A/N Not sure if i should put a warning up since this chapter has some violence, but hey go right ahead if you want! :D
Shroud's roaring had caused the scarred Pigman to twist around and had in the grand scheme of things prevented the Pigman from delivering the final blow that would have ended Aodh. Least to say, the Pigman was terrified and hadn't expected Shroud to be back so soon.
The Pigman had saw Shroud going in and out of the hideout for a while and had heard rumors that the monster of the Nether was actually helping someone. He needed to know for sure if the rumors were true and had finally decided to take a peek.
What he saw made him slightly surprised since he had fully expected the rumors to be lies and slander. This emotion immediately gave way to another; rage. And with rage the Pigman wanted revenge for the fallen Pigman that Shroud had murdered and for leaving the burn scar on his back.
An eye for an eye was what the Pigman had thought and seeing Shroud again he knew that decision could end his life.
Shroud charged intent on ripping the familiar Pigman to pieces for harming Aodh. This move wasn't what the Pigman had predicted having been waiting for a burst of fire to come his way and got a set of deep claw marks to his left shoulder because of that thinking.
In his rage, Shroud had forgotten about Aodh's sword for awhile as well as his injured wrist as he hacked away at the terrified Pigman who squealed in shock. He would've continued to tear into the Pigman with his sharp claws if said mob hadn't recovered from his initial surprise and swung his gold sword up and then down, slicing a decent cut into Shroud's arm.
This made Shroud parried backwards as another swing approach near his neck. Shroud checked his cut quickly noting it was on the same arm as his injured wrist. He also remembered Old Faithful that clung between a leather strap and his back.
Shroud moved out of the way again as yet another deadly swing sliced through the air that had managed to get a small bite on his cheek.
Before the next attack from the Pigman could be let loose, Shroud pulled out Aodh's iron sword a swung it hard at the Pigman's midsection meaning to cut him into two. The Pigman being skilled with a sword dodged and got into a defensive stance. Shroud saw his foe eye the iron sword with a cold, unreadable face before launching an attack towards Shroud's feet.
Shroud jumped over it, but realized his mistake in doing so as the Pigman continued his swing in a 360 movement and hit Shroud painfully in the thigh.
Landing on two feet was nearly impossible with one injured and yet Shroud didn't fall over as his wounded leg shook with effort to hold his weight. Not waiting to give him a break, the Pigman swung again and Shroud blocked the sword causing his wrist to complain under the pressure of the force of the gold sword.
Shroud managed to push the sword back and launch his own attack which nearly gave the Pigman a fatal wound. Still the fight continued and in the process Shroud had inched his way between the Pigman and Aodh making sure the Pigman wouldn't take Aodh as hostage.
It didn't seem to matter as Shroud knew he was losing the fight being outmatched in terms of skills with sword-fighting. In the deepest parts of his mind he heard Voice laugh and mock at his weakness and just for a second Shroud thought he saw cruel, soulless eyes stare back at him within the blackness of his mind.
Shroud, angered by Voice's cruelity, gained a new burst of energy and whipped Old Faithful so hard and so fast that when the Pigman tried to block it, his gold sword nearly split-ed into two pieces. Still that blow made the sword completely useless.
The Pigman stood wide-eyed for a second at what had happened before receiving a blow to his side. With no weapon and plenty of deep wounds from the iron sword and Shroud's claws made the Pigman make a run for it knowing that to fight any longer would mean death for certain.
That Pigman would've been dead had he not hit Shroud in the thigh eariler. So even though Shroud wanted the mob dead more than anything at the moment, he could not as he soon realized when his damaged leg finally gave out and he collapsed on his hands and knees.
The sign of weakness from Shroud didn't fazed the Pigman out of his flight and was soon gone from sight after a few moments.
With his adrenaline rush running out, Shroud could feel all the near blinding pain from his various wounds. He also felt weak inside since being this hurt hadn't happened in a long time and even with his victory, he felt the laugh of Voice who had grown so cruel to Shroud in a short time.
But soon other voice drowned out Voice's cruelty and seemed to give Shroud some strength just enough to make him think clearly.
He needed to see if Aodh was still alive and treat both of their many wounds. At first, it looked as if Aodh had passed away during the fight, but Shroud pushed through his mourning thoughts to be sure. Turns out Aodh was still alive, but barely and so Shroud started to assess the wounds.
Aodh only had two wounds, two extremely deep and terrible wounds. the first was a deep gash on one of Aodh's arms as he tried to defend himself in a feeble attempt. the other was a slightly more shallow than the first but it was at a more softer spot near Aodh's neck.
Shroud was frantically looking for something to dress the wounds in, but found nothing. That is until Shroud decided to rip off parts of his dark grey pants. Some of his parts of his pants were already bloody, but Shroud didn't care as he quickly bandaged the wounds.
After Aodh had been treated did Shroud then treat his own nasty wounds. By the time he finished wrapping his own wounds his full length pants had become grey shorts barely noticeable under Shroud's white robes that really needed to be cleaned.
Once he made sure both of them were okay for the time being, Shroud then tiredly took two of Aodh's many cobble stone blocks and blocked the two block high entrance, making sure nothing got in to harm either of them. Shroud then slumped down next to Aodh, sleep drawing near even as he looked at the already dark red makeshift bandages on both of them.
Shroud didn't have the strength to change them though and was slowly, but surely falling asleep.
Somehow as weak as Shroud was from all the fighting , he carefully pulled out the Ghast tear from his pocket and gave a sad smile at the item Aodh badly and now he himself would need almost as much.
"I'll s-save you, I'll save both o-of us... And we can get out of h..ere to that green place of yours... I promise Ao-d..." Shroud mumbled out without thinking as the darkness finally took over. And all the way through his sleep the other voice sung a gentle tune to keep the harshness and pain of the world away as well as Voice who glared at the sleeping figures in the darkest shadows of the Nether.