"You missed." The woman's left hand dangles loosely in front of her stomach, her hand had almost been completely torn in half with a couple of fingers missing. but, my sword never reached her torso. She simply swatted it away.

I turn around. "You are at a heavy disadvantage now with that hand. My victory is inevitable." I say before holding up my sword in a fighting position.

The woman doesn't move to draw her sword in response however. "You fixed your arm while we were walking I reckon." She asks.

I flex my forearm. "Enough to finish the job." It was only a temporary fix, the bones had only been repositioned back into place, held together by Anku alone, the process of growing them back together would take much longer.

"Is that so."

I suddenly feel my arms nearly rip off as my sword begins to fly forward. I trip over my feet forward as my sword escapes from my grasp with one clean jerk. Her damn blood?! Just how far ahead is she if she could divert so much of it into her hand in such a short time?

Wait Damn it! I don't have time to be impressed, she has my sword now! I grab one of my remaining two swords and swing vertically for a parry predicting her first strike, yet all I would hit was empty air.

Huh? I look closely at her, she hadn't taken a single step from her spot. She moved right? I swear I just saw her move. Why wouldn't she attack after taking control of my sword? And… After I got her with such a dirty trick.

"If you are telling the truth about your mother. I will not kill you until you've met her." She says calmly. “She might have had to move to a dedicated space. I doubt Lysterians were allowed to stay in their old homes after the invasion.”

Suddenly all I could feel was this intense rage filling my body, but… It was strange, it’s not like it was directed towards her, rather… "She's probably dead.” I finally admit. “There's no way someone like her would have survived this long after I abandoned her. I'd given up a long time ago, I'm just fighting for my conscience, to say that I at least tried to find her." I rest my palm on my forehead. What am I even doing here?

"No, no need to hold back, I understand now.” I hold out my final two swords at her. I was confused before, but now I understand. I could never hold a candle to her both physically and in spirit. Her fighting for her children, our motivations were not even comparable. This was what a true hero looks like, and I was the final villain standing in her path.

“However, I still need to lead this army.” I then say. “My men are fighting for their life right now.”

The woman looks at me for a couple seconds. “My name is Ponca.” She then flips the grip on her sword back and forth from reverse to forward, most likely trying to get a feel for the weight.

“What is yours?” She asks.

“I thought you said this was pointless?” I respond

“It is.” She says, “But… Why not? I don’t feel too strongly against it either.”

“Fair enough. Rainel.” I say curtly.

“Okay Rainel. Here I come.” Ponca also keeps her words short.

And with that, as if connected by instinct, we charge forward simultaneously. No surprise attacks this time. Just a pure contest of strength and wit.

I stare intently forward. I know I can’t match her in a contest of strength, but she only has one hand available. I just need enough strength to at least knock it a little off course. Then, with my free hand that’s when I get her.

I dig my toes into the ground, spinning my momentum into an extreme sideways parry. The first sword would be the one to

PANG! But the blow doesn’t come from the side, no it comes from the bottom. I lose my grip on the sword as it flies into the air. I glance down to see her knee rising, she had intercepted my parry with her leg.

“Nice.” I murmur as I watch my reflection in her blade as it runs through my body. It didn’t feel painful for some reason, it just felt… Cold.

We lock eyes for a couple of moments before I get slammed into a wall, the sword burying itself behind me, knocking my head against the stone as my consciousness quickly fades away.

God damn it. Just when I thought I had everything figured out.

I open my eyes, not totally unsurprised by my survival. After all, from what I could tell it simply went clean through my torso, snaking its way through and not hitting a single major organ. This spot was so specific, so… Intentional, it had to have been. She spared me.

A pool of blood had formed my feet, but for the most part… A sharp spike of pain barrels through my body as I try to shift my weight. I look down to see the sword still impaled in my abdomen… This sword’s done a pretty good job at stopping me from bleeding to death.

“Haaaaaa.” I focus on my breathing. It’s sunset already, the shadows have grown long and I could see the moon just barely peeking over the horizon. I strain my ears, I could no longer hear the sounds of screams and metal clashing in the distance, the battle must have concluded, I don’t know favorably or unfavorably.

I close my eyes. Can’t focus on that right now, I need to pull this out and patch myself up first. Once the sword is out I need to work quickly to stop myself from losing too much blood. I try grabbing the hilt.

…

I can’t move my arms. What’s going on? I flow Anku through my arms. The bones aren’t broken, the muscles haven’t torn, in fact it doesn’t even hurt… It doesn’t feel like anything at all.

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No… It’s happened to me hasn’t it? The nerves connected to my arms have been cut. I’ve been paralyzed.

By modern standards of Sananku this was completely unfixable. Nerves can’t be grown back by the body’s own cells unlike most body tissue, so currently nobody knows how to reconnect them again.

But how did she do it? She must have used Sananku right? No way she could have made such a specific cut with just a sword. She must know a way to specifically degrade nerves.

I bite my lip. Damn it. I then lift my arms, since blood was still running through them I could still use Anku to move them. But now… I try individually clenching and opening each finger but I couldn’t just get it right. My fine motor skills aren’t very accurate anymore, the level of Anku control I need to control my arms and hands like before was unattainable, not to mention the major loss of control to the rest of the body…

“Why the fuck did you leave me alive if you were going to do this to me.” I murmur. But… I’m guessing by the way she’s left me crippled, she’s telling me to piss off somewhere far away and stop fighting… Perhaps she’s also telling me to find my mother.

I close my fingers one by one around the handle, making sure my grip was tight. Then I pull outwards.

“Gragh.” My arms slightly jerk vertically as I start pulling, pushing the sharp edge into my body. It hurts so much, it hurts so much, no, no, no I can’t do it like this. My arms are too unsteady for this. I lick my chapped lips. I’m also so damn thirsty right now from all that blood loss, I’m too lightheaded to focus.

But… What else can I do right now? I close my eyes and grab on tight. Come on, one clean motion. I won’t die from this… Unless I lose too much blood after. Five, four, three– In a sporadic attempt to lessen the dread I harshly pull the sword forward before I finish the countdown. The rock behind me crumbles as the sword dislodges itself and tumbles to the ground.

My entire body shakes, I can’t breath, blood spurts out in rivers out of the hole I just opened. For a moment I feel completely unable to do anything, just watching as blood leaks out of my stomach with precious seconds going by.

GO! I quickly snap out of my deliriousness, and accelerate my body’s natural healing rate by millions. My blood clots up immediately. Itches crawl across my skin as it creepily grafts across itself like woven silk, forming a smooth, angry red surface. I had stopped the bleeding but none of the internal damage has been fixed yet. It was shoddy patchwork at best.

I crouch down, cupping my hands together and scoop muddy rainwater off the ground, lapping it up like a dog. So… Damn… Thirsty… I think to myself for a good five minutes as I drink up the muddy water. I then prop the sword off the ground and lean on it like a walking stick.

I look around for my other two swords for a couple moments before I stop searching. Ponca took them as proof of my defeat, I’m assuming.

…

It’s over… I guess.

I’ve already abandoned my country and the war, I’ll be disgraced if I return. I’ve let a lot of people die in the past couple of hours.

The wind blows to the west, the temperature steadily drops, and with the wind carries the sounds of anguish— a steady background sound that accompanied the sky ever since I stepped foot in the city.

I bring my head up slowly and then deliberately begin to take step after step towards the source of the sound. Fire, rising within my stomach, a fire that hasn’t been ignited since I was kidnapped in Zlitia.

I remember what Ponca said about Lysterians after the invasion loud and clear. I do have one purpose here at the very least.

“Identify yourself!” I soon round a corner, walking straight into a group of Oliviand soldiers still walking around.

“Gah, no need, he’s wearing a Lysterian uniform, finish him off.” I overhear the exchange between the men as soon as they see me.

“Now that’s unlucky.” I chuckle as they slowly begin to surround me. “How about we pretend we never saw each other.” I ask calmly. “I don’t feel like…” Like killing you guys. Is what I would have said. But… “Well, nevermind.” All this time. I don’t really know why I often stop to talk on the battlefield. We’re trying to kill each other aren’t we? Getting to know your opponent is beginning to feel like a waste of time.

“Ramblings of a delirious man, pay no mind.” One of the soldiers swing, aiming to lacerate me down through the chest.

I watch as it descends upon me. Oh, I better parry that huh, I slightly space out. Unlike when I was fighting Ponca I did not feel threatened by these soldiers.

I jerk my arm horizontally in a parry, However I accidentally overshoot the descending sword by a fair bit. I watch annoyed as the edge of his blade bites into my forearm, only lodging in a couple of centimeters however. My arms were filled to the brim with Anku so they were quite resistant at the moment.

Glad I can’t feel anything in my arms though, otherwise this would have hurt quite a bit. I tense my forearm, trapping the sword between my muscles and tear it from the man’s grasp.

“Oh shit!” The man stumbles forward due to my unexpected strength, right into a strong uppercut to the stomach.

Oh I actually hit the solar plexus like I wanted. I think to myself, surprised. Thought that one was going to miss.

As the man keels over I take him down with a swift diagonal slash, slicing from his shoulder to his hip.

Right, I shouldn’t use my arms like I usually do, I don't have enough experience with them yet. I unlodge the sword from my forearm, ducking as another sword flies over my head, in the same motion I snap kick behind my back, right into somebody's groin.

Not very used to being paralyzed like this. I run the person behind me through his throat.

“Ford, get some help! He’s got a black metal sword! We won’t be able to take him on by ourselves!” One of the men shouts at an inexperienced looking boy.

“Ye-Yes sir!” The boy turns around awkwardly and begins running. Hmm, how old does he look? 19? 20?

I slice my hand and coat my sword with Anku infused blood. Then, without warning, I throw it at the boy running away. It arcs forward in a spiral line, stabbing him behind the back as he runs away.

“FORD! Damn it!” The soldier swings his head towards me. There are now only two people left. Two old experienced looking soldiers, pointing their swords at me.

“Do you not have any shame?! Stabbing a man with his back turned?! Gr-!” The soldier looks down incredulously with a sword sticking out of his stomach, he takes one look at me before collapsing.

“Then you should turn around.” I say monotonously as the black metal sword returns to my hand.

I take a close look at the last guy. Isn’t this that guy I spared back then?

Before I get the time to really digest this information, I violently cough, blood coming out of my throat, filling my mouth with the taste of iron.

In that instant, the soldier leaps forward to take advantage of my distraction. I immediately spit out a glob of blood, smacking him in the eye and blinding him.

Without thinking, I then snap forward with a quick roundhouse to the stomach quickly followed by a snap to the head. My legs outranging his sword by a small margin, however it was enough. Boom, Boom, two quick blows with one foot. As he staggers, I thrust forward with the enemy sword I took, impaling him to the ground like I was impaled to the wall.

I wonder if I accidentally sliced something in my gut when I was pulling the sword out… I wonder to myself as I clutch my stomach. Despite my best efforts, the internal bleeding was severe enough that I was coughing up blood.

So be it. I undress and put on one of the enemy uniforms off the ground. I don’t want to get into another fight again.

Then I continue to walk. One way or another I have to confront my past now.