Disadvantageous Battle

"All 3.."

Jeyson whispered under his breath.

Gripping his twin swords with his hands, Jeyson confronts the surviving members of the raid he did earlier today.

Once again facing the monsters that mercilessly hurt the squirrel, even having one of them kill it, Jeyson's rationality was thrown out the window.

He could not think of anything else but to kill.

"Wh-Who are you?"

Jeyson's focus was broken as the voice entered his eardrums.

He looked over to the direction it was spoken and he found out that the person who asked was a dark blue haired man wearing identical black robes as his allies - Relon.

The leader of monsters.

The squirrel murderer.

"Where are you from?"

"..."

Relon's expression gets more annoyed with each question he throws that Jeyson didn't answer.

Jeyson has no intention of answering questions from monsters. He doesn't find need to nor does he have to.

"How did you find us?"

"...."

Jeyson's stared at Relon's detestable face with disgust. His blood boiled with every word coming out of his mouth.

"What do you want?"

"...."

"Who do you wo-"

"Shut up."

Jeyson just had about enough. He had waited for them to make the first move for they outnumbered him. This alone placed him in a disadvantageous position.

But his patience just reached his limit. He didn't think about their counter attacks.

All he could think right now is to cut his tongue off.

Jeyson started charging at Relon.

Jeyson's sudden charge caught Relon off guard, which made Relon freeze in the spot from shock.

Jeyson lifted his left sword preparing to swing it down.

"Watch out!"

The shieldman, who was prepared for the attack, rushed in between Relon and Jeyson who swung down his blade to kill Relon.

*CLANG*

Jeyson's sword got blocked by the dark shield on his right hand. It made an extremely loud sound that signifies that if that strike were to hit a defenseless Relon, it would've killed him instantly.

"Ha!"

To Jeyson's right, the swordsman charged towards him and swung his dark sword down towards his back.

*TING*

Jeyson blocked the attack with his vacant sword just in time. If he were any slower, he wouldn't have come out unscathed.

Jeyson, who knew he was in a disadvantageous position, jumped back, recovering his distance between the 3 men.

-This is going to be tricky.

He thought, unlike the previous battle, Jeyson was technically only up against the swordsman.

The bowman only provided ranged support. Though, he only fired when Jeyson tried to recover distance for an instant counter attack or whenever he could get a good shot.

Then again, his marksmanship wasn't the best, he injured the swordsman leg because of his imperfect shooting.

In short, the bowman was useless.

This time however, Jeyson knew the shieldman would play a bigger role in this battle.

Jeyson knew this wasn't going to be an easy fight if the shieldman was added to the equation. This is the reason he tried to shoot the shieldman down, it failed and gave away his position.

However, to Jeyson's benefit, that action made him know the base of Relon's abilities.

He knew that Relon couldn't fight against him in a head on battle.

-I need to get rid of the shield.

Those two are the only nuisances, Jeyson could best the swordsman, he did it before, but he doesn't know if he could best him with the support of the shieldman.

Adding the fact he is outnumbered.

-I need to stay on guard, if I make one mistake, I'm done.

"Aaah!"

Just as Jeyson thought of that, the swordsman charged at him with his sword held in a position ready to strike.

However,

*TING*

Jeyson was still able to block the attack.

-The same swing from before.

Jeyson remembered when they battled in the building in the forest, his first swing was also an overhead swing.

*SHHHRT*

Jeyson dragged down his opponent's sword, creating a screeching sound from the friction of the colliding blades.

The swordsman caught on with what Jeyson is trying to pull off, which he responded by jumping behind to recover the distance.

"Gah!"

Jeyson however, was hoping for him to take that action. Jeyson's footing after blocking the attack allowed him to immediately move towards another location.

Jeyson rushed towards the recovering swordsman. He extended his left arm to gather momentum for the attack. But as swung the sword with the gathered momentum, the shieldman moved between them and blocked the slash with his shield.

*CLANG*

"Tch!"

Once again, Jeyson's attack had been blocked by the shieldman. Jeyson tried to follow up the attack with his right sword but the shieldman didn't just stand there and took the attack.

"Hu!"

The shieldman threw off Jeyson's blade with force to set him off balance.

"Kuh!"

Jeyson's left hand which was gripping the blade had also gotten thrown off. The shieldman saw this as an opportunity and launched a high-kick at Jeyson.

-Crap!

Jeyson thought as his eyes caught on the kick. He lowered his head just in time to evade the kick.

He tried to jump back to recover distance and form another strategy. However the swordsman who had gained himself appeared from behind the shieldman, charging towards Jeyson with his right hand holding his sword raised.

Jeyson is in a bad position and an enemy is charging towards him, he is in trouble. The swordsman swung his sword downwards towards Jeyson, which Jeyson was barely able to stop the attack with the help of both of his blades.

"Grah!"

*TING*

*SHHHHHHHRTRRT*

Jeyson was able to stop the incoming attack by intercepting the blade falling down on him by catching it with his two swords in the center of a V shape.

The impact was already strong enough to loosen Jeyson's grip onto both of his swords. But after the initial strike, the force pushing down on his swords were less strong, which allowed Jeyson to match the power with the swordman.

*SHUU*

Jeyson felt a strong Magic Flow coming from his left. He glanced towards its source and saw Relon stretching his hands towards him.

Relon's Magic Flow, which are his veins, is glowing a pure white. However the veins became black as they passed the ring on Relon's middle finger, the black veins slowly converted into Dark Matter that charged up a ball of darkness similar to the one that disappeared with the arrow he shot earlier.

"Disappear!"

"Away!"

Relon shot the ball at Jeyson who still hasn't recovered his stance from throwing his opponent's sword off trajectory.

-Crap!

The dark ball was fast, heading towards his arm. Jeyson jumps back, barely evading the ball of darkness.

The ball of darkness hits a tree that happened to be on its collision course. The ball exploded, expanding its area of effect. Almost as soon as it exploded, the expanded area of the ball shrunk into nothingness, taking a chunk of the tree's body with it.

The upper half of the tree that now doesn't have a body to support it, fell down backwards, not affecting the battle area of the Jeyson and the 3 men.

"Tch, you're fast."

In a snarky manner, Relon spoke to Jeyson. Jeyson has recovered his position and is ready to strike again.

Jeyson's legs have an urge to charge once more, however, he knows that letting his anger and hate take over isn't going to win him this already disadvantageous battle.

-How?

Jeyson took a step back and assessed the situation.

Jeyson has 3 opponents, Relon, whose ability is Dark Matter that relates to teleportation. Jeyson assumes so because the mass teleportation earlier in the abandoned building has to be either Relon's or the bald man, which clearly isn't him because his ability is the Dark Shield.

The headband and the bald man are as straightforward as it gets. A Dark Shield that his blades can't penetrate and has seemingly infinite durability due to it being Dark Matter, and a Dark Sword that acts the same as a longsword, except Jeyson assumes that the blade is also unbreakable.

-This is impossible.

Jeyson gritted his teeth, he had never fought against enemies this troublesome. One of the reasons is their annoying abilities, but the main reason is that these are miserable monsters who see joy in the suffering of other creatures.

-Just wait.

Jeyson strengthens his grip, he observes the three men who are not initiating any attack on him.

-Smart.

They must've concluded that Jeyson is highly reliant on his speed, which they would be correct.

If they were to initiate the attack, Jeyson would be able to avoid it with ease because of his refined agility.

With that deduction, they hoped Jeyson would attack first and then counter attack him. Although it was annoying for Jeyson, waiting for Jeyson to attack and counter attacking at the same time is Relon, the swordsman and the shieldman's winning tactic.

-I'm at a bigger disadvantage than I thought.

In a losing situation, being outnumbered and countered in almost every way, Jeyson tried to form some sort of strategy to defeat them.

However the swordsman noticed Jeyson in deep thought and charged at him.

"Aah!"

Hearing the footsteps and the swordsman's voice, Jeyson snapped out and had his attention directed to the man.

-Dammit!

The second Jeyson laid his eyes on the man, he was doing swinging motion from above downwards.

*Shing*

Jeyson leaped to the side, avoiding the attack by a tiny margin. Although he wasn't injured by the slash, his hood was torn, revealing a little of his ear and his silver hair.

-That was too close! I let my guard down!

The swordsman continued his attack with another slash from the side. He had Jeyson on the defensive, he isn't letting him go so easily.

*Shing* *Shing* *Shing*

The swordsman kept pressing the attack onto Jeyson, directing his sword slashes at him.

Jeyson is able to easily maneuver from the attack because most of the follow ups the swordsman did were predictable, which led Jeyson to be able to dodge even before the swordsman pulled his hand back for another swing.

-Too easy.

*Shing* *Shing* *Shing*

Jeyson continued to dodge the swordsman's attacks, waiting for the perfect moment to counter attack.

Then. There it is, an overhead slash that he executed poorly. Jeyson gripped his left sword and blocked the incoming dark blade.

*TING*

-Now!

*SHRRRRRT*

The two swords made screeching sounds from friction. Jeyson moved his body towards the swordsman from beneath while still blocking the dark sword with his left blade. He pulled his right arm back to gather momentum for a slash that would put the swordsman out of commission for the rest of the battle.

The continued charges of follow up attacks caused the swordsman to have gone too far from the shiedman. The shieldman rushed towards Jeyson to save his ally but it's clear that he won't make it in time.

-One down!

Jeyson thought. He placed his foot forward and swung his right sword towards the swordsman.

He would find that he spoke too soon.

"Away!"

The familiar word entered Jeyson's ears, causing him to glance towards the left again. He saw the shieldman running towards them both and Relon who had just fired a ball of darkness.

-NOW!

Jeyson acted immediately. This situation was a repeat of the situation before, knowing that both the shield and the sword will be away from Relon.

Jeyson dodged the ball of darkness by maneuvering to the side, away from its course. He then gripped both of his swords and charged towards Relon, with full intent to kill.

The shield and the sword couldn't react to this in time, the moment they started to lift their legs to intercept Jeyson, he had already outdistanced them.

Jeyson pulled back his right arm, preparing the blade for a slash to the neck. Relon reached his right arm inside his robe and seemingly searched for something in a hurry.

He arrived at a distance close enough to land the strike, Jeyson swung his blade, aiming for the neck.

Relon jumped back, dodging the blade by a tiny margin. Jeyson gritted his teeth as he heard footsteps coming in his direction.

-I need this one!

Jeyson screamed in his thoughts as his eyes widened. He swung his left sword to follow up with the attack, and then the right and the left again. However, Relon was always able to dodge the attacks.

Then, because of all that stepping back, Relon had hit a tree, the end of the treeless plane that they had been battling on.

-THIS IS IT!

Jeyson swung his right sword to slice Relon's neck, it was fast and Relon's bad position made it unavoidable, it was the killing slash.

However, in the nick of time, Relon finally found what he had been looking for inside his robe and took it out.

*TING*

-What!?

Jeyson is in shock, Relon blocked his strike with a hand to elbow length blade. The back of the blade was already touching Relon's neck.

"Heh."

Relon smirked as sweat ran down his face.

"Teleport."

As Relon said that, his body was engulfed by darkness. The moment the darkness fully engulfed Relon, the darkness disappeared along with Relon.

Jeyson was baffled at the sight, not knowing how to react, he froze on the spot.

"Haah!"

Jeyson heard a scream behind him. He snapped out and glanced behind to see the swordsman had pulled his right arm back. Jeyson jumped to the side in an attempt to dodge the attack as he had no time to block it.

He was able to evade being cut clean. But his calves were grazed by the sword, resulting in a clean cut, tearing his trousers.

"Atch.. You.."

Jeyson unintentionally released his voice from sustaining the injury. He was out of reach for the swordsman but his eyes caught a glimpse of the shieldman running towards his direction.

He tried to move his legs but his cut on his calves made his movements slower than they originally were.

The shieldman rushed to him and kicked Jeyson in the stomach. Jeyson's original speed would've been able to dodge this, but the injury took a larger toll on his battling abilities than he expected.

"Hah!"

"KUH!"

The force of the kick caused Jeyson to drop both of his swords on the ground. He held his stomach as he suppressed the intense feeling of vomiting.

The pain reached his entire body, he felt that he could pass out at any second. Jeyson used what was left of his strength to reach the blade with his left hand, but the shieldman stomped on his arm, inflicting more damage on him.

"You know-"

Jeyson heard a familiar voice in the distance.

"-You're an annoying one."

He looked up, he saw a blue haired man with a punchable face.

Relon.

Jeyson gritted his teeth and widened his eyes to prevent himself from passing out.

-This.. I failed again.. 

-If only.. I had... It would've been so much easier

"So. What are we going to do with him." The swordsman asked, as he twisted his right wrist.

"Hmm. He is a pretty skilled fighter, we could use him on our side." The shieldman who moved his right arm in a circular motion answered to the swordsman.

"Good idea." Relon nodded as he replied to them. He examined the blade that he used to block Jeyson's attack.

Jeyson focused his eyes onto Relon. No- more precisely, the blade that Relon is holding.

-That Rose Guard...

Jeyson focuses his eyes onto the guard of the sword. It's in the shape of a rose.

Jeyson has 2 twinblades, but they're not actually 'twins'.

The blades he owns right now are made from the same blacksmith, which explains the same design.

He bought a pair of twinblades in the past, but he lost one of the swords during one of his missions. This led to him to buy another pair of twinblades.

He used the left blade of the old pair and the right blade of the new pair. With the rose guard and a flat guard respectively.

The longer Jeyson stared at the sword Relon was holding, the more confused he got.

It would take him a hundred years to forget that blade.

That rose guard blade was the same blade Jeyson lost 4 years ago.

____________

Sweat dropped down Jeyson's face, his left hand and stomach were stinging in pain. He gritted his teeth and forced his eyes to widen just so he wouldn't pass out.

In a small plane of clear land, surrounded by what seems to be an endless array of trees, Jeyson observes the three men having a conversation amongst themselves.

After a while, they approached Jeyson, who was laying down on the dirt in pain.

"Now all we need is to wait for Dermon."

Relon spoke as he crouched down. The shieldman and the swordsman remain standing up

"Let's take that annoying hood off first."

The shieldman suggested. Jeyson felt a surge of resistance, but even the slightest movements caused his stomach to feel like getting smashed with a mallet.

"Good idea."

Relon agreed as he placed his hands on the head of Jeyson's hood. He then pushed the hood off of Jeyson, revealing a silver haired man with blue eyes.

Relon's expression turned from smiling to serious.

"Huh? Wait.."

He said, he lifted the blade he was holding in his hand - The Rose Guard's right blade. He turned around as if in search of something.

"There!"

Relon exclaimed as he saw the Jeyson's left blade. He rushed over to it and picked it up.

He examined the blades side by side, after a moment. His face turned dark.

He dropped the left blade. He had discovered something.

"Screw taking him in."

"Relon?"

Relon moved towards Jeyson who was laying down on his back. He lifted the left rose guard sword, his face in anger, nothing can be said about his face except 'pure killing intent'

Relon swung down the rose guard blade on a weakened Jeyson.

-NO!

Jeyson will not accept dying here. Not before succeeding in his goal.

He rolled to the side just before the blade was about to chop off his neck.

-It's not painful.

The pain from his stomach was relieved, although the injury from his calves made it difficult for Jeyson to move, ultimately his speed was still there.

He rolled away and quickly stood up from laying down, grabbing both of his blades on the ground as he did so.

Jeyson stood up straight as he gripped both of his blades, looking straight at Relon and the two men who had confused looks on their faces.

Relon's face was serious, his eyes stared at Jeyson, radiating pure hostility. His body was straight, he gripped the left rose guard sword as he opened his mouth speaking in a near inaudible voice.

"Silver Hair... Blue Eyes.. Rose Guard Right Sword.. So it was you..-"

Relon took a step forward.

"-MURDERER!"

He screamed as he charged at Jeyson, swinging the blade.

The swordsman and the shieldman stood in shock seeing their leader uncharacteristically charged towards an enemy clearly more skilled than him.

-What?

Jeyson easily dodges the Relon who carelessly charged at him. He tackled Relon and pinned him down, not letting him move.

"Ack!"

"Relon!"

Jeyson placed his left blade close to Relon's neck, he looked straight at the two men

"Don't."

Jeyson placed the blade on Relon's neck, threatening to slice it if the two men came any closer.

The two men stopped at once. Just as Jeyson intended.

"Mo... ster.."

Jeyson heard a cracking voice coming from Relon. He turned his head towards him and spoke.

"What did you say?"

Jeyson grabbed Relon's hair and lifted his head to see his face. Relon had teary eyes and his voice cracking as he answered to Jeyson.

"You.... You killed.... my parents... MONSTER!"

Hearing this, Jeyson's face turned pale.

Not because he heard himself being called a monster

It's because Relon's eyes. 

Yes.

The same eyes as Jeyson when he stared into hateful reflection.

____________

"Oh dear. What a terrifying coincidence. He's here."

"The Silver Haired boy? Oh! You mean the murderer?"

"Hahahaha! That idiot really believed that."

"4 years now? He still hasn't found out the truth?"

"I did hide it pretty well."

"You did. Our plan is slowly coming into fruition."

"Relon has become a great asset, he listens to everything I say as long as I say that it would bring him closer to his parents' murderer."

"Hahahaha! What an idiot! Well.. technically.. you weren't lying."

"I never lied, I say that I knew who killed them."

"Hahahah! Hmmm... Come to think of it, did you remember burning down a village?"

"That was.. 12 years ago."

"Yeah... I remember you telling me.. you spared a silver haired boy.."

"I didn't spare him. I left him to die."

"Well.. seems to me, he is definitely alive.."

"How so?"

"There. That's the 'silver haired boy' you thought died."

"... oh ... So he's alive."

"What are you going to do.."

"I think it's time I make my debut over there."

"And then?"

"Well.. let's just see.. maybe they'll live? Maybe they all die?"