Taking notice of the swordsman through the haze of ringing that ended with Lady Malice knocked into wonderland. The Black Witch staggered to her feet. "Going somewhere, swordsman?" The shadows caught a hold of him by the ankles and slammed him back down to the floor. When he shrieked in pain the Black Witch cocked her head to one side, "Ah, the sound of music!"

"SOMEONE! ANYONE! OFF THIS WITCH!" The Swordsman snarled as The Black Witch twisted both of his ankles.

The Black Witch cackled in glee. "Teeheehehehe!"

When Irzen fell, Lysana went with him. Stumbling to a kneeling position with ears still ringing, Lysana did her best to swipe at the black tendrils and to lengthen her staff at the Black Witch, unfortunately to no avail.

Willow ran over to where Serna lay captured, broke the lock on her confinement, scooped The Shield Maiden up in his arms and went to check on Kana.

Kana struggled to stand, stumbling a few times, but was able to follow Willow when she waved him on.

Neven slowly but surely started to get free of the Black Witch's darkness. Bruno could see the lad's hands and arms emerging free of the morass waving to and fro.

Bruno tossed a flash bang into the room near the Black Witch. It wasn't big enough for all the villains in the room but it was he need it for. The Black Witch saw it at the last second too late.

**FLASH!!**

"ARGH!" She shrieked again and her hold on the thief was lost. Neven slid to the floor, alive, and very confused.

The tendrils which held Irzen also retreated as The Swordsman reached towards The Monk, "Lysana, help me get to my feet so we can get the hell out of here!"

Lysana struggled a bit, but was able to help Irzen to his feet.

Venger had finally extricated his helm from his head and with his vision unclouded now began to survey the scene all around him.

Roberts drew his last un-spent pistol with his left hand and pointed it quickly at Venger's face. In the split second it took him to pull the trigger, he was instantly pivoting, swinging his sword into Venger's midsection. He might be able to dodge one, but not both of the attacks that Roberts used repeatedly in close quarters fighting.

"Wait!" Quake could now visibly see Alyson, her aura was encased within the chaos losing its grip on her, "Lady? LADY!!"

The shot slammed into the Dark Lord's face and sent him reeling backward while the slashing blow to Venger's mid-section caused The Dark Lord to fall. Though his armor caught most of that sword blow, Venger was still staggered by the blast of Robert's pistol to his face. The Dark Lord howled in pain as he cupped his face.

With his grip on the Black Witch fading, the elementalist began to emerge from the darkness. The combined relentless effort of the party really took affect. Venger even though knocked back and kept at bay could magically feel his hold on Alyson weaken.

Neven struggled to get to his feet as he tried to make sense of what just happened to him.

"LADY!" The elemental exclaimed in pure joy, "WE'RE HERE TO RESCUE YOU AND SERNA! WE'RE HERE TO FREE YOU! WE'RE NOT GIVING UP! WE WILL PERSEVERE!"

War Scribe suddenly opened her eyes and cut loose with a blood curdling scream before she looked around, "WOW! Now that was a blast from the past! HEY! Can I get a little help here?"

The Black Witch's dull and dreadful look started to change into the more colorful vibrant appearance of the elementalist. The cryptic voice changed to one filled with feeling and emotion, "GAH! War Scribe, give it a rest! Ugh!" The elementalist struggled to stand. She felt cold and hot, bad and good all at the same time. "Would someone tell me what is going on here and how did me and Serna end up with Venger?"

"ALYSON?! IS THAT YOU?!" Irzen cried out in disbelief, "WHAT THE HELL?!"

"There will be time enough for that later, M'Lady," Roberts said. WHile saying that, he reeled a series of rapid punches to Venger's already mangled face. "Go. The. Fudge. To. Sleep. You. Ugly. Jerk! Bruno, find us a way out of here. GO!"

The Dark Lord howled in pain at the sudden and repeated blows to his face, "RRRAUUGHHH!!!"

Once Kana was able to shake the last of the effects off, she took Serna from Willow so that he could take point to help get them clear of the mess.

The Ranger turned The Shield Maiden over to Kana and took point in the hallway. He waved the others forward as he headed back down the staircase. Neven followed after Willow as War Scribe cried out to no one in particular, "I know everyone's in a hurry to get out of here but aren't you forgetting something? I'M the ONLY one here who knows the SAFEST path out of this suburb of Hell. So you might want to consider taking me along before you RUN OFF AND LEAVE ME HERE!!!"