Chopper vs Albus

I lay there motionlessly as Albus and Chopper engaged in a battle that was too hectic for me to keep the track of. I did consider moving out of the way but for some reason, I didn't. Chopper kept shielding me from all the destruction they were causing all around them. Chopper held Ebony between his teeth and switched with Ivory occasionally. I had almost forgotten that Ebony and Ivory had curse imbued in them, they weren't some ordinary weapons. Chopper was right, I had been wasting Ebony's potential.

If I remember it right, Ebony can cut through anything and Ivory causes things to disintegrate. I hadn't even thought of using Ebony to cut through a lot. I began to imagine all the things which could have been easily sliced through if I had been using it right. Nosferatu, for one, was what I began thinking of. I wondered if Chopper had met Felix on the way. Actually, I didn't even know how Chopper got here in the first place.

Albus was keeping up rather well with Chopper. It seems he had more than one cursed weapon on him. Chopper hadn't pulled out the dagger from his side, maybe he was preventing the blood flow by using it as stoppage. Albus, on the other hand, seemed to have an endless supply of throwing knives. These cursed knives followed Chopper no matter how he deflected them. They were coming at him from all sides. He had been marked by Albus but that wasn't a problem for Chopper either. He shattered the knives using Ivory and pushed through to reach Albus. It would have been a lot quicker if he still had both arms.

Things were looking up as they went on, it was quite evident to me that Chopper had got Albus cornered. After a while, Chopper was about to cut his head off with Ebony and I closed my eyes in relief. Something stopped Chopper though, it was a devilish grin on Albus's face that made him realize that the old butler was trying to pull one over on him.

"Seraph!", Chopper quickly turned his head back towards me as I heard a chirping sound, like small metal pieces clanging with each other. I knew in that instant that Albus was using me to lure Chopper.

A barrage of his throwing knives headed towards me, I could barely get out of their way thanks to Chopper moving quickly. He threw Ivory towards the barrage and dispelled the attack. With Ivory stuck in the tree behind me after having disintegrated Albus's knives, Chopper had lost both his weapons. He had dropped Ebony in a hurry when he threw Ivory. It now lay somewhere in the darkness around Albus's feet.

This just meant that I had to move. I quickly went over to grab Ivory as Chopper fended against Albus.

"It's a sad fact that your attack is futile. You cannot destroy these little ones", Albus grinned as he readied another army of throwing knives.

In fact, no matter how many of it Ivory destroyed, they seemed to respawn. Chopper was riddled too. I could tell from his expression that he was onto something but nothing made sense to him yet.

Before we could think of something, Albus had begun his attack. I threw Ivory toward Chopper who caught it and deflected the attack. But the knives grew more and more and kept showering from all sides. Chopper had to protect himself and me too. I got away from Chopper, though I had no weapons on me. I began to move around, there had to be a blind spot for these knives, I thought. I could barely make it out of the way of these knives but knowing the cursed dagger was beginning to slow down Chopper, I had to do my part.

Albus was onto me as well. He sent another barrage against me and I had to shield myself behind a tree. The old butler was the only one moving around freely. Though, Chopper did manage to expel the attack and hurried towards him, he was caught with another attack. This time Albus made sure he couldn't be cornered. The throwing knives flew around like humming birds and aimed for his legs. Some dozen of them pierced through each of his calves as he was deflecting those headed towards his head. He winced and froze in his place.

"I suppose the curse is beginning to take effect. Your movements have slowed down considerably. I'm afraid I'll have to do my work before the curse does though", Albus said proudly before all his throwing knives congealed into one blob of mercury and then shaped into a huge sharp spear.

"It was a pleasure serving you, sir", he grimaced before the spear was shot straight towards Chopper's chest.

"Seraph! Don't disappoint me now!", that was all I needed to hear before I jumped in front of him with Ebony in my hand.

I wasn't sure I could use it like he could. After all, I wasn't capable of using magic but I had no choice but to do what I could in that moment.

I had grabbed Ebony when Albus had been focusing on Chopper solely and though I couldn't find a blind spot where his knives couldn't reach him, Chopper did all the figuring part himself and put his life in my hands. If Albus's attention was only focused on Chopper then his knives' area of attack would decrease as well. In short, if he was given an easy target he wouldn't miss the opportunity and focus on Chopper alone. Chopper had given me this chance and if I failed him now, then...

"Weak".

That's right. I didn't want to be called that anymore. Even though I was told it is fine to be weak and the duty of the weak is simply to cave in. I always accepted that but in truth I had hated being weak. Being unable to do things that others could do so easily, I didn't want to be left out anymore. I can't let these people down anymore, they've trusted me and even put their life on the line for me. I would never let them down.

"You'll die boy!!!", Albus's hideous voice rang out in the garden mixed with the screeching sound of metal against metal as the spear was split right through the metal into two. Ebony burned like fire against that silver spear and I could almost feel my skin burning off but I held my ground and didn't cave an inch.

"Huh?", Albus stared wide eyed at me and then the remains of the spear who didn't seemed to move anymore.

"Careful, old man!", Chopper leapt at him from behind me, holding the dagger in his hand, with his side and legs now bleeding profusely, he aimed straight for the head.

"It's been a pleasure...Master", Albus said before Chopper dug the dagger into his skull before landing on the ground in front of Albus.

Albus remained standing, looking at the sky as the moon removed the veil and the garden was filled with light. He looked like he was seeing something magnificent, though I couldn't imagine what it was. He was gone, his eyes weren't reflecting the moonlight back.

"Oi, get going already", Chopper turned to me.

"Huh? Ah, Chopper-san, are you going to be alright?", he was down on the ground and didn't look too full of blood.

"Don't waste time with this. I'll catch up with you. Go ahead."

I nodded hesitantly and headed on outside the garden which opened into a corridor somewhere inside the castle. I headed down the corridor towards the next enemy with Ebony clutched strongly in my hand.