The Bold And The Crazy
"I am Leif Twilight! The one who will one day become the millennium sage!"
A bold declaration indeed, but the guards ignored it and got their priorities straight.
"He knocked out the warden! Restrain him!" A quick response came from the guards inside the cell. They unsheathed their curved blades and batons and then rushed towards the cell entrance near where Shiva and the unconscious warden were. Instinctively, Shiva snatched something from the warden's belt and quickly went outside of the cell. The guards failed to capture him, and now he stood side by side with Leif.
"What now, Leif?"
*** The Bold And The Crazy ***
Leif turned his attention to the guards who escorted him earlier while Shiva faced the guards coming out of the cell.
"Take those chains and swing them around like a madman," Leif said as his left hand pointed out at the pair of metal chains on the ground. Both were connected to the broken shackles that once restrained him.
Without any further questions, Shiva did what he was told and armed himself with those chains. His hands felt weird from holding such improvised gear as the chains swayed randomly in his grasp.
"Will this work?" Shiva asked Leif behind him, feeling nervous as the guards came out of the cell and pointed their weapons at him.
"You'll be fine. Just... don't hit your crotch."
Three guards from the cell have properly assembled into a column and along with the guard escorts, they pincered the two in the middle. This bitter feeling of fear enveloped the whole atmosphere. Various weapons at hand were now ready - it was just a question of who was going to start the battle.
"Capture them!" One of the guards yelled at the top of his lungs, followed by a deafening cry from the guards. Clouds of dust flung up from the ground as the guards engaged both of the young men.
"Ragh-ragh-rah-rah!" With both of his hands hoisted high up in the air, Shiva vigorously flung around both chains at his hand - alternately in a circular motion. The sharp whistling of his weapons cutting through the air immobilized the approaching guards with caution from taking another step near him.
Meanwhile, on the other side...
"Leaf Style: Folium Dance."
Like that of a crane spreading out its wings to take flight, Leif broadly opened both of his hands into the air. His form stood majestically against the two guards closing fast on him.
"Heyah!" The first guard swiped his curved sword at Leif's torso but got intercepted quickly by the broad leaf.
"Fast!" the guard whose strike was blocked blurted out in surprise. After a moment of delay, a shockwave was generated at the point of impact on Leif's leaf. The explosive pressure made the guard's sword bounce off it and made the guard lose his posture. Leif took that window of opportunity and made a follow-up attack on the guard's body. The attack successfully connected and another shockwave sent the guard away, tumbling down to the ground.
The other guard then came at Leif with a downward slash - his sword already at the top and was ready to be brought down at Leif's body. But when the guard brought down his slash, Leif swiftly spun around once and swiped his leaf at the sword to receive it. His motion was so quick that the guard could hardly believe what happened.
When the guard was about to pull his blade to make another attack, his sight met Leif's eyes. Captivated by the deep hue of his emerald-crystal eyes, the guard failed to execute another move and froze in his spot. Another shockwave manifested at the leaf and it sent up high the guard's sword - strong enough that it got planted at the ceiling.
"That's two," Leif calmly declared as he slapped away the side of the guard's helmet with his leaf. The force threw the guard backward, and he hit the nearby wall headfirst, rendering him unconscious.
After that, his attention shifted to his rear where he left his companion. His senses were taken aback as Shiva continued flailing his chains around. Leif felt it funny as he watched how his ally was trying his hardest to continue waving those chains around haphazardly. The guards who were just standing there and baffled at Shiva's extreme performance made it even funnier for him.
"Shiva, you... you can stop now," Leif said as he tried to stop giggling. But Shiva, in response, just wiggled his head. "I can't stop!" he shouted frantically.
"What?!"
"Can't stop!" Shiva repeated himself.
Confused, Leif started to worry for him. As they realized Shiva was experiencing some difficulties, the guards started to slowly approach him again.
"Just let it go!" Leif shouted at Shiva who was now visibly panicking.
"It's too fast!"
"Moron! Just do it!"
With his eyes firmly closed out of fear, Shiva simultaneously let go of the chains spinning wildly at his hands. One got flung backward above Leif's head while the other one found its way to the head of a guard approaching Shiva at his right, completely knocking him out.
"Woah!" Leif exclaimed with disbelief as he unconsciously ducked.
With that opportunity that Shiva miraculously created, Leif wasted no second and dashed forward to engage the remaining guards. As he passed by to Shiva's left, he glanced at him and said a few words. "Great job..."
With his hands still trembling at what he experienced earlier, Shiva felt a little relieved as he heard Leif's words. He was left there standing and was forced to witness the sight of Leif swiftly disabling his enemies with his unparalleled agility and the delayed shockwaves coming from his leaf. His eyes carefully treaded Leif's movements - they never blinked a single time, making sure to not miss a single moment of the fight.
BAM!
As the last guard was sent flying away, the green glow in Leif's eyes started to fade. His leaf, its condition still as fresh as before, slowly dispersed into thin air. As it faded away, it left behind a trail of glowing sparkles in bright green. This sight of Leif after the battle was a great spectacle for Shiva and it struck something inside of him. "Strong..." he whispered under his breath.
Leif looked around and saw two more guards attending to the unconscious warden. One had a round stone with spiral engravings that glowed in red and held it above the warden's head. Another guard blocks the cell's entrance, his hands uncontrollably shaking while pointing out his wooden baton in the direction of Leif.
Firmly gritting his teeth while sweat continuously flowed down his chin, the guard stood strong to protect his comrade who was aiding their warden. Leif's eyes squinted at this sight of camaraderie, one thing that he never expected to witness with a type of group like this.
"This ends here," Leif said as he showed his back to the guard and triumphantly walked away.
"Are you going to escape away from this place?" Shiva asked him.
"Yes, that is my intention," Leif answered as he continued to walk away, passing through where Shiva was.
"May I come along with you?"
Leif stopped in his tracks, looked back at the young man, and wore a confused face.
"Well, I mean you're my accomplice with this whole thing. So if you don't want to get left behind, it's your only best shot of escaping, don't you think?"
Relieved, Shiva ran ahead and trailed behind Leif.
"Oh, and by the way. You should equip yourself again with those chains. One went flying this way so you can use that again."
"A... again?" Shiva reluctantly replied.
"How else are you going to defend yourself, eh? Besides, it was amusing to watch - hehe." Leif said and then laughed a little at the end.
Flustered at Leif making fun of him, he slowly turned his face away to hide his embarrassment. All of a sudden, Shiva's face turned gloomy - almost like something else burdened his mind.
Undecided, he tried to get Leif's attention. "Leif, actually..."
"Hmm? What is it?" Leif asked him as he looked at Shiva. He immediately sensed that something big was making him feel bad.
After a brief pause, Shiva stopped walking and looked at Leif directly in his eyes. It was overflowing with much seriousness to which Leif discerned it to be something of most important...
Finally, Shiva started to speak what was on his mind.
.
.
.
"Can you help me destroy this whole place?"