Chapter 45 Free For All Part 6

"The moon brother brought his axe down on Jake, but he blocked the attack. This surprised both brothers, as Jake looked at them, a face full of sweat and tears, with a new look of determination in his eyes. After the shock wore off, the brother with the sun tattoo whistled as he slapped his brother playfully across the back. 'Get a look of that, bro. Looks like the little rabbit still has some fight left in him.' His brother, still pushing his axe downwards, smiled. 'Well, not for long.'

As the moon brother kept pushing down, Jake grabbed, and tightened his grip on his sword handle. He tried to pull the sword out, like he did that night. No, trying is the wrong use of words. He aimed to unsheathe the sword to defeat these two. But like the previous time, the sword didn't come out from its sheathe. But unlike those previous times, the blade did move, if only just a little. It was so small, in fact, that neither the brothers nor Jake reacted. But she noticed it, surprised her because she had made up her mind that this boy wasn't worthy. But he managed to pull her out, if only a little bit.

Jake was frustrated, believing once again he failed. 'What's wrong with this fucking thing?' he thought, as he did, still struggling to hold the moon brother back. The one with the sun tattoo chuckled. 'Looks like you're having a hard time, bro. How bout I help you?' He grabbed his rental sword, about to take advantage of the situation. Jake's eyes darted to him, but he couldn't do a thing as long as he was being held down by the other one.

As the sun brother took a single step forward, as he swung his blade at Jake, as the sword neared closer to Jake, his mind was racing. He was panicking, he was simply trying to figure out a way out of this. But he couldn't; they had him pinned down, and he was left wide open. The sun brother's sword came closer and closer. As it did, time once again felt as if it moved at a snail's pace. When it did, Jake became hyperaware of everything around, which was odd because he was only seconds from death. But still, it was as if his eyes were open to everything around him.

And it was because of this hyperawareness that Jake's attention was captured, not by the brother holding him down or the other brother about to slay him. No, his eyes locked onto his sword. Similar to that night when Jake fought the mountain of a man that was Judas, darkness came from the blade. Unlike that night, the darkness didn't erupt out, knocking everyone in Jake's vicinity away. No, this time, it was much smaller. It was a small stream of darkness that poured out of the sword. It looked like smoke at first, then it looked like a black snake slithering its way around the entire sword itself. This had Jake's full attention, even in his current predicament.

As the sun brother's blade came closer, the faster the tiny bit of darkness started to spin around the sword. It was moving more rapidly, faster and faster, till it reached its breaking point and popped. As the darkness picked up speed, it exploded. The tiny explosion didn't damage the katana at all, but it did chip the axe that was holding Jake down. To be a matter of fact, the little explosion did much more than just chip the axe. It forced the moon brother's arms back, the weight of the weapon starting to pull the man backwards. And he wasn't the only one. The explosion was so sudden that it knocked the sun brother's weapon clean out of his hands, also knocking him off balance.

The only ones unaffected by all of this were Jake and the sword he held. The boy was stunned, truly stunned. Not even half a second ago, he was about to die, but here he was now, alive. He was shocked, and in his shock, he just sat there, but not for long. As Jake sat there in amazement, he heard that voice again, that familiar yet unfamiliar female voice. 'If you choose to sit there like a fool, then y'all die. But if that's what you desire, then fine, be my guest. What you do now is not my concern.' The words sunk into Jake's soul, the words motivated him to action.

He charged forward towards the moon brother, who hadn't gotten his balance back. His axe still pulling him backwards. With no fear, Jake ran forward, then jumped. He held the katana's hilt, he aimed to jab the axe-wielding man in the face, but that was foolish. This brother weren't amateurs , and a simple jab to the face wouldn't defeat them. And Jake knew that he knew in actual combat he would lose. But still, he knew with this sword he held tightly in his hands, he knew that he could have the upper hand. As the boy geared up his jab, he thought back to that night, when he was able to command the shadows. 'If I could do it again,' he thought, 'I could win.' His face started to tense up, veins in his forehead were visible as he struggled. To be…Honest, Jake didn't know what the hell he was doing. All he knew was that he wanted to summon the shadows, but he didn't know how. He had only done it once before and wasn't able to recreate it, but he was determined. Determined to fight, determined to win, determined to live. So, he kept going, with not an ounce of fear left in his body. As he did, he noticed something: another small bit of darkness came from the sword. When Jake saw it, he thought, I did it."

This action surprised her. She saved him earlier from the brother's attack because… She gave it thought. She didn't know why she saved him. She had already made up her mind that this boy was worthless. He meant nothing to her, but here he is, commanding shadows.

"Was she doing this?" she thought. "Was she helping him?" She wouldn't know now, but slowly, the boy was starting to sway her heart.

As Jake looked upon the small bit of darkness, he focused, looking at the base of his sword sheath. The darkness made its way there, and when it did, just like before, it spun. The little shadow spun fast around the base of the katana. As it did, Jake smiled, ready to do what he needed to.

Jake cocked back his arm, then thrusted it forward, hitting the Moon Brother hard in the face. Jake, putting everything he had in that attack, the force was so great it broke the Moon Brother's nose. But he was still conscious. As blood poured from his nose, the brother looked at Jake with anger.

"You little… I'm gonna kill you."

But he would never get the chance because, after the first impact, there was a second. With the katana's scabbard still pressed into the Moon Brother's face, the spinning darkness had reached its breaking point and exploded. The force of the explosion shot the Moon Brother down hard and fast. He hit the ground so hard he cracked it. He went limp. One half of the attacking brothers was defeated.

Jake hit him so hard he fell unconscious, but not when he hit the ground, like a meteor falling to earth. No, the moment the shadow exploded so close to his face, it was lights out. Jake stood over the man, victorious. As he huffed and puffed, he felt exhausted for some reason, even though he only attacked once. But he wouldn't have time to think of it as he heard a scream from behind.

"Bro!"

As he turned around, he saw the Sun Brother with a bewildered look on his face.

"No way, you defeated him. No way," he thought. His look of shock started to morph into a look of hate.

"You… son of a bitch," he gritted his teeth in anger. "How dare you! How dare you hurt my brother!"

The Sun Brother rushed forward with murderous intent on his mind. But Jake didn't cower. He focused again on the sword. He struggled again as another stream of darkness came from the sword. It curled its way up and down the scabbard, spinning as it did.

Once Jake was satisfied, he looked at his opponent charging at him. The boy didn't wait for the Sun Brother to come to him; he decided to make his way to him. Jake shot off, running straight at the Sun Brother. As he did, he repeated the same thing over and over in his head as he ran into battle.

"Fight! Fight!! Fight!!! FIGHT!!!!"