Bound By The Blood Moon

With the confrontation slowly approaching its end, Houndmoon was being oppressed by the werewolf and witch duo. His body was littered with wounds from ice spears, fire arrows, and spear thrusts. The battle was long and hard, clearly coming to a close. 

Gregory drew near, and with a wide stab, he aimed for Houndmoon's neck. Houndmoon stepped back, but Rayla was waiting for this moment. 

Blocking his path of retreat with ice spikes, she turned the ground into quicksand, dragging his feet under. Houndmoon was festered, but he didn't waste a single breath.

With his guandao, he sliced up the ground just enough to let his feet peek through before jumping into the air with a massive leap. Once again, he had managed to dodge the combined attack of this duo, but all good things do come to an end.

In the air, his motion was limited; that was his first mistake. Unlike his expectations, Gregory didn't make any moves to meet Houndmoon in the air. 

Rather, he pivoted on his right foot with a wide spin and his outstretched spear, destroying the ice spikes. Steadying his feet beside each other a short distance apart, he steadied his knees as he waited for Houndmoon's descent.

A snicker slowly crept onto Houndmoon's face, but it was short-lived as the sound of Rayla's chant filled his ears. In the next second, the gravity around him had increased by tenfold, and he came crashing down. 

What greeted him on his way down was the blade tip of Gregory's spear and some earth spikes that Rayla had prepared. With a hard twist of his body, he narrowly avoided the spear, but the spikes were in odd positions. Taking the brunt of the damage with his back, he steadied his footing.

He hadn't expected such a cunning tactic from the duo, but he mentally applauded them. He looked at his body and how torn up he was. With a silent agreement, no moves were made by either party. The wind howled between them, blowing in more silence as it passed by. 

Houndmoon knew that he was nearing his end; he knew his body more than anyone. He was the stronger party but with no ally to help him, he knew he was going to lose. His bleeding wounds were a clear mark of this. Now, he only hoped that he could cause fatal damage to either the witch or the werewolf.

With renewed vigour that was supported by the dying embers in his heart, he steadied his weapon again as he stood between his two foes. He was ready to breathe his last.

"Come. I will at least take one of you with me."

Gregory let out a chuckle, and as he looked at Rayla, she clearly understood his thoughts. There was no need for the hassle of attacking with magic anymore. All that Gregory desired from her were the magical buffs that would boost his strength and speed, along with his defence.

Taking the last stance with his spear pointed outward, he stared directly at Houndmoon, his eyes like daggers. Staffed weapons never needed delay in wielding, and in the next moment, they charged at each other.

Houndmoon, sweeping his guandao on the ground, leapt into the air as he brought his weapon in a wide side swing towards Gregory's neck. Gregory parried the blow with the middle of his spear, and using the momentum, he pushed himself back to create some more distance between them.

This time, Gregory charged in first, spinning his spear over his head as he aimed a downward stab between Houndmoon's eyebrows. Taking a slight bow, the spear narrowly missed his head, and with his left hand, Houndmoon aimed a blow to Gregory's stomach. Rayla watched on with no words since Gregory had assured her that he could handle things on his own.

The blow connected, but at the last moment, Gregory grabbed Houndmoon's arm, twisting it before tossing him into the air. With Houndmoon in the air, Gregory rushed his spear that he had dropped to the ground due to the punch.

He watched as Houndmoon hurriedly descended, and that was when he jumped. Holding his spear in both hands, he came down hard on the still-immobile Houndmoon, who was suspended in the air.

Houndmoon looked below him to see that the ground was still a few meters away. Forcing his body to move, he narrowly avoided getting stabbed in the heart as the spear pinned his shoulder to the ground, shattering his shoulder blade in the process.

Coughing up blood, he tore himself away from the spear and rolled off to the side. Picking up his guandao for the last time, he activated his berserker skill, burning the last of his blood as he charged toward Gregory, who was still crouched on one knee.

Gregory pushed himself off the ground, spinning in the air as he narrowly missed a cleaving strike from Houndmoon. 

His spear was still stuck in the ground as Houndmoon threw his guandao straight towards his chest. Dodging to the side, he watched the weapon slip past him before grabbing the shaft as an afterthought.

Gregory turned around to see Houndmoon charging forward with his discarded spear in his right hand. With a bright yellow light glowing in his eyes, Gregory held the guandao in his hands as he flashed past Houndmoon. 

Anyone who looked this way would only see a blinding yellow light just before Houndmoon's head fell to the ground with a silent thump. It rolled a few rounds before the little blood left in his body slipped down his neck.

Gregory stood firm, stabbing the guandao into the ground. Rayla strolled over to his side, a wide smile on her face as she was elated at their victory and Gregory's strength.

"I honestly wasn't sure you would win."

Gregory looked at her, his face a mixture of anger, exhaustion, and happiness. He shook his head as he stared at her, turning to walk away. Subconsciously, he raised his hand to his chest, and it returned with blood.

Before he could make sense of what was going on, he sank to the floor, and Rayla had to hold him up. Rayla sank immediately due to Gregory's enormous weight.

She began chanting a few spells, her mind filled with thoughts of how mad Gregory's brother would be if Gregory died in this battle.