Chapter 29: Toughclaw vs Colin!

"I'm coming for you, Gilly!!!" Lucian roared as he smashed his war hammer into the side of one of the guards heads, crushing it on impact.

Hornby also jumped in and started firing magic water bullets from the rear, providing cover best he could.

"We need reinforcement!" One of the guards shouted as more and more of their men were cut down by Toughclaw's blades.

"Die!" Lucian shouted as he ducked under one of the guard's attacks, smashing his war hammer into the guard's body, crushing his ribs and smashing him to the ground.

Two more ran at Lucian from either side, trying to take him off guard.

"You'll pay for that!" One of them shouted as he raised his sword.

However, a water bullet smashed into his iron chest plate. The force was enough to knock the guard to the ground, letting Lucian focus on the other without worrying.

Lucian grabbed the other guards blade with his hand, letting the blood trickle down his arm for a moment.

"You are in the way!" Lucian shouted as he lifted his hammer into the air, much to the fear of the guard he was about to crush with it.

"ARGHH!" He screamed as Lucian crushed his skull, blood bursting out and covering Lucian's body as the corpse fell to the ground.

Lucian then turned to the other who was still lead on the ground in pain, grabbing him by the scruff of his neck.

"Tell me where your master is!" Lucian demanded.

The guard looked terrified as he looked deep into Lucians burning red eyes.

"O-Ok. Please just let me go!" The guard said, fearing for his life.

Lucian nodded as he pulled him in closer.

"Where is he." He demanded again.

"L-Lord Gilbert is held up inside the mansion. My best guess is he will be heading to the panic room by now."

Lucian tightened his grip around the guard's neck cutting off his airway.

"B-But I told you everything..." The guard said as his face turned blue.

Lucian choked him to death and dropped him to the ground, looking up towards the main house. He could see that Toughclaw and Hornby had finished the rest of the guards off and so the three of them headed towards the main doors of the small castle.

"Should we knock?" Hornby said, joking around a little.

Toughclaw smiled.

"Allow me." He said as he clenched his fist.

"Open wide!" The lion-man shouted as he threw a solid punch, smashing the large doors off the hinges, causing them to smash into the far wall on the other side of the massive hallway.

Lucian and the others waited as the dust settled, taking in the sight that lay before them.

"Formation!" A guard captain shouted, getting all twenty guards that were inside waiting for them to form a shield wall.

"Looks like there's more of them," Hornby said, keeping behind Lucian and Toughclaw.

The three of them took in the sight, seeing that the entrance to Gilbets small castle was huge, filled with solid marble statues and other expensive decorations, easily fitting all twenty of the guards with room to spare.

"You dare trespass on his Lordships estate like this!" A voice suddenly bellowed across the entire room.

Lucian couldn't help but recognise whose voice it was, causing him to tighten his grip on her war hammer and clench his teeth.

"Colin..." Lucian muttered under his breath as he looked to where he stood.

Colin stood at the top of the stair, looking down over the guards towards Lucian and the others.

"It's Lord Colin!" One of the guards shouted, getting a cheer from the others.

"You filthy must dare come here, you will be punished for daring to intrude like this!" Colin then shouted as he drew his blade.

"COLIN!" Lucian suddenly shouted as he tossed a massive fireball, pumping a huge amount of magic into the attack due to his rage.

Colin was shocked for a moment and quickly pointed his sword at the fireball, putting up a magical shield in order to protect himself from the attack.

The fire magic was intense and although Colin was able to protect himself from it, the guards were unable to shield themselves from the explosion it caused.

"Seriously, how can you use such powerful magic, I thought you said you could even use it!" Hornby shouted, amazed at the power of Lucian's attack.

Toughclaw was also impressed.

"That was certainly a powerful fire attack. Perhaps I underestimated this one." Toughclaw thought as he eyed Lucian.

Lucian could see that his magic bar had dropped by about half from that massive attack. He hadn't meant to use so much magic, but as the smoke cleared he could see it had done some good at least.

Lucian could see that half of the guards had been taken out from the explosion, while the other half of them were struggling to regain their composure.

"Impressive! Very impressive!" Colin suddenly shouted as he burst through the black smoke, appearing next to Lucian with his sword drawn and ready for an attack.

"Look out!" Toughclaw shouted as he intercepted Colins thrust, blocking it and returning his own slash which Colin blocked in return.

The two of them locked blades and entered a power struggle as they stared into the eyes of each other.

"My oh my... So the beast got free." Colin said with a smile.

Toughclaw pushed harder as he growled.

"Your life is mine!" He roared, attacking with all of his might.

Colin flipped and dodged his attacks with amazing skill and speed, before flipping back to create some distance.

Lucian was about to prepare another magic attack, but Toughclaw stopped him.

"I respectfully request that you allow me to kill this one good sir." He said, giving Lucian a toothy grin.

Lucian allowed the fire in his hand to extinguish as he recognized the resolve in Toughclaws eyes.

"Alright. He's all yours." Lucian said before turning to Hornby.

"Let's leave this to Toughclaw and go look for Gilly!" Lucian shouted.

Hornby nodded after a moment and followed Lucian as the two ran towards the stairs, striking down any guards that tried to get in their way.

Colin watched as Lucian and Hornby ran off.

"I never gave you permission to leave!" Colin shouted as he jumped into the air.

Toughclaw did the same and intercepted Colin, swiping at his head and body with each blade.

Colin blocked the attacks and flipped with grace before he landed back onto the ground.

"I'm your opponent!" Toughclaw shouted as he too landed on the ground.

"Looks like I'll have to kill the beast first..." Colin said as he took a ready stance and drew his dagger along with his long sword.

"Your mine!" Toughclaw shouted as he pounced, smashing into the ground where Colin had been stood, his attack missing.

"RROOOAARRRR!" Toughclaw howled as he turned around and attacked with all of his might.

Colin and Toughclaw engaged in a fierce battle of swordsmanship as the two of them clashed blades, each moving at blinding speed as the sparks from their blades flew, igniting the air around them.

Toughclaw was stronger and faster than Colin and used his superior strength and speed to overpower Colin, placing him on the defensive.

Colin blocked an overhead attack with his sword, the weight of Toughclaws attack almost buckling his arm. Quickly he jumped into the air, spinning around as he dodged the second blade that would have cut him in two.

Toughclaw and Colin exchanged a few more clashes of blades before Toughclaw landed a powerful kick into Colin's chest, knocking him flying back into a wall.

"Now you're mine!" Toughclaw shouted as he launched forwards, raising both arms into the air ready to deliver the finishing blow.

"Not so fast! Wind blade!" Colin shouted as he suddenly fired off two powerful gusts of razor-sharp wind magic.

Toughclaw had already fully committed to his attack, not taking into account that Colin might be able to use his magic like this.

The magic hit and Toughclaw quickly jumped back, crashing into the ground as he landed. Blood spilt out onto the floor as Toughclaw growled from his wound.

"You bastard..." He said as he looked down at the damage.

His left hand had been served by the wind blade attack, blood was oozing out of the wound and onto the floor, giving Toughclaw no other option than to tight a piece of cloth around it to help stop the bleeding.

Colin's footsteps could be heard before he stopped, giving his blade a little flick.

"For all of your strength... Such a pity, magic is so rare among your kind." He said giving a sinister smile.

Toughclaw picked up a sword in his only remaining hand and stood to his full height.

"We beastmen were blessed in other ways by the gods..." He said as he clenched his teeth.

"Oh really?" Colin said as he took an elegant battle stance.

Toughclaw suddenly threw his sword as hard as he could at Colin, using his foot to kick the other blade into the air, catching it as he did.

Colin was a little surprised but dodged the sword by a hairs length. Toughclaw jumped through the air, moving as fast as he could, hoping that he had bought enough time to prevent Colin from using any more magic.

"Die!!!" Toughclaw roared as he thrust his blade towards Colin's heart.

But Colin smiled as he muttered a few words.

"Dark abyss..." He whispered, allowed a sudden burst of black fog to spread around the entire room, eliminating his presence entirely.

Toughclaws thrust only succeded in hitting thin air as Colin seemed to disappear into the blackness that he had spawned.

"What trickery is this!" Toughclaw shouted as he swiped with his blade at the fog, trying to clear it from his vision.

"Oh my... Dear beast, you never had any hope of defeating me." Colin's voice said, echoing from the fog.

"Show yourself, coward!" Toughclaw roared as he tried to find any trace of his presence.

"Very well, if you insist," Colin said, appearing behind Toughclaw as he stabbed his dagger into his ribs.

"ARGGH!" Toughclaw roared as he swiped his arm back, hitting only the fog once more.

"You bastard!" Toughclaw shouted as he coughed out blood onto the floor.

Colin waited another moment before he reappeared, standing in front of the lion-man.

"So confident in your own strength... But strength means nothing if you cannot touch your opponent." Colin said as he licked the blood from the blade.

"You beast-men are all the same. All muscle and no brains."

Toughclaw spat out more blood and knew his final moments were upon him.

"Coward..." He said softly, as the pain in his chest became worst.

"You have no honour..." Toughclaw said looking up.

Colin chuckled for a moment.

"I'm an assassin. We dont waste our time with such things. And besides..."

Toughclaw used the last of his strength to pull the dagger out of his ribs and throw it at Colin's head, hoping he would remain distracted in his own dialogue for just long enough for him to land a blow.

However, Colin was no such fool as he tilted his head to the side dodging the final attack of his opponent.

"A valiant effort, but in vain." He said with an evil smile as he watched Toughclaw drop to the ground, the darkness setting in over him.

Colin released his magic fog and walked over to the beast-man, kicking him in the side of the head to see if he was dead yet.

"Seems you have more fight in you than I thought." He said before turning around to where Lucian and Hornby had run off to.

"Dont think you will get far, Lucian."