Chapter 19

Stumbling back as fast as possible back to my feet, desperately trying to overcome my disorientation. I somehow managed to get up before he did, yet as soon as I put my weight down, I felt a throbbing ache assaulted my calves. It felt like I had just run a mile and back.

' Shit, I didn't realise this would happen!' I cursed internally, before snapping back to reality to barely avoid the sharpened edge of a sword aimed at my neck, then quickly jumping back to gain some distance. I knew I stood no chance in a close range fight. My heart thundered in my chest. My breath ragged. My hands slightly shaky. I had never experienced someone trying to kill me before, and unlike the last life, I want to live this time around. With that in mind, I formed several shards of ice in the space above my head, shaped and sharpened them to the best of my ability. While they would be able to cut, the edges were rough and no where near the level my mother could make. Even still I launched them at the enemy in front of me. Hoping. Praying. Begging for them to do enough damage for me to touch him with my electricity bound hand. launching away from my position, they travelled at the speed someone could throw a ball, which most of the time someone could catch. However with there being three, and sharpened to a degree they would pierce and tear at your skin, I doubted he would do anything other than dodging out of the way. So in anticipation I created 2 more, this time the edges were slightly smoother, and the tip less blunt. Then I started spinning them with a clockwise rotation.

This all happened in the space of a few seconds as the original ice shards were travelling towards my opponent. Yet he did something I did not expect and destroyed them all with a single fluid swing of his sword. I was taken aback by that one motion, envying him for being able to use a sword, almost ignoring the fact that he was trying to close the distance between me and him. Snapping out of my stupor, I quickly launched the two new spinning daggers of ice.

I had to say what came next was a stroke of luck. As he stepped down on his right foot, his knee buckled, throwing off his balance. It was the leg I had crashed into. Even with how light I was, I had crossed the ten metres that separated us in the span of a second or so. It was bound to cause some damage. Due his loss of balance, his fluid strike became miss judged and he only destroyed one of the shards, the other embedding deeply into his shoulder. While it may have stopped penetrating halfway through, the rotation didn't stop until a second after, which resulted in what I could only imagine as a grinding against bone, and tearing of muscle. The thought sickened me slightly as I imagined the pain.

'Crap, if he screams I'm done for' I realised with horror, and quickly charged my legs up with lightning mana again. I prepared to launch myself at him until he fell backwards without a sound. There was no scream of pain, only a muffled thud that none could hear over the fighting against the horde. Slowly, cautiously, I walked over. What I saw caused me to vomit violently. I had misjudged where my shot had landed, in the darkness I couldn't see his form properly. It had penetrated his rib, into his lungs. I could hear his desperate breaths. Each one sounded like a plea to spare his life. I knew he would die, which caused me to vomit again. I knew that right about now, blood would be filling his lungs, and unimaginable pain would be coursing through his chest, as panic and fear assaulted him. Despite all this, I felt no sympathy for the man that had previously been trying to kill me. Only disgust at what I was seeing, only disgust with myself knowing I had become a murderer. But along with the disgust for myself, came a sense of knowing. Knowing that these people would have died if I am successful.

If I had captured them, they would be executed by the elves for illegal poaching and trespassing. If I had left them knocked out here, a passing beast would have made a meal of them. Or, the spirit of the forest would have denied my completion of his task until I ended their lives.

Armed with this new knowledge, I resorted to something I never thought I would have to do again. After reliving the memories of visiting my father, I learned that I would quite often shut myself down. Almost like when I meditate. I shut everything off, almost becoming a spectator to my own life, and just let it play out in front of me without feeling anything towards what was happening. It was my defence mechanism against my raging emotional, or sometimes physical pain. Walking over to the mans head, I conjured the sharpest blade of ice I could muster, and forced it through his skull. It was an attempt to end his suffering, as well as the most efficient way to move onto my next target. Even if the man was as good as dead, his ragged breathing may have alerted any who got too close, or they may have someone from the Faerie clan, the clan of healing mages, hidden in their midst.

With this enemy dead, I looked for my next target.