Patrick Enenra [6]

Victor's eyes widened before quickly shuffling himself out of the bed. As he neared the edge of the bed, so did Coll's mandible greatsword.

CLING!

Patrick dashed towards Victor and intercepted the strike from Coll with an angry expression. Their strike rang loud, followed by the sound of the two weapons grinding.

"Have you no heart... BOY!?"

Patrick pushed the greatsword to the left before forming a fist with his right hand. He swung and connected to Coll's cheek.

BAM!

Coll winced and reeled back. After taking a step back, he held a hand to his cheek before gritting his teeth. Victor sat on the ground and stared up at Patrick's furious expression with admiration, "Patrick..."

Coll glared at Patrick, who was on the other side of the hospital bed. "Why should I care about weaklings? Why should I care about some weakling who couldn't even do his job properly and ended up wounded?"

Coll gnashed his teeth. Patrick's eyebrows furrowed even more on his wrinkled face. Patrick's mouth opened, and as he was about to respond, Coll took the opportunity to sneak attack him.

He flipped the hospital bed towards Patrick and blocked his field of vision. He lifted the weapon and brought it down - planning to split Patrick, who was on the other side with it.

The bed frame creaked under the pressure before giving in. The mattress was torn in half, while the metal bedframe was bent into a U shape. Fluff from the mattress masked the maniacal smile plastered on his face.

"...Tsk..." The smile on his face turned into a frown as, from the corner of his eye, Patrick was holding onto the scrub of Victor a couple of meters away from the strike zone.

Victor looked around with wide eyes. His blonde hair that reached his brows was now swept to the side. He stared up at Patrick.

Some of Patrick's hair came loose and down, dangled on the side of his head and onto his face. "Pffff..." He blew against one of the long hairs that entered his mouth.

He pinched it and it to the side like the rest of them before making eye contact with Coll, who was fuming. He looked down and gave a comforting smile at Victor before letting go of him, "Stay behind me, kid. I'll protect ya."

Patrick rested the dull side of his blade onto his shoulder. Victor nodded vigorously as he listened attentively before shuffling behind him.

Patrick then shifted his attention back towards Coll before pointing his sword at him. "Why should we care about those you call weak, you say?"

He then lowered his blade to his side before closing his eyes. He tilted his head to the side while placing a hand on the exposed side of his neck.

Crack! Crack!

Consecutive cracking noises erupted from his neck before repeating once again. After Patrick finished cracking his neck, he opened his eyes, which gleamed with wisdom from his many years of being alive.

He then thought back to his wife's condition. How frail and weak she was due to her accident and how much burden it caused him to carry to pay off the bills.

"Heh... Boy... You really have no heart."

Even if he had to take on multiple jobs on top of his role as a philosophy instructor, he still loved her regardless of their situation. Even if he had to trudge back home with a hurting back, he would always have a bright smile when he saw her.

"The strong should protect the weak, regardless of their situation. It's not about power, but responsibility—a duty beyond personal gain or circumstance."

His gaze softened over Coll, "I'm sure you must have a reason for being like this, kid... You wanna talk about it? Now, what do you want to do? The hard way or the easy way?"

Patrick spoke with a soft tone before steadily making his way towards him with open arms. Coll's stare lingered on his figure before lowering his greatsword. Patrick's smile widened.

"Talk...? Sure..."

Patrick nodded in satisfaction, "Sure. Let's begin with—"

"Let's talk... AFTER I KILLED YOU!" Coll went for an overhead swing again. Patrick sighed in disappointment, "The hard way it is then..."

***

They continued their fight. The results after every clash of their weapons would be that Coll's would be parried while Patrick delivered quick strikes.

Patrick sidestepped every attack that Coll made while occasionally mocking and taunting him about it.

"Come on~! Are you even trying at this point?"

"Move them legs of yours! I thought you young people are meant to be more energetic than us Old People."

Each and every taunt made by Patrick caused Coll to become angrier and angrier, "CAN YOU SHUT UP!?" Unnoticed by Patrick, Coll's eyes darted across each part of the room.

His eyes lingered significantly longer on the curtains that hid the injured behind them.

"What're you looking at?" Patrick, noticing his eyes hadn't been on him since they began to clash again, elbowed him in the nose.

"Hm?" He then felt a tug from his shirt. Patrick looked down to see Coll tightly gripped onto his shirt - creasing it. Patrick frowned before sighing, "Don't you know uncreasing clothes are especially annoying to do—"

"I've got you now." Coll rapidly dropped his greatsword and grabbed onto the arm connected to the elbow that was on his face. He then tossed him over his shoulder and onto the floor.

Thud!

"Ugh...!" Patrick laid on the cold and hard stone flooring while groaning. "Back pains are the worst..."

His eyes then met the tip of Coll's weapon, aiming down at him. Coll plunged his greatsword down.

Patrick rolled to the side before getting up. He was now standing in front of a curtain that was shielding the injured resting behind it. Coll lunged forward and swung again.

Patrick planned to dodge again before noticing that the injured behind would get caught up in their fight. He raised the side of his blade horizontally above his head while simultaneously placing the palm of his hands against it to resist the incoming attack.

DING!

"Grrr..." Patrick groaned under the pressure. Coll's malicious smirk came back and stretched farther across his face.

Patrick pushed the greatsword back before noticing the hand attached to its handle was no longer there.

BAM!

Coll had dropped his greatsword once again and stuck Patrick's chest with his fist. Patrick was able to react fast enough to raise up both of his arms for defence before being mercilessly launched out the window.

***

"What's going on in there, do you think?" Everette turned to the side to see a worried Alice shielding herself from the sun.

They're currently still outside. Everette stayed outside because he didn't know what would happen. Alice stayed outside because she was scared of getting in his way.

Alice sighed and shook her head, "I'm not sure. I hope nothing bad happened, though." Everette nodded before turning to the window of the chapel and stiffening.

He then came to the realisation of something: "What about Patrick?" Alice also stiffened too. Everette rushed to the door before hearing the sound of a window shattering.

His head snapped towards the sound before the world began to slow. Out from the window he was watching earlier was Patrick's body being flung out of it before making a rough landing on the grass.

Patrick rolled and rolled before ending up on his back. His limb spread out across the grass. He could feel his forearms shaking from the punch.

"PATRICK!" Everette ran up to him alongside Alice. Patrick slowly lifted himself into a sitting position.

"Oh hey, kids." He quickly got up before making his way back to the chapel.

"What's going on in there?" Everette followed him. "Hm? Just a grown-up trying to put some sense into—"

Just as Patrick was about to enter, the door was then slammed open. Behind the door was Coll, covered in a red liquid while dragging a body behind him.

He tossed the body, and several thumps resounded before ending with a roll. The body stopped at Patrick's feet, and the identity was...

"Victor..." A pained expression stretched across Patrick's face as he looked into the lifeless eyes of the person he had only known for a day. His blood leaked out of his body before sinking into the ground while simultaneously staining Patrick's ankles.

Everette and Alice saw this and displayed various negative expressions. Everette turned his face away from it with a pained expression, and Alice had tears streaming down her face as she covered her mouth.

Even though she was no stranger to people dying, it was never easier on her heart each time she saw it.

Patrick tightly formed a fist before glaring at Coll, who had just snorted, "In the end, regardless of whether you were trying to play the role of a hero, I still achieved my goal."

Coll then approached Patrick with a smug look, "But... I do commend you for such a 'wonderful' spar. So I think I'll spare you for today." He said as he patted his shoulder with a cocky tone before walking past Patrick and taking a brief glance at Everette, who was just glaring at him.

He raised a brow before snorting and ignoring him overall. 'Must be just another loser like the old man.'