The Kids Step In

Michael stood there for a few more seconds, his hands hadn't moved yet since he had released the arrow for Vigrid's head. The Madness Wavelength of Vigrid was still swirling around his head. Vigrid was still launching himself for them, his hulking mass coming crashing for the group. Michael knew he had to move, but something told him to stand there, fire an arrow at Vigrid, hit him! Kill him! That idea was tossed out of his head as he was thrown to the ground as Melody tackled him, sending them crashing to the ground.

"G-get your head in the game," said Melody with a slight quiver to her voice. It was obvious that she wasn't quite her normal sure-fire self. Her brain was dying on her. The Madness Wavelength of Vigrid was filling her head with horrible scenes, unlike Michael it wasn't propelling her to fight, she could feel her body clench up in fear, something that she never felt before. Even against Marburg, she never had this same feeling. Vigrid was a monster…a monster that could kill them all…and her body knew it. Her rational mind being reduced to something similar to mass of jelly, she highly doubted she could tackle Michael again.

Vigrid stopped and twisted around, turning to face the group, he heaved his sword up and into the air and then with one tremendous sweep, he brought his sword crashing down for them. They both dove out of the way, they knew they had no other option, standing still was the same as signing your death warrant. They needed to stay on their toes, one hit would probably be the end.

Ash rushed Vigrid. He felt like Melody, he felt his muscles clenching up. A voice in his head, screaming at him to turn around, but he couldn't. He had to move forward and help his friend. Ash dug his heels into the dirt, swinging forward; he fired a single punch for Vigrid's side. Vigrid had saw it coming from a mile away. He swung around, bringing a rising knee into Ash's gut and throwing him back and through the air. Vigrid rotated around, he brought the side of his blade smashing into Ash and flattening him into the ground. Vigrid lifted his foot up about to smash into Ash's body.

Mischa's shark-headed whip flew forward, wrapping around Ash's arm and dragged him out of the way. It had immediately become obvious that they were outmatched, outgunned to the extreme. The monster had nearly killed three of their friends and so far the only time they hit him was with a surprise attack. They had to retreat…this was a truth in all of their heads, but none of them felt the strength to do it.

Their legs were clenching up at the sight of the monster and those who didn't felt a welling rage. One that blinded them and made them wanna rush Vigrid. It was miserable fact, they couldn't move….they were frozen…they were screwed.

Vigrid moved forward once more his blade arced through the air and was brought crashing back down for them. Semper's chain wrapped around the blade at the last moment and slightly delayed its crash, giving Mischa and Ash the few precious milliseconds they needed to run. They were already breathing heavily; the pressure was intense and pounding into their young bodies like a tank every second. What could they do?

"Hey, pig!" shouted Saul flying forward with a kick aimed for Vigrid's head, "I thought I made myself clear. I have dibs on you after Lord Death!" Vigrid brushed the kick off and grabbed onto Saul's body, pounding him into the ground. Saul produced a small knife, he had kept on him in case he ever did get separated from his weapon as he was now. He brought the knife into the back of Vigrid's hand and causing him to roar back from the sudden and unexpected pain.

"Hey, kids…run," said Saul standing up with obvious pain stretched across his face. He probably had a broken rib on top of a possibly fatal disease coursing through his veins. "I can hold him…three, maybe another four minutes. That's enough, right? To get some place safe?"

"What!?" shouted Shi, still in his yo-yo form. "We can't leave you here! Aren't you sick?! We can't let you die here! I'm supposed to kill you when I get bigger!"

"Don't make me laugh," muttered Saul as he tried to suppress it. It hurt for him to even smile. "You can't take me down…and you sure as hell can't hurt him." Saul nodded towards Vigrid who was ready to continue the thrashing and it was obvious he wasn't about to wait. Vigrid charged. Once more with a carefree smile, that was well worth the pain in Saul's opinion, he said, "run."

"DUCK!" shouted Michael as he fired another arrow past Saul's head and at Vigrid. Saul threw himself to the ground and out of the way out of instincts, the arrow flew forward and right for Vigrid's head. It would've pierced his skull if Vigrid hadn't swatted it out of the way. Vigrid's thick muscles provided an armor against even Michael's arrows.

"Are you insane?" asked Saul giving Michael a quick whop to the head. Saul immediately regretted, not only was his hand probably broken from the constant battering it had received from Vigrid's rough-housing, but also Michael was a golem, the insane hardness of his body only served to further break Saul's hand.

"I don't think a single one of us is willing to leave you behind," said Michael as he drew another arrow and took aim.

Vigrid fired another powerful blast with his Madness wavelength sending a powerful rippling red aura through the air. The gang each dove into opposite directions, barely avoiding the blast. They paused for a second as they looked back at the damage the blast had sown. The earth had been gutted leaving a massive trail of upturned earth and burnt debris where the blast had shuddered through.

"Are you still sure?" asked Saul as he struggled to his feet, his own two legs shaking like jelly. Not due to fear, which Saul would insist he didn't feel, but due fatigue. Just watching those blast and feeling the wind from Vigrid's swings would drastically cut down on your lifespan. "He's not holding back, none of the Kishin simulations you have done in class or even the Evil Humans you've battled can possibly measure up to this guy."

"Did you forget?" asked Shi giving Saul a not-so assuring thumbs-up in his reflection, "We are the ones who beat Marburg!" Saul wanted to point out that the ones who beat Marburg was Quill, but he didn't really care to bring up that he was also beat up by that bastard witch. If he survived this ordeal, he would have to go training as hard as he could. He didn't want these kids to show him up…so what if his age was catching up with him? He could overcome something as trivial as that!

"Fine," said Saul, "but if you die, don't come crying to me cause I don't want to hear it." And on top of that crying zombies seem fairly creepy. Saul charged forward for Vigrid. Despite the fact that he felt like the smaller one amongst these kids, he also felt like he was the best fighter in the group. He had to distract Vigrid. However, he had only got half way to Vigrid when Ash zoomed past him.

Ash moved forward and quickly closed the gap between him and Vigrid. He quickly entered into Vigrid's space, he dodged the initial blow due to his lighter body. Vigrid's mass ensured the fact that Ash was probably going to be faster than him. Ash was quickly on his side, but he was surprised when he was already face-to-face with Vigrid. Vigrid brought his blade screeching across the air for Ash's head. A weighted ball from Semper alongside both Melody's yo-yo and Mischa's shark headed whip. Vigrid twisted around, redirecting his sword away from Ash and into the volley of weapons swatting them all aside.

However, Vigrid did not completely take his eyes off of Ash. He used his swords to deflect the volley of sharp weapons, but he only deemed one hand was needed for such an action, leaving his second hand free to thrust forward and knock Ash backwards and away from him. Ash barely managed to bring Xander's metal body in front of him in time to protect his human body from the heavy thrust of Vigrid's massive bulky arm.

Ash skidded backwards, trying to steady himself. Vigrid turned around about to continue his strings of attack, but instead he was met with Saul, rushing in to defend his student. Without missing a beat Saul quickly brought his leg in and aimed it for Vigrid's head. Vigrid laughed loudly as he brought his own hand in and blocked Saul's kick, swatting the poor teacher aside and to the ground. With his arm super-extended with the swat he was thrown slightly off-balanced.

That was the only opening Michael needed to let a single arrow fly towards Vigrid's face. With his entire body turned and thrown behind his slash in all sense he shouldn't be able to block or avoid the shot. Of course, massive muscles and a big freakin' sword were far from Vigrid's only trick. A resonating blast of Madness Wavelength completely decimated the flying arrow reducing it to nothing mid-flight.

With all the weapons aimed at him neutralized perfectly, he stood back up and straightened himself out. "You guys all came at me once, huh? Don't you think you could've been a little bit more for fair play? I mean I am only one person against all of you, aren't I?" chuckled Vigrid looking on at them. True it was six versus one, but he didn't truly mind it. The advantage in skill, strength, and in almost every other category was clearly in his favor. "Do we need to continue with this boarish behavior or can we just call it a day?"

The only response was a single unanimous onslaught of weapons, yo-yos, arrows, blood daggers, sickle, and a whip. All of which were simply batted to the side by Vigrid's hulking blade. "Come on at least try and act civil," mocked Vigrid as he lifted his other arm up, another red ball of swirling Madness Wavelength was gathering in the palm of his hand. He fired it, not really even bothering to aim. It wasn't really worth the effort. He watched them all scatter in various directions, desperate to avoid the fatal blast. They were finally acting like the cockroaches he and Marburg knew them to be.

Vigrid spared himself one more look over his shoulder at the building where Lord Death was, probably lying limp and unconscious. He thought about going over there and finally dealing the last blow, but then again would that really be enough? Just death?

Marburg was trapped for three millenniums in a small, dark space, Vigrid had watched on as his brother was beaten by another, and they were both expected to wait and abide in these imperfections' world. He felt like Lord Death would be getting off easy if his only punishment was a simple death. Perhaps after he level his precious city and academy he would wake him up, give him a few precious moments to take it in, then kill him.

An eye for an eye. Wasn't that the true way of war? Retaliation against someone for something and it usually included an escalation of some kind. Vigrid could think of no better escalation for the imprisonment of one's own kin than the burning of one's city. His attention swiveled back around to Saul who was just standing up again. His Soul Armor had helped him once again weather the fierce blow and stand up again, but what did he stand up to? A giant with a sword? A one-in-one-million-chance of winning?

Even Saul's usual boundless confidence has been shattered to pieces. Vigrid's true twisted personality is shining through now. We already know of his twisted Soul, but now we get a true insight to Vigrid's mind. And I make him seem like a child...two or three more chapters until the end of the Vigrid arc!