Alley Fight: Emp

It was the first time Emp was ever threatened. He wondered what they wanted. Why did they feel the need to threaten him instead of just asking?

"Why are they threatening me, what do they want?"

"They want to kill you, can you not guess even that with all those blades out?" Said Galana, annoyed.

He knew that humans sometimes waged war against each other but he had no idea they attacked each other for no reason. The dagger he had bought Galana was now much more valuable than he had thought. The possible dangers had sudenly multiplied.

Still, he couldn't believe it really was for no reason, they had to want something. At least himself would never fight something for no reward at all. It just seemed like a waste.

"Why do they want to kill me though?"

"Is it really the time for that! Do something!"

She was right, they were already moving forward, he had no time to think about that. Since Emp had not reacted like they thought he would yet, they had chosen to carefully progress towards him instead of just rushing in.

Emp was indeed scared, he recognized the feeling, but not as much as when he saw the monsters outside. Those five guys were absolutely not as scary as the river monster or the woodland horror. They were barely at the level of the twin headed impaling beetle and the path was too narrow to let them circle him.

Considering this, he felt that his spear was the best weapon for the situation. He put his hand in the bag and got the spear out of it. The men cheered when they saw the spear appear from the bag. Why would they rejoice seeing their opponent reach for a weapon.

"You should probably stand back then." He told Galana as he pointed the spear at the men in front.

If they really were to attack, he did not want her to be in his way, or to get hurt.

"Huh? Oh, right, of course."

She moved out of his field of vision to stand behind him. Now he could fully focus on the men in front of him and his first real fight. Last time, he had defeated the woodland horror by pure luck but this time, it would be a real battle. Unless of course they changed their minds and went away instead. Emp hoped this would be the case. He wasn't wearing his armor and fighting five at once seemed hard for a first try.

The two men up front rushed on either side of the alley towards him. Alas, they did not choose to retreat! In a panicked gesture, Emp trusted his spear towards the man on the right side and pierced through his long beard full a dirt and into his clavicle.

He felt the spear scratch against the hard bone and slip bellow it between his sternum and his ribs. The man screamed in pain but Emp did not have the time to care as the second one arrived at his side.

The spear was still inside the first man and it was too long to fight the second just beside him. It seemed like he had made a huge mistake. He had thought the spear would keep them at bay in such a narrow path but instead, it was to long to be wielded properly. The guy raised his knife high, aiming at his neck, and Emp raised his end of the spear to meet the blade.

As he raised the spear, it's tip dug even deeper into the other man and displaced his bones to accommodate the sudden movement. He screamed some more while the blade of his friend struck the shaft of the spear.

Emp kept it there using only his left hand and the first guy who kept the other end of the spear in place and quickly threw his right hand in the bag to get a new weapon out.

In an instant, he got Flame in his hand and swept it on his side as he got it out of the bag. The man did not expect another weapon to come out and had been focusing on lowering the spear with his blade while he waited for his friends to come help him. Just as the first man finally removed the spear form his chest and the blade of the second resumed its downward motion, the flaming sword appeared.

Flame left a large gash on the man's belly and the burning pain caused his knife to slide on the spear shaft and cut into Emp's right arm instead of his neck.

Emp felt pain and let out a groan but did not let his chance slip away and made a second strike. This time, he just drove it into the man's chest with a thrust. His eyes opened wide and he looked at Emp in confusion, still not understanding were the sword had just came from.

That one was done for, Emp knew, but it did not feel like he thought it would. When he beat the woodland horror, he felt joy and pride. Now, he just felt confusion. He could see in that man eyes that he wanted to say a thousand things but only a pained whisper slipped past his lips.

Emp could not understand him. He did not understand his actions nor his words and he could still not understand his thoughts as he died. That was what bothered him the most, he did not understand what had led them both here. He could not figure out why he was killing him.

He did not even have the time to think about it as there were four more of them. He let go of the spear and put his hand on the dying man's shoulder to yank his blade out of him. The spiked bone of the sword destroyed his insides and got stuck in a rib he had to break as well to free the sword.

Galana made a gasp and mumbled something from just behind him. In front, the four remaining men showed a fearful expression as they yelled something as well.

They talked at a rapid pace and two more men took the place of the dead and the injured. Emp could not understand why they did not go away. If they were afraid, they should just leave.

Emp did not feel like he could win against two men. They were much more cautious than earlier and were taking their time to advance towards him. He would need more to win than just a sword. He searched his bag once more with his left hand and got his brand new shield out. This was much more reasonable now.

The two man frowned but kept going forward. Emp wondered if he should wait for them or go meet them halfway. Chinui had not taught him anything about that.

In the end, he chose to move forward as well, they were so slow it would take forever to clash if he didn't. He raised his shield and ran at them.

The two tensed up and readied their knives. When he got near enough, they both attacked at the same time but Emp blocked both with the shield. Then, they continued to hit it again and again, raining hits on the shield really noisily. Perhaps they thought that if they attacked often enough he wouldn't be able to hit back?

Every hit was felt through his entire arm but he didn't care much, neither this or the wound on his right arm would ever be as painful as his leg was. He pressed forwards with a sudden charge and forced them both to take a couple of steps back. The left one almost tripped because of the sudden retreat and Emp felt the shield push against his face.

He decided to suddenly open his arm widely, pushing the guy further back with the swing of his shield. Only one guy remained in front of him but the shield wasn't there to protect him anymore.

The remaining man trusted his knife at him when he saw the opportunity but Emp caught it with the spine of his sword and drove it aside before he kicked the man in the balls.

That was a move Chinui had taught him. Inexperienced fighters only watched out for the blade of the opponent so they were easy to surprise with a elbow hit or a kick. Emp would be just as easily surprised but at least he knew such a trick existed.

The man turned blue and let go of his knife so Emp easily sliced his neck open before his partner could come back to help. Barely any blood spilled through the burn mark while the man just collapsed lifeless.

The three remaining attackers finally made the choice of running away. One of them was already hurt badly and of the two remaining one, none had the confidence to say they could possibly win against the man in front of them. They left their dead friends behind and ran away without looking back.

Emp did not pursue them and just watched them run silently as the fresh blood on his blade sizzled and crackled. He did not want to fight them in the first place, pursuing them was pointless.

After all three of them had disappeared, he took another look at the two dead men. The one with the disgusting chest wound was bald and had a ear bigger than the other by a small margin. The one who had his neck sliced had long hairs, a beard and a pair of really bushy brows.

He wondered what he was supposed to do with them now. He wasn't supposed to dismantle them like monsters was he?

He turned towards Galana to ask but she seemed even more lost than him. She was staring blankly at the scene with the dagger he had bought her clenched in her hands. Maybe she was hurt?

"Galana, are you alright? Did you get hurt somehow?"

She turned her empty look at him and blinked twice. Did she even hear him?

"Galana?"

"Yes. Yes, I'm fine."

"Are you sure? Just tell me if you are not, I will ask the mage to patch you up as well when we get there."

She just stared at him some more, like she was waiting for him to say something else. She really didn't look all that fine but there was nothing he could do if she did not talk. He put back the sword in his bag and asked Galana to do the same. It would be dangerous if she tripped after all.

"I am glad you thought of getting that dagger out but you do not need it anymore, you should just put it away."

Galana looked at her hands and the dagger she was holding and shook a little before sheathing it. She was acting oddly but Emp could easily admit this was a stressful event.

While he waited for her to regain some sort of composure, he put both the spear and the shield back in the bag, he would wash off the blood on everything later. Then, he went and stood just in front of her. She was staring at something above them but when he looked, he did not find anything. Maybe she was just daydreaming, lost in another world? When she finally lowered her eyes to him, Emp talked again, asking her if she had finished her daydreaming.

"Are you back on our side?"

She answered with a small nod.

"What do we do with those two?"

"I don't, know... I've never seen... I, I've never... a dead person before. I've never seen... someone die." She fumbled.

With an answer like that, Emp guessed her head hadn't really come back from the sky and that she was still lost in some dream land.

"Should we just leave them here?"

He disliked to leave things unfinished but he did not have all day to wait for Galana to come back to her senses, he had other things to do before sunset.

"Maybe... anyway if the other three are stupid enough to go find the guards they'll be in for the surprise of their lives when they... Wait, what happened to your arm!" She screamed as her eyes focused on his wound.

Emp stated the facts.

"The guy there cut me with his knife when I took out the sword."

"But it's bleeding so much! Why Didn't you say anything! We should hurry to the mage's place, quick!"

Emp was pretty sure he had said something like 'ouch' when he got cut though. Also, his leg was much worse, the cut on his arm wasn't even a knuckle deep.

"Why are so concerned with my arm? It's not that bad."

"Idiot! Just move." She answered like the usual her.

Galana stormed out of the alley and Emp had no choice but to follow her, leaving the two dead men there. She was taking that small cut way too seriously.