When You're Strange
Prologue
Struck Down
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She stared him down once more. They were both tired, but it was obvious that she was near her limit while he had barely begun to feel fatigued. The fight had raged on for hours and not until the last few minutes had the likely victor become clear. The entire time he had been on the defensive, helpless to do anything but block, parry, and dodge her blades and magnificent blasts. Every so often he would take advantage of that fraction of a second rest between her furious onslaughts to take a quick swipe at her, but she was always a step ahead and simply led her own parry into another ferocious attack. It seemed she was the superior warrior…
But as the fight carried on she began to see that it was all a ruse to make her seem she was winning. She had always been able to crush her opponents with her superior offense, and if they could not be crushed with one blow then she would continue until they were destroyed. If they dodged she would advance until she had caught up, if they blocked she would continue until their defenses broke. She was only wary of an opponent that could overpower her. Never did it cross her mind that one would try to outlast her. When she realized her massive reserves of strength were beginning to wane she attempted to fool him, leaving openings to bait him. Though he took the bait he was still careful not to leave himself open, and her retaliating slashes were easily swatted aside. When she attempted to rest he began to attack, forcing her to continue the deadly and exhausting dance. She was running out of options…
She had no choice. It had to end now. She could only hope he would allow her the chance to prepare. She took her stance and summoned her power. A pool of light shone at her feet and sent a vortex of energy upward, blowing her hair and garments every which way. Light cackled around her and gusts of wind surged in all directions. He planted his feet firmly and took a defensive stance, readying himself for the desperate attack. At last, she had gathered all she could. With a scream that reached out to the heavens she brought her blade down, unleashing a magnificent blast of force and light. When they smoke cleared she opened her eyes and gazed in front of her…
The man was gone, not even a bloodstain to indicate his former presence. She sighed and relaxed. She waited for her ears to stop ringing. Even if she was the one speaking, she wanted to hear it clearly.
"Victory," she muttered with a smile.
"Not quite."
A sharp pain ran across her back. She quickly recovered and attempted to return an attack of her own, but he slashed her across the chest before she could swing her sword. She fell face first to the ground. She was done, finished, the fight was undeniably over.
"Not bad at all," he said. "That was really fun. I think you made my hand go numb with that last blast."
With her remaining strength she brought herself to her elbows. She was still unable to lift her head.
"Finish me." She ordered. He made no response of any kind.
"FINISH ME!"
After a short pause he kneeled down and gently lifted her head by her chin. He had removed his hood, finally showing her his face. His amber eyes glowed with a menacing light.
"Why would I do that?" he asked gently. He stood as a dark portal opened behind him. Through sheer force of will she managed to keep her head up.
"You will regret this, darkling. We will continue to come for you. And should we meet again, know that the mercy you have expressed here today will not be returned. I will destroy you."
He roared with an evil laughter, the kind that most young children imagine demons sound like.
"Good! Keep thinking like that! I'll look forward to next time!"
He stepped through the black corridor and disappeared, leaving her alone. She collapsed onto the ground, unable to hold herself up any longer. She relaxed and focused her thoughts on her fellow warriors, calling out to them. It was time to go home…
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Wazzap!?! I'm back! So after a combination of slacking, college, and a serious accident, I've finally decided to get back to work. Rather than only work on one story at a time, I'm going to rotate working between all my projects, just to make sure I don't lose any ideas. This story is still in the planning stages, so I'm just gonna let it flow out onto the digital page.
Shinigamisparda is back!