"Time to die..." the female voice says coming from the samurai.

The samurai reaches for its sword and crouches in an attack stance. I pull my daggers quickly and not a second too soon as the samurai bursts from its position, draws its sword from its sheath and slashes at me in one fluid motion. I was barely able to get my daggers up in time to block the hit. The clash of metal on metal produces a shockwave that cracks the air and flattens the grass beneath our feet.

"AAAARRRGGGHHH"

I grunt loudly as the force of the hit pushes me backward. I'm sliding on my feet being pushed back by the samurai, when I look down. My eyes open wide in shock as I see the samurai's blade has sliced into my daggers about half an inch. That's one fucking hell of a blade to damage my daggers like that.

I have been using these daggers for a long time now. They withstood direct hits from the troll's and even the Minotaur's blades, and not even suffered so much as a dulling of the blade. I have used them to slaughter thousands of monsters, used them to fillet fish and wolves. I have used them to cut logs for my fires and even hacked away at rocks to form items I wanted to make. Never before has anything so much as even made the luster of the blade dull down.

But here is this samurai. Her blade sliced into my blades with ease. We skid to a stop, I kick with my right leg, and she jumps back then immediately lunges with another swipe from her sword. I parry the blade, but the long slender sword was able to make a small laceration on my forearm.

I hop backward and assess the slice on my left arm. My eyes widen as I watch the blood oozing from the wound float away from me, headed directly for my opponent's sword. The blood impacts the blade and I watch it soak into the blade. I hear an ethereal voice chuckle from under the helmet of the samurai.

I burst forward attacking my opponent with a flurry of strikes from my blades.

*CLANG*

*CLANG*

*CLANG*

*SLASH*

*CLANG*

*THUD*

*THUD*

*CLANG*

*CLANG*

*THUD*

*CLANG*

*CLANG*

*SLASH*

*CLANG*

*THUD*

*THUD*

*CLANG*

*THUD*

*SLASH*

*CLANG*

*CLANG*

*THUD*

*CLANG*

*SLASH*

My furious attacks deftly blocked numerous times by the samurai, but some of my blades connect with its armor. However, not so much as a scratch was made on the samurai's armor. What the fuck is this shit made of?! The samurai however was able to land a few more hits on me. I have slices on my arms, legs, and a few small ones on my chest, the samurai's blade having cleanly sliced through my leather armor like it wasn't even there.

The blood from my numerous lacerations flowing to the samurai's blade. I notice the blade begin to take on a green hue. In the midst of our battle the samurai bounces back and yells out:

"Iaijutsu- Shifu!"

A lightning-fast strike comes from my opponent, I try to block it, but I was nowhere near fast enough to get my daggers up in time to make a defense. The blade slices cleanly from my right hip up through my chest to my right shoulder. My fur lined leather vest falls asunder, sliced apart by the strike like it was tissue paper.

I screech in pain, grab my chest and hobble away. A big bellowing laugh emanates from the samurai. My blood is pouring toward the samurai, absorbed in a stream by her blade.

The samurai doesn't attack, and I cast several heals and the wound decreases in size until it's about a few inches across. I cast another heal and the wound closes. I breathe a sigh of relief, then gasp in shock as the wound reopens and slowly starts expanding in the direction the slash hit, my blood once again flowing to the samurai. I heal it again and the wound closes then immediately opens again, the laceration widening by about a quarter of an inch per second. I can't stop it!

"What the fuck did you do!" I yell at the samurai.

"Prey doesn't get to ask questions from the predator!" The samurai responds with a laugh.

I have to change tactics. I need to get through her armor. My blades can't even make a scratch on it. I look at my blades and they both contain numerous gashes and chips where our blades clashed. My daggers are thrashed. Pretty soon they will be useless. The samurai's armor and weapon far outclass my daggers and armor.

The samurai takes a battle stance, holding the blood absorbing sword like a baseball bat. Then I see it. Her armpit. There is no armor covering her armpit! That's my only area of attack! The samurai dashes at me for another attack.

*CLANG*

*CLANG*

*CLANG*

*CLANG*

*SLASH*

*CLANG*

*CLANG*

I do my best to fend off the samurai's attacks, our clashes further damaging my daggers. She landed another slash on my left wrist, my gauntlets lessening the blow a bit, but the blade still finds a small bit of flesh. The samurai take another swing at me, this one coming from down low to my left, angles upward to my shoulder.

I meet the blade with my left dagger, parrying the lethal blade and deflecting it higher to my right. The right armpit of the samurai is exposed. I quickly swing the dagger in my right hand at an upward angle and bury it in the samurai's armpit. The blade sinks in about 6 inches. I quickly twist my blade and slice as I pull out the blade, the jagged and gnarled edge of my blade tearing at the flesh as it is withdrawn.

The samurai screams in pain and backs away guarding the now wounded right side. I take this moment to heal the expanding laceration on my chest before it gets too large again. The wound closes but once again slowly opens back up and continues to expand. I notice the samurai's sword is glowing green again, meaning it can do another one of those attacks now. Not good at all!

The samurai readies again but doesn't make a move to strike. That's ok, I'll make the move this time. I dash toward the samurai and swipe hard at its neck area, my blade passing cleanly through, but nothing is there. The image of the samurai fades away and I'm suddenly slashed from behind. My gear sliced cleanly through, and a deep laceration traverses my back from left hip to my shoulder.

I grasp at my injured back and tumble away. What the fuck was that!! It just vanished and slashed me from behind! How the fuck do I defend against that? The samurai resumes its normal attacks.

*CLANG*

*CLANG*

*SLASH*

*CLANG*

*CLANG*

I do my best to fend off the attacks, but she gets another slice on my left forearm. Blood is pouring off of seemingly every area of my body. A cloud of red pouring out of me and being absorbed by the samurai's sword. I see the color change from green to red. What the fuck does this mean?!

I stand facing my enemy, my daggers at the ready. I don't know how I'm going to defeat this monster. I don't have much left in me. Suddenly...

"Iaijutsu- Sazan!"

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The samurai dashes forth with lightning speed, chunks of dirt and grass blasted from the area it was standing from the force of its launch. As it reaches me it stops and launches three slashes in rapid succession.

SHING!!

SHING!!

SHING!!

Blood suddenly burst forth from my chest and abdomen as the strikes land clean, one diagonal from my left hip to right shoulder, another from my right hip to my left shoulder, and the third directly across my abdomen. I am launched backward about 20 feet from the force of the strikes. I skid to a halt, my brain not having realized what just happened yet. When it catches up, I screech out in tremendous pain. I fall over onto my back, daggers clattering to the floor as I begin thrashing around and grasping at the massive wounds on my chest and abdomen. My blood, boiling from my wound, flies toward my opponent's sword to charge it once again.

I begin to calm down and look toward my opponent. She is standing back up having completed her attack. Shit, she is coming. My head feels dizzy and I'm getting a bit woozy from the sudden massive blood loss. I shout out quick heals in rapid succession.

The samurai begins walking toward me again. I'm able to lessen the wounds significantly by the time she starts to get close to me, but they are still oozing blood, blood to fuel her sword apparently. The expanding wound that won't heal was also healed a bit my efforts as it's right next to the new cuts. I quickly toss a heal to the slash on my back to lessen the blood flow from that. I have to minimize my bleeding so that fucking sword doesn't glow again! I can't take another of those hits!

I pick up my daggers and launch myself at the samurai, hoping to catch her off guard. My blade passes through the motionless samurai, the image starts to fade. My eyes go wide, and I immediately launch myself forward and to the left, the samurais strike missing my back but still landing a small cut on the back of my right shoulder.

I don't have a choice now. I have to find a way to combat this move. My only chance is that... Bloodlust. I have to make this count as this skill drains me of my HP and endurance over time, both of which I'm already running low on. It's now or never!

"BLOODLUST!!"

I scream out and activate my skill. A desperate thirst rises from within my gut. A maddening desire to maim and slaughter takes over my mind. My senses immediately enhanced several times over. My muscles tighten, my heart beats faster, my lungs expand deeper. The pain from my wounds is numbed.

"LET'S GO!!"

I shout out and launch at the samurai, arriving in a split second. I sense something else and turn away from the samurai in front of me, as I hear its footsteps to my left. My spin to the left so fast I appear as a blur. The samurai is slicing from the left horizontally to the right, the previous samurai was a fake. I slam my dagger into the blade.

*CLAAANG*

A massive shock blasts from the clash as the samurai's blade is blocked and reflected back to the left. Before she can react my right foot connects with the left side of her head.

*BOOOOM*

Another shockwave radiates away at the speed of sound. The samurai's head snaps to the right and she is sent flying from the force of the kick. I blast forward and catch up with the samurai as she is still flying back.

I land a slice under her left armpit as I pass by the flying warrior, my gnarled dagger tearing at the soft flesh underneath. I grab the warrior by its neck from behind and pull it into a choke hold with my left arm. My right arm is furiously stabbing my dagger into the samurai's left armpit.

The samurai thrusts the pommel of her sword backward and it smashes into my left ribs causing me to loosen the choke hold. This allows the samurai to break free. She bounds forward then quickly turns; her arms raised above her head to strike.

I immediately dash forward as the samurai begins to slice downward. I make a quick upward slash with my right dagger, my blade impacting the falling sword with a loud crack.

*CLAAANG*

The force of the two blades sends the samurai's sword recoiling back over her head, her arms lifted high into the air trying to control the recoiling blade. I bring my daggers down and swing them wide to my sides and then slam them both inward. The blades pierce the samurai's chest just below the armpit into the small space not covered by the chest piece. I bury both daggers to the hilt.

"Let's see how you take this! TORCH!!"

A bluish/white flame erupts from my hands into the blades. Smoke pours from the samurai's mask as lung tissue is seared by the flames. I ceased my spell and let go of my left dagger leaving the searing hot blade buried in the Samurai's chest. I pull my right-hand dagger from the warrior's chest and swiftly move behind her. I rip her helmet off with my left hand and hold her head by the muzzle. I lift her muzzle up exposing her neck, then I place my blade to her neck and rip my blade against her neck. My battered and chipped blade sliced and shredded the skin, muscle, and arteries of the Fox's neck, blood erupting from the wound. I back away watching my foe bleed out.

The samurai's sword clatters to the grassy floor as she falls to her knees. I slowly walk to my fallen foe, drop my tattered dagger, and pick up her sword. Its power is evident as I hold the weapon. I feel a thrum of power coursing from the blade through my hands and into my arms. This is definitely no ordinary sword, the slices adorning my body and my shredded equipment is an attestation to that fearsome power. I examine the blade. It's just as sharp and pristine as the day it was forged. Throughout our battle, not even so much as a blemish has appeared on the blade.

I walk behind just off to the right of the kneeling samurai, and take my stance, sword lifted high. The blade still drawing in my blood. The fox turns her head toward me, a warm smile on her face. She speaks in a hoarse voice, her larynx damaged by my dagger when I cut her neck.

"You have fought honorably little one. I look forward to watching you and see how much stronger you will grow. Seek out your vengeance warrior but know it won't satisfy you. Your true goal is much larger than those measly bandits. Take that sword as my gift to you. It will serve you well."

As the fallen fox bows her head in reverence to me, I quickly slice downward, the sword cleanly and effortlessly slicing through her neck. Her head falls to the forest floor and rolls a couple times before coming to a stop. There is no blood, but a bright blinding light growing from within the fallen samurai. The light overwhelms my vision and I raise a hand to shield my eyes from the light.

Suddenly, the light dissipates in a flurry of whitish/purple orbs that drift off in all directions only to fade away. I notice the sword in my hand does the same. When my vision clears and I'm able to focus again, I notice the samurai's sword in its Saya, floating about a foot off the forest floor where the samurai fell.