Chapter 7 - A Life On The Line

While lying down, still pondering the terrifying nightmare that he had witnessed, the strangest sense had came over Miyuki.

Something was wrong.

Something with…Evelyn?

Miyuki got up quickly dashed to the door. He ran down the lawn towards the gates and pushed them open. He sprinted out into the street, the road was dimly lit by multiple street lamps. He looked in each direction to see where the Valis Castle was, as he tried to catch his breath. He then spotted the large castle in the distance. "Evelyn is in danger, I know it!" Miyuki started running down the block. He had quite a long way to go.

While running, he had noticed there was many puddles around on the asphalt streets. Many chunks of dirt and mud everywhere as well. "Did something happen here? Maybe I'm paranoid but I know Evelyn uses Earth magic." Miyuki then heard what sounded like a carrige being driven. He turned the corner, and his suspicions were correct.

There was a carrige further down, driving steadily, with one man sitting at the front, driving the vehicle with 2 horses. Miyuki skidded to a walking pace, and he started marching towards the carrige. It was dirtied with water and mud. Something is off.

Miyuki walked towards the carriage. "Hey! Hey!" He called out but got no reply.

The carriage came to a stop. The man at the front got off and stood in the middle of the road. He was wearing purple dress pants, and a purple tuxedo with a black dress shirt underneath. His black tie had a yellow "J" near the top. The man slicked back his navy blue hair, then he straightened his glasses. He had looked no older than twenty, yet looked he had been through alot.

"Hey man," Miyuki started, "What are you doing with a carriage out this late at night? You know there's a city-wide curfew." He reached for his sword's hilt. Something was off about this man, he could feel it in his gut.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you." The man in purple finally spoke. "You know causing harm to royalty, especially a Josephine like myself, Isaiah Josephine, is a crime punishable by death." Isaiah threw his left arm out towards the left, and a sword of ice formed in an instant. "Well I don't know who you are, with your weird clothes and dark hair, but it won't matter when you're dead." He started stepping towards Miyuki with a steady pace.

"Is this my first fight? Fuck fuck fuck. I don't know shit when it comes to combat. If Evelyn was in danger, then where is she? Am I too late? I have to go through with this, there's no avoiding it." Miyuki's heart was racing. Was this real? Miyuki was still shaken from the nightmare earlier. He wasn't ready for this.

Miyuki unsheathed his new sword, and gripped it tightly with both hands. This was his first fight, with dread filling his mind. He tried to make a stance.

A large pillar of rock exploded out from the carrige, sending wooden and metal debris everywhere. The horses were startled and ran off. Isaiah quickly turned around and sliced through debris that had came his way.

"What was that? Wait, was Evelyn in the carriage? Why was she in there? Did he try to kidnap her?" Miyuki had to stop his train of thought, as he had found his chance to strike. He sprinted towards Isaiah, when his new opponent suddenly turned back around and met Miyuki's blade with his own.

The force, the strength, the hard vibration, all felt throughout the sword and went into Miyuki's arms. He didn't know that the vibrations going throughout his palms, would hurt. He grunted when the two swords met.

"I don't know what you want with Evelyn, you fucker, but I'm not letting you have her!"

Isaiah pushed Miyuki back. "You really don't know how to act infront of royalty? I'll have you killed if your sorry ass survives this." Just then, many balls of water were generated in the air, then they formed into sharp cones. And within a moment, were frozen solid into icicles.

Miyuki's heart sank, as this had gotten deadly, very quick. He thought about his nightmare. Something similar happened. Maybe if he had a shield? But he didn't have one. "I'm fucked."

"Stupid peasant, you don't know your fucking place." Isaiah shot all the icicles towards Miyuki, and all he could do was cover himself with his sword. Icicles flew past left and right, at an incredible velocity. A couple shattered when they met his blade's flat side. A few had glided past him and snipped at his clothing. Then a sharp pain was felt throughout his body. He looked down to the source of the pain. An icicle was deep in his right thigh.

Miyuki started screaming. Blood quickly trickeled down his leg and onto the street. The pain was egregious. He wanted to keel over but he had to stay standing. He had to be strong.

For Evelyn.

He started walking slowly towards Isaiah, now swinging his sword around to try to cut through the flying icicles. Miyuki couldn't hold in his cries of agony as he walked. The pain was so bad, we wish he had died instead.

"Evelyn, where are you!? I need you! Please! Please help me!" Miyuki was begging and pleading for help as another icicle struck his left bicep.

"You're fucking pathetic." Isaiah insulted him before he created more icicles. "You really should have given up. But ah well, I give you permission to die now, dumbass." He shot all the icicles towards Miyuki again.

Every bit of flesh on his body was penetrated by an icicle.

He felt like he was going to faint, he bled profusely. There was no chance he could outlive something like this.

"Is this death? I'm not ready to die. But if this is my time, I at least wish it was painless and quick instead." Miyuki fell onto one knee. He gave up. Death was here for him.

"I'm a failure."

"I'm sorry Evelyn."

"I wish we could have had something."

"I wish I could have been your hero."

Miyuki was tearing up. His eyes closed.

He really had failed.