The blade hammers against his own, ringing loudly against his ears, thrusting him back, his legs pushing against the stones and debris, the opposing edge of his blade cutting into his own shoulder. He winces at the pain, pulling the blade out, feeling it rip flesh and bone. He wants to cry out, but he grits his teeth, bearing the pain, shutting one eye tight as he stares at his opponent from under a matt of dirty hair. She stares at him, grinning wildly, eyes large and bright, waiting for his next move.
His name is Raki. He's human and only twelve years of age, so he'd like to say, but he's been through this reality a hundred times and even though his muscles feel like limp puddles of mud and the sword he carries feels impossibly heavy, he hold it up and faces her. His enemy. Ophelia.
Twice his age in years and a woman fully grown, she bears a blade that should be too heavy for her own twig like body, swinging it at his rapidly, gee filling her eyes with each stroke, each blow, each cut that draws blood.
She stares with a maniacal grin, baring all her teeth, some curved into wicked blades of their own, her ears sharp points and eyes double the size of any woman's he's seen, staring with that mad glee, following the traces of blood that now cover a good deal of his body. That's it, he thinks, keep your mind on me, ignore her. Clare...
He looks briefly towards the woman who sits against the floor, her back to the stone wall, eyes shuts as veins push against her temples, sweat running down her brow as she concentrates on sealing the flesh of her legs back against one another where the enemy's blade ripped through bone and meat. Clare.. She's so beautiful with her short blonde hair and lithe body. He has to...
"AAAAggghhh!" he cries out as the blade rips through his shoulder, splitting skin and nicking at his collar bone.
Clare drops her concentration, looking towards him, her leg dropping forward, splitting from the stump, blood gushing from the open wound. He turns away, gritting his teeth as the enemy chides Clare for letting her concentration slip. Raki shuts his eyes, waiting for the blow to come and bounces it back. He's been through this battle a hundred times in previous lives, and lost it a hundred times. But he'll never give up. Never.
The woman simply laughs at his gusto, enjoying how he struggles and tenses her arms, gripping her sword more tightly. He waits for that attack, a moment where he'll have a chance for a split second to counter attack, or die trying. He's died many times already. Never to the monster after this, but always to some move from this sociopath and woken up to start things over. So he waits... waits until that moment comes. When she steps forward and swings her blade he swings his own.
There is the briefest of barriers between his blade and the sky, something hard barring his way before it falls and leaves him free to the air. He thinks it might have been the sword, but it didn't feel like one. The crashing of the sword behind him should have told him what it was, but it's that dull thunk as something soft and heavy lands at his feet that finally makes him open his eyes and look towards it.
He is slow, not wanting to open his eyes, his heart still thundering in his chest, but then there is the second crash and he looks towards his right, opening his eyes, looking towards the woman's headless corpse, her cape billowing lightly in the wind. There is a small puddle of blood forming on the floor where her head is once was.
His heart skips a beat, eyes widening.
Did he really? Did he really do it?
He looks towards his feet and stares down, a bitter smile curving the corners of his mouth. Elation fills his heart. There, only a foot away from his toes, is the woman's head, lying on the floor with shut eyes, mouth still curved into a smile, but without her body.
He laughs as he picks up the head, tears rolling down his eyes. He looks towards his enemy, her serene expression and feels the hot tears run down his cheeks. After all these lives, after all the times he's failed... he's actually done it! He killed the monster! He'll be able to stay with Clare and live out his life with her and...
"You know," says that self confident voice, the eyes opening to reveal those dark silver eyes as her lips twist in a grin, her jaw moving against his hands. "It's rude to chop people's heads off."
Raki looks at the woman's head in his hands, now smiling openly at him as she looks up towards him and drops her head, falling back on the floor on his rear with a scream, crawling back against the wall. "Nooo..." he whispers, "it's not possible..."
Yet as he feels his body tremble and Clare screams his name, yells at him to run, he can only stare. That headless body, the remainder of the monster, picks itself off the floor next to him, simply walking over to the fallen head and picking it up nonchalantly, lifting it high overhead like a prize it has won before placing it back on its neck, twisting it back and forth as if adjusting the fit, bone and flesh crunching as they reattach. "Not possible..." he whispers, his feelings of elation quickly turning into fear. "It can't..."
The woman turns around, cracking her neck once, twisting her head and gyrating it as if centering it anew. She looks down at him, a smile splitting her lips even wider than before, staring down at him malevolently, sharp teeth glinting. "Well, that was certainly more exciting than normal, kid! But I think this game is finally over!"
He hears Clare yelling at him to run but he can only stare at the woman as she bends down and picks up her blade, keeping an eye on him, bouncing the sword in her palm as she turns and lifts it over her head. His own blade has been forgotten at his side, the fear consuming him completely as he stares at that wild grin, looking so much like the devil incarnate, her eyes full of a twisted malice.
He just barely beat her this time! How is he supposed to beat her again when she can reattach her head? How...
"Hey... kid," she says, interrupting his thoughts. "Next time you come back, let's have some more fun, neh? I liked this game."
He just stares, mouth agape, eyes wide and heart thundering. Next time? She knows? But how...
He has no time to think as the blade comes down suddenly. All he thinks of then is the pain as the sword cleaves his body in two spraying blood all over that wide smile...