Damn, Whistler wasn't kidding about the armor part; I haven't been able to break his skin, yet, thought Faith as she swung the sword at a diagonal angle. D'Sulok ducked so that the blade glanced harmlessly off of his left shoulder. Then he reached out, claws extended, and left four bloody new scratches in Faith's upper left arm; she yelped at the pain.
So far, she hadn't been able to strike a straight blow at the reptilian demon. He was fast; he kept shifting his body so that Faith's sword hit him at an angle bad enough that his tough skin could deflect the blow. Even the "ubervamps" had not been this difficult.
Faith jumped back to give herself room. When D'Sulok tried to close that space, Faith jumped up and kicked him in the chest hard enough to knock him backwards, but not to force him off his feet.
Giles had just finished off D'Sulok's escorts. He made his way around so as to approach the reptile from behind. He was five feet away when D'Sulok charged at Faith and knocked her to the ground.
The fear showed in Faith's eyes as D'Sulok reached down and wrapped one of his scaly hands around Faith's neck, nearly raising her to her feet. He raised his other hand, preparing to deal the blow that would tear through her face and end her life.
Luckily for Faith, D'Sulok heard Giles running up behind him and instead dropped Faith to the ground. He jumped to one side (causing Giles to swing and miss; being a normal human, he could only do so much), and turned swiftly towards the Watcher.
Faith did not waste a moment. Immediately, picking up her sword, she stood and swung it directly at the area where D'Sulok's neck and shoulder connected.
It landed straight and true; in fact the blow was so hard that Faith's sword shattered. D'Sulok screamed in pain. He spun around.
That was when Giles and Faith figured out that D'Sulok could use his tail as a weapon.
Giles gave a loud "OOF!" when the side of D'Sulok's tail hit his abdomen (he felt like he had just been hit with a really big club), causing him to become airborne. The circular motion of the tail did not stop, however, and it slammed into Faith's chest, also sending her flying. She hit the ground hard.
"Foolish mortal," growled D'Sulok. "It will take more than one lucky blow to finish me. You cannot win." Faith slowly sat up, groaning. It did not help that she had landed on her arm (the one that already had the large scratches in it). She looked at the reptilian demon, and her heart sank.
Sure, she had finally struck a blow that pierced D'Sulok's natural armor; she could see black blood staining his blue robe around the shoulder area. But despite putting all her mind and strength into that blow, it had still not been even close to enough to take him out of the game.
"Faith!" Faith heard Giles call her name; she turned and looked in the direction of his voice. He had landed near the bodies of the gray demons that he had killed a few minutes before.
He had also landed right next to the case that Buffy had given Faith.
Of course! I forgot all about it!
With a hard shove, Giles sent the case sliding across the floor in Faith's direction. She caught it, and immediately undid the clasps that held it shut. D'Sulok growled.
"What is that, she-mortal? A stringed instrument? Do you hope to serenade me to death?"
Faith looked over at D'Sulok. "You know, I was hoping that I would be able to brag to my friends about how I defeated the Lizard King using just a regular old sword."
She opened the case, revealing the weapon that Buffy had given Faith.
It was still as beautiful as it had been when Buffy had recovered it from Caleb a year ago. The red blade at one end reflected the light almost like a mirror; the wooden stake at the other was smooth to the touch.
Faith lifted the Scythe out of its case, and stood up again. Immediately, she felt its power flowing through her body, giving her new strength; she didn't even feel the pain in her left arm anymore.
Grinning, she finished what she had been saying before. "I guess life just ain't that easy."
Buffy and the Immortal circled each other slowly. They had been fighting for at least a few minutes now; though they had crossed blades many times, neither of them had sustained a scratch so far. The Immortal proved to be a more formidable opponent than Buffy ever suspected; he had not yet even started to perspire.
The Immortal suddenly broke his stance and ran directly at Buffy. She stepped to her right; the Immortal passed her, turning as he did so and swinging his katana right toward the right side of her neck. She blocked it, and the two found themselves circling each other again.
Again, the Immortal made the aggressive move. This time, however, Buffy actually backed up, having to put all of her effort into blocking all of the Immortal's swings. Buffy realized that if she didn't do something, he was going to back her right into the wall.
She decided to jump back several feet (to put more room between herself and the Immortal, and thus give her a few seconds to get back on the offensive once again), but the Immortal continued to follow. She continued to back up (maintaining the distance) until she was against the wall. With several feet between them, the Immortal raised his sword so that it was pointing straight forward, and then ran toward Buffy, prepared to pin her to the wall. Thanks to the distance she had put between them, however, Buffy had time to get out of the way.
The Immortal's momentum did not permit him to stop and turn, so instead he pointed his sword away (so it would not get stuck in the wall) and then, right as he reached the wall, he put his right foot against it and pushed off, resulting in a flying backflip. He landed several feet away, enough distance to help him regain his composure before Buffy came charging at him, swinging away.
He sidestepped her, sticking out his foot. She tripped and fell, immediately rolling over to defend herself. He approached her from the side and swung his katana toward her head. She blocked it by raising her own katana with one hand. However, he did not raise his katana again. Instead, he used it to apply pressure to hers, hoping to press it into her face. Her free hand moved around on the floor to her side, looking for something. She found it: her katana's scabbard, which she had luckily landed next to. She picked it up and struck the Immortal in the face with it, knocking him back. This gave her time to get back up.
They continued this way for a while, with one going on the offensive and the other on the defensive and vice versa, until eventually they were not even in the same room the fight originated in; they found themselves in the dining hall.
Buffy was on the offensive this time. The Immortal parried her blows, continually stepping back as he did so. Buffy was attempting to trap him between her and the large, long dining table that dominated the hall.
When she did back him up to the table, she ducked down and swung her sword, attempting to slash his legs. In response, he avoided the blow by jumping backwards onto the table.
Disappointed that her idea did not work, Buffy followed him by jumping onto the table as well. Buffy noticed that by this time, the Immortal had started to sweat. She knew that his endurance could only last so long if she kept him on the defensive. She continued her advance; she could feel him starting to wear out.
Eventually, they approached the end of the dining table. She smiled; she had him now. All she had to do was force him off the table, and then she could leap over his head and land close enough to him that he would not have room to jump back onto the table, meaning that he would be effectively trapped.
Sure enough, when they reached the end of the table, he did jump off backwards. She immediately leapt, doing a flying summersault while in mid-air over his head.
On the outside, the Immortal appeared to be showing the initial signs of fear. On the inside, he was smiling. By slowing his pace a little and remaining on the defensive, he had fooled her into thinking he was wearing out. He looked up at her; she seemed to be in slow motion while in mid-air; her feet were higher than her head, and he was looking into her face. He could tell that she was going to make one critical mistake: not turning around while still in the air.
Sure enough, as soon as she landed, her back was exposed to him.
In less than one second he brought his katana up so that the handle was on his right side and higher than his shoulders, and then swung the katana down and to the left.
He felt it cut flesh, and heard Buffy let out a cry of pain. A slash materialized on her shirt; it began near the left side of her neck, and went diagonally between her shoulder blades, ending near the lower right side of her ribcage. As the Immortal watched, the edges of the shirt around the slash began to turn a deep crimson.
Buffy felt warm liquid running down her back, and she knew she was done for. Dropping her sword, she stumbled to the right, then dropped to the floor altogether.
The Immortal approached her, using one foot to roll her over on her back; she gasped and winced as she felt the floor against her mortal wound.
As the Immortal raised his katana, preparing to deliver the killing blow, Buffy thought to herself, Oh God, Angel. I'm so sorry.
Author's Note: I'd like to say thanks to the faithful readers who have stayed with my story so far, and extra thanks to those who leave feedback.
This story is approaching its end; if I had to guess, I'd say there's probably about five chapters left after this one, but don't take my word for that.
I am a college student in an engineering major, and midterms are here. I have three big tests coming up in the next week or so, so while I might be able to get a chapter or two out during that time, don't hold your breath. I promise you that at the extreme latest, I will resume this story by next Monday (Oct. 16).
Due to the probable delay, you may want to add this fic to your Story Alert list in the meantime.