Chapter 32

A loud clang of the axe's metal head on steel rang out as sparks shot all around the commander, who had stepped in front to block it. One hand on the handle of his sword, and the other on the blade to brace against the heavy impact. The axe bounced off through the air and landed uselessly to his right.

"You lot are damn USELESS!" He said as he started walking towards me. 

"William! He has a radiant armament! Be careful!" Katsumi called out. 

That explained the state of this place, but why hadn't he used it on her? It had to be overheated. 

He stepped out of the dark circle that was centered around Katsumi and took a stance with his sword low. As I started towards him, he got lower, which I thought was odd. He angled his blade up slightly-

"DODGE!" Katsumi called out.

He made a stabbing action with the blade, and a stone pillar shot out of the ground in front of me. I lept back, but it was useless. It stabbed into the center of my upper chest and out my back, suspending me in the air with my feet barely touching the ground. 

He didn't even say anything as he turned and walked back to Katsumi. 

"William! You coward!" Katsume raged at him.

"You beastkin all think about courage and honor like it's so important. In the end, results are what matter. Who cares if you have honor if you're dead? He killed 3 of my men and injured another. Death is the proper penalty. Don't you have a culture where the strong decide what's right?"

I honestly couldn't die fast enough. It hurt, being stuck up there, and I couldn't speak or breath. When the darkness finally came, I embraced it. When I woke up, I was lying on the ground next to the stone. I guess my healing had pushed it out of me, or rather, pushed me off of it. 

I picked up the sword that had fallen in front of me, and stood up, immediately running towards the commander. He turned well before I got there. Him at Katsumi had the same expressions of surprise. One of the spearmen shouted. 

"Vampire!"

The commander stepped towards me again, but this time I had entered that dark circle on the ground. I assumed it why he hadn't used his radiant arms on Katsumi yet. 

"Nah. You're no vampire, are you boy? Not out in the sun. You're some other sort of undead." THe commander said.

Being called an undead felt insulting yet accurate. I didn't have time to think about it now, though. 

I swung in a wide sweep towards him. I made my actions clear to read to bait him into trying to block it. Instead, he raised his leg and kicked me in the chest, before my sword even got close to him. I managed to keep a tight grip in it as I tumbled back, trying to replace the air he just knocked out of me. He stepped toward me. I rolled to the side as he brought his sword down and got to my knees. I was still choking in air. Getting another look at him, he was big and easily out reached me. Katsumi was starting to slow down. I could see blood running down her side where that spear had hit her earlier, and if this circle was preventing this big guy's sword from working, I wondered how long it would last before her own weapon overheated or broke. 

How the hell did I beat someone like this? I only managed against Lawrence because of a hundred other factors. In a real 1-on-1, he could beat me every time. Lawrence was a different kind of monster, though. This guy probably wasn't as strong. At least, I hoped. 

He moved to me again, not giving me time to think or plan. I backed away, but tried to circle around and get between him and the spearmen. He didn't let that happen, and made sure to stay between us. I really didn't have options or time, so I ran in with a plan.

He didn't even let me try anything. The moment I moved to him, he stepped to me and swung first. I tried to block, and it rattled my bones when our swords clashed. He followed up with another swing, which I barely managed to block again. Then he threw a punch to my face, and before I could recover, stabbed me in the stomach. I fell to my knees. It hurt! It burned! I want to stand back up and hit him back, but all I could think of was how much it hurt. Memories of the doctor digging around inside. He had to do it while I was alive, otherwise it closed up. My mind was racing with the memories, until suddenly, there was another sharp pain briefly on the back of my head, then nothing.

I woke up, and he was only standing a few steps away. 

"That should've worked! What are you, then? Silver doesn't seem to do much more than a regular blade would. You one of those shapeshifting things from the deep underbelly?"

I didn't know what he was talking about, and I didn't care. My mind was racing, the images, the sounds, the smells, the pain. I could still feel it all. I needed to focus on right now. This guy in front of me, Katsumi needed my help. Ruri was injured. 

I grabbed the sword on the ground in front of me and squeezed the blade with one hand until the pain pulled me out off that table and brought me back to the clearing. I was ready to stand up and fight, but he was already above me, ready to swing. 

One of the spearmen screamed and fell back, rolling around, trying to put out a fire that had engulfed him. Katsumi took the opportunity to push through the remaining 2. She feinted a swing toward one, and the other took the bait, stepping in to stab at her. She sidestepped it and closed the distance to him. The other spearmen tried to cover, in one move she deflected his spear up and then brought her sword down on the other one's shoulder, through his chest. The last one tried to turn and run. Katsumi was ready to chase him down, but instead took one step and fell to her knees, clutching her side. The dark area on the ground vanished for a moment, then returned, but she stayed where she was. A plume of fire extended from one of Ruri's tails to the fleeing spearmen and engulfed him as well. He also went down screaming. The dark area on the ground flickered, then vanished and didn't return. Katsumi turned to look over at the commander and me, but didn't say anything. I tried to stand up quickly, but the commander kicked me in the chest and sent me skidding back. He immediately dropped into that low stance he had down for the pillar. Katsumi tried to stand up, but couldn't. At this distance, I didn't think Ruri's fire would reach, either. I couldn't breathe again, but I got ready to throw my sword at him. Even if it didn't kill him, maybe it would interrupt his attack, as long as it made it in ti-

A black beam of light shot from another one of Ruri's tails and hit the commander in the chest. It didn't seem like it did anything, but he froze. After a moment, he dropped his sword and stood straight up. The expression on his face was hard to read. It was like he was experiencing pure terror. He fell on his back, writhed on the ground in silence for a bit, before finally letting loose a bloodcurdling scream. It was the kind that tore your throat apart just to make. It lasted until he was out of breath, and yet he kept trying to scream more. His eyes shot all over the place, and he was constantly clutching at different parts of his body. His face, chest, stomach, face again, legs, face again. ... I realized what was happening. His mouth started to foam, his eyes rolled back, he raised his chest off the ground one more time, then he went limp. Dead.