35 Confidence In His Eyes
A weird laugh echoed through the night while the blue monk left the battlefield as fast as he came.
Like a torch in the night, his figure began to shrink in the sky until it was only a small dot and then disappeared into the darkness.
The smell of the sea that the blue creature brought with him started to dissipate, mixing and the being covered by the metallic smell of the spilled blood and the strong smell of rotting flesh and death.
The people remaining on the dirt path covered in bodies and wreckage remained still, looking at the air above them, following with their eyes the little dot of blue light that was becoming smaller by the second. That strange encounter had ended as it started, with them looking at the sky trying to follow that point of azure light.
However, not all of them were standing there pointing stupidly their gazes in the shadows. The Fire Earth people had much faster adaptability, being a tribe of raiders that survived by raiding and constantly evolving their uses and strategies.
Plus, contrary to the Forest Will people, they really wanted the monk gone from the start and they were ready to take advantage of the stunned torpor that his departure caused on the enemy tribe that outnumbered them, one to ten.
They only took a few moments to recollect themselves and started to abandon the dirt path in silence, while the Forest Will people were still concentrated on the now almost invisible blue monk.
Yet, their hope of running away unnoticed was going to be crushed soon with the harsh reality.
One of the Hunters noticed their movement, alerting his companions, and they all started to snipe the running raiders, killing them without any pity.
"Chieftain!"
Cried the surviving warriors, asking their powerful leader to help them. The large man, that until that moment didn't move at all from his place since he was released from the silver cocoon of energy, suddenly darted towards the Forest Will Tribe hunters.
His men rejoiced, some even stopped to better watch the massacre that their strong chieftain would inflict on the enemy archers. The rest continued their run towards the edge of the forest, not willing to be cocky when their life was on the line.
Godermo flashed forward, his strong arms picking up a bloody ax from the cadaver of a hunter, almost cleaved in half, that was in his path. He moved like the wind, avoiding the barrage of green arrows that fall in his direction, darting straight inside the group of hunters.
However, when he finally managed to get there, something absolutely insane happened: he just kept going, moving swift as one of the arrows shot by the Forest Will Tribe hunters. His direction? A little snake sitting on a rock not too far from the group of humans that he just passed through.
The warrior passed the green haired Star Leaf that was still surprised and stunned by the things that happened to her. She was replaying the words that the monk said to her, time and time again, in her mind, trying to understand what he said.
Then finally, he arrived before the snake, attacking him without a second thought, rage burning in his eyes. This time he wouldn't lose to the damned serpent. He would break all his bones and then make him spit out that cultivation technique of his before skinning him and turning him into a pair of boots.
He wouldn't fall into the same trap twice, so there was no chance that he would lose another fight! At least that was he believed.
Oh, how much was he wrong.
The serpent, that until that moment lied on the ground with vacant eyes, suddenly shook under the threat presented by Godermo. His void eyes filled themselves again with life, and his limbs started moving again, sliding laterally and avoiding the devastating attack of the human.
A cloud of dirt formed itself around the position occupied only a few seconds ago by the snake, generated when the mighty marauder's blow concussed the dusty ground after it missed its prime objective.
"Mph," snorted the raider, he wasn't too much worried about having missed that strike: this wasn't his first time fighting against the black devil. He just needed to keep pressing him without giving him any quarter and he would end to commit another error. However, this time he wouldn't just follow him wherever he went.
Pieces of earth and rocks were propelled all around, while the marauder extracted the weapon from the dirty soil. The chieftain then moved his eyes searching for the fleeing reptile behind the cloud of dust.
However contrary to his expectation, the snake didn't run away like before. Two violet fires shined from inside the cloud of dirt, burning with something that Godermo didn't see in the enemy that he fought before: determination.
The two flames darted towards him, making the marauder's eyes narrow in shock. He used the weapon to stop the advancement of his enemy, putting the large and sharp blade between itself and the rapidly incoming black shadow. A loud bang echoed through the chaotic battleground, followed by the image of a red shadow crashing heavily on the ground after a flight of dozens of meters.
"Not... possible" lamented a hoarse voice coming from the zone where the vermilion cannonball had fallen. There, a man drenched in his own blood was looking at a broken hilt that was between his shaking hands.
Far away a blade suddenly fell from the sky, almost decapitating a fleeing Fire Earth marauder.
A deep crack could be seen on the black iron double blade.
Godermo eyed the far piece of weapon, shocked by the damage showed by the piece of solid crude iron. A crack? That was solid metal! It wasn't as hard and fine as the steel of his own double-bladed ax, but it was still something that couldn't be simply cracked by a single blow.
His moment of shock was interrupted by a dark shadow moving with high speed towards him, two dangerous but calm violet jewels shining on its head.
"Dammit!" he screamed, grabbing the nearest stone and using it as a hammer to attack the approaching dark figure.
"BANG"
Godermo could feel his own fingers breaking during the clash, and the impact left his hand trembling from the powerful recoil.
Darkscale was also pushed back, finally stopping in place on top of the carcass of a moon ox. He was puffing, breathing heavily. On his body were extremely visible two large wounds.
The first one on his left side, a cut that ran deep in his flesh and also bled considerably. The second was on his head, where broken scales left something like a large bruise near his right eye.
Yet, on his eyes, there wasn't any of the sarcastic youthful pride that he displayed in his first fight against Godermo. The chieftain was very surprised on seeing only a calm and collected gaze, very far from the hot-blooded raging devil that he previously fought.
The two warriors kept looking at each other in silence for a few seconds.
Darkscale didn't seem to be worrying about the time, he suddenly growled slowly and his eyes filled with silver light. Yet he didn't attack the chieftain that was already readying his footing to prepare for a counterattack.
Instead, the serpent operated the Pretorian's Breath, creating a huge vortex before him and absorbing large quantities of Blood and Ghost Energies. His wounds began to heal up, under the bewildered eyes of Godermo.
The chieftain didn't try to stop the serpent because he didn't have any idea of what was that thing he was doing. During the first time that the snake used the Breath to heal his injured body, he was already bound in a silver coffin made by the binding energy of the Slave Mark Technique.
"Fuck" murmured by the chieftain, finally discovering where went those terrible wounds that he thought would be enough to make the devil submit to him.
He had been so terribly wrong! Even if their combat levels were almost similar, the snake had an insane recuperation technique that allowed him to restore his body to pristine condition!
The chieftain immediately realized that, no matter what he did, he won't be able to win against such an enemy. Without thinking about it twice, he started to retreat, keeping his senses alert from possible attacks.
