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*Drip*
*Drip*
*Drip*
The sound of blood dripping from Leonard’s wound echoed through the dim chamber, a pool of red forming below him as he stared at the ground, eyes wide with pain and despair.
‘I... can’t win...’
His opponent - some ancient humanoid magical construct created from hard black metal and styled like an armored knight - would agree; it looked at him a moment more before deciding that he was no longer a threat, and turned the three green glowing lights it had for eyes on the other figure in the room.
Crystal stared helplessly at the construct moving towards her, clutching her wounded leg as she sat there unable to escape, her attention going to the sword in its hand, its black blade gleaming with blood. Looking around the room, she tried to find something that would give her a fighting chance; her staff was on the floor, but that golem would reach her long before she could touch it, the rest of the chamber's floor was empty except for a few equally spaced stone braziers along the walls, their blue flames looking cold and impassive to her predicament. Which only left her brother, kneeling wounded behind the construct, her brother who had always been there to protect him, who swore he would never let harm reach her - she called out to him, her voice coming out despite her mind telling her the futility of it all.
Leonard stared at the blood leaking out of him, his vision darkening as he felt himself slip off into unconsciousness; he was dying he knew, the stab to his stomach would have him bleeding out in a few minutes. And even if he could survive that wound, the construct would end him, it was too strong, his attacks unable to pierce its armor, his specialized telekinetic magic somehow unable to affect it.
“-rd.”
A voice.
“-nard.”
Louder this time.
“Leonard!!!”
His sister’s voice.
His precious sister’s voice was calling out to him, her cries tinged with fear.
His eyes snapped open, adrenaline shot through his body as his protective instincts were ignited, bringing him back from the brink.
‘I can’t... die now... I have... someone to protect!’ Leonard thought to himself, pain and fear evaporating, replaced by explosive determination - he still had one last trick up his sleeve.
Gripping his sword tighter he summoned all his strength, both physical and magical; his telekinetic magic might not work on this opponent but there were other ways he could apply it, focusing the telekinesis inward, he strengthened his own body - increasing his speed and strength tenfold.
“You’ll have to try... harder than that!” He challenged out to his black metal foe; getting to his feet, his body bleeding and injured but his eyes blazing with determination.
The construct turned around to face its opponent, its artificial mind registering with mild surprise that he was still able to stand.
‘No matter.’ It thought, registering that his enemy still bore the wounds it had been inflicted with. ‘With injuries like that, the target couldn’t possibly pose much o-‘
Leonard dashed forward impossibly fast - his sword aimed for the center of its neck.
A flicker of surprise flashed through the construct's mind at the sudden movement; instinctively it raised its sword in a block, barely managing to intercept the thrust aimed at its neck.
*CLANG*
The loud metallic sound resounded across the room as the two blades met, the air around the clash almost seeming to reverberate from the force of the impact.
The construct jerked back slightly, registering the reverberations in its sword arm even as it delivered a counter strike, one that Leonard nimbly stepped out of range of. Swiftly leaping in again, Leonard rained a barrage of slashes and stabs at his armored target, each strike deliberate and aimed at its joints where the armor should be the weakest. The golem wasn’t idle either, defending against the assault as it countered and blocked the strikes; though it wasn’t able to stop them all, its body jerking slightly whenever a strike slipped through its guard and left a shallow cut in its metal skin. The air in between the two warriors filled with sparks as their blades clash, the sound of metal striking metal filling the chamber as they dueled; Leonard’s strikes were quick and nimble as he danced around the golem, dodging its slower but far more powerful strikes.
Sharpening his senses, Leonard feinted, swinging his sword to the right of the construct, before twisting his wrists midway, the blade now coming in from the left.
The golem fell for it, its sword now blocking uselessly to its right as Leonard’s blade flashed like lightning towards its neck, the metal singing as it cut through the air, before making contact with its target.
The sound of metal screeching against metal pierced his ears, his attack gouging a cut in its metal neck, the cut decently deep but failing to destroy the golem.
The construct jerked back a step, the glow in its eyes suddenly intensifying as it made a strange metallic growl, before gripping its own blade in a two-handed grip and raising it above its head.
Leonard’s eyes widened as his instincts screamed at him to dodge, appropriately he took a large leap backwards; just as the construct slashed down into the ground where he had been standing a moment ago, the floor around the impact splintering and smashing into pieces from the sheer force of the attack. A deafening boom exploded out, followed by a shockwave that forced Leonard to brace himself, lest he be thrown to the ground by it.
Leonard panted and winched as he watched the construct pull its sword from the shattered earth, feeling his body cry out in pain as the backlash from his efforts started to bleed in, his bones and muscles groaning as the telekinetic force he was extruding on them stressed them out, his wound still bleed freely - he had to end the fight soon.
“Let’s end this.” Leonard declared out loud, raising his sword in a salute before getting into a low stance, gathering his energy and preparing for one final attack - his bones creaking as he poured everything he had into his body.
The construct got into a guard position, preparing to intercept or dodge the attack; it could tell its opponent was at his limit, it just had to survive the next move and victory would be his.
Leonard lunged forward in a thrust, the tip of his sword flying forward and piercing the sound barrier with a deafening crack; just as the construct calculated the trajectory of the strike and prepared to avoid it, its legs shifting as it prepared to sidestep the thrust. It would have been a coin toss to see who would emerge victorious.
“HOARFROST GALE!!!”
A girl’s voice cut through the air, barely piercing the construct’s concentration; it didn’t have time to react before a freezing blast of wind engulfed it, encasing its body in a layer of ice and immobilizing it.
It could break out of it; it had done so just now, before it had delivered that cut to the mage’s leg. It flexed arms, the ice layering it cracking as it began to break free - all it needed was a few seconds.
Seconds it didn’t have.
Leonard’s sword pierced through its face, the blade stabbing through the center of the construct’s three eyes and bursting out through the back of its head. The construct’s remaining two eyes seemed to brighten in surprise, before flickering, its still frozen body twitching before falling still, the eerie green glow in its eyes finally extinguishing.
Leonard started at the disabled golem a moment longer, making sure it was truly dead; before collapsing to the ground; his sword still buried in his former opponent’s head.
Wide-eyed and panting, Leonard found himself on his knees again as the backlash from his assault smashed into him like an avalanche, the pain from his stomach wound returning to hit him with a vengeance. Reconfiguring the telekinesis flooding his body to soothe his injuries, he raised his head with an effort; Crystal was limping towards him now, staff in hand, the wound on her leg partially healed with her magic.
“Leo, just hang on a while ok? I’m coming to heal you.” She called out as she closed in on him, the magic crystals on her staff glowing faintly as she prepared to tap into their mana to cast her healing spell.
“Heal.”
A soft green light engulfed the wound on his belly, causing Leonard to breathe out with relief as the pain lessened, the vicious slash closing before his eyes.
“Accelerate Healing: Blood.”
This time Leonard squirmed slightly as a strange sensation crept over his body, the spell overclocking its systems to produce blood at an accelerated rate, replenishing the amount he had lost.
“Thanks sis.”
“No problem, though I think I should be thanking you. That last part was risky by the way, what if I didn’t get the message to immobilize that thing before you attacked.”
“I know you would have gotten the message, you’re my sis after all.”
“Heh, yeah... I guess so. Can you walk?”
“Give me a few minutes.”
Leonard turned his attention to the construct.
“What the hell was that anyway, I’ve never seen anything like it before.”
“Same... maybe we can take it back with us later, but for now you need to rest and recover.”
“Sure, let’s go home sis.”