Blood Burns Bright

Slater dug his blade into the ground as he slid into the building,. Shards of the broken glass had cut into his back, but it wasn’t anything crippling. Blood from Axel’s blades had put faded red stains over his new coat, but in a battle of life and death, the quality of his clothing didn’t matter too much to him. Axel burst through the already shattered window shortly after, sending a streak of crimson at Slater. He moved his blade to deflect the streak away, pushing it off and away from his body. The spear of blood cut into the roof above, caving in the floor above, filling the entire floor with a cloud of dust.

Crap, I can’t see him anymore… Slater looked around, but he could barely see his own body between his squinting and coughing from the dust irritating his eyes and throat. All he could see was his own glowing blade, and if he could, so could Axel. Right on cue, a red blade appeared from the smokescreen of dust right in front of his face. Remembering the muscle memory ingrained in his body, he launched his blade in the way of the bloody death before him, batting it out of the way rigidly. The impact of the clash parted the cloud, letting the two see each other once again. As the two stood exchanging pants, grasping for breath, Axel broke the silence.

“You’re dead set on beating me with just your technique… I can see it in your swings.”

“Isn’t that what you want?” Slater leaned forward, clasping his blade in both hands, expecting retaliation.

Axel’s eyes, letting Slater’s words weigh on them, closed halfway and turned as his mouth opened slightly. “You don’t get it, do you?” He paused, then continued. “I thought that if Barros taught you that you’d understand, but it’s clear to me you’re a failure just like the others.”

“I can still fight you just fine—“

“You were given a gift to foster and grow into your own unique form. I don’t want your seeds, I’ve seen plenty of those. Show me your fruit.” Axel shot a foot back, pushing off of it as he brought his two blades together like a pair of scissors. The scissors aimed for Slater’s head, but missed their target as the blade of blue was caught in the middle instead.

“You want something only I can do then?”

The blue blade curved and wrapped itself around the two blades in a spiral, binding them together. Slater gripped his blade, heaving the blades over his shoulder and their wielder with it, releasing them at the wall. As Axel flew with his blades, they extended to the length of the room itself as he crossed his arms. With a fierce yell, his blades cleaved across the entire room, slicing the walls from their foundation. He had separated the top and bottom of the building entirely, except for one sliver of wall which was spared by the indigo blade in Slater’s hands, which had extended into an odd dumbbell shape to prevent the scissoring blades from fully snipping. This, however, did not keep the building from falling, as it buckled under it’s own weight and the entire top portion fell away from the street, crushing numerous other buildings which had the misfortune of being constructed shorter than it.

The moon shone down on the newly-opened battlefield. Blood from Axel’s blades had splattered across Slater’s face from the last attack he parried, and Axel himself had his own blood coating his hands. The blades in Axel’s hands began undulating faster and faster, and it was at this moment Slater could see their true nature.

“Your blades are constantly taking blood out of your body and putting it back in at a constant rate…” He spoke out loud.

“You got that much from just two fights? Maybe Geo did see something in you.” Retracting the blade in his left hand, Axel pointed his main blade forward as it stabilized itself. “Too bad we don’t have much time left together.”

The Wendigo ran forward, aiming his blade not at Slater, but at his sword itself. The blades met, and began a flurry of clashes. The barrages of red and blue met each other again and again as the two duelists shifted around the opened arena, each strike holding the full force of the little power they had left behind it. Flashes of purple rang out with every shriek of blood meeting energy, until they ceased at the edge of the arena. As both stood panting, a excess of blood poured out of Axel’s left arm which had just taken a hit from Slater. Axel’s blade, however, was pointed at Slater’s chest.

“I acknowledge you, swordsman. You did well.” He smirked through the pain. “But, you can’t beat me unless you’re firing on all cylinders from the beginning.” With his final remark, Axel lunged ahead and pushed the edge of his weapon into the center of Slater’s chest, Slater’s chest into what remained of the wall, and the wall into the street below. The red-stained body fell, and it would fall, until it hit the cold pavement below. Axel gave a small smirk at his victory, before falling onto the ground of the opened-up floor of their small building, his blade returning inside his body as his consciousness slipped away.

Blitz raised his mace above his head, spinning it like a lasso, letting the chain and head of the mace loose. It began spinning faster and faster, creating afterimages, separating the mace into a hydra of flame. Upon closer inspection, Charlotte noticed, though. There were no afterimages. The mace had created two perfect copies of itself purely out of fire, which were spinning with it in tandem. He walked forward faster and faster, with each step swinging his mace with more force.

“Well, don’t just stand there!” Droite yelled out, running forward. After a brief realization of her own hesitation, Maya readied light daggers in her hands to be thrown, but both of them stopped in their tracks when they heard a large crash and the sight of blood penetrating through the building on one side of the street, rending it in half. By the time Maya looked back, Blitz was standing among the three Wendigos.

“Music really can take your mind off of things, can’t it?” Blitz asked the group in front of him as he brought his arm down with a large cleave, with the burning hydra following suit. The triple-headed mace burrowed into the ground, the flame exploding outwards with a force that singed through Blitz’s clothes and engulfed the entire street.

“Blitz!” Charlotte yelled, but couldn’t focus on him as the smoke had yet to clear, and instead spied a familiar body in the corner of her eye falling from the cleaved building. She couldn’t stand, but she shot a group of roots to grab and catch Slater’s body, pulling him closer to her. The roots became unstable as they got closer, ultimately dropping Slater on the ground just in front of her.

Damn, I don’t have much strength left in me. Charlotte looked at her hands, then back at the smoke. If me and Slater are out of the fight, that just leaves Blitz…

The smoke was clearing, giving clear sight at the aftermath. A crater was left, with Blitz in the middle. Steam still coming off of his body, with visible burns appearing under his seared clothing. All of this would have been acceptable had their enemies been in the same state as him, but in a still-flat piece of land within the blast radius were the three, with a shield of wind circulating around them.

“Well, that’s damn unfortunate.” Droite had his pinky finger in his ear, picking out some earwax. “I know I’d be quaking in my boots if I went through all that and had my last ditch effort just deflected like that.” He spoke nonchalantly, but April, the barrier’s originator, fell to her knees and barely held herself up with one of her rapiers.

Droite was right about one thing though, Charlotte was quaking. She was the only one left, and she couldn’t do anything. Not protect Blitz from Droite’s foot which had just raised over his head, and not even pick herself up from the ground.

“This is the en—!” Droite yelled, before a large metal crash was heard, and he was sent rolling down the road and spinning like a ragdoll. A large black military vehicle, an armored all terrain transport of some kind, had parked itself between where Charlotte and Blitz were, and out of the side poked the head of a familiar old man.

“Hurry up, before you all get killed!” Lupus yelled, puffing out his chest.