Chapter 19: Emily and the Shadow Sword

Chapter 19: Emily and the Shadow Sword

Emily wields the Shadow Sword, staring at the blade with complete satisfaction.

“This sword… It’s already filled with magic. Well then, my Channeling Magic should further amplify it.”

“There is no way a low-level human should be able to easily wield that sword,” Tar notes. “Those who use Channeling Magic… Are they exceptions?”

Tar charges toward Emily, shouting. “That sword does not belong to you!”

Emily stands there, continuing to admire the sword. With no resistance, Tar lands multiple punches all over her body. Emily continues to ignore him even as he relentlessly attacks her. With one final hard punch, Tar knocks her down, but her grip on the sword does not loosen.

“I can’t let her, a human, wield that sword,” Tar murmurs to himself. “Otherwise, my chances at victory are slim.”

Tar walks over to try to take the Shadow Sword from Emily. As he approaches her body on the ground, she twitches. With a sudden burst of speed, she sits up and slashes Tar across his waist, slicing him in half.

As Tar’s upper body falls to the ground, he sees the look of intent to murder in Emily’s eyes, a glare as sharp as the blade she wields.

Emily stands up and stabs Tar’s left leg, preventing the bottom half of his body from reattaching to the upper half.

“Tell me, demon,” Emily begins. “How do we stop the cursed water?”

Tar coughs up blood as he responds. “The only way to return the water to –cough– normal is to kill Drought. When we demons commit to something, we don’t half-ass it. We will succeed at our mission or die trying. –cough– The mist is linked to him, so you have to kill the source. However, you will not defeat him. You could with that sword, but the sword drains a ton of energy if used by humans. –cough– The divine power of the Dark Goddess that powers that sword will be too much for you. When you fight Drought, you won’t have enough energy to pull off the kill. –cough– I will die here, but our plan will still succeed.”

Tar laughs, albeit strugglingly. Emily grits her teeth, pulls the sword out of his lower half, and stabs him in the heart. He continues to laugh until he finally dies with blood flowing out of his mouth.

“Good riddance,” Emily states. “He is right, though. I can feel my energy draining fast. I can’t just use this as my only weapon. Perhaps further training will allow me to overcome it.” She stares back in the direction she came from. “Now, I must find everyone else.”

Before she leaves the area, she finds a pond and looks at her reflection. She opens her eyes wide when she sees her reflection.

“My iris color changed to dark red! It must be a side effect of using a demonic sword…”

She sheathes the sword, turning her iris color back to blue.

She picks up her dagger, the tar having disintegrated from it upon Tar’s death. She then walks over to her normal sword and picks it back up, sheathing it. Finally, she leaves the area, heading back the way she came.

***

A little bit later.

Emily finds Joe at the place they originally separated from, the top of the waterfall.

Joe smiles widely. “Emily!”

“Good thing I found you,” Emily says. “Have you seen any of Zeth, Sasha, or Kurt?”

Joe shakes his head. “No, unfortunately.”

Emily frowns, worry overtaking her. “We need to find them! Let’s go!”

Emily has defeated Tar! Now, Emily and Joe need to find the others!

Chapter 19 END

To Be Continued in Chapter 20: Why Me!?