Plague (4)

Plague flashed before their eyes, like a luminous trail. He stopped behind their backs and cleaned his sword from the blood.

After an instant, Alan’s right arm fell on the ground and blood sprayed out of William’s left side.

Everybody was shocked. It all happened too fast to notice it. Alan stared at his arm with eyes widened out of fear.

Seeing Alan’s stumped arm, Alice went ballistic.

She leapt forward fast like lightning, while Plague was charging another blow, and attacked him from the side.

Plague parried her offensive and they crossed swords.

Alice sensed Natsuo behind her, so she fell into splits, unsettling the knight.

Natsuo appeared from behind her back and launched a sound wave toward him.

Plague bent backwards and dodged it by a whisker, then stepped back. He spread his arms and white thorns were thrown from his armor.

William’s dark substance rose from the ground and blocked all of them. Natsuo immediately ran toward the knight at fast speed, thanks to his new attribute.

He charged a blow and slashed with his scythe.

Plague parried the blow, but Alice flashed behind his back and wounded him behind his knees, making him lose balance.

Gregory hit him in his head with his club and the knight fell on the ground.

A storm of thorns broke out from Plague’s armor and forced everybody to step back.

Plague got up, summoned his bow and shot a blast of arrows as he backed away.

Alice sprinted behind him. She danced between the arrows, dodging every single one of them even if they went at an extremely fast speed.

Soon she reached him and made a lunge, injuring his right side.

Behind Plague’s back, William emerged from a pool of darkness and stabbed him on his left side with his dagger.

Gregory took a run and charged a blow from above.

“You’re very fast, but I bet you’re not as strong!” he exclaimed.

He pushed the club violently toward his head.

Plague tried to parry the blow with his bow, but it broke under the impact. When the club was just a few inches from his helmet, the knight flashed away and Gregory’s club hit the air.

Natsuo was fast enough to keep up, so he sprinted toward Plague and attacked him with his scythe.

The knight parried the blow and counterattacked, but Natsuo was able to dodge it.

The others watched as they fought at fast speed, sprinting all over the battlefield, but only glimpsed the impacts between the two weapons.

Alice stood ready to intervene, but they were increasing their speed at every blow, making it difficult to distinguish their moves. She couldn’t risk getting in the way and hurt Natsuo by mistake.

Olive observed carefully the battlefield, trying to follow with her eyes Plague’s movements. She summoned an explosive vial and waited for the right moment.

She analyzed the spots where the two weapons last crossed and calculated Plague’s position.

“Now!” she said and threw the vial.

As expected, it hit Plague perfectly and exploded, blocking his way.

“Good job, Olive!” exclaimed Natsuo.

He sprinted toward Plague, ready to end him now that he was distracted. He charged the blow with his scythe and…

Suddenly, a blinding light came out from Plague, forcing everyone to look away. Natsuo put an arm in front of his eyes to protect them.

The knight lifted off the ground and spread his arm, unleashing a storm of thorns that went in every direction.

No one could see anything, so they couldn’t dodge the thorns.

No one, but Alan. Olive had tied a cloth around his arm and, even if he wanted to fight with his comrades, he wasn’t of any use without an arm against such a strong enemy.

But this time, he was the only one who could do something. He wasn’t too close to Plague, so the light didn’t blind him as it did with the others.

He grabbed his halberd tightly and it caught fire. Everyone was about to get hit by the thorns, he was their last hope.

Alan took a run and threw the halberd at the knight.

The weapon spun in the air and got stuck on Plague’s thick neck, passing through the small cranny between the armor and the helmet.

Plague’s body caught fire and the light faded.

“Natsuo!” Alan screamed.

Natsuo moved his arm and saw the knight writhe, trying to get rid of the fire.

He smirked. “Nice shot, Alan!”

He sprinted toward Plague, jumping on the thorns that kept on coming out of his armor, and reached him.

He charged a blow with his scythe in mid-air.

“Game over.”

Natsuo slashed with his scythe and perfectly cut off Plague’s neck.

The light immediately expired and the thorns vanished in the air right when they were about to hit the others.

Plague melted in white mucosa, leaving no other trace.

Natsuo landed on the ground and twirled his scythe. He couldn’t believe it was over.

After a moment of silence, everyone realized that the victory was theirs. They all rushed toward Natsuo, rejoicing.

Gregory picked him up and threw him in the air. Olive and Alice hugged each other. William burst into tears and Alan patted his head with a smile.

“Gregory, put me down!” exclaimed Natsuo.

“I’m sorry, I’m just too happy!”

Gregory let him go and patted him in his back, almost making him fall to the ground.

“I didn’t apply for this” Natsuo complained.

“Natsuo! We did it!” Olive exclaimed with a smile.

Natsuo nodded. “It seems so.”

Alice slightly smiled. “I have to admit that we make a pretty good team.”

William hugged Natsuo tightly.

“It’s over! We won! It’s all thanks to you!” he said, his eyes covered in tears.

Natsuo smiled. “We made it together. You were also very cool, William.”

William looked up in a very cute way to see his face. “Really?”

Natsuo nodded and William started crying even louder.

“I love you!” he exclaimed.

“And there’s also someone else who played a crucial role” said Natsuo.

He turned to Alan with a smile on his face.