves."

A glance to the side revealed the dragonhawk trying to stand, his chest forming back together again. A shaky hand grasped around the bone lodged in his throat.

The trolls face closed in on my own, snarling through the torn remains of a cloth mask. "Ya hear dat? We gonna make you put all dis back together, Slave-god."

"We gonna b-" My forhead smashed into his nose with an audible crack, cutting him off and probably breaking his nose.

When he looked back at me I saw the purple glow of my own eyes reflect back to me, turning fel green as I tapped into the rune I drew on the dragon-hawk.

I heard the Loa of Dragonhawks gasp out, before falling back to the ground as the power began to drain for him. I smashed my skull into the trolls a second time, this time breaking one of his tusks against my forehead.

Corrupted vines tore from the earth behind us, impaling Zul'Jin through the midsection. The plant matter quickly growing around and inside him, restricting his movement.

Zul'Jins blood formed scripture around his face, and I watched as ritual markings formed on every inch of skin I saw. He pulled back, the rubble below us sent flying by the force of his struggle

My vines tightened further, growing around him even as they snapped and gave way. They were fed by his own power.

My clawed hand reached out to his shoulder, steadily carving out another rune even as he fought, twisting the blade impaling me.

I felt one of my eyes melt as the strongest Witchdoctor in the Amani Empire uselessly, tore at me with spells. The troll roared at me in frustration, pouring more magic into the spell as I did my work.

When I was finished I tore myself to the side, waiting for my flesh to knit back together before standing up as whatever the latest curse did took its toll on my body, before it healed, empowered by the rapidly dying one armed troll warlord.

When I turned around Malacrass was already on his knees, his eyes wide with fear.

He shook, kneeling over the rubble of his own temple. "S-spare me great one, Lord of da blackened mist and Loa of da Dark hunger."

A smile grew on the half of my face that had managed to repair itself, the rest still little more than blood and bone. "Why?"

His palms touched the earth as he bowed completely."So that I may serve as a priest to your magnificence."

I paused. It was tempting. He was the strongest Witchdoctor I had come across, it wasn't his fault the magics he used to fight weren't designed for something like me.

I turned back into my true form, feeling my armored scales envelop me. My tongue rubbed along my still healing skull. I waited a moment.

"No." My claws grasped around him, lifting him up to my eyes. He paled at the word.

"Please! I can serve you well!" I tilted my head.

"I'm sure you would, until you found a way to consume me, just like you did the god you had been raised to serve."

My jaws closed around the screaming High priest in an instant.