Himura Satō
Me and a woman who looks like a priestess stand in front of the commander. My eyes dart around quickly, looking at who's around and anticipating the commander's next move. My gaze lands on the familiar axe-wielding man to the commander's left side, then my gaze falls to the other man on Kioi's right side.
A man clad in steel, black steel. He looks like he was piloting a mech with how big his armor is. And yet, the way he acts and breathe gives me a feeling of lightness. He's not some walking tank that's for sure but I can't be sure. After all, he literally just appeared ten seconds ago.
Tilting my head slightly, I look to see a familiar spear-wielding man and a quick turn later, a see a familiar staff-wielding lady, the one that could make things float. The knife-eared woman is still clearly behind me and so I finally, my gaze lands on the commander.
He says nothing for a moment but the air starts to settle he opens his mouth, "ᎷᏗᏁᎩ ᎧᎦ ᎩᎧ–" As he began to what speak in gibberish the man in black steel cuts him off, shouting, "ፈᏬᏖ ᏖᏂᏋ ᏕᏂᎥᏖ, ᏦᎥᎧᎥ, ᏇᏋ'ᏉᏋ ᏗᏝᏒᏋᏗᎴᎩ ᎴᎧᏁᏋ ᏖᏂᎥᏕ ᏰᏋᎦᎧ–" The commander cuts him off and blades clash as both the commander and the man in black steel enters a bind with their swords.
At the point of contact, there is a large chip as both swords bite down on each other. As the chipped steel of the commander's zweihander drops to the ground, it stops then flings upward, towards the man in black steel. In response, the man materializes a brown hexagonal barrier, nothing more than a few centimeters in radius blocking the shard.
The commander moves both of their blades above their heads then with his shoulder, he pushes the man in black steel but the man stood his ground and didn't budge. The commander narrows his eyes and during that short time, then, he also manipulates the shard to cut his armor.
The commander pushes the man in black steel again and a large force flings him about thirteen feet by estimation. An arrow flies towards him but a barrier appears once more, this one was so small that the fletching of the arrow was wider than the barrier. At the same time, he also turns to the axe man, weapon above his head and he clashes with it using his zweihander with a horizontal slash.
A brief moment later, his sword changes in color into a brighter steel which immediately shatters, leaving the upper half on the ground. The commander continues his motion, causing the axe to stop momentarily beside him. He puts his hands on the handle finally and does so in a reverse grip.
He quickly puts his blade behind him and lets himself fall, however, the spearman makes contact with the broadside of the broken zweihander. And then, the upper half that laid on the ground floats and shoots towards the archer. The archer shouts something in gibberish which the lady with the staff responds with more gibberish.
The lady with the staff held her arms forward trying to stop something very hard, around her were her floating weapons, now on the ground. I look at the commander and found the same shard still cutting his armor, and that shard was right behind the broken zweihander. A moment later, the cutting stops then moves to another ruined magic circle.
With the magic circle complete, he makes contact with it with his zweihander and once more a large force pushes the spearman away, at the same time, the broken zweihander flings to the side of his body, towards the axe man's head.
But before that could happen the priestess appears beside the axe man and smacks the zweihander upwards with her staff. Using the opportunity, I attempt to slash his side to no avail as a small barrier appears to block it. The lady with the staff looks as if she just dropped something heavy before breathing out then stabbing her staff to the ground, catching the commander's attention.
Every single one of us immediately attempts to attack him but multiple small barriers stop it as the commander tries to dash towards the lady with the staff but the man in black steel dashes in front of her, he slashes him but as a barrier appears to block it, the barrier shatters yet the commander remains unfazed as his broken zweihander was already in motion to block the attack.
However, the spear with his skillful maneuvers gets pass the barrier and blocked his inner elbow, causing the man in black steel's attack to land, hurting him and breaking the magic circle on his chest. But before breaking, the magic circle activates once more and a large force pushes the man away again and the barrier quickly converges towards the spear, separating the tip. The spearman drops the spear and jumps back and looks at the lady with the staff. Unfortunately, both of her hands were occupied, channeling something and so, without any choice, dashes towards one of her spears.
The upper half of the zweihander stops a few feet from the knife-eared woman and spins violently towards the spearman as he lunges forward, at the same time, the barriers enlarge and pushes us all back. The spinning upper half attempts to attack the axe man's head but he jumps back allowing the upper half to pass him and reconnect with the broken zweihander along with the shard.
With the weapon in one piece again, the zweihander was long enough to reach him but before that could happen the priestess dashes around the barriers and appears to smack the zweihander down but a barrier catches up with her and stops her but at the same time he felt a sting.
I know he did, as he finds my long blade piercing his left knee, the one he left behind when he lunged. "If the media portrays magic with even a slight accuracy, then that would've mean that his mind is very occupied to notice me." Was the thought I had before dashing between the very small space of the two barriers.
He looks at me and the barriers starts to converge towards me but the axe man places his between two barriers and leap towards that gap before the barriers trap me. I roll on the ground as the barriers disappear and at the same time the spearman grabs a spear from the lady with the staff's side.
The commander tries to stand up and he quickly tries drink a small potion from his waist. He tries to open it but he stops, his eyes widen for a moment as the lady with the staff looks at him. "Ꭵ ᎶᎧᏖ ᎩᎧᏬ ᏁᎧᏇ, ᎴᎥᎮᏕᏂᎥᏖ." She spoke as she closes her fist, at the same time, the commander does so too, crushing the potion.
The lady with the staff looks paler than before and then in this chaotic night, there was an audible crack. Her face, like ice slowly shattering, appears to crack revealing flesh and blood in the gaps. That moment was like a coin dropping on the ground, a tumbleweed passing through, or like a gunshot to start a marathon. All of us dash towards him. The commander unable to move freely attempts to cast more barriers but the lady with the staff shouts something incomprehensible and the commander imitated as well, interrupting the spell.
The man in black steel dashes and lands a massive slash on his chest, where his previous attack landed. The axe man cleaves through his left shoulder cleave him in h, but could not alf. The spears stab his left eyes and an arrow pierces his right. The priestess smacks the back of his head with her staff and as for me, I stab towards where human's heart should be. My blade enters through the gap of his armor right below the armpit, eventually reaching the heart.
"ᏇᏋᏝᏝ ᎮᏝᏗᎩᏋᎴ ᏰᏬᏖ…ᏂᎧᏇ ᏇᎥᏝᏝ ᎩᎧᏬ ᎴᏋᎦᏋᏗᏖ ᏋᏉᏋᏒፈᏂᏗᏁᎶᏋ?" I could not tell what he was speaking. At first, I thought he was about to pull some second phase type of bullshit but from his tone, there was shame. Perhaps a memory came about as his life reached the end but then, as the spearman pulls his spear out, I look into his eyes, his very being.
And what I saw was not the eyes that I fought earlier, resolute, determined. Now what looks to be tendrils wriggled around his eyes and for a moment it felt as if those tendrils stared at me. We all jump back as large tendrils, with ends like a maggot's mouth and skin like an octopus emerges from his body leaving only the crude form of the commander's body.
My hearts begin to beat fast as this monstrous form which to have emerged from his zweihander began to approach us. But not a moment later, my heart also begins to calm down. It dawned on me. "Why would I feel that way? I no longer have to scheme."
It was skill against skill when I fought the commander but now? This thing that approaches us made this fight nothing more than skill against an obstacle. Pure and simple, nothing more and nothing less. I breathe out and I harden my grip. "I'm no longer dueling a man, now, I'm hunting a monster."
We all dash forward once more as the lady with the staff slumps to a tree, barely able to move. The monster raises what used to be the commander left arm and four tentacles shoots out. They enlarge and extend but I one tentacle shoots towards me, I sidestep then, with the false edge of my blade, I slash upward yet I couldn't cut it.
I would have clicked my tongue at that moment but I dash closer towards the monster and I stab the neck. It was so pathetically easy yet from the looks of it, there was no damage. The monster didn't even squeal, growl or anything. The rest of the tentacles were cut down as the rest arrives. Once again, they slash, bash and stab yet even their attacks, even the archers piercing arrow did not do a single thing to kill this monster.
The ground shakes violently, looking at the near the feet of the monster, I see that tentacles have burrowed into the ground. I jump preemptively yet none of them did. The man with axe looks back to see the woman with the staff as another crack appears on her face and then–cut to black.
"BOOOOOORIIIING." Astoria interrupts. "Dipshit, I'm trying to make an entertaining story here." I retort, my face twisting into that of emphasized annoyance. "Well to be fair, I don't really want to hear what Alcor's expression was when she saw her face or every detail in every random fight that you have with goblins." A taller woman, an elf wearing a more rougher priestess clothing, a large book at her hip, and the ever-so familiar steel staff next to her tells me frankly.
I sigh; I was a bit disappointed but they do have a point. "Yeah, by the time we're able to leave this place, you'll be in the third city talking about some random job we were doing." Another woman just about my age, wearing a large very white coat and two large bags at her hip, commented. The rest agrees in unison. "Alright fine, I'll talk about the more important fights and summarize the rest. But no more interruptions, okay?" I say to them while making hard eye-contact with Astoria.
"Ahem…also for the sake of continuity, just assume I slowly got better at fighting as the days go on." I said but Astoria immediately interrupts. "Himura, you took three writing classes because you were bored and now, you're talking about some, don't tell, show bullshit. The fuck you think this is, a novel?"
I try to formulate a retort but the elven priestess interrupts as well. "Exactly, beside you don't need to tell us this, we already know." She smiles warmly, I couldn't help but smile back as well, forgetting my retort to Astoria. "Alright fine…Ahem, so where was I? Skipping through five minutes of us trying to kill the monster, eventually the monster threw away the sword as more and more tentacles show up."
As another barrage of tentacles shoots towards us, I felt a warm glow. A green flame burns brightly as if the sword was like a hay bale covered in gas. I try to look at the others but they were busy making sure the monster couldn't move. I drop my broken blade and grab. When I did, the weapon changed yet when I try to think of specific weapon, nothing happened.
It kept changing and changing. It was hard to wield. The sudden changes it weight, my tiredness, my physical weakness, it was hard to hold, much more just to swing it. Eventually, it settled into a lance. One made for jousting. I barely lift it up, putting the long lance of me both hands.
I breathe out, then, I point the tip the monster, my dominant hand grasping at the handle while my off-hand serves as a way to rest the lance. I ran towards the monster, I was running into danger yet for some reason I felt calm holding this heavy lance, calm enough to start monologuing.
"I never really liked fighting, senseless, mindless fighting. I always like the art of dueling be it through swords or fists. I guess that's I hated when they all arrived despite the fact that I probably could never against him–" As each step brings me closer towards the commander, I felt an emotion, I expected it yet I hated it. "–a shame. Though the glory of bringing this monster down will be great for my ego, I still feel a tinge of shame, this may not be some fantasy novel, but I had hope that the conclusion of this fight would of glory and perseverance but now, I feel that it's simply us putting a dog down."
I plunge the lance at the middle of the monster's chest and the green flame sets the body on fire. We all pull back as we all watch. The green flame reduced the body into ash, leaving a disgusting smoke within the air and finally, the weapon was all that was left.
I sigh, I feel nothing like a story rushing its ending but, "That's just how fighting is, way too short in reality." I look at the ground and see his black curved dagger. I grab it and inspected it. Pure black with the only distinguishing feature of the dagger being the rough and worn rope wrapped around the handle which had began to lose its black color.
I find my bag and put the dagger inside. We waited for each of us to recover until some random people began to approach us. They spoke in gibberish and continued to do so as we make our way to the city. I turn my head towards each of them; they all have different expressions yet all of them had these eyes. Way too open yet not one of shock. It…was more like disbelief if I had to guess.
Which begs the question, why? I know monsters exist outside of the city's wall yet what made that commander so special? I sigh. There was no point in finding out for now. Not like I could anyway. Inside the forest, we saw armed men and women taking armor and weapons from those zombie-like creature. And when we arrive just outside the city, we saw the gate destroyed yet what really caught our attention was the stinking piles of body.
We look beside the gate, as pile upon piles of bodies almost reached the top of the wall. As we enter the city, I disappeared as quietly as I can. With nobody with me, I finally sighed in relief. Checking myself out, I was mostly clean. Not even a drop of blood was on my clothes.
Heading to a familiar direction I see a ladder but not quite where it used to be. I borrow it and climb to a familiar roof and lay down. It absolutely hurt to lay down all because of the shingles but I do not care. I close my eyes. Then I open them again. "Is fighting really how I want to survive in this world?" I hold out my hand. I imagine a pencil. "I want to draw for a living, that's what I've been doing before I arrived here. But…realistically, this world has no demand for it, I mean, what good is an artist in a world full of monsters that need to be killed."
But do I hate it? Absolutely, but also not. Whether I like it or not, I will fight but…I do it to survive, to seek knowledge, and most importantly, so I can continue being an artist. My heart beats calmly, I will accept that reason. That I must fight so that I can draw. I close my eyes, and finally, this long night ends.