Kollar's impressive stature reminded Leo of his tall colleague. This giant was probably also a barbarian. He resembled Tolbar except for the facial features: round nose, a huge scar on his left cheek, a small beard weaved together into a pointy end, and wrinkles found in most men in their early fifties. Plus, his brown cloak covering the entire body highlighted his already imposing aura.
Kollar eyed his opponent with a smirk on his face.
'Hum! Short legs and arms. Tanned round face but white skin under the armor. Small calluses, but not enough to prove any real training. Unconditioned muscles, despite his job as a guard. This guy's been standing still for too long under the sun without proper exercise.' Kollar mocked mentally, 'This is going to be a boring fight.'
Leo understood the message sent by the giant: "You aren't worthy." This thought sparked a rage he hadn't felt since Tolbar humiliated him and Toma. Angered swelled up to reach a volcanic eruption-like scenario. He couldn't let those savages mock him any further.
To top it off, Kollar kept his right hand behind his back–giving himself a handicap–while his other hand taunted Leo on the verge of going berserk.
"What are you waiting for, small man," Kollar taunted, "Come, let me have a taste of your steel."
At those words Leo couldn't hold it in anymore and dashed forward, aiming for a downward strike.
Kollar calculated the man's reach, and at the last moment took a small step back, avoiding the blade by an inch.
Leo rapidly changed the sword's direction to slash the giant's stomach, but only found empty air. Kollar's agility was impressive despite his size.
'How the hell can he move like that?' Leo thought.
Indeed, the barbarian seemed to be able to predict the guard's movement, where in fact it was just years of battle experience tempered with an immense amount of training.
"Is that all you got?" Kollar asked.
"WAAAAH!"
Leo's rage exploded, and his sword's strike became blurry because of the increased speed, in exchange for a loss in precision.
Tired of dodging, Kollar blocked the sword with his forearm. A metallic sound then resounded.
BENG!
The sword hit Kollar but inflicted no cuts on his arms. Tired of this circus, Kollar took off his cloak, which obstructed his movement, to reveal his metal breastplate and large steel gauntlets he used to punch his enemies to death. The giant had just the bare minimum of equipment because he considered armor a bother to move around. He also never said it to anyone, but old age was taking a toll on his capacity to carry heavy armors for a long duration.
Surprised, Leo took a step back to regain his focus, but Kollar didn't want to leave him any breathing room and dashed forward with a speed barely human. With no time to react, the guard took a heavy blow in the stomach, which formed a dent in his armor.
Bleurgh.
Leo couldn't refrain from vomiting. After all, If he hadn't worn his breastplate, he would have lost his life by now.
'F*ck, how can those savages be so strong...' he wondered.
"I'm..."
Before Leo could finish his sentence, Kollar punched the back of his helmet with enough strength to put him to sleep.
"You didn't have to go so far!" Toma said while monitoring the captives.
"It's your friend's fault for ignoring his limits. If I hadn't done that, he would have stood up again."
Tsk. Toma clicked his tongue. The giant was right, Leo was too driven by his hormones to think logically.
"Fine, now what?"
"Now we kill them and blame the beggars' for their death."
***
'Faster!'
Tolbar couldn't contain his worry as he followed the teenager.
'Faster!'
"Wer amost ther!" the young man said.
The ragged teenager had been too slow, forcing Tolbar to throw his shield off and carry him with one arm, while the teenager pointed the direction to follow.
'Faster!'
They finally arrived at a back alley where a carriage was awkwardly parked, as if to prevent people from watching what was happening inside. A familiar man in a dented full-bodied armor laid on the ground.
At the sight of Leo, Tolbar let go of the teenager, partially activated Rage to heighten his speed, and reached the carriage in a split second.
Behind it, he found two men he already knew, especially Kollar. This man had been his mentor when he was younger. Tolbar had learned everything he knew about combat with him. But one day he disappeared. With no clues as to where his mentor had gone, Tolbar trained alone until he entered the military.
Kollar was strangling Marie while Toma covered Lena's mouth with his hands. The little girl had soaked her pants while crying at the view of her mother's imminent death.
Tolbar lost no time and fully activated Rage. His fatigue from running all the way from the city mansion to the slums now gone temporarily, he dashed towards Toma with inhumane speed and nailed him unconscious into the nearby wall.
BAM.
Kollar barely had the time to let go of Marie and turn his head that Tolbar was already upon him.
BING!
Kollar repelled his opponent's mace with his gauntlets, but it put a small dent in them despite their robustness.
"You were faster than..."
Tolbar didn't leave any room for talk as he launched multiple strikes at his enemy. Impossible to parry his opponent's every attack using normal means, Kollar used Rage to even the odds.
"WAAH!"
Having regained a bit of breath, Marie looked at her daughter, petrified from fear. Kollar had previously broken her legs to avoid any inconveniences, forcing her to bear pain like she never experienced before. She greeted her teeth and crawled to her daughter's side. There, she hugged the child, hoping to ease–even a little–the trauma she was going through.
In front of the mother and daughter, a mentor and his disciple were fighting with their lives on the line.
The two berserkers exchanged a flurry of blows so fast that Marie couldn't make out their movements. All she could see were two tall figures moving around their arms at incredible speed.
'Damn it, I'm too tired to keep going. I need to finish it now!' Tolbar thought.
Kollar perceived a slight change in his disciple's behavior: more aggressivity. He smirked as he understood what was happening.
'Tired already, Tolbar?' Kollar mocked mentally.
As far as he could remember, Tolbar had never won against his mentor. Kollar had been too fast and too strong in the past. But now he was older and as the saying goes in the barbarian's culture: age is the bane of all warriors.
Kollar frown as he saw Tolbar pushing himself above his own limits. His disciple's attack got stronger and faster. Under those deadly strikes, Kollar's left knee began to swell. It was a problem that occurred more frequently as he got older, especially in his berserk state, which already took a toll on his body.
Rage increased the fighting power of barbarians. However, apart from taking a toll on their body, the drawback shortens their life spans. That was the reason they had learned to use it sparingly or partially. But Kollar had abused it in his younger years and was now paying the price of it.
BAM!
Tolbar landed a powerful blow to his mentor's side, denting the old man's armor and breaking a few ribs on the way. But Kollar handled the pain and gave his disciple a violent hook, breaking his jaw into pieces.
"WAAH!"
"WAAH!"
Determined to finish the fight, both barbarians dashed towards each other. Kollar punched straight, aiming for his disciple's face, hoping to smash it into oblivion. Tolbar launched his mace towards Kollar's temple, but he was still out of reach. The mentor smirked at this beginner's mistake, but he didn't know Tolbar had chosen this mace for one specific reason: a hidden mechanism to lengthen the shaft.
BAM!
At the last moment, Tolbar triggered the mechanism, boosting the mace range which landed itself in Kollar's skull. The mentor was thrown to the side, hitting his head on the nearby wall, and fell to the ground.
Tolbar approached him, tears in his eyes. This man had been a father to him when he was young. He didn't understand why Kollar tried to kill his employer's wife but more than that...
"Why do you reappear now, under those circumstances?" Tolbar said while panting.
The mentor thoughts were too fuzzy to respond normally.
"You've grown-up boy."
In this state, Tolbar knew Kollar would die, eventually. He couldn't bear to watch his own mentor suffer any further and dealt the decisive strike.
Engrossed in the fight, Tolbar only remembered now why he came here. He turned towards Marie and Lena. However, Toma had somehow regained consciousness and was holding a dagger to Marie's throat.
"Lay down your weapon now!" Toma said.
The barbarian had no choice but to do as commanded.
Toma was desperate. He knew beating the giant in a fair fight was impossible, despite how tired Tolbar looked. So he did the only thing he could and took Marie hostage. He thought that if he played it smart enough, Kollar's liege, the pope, would grant him a reward. Therefore, he had to find a way to kill his targets, plus the giant.
"Now, if you want Marie to live," Toma said while pointing a finger towards Lena, "kill her."
Tolbar's glare got colder. He couldn't stand this kind of dilemma, but nor could he do anything. So he stood still, pondering his options.
"What are you doing? I said 'kill her'!"
In his panic, Toma pressed the blade further into Marie's throat, who squealed under the threat.
"Don't!" Tolbar said.
Marie watched as the barbarian hesitated. She turned her head towards Lena, in doing so the blade sunk further in her throat, drawing blood. Lena was still trembling next to her. The little girl appeared awake, but her consciousness had retracted into the mind's deepest part in order to protect her mental health.
At the sight, Marie cried internally. No child should have to go through such an event. Watching her daughter's suffering triggered her maternal instinct, telling her to protect Lena at all costs.
She firmed her resolve and turned towards the barbarian...
"Tolbar," she said while the blade cut her throat even deeper, "take care of Lena."
"Wait, what are you going to do?" Toma asked.
Marie's vision blurred due to tears filling her eyes and running down her cheeks. She turned her gaze towards Lena, smiled as if nothing of this horrible event ever happened, and using Toma's dagger, cut her own throat.
Blood splashed all over Toma's clothes as he screamed in fright and panic. But Marie couldn't hear any of it as her body fell to the ground. She saw a huge blurred figure rapidly pass by, resulting in a painful scream echoing nearby. However, to Marie, this scream was barely audible as the life left her body with each passing second.
Finally, just before closing her eyes, Marie's last thought went to her daughter.
'My little spark...'
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