Like The Wind

Hesitantly, Zane walked away. Looking back and sneaking a glance to see if the body ever moved. It didn't.

Using his blades, he cut and sliced the inner flesh of the snake, tearing out it's scales in the process. Soon He almost seemed like an experienced butcher, considering his dexterity. 

In a few mere minutes, he had successfully dissected the heart of the snake, carving it out perfectly. The talking snake had gone silent long ago. 

Zane wanted to place the product away from Ophelia. IHe didn't want to make her condition worse than it already was. He stumbled as he tripped over a hard pile of skeletons.

"It's fine, Zan-!" Ophelia yelled, her voice disappearing halfway through. She felt a tight pain tackling away at her throat. She watched as some small white snakes wiggle away.

After a few minutes, Zane had finished collecting the materials the snack had said it was essential for an antidote for the venom. The problem now was that he had no idea what exactly are the steps to make the antidote. Even if he did, he was no alchemist, neither was Ophelia.

Should he just do it? He touched the jelly-like substance of the split tongue. It made his head spin and react violently. He coughed for a while, coughing out a mixture of his saliva and blood.

This caused Ophelia to be alarmed, she rushed over and felt at his face. Why was he so pale? He was fine just now! She looked around and looked for a mark. A similar one to what she had, but she found nothing similar to it.

"Zane!" Ophelia cried out, as she felt her hands being gently gripped by Zane.

"Your voice..Ophelia." Zane murmured as he held in a cough. He gently caressed her braids and put a smile on his face. "Let's get out of here..and then, I'll find someone to make the cure for you."

Ophelia gulped and hugged him. She didn't know why, but she felt an alarming sense of discomfort in the smile she always appreciated. It almost seemed like a bad omen.

"I'm not hurt that bad. I think it was just the shock of getting bitten or an explosive effect." Ophelia paused and with her two hands she pointed at the sides of her mouth and slowly traced it upwards. Forming a large smile. "So relax a little. It'll be fine." 

Zane's eyes widened as he nodded. He had to calm down. For her sake. When he was just about to lean and rest on Ophelia's shoulder, he saw the water bottle laying on the ground.

Where did it come from? It was from the boy! But he wasn't holding anything at first. Come to think of it..where did he even get the sword from? Didn't he throw it back there? 

The boy had a void ring. Didn't he? What if there were healing potions inside?

With the discovery of this realisation, Zane snapped his head back and looked at where the body was supposed to be. 

Supposedly.

But the boy was gone. Yet the traces of him being there was still obvious. The cracked woods and spikes with blood splattered.

Quickly, Zane got his sword and hovered above Ophelia. "Shield. Get it up. I'll deal with him." He quickly said, not letting himself get distracted any further.

He wasn't sure where the kid had gone. But he for sure was still creeping around here somewhere. The gate still hasn't opened one bit.

There was no exit besides that.

Zane senses sharpened in tune to his palpitating heartbeat. He could hear every string of air passing by. The soft steps and sneaky steps that crawled up behind him.

He swung around and could hear a clang before his hands got to react to the overpowering amount of strength that was pushing him back.

If he had reacted a few seconds later, Ophelia would've gotten injured. 

Zane stepped out of her barrier as he used his whole body weight to push Kai back.

"You're a persistent one." Zane remarked, his veins popping out from his forehead. He clenched his sword tightly and parried the sword away.

Kai stayed silent. He swung downwards with all his body weight pressed front.

Reflecting the sword, Zane dodged and went in for the opening. 

Noticing he had missed, Kai rotated his body midair and bent backwards. He saw the blade missing him by just an inch. Quickly, he used one of his legs and kicked the weapon away.

Zane changed the trajectory of his strike as he aimed downwards. As fast as he could before the boy changed his position. 

Seeing Zane making the obvious move, Kai using his core strength, he swung his sword while he maintained his balance on one foot.

When Kai swung, he lifted his leg up and twisted his body upright. He was back on his feet again, breathing heavily throughout his nose.

Kai had successfully grazed his enemy of but at the cost of another major injury. 

"I gave you an option. Leave. Or stay and die." Zane threatened, as he swayed a little. Surprised at how flexible and agile Kai was. If they weren't at each other's throat right now, he would've asked how the boy had reached that sort of physical state.

Zane disappeared and went in for an attack at the neck. 

Sensing it, Kai turned round and blocked the attack with the flat of his blade. He felt his leg moving back to account for the overwhelming force that was being placed on his arms.

Kai's facial expression didn't change the whole time. He remained stoic even when the other dagger he wasn't defending against stabbed into his arm. 

The person in front of him wasn't someone he could win against in a 1 on 1 fight. Zane was much more talented and experienced than the assassin he had fought.

But Kai wasn't going to give up now. He had gone so far. If he died now, what about all the sacrifices he made? They'd be deemed useless. 

Fire blazed at the tip of Zane's sword as it lit down to his hilt. He stabbed but missed as Kai jumped back.

"You can still leave now. It isn't too late." Zane said, he dashed in front. He was fast till the point that his voice was still resounding behind him. 

Zane clashed with Kai as he attacked at any openings he could find. There were a lot of chances but none of them were major enough to put the fight to an end.

Oddly, Zane felt as if his vision was getting blurrier and his fingers were slightly out of his control. He figured it must've been from his fall earlier. But then it hit him. 

As Zane continued clashing and hacking away at Kai's outstanding defence despite the injuries, he had realised what the boy was aiming for.

A fight that was prolonged. 

So that the effect could kick in and do its job.

Even if Kai wanted to, he couldn't easily injure or land a proper hit on Zane. That person was out of his league, skill and magic wise.

But Kai was confident in his durability. And he had a few tricks up his sleeves.

Just as when he was about to go in for a propper offence, Kai felt a blast hit the side of his leg. He had completely forgotten.

The mage was still alive. 

That caught him off guard.

Zane used the distraction and slashed horizontally at the neck of his opponent. Fire enveloping his blades. He had to end this quick before his movements got dull.

Kai recoiled back in pain as he felt a searing pain. He struggled to stand properly but he couldn't afford to stand and regain his composure.

He held his nondominant hand in a fist and felt the mana from his core getting sucked out like a magnet.

The room temperature dipped. 

A huge ice spike was heading straight for Ophelia.

When Kai thought it had done the job of creating a mouse trap for Zane, he still could see a red blade roaring with fire heading towards him.

Was that not it?

Kai looked at Ophelia and realised that she was still uninjured. In fact, she was even chanting a spell.

This caused Kai to panic a little. The grip on his blade got more tensed as his movements became predictable as he blocked the attacks that were life threatening.

"I warned you. This is your end."  Zane said, a green outline forming around him. That seemed like an effect of healing or a buff.

Zane stabbed and pierced into the abdomen of Kai. Making sure it went through this time. And into a critical spot. The solar plexus.

He felt his shortsword getting heavier as the body in front of him lost it's fighting will.

Kai's leg refused to support his body weight as the pain exploded through his body. This was nothing. He closed his mouth and looked down. And gulped.

Just as when Zane was going to remove the blade and keep it back into his sheath, he felt like it wouldn't budge. He tried a little harder and felt his hands shaking.

Zane slowly looked at Kai who was now looking up with a smile on his face. A sword incoming.

The boy's injury has healed. Well most. The scars on his face were gone and the wounds on his body were in the process of healing. 

What? How?

Only a healer could do that and as far as Zane was certain, the boy did not have an aura of a healer.

"It was hard keeping my mouth shut the whole time." Kai remarked, green residue spilling from his mouth. 

Zane in the middle of processing everything that was ongoing, he didn't realise that a cold blade had just made contact with his skin. It didn't press onto the flesh at all. It just glided.

Unfortunately for Kai, the blade did not fully cut and decapitate Zane. The most it had done was left a deep cut. 

Zane held his neck and felt his warm blood leaving his body. The sound of it dripping onto the ground made him more annoyed than ever. Thankfully, Ophelia's healing was working fast.

Before Kai let Zane recover any further, he attacked again, this time with two hands on the sword. He couldn't miss this time. 

Afterall, it was an unmoving target.

Zane tried to dodge and get out of the path of the blade, he felt ice crawling up his legs. But it was nothing he couldn't remove with a flick of fire. Even Ophelia was casting a spell to remove it. It would be fast.

But Kai was quick at adapting to an enemy's speed. He learned it all from his master. Watch, learn and adapt. 

But the swing of the blade was not something Kai had learned from Mr Walton. They both had completely different sword styles.

Mr Walton was thunderous and explosive while Kai's was sharp and precise. A better word to describe his sword style was the wind.

Wind that passed by and made contact with parts of your skin. It flowed freely. It sometimes felt as if it completely passed through your body to follow it's route ahead. 

Wind that felt light. Brushing against your hair as it intertwined momentarily. Leaving you empty and out cold.

Slice.

A head dropped onto the ground. It's black eyes are still open. A scream echoed in the background.