Revenge

I look around casually, eyes scanning everything around us. We're being watched, I can tell that much. But whoever it is, they're not coming near us. I'm not sure I'm too happy about that. Finally, we reach Boric's mansion and Chelsea slips inside. Then, I turn away from the door just in time to grab Sheele and leap to the side, Carter crashing down where we were. I swear. Not only is it really bad timing, but he also is attacking us in plain view of everyone.

"Hello again, Jason," Carter grins.

"Run," I growl, kicking a stone at Carter's head as I draw my sword and lunge.

Sheele turns to flee, but Carter avoids the stone and blocks my slash with his left axe, the unbroken one from our last fight. The moment he does, his right hand swings a splitting maul down at me from above. I swear, leaping to the side and avoiding the axe before turning and sprinting after Sheele. I glance back and Carter grins, waiting a few seconds before pursuing us. We can't escape. That much is a given. However, we do make it as far as a flat area just outside the village before he lands in front of us, grinning from ear to ear. I swallow hard, readying myself, Sheele doing the same beside me.

"Don't let him break your scissors," I warn. "Just let me hold his attention, you watch for an opening."

Sheele nods and I take a deep breath before charging, slashing at him rapidly. His axes spark repeatedly as he deflects my strikes, the two of us both gaining and losing ground rapidly, all but dancing back and forth across the area. I spin under a swipe from his axe, stepping around behind him and stab at him but he spins, blocking the blade with the flat of his axe, my sword's blade deflecting off to the side. He swipes down at me, but I spin and duck, slipping under the axe and stand, slashing upward, only for his blade to block mine in another shower of sparks. Then, he swings the other axe downward at me, forcing me back. He pursues me, and just like that, we're dancing around the battlefield again, both spinning, slashing, hacking, blocking, and dodging, sparks flying rapidly. Finally, he swipes downward at me with both and I step out of the way before slamming my sword down on the back of the blades before slashing back upward at him as Sheele slashes at him from behind. He grins, lunging forward and rams his shoulder into my chest, throwing me backward, Sheele's blade carving a scratch into the back of his shoulder. He spins, deflecting another slash and swipes upward at her, only for her to deflect it with the guard of her scissors. Then, she leaps backward and Carter spins, blocking my sword with the shaft of his left axe.

I push off, flipping forward and encase my foot in fire, kicking downward at him, but he dives out of the way, the fireball shooting off of my foot and blasting the ground just before I land, spinning and blocking Carter's left axe, staggering backward from the impact. He swipes again and again and I struggle to hold it back. Left, right, up, left, pivot, stab, flip, right, down, duck, slash, left, punch, stab, jump, slash. He push kicks at me, and I cross my arms to block it, being thrown as his foot collides with my arms. I bunce once before flipping and sending a blast of flames out of my hands to stop myself before catching my sword and charging again.

He meets my charge, our blades clashing time and again, sparks flying around us. I begin to lose track of the strikes, allowing my body to move on instinct as our weapons blur around and around in the air between us. At some point, I manage to scratch his cheek, then he nicks my shoulder. I spin around an axe and slash at his back and he traps it between the blade and shaft of his left axe, twisting and flipping my sword into the air before swiping at me. I step back, the splitting maul tearing a gash into my stomach before I leap forward, stepping off of his shoulder and jumping high into the air, catching my sword. As he's looking up at me, Sheele lunges, slashing from the left. He grins, his left axe blade knocking the blades downward, allowing him to flip over them and swipe downward at her. She pivots, knocking the blow away with her scissors' guards, flipping and kicking him aside. Then, she chases him. He bounces once and she slashes, only for his splitting maul to slam into her blades, flipping him over the blades so that he could land on his feet before stopping himself and deflecting another blow upward with his left axe. Sheele swings the scissors around behind herself, slashing from the other side and he flips over it again. However, just as he touches the ground, I reach him at a full sprint, jumping and planting both feet into the side of his ribcage, hurling him to the side.

He bounces and rolls to a stop, lying there a moment before pushing himself up, coughing a couple times before chuckling. "You've grown quite strong Jason. I'm impressed. I bet you want to know why I betrayed our village, right?"

"No," I say. "I don't give two shits about the village, or you, or why you do what you do. You betrayed the village. Okay. You killed me. That's fine. You're trying to kill me again. Great. You do what you do, and I'll do what I do. And right now, what I'm going to do is kill you."

Carter chuckles again. "How very simplistic of you. But you see, the reason I betrayed-"

I drop, slamming both palms into the ground, the ground where Carter had just been literally exploding, a dozen fireballs the size of his body erupting out and curving, falling at him, forcing him to run, the fireballs exploding in a trail after him. "I told you I don't care. Just shut the fuck up and die!"

I grab the sword I had stabbed into the ground and sprint forward, ducking under his initial swipe, slashing at him, his splitting maul deflecting it. I pass him and spin, slashing in a wide arc as I do, but he spins as well, his left axe deflecting it before he swipes downward at me. I turn out of the way, putting my left arm toward him and slash upward with my left arm, only for him to spin out of the way. His left axe blurs around at me but I swap hands on my sword and slash downward, my sword crashing into his axe hard, halting it before I drop to my knees, folding backward as Sheele slashes over me. Carter leaps backward, trying to block the blades with his left arm, only for them to smash through the axe's blade and shaft, splitting his chest open shallowly. Sheele lunges, blades opening and moving to split him in half. As I stand, he grins widely, stepping forward, slashing across his body with his splitting maul, the head of the axe sparking as it skids across the lower of the two scissor blades. I lunge forward, wrapping my left arm around Sheele just as the splitting maul meets the nexus between the scissor blades. There's an almighty crash before the upper blade jerks upward and the lower one downward. Then, Carter flips to the side, slipping between the two blades and shoving a dagger from his belt at Sheele, only for it to spark and skip off of my sword blade as I leap backward, getting Sheele away from him just as he lands and swipes with the axe, narrowly missing.

We land a ways away from him and I step in front of Sheele, who's staring at her broken scissors. I grit my teeth. I really did want to avoid her Imperial Arms being broken. However, now that they are, I'll have to deal with him myself. I'm about to charge when Sheele steps up beside me, holding the two halves of her scissors by the inside parts of the guard, wielding them like a pair of swords. I watch her for a moment before smirking and shaking my head.

"Alright then," I say. "Let's do this shall we?"

Sheele nods as Carter picks up the broken handle of his axe, which is broken to a point at the end. I grit my teeth, swallowing hard and shifting my posture t a more defensive one. He's excellent with axes, but he's even better with thin-bladed stabbing swords, like a rapier or an estoc, which is exactly what the handle has turned into. Sheele sees the shift in my posture and shifts herself as well. Then, I charge. Not exactly the best idea, but if I had let him make the first move, he'd have killed us both without any trouble. I duck aside from his first stab and slash at him, only for him to knock the blade aside with his splitting maul. He stabs downward at me but I flip over it, kicking downward at him. He spins around it, swinging his splitting maul around, only for one of Sheele's blades to flash under me, shattering the axe before she spun, her other blade flashing around at him, Carter deflecting it with his makeshift estoc. I land on my feet and step forward, slashing at him, but he twirls his blade around my sword and steps forward, stabbing at me. I spin away from it, releasing my sword as Carter turns to Sheele. He mule kicks me, throwing me backward before he advances on Sheele, swiping and stabbing rapidly, moving so fast that Sheele can barely keep up. She's not used to wielding two blades, and it begins to show quickly as she retreats from Carter, who doesn't give her even a moment to rest, his movements fluid and calculated, barely expending any of his own energy while quickly draining Sheele of her own.

Sheele dodges to the side from a stab and slashes at Carter, but he deflects the blade upward before stepping after her, jabbing at her and catching her in the forearm. She shouts in pain, that scissor blade spinning away from her, stabbing into the ground between me and Carter. He advances on her again, but now that Sheele's got only a single blade, she's able to fend him off slightly better. I grab Sheele's other blade as I pass it, and when I reach Carter, he spins, knocking Sheele's blade away before deflecting mine into the air and stabbing me shallowly in the gut. I stagger backward, Carter spinning again and deflecting Sheele's blade before ducking under mine. He stands, swiping at me and I dodge aside, the tip scratching me just below my left eye, before he turns on Sheele again, again pressing her backward. I chase him, and just as I reach him, Sheele manages to deflect his weapon out to the side. I don't miss a beat and slash upward, his arm spinning into the air before I spin, dropping onto a knee to give Sheele room, then slash as I finish my spin, Sheele slashing the other direction. Both blades splice through Carter like water, my blade splitting him at the waist and Sheele's about mid-chest. His legs crumple to the ground instantly, and his other two segments, along with his other arm, fall to the ground around us as I sigh, standing and handing Sheele the blade. I'm exhausted from using it, but it's drain wasn't as high as before.

"I'm sorry," I say. "I tried too keep him from breaking it."

"It's alright," Sheele says. "It's still an Imperial Arms. I'm not sure if I can still make the blades shine, but I can still wield it, now as a pair of blades that are each able to cut through any material."

I nod and look her over. She's covered in scratches and a couple of shallow puncture wounds, but she seems to have made it through okay. I turn, walking over to my own sword, picking it up and sheathing it just as Chelsea jogs over, staring at Sheele's broken weapon for a moment, then at Carter.

"Does it still function as an Imperial Arms?" Chelsea asks.

"More or less," Sheele nods. "I'm sure we can find a way to fix it later anyway. We just need a new pin."

Chelsea nods. "I assassinated Boric. Let's go regroup."

We nod and all of us head away from the city to an area away from the city where we were all told to head after the assassination. Lubbock, Akame, Leone, and Najenda all beat us there, but Mine and Tatsumi take about another ten minutes to show up, Mine banged up and covered in dust.

"What happened to you?" I ask.

"Seryu and the last Rakshasa Demon," Tatsumi says. "You?"

"Carter," I say. "We killed him, but he broke Sheele's Imperial Arms in half."

Sheele draws the blades to show them. "They still work. They're just separate now."

Najenda nods. "It's good that you defeated him. You did well. We should go. Esdeath may come looking for us."

We all agree and follow her away from the city quickly.

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