Chapter 71

The sword fit snugly into Nolan's prosthesis. He was, by nature, a right-handed person. He slid his right hand to the longsword's crossguard and positioned his left at the pommel. The electric charges jumped from his hand and danced on the blade, crackling. 

Nolan sucked in a breath of joy. At least he would not be utterly powerless against a Sleeper. There was an abysmal chance the boy was Awakened, but Nolan didn't worry about it too much. Awakening a soul core was considered a troublesome business for the Dream Realm's denizens before the Nightmare Spell.

Gaius lunged at him, thrusting for Nolan's chest. Nolan retreated a step and met steel with steel. Sharp pain jolted through his arms, and the sword went flying from his hand, and Gaius's sword cut down on Nolan's hand.

Nolan leapt back. If he hadn't, he would have lost more than a finger. Blood sprouted out of the hole where his pinkie had been, and lightning flashed inside his wound. Nolan cried out as his flesh burned and closed.

"You stormspawn truly are monsters in human flesh," Gaius mused.

…he was definitely Awakened.

Gaius retreated a few steps, moving away from where Nolan dropped his sword. Graciously, he even waved a hand toward it.

"Don't! Just run!" Richard shouted. "You'll die if you—!" From the corner of his eye, Nolan saw him swing his sword against Demos's.

Nolan picked it up. "Seems I'll die either way."

"Indeed," Gaius said.

There had to be a way. Somehow, somewhere, there lay an opportunity to defeat him. The Spell was never unfair. If it dealt him a great and terrible problem to overcome, it would also offer him a solution to the problem. He need only find it.

Yet that was easier said than done.

Nolan held his sword tightly, as well as he could with a missing finger. He could not be brash. He had to choose when he met sword with sword carefully lest he—

Gaius vanished. Nolan spun on his heel, sword sweeping in an arc.

Gaius parried Nolan's blade, and with a flick of his wrist, the sword spun for his chest. Nolan backstepped. The sword narrowly missed his chest.

He raised his blade in a diagonal arc.

Gaius sidestepped it, ramming his elbow into Nolan's nose. Crack. With gritted teeth, Nolan clung to him and brought his pommel down on the back of Gaius's head. Thud.

Gaius pushed him down and drove his sword down. Nolan rolled out of the way and blocked the ensuing strike. He rose to his feet and swung. His other hand moved to the back of his cloak as if he were about to pull something out. Gaius fell for the faint and attempted to backstep, but Nolan's swing abruptly turned into a poke. The sword pierced flesh, and the electricity crackled as it seeped into his stomach.

Gaius flickered and appeared further away. His hand tightened into a claw. He held it over his shadow and swept it forward. The shadow grew wide, and out of it came pure darkness.

Nolan slowed. It was hard to think…or even feel. There was a deep, immense shadow over his mind for a moment. A moment was all it would take.

Gaius manifested before Nolan. His sword had halfway reached Nolan's arm when Nolan snapped out of it. A mind attack! Nolan threw all his weight behind his sword as he slammed aside his foe's blade. Gaius changed his grip and thrust. Nolan could only watch as its point zoomed into his eye.

It hurt. A scream tore out of Nolan's throat, and light tore out of his eye. Electricity zapped its way around Gaius's blade and jumped on his hand.

With a yelp, he withdrew, sword cutting through a good bit of Nolan's face as he pulled it out. The ensuing pain was anything but bearable, but in an instant, the wounds closed. All but his eye. It remained hollow, crackling gold and white. It was all he could do to choke on his sobs and not let them out. 

Gaius fared better than him, but his sword hand was thoroughly burned. It shook. No matter how Gaius tried, he could not stabilize it. With a grimace, he moved his sword to his other hand and took a battle stance.

That could not be said for Nolan. Between the pain in one eye and the tears in the other, he could not see much of anything.

Gaius hummed. "Perhaps your death will not be as pathetic as I thought."