Chapter 21: Realm Of Madness [17] Murder Of Crows
It would take 15 minutes for the crystalline roses to descend, but not for Caw Caw’s siblings.
The wingless birds moved like a single body, a living shadow system, to say. They were like a hivemind, with each one sharing the sa brain and motives.
Slaughter.
The birds passed through his flowers, devouring them like a hungry tide of blackness. Their bodies crashed against the roses, but they held firm.
Leonidas clenched his left hand with a silent thought.
Bloom and live.
The sky above him lit up with a wonderful explosion. Crimson flowers exploded into shards of shrapnel and crystal shards, flying at fatal speeds.
The shards embedded deep into at least a dozen Caw Caws, knocking them useless, or in the best case, dead.
Thick rivers of blood and corpses fell down in a grotesque sight, making Leonidas smile in delight. Not only had his plan worked, it even brought better results than he had expected. Half the horde had been culled, leaving only around 20 Caw Caw for the pair to deal with.
Ten for each of them, balanced, as all things should be.
It truly was easier to kill enemies off guard, whether human or not.
The murder of crows let out a collective cry of grief and sorrow, the noise sharp and edged, like a dying animal seeing the twin angels of death.
Oh well, who cares.
He certainly didn’t.
Caw Caws moved down with increased speed. Near the halfway to reaching the pair, the birds split into two different streams. A thin one headed for Willow, while a thicker, larger one trained themselves onto Leonidas.
"Good lord, how is this fair?" He threw up his hands with great drama...well, hands since he only had one. Willow smiled in response, running forward to et her pair. She did impart so wise words before leaving.
"The Sun doesn’t care whether the grass appreciates its rays, and the world doesn’t care about your opinion. Just saying I don’t either."
Her last words were almost lost to the roar of the wind and the cries of the murderous crows. Unfortunately, he heard them.
Crazy woman.
Wheesh—!
The murder descended. Leonidas t the first one with the sharp, glistening edge of Blush—his wonderful pink longsword. It was slightly heavier than others of its kind, but it mattered little to an enlightened like Leonidas.
He could lift a dozen of them with the sa ease...using it with finesse, however, was another story. The blade carved through the air, yet the bird just shifted mid-flight and flew past it, attacking from behind.
Before he could turn, five more crows attacked him. Four from either side, and one from the front, with another six trailing behind it.
I’m screwed...
Or was he? Leonidas shifted his legs, spun mid-air, a flower blooming in his imaginative world, while he fought back in the real world.
He shifted Blush, its lethal edge trailing upwards like a moving diamond. The blade bit into the bird’s skin and carved it open like it had been waiting for the blade.
A pair of roses ford on either side of him, but they were not his usual perfect ones. Instead, these were misshapen and crude, so not even ford fully. Caw Caws crashed into them; the ones on his right shattered into pieces, while the roses on his left held.
He had no ti to assess the damage it did to the crows, as the first wingless pilgrim he had fought stabbed into his shoulder.
"Aghh."
A cry of pain left him as his sword hand trembled uselessly, the blade nearly slipping from his grip. However, it didn’t; years of training held it firm.
Leonidas bit back a curse and moved sharply, turning in a full circle, and kicked the bird that had dared to wound him. His leg carved through the air, yet it didn’t connect.
Maybe it was his condition—half delirious, barely able to think, bloody and beaten, no right arm, and almost dried up reserves of Insenium—or maybe it was just a skill issue on his part. Maybe he was just not good enough. The bird had dodged his first strike, too, and coincidences didn’t happen twice, not in the world of the Labyrinth, at least.
That mother fuc—calm down. I need to stay calm.
Leonidas jumped out of the storm of crows with a silent push. If he wanted to fight back, it had to be on his terms, not theirs.
He moved his arm just a little, and a hurt cry almost left him. His shoulder was nearly torn apart, bleeding liters of blood, staining his newly made clothes.
It was getting harder to stay calm with every minute. Leonidas knew that if things kept going on the sa way, he would explode at any given mont. Either insanity would claim him, or anger would. And unfortunately, the world wasn’t sunshine and rainbows...ok, maybe a little rainbow with all the color around him, but not sunshine at all!
The mont he lost his reasoning, he would die; there were no other options or alternatives.
How can I fight defective maggots with an injured shoulder and an unstable mind?
It didn’t take a single second to arrive at an answer. It was laid before him. Just like it was advised not to argue with stupid people because they brought you down to their level and beat you with experience, Leonidas would drag those stupid birds to his level and beat them with his own.
Leonidas gave a quick glance at the birds that remained alive and in fighting condition. From the total 12 that had attacked him, two were dead, one was heavily injured, while the other nine were in a near-perfect state.
Leonidas could see black silhouettes flying towards him, everything playing out in slow motion. Adrenaline was pumping in his blood, making everything slow down. He raised his injured arm without a sound, quietly absorbing the pain, and activated his Edict...the second one.
[Wisdom Of The Lamb]
A/N: Today’s recomndation is a novel called My Living Shadow System Devours To Make
Stronger. It’s not a cliche, as the title suggests. I’ll link it in the author’s note. Love the novel and the author, tho so might argue the frst few Chapters aren’t the best, I still liked them.
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