Chapter 50 A Lucky Man,

Darkness and shadow exploded from Isaac in all directions. The shock of what had happened almost caused him to lose his connection with the death flames he was feeding Lenna. He appeared next to her in one breath as the shadows took him to where he needed to be. “Lenna. Lenna!” Isaac called out as soon as he arrived. She felt mostly intact. Her body hadn’t received that much damage overall but the area that had received the damage was the problem. Before he could even kneel down next to her, she started to stir. Isaac froze in place as a thought crossed his mind. ‘If I feed her too much power now then the illusion of hellfire will shatter.’ He glanced around. ‘Fuck it.’ Shadows exploded out of Isaac and formed a dome around him and Lenna as he knelt down next to her. He ramped up the power he was feeding her as her sword’s fire finally went out.

—

‘Why did the world suddenly tumble?’ Lenna’s severely damaged brain questioned as her body dropped to the ground like a marionette with its strings cut. She felt funny. Something was inside of her and it felt nice. Like a warm blanket. Her body felt kind of cold so the warm feeling was appreciated. She tried to shift positions as she felt her fingers wiggle on their own. ‘Ow.’ Lenna thought as she tried to grab her head. The world suddenly went dark. That was new. The world shouldn’t be able to go dark. She was a dark elf after all. She felt her armor start to pull her over. She let it roll her so she was facing up. The left half of her vision was all blurry. She heard someone saying her name. ‘What? Who’s there?’ She questioned. Then all of a sudden, like a damn breaking, her consciousness came back in full. Lenna gasped for breath as she sat bolt upright.

“Lenna. Lenna talk to me.” Isaac said from beside her. His hand was on her back and his other hand was holding her shoulder. “Can you speak? How are you feeling?”

Lenna held up a hand. “Wait.” She told him as she tried to get her bearings. “Hold on.” Everything came back to her all at once. ‘Limit Break.’ She thought. She remembered the moment Fable showed her exactly how big the power gap was between them. All of her training. Five decades of fighting his shadow. It all meant nothing. He was just too strong. She was running out of time. She only had twenty more years at the maximum before fighting him would just be bullying the elderly. She needed to get stronger. She felt the strong grip on her shoulder and back. She turned to face Isaac, her vision in both eyes going blurry again. “I lost.” Her voice squeaked.

“I know.” Isaac told her and let go of her shoulder so he could take off her helmet. She reached up with her free hand and helped him take it off. Her other hand still had a deathgrip on her sword but her chinstrap was cut in two so the helmet slid right off. He set her helmet on her lap and brushed away a tear. “It’s okay.” He told her. “You’ll get him next time.”

The weight of the loss of her friends slammed back down onto her heart and it brought with it five decades of buried pain. The feeling of inadequacy at having lost a fight even though Isaac was helping her didn’t help. She felt like her heart was going to flatten under the weight. Her throat hurt but she didn’t know why. She hadn’t even started crying, yet. She looked down at her helmet as a tear fell from her chin and splashed onto the sand caked steel. The paint was gone from where it had landed. She double inhaled sharply. ‘No Lenna.’ She told herself. ‘Not here.’ She let go of her sword and grabbed her helmet with both hands.

“Lenna?” Isaac asked.

“Let’s get this over with.” She told him as she slid her helmet back on. She sealed everything back up for later. She could feel all of those feelings later. Hopefully never but she knew that was wishful thinking. She felt weak. Her arms felt like they were made of lead. “Can you, help me up?”

Isaac nodded and helped her to her feet. He put her sword back in her scabbard and looked at her with concern plastered across his face. “Are you okay?” He asked her.

“No.” Lenna replied simply. His concern was not helping her stay together. “Get this over with so we can go home.” She told him.

Isaac nodded. He took a deep breath and clapped his face. “Focus.” He whispered to himself. He had been absolutely terrified when Lenna had collapsed. Once she started to stir he realized that there was no reason for it. As soon as they were out of sight he grabbed her and started dumping power into her to speed up the healing that was already going on. It was then that he realized that she might have survived even if he hadn’t healed her at all. Her own healing had kicked in with even more fervor than its owner. His death flames had helped of course and with them they could be sure that she had healed up properly. He cracked his neck and rolled his shoulders as he let go of his control over the shadows surrounding them.

—

To say that Edward was concerned would be the understatement of the year. When Isaac had erupted like a shadow volcano he was afraid that Fable was about to be removed from the face of Primatia. The amount of power at the mage’s disposal was beyond all reason and logic. Thankfully Isaac had just cut himself and Lenna off from the rest of the world. The cleric that had been on standby was waiting patiently from fifty feet or so away from the dark orb that hid the mage and his paladin. “That could have gone worse.” Edward said aloud.

Stolen novel; please report.

“It could’ve?” A voice asked from beside him. Edward jolted and looked over to see the adventure that had started this whole mess.

“I forgot you were here.” He told the magical knight honestly. “But yes. Isaac’s reaction could have been much, much, worse.”

“How so?” Esk questioned.

“Your master is still alive isn’t he?” Edward questioned in return.

Esk’s eyes went wide and he swallowed hard. ‘For the Blade Master to say that the Glinting Blade couldn’t stand up to him…’ Esk’s mind trailed off as it tried to understand the implications. “Just, how strong is he?”

Edward watched as the dark orb broke apart and the shadows dispersed. “Ask him yourself.” Edward replied and vaulted over the railing. He landed gracefully but his knees still hurt. He may have looked like he was wearing a toga but he was in fact still wearing his armor and the extra weight had not been kind to his no longer young knees. ‘Maybe I am getting old.’

—

Shadows drifted away as Isaac stood almost directly in between Lenna and Fable. “I don’t believe we’ve met.” Fable said calmly. “But you interrupted her punishment.”

That was not the way to start a conversation. Isaac’s face went from a schooled neutrality to a barely contained snarl. “I am the Lord of Darkness itself. She, is mine. You have won the duel. Leave it at that.” Isaac replied with a calmness that he didn’t feel.

“She should experience resurrection for herself.” Fable pressed with his same perfected calmness. “Now you’ve just made it more painful for her.”

Isaac was taken aback. People had talked back to him before, recently even, but he couldn’t remember the last time someone had actually threatened him like that. It hasn’t some drunken nonsense or someone’s anger boiling over. No, this was a calculated threat from someone who thought that they were better than him. “Sorry Len-” Isaac’s voice was cut off by Edward and his eyes snapped to the Guild Master with a look that could’ve wilted flowers.

“Now, now. The duel is over. We’ve had enough excitement for one day. Let’s all just call it a day and go our separate ways.” Edward told the two powerhouses that looked ready to tear each other in half. “Right?” He asked and then looked to Lenna and Esk, who was trailing behind him, for support. “Right?”

“He stopped the duel before it could be properly concluded.” Fable told Edward coldly. “Now it must be done again.”

“I-” It was Edward’s turn to be cut off by Isaac.

“If you want another duel then I will fight you.” Isaac told the legendary swordsman.

“No.” Lenna said barely louder than a whisper. “Let it go Isaac.” She told him.

“Five seconds.” Isaac said coldly. “It’ll be over in five seconds and we can go home.” Isaac had no delusions about being able to win against someone like Fable the Glinting Blade without fighting quick and dirty. Isaac liked to play at being a swordsman. He liked to play at being an assassin too. It liked his role of being the demigod of darkness as well. There was just one thing that no one but Isaac and Lenna truly understood. None of those things were Isaac. Isaac was a dark mage. He had the power of death and shadow seared into his mana pathways. A power that was lethal to humans, most elves, most dwarves, most gnomes, lightfoot, half of the dragonkin, and so on. He wasn’t going to fight Fable in a fair one on one. He was going to throw everything he had at the man in a display of power that would go down in infamy.

Fable’s jaw set at Isaac’s declaration. “If I have to go through you to get t-” He was cut off by the Guild Master. Edward was really starting to get on his nerves.

“Both of you. Go home. I am the one that is going to have to deal with the fallout of you two fighting.” He explained to two men. They didn’t feel like men to Edward. He felt like he was watching a standoff between two dragons over something that he didn’t even properly understand. Edward felt like the animosity was blown way out of proportion. He felt like both of them needed a cold shower and a nap. He knew that if the two of them went at it then Alexander would show up and it would be a whole mess. “Please. Just go home.”

“I am willing to let it go.” Isaac said. Edward could hear the strain in his voice. It was clear that Isaac really didn’t want to let it go but he was willing to because Lenna asked him. “But he needs to back off.”

“I am willing to back off if you pay for my apprentices revival cost.” Fable replied. “We can call this whole event a learning experience.”

“Like hells.” Isaac countered. “I’m giving you an opportunity to not meet the Reaper. I hope your pope is still here because no fledgling cleric is going to be able to bring you back.”

“Enough of this! Both of you!” Edward yelled at the pair.

“Please, Isaac. I just want to go home.” Lenna told him.

Isaac took a deep breath and turned around to leave. He took one step towards Lenna before he noticed her eyes go wide. He knew immediately that it wasn’t from surprise at him relenting. ‘Fine.’ Isaac thought. ‘Have it your way.’ He teleported backwards to the other side of Fable and then his own eyes went wide in surprise. Fable hadn’t been going for him.

Edward felt the tension snap as soon as Isaac turned around. He lunged towards Lenna while drawing his sword. His quickdraw technique carried his sword out and up where it intercepted both of Fable’s attacks that were going towards Lenna. The two high level warriors seemed to freeze in place like one of the paintings hanging in the halls of the Arbencroft estate.

Fable was shocked that Edward had stopped the attack. He hadn’t realized that the younger warrior had gotten that fast. He noticed at the same time that the Lord of Darkness was gone. He felt pain in his arm similar to that time he was bitten by a snake in the jungles of… He was getting off track. He felt an odd shift and looked down at his biceps just in time to see his good arm fall away and out of his sleeve. “What?” Fable asked. His eyes moved over farther as they traced the hand that had grabbed his arm back towards its source. What he was met with was a pair of blazing silver eyes that seemed to bore into his soul.

“You are a lucky man, Fable.” Isaac said quietly. It was loud enough that everyone could hear it in the near total silence that was the arena. “Lenna asked me to let it go. That is why it was your arm and not your neck.” Isaac waited until Fable blinked to teleport again. He appeared beside Lenna. “Let’s go. Before I change my mind.”

Lenna nodded and started walking away with him. They could hear the cleric running up to Fable and fussing over his lack of an arm. “Thank you.” Lenna whispered to Isaac.

Isaac shook his head. “I still don’t understand why you didn’t let me just get rid of him, but, you're welcome.”