The intense dread of death breathing right down on his neck made the guard tremble, he had had close brushes with it before, or so he used to believe, but it couldn’t be compared to what had just happened to him, death had stared into him, and he had no other choice than to stare back, he beca well aware of what was coming and could only crumble, realising that that becoming a mangled up ss at the hands of Lady Syklon would be much better than death, he ca to know that nothing he had ever experienced could even be compared to it.
Truly, there was no fate worse than death.
The dark whispers that reached him in that instant, normally, he would have disregarding the words of a creature such as this, but it offered a way to avoid the ultimate end of his existence, in that very instant, he trusted those words with his entire being, and thus, believing that his life could be spared in exchange of the asly life of his fellow, the dread was replaced with a cold composure.
Lashing out thrice with his blade without moving, he unleashed double the amount of mana slashes, despite lacking in the departnt of energy control, the blade art he had taken up and trained in for years at this point did the heavy lifting for him.
The only condition was that he had to perform clear movents corresponding the sort of slashes he wished to send out, also, by having the weapon art take the mana necessary from his own reserves, this allowed it to be much more devastating.
Loimos jumped off his shoulder as the scaled man charged right behind the flying blue blades, he analysed the weapon art in great detail, he had already attempted to imitate so in the past, to no avail, but that wasn’t going to discourage the carcass.
Battle arts were an interesting branch of power, they worked in great likeness to conditions and rules, based solely on a strict set of actions and prerequisites, most potent battle arts were jealously guarded by certain groups, making one of the prerequisites for the art to function be that the user be a part of said group.
This was the case for nearly all of the arts used by the people of Tochi.
Blades struck one another as the lean man deflected an attack from his colleague after dodging to the side to evade the barrage of mana slashes, the two n were swift, swordsman of Tochi prized themselves over their speed and dexterity, they rarely wore armour, and if they did, it was far from the sa protectiveness offered by the suits worn by knights.
Their swords, katanas as they referred to this variation, clashed repeatedly, each strikes capable of leaving a deep gash were it to be allowed to land, the two moved as though they had prepared for those movents for months, with certainty and poise.
They dodged, parried and deflected with refined movents, only a few seconds had passed since Loimos inserted his odious whispers within the guard’s mind, he had reverted the black blood within to a more harmless state, still allowing it to burn him from the inside to constantly remind him of the stakes, although that wasn’t even necessary.
The furious strikes of the scaled man took the other by surprise, he wasn’t holding back, straining his limbs to put an end to his life, this could be exploited but the lean guard couldn’t benefit from this, his strength was inferior, thus, his defences were eventually flung aside, blood spurting from his chest.
Crazed by fear, the scaled man smiled seeing that he was gaining the upper hand, just for his colleague, to resheath his blade, and use his sword in its scabbard to smack the bloodied sword away before landing a kick directly to the stomach, forcing his maddened companion away as he unleashed his own sword art.
"Blazing instincts!" striking an odd pose and speaking the na of the art clearly were the necessary components to coat his blade in a bright fla, though that was only the most minor of the two effects granted upon him.
Like a pyromancer enhancing their bodies with precision to push their perception to the maximum, the lean man acquired a sight, hearing, reflexes tempered by fire, taking the wild and explosive nature of the elent for himself.
He arched his body back, dodging one mana blade before striking the second one down as he approached his forr friend, the scaled guard took a defensive pose, predicting that the fired up swordsman would go for a decisive blow, he aid to counter and end the fight swiftly.
’I’ll feint a mana blade before going for a thrust for his heart’ he concocted a plan in re monts, paying close attention to the blade of his opponent, shrouded in flas.
Both of them sprung into action, both convinced that they knew the tricks each other could use perfectly, only one was right in their assumption. Continue reading stories on empire
Swinging at the sa ti, one’s blade shone with blue glint, whilst the other stopped midway, or rather, so it appeared for a split second as the mantle of fla was thrown off the blade, directly in the scaled man’s face, utterly thwarting his plan and forcing him to back off as fire licked his face.
This mont of weakness wasn’t wasted, with a swift motion, the lean man sliced off the sword hand of his friend before kicking him straight to the neck, knocking him out on the spot.
"The healers should be able to figure out what’s wrong with you" muttering, the man stricken by love for their lady knew that reattaching a hand, even after a while wouldn’t be a problem here.
The reason many competent warriors flocked to Lady Syklon was because of that, injuries could be healed easily and having her as an employer ant that one might be rewarded with techniques and such that she had accumulated with her obscene wealth, or maybe even be taught crumbs of her own battle art.
Completely confused by what had happened, the lean man still didn’t forget about the monster.
’Crap! I lost it during the fight…’
But Loimos hadn’t lost the living, landing on the back of his neck, a single bone spike erged from the center of his palm, resulting in instantaneous paralysis and death shortly after.
And then, the rot consud it all, leaving nothing but the damage caused in the struggle behind as the hand crawled away.
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