Chapter 6: Desired Duraldo
"Drop your weapon!" said a voice behind Duraldo, he felt a cold sharp metal poke his back "Drop it now dammit! Don't test me!"
Duraldo did as he was told, knowing that the mysterious stranger had the upper hand at the moment, and dropped his precious Penatrator. But Duraldo did not worry, as always, he came prepared, as he dropped his sword, the very instant, he reached with his other hand, pulled out his knife he had hidden in his sleeve.
The man kicked the sword away off to the left of Duraldo far from his own reach. The Penatrator emitted a faint, red glow.
"Good....good... now get on the ground." He ordered.
"Come on now, we are not animals are we not? You are truly a worthy warrior if you survived my onslaught. Now put down your sword, and lets discuss this like civilized men" proposed Duraldo. "Perhaps I may even reward your bravery. Is that not what you desire?"
"I don't trust you, shut up!" replied the man. "My only desire is to avenge my brothers!"
"Well you don't have to you know, I mean you can lob my head off right now, like some rabid dog with no honor, or we can discuss this in a more honorable fashion," asked Duraldo.
Now whether or not the man complied with Duraldo, Duraldo would make sure of one thing, that only one person would leave the fortress alive, and that person was him.
"You have slayed all of my brothers, for only one reason, for greed, you must suffer for your sins!" said the pirate.
"But how does this make me any different than you? Don't you Grass Pirates slay the innocent for greed? How are you blameless?" said Duraldo stalling to look for an opportunity to attack.
"How am I different? We Grass Pirates do not kill, we only steal from people, we leave them with their lives!" replied the pirate.
"Hah! If you say so, continue to believe your lies. You're all scum anyways" said Duraldo.
"Enough!" shouted the pirate. "Your life ends now!" the pirate raised his sword high above his head ready to take off Duraldo's head.
For the first time in a long time, Duraldo was honestly stumped on what to do, being trapped in the small room with only one entrance in or out, there wasn't enough room for him to summon the Gusto power. The pirate had already raised his sword up, and Duraldo just laid there on the ground, doing nothing. The pirate swung forward, his sword was out of reach.
"Roll left now!" a voice said. Not questioning the voice, Duraldo, without thinking, dodged to the left, and rolled right next to his sword he immediately picked up his sword, kicked himself off the wall and lunged right at the pirate. The pirate wasn't able to dodge in time and ended up with his left shoulder penetrated by the sharp blade.
The pirate got up, clenching his shoulder, and grabbed for his sword. He dived at Duraldo, who dodged to the right and kicked him in the leg. The pirate fell on the touch concrete, and dropped his sword. This stunned the pirate for a few seconds. Giving Duraldo some time to do another attack on the pirate. Duraldo lunged at the down pirate, stabbing him directly in the chest. Duraldo didn't stop shoving the sword in until he felt the ground. When he did he pulled his sword out and walked off and bowed at the worthy opponent.
As Duraldo was walking off, he felt a sharp pain in his back suddenly, thinking a bug bit him, he reached behind him, and felt something much more than a bug.
"That pirate had thrown a knife into me!" Duraldo said to himself, he left the knife in there for now as he could feel blood trickling down his back. Duraldo walked over to the wounded pirate, who was barely alive and struggling to move. As Duraldo moved closer to the pirate, the pirate took a swing at Duraldo, but was weak to even touch him.
"You can't even die with honor!" exclaimed Duraldo. "You have lost your chance to die a warriors death! Now you shall die the death of a dog!"
And with one quick swing of the Penetrator, Duraldo lobbed the pirate's head clean off his shoulders. Duraldo sighed, reached back and pulled the knife out of him, and ripped off some clothing from the pirate to stop the bleeding, he then searched the corpse for anything that could be useful to him, all he found were some gold shillings and another small knife.
Duraldo set up his camp again inside the small house, he had thrown the body into a nearby river as the least he could do for the pirate. He wondered where he was going to go next, and where the next artifact was located at but most of all, he wondered where the strange voice had come from. He didn't know who said that, or where it came from, but then he remembered he had heard the voice before, when he killed the dear a few days ago with his Gusto power.
"Perhaps the artifacts have the power to warn its user of danger?" thought Duraldo. "Could this be the power of the Powken, that have been ruled as a legend?"
He reached into his side pocket, and pulled out a region map. The next closest town, Tadon, was about 100 kilometers west of here, through the Oni Desert, where demons are said to kill all who travel through there. Duraldo had always doubted the rumor as it was really the only way to get there from this side of the desert. Perhaps a scholar there could answer his question. Duraldo gazed up at the skies, as the sun was setting, the orange glow of the sun overshadowed the demolished fortress; he closed his eyes and began to sleep.