Plague

Natsuo sat up abruptly.

“I saw the white horse” he said.

Olive’s eyes widened. “You mean, Plague?”

“I don’t know, I saw it pass in the sky, but it was too fast. I think it went in that direction.” He pointed to his left.

“Should we follow him?” asked Olive.

“Let’s try.”

Natsuo got up and ran in the direction where he saw the white horse’s figure, followed by Olive.

At first, nothing was in sight, but, suddenly, a volley of white arrows were shot in their direction.

Olive threw a vial to the arrows and they exploded before they could reach them. Natsuo hurriedly took out his guitar from the case and transformed it into the scythe.

“Who shot those arrows?” asked Olive.

“I don’t see anything” replied Natsuo.

Another volley of white arrows rained on them, but Natsuo pushed them away with a vibration.

They kept on running until they reached the border of the area purified by Natsuo. At that moment, the one who was attacking them revealed himself.

A white horse with an armor full of thorns put his hooves on the ground and stopped in front of the two. On his back he was carrying a white knight with a crown, who held a bow in his hands. He wore an armor covered in thorns and kept his face hidden behind his helmet: he was elegant and glorious, but terrifying at the same time.

Olive put her hands before her mouth, frightened by that vision. She slightly pulled Natsuo’s sleeve.

“N-Natsuo, I think that knight is Plague” she muttered. “We should run away—”

“If we defeat him, all the white silent monsters will be gone, right?” he interrupted her.

“Yes, but—”

“Then it’s perfect!” Natsuo smirked. “We’ve been traveling for days to find him, I won’t let him go so easily.”

“We should call the others, you can’t defeat it all alone!”

Natsuo turned to Olive.

“Who said I’m alone?” He ran a hand through his hair and smiled. “You’ll fight by my side, right?”

Seeing his determined smile, Olive felt reassured.

“Of course!” she replied.

Natsuo faced the knight and waved two fingers to invite him to fight.

“Let’s see what you can do” he said in a provocative tone.

Plague slightly bent his head to one side, as if he was surprised to see that an insignificant creature was actually challenging him. He stretched his white bow’s string and shot an arrow toward the boy.

Natsuo pushed it away with his scythe, then leapt forward and charged a blow toward the knight. Before it could hit, Plague disappeared from his sight and reappeared at his back.

After a second, a spray of blood erupted from Natsuo’s right side. He glanced at the wound, shocked. When did the knight hit him? The gash was deep and caused excruciating pain.

“Natsuo!” Yelled Olive.

Plague didn’t show mercy and charged another attack. He disappeared again and reappeared in front of Natsuo, slashing his other side.

The knight ran his hand over his sword and cleaned it from the boy’s blood.

Seeing that weapon, Natsuo understood what Plague was doing. He didn’t disappear, he was just too fast for him to see his attacks.

“Damn, it feels like fighting against a samurai” he complained.

He concentrated and tried to glimpse the knight’s next attack, but other blood sprayed out from his leg. He fell on his knee, his body aching.

Plague charged another attack and wounded Natsuo’s other leg.

Olive assisted at the scene, desperate. Natsuo was helpless, the knight was just playing with him for fun: if he wanted, he could kill him whenever he preferred.

Natsuo played his battle playlist in his head and the wounds started regenerating. He got up and launched an attack toward the knight.

Plague parried his blow with his sword, but, thanks to his attribute, Natsuo had incredible strength and pushed the knight away.

Plague shuddered, as if Natsuo’s counterattack didn’t even bother him.

“Natsuo, watch out!” Olive exclaimed.

Too late.

Plague sheathed his sword and took his bow. He circled around Natsuo and shot a volley of arrows all around him at an extremely fast speed.

The arrows all hit the mark.

They reached Natsuo and pierced him all over his body, making him fall on his knees.

“Natsuo!” Olive yelled, desperate.

They had to escape, in some way. She summoned a vial and threw it on the ground, releasing a lot of steam, then grabbed Natsuo from the arms and tried to drag him away. The steam hid Plague’s view, but they were too slow to run away in time.

“Olive, let me go. You can run away alone” Natsuo said.

He felt the wounds pulsing and stinging.

“If I leave you here, you will die!” she replied.

Despite his conditions, Natsuo chuckled.

“I didn’t think you had so little confidence in me.”

“How can you joke in this situation? You’re crazy!”

Natsuo started unsticking the arrows from his body. Every time he took out one, he felt an acute pain and his body trembled.

“Help me take out the arrows” he said.

“What? But you don’t have to take them off!”

“I’ll be fine. Trust me” he said.

Reluctant, Olive decided to do as he told her and hurriedly unstuck all the arrows, despite his body’s shivers.

After she was done, Natsuo got up from the ground, under her astonished eyes.

“You shouldn’t walk in your conditions!” she exclaimed.

Natsuo took her hand and placed it on the spot where a wound should have been. Olive sounded out his flesh, but it seemed to be undamaged, as if nothing had happened.

“I’ll be fine, do you believe me now?” he asked.

She glanced at him with a worried expression.

“Yes, but be careful. I don’t want to lose you.”

“If you say it like this it seems like I’m going to die for real” he said jokingly.

Natsuo slipped his fingers between Olive’s and held her hand, his expression suddenly serious.

“Don’t worry, I don’t intend to leave you either.”

Olive was about to say something, but, suddenly, the sound of a string popping vibrated through the air and a white arrow pierced her waist.

Natsuo’s eyes widened.

“Olive!”