Argentum: Alright back for another chapter.
Grel'Slyfer: Yep… we've also learned an interesting fact while doing a bit of research. Something we'll make sure to incorporate.
Shadow: But we'll be keeping what it is a secret for the moment.
Cassandra: Speaking of for the moment… What have I been doing this whole time?
Argentum: Well we're about to tell everyone what you've been doing so be patient.
Cassandra: Fine.
Argentum: Okay not much to really say so we'll just start this thing. Grel How about you do it since you haven't in a while?
Grel'Slyfer: Fair enough… We here at the Dark Guard productions own nothing but reality building concepts and OC's. Everything else belongs to their respective owners. Now without further ado…
Everyone: Here's the story!
Hello= Regular talk
Hello= Thoughts
[Hello]= Radio
(Hello)= Telepathy/Mind reading
Chapter Six: How I gained new magic's or… how I abused my eyes!
The sound of clanging metal filled the air as the spider deflected my blow. My arms vibrated at the strength behind the creature. As I tried to recover the demon swung its other axe at me, seeing how my arms were still to the side I took a step back, using mage armor as I did so. As the axe missed I swung from my position, this time hitting its side.
The pain seemed to only invigorate it. "ARGH! The pain! YES! This is the way!" It smiled in glee as it started swinging its weapons wildly at me… it was rather disappointing. As it attacked all I had to do was take a step back, at the same time I started thrusting my blade forward. Taking every opportunity to even slightly wound the monster, this only seemed to make the demon happier. I frowned at this but decided to not question my luck… And here I thought he'd be tricky like the other guy.
As the exchange continued I eventually got the opening I needed. I struck forward cutting off an arm. "ARGH!" This time it only screamed as it clutched its now severed stump. Smirking I stepped forward aiming to take off the other arm before going for the head. However I paused just slightly as the demon smirked. That was a mistake as two arms grew out of its stump, each holding an identical axe.
My eyes widened as it both blocked me and struck me. I gritted my teeth as I felt a long cut open on my chest. Jumping back I held my sword in my right as I used my left to heal myself. The demon simply laughed.
"HAHAHA! While I may not be the most skilled! I certainly have the right ability to keep up!" He the flexed his new arms. "Though they do fuse back into one after a few hours." Grinning as he spoke the demon cut off his other arm, grunting in pain as he did so. "Even still… the process is quite painful." Getting his axes ready as two more arms grew from his new stump with a sickening squelch. I brought up my blade as he continued. "Hehe… don't worry… I believe four arms will be sufficient." His charge was straight forward, his attack however was tricky. Two axes came down at my head, while two others were aimed at my sides.
Scowling I jumped back letting his attack miss, then taking a step forward I took a stab at the demon. My thrust was deflected upwards as he raised the two axes he swung downwards. Stepping back I brought my sword down on one of his other axes. Moving quickly I swiped to the left blocking another axe, this left me open however and taking advantage of that. The demon hacked into my right side; thankfully my enchanted clothes and spell blocked most of the damage. But it was enough to leave a gash in my side and throw me against the wall.
Gritting my teeth I ducked down as two axes cut into the wall where my neck was. Rolling to the side I dodged his other two axes, my breathing now heavier I brought my sword up. Swinging into the demons exposed back. As blood flew and the demon screamed in pain I jumped back. Taking the distraction to heal my while it wasn't too deep, it was still an awful spot to have injured.
Turning to me with glee the spider rushed me, not having enough time to heal myself I went full defense. I didn't even bother with counterattacks. Simply doing my best to dodge or parry, always letting the attacks either miss or slide off my sword. It was not to last though as I found my back up against the hallway's end. Seeing this the demon brought all his axes down on my. Doing what I could I raised my sword blocking all four, but this was a contest of strength I couldn't win.
"HAHAHAHA! You were fun but this is the end! Any last words?" Gritting my teeth I decided to not give him the satisfaction of an answer. "Have nothing to say eh?! Then just die!" Pushing his axes against my blade I felt my arms about to give out. Thinking things through I looked around for anything… literally anything I could use or do to survive. There were no objects… no hole… nothing I could use.
But then I remembered something as the blade of his axes got closer. I remembered Nel'Ren and how he fought with a sword. In particular I remembered how he moved, not just his sword but also his feet. Remembering everything on how he fought I took a look at my opponent.
There was an area on his body that was wide opened. But do I have the speed to take advantage of it? That was the question floating around my head. Deciding that it was do or die I took a breath and clamed myself. Then hoping he wouldn't be able to catch me, I ducked down while also bringing my sword down. His eyes widened as his weapons went through the wall; it was then time to decide if I was faster.
Brining my blade up in alignment I both swung and jumped forward. Using every bit of strength and agility I had. My blade made contact with the demons stomach, and pushing forward with my jump and swing. I felt my blade slip through all the way to the other side. The momentum I created taking my blade to my left, I then spun around ready just in case my attack wasn't as lethal as I thought. I needn't have worried however, for the demons entire top half was already falling to the ground. A soundless scream escaping its lips as his eyes bulged in absolute pain and terror.
The demon died before they even hit the ground. Seeing this I fell to my knees out of breath and in pain, my arms now ached and my side stung as it reopened. Doing what I could I took two healing potions and a mana potion. Leaving me with three of the former and two of the later, and as the magic from the potions flowed through me. I relaxed a little, hoping that there weren't any other enemies around.
"That… that was awful…" Looking at my blade I was surprised to see the blade not even a bit chipped. However it was covered in blood, and I scowled at that. "Going to have to clean this later…" I then thought of something. "How do I clean a sword?" I honestly had no idea; all my other ones had come with self cleaning enchantments. Deciding to deal with that later I slowly stood up, having regained some of my strength. Looking around I started walking back towards the other end of the hall. Moving slowly as to not give away my position and to not fall into a trap.
Even checking the varying rooms that lined the hall. There wasn't too much to look at, mostly rooms with some storage in between. As I reached the end of the hall I looked to the right, there was another shorter hall that led to some stairs heading down. Nodding I was about to head that way as I felt a shift, quickly using my mystic eyes I saw how everything changed once more. As I was teleported once again, I was suddenly hit by something and flung through a door. The pain felt as my shoulder rammed through the wood was quite exquisite.
As I was flung I heard a welcomed voice. "Michael!" From my position on the floor I slowly looked up to see Cassandra. She looked rather banged up, her left pauldron was gone and her helmet was missing. Even worse was how her shield had its top right chunk missing, even her sword had large breaks in it. Her face looked to be bruising and blood dripped from her forehead.
Getting up I gave the former princess a thumbs up, while at the same time holding onto the edge of the doorframe. This made her sigh in relief as she looked forward. I followed her gaze with my own and then sighed. It was another demon… only this one had barely any human characteristics. It was a thin creature, seeming to be made out of wood. Six arms with clawed hands came out of its sides.
Its completely blood red body moved in unnatural ways, its face if it could be called such… was a white glass dome. Whether or not that truly was its face or simply hiding it I had no idea. But pointing a hand at us palm straight up seemed to kick Cassandra into high gear.
"DODGE!" I swiftly took her advice and jumped out of the way a second after Cassandra jumped. As I did I saw with my mystic eyes how the equations around its palm changed. Then seeing the way magic energy poured into the palm of its hand… I knew dodging truly was the best as a concussive blast of force tore through the air. Smashing the wall and doorframe into bits. I couldn't help but grimace as I took a look around the battlefield once more. This time I could see that the floor and walls of the ballroom were torn up. I was also confused on why a place that seemed to be geared towards training had a ballroom.
Looking back to where I was, I could see the room now had a broken piano inside it. Kind of feel bad about that… Shaking my head I waited for the four seconds I needed before reactivating my mystic eyes. I turned back just in time to see two palms pointed me, with two more trained on Cassandra. I didn't even need to say anything as Cassandra ran. I did the same as blast after blast was fired at us.
I now had even more respect for my companion; after all she was dodging these for quite some time. Running wouldn't help us for long though. For shooting a blast at us with its last two hands, both of us were blasted back. I felt as if my bones were about to shatter as I raised my arms in front of me. Slamming into a wall I coughed out some spit while my spine felt as if it shattered. Thankfully that wasn't the case and I was merely in great pain… which compared to the alternative wasn't too bad. Looking forward as I slipped off the wall and onto my feet. I brought up my blade and charged forward, knowing I needed to get in close.
I heard Cassandra call out my name but I ignored her, using my eyes to weave through the demons attacks. I saw that it could only fire two attacks off at the same time, I also noticed as I ran forward that each hand had a recharge time of twenty one seconds. It however was smart and used only one blast on me every seven seconds. Always keeping an arm on hold just in case, it was also doing the same for Cassandra.
As I got closer it switched another hand from my companion to me. Cutting down the amount of time it fired a blast at me by quite a bit. With its extra attention I had no choice but to hold off on my charge. However this let Cassandra get closer, smirking I waited for it to take its attention off of me and focus on my party member. That is when it did something that surprised the both of us… for as I watched for an opportunity the demon split its six fingered hands in half. Now having twelve arms it fired continually upon us. The only upside was that its attacks now seemed to be at half strength.
But it was enough… we couldn't get any closer and we simply rolled and jumped around. Trying to dodge everything thrown at us… I knew we couldn't hold on much longer like this. So trying to mix things up I fired off a lightning bolt, only for it to be redirected back at me. Barely getting out of the way I grit my teeth. Great… so it also redirects magic… Deciding to not even risk anything else I instead looked for an exit. I found it in the form of two large oak doors. Deciding that it led back into the rest of the manor or mansion, as it was certainly big enough to be one.
I yelled out to Cassandra. "Cassandra!" Her pointed ears twitched indicating that while she wasn't looking at me. She was indeed listening I continued. "The large doors! WE need to get out of here and figure out a plan!"
"Alright!" Unfortunately the demon wasn't about to make it easy for us. For it started targeting us in earnest… before it was only aiming where we were, now it was aiming where we were going. I learned this the hard way as a blast hit me, flinging me onto the floor. Then as I tried to get up I was hit again… if I wasn't hurting before… well I was certainly hurting now. I could hear Cassandra call out my name as I ignored the pain and rolled forward. Using my momentum I took off in a run. Using mage armor once again as I raced towards the exit.
Getting closer I looked for Cassandra… she was actually ahead of me. Smirking I redoubled my efforts, only this time I tried making it harder to hit me. It was difficult and got more so as I got closer to the doors. Said doors were now opened by my elf companion. Running even faster I heard a crash from the ceiling, not even looking up I doubled my efforts before jumping through the doors.
Not even a moment after a chandelier fell right in front of them. Missing me by literally second, but I didn't rest for I got up and helped Cassandra push the doors back in place. Quickly looking I saw that we were in the main entrance at the top of the stairs. Deciding to not take any chances I ran to the left, going into another hallway. At the same time Cassandra followed me, eventually this led into a dining room. Observing the room I saw the kitchen door and ran towards them, then opening them I ran in closing them once Cassandra was in as well.
Breathing heavily we both fell against the door. It had taken a lot of energy to make it this far, as we calmed down the adrenaline also died down. My body quickly flared up in pain and I took out two healing potions. Drinking one while giving the other to my companion, she quickly took it and guzzled it down. I now only had one healing potion left, as I healed myself the rest of the way with magic. Then taking another mana I healed Cassandra. This left me drained again so I finished off my last mana potion.
Looking back at my companion I took out a cloth before whipping at her forehead. "Here don't want this to get in your eyes." She simply nodded letting me help her.
When I finished she spoke again. "Thanks…" This time I nodded before tossing the rag away. "Now then… we should come up with a plan." I quickly agreed with this statement.
"Yeah… but the only thing I can think of that would work is a sneak attack. To do that we'd need to find another way in. However the only way to do that is to break through a wall or even the ceiling." She nodded at my words before standing up holding a hand to me once she did so. Taking it she helped me up as I continued. "The only problem I see with that is how we'd be deliberately damaging the place. Those who put up the request might not like that."
She agreed completely with that. "True… I myself have met many nobles who held great grudges for such things. And despite the situation I'd rather not anger one of this countries nobles." I sighed at that.
It was an interesting situation to be in. For while we might be able to kill the demon… we'd still have a problem with the still quite living rich person. For at the time that was the only kind of person we thought could own such a large home.
It wasn't the greatest situation to be in, unfortunately it was one many adventurers constantly found themselves in. Sighing I looked around the kitchen to see if there was anything of use. Cassandra quickly followed my lead but all we found was moldy bread and rusty cooking utensils.
As Cassandra was about to suggest something we both felt something familiar. Once more using my mystic eyes I saw the equations of the world shift. Unfortunately it shifted in a rather familiar way. I quickly understood why it was familiar as we found ourselves in the ballroom again. I didn't even have time to say a rather foul curse as the both of us were blasted into the wall.
I couldn't help but comment on this. "I'm starting to get used to being slammed into things…" Funnily enough Cassandra laughed through the pain she was no doubt feeling. Looking forward I felt more waves of force slam into the two of us… I was starting to black out as in less than two seconds after I felt another blast. Then another… and another… my vision was swimming but I still kept my mystic eyes trained on the demon. It was after I felt a few ribs break that I finally got what I wanted.
I had no idea if it would work but I needed to try. Raising my left arm I did my best to copy the demon's power. After a moment I fired off my own concussive blast of force, and while it wasn't perfect it did half the damage of the incoming blast. This gave me enough wiggle room to extract myself from the wall and ready another blast. This time I tweaked my technique a bit and blocked the whole attack. The demon actually took a step back this time, as if it were shocked that I used its power.
Smirking I spat out some blood and readied my sword. Ignoring the pain from my ribs I rushed forward. As I did so the demon focused solely on me firing off its blasts at me. Having not mastered it enough myself I only countered those I couldn't dodge. When I got within fifteen feet the demon fused its arms into one hand. Looking at it I knew that such a blast could kill me. Whether I blocked it or not, gritting my teeth I moved even faster hoping to reach it first.
But it was not to be as I saw it fire, doing everything I could I put everything I had into a counter attack. It seemed to stop it for a moment as the two forces collided. However mine only held up for a second before it flickered out of existence.
Gritting my teeth and doing everything I could to stay alive. I used mage armor and brought my sword up; desperately pushing every ounce of magic I had left into it. I had no idea if it would work or not. It didn't… even with trying to see the very equations that made up the attack didn't help. For it slammed into me knocking my sword away and me into the wall once again. This time I felt quite a bit of my bones shatter.
As I fell to the ground barely conscious, I could see the creature keep its hand trained on me. It didn't want me getting back up, and trying to force my body to move only worsened the pain I felt. As I looked up at it I could see the demon about fire off another one of those blasts. This time… it would kill me. Not giving up I kept struggling, even managing to get up to one knee. But before I could stand up and before it could fire upon me once more. A beautiful elven princess came to my aid; for having picked up my sword having had hers destroyed. Cassandra snuck up on the distracted demon and decapitated it.
It was a sight to behold… even her crumbling armor didn't detract from it. Having slain the demon she ran to me as I sat up against the wall. Taking out my last potion, and as she came near I offered it to her.
"Here… you should take it." She looked at me in surprise and was about to decline when I cut her off. "My wounds are worse than yours… Even if I were to drink it… I would only be as good as you are now…" I then spat out some blood before continuing. "I'd rather have one of us in good condition, then the both of us still barely able to move." Understanding my point she reluctantly took the potion. As her wounds healed I felt myself blacking out. "This isn't good…" Noticing my state Cassandra using her strength picked me up and put me over her shoulder. Something I couldn't help but joke about. "Heh… usually I'd feel embarrassed if anyone carried me like this… but I'm too tired to care."
This got my amazing knight to slightly giggle as she started walking back to the entrance. Whether or not we would be able to get through it… I had no idea but it was better than doing nothing. As I felt my consciousness fading I did everything I could to stay awake. I also used my slowly recovering magic reserves to heal myself. For I was completely out and was using the small trickle I had returning. It was slow going, but simply focusing on resting and healing as Cassandra carried me helped.
As we made it to the entry doors, I saw Cassandra about to try and cut them down with my sword. I'd normally protest against that… but seeing how it has held up with no damage so far I let it be… well I was also too tired to try and say anything and I also simply wanted out. That's when we felt another shift, and while using my eyes I groaned.
"Just what we needed…" Cassandra nodded as we teleported into another room. As Cassandra sat me up against a wall she turned towards the demon in the room. I couldn't help but groan. "And we meet again…"
"Indeed… though it seems as if my siblings have done a number on you." It was the same demon I fought the first time I was teleported. Though now we were in a bedroom of sorts. Gritting my teeth and speaking through the pain, I quickly warned Cassandra about his power.
"Be careful! He can switch the gravity of the room!" My warning came just in time as I saw the equations of the room switch around. Grabbing onto the door I held myself up as the gravity made the ceiling the new floor. Thankfully Cassandra was also able to right herself and land on her feet. The demon stayed silent as I saw its magic surge. My eyes could only widen as the room began spinning even faster. I could barely hold onto the door as everything was thrown around. Everything also included Cassandra.
Yeah my poor companion was being flung around heavily; it was really making me relieved that I had her take the potion before. As she was thrown about she grabbed onto a light fixture. Thankfully she was missing enough armor so that her weight wasn't too much for it. As she hung there the demon decided to strike. Jumping off the ground it swung at her neck. Seeing this Cassandra let go of the fixture and took a swipe at the demon's own neck.
Simply moving its staff the demon blocked the swipe, then using the other end of its staff swung at her side. This time it connected with the sound of metal hitting metal. As I saw her armor break further she was throw into a wall, I couldn't help but grimace feeling phantom pain from my jaw. For I knew that was bound to hurt even with armor.
Stabbing my sword into the wall before she could fall, Cassandra glared at the demon. Taking my blade out from the wall she jumped at it. In midair she swung attempting to bisect her foe. The demon blocked with the middle of its staff before bringing down the top upon her head. At the last second she turned her body, forcing the blow to barely miss. After that exchange she landed on what was currently the floor.
As the room shifted Cassandra stabbed the sword into the ground. Hanging on even as she ended up dangling from the ceiling, using her own weight and strength Cassandra yanked the blade out before falling towards the demon. Thinking it had the advantage the demon prepared for her fall.
What we both didn't expect was for the elf princess to toss my sword at it. Like a spear it flew, the demon barely moving out of the way as it grazed its side. Taking advantage of this Cassandra fell upon him, as they both hit the floor she took out a dagger. Seeing the position as not favorable for its continual survival… the demon shifted gravity once more.
Though this time Cassandra hung onto the demon itself. "Let go of me you elven wench!" She didn't take to kindly to that and stabbed her dagger into its left side. It screamed out in pain as it started punching at her, having let go of its staff during the exchange. My companion took them all and simply kept stabbing the demon. Eventually stabbing into its skull. As it quickly died the room shifted back to normal, and too tired to try and right herself Cassandra fell from ceiling. Doing what I could I jumped and let her land on me.
My next few words I felt were very poignant. "Ughhhh… that's smarts…" Yep poignant… Cassandra thankfully quickly apologized and rolled off my back. Taking in her condition, I was happy that Cassandra was simply tired and bruised. Her left over armor saving her from the worst of the blows. "So… that was fun…" She for once gave me a scathing look, it was unexpected and I couldn't help but laugh, gripping my sides in pain. Shaking her head Cassandra decided to ignore me, getting up she grabbed the demons staff and my sword. Handing me my blade before laying down on the floor.
Our fight however… wasn't as over as we believed, for once more the room shifted and I saw everything change. Both groaning me and my companion sat up and look around. We were in the kitchen again… but unlike the last few times we were teleported. There was no demon in the room for us to contend with.
Taking advantage of this we laid back down on the floor, waiting for what we assumed to be the last demon to teleport us to itself. So there we were… two beat up adventurers waiting on the floor. Sure I was slowly healing myself as well as Cassandra now… making the whole process take even longer. But it was still kind of an odd thing… especially considering my friend was a former princess and was lying on the dirty floor.
She has certainly taken to this kind of life. Deciding to let her be I focused on healing… and while I was able to fix up Cassandra I was still far from perfect. Though I did manage to heal two of my four broken ribs before anything happened.
It was going to have to do, because forty minutes after we first teleported the room changed again. I groaned as I noticed the numbers change to something rather familiar. Getting up with a groan I looked around the ballroom for our enemy. As Cassandra stood up we both saw our foe. Face covered by a white diamond shaped masked, all we saw were its yellow eyes. Its red hooded cloak covering the rest of its body. Leaving only its black long heeled boots and the bottom of its black pants visible.
After a moment it spoke. "So you are the two who have defeated my siblings… I never would have thought you two as so young." As we readied for combat Cassandra with the steel staff and myself with my black katana. It chuckled with a deep baritone voice. "Very well… I suppose I better not let my last three meals go to waste." With a small flair the demon disappeared in a blue flame.
Eyes widening we looked around, I found it first following the trail he left with my mystic eyes. Looking up I saw a black gloved hand pointed at us as the demon stood on the ceiling. Seeing something quite familiar I grabbed Cassandra and jumped.
Just in time to, for a wave of force obliterated the ground we just stood on. Setting the elf down I fired my own blast at the demon. I heard a hum of acknowledgement before it once more teleported. Following the trail it left the demon reappeared on a wall. That's when the equations of the room switched around, as they did the gravity changed as we now fell towards the wall the demon was on. Grabbing onto Cassandra's hand as she fell I stabbed my sword into ground. Holding up both gloved hands the demon fired off two more waves of force at us. Gritting my teeth I slipped my sword from the ground. Now falling as debris fell on us I tossed Cassandra at the demon.
As I once more stabbed my blade into the ground she swung the staff at its head. Again the demon teleported away. Cassandra landed on her feet as I dropped down. Following the trail the demon left behind. This time the demon appeared on the opposite wall. Placing a gloved hand on it I saw how he poured magic into the wall. Changing its equations as it lit on fire, the flames the same blue as his teleportation.
As I fired off another blast at it, the demon teleported as gravity once more switched on its head. The both of us soon fell towards the flames. As we fell the demon shot off more concussive blasts at us. Forcing us to not hang onto the wall. Gritting my teeth I did the only thing I could think of.
I fired a blast of concussive force directly at the flaming wall. Thankfully this blasted away some of the flames, and while the landing was painful on our legs. At least we weren't burning in the blue flames. Groaning as I stood up, I looked at the demon whom was now back on the floor. I then grimaced as it lit the floor on fire. The demon then teleported and set the opposite wall on fire. It then teleported to the ceiling where it shifted gravity once more. We were now about to fall onto the floor where we would burn. Blasting away some of the flames I breathed heavily. My mana almost completely gone, in truth I only had enough for two more blasts.
I needed to do something… Cassandra wasn't a magic caster, and even if she was I doubted there was anything she could do in this situation. Thinking heavily as I saw the room begin to shift gravity again. I decided there was only one way I could save us. Using every bit of mana I had left I copied the magic being used. It was easier for me to do then others, simply because I've seen it being used multiple times. So I simply used the equations I've already seen.
Shifting gravity we fell towards the ceiling, catching the demon off guard I slashed at it. Jumping back it looked at its now left stump. Grinning as I felt my legs crack from the fall I shakily stood up. My whole body wanted to collapse into a heap. Having overused my magic, thankfully it wasn't too overused or else I'd be on the ground. But I knew I had the demon. For now it wouldn't bother changing the room's gravity, seeing how I could do it to. Though I was too weak to even try at the moment, but the demon didn't need to know about that.
But as it held out its stump I realized what it meant by meals… for with a sickening and familiar sounding squelch two arms grew from the stump. It ate the bodies of the other three to gain their best abilities… Berating myself for not realizing it earlier I prepared myself. Rushing forward I swung at its body with a few quick slashes. The demon simply stepped back and leaned away from each of my attacks.
As Cassandra came forward swinging the staff at its head, the demon teleported away hitting us with some fire. Gritting my teeth and ignoring the heat of the flames I turned around and swung. I finally managed to cut the demon's torso as it tried to attack us from behind. It was only a small cut, and it quickly teleported away.
As I appeared a bit aways, it launched more blasts of concussive force at us. Though this time they were on fire with the demon's blue flames. Not having enough power to counter it I instead jumped out of the way. Following my example Cassandra also jumped. The ceiling that was hit with the blast caught fire, the blue flames rising as the temperature followed.
Smoke started to cloud the air in the room and we began to cough a bit. We need to run… we simply don't have the energy to deal with this thing! Observing as it teleported and used its fire, I gained an idea. I had no idea if it would work, but it was better than what we were currently doing.
So I turned to my companion. "Cassandra!" She looked at me. "I have an idea but I'll need you to handle to the rest when I do it." She nodded in determination as the demon readied itself for whatever my plan was. Heh… good… it won't see this coming. Running over to Cassandra I used whatever mana had trickled back to me… and while this did overdo it and caused me to collapse. It was worth it as I grabbed Cassandra's hand and in a pitch black flame. Teleported to the main doors, now before I hit the floor Cassandra understood what I meant and grabbed me.
Running to the door as I wasn't able to get us right next to it, she was about to simply smash through the door when a blue flame appeared. She stopped moving and while I was blacking out the demon slowly moved towards us.
"It was a nice trick… but even if you can copy all of our magic's. It won't do you any good if you don't have the energy to perform them." Holding up all three hands at us I saw the demon prepare to finish us off. "Though it was a very good try." As we were about to become cinders seeing how the demon decided to just burn us. The doors opened up and a man with graying hair and a red robe walked in. On his left side was a katana and he looked oddly familiar. "And who are you?" The man didn't answer as he turned to us, a smile reaching his green eyes.
So ignoring the demon he spoke to us. "The two of you have done well… many wouldn't be able to make this far." He then clapped a couple times before continuing. "Congratulations the two of you pass the test." As out of as I was… I was confused as much as Cassandra was.
The demon however seemed to realize something. "So… you're the one who trapped me and my siblings in this mansion. That is something that makes you deserving of death!" The man frowned as the demon redirected its attack at him. As it launched its blue flames at the man, the two of us yelled out before our voices died in our throats. For in the blink of an eye there was a swishing sound and a click. As the click reached our ears the flames dispersed. "What? My flames battered away with a regular piece of steel?! Even the boy has a proper demon slaying tool… How could you-" It was interrupted as the man seemed to just walk past it, arm holding out his blue colored blade.
The demon seemed to get bisected and quickly fell to the floor dead. It was… well first off it was amazing, yet it seemed impossible. Getting out a cloth the man cleaned off the blood from his blade before turning to us.
"I'm the one who put up the request to clear this house in case you're wondering. You see I was shown your request for teachers by my older brother. We decided to see if you were worthy of our teachings before finalizing our decision." My eyes widened at that as Cassandra spoke up.
"Wait… you mean you want to… to teach us?"
The man chuckled before answering. "Well… not just me, but also my two older brothers." He then stepped forward taking me from Cassandra. "Now while I know your names… let me introduce myself." Hoisting me up on his shoulder the giant of a man spoke. "My name is Marus Hitoshi… and I would love to be one of your teachers."
We were speechless… for we had just barely put the request, and yet here is someone who took the time to test us. Sure it was hard and I felt like we could've died at any time. But thinking back on the man's power? On his skill? I knew I needed to learn from him. This is my chance… my chance to finally gain the skill I need. As I smiled and Marus sheathed his katana he picked up mine.
What he said next actually surprised me. "Hmm… a black steel tachi that absorbs sunlight, this is good against fiends and demons. I can also tell that it has a strengthening enchantment." As he started to carry me out and Cassandra followed I spoke up.
"Wait… what do you mean by tachi? I thought it was a katana?"
He seemed to pause for a moment in his step before answering. "You mean you don't know?" I just shook my head as he sighed while moving again. "I truly have much to teach you child."
I spy with my little eye a line break!
Embarrassingly enough I was carried all the way back to the guild. Having over drained my magic with my last stunt. There was some laughter but mostly everyone was simply curious. As we entered everyone turned around to us and I couldn't help but sigh as they laughed.
That's when I heard the voice of a familiar receptionist. "By Eris! What happened to you two?!" It was Luna and she ran towards us, first checking on Cassandra as Marus sat me down at a table. "I knew you two should've brought a priest!" Cassandra tried to explain what happened but Luna wasn't having it. Fussing over one of her best adventurers. In front of me I heard a familiar voice laugh before speaking.
"Well ain't that something… glad to see the guild have someone like her." Looking forward I saw both Darius and Garus sitting at the table. Saluting me Darius continued speaking. "Hey there son! I see you met our younger brother." It was then I realized why Marus looked familiar. He had some resemblance to his two older brothers now sitting in front of me.
It was then that I realized something. "Wait… the three of you set this up after I met the two of you yesterday didn't you?" They both grinned and nodded as I laid my head down on the table. "Couldn't you have tested us without sending us off against four demons?" As they grinned and shrugged, Luna seemed to teleport to my side.
"YOU FOUGHT FOUR DEMONS?!" Everyone heard her and looked towards us with looks of respect. Though Luna continued to lecture us. "The quest said there was only one! You should've quit the moment you realized there was more than one!" Unable to move but still able to talk I spoke.
"One of them could teleport us to different sections of the mansion… there was literally no way for us to run until the very end, and even barely then when I copied the demons teleportation magic."
That seemed to make her pause. "You copied the demon's magic?" I nodded before explaining so she didn't blow things out of proportion.
"Yes I did… copied all of their magic's. Though I can copy all types of magic given enough time… in fact it's one of the reasons I'm in this state. Not enough time to truly copy them, so it was more or less crude attempts."
That seemed to calm Luna down a bit. "Well if that is an ability you posses I understand… just don't go around copying necromancy and other evil magic." I simply gave her a thumbs up. "Alright… I'll get your reward now. Just be more careful from now on." As she turned around Garus spoke up.
"Just a moment…" He then turned to me and Cassandra who had sat next to me. "Since we'll be teaching you two… could you allow us to keep the reward? We'll be using it to fix up our old mansion." We both realized something and Garus grinned at our expressions. "Yep! That old beat up mansion is ours! Been in our family for a few generations. We mainly used it to teach others and to hold some events. But seeing how the rest of our family moved away from Axel we moved out of it. But it is the perfect place to train the two of you."
After thinking it over I looked at my companion. We both nodded at each other knowing what the other was thinking. It was a fair deal in the end. So turning back to our soon to be teachers Cassandra gave our answer.
"You are more than welcomed to keep the money." They nodded happily as Luna gave them back the reward money. They then talked to her a bit more and gave the money back as she posted a new job on the board. This one looking for help to fix up the mansion.
At this time Marus explained a few things. "Now then… for the most part I'll be training young Smith here. He is trying to learn how to wield a tachi after all." Still didn't quite know what that meant, but I understood what he was getting at and so nodded. Marus then gestured to Garus. "Garus here will be teaching Ms Cassandra. Having trained a number of shield and sword fighters he is perfect for her." Cassandra nodded this time as Marus pointed at Darius. "And Darius will be helping with Smith's archery skills. As well as both of yours overall battle awareness." We both nodded this time. "Good to see you both understand… now we'll wait a bit before training in the mansion. But we will begin tomorrow. We'll give the mansion a week before use. We will also expect the two of you to move in, this way we can monitor your training with better accuracy."
It made sense to the both us and we once more nodded, that's when Darius spoke up. "We expect the both of you to give it your all and to follow the schedules we give you. We are taking the time to train you both and we want the best from you." Again we nodded as he smiled. "But seeing how diligent you two have been… I'm sure we'll have nothing to worry about." As Cassandra smiled brightly and nodded, I also nodded while yawning. The need for sleep taking over, though Darius only laughed at this. "I suppose I should let you two eat, get cleaned up, and then sleep the rest of the day and night away. Luckily for you we ordered some fried frog as Ms Luna lectured you two."
I couldn't help but laugh before holding my sides. I still had two broken ribs after all. As Cassandra tried to help our three teachers laughed. Suffice to say I was in a lot of pain and to try and ease it Cassandra rubbed my back. It helped a bit as I tried to use any tiny bit of magic I regained to healing my ribs. Eventually the food came and we all began eating. The food significantly helped with regaining my magic. Seeing how I now had more sustenance to act as fuel. By the end of the meal my ribs were now simply bruised and our teachers had left to get things ready, telling us they'd meet us here in the morning. We however went and got cleaned up before heading to our rooms.
I ended up crashing on my bed face first and speaking to myself. "This is worse than when we ran away from Nel'Ren…" Groaning I switched to my back having finally healed all my injuries. Though I still felt incredibly sore and phantom pains still plagued me. Bringing up a hand I conjured a small black flame in my hand. "Well… at least a lot of good came out of this." Cutting the magic from my personalized flame I closed my eyes. Knowing I needed the rest for tomorrow. Little did I know just how much I'd need said rest. But that was for future me to deal with… so in blissful ignorance I fell into a dreamless sleep.
I spy with my little eye a line break!
Argentum: Another chapter done! I hope all of you enjoyed it; I'm still trying to get the right amount of detail into the fights. So if you have any advice I'll take it.
Grel'Slyfer: We are also up for another name for the mystic eyes still. We also hope you liked how we deviated from the katana into a different sword used by the samurai.
Marus: It was a nice touch.
Argentum: Yeah after watching a documentary on the different Japanese swords I knew I had to do something. Anyways not much else to really discuss. So please comment and give your critique.
Shadow: We are always willing to improve after all.
Grel'Slyfer: Indeed… now then how about we let our newest character end this?
Marus: Very well… This has been a Dark Guard production now signing off.
Everyone: Goodbye!