Fire raged all around them. Sigils and Henwy fought almost side-by-side.

Sigils drove an axe through a piglin brute's head. The monster collapsed to the ground.

Sigils took the brief moment he had to scan the battlefield. Jerome was protecting Siimii and leading away the piglins while Biffle and Nico were violently cutting down piglins. He couldn't see the second group so he hoped they had made it into the fortress.

He cut down another piglin and turned towards the entrance. There were no more piglins flooding through.

Sigils started to edge his way towards the entrance. He wanted to find the others and make sure they were okay.

When he made it to the entrance, he saw Karan dragging Gold behind him.

"Go! Run!" Karan screamed. Gold was unconscious. He was covered in glistening red blood that trailed behind the two.

Alxton and Ambrew shot around the corner and started to help Karan drag Gold.

That's when Sigils heard a soft tick...tick...tick.

A bomb.

Sigils shot back out into the Nether and grabbed Henwy.

"We need to go!" Sigils shouted over the roar of war.

Henwy nodded. They started running away from the fortress and towards their friends.

Nico, Biffle, Jerome, and Siimii were grouped together. Sigils whirled around to see the second group limping slowly towards them.

But the admins were nowhere to be seen.

Gold was half awake by the time Karan made it to them.

"Where are the ad-?"

Boom.

The entire top half of the fortress exploded into a furious blaze.

Sigils was so startled, he froze. He stared at the burning building and felt utterly defeated.

Tck...tck...tck...Crack

Sigils numbly noticed Henwy grab his left arm and squeeze it. He murmured something to Sigils but all he heard was  "talk."

Henwy slipped away and soon Sigils was left standing beside Karan and Gold.

"Frost was stabbed. Flo and Raf refused to leave him, so they set up a bomb," Karan whispered, "Gold was attacked by a few lingering guards and nearly died," Karan shot Sigils a dark look.

"I hope you're satisfied."