Chapter 17.1: Beyond the sheath
[Darwen POV]
All my injuries healed up nicely, with no need for unnecessary stitches and slow recovery; Master did a fine job. Throughout our conversation, he dropped the formalities, making it feel like some pleasant illusion where I'm casually chatting with a celestial being about my senses.
Now, don't get me wrong, I'm not getting all sentimental like the good old days back with the mercenaries. Maybe I've grown older, but I still hold onto some fond memories from the days when we'd just listen and take action when needed.
Forget the old sayings, the focus now is figuring out how to face these challenges head-on with our axes and mana. We need to determine the right amount to use and come up with a solid strategy. None of that fancy thinking from my younger days.
"Pull yourself together after risking your entire life for a single bet. You must be proud to lose," the woman opens her mouth again, this time with a mocking tone. But there's something different, a weird mix of caring like she's onto my plan.
"I'm not as well-traveled as you. I still had to dodge that giant lizard spitting thunder while yours was just coughing up some storms." I shoot back, but instead of the usual heated argument, Violetta does something strange. Instead of getting all fired up, she smiles gently.
"What are you smiling about? Show some sympathy as the victor and spare me a bit of shame, will you?" I brush off the embarrassment, feeling like I'm back in those few months that were like a pleasant honeymoon.
"No, I'm not laughing at your defeat. It's just that my lizard said the same stuff with those little storms. And when would I be arrogant in our bet? There's always a next time," she chuckles as she gears up that artificial broom.
"I may be too old for this, so let this be my last battle before retirement," I say playfully, brushing off the weight of my final mission and the prophecy. A warrior finds their death in the garden of carnage, the joy of protecting the dear worthy of any price.
The resolute sound of the trumpet calls for the savage dance of war, and it has been a fun journey, memories serving as an extension of happiness. Riding the griffin, the battalion marches into the distant sky where the carnage awaits.
It's a good day to meet my end, wielding an axe brimming with both holy and darkness. It's an honor that my bones won't rot out of boredom; I still feel the aching of the weapons behind my armor. He warned me not to joke about them deteriorating towards my body.
The first obstacle appears—a lizard, in servitude to the great frost itself. I don't need to know its name or motive; I only need to kill that looming threat over the battalion.
"Listen to the wind crackle, pitiful creature, for your end is near," it speaks, irritatingly. This seems like a magnitude to test my weapon.
"Violet, if I may," I signal for the oversight to fly ahead and let me handle this beast alone. Rejection—her words sound alarming, unlike the determined witch I once knew.
"No need for you to go ahead; you should save your strength." Before she can finish, a loud bang echoes over the horizon as thousands of blood lances hurtle toward the lizard. The sky is drenched with scarlet lances raining down from afar.
"What is this? An enemy?" I startle, holding tightly to the collar and the axe's grip. A scoff, as if she knew of this predicament, and as the lizard fell with its last breath, cursing at the sky, she turned to me with a fearsome look.
"It seems I am quite the manipulator. A small request has turned the tide in our favor," she says with a dark expression before the crackling sound comes. Truly, she embraces the wickedness of the rumors.
"As you said, Darwen, we don't need to face this alone. All I did was pull some strings and allocate something. It would be safer for us to fight against Zadori," Violet says with the most villainous expression, hinting at the intrusive thoughts she harbors.
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But it has always been her moment, so who am I to question her command of the battalion? If both of us can emerge from this alive, it's wishful thinking that would never have existed. These pathetic thoughts won't render my title wasteful, will they?
“Just point me to where the enemy is…” I proclaim, disregarding all fear of her words. Anything would be supportive at this point; screw fate and all its strings. Being scared won’t help me or delay her death. I should take this battle as carnage, like my predecessor. At least they didn’t die like a wimp.
From that moment onward, the battalion moves with haste to the main battlefield where the two lizards should be. Covered in mist and woeful snow, the two dragons appear in the distance, waiting for a duel or something to end their lives.
Scattering haze like winter amid summer, their glares are almost like… my master. Quite troublesome that we are dealing with, even without an omen of death. Alright, if this would be the day of my death, may my funeral be grand.
“You insects have made it this far; I am impressed,” Zadori growls in crackling laughter. It must know of its kin's deaths, yet the chilling complex with the surrounding frost immerses some unexplained bloodlust. I ready my battle axe, prepared to fend off any attacks.
“But we are honorable ones, so Orion, give them a warning lesson.” Zadori chuckles, and with a subtle nod, the other one begins to cast strange runic magic to affect the whole battlefield.
What the!
The ground becomes barren, and the adventurers begin to lessen with a constant whisk of darkness. Like a continuous pulse, most fall into despair from the engulfing unseen mist. Swift motion takes them into the darkness one by one, a deafening silence with no sound, embracing comfort.
“Remain in formation!” Violet screams, trying to restore balance by rallying morale, but to no avail. Orion is too swift, plunging the tide of battle into chaos. Is this the power of Zadori’s right-hand one?
“We need to stick together, grab my hand.” I try to comfort her, but the only thing I manage to hold is the velvet gloves before she is taken away from me. Damn it, damn it all.
I fall into the darkness without shine, and then the bright light from the axe begins to comfort my mind a little. Remind yourself, Darwen; this is the battlefield, one misstep would cost your life to ignorance and uselessness.
“A strange creature, you are. I can’t sense any panic from you.” Orion steps from the shadow of the mist; its body must have shrunk from the ability it may have caused. Wild magic does have drawbacks after all, like all things. The lizard scales from up to the head, with a single hood like a skillful assassin.
“Cease this, and I may spare your life. I don’t like my woman being taken like that.” I grunt as I prepare to pour my every ounce of mana into the axe.
“Oh, you are talking about the witch, right?” It scratches its claws before making a creaking sound into a nearby stone. “Who are you to make such an impression that I shall obey you?” It laughs, what a wicked creature it is.
It then shows a vision in the veil of darkness, a horrifying entertainment with each person being tortured by its shadows and copy. The screech and slaughter spread across the genocide.
“Someone save me!”
“Please spare me, I would do anything.”
“No, don’t come closer.”
Then a chilling reflection of Violet against one of its shadows, her clothes tattering with scratch marks and blood dripping from her nose with the sight of mana depletion. I want to come closer to her but am unable to. My mind races with the last bit of sanity holding the wish of her being alive still.
“As you see, you are only one of my victims. Who would give you such a privilege?” Orion smirks widely, readying its weapon. Something within me just snaps from that moment forward.
“So I just need to kill all of you then?” I proclaim with the blood boiling in me that I have never felt before. Every bone, muscle, and blood within my body just tells me to kill the damned abomination before my eyes.
“You are wel-“ A full swing cuts through its feeble body like cutting paper; there is no time for carnage. I just need to slaughter them all.
Right?
The axe cuts through those misty darkness like nothing, through countless cages of torture. I tear through every last one, bludgeoning with the blade, slashing through them. More and more, my axe still retains the shine through my life force.
The armor is tainted with blood, as I am also drenched in such a thing. It is indistinguishable from my blood and its blood, as all turns into the muddled brown in the end. Quite a feast of corpses. I don’t know how much I have slashed, killed, or blundered; all I know is the people that I would save if I could have gone faster.
Faster, and faster…those poisonous eyes, that I can’t get rid of with all the screeching laughs it always does. I wish they would be smashed into the ground and return to the useless earth that it has wasted being nurtured by.
“Darwen!” Something snaps me out of the endless slaughter, her voice. Violet looks more fine than what I have seen through its vision. I can’t sense what was stepping on my leg anymore.
“It’s over; please stop. It has already finished.” She says with teary eyes; that is when I notice how bloody the ground is. As I stand on the mountain of corpses from Orion’s copies, I blindside with the wrath I have nurtured.
The end