Hamanymu gasped in pain as he crashed face first into the ground yet again. His armour might have protected the rest of his body from the impact but with the loss of his helmet, his head was spinning after it's latest encounter with concrete.
"Damn it." he whispered as he crawled over to his feet with his head spinning and his equilibrium thrown off.
He called out for the first thing that got to his pained beating head. " Imwami, where are you?"
He looked around for the sword that he had lost when Libra began smacking him around the room. Suddenly something collided into his back, knocking him to the ground again.
He groaned as he felt Gwalchmei's elbow dig into his shoulder and worse his boots were resting on the back of his head and that left Hamanymu kissing the ground.
"Again, really," He whimpered as Gwalchmei started getting up.
"I am going to need my head scanned after this." he thought with all the damage his head had been exposed to just today.
"Sorry." Gwalchmei groaned out a pained apology as he more carefully got off and helped Hamanymu back to his feet.
As soon as they were both on their feet, Gwalchmei eyes grew large and he shouted out. "Duck!"
" Where?" Hamanymu's mental state had not yet recovered from the blows he had taken. Though a giant shadow descending from the air was enough for him to return to his senses and he instinctively jump out of the way.
Libra's descent was like an artillery shell. He split the concrete floor, uprooting and sending out large chunks and leaving a crater.
" You have proven yourselves descent warriors. I am afraid that I must end this battle." Libra sounded genuinely regretful.
The old Zodiac wasted no time and he charged forward, swinging his sword at Hamanymu.
"Heavens, he is fast." Hamanymu thought as he slid below the sword.
Unfortunately while he had been quick witted enough to avoid the sword by ducking, he left himself open for a knee to the face, which sent him staggering back while clutching onto his chin.
Gwalchmei tried to intervene, but Libra managed to strike him with his sword which landed square in his chest plate, sending him flying to the ground.
Hamanymu saw his broadsword and he silenty picked up it up and prepared himself to face Libra. He stood, even as every part of his being screamed in fear at the man who had easily beaten him.
"You stand, red knight. That is good, come meet a warriors death."
Libra slowly stalked forward and much to Hamanymu's shame, he immediately eyed any possible escape route from which he would try to save himself.
Even with his sword, he knew that this old elf had many advantages over him from his massive frame, to his immense strength, and finally his frankly better skills. Hamanymu was at the total mercy of this Libra and he knew it.
"I might die here." he thought as tightened his grip around Imwami's handle to stop his hand from shaking. In this moment of near absolute fear, the only option that he had not resorted to was his elemental magic.
"My control of plants is decent... oh let's not kid ourselves it's nothing more than a distraction. That will be just a destruction for him." he thought.
Hamanymu swallowed his saliva and with a false bravado he declared. "You want my life, then come try and take it."
With magical energy surging through his body he slammed his sword into the earth and out of the concrete erupted thick red roots that caught Libra off guard, the fauna grew around the giant elf like chains and cage bars all holding him into a tight embrace, which he tried to escape, but to his frustration the elf found himself effectively trapped.
"I honestly did not expect that to work." Hamanymu thought as he looked at the struggling Zodiac.
He then turned and rushed to the still downed bronze knight. Gwalchmei's eyes looked loopy and he had a pained expression on his face as he lay upon the ground.
"Hey, you okay?" Hamanymu knelt besides him in as he lightly slapped his cheeks hoping to get any sort if reaction.
He knew that his solution of applying more trauma to head no matter how slight were bad. But he needed to try something and there wasn't any water near by for him to splash Gwalchmei with.
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" Come on man, I am not a doctor," he pleaded as he shook Gwalchmei.
Gwalchmei thankfully seemed to be coming to his sense's as he slapped Hamanymu's hand away from his face that was twisted in slight irritation from the slaps. " What's... What's happening? "
" I have the Zodiac tied up back there. So I need you to get up so that we can go back there, gang up on him and probably cripple him or something dependent on how you feel about the matter. So are you okay?" Hamanymu explained as he slowly and carefully raised the still foggy knight back onto his feet.
Gauwain nodded as he stood on his own unsupported, though there was a slight lack of coordination in his steps for a few seconds. " yes, yes... I think I am all better now."
"Good now...." Hamanymu never finished as Libra came charging.
The two had to separate once more as he came swinging that sword of his. This time Gwalchmei was smart enough to put adequate distance between himself and the elf. Hamanymu on the other hand stuck to the dodge roll, or rather his botched version of it.
"You're plant's were impressive, now stand and fight!" He declared as he chased Hamanymu who decided to run around like a chicken being persued by a fox.
While Libra focused solely on Hamanymu he completely ignored Gwalchmei. This proved to be a mistake as Gwalchmei came roaring and tackled the Zodiac into a wall, cracking it.
Gwalchmei furiously used his swords pummel as a bludgeoning tool against the Zodiacs helmet, but yet that didn't seem to bother him too much. Libra easily caught Gwalchmei's hand and like one would with a child, he easily overpowered the bronze knight.
Gwalchmei was then raised into air by his neck by Libra who then slammed him into the ground shaking it like an earthquake had struck and leaving the bronze knight in a crater.
Hamanymu rushed with Imwami and he smacked his blade within the bronze knights helmet, sending him staggering back in suprise. He swung again, but Libra caught the blade halting it and try as he might, he could not pull Imwami out of the elfs grip.
In panic, Hamanymu drove his knee four more times into Libras crotch as hard as he could, and even if smacking armour against armour hurt, he continued until Libra crumbled to the floor.
What followed next where the nonsensical whisperings of the great elf while he nursed his wounded neither regions.
"I have no problem using under handed tactics to gain victory but this my friend but this is just low. Never has a victory tasted so hallow" Gwalchmei said his face like Mulengu's twisted in sympathy at Libra.
"Some times the hardest choice's have to be taken in order to gain victory." Hamanymu had to look away and try to block out Libra's groaning. "I think we should get out of here before he gets up again."
Gwalchmei agreed and with all the courage and honor in the world, our two great knights ran from their unceremoniously wounded foe.
As they ran Hamanymu felt a tingling sensation in his ear's. It was like an annoying fly had been going around his ears over and over again. It's volume steadily increasing as did it's irritation to him.
" Enough! " he shouted as he began slapping the air around his head in the hopes of hitting whatever insect had caused this sound. This stopped him and Gwalchmei dead in their tracks.
"What's wrong?" Gwalchmei asked in concern as Hamanymu kept on shouting for silence and swatting more and more air around himself.
"What's wrong?" he couldn't believe that Gwalchmei couldn't hear it. The sound was getting greater and more irritating like nails on a chalkboard amplified by a speaker straight to his ears.
"Can't you hear that?" He pleaded with Gwalchmei to hear the noise that was driving him mad. "I can't be the only one hearing it. It's so loud damn it."
Gwalchmei looked absolute confused as he watched Hamanymu stumble around while slapping his ear's with enough force to rattle his mind.
" Hear what?"
The buzz only seemed to get louder and louder and louder. Hamanymu just wanted to rip off his gauntlet's and scratch at his eardrums with his fingers. The possibility of driving himself deaf through madly digging into his own ears was worth it if he could get rid of this hell sent sound.
Gwalchmei grabbed his shoulders and began to shake him over and over again as he shouted something in a panic. Whatever he was saying Hamanymu couldn't hear it as the sound was all that occupied his ears.
He wanted to tell Gwalchmei that he couldn't understand a single thing that the knight was saying and he had just discovered that reading lips was a lot harder than he imagined it would ever be.
Gwalchmei stopped shaking Hamanymu before he tightened his grip of Hamanymu's shoulders and then Gwalchmei threw him off his feet. The instant take off and the confusion that came with it took his mind if ever so briefly off the insanity inducing sound that tormented him.
He crashed hard onto the floor and this time his head was spared from suffering anymore physical trauma. As he lay there he began wondering what exactly had possessed Gwalchmei to make him do this. This question was soon answered as a large fiery blur from the west instantly collided into Gwalchmei smashing him into the ground.
He watched in shock and fear at Libra who stood tall and enraged with his body covered in flames. The Zodiac appeared like some sort of demon here to punish them for their unforgivable crime of striking below the belt.
He watched as Gwalchmei tried to raise his sword but Libra slapped it aside with his sword. He then raised his blade and brought it down, aimed for what to Hamanymu appeared to be Gwalchmei's unprotected face. Gwalchmei wisely raised both his armoured arms in order to protect himself and this stopped the sword from cutting his head in two.
Though when Gwalchmei dropped his arms his face was contorted into one of pain and his open mouth indicated that he might have been screaming. It was then that Mulengu noticed the big dents on the armours wrist guards. He knew that while Gwalchmei had saved his face but he had sacrificed of his forearms and hands.
Libra raised his sword once more intent on staining the ground with Gwalchmei's brains. Gwalchmei wouldn't escape this time, Hamanymu was sure of it. He watched as the knight who like himself twisted and turned upon the ground in pain. There was no way an injured Gwalchmei would be fast enough to block him again.
"I need to help." Hamanymu thought as he started to stand up.
He screamed in frustration as he punched his own head hard enough to feel his brains rattle as he prayed that this sound be lifted from him. This mad display appeared to stop Libra from killing Gwalchmei as the both of them watched Hamanymu, with curiosity from Aries and concern from Gwalchmei.
Hamanymu walked or better put stumbled towards them with each step needing to be reinforced as if it belonged to an old man who hadn't walked in months.
Libra looked at him and because he kept his helmet on, Hamanymu could not tell his facial expression. Libra looked down at Gwalchmei and he appeared to be saying something that Hamanymu couldn't understand before he viscously stomped Gwalchmei forty inches into the ground.
In all this He looked right at Hamanymu as if daring him to intervene or goading him on. Something about it struck a nerve inside the red knight.
Being taken as a joke wasn't what he wanted. Being forced to do nothing but scream, cry and rub his ear's was bad enough and Libra was doing this in his face. It was the ultimate insult, the personification of the word's I think that you nothing and there isn't anything that you can do about it .
And finally it was a blazing inferno of hate was lit him. This amount of hate and resentment was only saved for one type of creature in his life, snakes. The slithering bastards that had nearly claimed his life not so long ago could share his most hated list with Libra.
With tears in his eyes, his mind still assaulted by the noise, his ears raw from the continuous rubbing and finally his newfound hatred for the elf, Hamanymu began drawing in the magical threads to weave an Alpha-Spell.
He had all the intention to rip Libra from his mortal coils. Libra must have realized what he was doing, because the Zodiac quickly raised his blade to cut him down, but it was too late and though he could not hear himself, Hamanymu bellowed.
"Scarlet-Bloom!"
From the ground erupted a mixture of roots and chains which once again wrapped themselves around Libra holding him in place. Though this time the roots and chains mixed and formed a magnificent scarlet red tree with golden flowers that had not yet bloomed.
Hamanymu then picked Gwalchmei out of the ground and after placing the knight on his shoulders, he began running as fast as he could knowing what would happen if each flower bloomed and bloom they did. He felt the explosion from the shockwave that rippled the earth and air.
And finally came the heat which was followed by the feeling of weightlessness as the full force of his Alpha-Spell sent him and Gwalchmei shooting forward like bullets. This was the last thing he felt before the darkness swallowed him from consciousness.