Masahide heard the mountain spirits sing, but he wasn’t here on a holy mission. Quite the opposite; he wanted vengeance. What remained of Gon and Hisa couldn’t be buried the way they’d died. The necromancer’s deception painted the walls with their guts.
He’d questioned Hisa’s knights at the arena's edge and discovered Whitebeard had killed the necromancer during the ritual. That left Duke Akitomo to pay for the deed.
Anger surged further when Masahide discovered Kichi in a pool of blood not far from the Duke.
Akitomo stepped back behind the ranks of the Black Knights. “Masahide, I’ve watched you closely. You’re a wildcard with potential but can’t conjure Shining Armor. That weakness will now mean your death.”
Ten archknights erupted with Shining Armor and closed on him. Their animal faceguards made them look like monsters.
Masahide shouted over them. “I’m coming for you.”
The ring of knights paused when the portal opened, and light poured forth like a liquid.
Ulf’s long hair steamed in the ash wind, and he bared his teeth like a wild man. “I hate armor. There’s too many to fight as you are.”
Masahide raised his sword as his enemies squinted and came forward. “I won’t turn away.”
“Who understands this magic?”
A jaw cut from mahogany flexed. Sagara’s thin figure stepped forward and studied the Black Knights. “An enemy who reveals his trick better have ten more behind his back. Si, Ulf, and I will be your body in this. Put your sword away.”
Felix strode in front of the enemy, who couldn’t see him. “You’ll need my luck to avoid these pointy blades.”
“And,” Batu added from horseback, “When you bring down their armor, an arrow will find its mark.”
Masahide sheathed his sword and felt the Champions imbue him with their skills. He took Si’s stance with his hands open and feet wide. Ulf’s power raced through his muscles, and Sagara’s calmness eased all concerns but the beating anger.
The knights with a boar’s visage shared a look of confusion. He shrugged and shot forward with an expert diagonal slice.
Masahide shuffled an inch out of the way of the whooshing steel. The polished black reflected his eyes as it passed. Another missed by a hair, and he did the same, not to show off but to gauge his augmented ability.
The boar's face stared at him. “You toy with me, but how long can you keep this up?”
Another black knight joined the boar. “Let’s be done with him.”
Facing swords unarmed should be lunacy. Add armor that made a knight impervious to most attacks, and only a fool would stay and fight. But the power raging in Masahide surged to the tips of his fingers and crackled. “You should have watched me fight,” he said, turning away from a demon sword before it sliced through his cheek.
The two knights rushed forward, intending to kill Masahide quickly. With one on each side, there would have been no defense.
You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.
In the middle of a dodge, Masahide redirected his momentum into a strike with fingers under the chin of the boar helmet. The neck crunched inward at the pressure of the stabbing fingers.
The man folded over and gurgled as he strained for air that never came.
The rest charged at the realization that Masahide was an existential threat.
Masahide was like a puzzle piece fit between blades, with the lot attacking simultaneously. A man’s knee bent back at a low kick. A palm jerked a head backward.
From the outside, perhaps it looked like he was lost as they surrounded him, but each time he made contact, bones snapped and armor dented. This close, most half-sworded, and it must have been Felix’s luck none found their target. From time to time, an arrow thudded between plates and into flesh. After moments, he emerged from a heap of broken bodies.
The Duke brandished his polearm. “What are you? I’ve fought all over the realm and never seen this fighting style.”
Masahide focused beyond the Duke and past the swimming air snake to a tower that fell in a waterfall of stone. The whole hollow rumbled, and the ground shook. “Your castle’s falling apart.”
Akitomo whipped his head around in a panic and then raised his voice to reach his son. “No. Not here. Akisane, you fool! You’ve brought Thailoc right here under our feet.”
Ema appeared at Masahide’s side. She had a line of dried blood over the side of her face, but it wasn’t hers. It was a stain of the atrocity. “Let’s end this.”
Masahide avoided weapons so he could bring them to bear against this monster. The portal grew wider, draining the magic from his rings. The light intensified, throwing their shadows large in the ash dust. He barred Ema from stepping forward. “Wait.”
A volley of lances streaked from the portal and exploded against the Duke. A cloud obscured the extent of the damage.
The cloud warped into a sphere, pulling the ground to a vortex at the bottom. Ema stepped forward, and the orb turned with her outstretched hand and shrank. “We must make sure he’s dead.”
The orb diminished until it was only large enough to contain the Duke, but then it stopped, and Ema’s eyes pinched closed.
Masahide readied another barrage and drew his pure sword. “I take it he’s alive.”
“Yes.”
They waited, and during the pause, cracks surged up the walls, and stone shifted. The unstoppable beast would bring down the whole castle. The arena was probably the safest place to stand. The square sat further away from the walls than their base to the parapet. Only a tower could reach this far.
The sphere shattered to reveal the Duke unmoved. A new volley of lances fired into him, but the damage appeared miniscule. Suddenly, all the lances that had hit him floated overhead and pointed at Masahide. “Crown of the Dried Seas,” he said, placing a tarnished crown on his head, “Die with the honor that I won’t hold back.”
Three black whirlwinds spun to life with shadow bones and skulls of demons. Before they came, the lances launched.
“The mind,” Sagara said, “Can allow you to take damage beyond your body's ability to absorb it. Let me guide you.” Masahide put himself between the lances and Ema; at the same time, a light bloomed in his mind.
The lances collided one after another. At first, Sagara’s trick worked incredibly well, but each explosion against Masahide’s chest shot pain throughout his body. When it ended, he stood, but a breeze could knock him over. How can I win against this kind of strength?
Akisane walked into view, and the demons shrieked. He raised his sword, and a handful of black knights and others around the arena collapsed. One face stared blankly, frozen in death. Dozens of knights dropped dead all at the same time the Duke’s son raised the sword, and it hinted at a depraved evil. Only one seemed alive but struggled, and wings erupted from behind a backplate. “Father.”
Masahide
Level: 35
Focus: Conjuring (conduit) +3
Secondary focus: Quake, Firequake tandem attack, spirit punch
Weapons: pure sword - 35% pure
Items: Heart of the Earth