Chapter 7C: A Common Man's Cloak

He asked as he saw the shock I could not disguise, “Do you see the tears which stream now from her eyes? You say that you are both bound for each other, so what will she feel when I burn your very soul? What will be her final words before I burn her breath away?”

I think these words set a fire in my soul. Though he outclassed me in every way, from his speed to his strength to the power he possessed, just the thought of him hurting her empowered me with an unmatched strength. So just as I would kill anyone for her without question, I destroyed my trepidation and threw myself forward. The flickering lights shuddered from the shockwaves when my enemy and I crashed our blades together. He tried to strike with his left dagger, but I dashed to my left and unleashed a forward kick. As soon as he tried to dodge and stab my leg, I hobbled backward and counterattacked with a full-force slash. He dodged with a backward hop, then sprang forward, and struck me in the sternum with a kick which sent me flying backward. I slammed into the same pillar as before, and the impact forced the dangling lamps to shudder. Light and shadow danced around me, but still infuriated by the thought of her pain, I unleashed a shout and kicked off the pillar. I threw myself straight for him with a powerful swing, but my enemy jumped again over the attack. He struck me in mid-air with a swift slash, and then he landed near the door to the dark building.

I said as I glared at my enemy and seethed from sharp pain, “I’ll beg for forgiveness when I conclude this campaign. Aeliana, I need you to know that I love you more than ever. We love with a love that the stars themselves could not dissever. I was overwhelmed, conflicted; it’s my fault I left, and it’s my fault he hurt you. This gash on my arm is infinitesimal in comparison to my regret. Just please… please know that I am sorry.”

The daggerman threw himself at me in a meteoric rush, and I tensed every muscle in my body for his inevitable arrival. I steeled my biceps and threw myself backward to dodge his initial slash. My sword was longer than his daggers, so I swung my sword with all my strength; he crashed his daggers to deflect my strike. Sparks set sail to the shadows all around us, but I jolted aside and then thrust my sword again in a straight lunge. He dodged with a backward hop, but then he rushed me for a second time. My fury designated him as the single obstacle blocking my tunnel-vision, so I jumped in the air and swung my sword at full speed. It struck him in the side of his head with a bloody splash, but then I caught a glimpse of my real enemy hiding behind this decoy. He kicked his injured decoy so that it struck me in mid-air, and then I slammed onto a plastic container which shattered beneath my weight. I tumbled from the impact and threw myself to my knees, but my assailant rushed me in that moment with an X-shaped slash. I desperately blocked with my sword, but the impact knocked me tumbling backward once again.

I jolted upright and said through the pain, “I will use your blood to spell her name. I will kill you for even daring to scare her. Black fire will burn through all you ever were.”

He then said as if those words would be my last, “How don’t you see it? You’re simply outclassed. An unpowered enemy has no chance against someone like me.”

Unlike before, I actually saw my attacker summon a substitute dummy; it almost looked like he had stepped out of it from behind. And as soon as he emerged, he stabbed his left dagger in through his own decoy. He charged toward me, practically using his own lifeless clone as a human shield, forcing me to jolt aside just to dodge his right blade. He quickly veered and rushed me for a second time. Even with the weight of his decoy, the daggerman could easily outrun me, so I threw away any hope of evasion. Instead, I planted my feet on the ground and flexed my arms. I swung my stolen sword so swiftly that the shadows shuddered from my strength. I destroyed his decoy and knocked his dagger aside; I practically stunned him with the spontaneity of my strike. As the torn pieces of his body now fell to the ground, I lunged myself forward and unleashed a full-force sword-thrust straight through his chest.

But in the moment that I heard my sword shatter his ribs, I realized that I had fallen for his obvious ploy. I failed to recognize that my enemy could summon a second substitute as easily as the first. I desperately tried to retreat from the two falling decoys, but I was too slow; he struck me with a pair of dagger slashes as I strived to escape. One tore through my thigh while the other struck my side with a shallow slash. My blood spilled onto the ground in a pair of narrow streams, but I stared with shock at the daggers which glistened in his hands. Light and shadow danced at the edges of his daggers. Blood stained his blade almost to the base, but it stopped slightly short of the Arrays etched into the metal. I glanced down and saw a jagged edge in my flesh where I had been struck. It was almost as if my body acted on instinct to escape the Array of Black Fire, but then I realized that this reflex was not my own. Aziel had dedicated his life to his own survival, and now that he was a piece of me, the barbarian cannibal had saved me from the inside. He had compelled me to survive.

With every drop of blood departing from my body, I felt my perfect future slide farther away. I felt Aeliana slipping away from me. But I knew I could not let this daggerman divide us, just as it was all my fault that he even had a chance to take her in the first place. I reminded myself in that moment that I vowed to not let anything stand between us. No irrelevant distraction in this ephemeral world could ever keep us apart. Even the shining stars in the silent sky shuddered at the power we possessed. The people of this world were steppingstones at best and obstacles at worst, and this kidnapper was no exception. He was a puppet of the stars which sought to cross us, but he would fail now as they failed before. His strength and power were nothing more than the hands of a darkness that dared to defy our destiny; I determined in that moment that they would become the very ingredients for our ascension.

(There is still 1 more part to this chapter!)