Episode 47 Venom/Disdain
Rill stares at the trickle of blood running down Fayvard’s arm. “You’re bleeding…” he notes.
Fayvard nods with a grunt. “Yeah. I’ve had worse.” He presses his sword against Blod’s. Finally, through sheer strength, he manages to win the stalemate; he breaks free and slashes the air.
Blod leaps backwards to avoid the attack. She grimaces slightly as well, her breathing heavy. Fayvard shoulders his sword, turning to look over Rill. “You all right?” he asks.
“I should be asking you that!” Rill retorts. He readies his claw. “You don’t need to worry about me. Right now we must concentrate on defeating her.”
Fayvard nods again. “Yeah. You know any of her weaknesses?”
Unfortunately, Rill sighs and shakes his head in response. “I’ve never fought her before and I spent the majority of my time here training alone. Besides, I don’t think she is the type to have told me her weaknesses even if I’d asked anyway.”
“Guess there’s no helping it,” Fayvard heaves, “we’ll have to do this the hard way.”
Entering a new fighting stance, Fayvard positions his sword headlong towards Blod. He charges, screaming at the top of his lungs. Blod sidesteps the thrust, leaps into the air, and uses Fayvard’s own sword as a springboard to link a second jump to her attack.
With her only hand, Blod swings her katana, swiping Fayvard across the shoulder. He flinches as the Fatalist draws blood, lowering his sword and grabbing his shoulder. Meanwhile, Blod uses the momentum from her move to hopscotch past Fayvard, directing herself straight at Rill.
Rill bares his teeth, dashing out of the way mere seconds before Blod crashes into the tree behind Rill. Her katana strikes only the trunk of the tree, nearly halving it in one clean motion.
Breathing heavily, Rill scrambles back into position next to Fayvard, sweat dripping down the side of his head. He glances over at his comrade, who is still holding his right shoulder gingerly but appears fine.
As the two allies stand next to each other catching their breaths, Blod takes the opportunity to regenerate her injured hand. With a disgusting squishing noise, a new hand emerges from the mangled stump. Blod looks down at her new hand, taking a moment to clench and re-clench it to test its strength.
Finally letting go of his wound, Fayvard recomposes himself as he catches his breath at last. He raises his sword once more, narrowing his eyes as well. “Hmph,” he grunts softly, “I wonder to what extent can you regenerate your limbs?”
Hearing Fayvard, Blod looks up, a wide smirk on her face. “Care to find out?” she asks invitingly, with clear malice in her voice.
“Yeah, I will, actually,” answers Fayvard cockily.
Without warning, Fayvard hurls himself forward with surprising speed. He swings his sword vertically, but it connects only with air. Blod again sidesteps his attack, ducking under his raised arms and dashing past him. She swings her sword with a horizontal slashing motion straight at Rill behind Fayvard.
At the last moment, Rill blocks the attack with a Lightning Avenger. The sword and shuriken collide with vivid force, flashes of sparks and electricity flying into the air as the Avenger sings in protest against Blod’s overbearing attack.
However, seeing a chance, Fayvard bounds forward again, swinging his sword. “I’ve got ya this time!” he shouts from behind Blod. He swings, seeing Blod exposed at last.
“Fayvard, no—!” Rill shouts suddenly.
But it is too late. Fayvard’s attack connects with Blod’s right arm this time. She raises it in front of herself to deflect the attack. Fayvard’s sword slices cleanly through Blod’s arm, cutting it in half. The arm falls to the ground with a plop, and explodes in a plume of noxious gas.
“Crap!” Fayvard growls. He jumps forward and shoves Blod out of the way, placing his hand over Rill’s mouth and sprinting out of range of the cloud of gas.
Yet in the course of escaping the countermove by Blod, Fayvard himself accidentally breathes in some of the gas from Blod’s dismembered arm. He coughs as he lets Rill go out of range of the poison gas cloud, the poison stinging his green eyes.
Blod emerges from the scuffle, standing over her detached right arm. She holds her katana in her left hand, appearing unusually animated for someone who has recently lost a limb. She narrows her eyes jeeringly, squinting at Fayvard. “That was a full-on hit, wasn’t it?! Even you, who supposedly has immunity to most poisons, cannot possibly withstand a poison attack of that magnitude!”
“Says the psychotic bitch,” Fayvard growls back, wiping his mouth. Blood appears on his sleeve. He curses silently to himself.
Rill glances at Fayvard, who already is beginning to appear severely weakened. “Fayvard…are you sure you’re all right?”
“Of course I am,” Fayvard heaves in a clearly strained voice. “Even so…we should try to finish this quick.”
Nodding in agreement, Rill forms a new Avenger. Fayvard interrupts him. “Wait. I have a plan.”
As Fayvard and Rill discuss their plan, Blod launches into a new attack, not even bothering to regenerate her amputated right arm. She dashes with lightning speed, aiming at Rill with her katana.
At the same time, Fayvard and Rill both break from their discussion, flying in opposite directions, with Fayvard moving to Blod’s left and Rill going right.
Turning right, Blod slashes at Rill’s body. He evades the attack, but just barely. He tosses his Avenger in retaliation, but misses wide right. Biting his lip, Rill narrows his eyes hatefully as the two of them move in lockstep at top speed.
“Damn it!” Rill curses, as Blod continues to pursue him feverishly. “Why do you keep coming after me?!”
“Because you’re the weakest link in your team!” answers Blod. “You may have His Majesty’s powers in you, but you are nothing but a mere imposter!”
Rill’s eyes widen with surprise at the comments. He stops momentarily, and the half-second provides just enough of an opening for Blod to strike. She twists her body forward and elbows Rill straight in the stomach, sending him hurtling backwards out of control.
With a bang, Rill slams against the trunk of a tree, sliding down into a slumped position by its roots. He slowly scrambles back to his feet, grimacing painfully.
But Blod does not allow Rill to even catch his breath. Just as he returns to his feet, Blod bounds forward out of nowhere, her katana aimed straight towards him. With a stabbing motion, Blod smirks triumphantly. “You’re finished!”
Rill closes his eyes fearfully, unable to do anything else in reaction in time. But the blow never comes.
“No, you’re finished,” Fayvard’s voice suddenly rings.
Still keeping his eyes shut tight, Rill finally ventures to open them hesitantly. Fayvard is standing to his and Blod’s side, his silver sword drawn and gleaming in the sunshine. At his feet lies Blod’s left arm, still clutching her katana.
Blod stands silently in shock, both of her arms amputated. Rill breathes a sigh of relief. “It’s a good thing you moved so quickly, Fayvard. She read our pincer attack so quickly and broke it up, that—”
“No,” Fayvard replies mysteriously, his voice strangely faraway. Rill glances at him in confusion, but Fayvard does not return the look. “She was specifically coming after you. My plan all along was to use you as the bait. I knew you wouldn’t be able to do it if you knew beforehand, so I had to deceive you for a little bit. But my plan worked out perfectly in the end! That was an excellent job, Rill.”
Despite the triumphant tone in Fayvard’s voice, Rill can only glare at Fayvard with shock and uncertainty. Suddenly, his eyes narrow, as he engages Fayvard wrathfully. He steps straight up Fayvard, bumping heads with him, even though Rill is significantly shorter.
“Are you serious?” Rill asks in the lowest of voices.
“Yeah,” Fayvard mutters back coolly, finally returning Rill’s glance.
“You bastard…!” Rill hisses, clenching his fist at his side.
“Don’t look so pissed,” Fayvard growls, “I did it because I knew it was the best and only plan we had to win. I’ve said it before: I do anything to win, and you didn’t even get hurt in the end. Don’t act so pissed just because I had to trick you a little bit!”
“Youuuuuu…!” Rill howls, raising his fist and getting ready to punch Fayvard. However, the blow never comes as a vicious shriek rises into the air right next to them.
“You bastards!” Blod screeches, turning towards them angrily. “Speaking as though I’m already finished! I’ll teach you to overlook a Fatalist so easily!”
“Forget it,” replies Fayvard in a surly voice. “I’ve cut both your arms. Don’t think I haven’t noticed. It takes you time to regenerate your limbs. The more complicated and numerous the regenerations, the longer it takes. It won’t take more than an instant to finish you off without your arms! You won’t have time to regenerate!”
Fayvard thrusts his sword forward, but at that moment, Blod sprints past him. Her right arm suddenly reappears with a squelching sound, as she bends down and retrieves her katana. With a quick move, she presses her sword deep into the side of Fayvard’s stomach.
Wincing, Fayvard places his hand around the cold blade of Blod’s sword, even as a trail of blood runs down his side and down his leg. He smiles. “Nice move!” he whispers.
“Thank you.” Blod and Fayvard stare into each other’s eyes for several seconds, each daring the other to make a move first.
“Say,” Fayvard says suddenly, breaking the silence, “can I ask you a question? Why are you a Fatalist?”
“Because I like fighting! Fighting is my love!” Blod screams.
“That’s it? Heh. I should’ve known better than to ask.” Fayvard looks over at Rill. “Hey, Rill! Now’s your chance!”
However, Rill merely glares at Fayvard icily, no warmth in his eyes. “What makes you say that? How can I know you’re really on my side after what just happened? For all I know, everything you do is just in your own self-interest!”
“You bastard!” Fayvard cries, shaking his fist. “I saved you!”
“Fine, I understand,” Rill mutters abruptly. He summons a brand new Lightning Avenger in his hands. “I will finish her!”
Rill strikes at Blod with the Avenger. She leaps out of the way just in time, withdrawing her sword from Fayvard’s side and freeing him at last from its cold steel grip.
Fayvard automatically places a hand over his newest wound, nearly doubling over. However, he quickly recovers and raises his sword again with resolution. “All right, time to end this!” He takes a step forward, but suddenly freezes. All of a sudden, Fayvard falls backwards straight towards the ground as his right leg locks up completely.
“My…leg…!” Fayvard gasps hoarsely.
Rill deflects an attack by Blod with his Avenger and takes a step back. He glances at Fayvard on the ground. “What’s the matter?” he shouts.
“Damn it…” Fayvard heaves. “My leg’s not moving!”
Blod also looks now at Fayvard. “Hm! It should’ve killed you, but it looks like you’re not quite that immune to my poison after all!”
—END FORTY-SEVEN—