I performed a series of jumps, nearly avoiding the battle-axe swinging at me. Thankfully due to the weapon’s size and weight, its movements were easy to predict, although not always easy to dodge. Yet, despite the anti-magic field in effect, I felt surprisingly light on my feet.

But I needed to stay focused and not get too cocky. I wasn’t sure what the aim of this axe-man was, but either he was very unskilled, or, more likely, he was doing the same thing Cain did in that Park, and was trying to tire me out.

So, I had to counterattack.

After carefully calculating his movements (he only had 4 or so different swings), I dashed towards him, aiming to slice at his neck. He grabbed his weapon with both hands, using it to block my movement.

My body moved on its own as I too grabbed the handle of the axe, and used it to partially rotate under it, and slice at his head. The wound closed up right away, not leaving enough time for blood to appear at the surface of the skin.

I was too slow to back away, perhaps too taken by my small victory. The man shoved me away, using the handle of his weapon. I lost balance, and fell to the ground, less than two meters away from him.

Next thing I knew, the axe was falling toward my head, and I had no choice but to roll out of the way. But he didn’t leave me a chance to get up, swinging from above once more, and forcing me to move in the direction of the rest of his party. After a third swing, in a moment of desperation, I launched myself forward, nearly avoiding his blade, and slashed at his legs. That had been a coward move, even by my standards. But it gave me the split-second I needed to jump up to my feet.

As I got up, my back met with Cain’s who had retaken his half-wolf, half-human form.

“Let’s switch targets.” He hastily muttered.

I didn’t have the time to reply, as he pushed me aside, making me spin to face the duo from that alley.

“Heh, you really think you can take us with your fancy knife? Well guess what, mine are longer.” The woman said with a sadistic expression before launching herself at me.

I wasn’t sure how, but I parried her attack with ease. Both her daggers slid off my blade. She didn’t relent though and tried again. And again. I shoved the dagger towards her, with the dull end of my blade, then I yanked my sword upwards, making her lose balance.

“René do something you useless bum!” She called out, as she took a few steps back to reassess the situation.

My glance shifted between the two of them. I couldn’t be sure where to expect an attack from next.

It came from a place I expected the least, as suddenly something cold hit me from behind, making me topple over.

 

“Shit.” I swore, as I found myself on the ground once more.

I jumped back up, but I couldn’t avoid a dagger slicing through my chest.

 

“Fuck you lady. Who are you trying to impress with those boobs anyway?” I swore through the pain, hoping that the snarky comment would somehow make it better.

“What, you jealous?” She laughed. “Well, I can give you the name of a good surgeon, although it’s your face that’ll need to be worked on.”

I raised my blade in a guard up before my head, blocking another attack. With my blade up in the air, I caught the reflection of a large chunk of ice heading straight for my head.

I ducked out of the way, not a second too soon.

“René what are you trying to start?” The woman spat, as she easily sliced through the incoming icicle.

“I’m sorry, I just-” The man mumbled, and took a step back.

Perhaps it was the anti-magic zone, or the fact that he was getting yelled at by his teammate, but he seemed extremely nervous. More so than when we had met in the alleyway.

I knew what I had to do from there.

When the woman finally returned her attention to me, and just as she launched a double attack, one from above and one from below with each of her blades, I jumped to the side, and dashed towards the elementalist.

Before anyone, me included, could realise what was going on, I had impaled him through the heart.

He spasmed, and tried to move away. I saw droplets of blood form around my immaculately white sword. I could feel his body heat being slowly absorbed into the sword, as his heartbeat resonated through the metal, getting slower and slower with each passing second.

MP + 30

 

The woman yelled something before launching a quick succession of attacks at me. I didn’t even turn my head towards her, as my right hand, the one with the bloodied blade moved in a position where it could block all the attacks at once.

I watched as the man fell to his knees, as his head hit the ground, and as a small puddle of blood began spreading from under him. It was as if time had stopped. His back was moving up and down, ever so gently. But it wouldn’t have taken me much to stop him from breathing at all.

He wasn’t my immediate concern though. I stepped away from the woman, letting both my arms fall to my side, inviting her to come closer. She seemed to hesitate. There was something in her eyes, something that made her look more like an animal crossing a busy highway, rather than a human. But that look vanished to leave place to a neutral expression.

We began our dance. Two blades against one, black quillon dagger clashing with the white wakizashi. In a battle such as this, the winner could not be determined through skill alone, as both were limited in the domain of swordsmanship. One was bound by spells and magic, binding her ability to that of the one who pulled her strings. The other was holding a proper blade for the third time in her life and, to make matters worse, was not wielding it with intent to kill.

But that did not matter to me, as in situations like these, what determined the outcome of the altercation was the skill not of the fighters, but that of the blacksmiths who had forged their blades. Just as easily as I had pierced the heart of that man, I waited for an opening and planted the metal that burned under my touch into the exposed chest of this woman. She had the presence of mind to jump away, causing herself more harm in the process, but what was done, was done, and I let her return to her wounded companion.

 

With the corner of my eye, I watched as she tended to the man, ignoring her own wound. But I no longer cared about her, as my attention turned towards the other two challengers. The illusionist still had that amused look on his face. He no doubt thought that the cards were still in his favour. And they might have been, had I myself been a caster. But I ignored his smug face for now. If he were able to attack me, or my ally, he would have done so already. But it seemed whatever item, or spell, he’d used to make his party immune to my own abilities had rendered him unable to target us.

So, I rushed towards the child.

He was struggling to maintain his animal-like form, no doubt running low on MP.

“Why are you still here?” He asked, eyes full of worry, as I approached him.

“Stay still.” I ordered.

“What-”

I stabbed him in the chest with the tip of my blade.

 

He looked at me in shock, before leaping away. But the wound wasn’t deep enough to cause any permanent damage or to significantly bring down his Luck.

“Are you betraying your own allies now?” The man with the axe asked, before taking a swing at me.

I easily dodged out of the way and made my way towards the remains of the artefact. If I were to destroy it, I would become close to useless again.

Behind me, the child had finally realised what I had done, and shifting into his wendigo form, engaged again in combat with the axe-man.

“What- I don’t understand.” The illusionist mumbled in confusion.

“Right.” I turned towards him. “I forgot you were there.”

“No, don’t come-”

I rammed into him, pushing him into the river. I waited a few painfully long seconds for him to resurface and start swimming towards the ladder that led out of the water. He hadn’t directly attacked me, so he didn’t deserve anything beyond mild inconvenience.

I headed back towards the artefact and kneeled beside it. With a heavy sigh of regret, I lifted my weapon above my head, readying myself to drop it onto the artefact. I would have needed a magnifying glass to see all the runes that made up this complex and intricate item, but I didn’t deem it necessary to bother with finding that initial rune that had been engraved into it. The worst thing that could happen to me was a swift return to my cosy apartment.

“No don’t!” The child yelled as he dashed towards me, with inhuman speed.

He tackled me to the ground, and out of the way before I had had the time to react.

“You said you’d call the police, that you needed evidence! that – What- ”

His eyes were wide, and his breathing irregular. He struggled to formulate even simple coherent sentences. I supposed it had something to do with his blood-covered hands, and the half-dead man laying a few meters away.

But he had a point. That had been the plan, hadn’t it? With all the excitement of the fight, I had forgotten all about it. That was a mistake I couldn’t afford to continue making.

“Yes, you are – you’re right.” I slowly spoke.