Locked Blades

B312

1607 Hours, September 3, 2552, Outskirts of unidentified Reach Village

A mass of green and gold rolled to its left narrowly avoiding a blade held by a pearl white armored figure. The second figure pulled back its weapon arm and lashed out again, in a repeat of its previous actions. And just like before the smaller green form hastily parried the blow. This time however as the blade was knocked back the larger figure brought its knee into the center of the smaller.

Leo gritted his teeth powerfully and released the breath he had been holding the moment before his opponents' knee connected. By releasing the pent up air the Spartan avoided being winded when he failed to avoid the strike. The lieutenant did however leap backwards using the momentum from the blow to create a small distance between him and his alien opponent.

Landing on his back the Officer barely managed to roll the right as a hoofed foot stomped where his legs had one been. Leo then pushed off the ground with his left hand and swung the blade in his right towards the Elites hidden neck. With an almost casual ease the Commando twisted its neck upwards so that the blade passed through empty air. The Elite did not see the pair of armored feet lash out at its torso. With enough force to dent titanium the alien was pushed away from the Spartan on the ground.

Taking a moment to breathe again Leo rapidly came to stand on his own two feet again. At the same time the alien was doing the exact same, mirroring his movements as though it was his own doppelganger. For the four time he moved to the right and the Elite stepped to the left, beginning to circle one another again.

This time Leo struck first; a diagonal slash that would have cleaved his adversary into two halves. The Elite bent its arm back towards it, and moved its rest slightly downwards, the blade resting in a position to block the Spartans blow. Instead of waiting the pearl white armored alien pushed off with its right foot, the blade drawing nearer to the Spartans own.

The two blades met halfway and the energy behind both blows transferred into the arms of their wielders. One narrowed his eyes in frustration, while the other did the same with grudging respect in place of frustration. The Spartan made a fist with his free hand and attempted to deliver a blow, one he hoped would penetrate the Elites armor, to where he knew one of the aliens' hearts was located. The Commando managed to disengage from the lock and hastily managed to bring its arm down to block the blow.

With a growl of momentary pain the alien then swung the energy sword in a wide sweeping motion. Knowing that there was not a single chance in parrying the swipe Leo quickly decided to duck under the path of the formed plasma weapon. He heard a quick hissing sound and saw a small amount of sparks fall before his black visor. The lieutenant cursed at how close he had been to literally losing his head. Eyes locked on the center of mass of his opponent the Spartan soon developed a plan of action.

With a roar of determination the Officer deactivated his own blade and rushed the Elite before him. Wrapping his arms around the alien Leo kicked off the ground launching himself and his opponent several feet in the air. The Spartan cried out in pain as he felt two clutched fists strike the area of armor above his spine, his vision darkening for a brief moment. Despite the pain he continued to hold on until he felt them both land on the ground once again.

He felt the Elite move beneath him and braced himself for the inevitable. The Spartan felt the bent knee strike him in the same spot as before and was kicked off of his opponent. When he landed Leo did become winded at the impact. Without pausing for a single moment he forced his now sore back to go straight as he slowly stood. With a grim smirk he noted that the Elite was also slowly getting up and Leo swore he could feel its invisible glare attempt to burn his very soul.

"Didn't hurt you too bad did I?" he attempted to taunt the alien, but doubted its effectiveness as he heard his own haggard voice. His answer came in a deep low growl he knew was coming from the Commandos' throat. "I think I'll take that as a sign of agreement then shall I?"

The Elite did not offer any type of response other than to lower the blade until it began to burn the ground. Knowing what would likely come from that slight bending of its knees, the Spartan III reactivated his own energy sword and brought in front of him. The two soldiers each stared at each other for several moments before each breaking into a dead run for the other. The Elites' blade remained near the ground, occasionally dipping into the Reach surface and leaving more short burn marks, a taste of what would happen when the Covenant warships reached that part of Reach.

Leo held his own weapon parallel to the ground beneath him and lowered himself closer to its surface. When the pair were within range of using their weapons they each struck as fast as the approaching lightning storms. The Spartan lunged with his blade in an attempt to skewer the Elite Commando; while the Commando itself attempted to amputate its opponent's left leg above the knee. Each however scored nothing more than light grazing blows that did little more than put a blemish over their armors.

Throughout their brief attacks the pair did not cease moving and soon passed each other. Turning fully to face each other they attacked again and again from their positions. One would attempt to disable the other only to barely avoid a slash at their backs. Using the momentum from the miss of his most recent slash, Leo spun on the ball of his right foot and moved for an uppercut. The Elite mirrored his movements perfectly and they found themselves once again with their blades locked together.

The Elite pulled back slightly extending its own reach, while still keeping their blades intertwined however, and pulled back a fist. Leo mirrored the movements to the best of his own abilities which he knew wasn't much. His opponent was very skilled, that much at least was painfully obvious. With the increased reaction time of a Spartan he managed to track the movement of the fist the instant it was launched.

With unimaginably nearly instantaneous reflexes Leo moved his own open hand in the direction of the oncoming fist. Catching it in his free left hand the Spartan squeezed tightly unwilling to release the Elites' fisted right hand. Applying pressure in the same manner as done to a recently deceased Reach Insurrectionist, Leo moved to deliver a powerful kick to his opponents midsection.

To the Spartan Officers great, and highly frustrated, and total surprise the Elite lifted up its own knee to take the blow. For a highly trained and experienced soldier such as Leo to dangers of his position soon became apparent. He was fighting a larger, physically superior opponent, he was balancing on one leg, and both arms were in use protecting himself. The soldier could think of a dozen ways in which he could easily exploit such a position, and he knew that the Commando was having the same type of though process. Still, and against all likelihood of validity, the young lieutenant somehow found himself hoping he would be proven wrong about his assumptions, just like so many other times he'd been wrong on Reach.

Unfortunately he was correct in his reasoning about his opponents list of possibilities. The Elite used its free leg to push itself off the ground a short distance. By doing so it destabilized the center of gravity the lone Spartan held. To further trouble Leo his opponent then leaned into the locked blades, forcing all its weight into the Spartans right wrist. These actions combined in Leo losing both his balance as well as his grip on the energy sword. The only positive note to his fall was that the aliens' own momentum pushed it into a roll away from him that, thankfully, provided a distance of several meters.

Biting back a scream of utter frustration, which was incredibly hard to do given his situation, the Spartan saw the Elite charge already baring down on him. Pushing aside any negative thoughts he reacted accordingly. Without the energy sword in hand Leo quickly drew his temporarily sheathed combat knife. The small foot long blade was not much when compared to the weapon held in the creatures' left hand, but it was still something.

Leo had only been able to take three steps before the Commando had swung its blade in a downwards arc. Lowering himself closer to the ground Leo held up his UA/BRACER to block the arm coming to sever his left arm at the shoulder. Knife in his right hand Leo lunged at the location of one of the Elite's hearts a second time. The amount of speed Leo had behind his attack proved enough for the knife to penetrate the pearl white armor.

Roaring loud enough to hurt his own Spartan ears the Elite pulled back from the lieutenant. Taking control of the opportunity Leo delivered a powerful kick towards the hilt of the knife, driving it further into the flesh of the alien and pushing it away. Regrettably the kick had left him open to the pained creatures counter attack; a final swing of its own energy sword. Leo was unable to avoid having the weapon slice through his chest plate, the tips of the weapon burning across his chest and barely avoiding his internal organs by centimeters.

Taking several steps back Leo held his right arm over the painful wound on his chest. He felt a grim sense of satisfaction rise to the top of his emotions as he took note of the Elites' own injuries. It kept its free hand near the now flood of purple blood, above the hilt of the knife; which due to the amount of force behind his kick was barely an inch short of being fully inside its flesh.

Leo knew that since the Elites had multiple hearts that his last attack was likely not life threatening. Still it did manage to earn him at least a few moments of respite from the furious melee he had been engaged in with the alien. He wince in pain as he tried to take in a deep breath and grimaced. The energy sword had clearly singed his lungs somewhat. He supposed he was fortunate that he had enough luck that singed lungs were all he had received as injuries. Had he been just inches closer to the Elite he wondered if there he would have had a single lung left, or even his heart.

"Well, well, well." he managed to say without much coughing. "I think we are near the end of this battle now, don't you?" the only response to his question was the Elite raising its energy sword again and bringing the blood covered right hand into a guarding position. Narrowing his eyes Leo searched for where his own weapon had found itself now that the knife was gone. Dimly he wondered if the bullets in the MA3 he had tossed aside could penetrate the Elites' armor if he aimed where the knife was imbedded.

A shout of pain escaped his lips as he felt to his knees, clutching at his now shield less right shoulder, the sound of a high powered sniper rifle echoing across the village after the bullet had penetrated the armor. The bullet failed to fully go through the MJOLNIR armor however and the round remained lodged in his shoulder. Rolling to the side he managed to avoid a second shot that would have likely gone through his chest. The moment he his shields began to recharge Leo turned to look at his new threat.

Only for a third shot to strike his helmet just above the visor. The amount of charge in his shields prevented the round to penetrate the helmet, but not the amount of kinetic energy that followed. Leo felt his head whip back, the amount of pressure rapidly build in the forefront of his skull between his eyes. His last thoughts before losing consciousness were of failing to honor his promise, and the fact the Commando was still very much alive.

The Reach Insurrection had claimed its first Spartan victim.

Reunited Preview

1913 (Human Time) Unidentified Reach Village

Commando

Rolling behind the burning remains of a destroyed human vehicle Voro 'Refumai leaned out slightly and shot another of the humans in the torso. The carbines' green rounds flying through the body with little to no resistance. The Sangheili Swordsman promptly fired several more rounds and ended the lives of another pair of human filth. The moment the carbine had expended its final round he leapt over the momentary cover with a vicious roar.

The remaining humans began to turn and flee from the Sangheili not bothering to continue to fire at him. Closing the distance rapidly Voro lowered his hand and gripped one of the plasma grenades he had attached to his waist. Removing one he quickly activated the weapon, the blue glow causing his white armor shine a brilliant sapphire color. Slowing down slightly the warrior pulled back his arm and then threw the device into the center of a closely packed group of humans.

The grenade fell towards the fearful weaklings and came into contact with the only human without a weapon. That human who had seconds before been clutching a bleeding shoulder wound soon cried out in primal fear as the blue device continued to glow from where it had landed on his neck. Those nearest to him promptly attempted to get as far from their doomed comrade as possible. Their fate was sealed the instant the grenade detonated no later than a single second after the man's first shouts of fear. The bright glow expanded until it seemed to swallow those humans nearest to it, ending the lives of nearly half a dozen.

Satisfied with his latest kills the Swordsman turned on his heel and looked at the last surviving human that dared attack him. The pitiful creature whimpered in pain as it slowly attempted to crawl away from the bloodied monster that he and his allies had the misfortune of attacking.

With the slow patience of a hunter Voro began to walk slowly towards the lone being. His hoofed feet stomping on the muddy planets surface and occasionally steeping on the bodies of more dead humans. The sound of flesh being crushed swept over the nearly empty village and caused the last human to cry out in fear.

As the Swordsman drew nearer and activated his energy sword the human pushed itself onto its back. With wide fear filled eyes the human began an incoherent babbling as Voro drew nearer. There was no sympathy in the Sangheili as it realized that the creature was begging for its life. Foolish, weak willed, filth, heretical weakling creatures was all that humanity was, and as such they deserved no mercy for their existence.

The Sangheili stopped before nearly stepping on the humans' legs. His eyes narrowed in disgust as the human continued to feebly beg for its own worthless life. Such actions were frowned upon by all of his people, and to many lines of blood it was a crime warranting death. Voro lifted his eyes from the miserable life form cowering beneath him, the human still attempting to escape the inevitable. That was what truly caused the loathing he felt for the human wretches; they refused to meet them honorably.

With a growl the Swordsman deactivated his own blade. The hissing sound seemed to stun the human for several moments before it turned to face him. The pathetic creatures' eyes shone with disbelief and hope for its survival. Voro continued to glare at the human at his feet for several moments before he moved his hand down. A shriek of fear pierced the air of the surrounding area as the Swordsman gripped the human by the neck. Lifting the human up he began to walk towards a burning building, a single desire filling his very being.

As the smell of burning wood grew more pronounced realization seemingly dawned on the human. Somehow aware of what Voro had planned it began to strike his body in a panic. The Sangheili did not loosen his grip on the humans' neck as they drew closer to the building. Coming to a halt the Swordsman pushed the human against the hot remains of a the building he had been headed towards. The heat caused the creature to cry out in pain once again as it ceased to fight him.

Voro growled as he let the human fall to the ground; the strange orange uniform scorched off its back revealing the now burned flesh. Slowly and deliberately he reached for the humans back, he dug his four fingers into the burned flesh. Ignoring the pained shouts of the creature again he lifted the body up into the air and then gazed into the burning flames.

The entire world would soon suffer the same fate he was about to force onto the human. There was only one way to bring the Holy Forerunners honor in the face of the human infestation in the galaxy. Only one way to purify the universe the Covenant existed in. The humans would burn away and the worlds would be glassed completely, such was the duty of his people. With that final thought Voro threw the human into the center of the flames, the force of the throw breaking the creatures spine when its back struck a burning piece of timber.

Voro snarled as the battle he had been fighting for the past hours finally came to a close. The Officer knew that he could have easily ended the lives of those humans had he not been injured so heavily and exhausted from his battle with the Demon. He stared at the burning creature as it writhed in its death roes for several beats of his hearts before turning his back to it and began walking away.

There was still one human left alive however; and it was where Voro was now walking towards. Now that the humans had been dealt with the Sangheili Swordsman allowed himself to wrap an arm around its injury. The knife the Demon had forced into one of his hearts still remained in place and blood continued to flow out from the wound in rivers as the dying organ continued to beat. The Swordsman winced in pain as the beating of that heart became more forced and struggled to continue to pump his own purple life blood.

A226 1734 Hours, September 4, 2552

Noble 3, Jun, looked from the shocked faces of the two human girls before him towards the village. Shutting down the engine of the M274 the Spartan III calmly steeped of the machine. His eyes met with those of the oldest, the same woman Noble had encountered weeks ago.

"I'm going to ask once. Where is the Spartan?"

AN: Well sorry folks. I forgot to put this thing up. I intended to put this up as the actual chapter 13, but it seems I loaded up the wrong document. Oops?

Anyway this is the last time I'm putting up a Noble Life Update for at least a month give or take few days. I'm worried if I keep putting up chapters I'll burn myself out of this story. And I do not want that to happen, hell no.

Oh, and the actual Chapter 14 is going to be much different that the preview. Well besides the Voro POV, that stays the same because it satisfies my desire to brutally kill yet another Insurrectionist. Human Barbeque for Brutes?

Also, I will not explain the Jun at the end in this note. If you want to know how he gets there you can either wait, or you can PM and I will tell you. I actually got this idea from a reviewer of mine. Just a Crazy-Man, you know exactly how Jun got there. Don't spoil it in a review btw man.

Lastly, I recently got an idea for a new fic after reading a fic called NU: RedX Rising, by 26-Lord-Pain. It is a Teen Titans/Star Wars cross with several big Titans names. Jason Todd, AKA Red Hood, and Ravager are just a few. I'd like it if some of you guys decide to check it out, as well as 26-Lord-Pain's story and leave a few reviews his way. After the help he gave me coming up with the right way to do that new fic getting him a few reviews is the least I can do.

OH, and for the record. Sorry if you though this was a new chapter. Blame me and forgetting to put up the right form of this chapter. Lastly, to any who remember. My girls dad finally accepted that we did NOT do anything like what he thought. And I can finally go over to her place and not be afraid of being attacked by him or their crazy demon-dog. Why does the damned dog hate me?