“Hey little one! How about you leave my disciples alone and have a spar with this old man instead?” the same voice rang out once more.
A man brandishing a great-axe almost as big as he was dashed out of the sparse underbrush and blocked Wolf’s path, but didn’t attack. Still, Wolf jumped back almost two full meters to open up a bit of a safe distance.
His hair, beard and even his eyebrows were cleanly shaven which made for an odd sight. What Wolf found even odder was that the man wasn’t a big burly giant he’d expected.
Contrary to his bounty, Chris Adams was neither tall, nor overly muscled. He had a normal build. If this bandit grew some hair and eyebrows, Wolf would never spare him a second glance if he saw him in the streets of Silver City. Then again, almost nobody spared Wolf a second glance in all the years he’d been living in Silver City.
In the moment of silence the only thing to be heard was the creaking of bows.
“Oh stop it with the arrows already,” Chris shouted. “Do you want to stick another arrow in Harry’s butt?”
Harry had just finished pulling out the second arrow from his upper thigh. When he heard his boss’s words he made an ugly face. But he didn’t say anything as he limped over to where the other three had gathered.
Two of Wolf’s attackers were still fine, but the driver’s pale face was twisted in pain as he gingerly held his left hand on his lower rib cage. He had trouble breathing, and a bit of blood trickled from his mouth.
“Hey Vin, give this to Lee,” the ringleader said as he tossed a potion vial to Vin, the Body Refiner who’d managed to dig out his great-sword from the ground.
“He looks like he’s gonna croak,” Chris finished once Vin had secured the vial in his hand.
“Now boy, if you’re up for a match I’ll gladly entertain you,” the bald man said excitedly. With his henchman’s injury taken care of, he could focus on his personal entertainment.
“You want to have a spar with a Mage, Chris? What happened to your dignity as a Body Refiner and a Sword-Sage?” Wolf asked relaxedly with a mocking grin.
“Don’t play dumb with me. I know you’re also a Body Refiner,” Cris replied. “Besides, some of us have decided that the stuffy old ways should be changed. Sitting in a dojo, meditating the whole day is way too boring. It’s much better to swing this little axe of mine around and maybe chop some necks while I’m at it.”
With those words and a violent laugh the bandit unleashed his baleful aura, which was considerably stronger than Wolf’s. Wolf immediately knew that this man had left a hill’s worth of corpses in his wake.
“Wait a moment.” Wolf said and Chris actually paused for a moment.
“Last words?” he taunted.
As far as Chris was concerned, as long as a Mage didn’t start rambling nonsense they could talk themselves to death.
“No, no, nothing of the sort. I want to ask whether that old militiaman and the townspeople were in cahoots with you? I got a strange feeling from them. Besides, they lied about the way you look in the bounty,” Wolf asked while waving his hand to deny that this was him stating his last will.
“I’ll consider it your dying wish,” Chris said as he started explaining things to Wolf. “When we first came over here from Highseat, Glenwood’s outlying farms were regularly raided. The people were hungry and not worth fighting, while the bandits made for a bit of sport. As we cleaned up the area Chico found himself a girl, and Bernardo took a fancy to the local kids. So, we decided to stay and help them. I even allowed them to train the locals a bit.
“As for us, we could fight whoever looked strong enough or if we didn’t like their ugly mugs. What was useful to us we kept, the things that were useless we gave the townsfolk. They grow on you, the wretched buggers… Now enough talking, let’s fight!”
With an excited shout Chris charged Wolf.
Warlord’s Charge? Wolf recognized the Fifth Order maneuver.
For a split second he considered whether he should dodge or block the diagonal downward cleave.
Wolf bent his knees a bit, to secure proper footing and balance. He decided to take the hit. Thinking I need to know how I measure up.
He met the massive axe’s slash with a two handed upward sweep of his longsword. He used no maneuvers, just the raw strength of his body.
With a loud clang, steel clashed against steel.
Wolf’s internal organs jolted. His hands went numb for a moment. He knelt on his right leg and tilted his sword, sliding Chris’s axe to the side.
Wolf freed his left, wanting to punch the man in the gut, but the bandit was too far away and Wolf’s arm was too short.
Still, Wolf’s maneuver put Chris off balance, and coupled with his forward momentum the man staggered, still running and trying not to trip on his own legs, or the oversized weapon he wielded.
The problem with charging maneuvers is you can’t stop easily once you get going, Wolf took a mental note as he watched the brigand run awkwardly.
“Fifth Order Swordsage?” Wolf said, trying to conceal how difficult the parry was. “No wonder all the soldiers and Mage Academy students sent after you guys wound up dead.”
Chris didn’t fare all that well either. Striking with all his might, the way he did, while utilizing a Fifth Order maneuver could have broken his arms. Thankfully Wolf folded first, causing the bald bandit to believe Wolf’s body was weaker.
“Aaaah!” the bandit let out a shout and attacked Wolf.
He didn’t use a maneuver to close the gap, but ran without the aid of Internal Energy. Then he swept and spun the giant axe in his hands, slashing at Wolf half a dozen times in rapid succession.
With his perception enhanced Wolf carefully observed the strikes. He dodged and parried, but unlike the first time he didn’t enter a contest of brute strength, since he was at a disadvantage. He let the parries help him open a bit of distance with the man. He didn’t recognize any maneuvers in those wild swings.
“You did quite a bit of Body Refining?” Wolf asked, noticing that the man really used nothing but the strength of his body to handle the giant axe.
“You did a lot of it,” Chris grumbled, but inwardly he was shocked. How can he parry my great-axe with such a slender sword without using Internal Energy?
After swinging his axe for a minute like a madman Chris paused his onslaught, giving Wolf a chance to open up a bit more distance.
“I can give you a chance. If you decide to stop your wicked ways and follow my orders I don’t mind having you as an underling,” Wolf said the lines heroes often used when subduing their enemies.
They worked on Rand, so as far as he was concerned it was worth a shot.
The idea was naive. Rand wasn’t a murderer out of boredom, the way these seven were.
“Me? Follow you? Kid, how old are you eight? Ten?” Chris said with an amused laugh while using the break to catch his breath a bit. “Listen, I left that stuffy old dojo and came here. Along the way I found these guys I liked and taught them. They are tough and proud and none of us will follow a child fresh off the teat.
“Now, I didn’t want to kill you, so that Bernardo would have someone to mess around with. But with how arrogant you’re being, I think I’ll just kill you and piss on your corpse.” After saying those words the bandit let out another shout. His eyes turned red and he started frothing at the mouth.
This should be a frenzy of some sorts, Wolf thought as he recognized the altered state of mind Chris had entered. He should be like a mindless beast right now. Hmm… Will he attack friends at this point?
With that thought Wolf dashed into the four men observing the duel. Wolf ran straight through their midst without attacking, and Chris followed a moment later.
He shouldered the limp man, who failed to move away, and sent him flying. However, other than bruising him a bit, Chris didn’t go for an injury the way Wolf slammed into Lee.
So it’s a myth that berserkers attack friends and enemies alike, Wolf concluded. I guess it’s better to learn this now, then at some critical moment. Since there’s nothing else worth learning here...
Suddenly Wolf turned around. He allowed his Internal Energy flow out of his body through his right and into his sword.
He executed Weapon Splitter, a Sixth Order version of Sundering Strike, meant for destroying metallic weapons. Wolf had long since mastered this maneuver in theory, but never had the chance to use it in real combat.
Wolf’s ‘flimsy’ long-sword held in a one-handed grip clashed with the giant axe’s steel handle. Contrary to common sense, the blade bit into the steel rod and went through it like a hot knife through butter before continuing its slash towards Chris’s chest.
However, Wolf immediately realized that he’d made a mistake. The axe head was looped off. Due to its forward momentum it now flew straight at his face.
Wolf watched in slow motion as the axe head grew bigger and bigger. Deflect Arrows wouldn't help with what seemed to be a thirty to fifty kilo axe head. If this lump of metal struck true no impervious skin, and no bones like bedrock would help. Wolf would be as dead as a doornail.
The youth gave up on his attack. He jerked his head to the left, while striking the flat of the axehead with his free palm.
The axe head whizzed past Wolf’s ear. His hair ruffled by the sudden gust of wind.
*Smash*
A tree behind Wolf exploded as the axe head smashed into it like a rock fired from a catapult.
Shit! I almost killed myself! That’s not how I should be using this maneuver! In fact, I should never use this suicidal piece of shit ever again! Ever! Wolf cursed inside, as he cemented this lesson in his memory. He’d almost paid for it with his head.
Unsurprisingly Chris, in his berserk state, didn’t give a damn about his weapon being destroyed, nor the light gash on his chest and forearm. He wildly swung the remains of his axe and used what was left of the shaft as a club.
The raging bandit even made use of the opening Wolf had given him. He smashed the steel rod at the young man.
Wolf saw the club coming clearly. It was once again headed straight for his face.
Out of balance from dodging the axe head, Wolf knew there was no getting out of this unscathed. He jerked his head to the side once more, protecting what’s important, but the steel club smashed hard onto his shoulder.
*Pa!*
Wolf was certain he would hear the sound of bones being smashed to pieces, but that sound never came. What he heard instead was akin to metal slamming into stone.
Wolf’s impervious skin and reinforced flesh were torn immediately. Blood splattered and the wound stung like a bitch, but that was all. His shoulder was dislocated, but no bones broke.
Not pausing to think about this development Wolf rammed his sword through Chris’s throat. Wolf relaxed for a moment, but the battle wasn’t over.
The bandit leader raised the club for one final strike, completely ignoring the mortal wound. He wanted to take his son of a bitch killer down with him.
Wolf stared at those insane eyes fixed on his, on that mad, bloodthirsty smile. Startled, he jerked his sword to the side, half severing the bald man’s head. Blood sprayed Wolf’s face, but luckily the bandit’s arm went limp and he dropped the steel truncheon.
*Twang! Twang!*
A pair of arrows came flying towards Wolf, but the young man ignored them. The archers had let loose out of shock. Not believing their boss had just died. To make matters worse, one of the arrows struck Chris’s body.
“He killed the boss!” Seeing their leader decapitated, the bandits shouted in rage.
“Kill him, he’s wounded!” Vin’s shout was much more practical.
Wolf cursed something under his breath then rushed into the bushes.
”He’s trying to run away! Get him!” Vin shouted again as he and his friends chased after Wolf.
But by the time they reached the bushes Wolf had already jumped onto a tree.
“You bastard, the man told you it was a duel!” Wolf muttered angrily as he appeared in front of one of the archers who tried to shoot him a moment ago.
In one fluid motion the slender sword slashed the short-bow in two, and chopped off the man’s hands.
The archer screamed. In a bout of pain and panic he fell down while bleeding profusely. A hair raising sound of a man’s neck breaking was heard, but nobody paid it any mind.
Wolf remained on the tree. Using the moment of relative safety he popped his shoulder back into place. The flesh was all mangled, and blood soaked Wolf’s traveling clothes. The young man uncorked a Lesser Healing potion and poured the vial’s contents onto his shoulder.
He didn’t do it because the wound hurt. But the movement of his arm felt off, and Wolf didn’t want to take any more stupid risks today.
As the flesh and skin reknit itself Wolf jumped off the tree.
He landed with an earth shaking stomp, dashing towards the second sniper.
The coachman tried to block his path, but before the man knew what was going on his torso was cleaved in half. Wolf ignored the fresh corpse and ran towards a nearby tree.
Less than a minute later Wolf was frowning as he stood surrounded by corpses.
The archer and two of the bandits tried to escape. Only Vin seemed determined to avenge his boss’s death at the cost of his own life. The man died regretting his own weakness.
“Stupid sons of bitches! You robbed and killed people and even died because you felt bored back home! I feel like finding you after you reincarnate and killing you once more for good measure!” Wolf started spitting curses as he kicked Chris’s corpse half a dozen times before he finally calmed down.
“Idiots!” Wolf yelled, letting go of his final bits of frustration with one last kick at the bald man’s body.
“Hey little one! How about you leave my disciples alone and have a spar with this old man instead?” the same voice rang out once more.
A man brandishing a great-axe almost as big as he was dashed out of the sparse underbrush and blocked Wolf’s path, but didn’t attack. Still, Wolf jumped back almost two full meters to open up a bit of a safe distance.
His hair, beard and even his eyebrows were cleanly shaven which made for an odd sight. What Wolf found even odder was that the man wasn’t a big burly giant he’d expected.
Contrary to his bounty, Chris Adams was neither tall, nor overly muscled. He had a normal build. If this bandit grew some hair and eyebrows, Wolf would never spare him a second glance if he saw him in the streets of Silver City. Then again, almost nobody spared Wolf a second glance in all the years he’d been living in Silver City.
In the moment of silence the only thing to be heard was the creaking of bows.
“Oh stop it with the arrows already,” Chris shouted. “Do you want to stick another arrow in Harry’s butt?”
Harry had just finished pulling out the second arrow from his upper thigh. When he heard his boss’s words he made an ugly face. But he didn’t say anything as he limped over to where the other three had gathered.
Two of Wolf’s attackers were still fine, but the driver’s pale face was twisted in pain as he gingerly held his left hand on his lower rib cage. He had trouble breathing, and a bit of blood trickled from his mouth.
“Hey Vin, give this to Lee,” the ringleader said as he tossed a potion vial to Vin, the Body Refiner who’d managed to dig out his great-sword from the ground.
“He looks like he’s gonna croak,” Chris finished once Vin had secured the vial in his hand.
“Now boy, if you’re up for a match I’ll gladly entertain you,” the bald man said excitedly. With his henchman’s injury taken care of, he could focus on his personal entertainment.
“You want to have a spar with a Mage, Chris? What happened to your dignity as a Body Refiner and a Sword-Sage?” Wolf asked relaxedly with a mocking grin.
“Don’t play dumb with me. I know you’re also a Body Refiner,” Cris replied. “Besides, some of us have decided that the stuffy old ways should be changed. Sitting in a dojo, meditating the whole day is way too boring. It’s much better to swing this little axe of mine around and maybe chop some necks while I’m at it.”
With those words and a violent laugh the bandit unleashed his baleful aura, which was considerably stronger than Wolf’s. Wolf immediately knew that this man had left a hill’s worth of corpses in his wake.
“Wait a moment.” Wolf said and Chris actually paused for a moment.
“Last words?” he taunted.
As far as Chris was concerned, as long as a Mage didn’t start rambling nonsense they could talk themselves to death.
“No, no, nothing of the sort. I want to ask whether that old militiaman and the townspeople were in cahoots with you? I got a strange feeling from them. Besides, they lied about the way you look in the bounty,” Wolf asked while waving his hand to deny that this was him stating his last will.
“I’ll consider it your dying wish,” Chris said as he started explaining things to Wolf. “When we first came over here from Highseat, Glenwood’s outlying farms were regularly raided. The people were hungry and not worth fighting, while the bandits made for a bit of sport. As we cleaned up the area Chico found himself a girl, and Bernardo took a fancy to the local kids. So, we decided to stay and help them. I even allowed them to train the locals a bit.
“As for us, we could fight whoever looked strong enough or if we didn’t like their ugly mugs. What was useful to us we kept, the things that were useless we gave the townsfolk. They grow on you, the wretched buggers… Now enough talking, let’s fight!”
With an excited shout Chris charged Wolf.
Warlord’s Charge? Wolf recognized the Fifth Order maneuver.
For a split second he considered whether he should dodge or block the diagonal downward cleave.
Wolf bent his knees a bit, to secure proper footing and balance. He decided to take the hit. Thinking I need to know how I measure up.
He met the massive axe’s slash with a two handed upward sweep of his longsword. He used no maneuvers, just the raw strength of his body.
With a loud clang, steel clashed against steel.
Wolf’s internal organs jolted. His hands went numb for a moment. He knelt on his right leg and tilted his sword, sliding Chris’s axe to the side.
Wolf freed his left, wanting to punch the man in the gut, but the bandit was too far away and Wolf’s arm was too short.
Still, Wolf’s maneuver put Chris off balance, and coupled with his forward momentum the man staggered, still running and trying not to trip on his own legs, or the oversized weapon he wielded.
The problem with charging maneuvers is you can’t stop easily once you get going, Wolf took a mental note as he watched the brigand run awkwardly.
“Fifth Order Swordsage?” Wolf said, trying to conceal how difficult the parry was. “No wonder all the soldiers and Mage Academy students sent after you guys wound up dead.”
Chris didn’t fare all that well either. Striking with all his might, the way he did, while utilizing a Fifth Order maneuver could have broken his arms. Thankfully Wolf folded first, causing the bald bandit to believe Wolf’s body was weaker.
“Aaaah!” the bandit let out a shout and attacked Wolf.
He didn’t use a maneuver to close the gap, but ran without the aid of Internal Energy. Then he swept and spun the giant axe in his hands, slashing at Wolf half a dozen times in rapid succession.
With his perception enhanced Wolf carefully observed the strikes. He dodged and parried, but unlike the first time he didn’t enter a contest of brute strength, since he was at a disadvantage. He let the parries help him open a bit of distance with the man. He didn’t recognize any maneuvers in those wild swings.
“You did quite a bit of Body Refining?” Wolf asked, noticing that the man really used nothing but the strength of his body to handle the giant axe.
“You did a lot of it,” Chris grumbled, but inwardly he was shocked. How can he parry my great-axe with such a slender sword without using Internal Energy?
After swinging his axe for a minute like a madman Chris paused his onslaught, giving Wolf a chance to open up a bit more distance.
“I can give you a chance. If you decide to stop your wicked ways and follow my orders I don’t mind having you as an underling,” Wolf said the lines heroes often used when subduing their enemies.
They worked on Rand, so as far as he was concerned it was worth a shot.
The idea was naive. Rand wasn’t a murderer out of boredom, the way these seven were.
“Me? Follow you? Kid, how old are you eight? Ten?” Chris said with an amused laugh while using the break to catch his breath a bit. “Listen, I left that stuffy old dojo and came here. Along the way I found these guys I liked and taught them. They are tough and proud and none of us will follow a child fresh off the teat.
“Now, I didn’t want to kill you, so that Bernardo would have someone to mess around with. But with how arrogant you’re being, I think I’ll just kill you and piss on your corpse.” After saying those words the bandit let out another shout. His eyes turned red and he started frothing at the mouth.
This should be a frenzy of some sorts, Wolf thought as he recognized the altered state of mind Chris had entered. He should be like a mindless beast right now. Hmm… Will he attack friends at this point?
With that thought Wolf dashed into the four men observing the duel. Wolf ran straight through their midst without attacking, and Chris followed a moment later.
He shouldered the limp man, who failed to move away, and sent him flying. However, other than bruising him a bit, Chris didn’t go for an injury the way Wolf slammed into Lee.
So it’s a myth that berserkers attack friends and enemies alike, Wolf concluded. I guess it’s better to learn this now, then at some critical moment. Since there’s nothing else worth learning here...
Suddenly Wolf turned around. He allowed his Internal Energy flow out of his body through his right and into his sword.
He executed Weapon Splitter, a Sixth Order version of Sundering Strike, meant for destroying metallic weapons. Wolf had long since mastered this maneuver in theory, but never had the chance to use it in real combat.
Wolf’s ‘flimsy’ long-sword held in a one-handed grip clashed with the giant axe’s steel handle. Contrary to common sense, the blade bit into the steel rod and went through it like a hot knife through butter before continuing its slash towards Chris’s chest.
However, Wolf immediately realized that he’d made a mistake. The axe head was looped off. Due to its forward momentum it now flew straight at his face.
Wolf watched in slow motion as the axe head grew bigger and bigger. Deflect Arrows wouldn't help with what seemed to be a thirty to fifty kilo axe head. If this lump of metal struck true no impervious skin, and no bones like bedrock would help. Wolf would be as dead as a doornail.
The youth gave up on his attack. He jerked his head to the left, while striking the flat of the axehead with his free palm.
The axe head whizzed past Wolf’s ear. His hair ruffled by the sudden gust of wind.
*Smash*
A tree behind Wolf exploded as the axe head smashed into it like a rock fired from a catapult.
Shit! I almost killed myself! That’s not how I should be using this maneuver! In fact, I should never use this suicidal piece of shit ever again! Ever! Wolf cursed inside, as he cemented this lesson in his memory. He’d almost paid for it with his head.
Unsurprisingly Chris, in his berserk state, didn’t give a damn about his weapon being destroyed, nor the light gash on his chest and forearm. He wildly swung the remains of his axe and used what was left of the shaft as a club.
The raging bandit even made use of the opening Wolf had given him. He smashed the steel rod at the young man.
Wolf saw the club coming clearly. It was once again headed straight for his face.
Out of balance from dodging the axe head, Wolf knew there was no getting out of this unscathed. He jerked his head to the side once more, protecting what’s important, but the steel club smashed hard onto his shoulder.
*Pa!*
Wolf was certain he would hear the sound of bones being smashed to pieces, but that sound never came. What he heard instead was akin to metal slamming into stone.
Wolf’s impervious skin and reinforced flesh were torn immediately. Blood splattered and the wound stung like a bitch, but that was all. His shoulder was dislocated, but no bones broke.
Not pausing to think about this development Wolf rammed his sword through Chris’s throat. Wolf relaxed for a moment, but the battle wasn’t over.
The bandit leader raised the club for one final strike, completely ignoring the mortal wound. He wanted to take his son of a bitch killer down with him.
Wolf stared at those insane eyes fixed on his, on that mad, bloodthirsty smile. Startled, he jerked his sword to the side, half severing the bald man’s head. Blood sprayed Wolf’s face, but luckily the bandit’s arm went limp and he dropped the steel truncheon.
*Twang! Twang!*
A pair of arrows came flying towards Wolf, but the young man ignored them. The archers had let loose out of shock. Not believing their boss had just died. To make matters worse, one of the arrows struck Chris’s body.
“He killed the boss!” Seeing their leader decapitated, the bandits shouted in rage.
“Kill him, he’s wounded!” Vin’s shout was much more practical.
Wolf cursed something under his breath then rushed into the bushes.
”He’s trying to run away! Get him!” Vin shouted again as he and his friends chased after Wolf.
But by the time they reached the bushes Wolf had already jumped onto a tree.
“You bastard, the man told you it was a duel!” Wolf muttered angrily as he appeared in front of one of the archers who tried to shoot him a moment ago.
In one fluid motion the slender sword slashed the short-bow in two, and chopped off the man’s hands.
The archer screamed. In a bout of pain and panic he fell down while bleeding profusely. A hair raising sound of a man’s neck breaking was heard, but nobody paid it any mind.
Wolf remained on the tree. Using the moment of relative safety he popped his shoulder back into place. The flesh was all mangled, and blood soaked Wolf’s traveling clothes. The young man uncorked a Lesser Healing potion and poured the vial’s contents onto his shoulder.
He didn’t do it because the wound hurt. But the movement of his arm felt off, and Wolf didn’t want to take any more stupid risks today.
As the flesh and skin reknit itself Wolf jumped off the tree.
He landed with an earth shaking stomp, dashing towards the second sniper.
The coachman tried to block his path, but before the man knew what was going on his torso was cleaved in half. Wolf ignored the fresh corpse and ran towards a nearby tree.
Less than a minute later Wolf was frowning as he stood surrounded by corpses.
The archer and two of the bandits tried to escape. Only Vin seemed determined to avenge his boss’s death at the cost of his own life. The man died regretting his own weakness.
“Stupid sons of bitches! You robbed and killed people and even died because you felt bored back home! I feel like finding you after you reincarnate and killing you once more for good measure!” Wolf started spitting curses as he kicked Chris’s corpse half a dozen times before he finally calmed down.
“Idiots!” Wolf yelled, letting go of his final bits of frustration with one last kick at the bald man’s body.
