With time the bandit came to the realization the blade had affected his mind. For example, he despised the royal family of the Ekathian kingdom for no good reason. Well, he disliked all royals as is but he held a special grudge towards this specific family that bloomed out of nowhere. He also noticed that his attacks had grown savage as time went on however he couldn't lay his hands on those that surrendered without resistance. The blade seemed to have a will of its own and said will was affecting him too. However, he did not care, the power this blade had granted him far surpassed the inconvenience of having his mind tampered with a little.
He decided on that day, he would carry out the will of his blade as thanks for everything said blade had granted him. He began planing against the royal family, and in time said plan took effect. With his massive influence, he contracted a large number of assassins, all of them held skill worth fearing. a hundred assassins total would take part in this plan of his to take down the entire royal family. There was only one problem, the second princess or rather the maiden of the blade. Her strength would make a direct confrontation lethal for any of the assassins. Moreover, poison does not work on her since her soul's ability, purify, can cleanse her body of any impurities that may harm her.
The conclusion he would need to lure Maiden of the blade out into a direct confrontation against him. In this way, his plans moved forward, he would leak the information about a fake headquarters he would build for this exact purpose. He would also leak information about him staying in said headquarters. To top it off he would make terrorist attacks on nearby towns and cities. This much should be enough to attract the princess into the conflict.
Fast forward a year later and everything came to fruition. The assassins had already infiltered the castle as normal servants and waited for the kill command. A battalion of the Ekathian kingdom stood outside the forest where the fake headquarters stood alongside the princess squadron of paladins. In total there were one thousand one hundred men. As for the bandits, their organisation wasn't as good but their numbers were about the same, slightly higher only by a hundred or so.
One would think trained soldiers would easily trample through this bandit camp, and that would be the case if this wasn't a massive trap. The entire forest was filled to the brim with traps giving the bandits a massive advantage that would work to level out the playing field. Moreover, the fight would take place in a forest where military formations would have trouble due to the unstable terrain and multiple obstacles.
Soon enough the battle broke out, however, neither the executioner nor the maiden of the blade took part. The reason? The executioner waited for the news of the king and his family's death. In his hand, a magic tool was held, its function and purpose were a simple, communication, not by words but by signals. There were two such tools interconnected by magic, one was held by the executioner the second by the leader of the assassin's team. by applying a certain amount of mana the tool would change colour and depending on a previously established message system information could be shared through large distances.
In this specific instance, if the tool shone red, the mission had failed, green was a success. He waited for the tool to shine. If the assassins failed there was no reason for him to fight the princes with his life in the line. He would just flee and try once again later on. However, that wasn't necessary as five minutes after the battle started the tool shone bright green. All members of the royal family of the Ekathian kingdom were now dead, that also included any distant relatives, the entire bloodline was one step away from being erased forever, and that step was the second princess.
With glee, the executioner unsheathed his blade which he had named pyrkagiá out of the blue one day. He dashed forward cleaving every single soldier he passed by in half. As soon as he began his rampage the maiden of the blade made her move as well. She had heard of the executioner on many occasions over the last few years. She dimmed him a strong opponent, and a such she would wait and preserve her strength for their inevitable fight. Finally, that time came, with swift and refined movements she entered the fray dashing towards her only objective while dealing with any bandit on her way.
Not too long after both of them entered the battle their blades clashed. The surprise could be seen in both of their faces since neither expected the other to poses a sword as strong as their own. Soon after both of them took a step back and held their positions unmoving, analyzing the other for a gap in their stance.
"Where did you get that foul thing?"
The princes couldn't contain her disgust nor her curiosity towards the sword the executioner held. This was the first time ever since she had received her own sword it had been stoped with such ease. Normally in a head-on confrontation, her sword would be able to cut through her enemies' weapon. The only exception was when said weapon was a minoken of high grade and even then she could clearly see it being damaged. However, this time was completely different, her opponent's weapon didn't suffer any damage but instead resonated weirdly with her own.
"Right back at you princess"
The executioner was in a similar daze. This was a first for him too, however, this wouldn't be enough to sway him away from his goal. The same could be said of the princess as soon after this small exchange their attacks were clashing against each other. As the dance between a beauty and a beast their attacks were different as heaven and earth but the result was always the same, nothing. Neither could hit the other as their moves complemented each other. The princes grew anxious this was the first time since long ago she has been pushed to this extent. Her magic output continued to grow in an attempt to win the upper hand however soon after it was matched by the executioner or even surpassed for a moment. The battle grew fiercer by the second and no clear winner could be spotted yet.
A slash directed at the neck was dodged downwards before swinging at the legs. A jump accompanied by a role to the side before blocking the next attack. Neither could see an opening to take advantage of. It was clear as the day they were equally matched. The battle continued for almost half an hour. The corpses of soldiers and bandits were littered all over the place. Their numbers less than half by now. The princess and executioner were still in their stalemate. Sweat could be seen climbing down their faces, small cuts could be seen here and there but nothing worth mentioning. Their fatigue was increasing at an almost exponential rate.
Perhaps it was due to fatigue or their conviction, but both of them were willing to die as long as they took the other with them. The whole purpose of this conflict in the executioner's eyes was to eliminate the princess. Even if he was to perish here his nave would be engraved in history, so he had no regrets. The princess, on the other hand, refused to leave such a dangerous man to roam free in the world, Even if her life was to be distinguished it would have been for the greater good. With their resolves reaffirmed once more the conclusion of this battle drew nearer.
In a last-ditch attempt at victory, both tried a similar thing, a kamikaze attack. Disregarding all defence and concentration every single drop of mana they had left in their bodies into this last attack both clashed once again. Blood flew everywhere as their bodies suffered grave injuries. The princes had been cut through her shoulder all the way down to her hip. A small piece of flesh holding the two halves in place. Her body went up in a red and black flame, the innate magic of pyrkagiá, and was reduced to nothing. The executioner in the other hand was pierced through the heart, while the holy wind magic cut the very connection between electrons protons and neutrons in his body, this was Naruventi's innate magic. Mutual destruction was the result of both attacks as nothing was left of either of them.
Both the soldiers and the bandits went into a panic. Their heavy hitters obliterated each other, this conflict was no longer worth it. With heist, both sides tried to retrieve the two swords that belonged to said heavy hitters to no avail. The swords would not move in the slightest and those that tried suffered from either burns or cuts. With no clear winner both parties retired and the blades were left in the middle of the bloody and corpse-filled battlefield.
A few days went by and a group of wandering scavengers came by the battlefield. With nimble movements, they took everything of value until they reached the two blades resting next to each other. A few tried to take them only to suffer the same fate as the soldiers and bandits until the leader approached. He, unlike the others, did not try to pull them out, instead, he covered them with a blanket and dug the ground beneath. After the two blades had fallen into his possession he spoke.
"These swords possess immense power no man should ever have. I will keep them and make sure they never are used again"
With those words, he left with the now completely covered swords on his back. Years went by as he kept his promise. The swords would never leave his side or sight, but time is cruel and age kept weakening him. In time he made a mistake and perished inside a dungeon. Said dungeon hid the blades in a secret area as they could be used as catalysts for mana and miasma absorption, until one day, a young lady found them gain.
Comments (0)
See all