"Tsk Tsk Tsk..." the demon clicked his tongue.
"Sees Yggdrsil has got you rattled up eh? To look away from the opponent in front of you, how insulting."
Eliron raised a brow, noticing how cold his voice had gotten.
’Is this demon seriously jealous that I was thinking about another demon?’
Even after the insults they had traded, he did not seem half as offended as he did now.
’Looks like he’s a samurai...’ Eliron mused.
He had read about how much they valued respect, and since he had already challenged Eliron to a duel, he must have seen his attitude as insulting.
To samurai, everything was a part of the battle the mont a duel was initiated, from your thoughts, down to your most minute actions.
"It seems, I have not made my presence well known." The demon spoke, slowly rising from his seated position.
Step!
The clouds darkened, the white flowing grass lost its colour, turning to a dull grey, and then ca a blizzard, one so great that the world was covered in snow in the blink of an eye.
"I guess the ti for talk is over?" Eliron joked.
The demon glared down at him, his dark pupils giving off a ghostly aura as he slowly unsheathed his sword.
Swish!
The sound of the tal sliding off rang in Eliron ears as the demon raised the blade.
"You asked what a demon is? I guess I will tell you, after all, it would be a sad thing to send a soul to the beyond heavy with questions."
The house morphed, the building was split in two and then it opened like a chest, large teeth bursting out, accompanied by a long serpentine tongue that tasted the air.
"Daddy, Daddy! It looks like we have VISITORS!" A child-lile voice echoed from within the monster.
Eliron felt sweat form and the back of his neck.
’I see...’
This demon...
It did not just bear Constance... it also had a Revelation. The physical manifestation of your inner world.
But what sort of life must you have lived to have a hellish Constance such as this?
And that voice... it was so innocent, but at the sa ti filled with unholy corruption.
Now Eliron was sure, the man in front of him was beyond a doubt a demon, a nefarious one at that.
The wind howled like an ice dragon, the temperature dropping down several degrees.
Step!
This ti, the demon’s feet slipped into the snow, making contact with the earth underneath it.
"Are demons forrly humans? Elves? Dwarves? No. We are not truly the souls of the departed."
The blizzard wrapped his body, the misty snow blocking parts of him from view.
"...we are corrupted vestiges of what had been, and ballads of the things to co. Malicious beings cursed to wander countless worlds, tortured by mories that we cannot call our own..."
Step!
His voice grew darker, pain nestled in his words.
"Demons are plagues, we are anomalies that should have never been birthed."
Then he finally stopped, right in front of Eliron.
The elven lord and the demon t eye to eye, neither flinching in the other’s presence.
He was so close to Eliron that the snow swirling around him was biting into Eliron’s skin, so much so that he had to use his mana to prevent himself from freezing.
"...Kid, this is exactly what we demons are."
"Want by sword? Fulfil my law, pry it out of my hands."
Eliron smirked. "Sounds like a duel..."
The demon’s lips curled upwards.
Swoosh!
The mist around him was dispelled, revealing a dark blue, icy Ō-Yoroi, shogun armour.
The samurai bowed, clasping his hands together. "I am... The sword demon, Satoru Uren, known as the Winter Shogun. And I hereby challenge you to a duel, Shinken Shobu.
"A duel to the death."
Wrapped up in wind so chilling that Eliron could feel his bones.
Standing in front of a demon with a thousand duels underneath his belt.
In the frozen wasteland that was the belly of this fiends Revelation.
Eliron drew his blade.
"Challenge accepted."
Swish!
Satoru raised his sword, delivering a simple downward strike, and yet, it was as thought had unloaded the world right on Eliron’s blade.
Bang!
Eliron raised his sword, blocked the blade just in ti, a shockwave cutting past them.
The elven steel long sword groaned under the pressure, sparks erupting from the point at which it t the black blade, the frost already clinging onto it.
’Stay with friend, I know this must be a lot!’
Since this was a traditional duel, all that mattered were swords and fists, using anything outside this would result in an automatic disqualification and Eliron would fail to take the sword.
Good thing swords were his specialty...
Eliron took in a deep breath as he activated mana breathing, his azure eyes glowing brightly.
Swish!
He redirected the shogun’s sword to the side, and drove his blade at his neck. As the sword ca, Satoru swiftly raised his sword to deflect with the flat of the blade.
But it was a feint.
Eliron imdiately moved his grip to the lower part of the longsword, lashing out at his face.
But sohow, the demon’s sword found its way there. The two fighters unleashed a flurry of blows, steel warming up the winter, snow lting underneath their feet, both of them refusing to be moved.
While Eliron’s sword style was more assertive, probing his opponents weakness and using his agility to put his opponents in difficult positions, the sword demon was like a freight train that ploughed through with brute force and astute swordsmanship.
Clash!
Their swords slamd against each other, bouncing the arms of both warriors back. Only then did they both jump in opposite directions, feet digging into the snow, chest rising and falling.
The shogun glared at Eliron through the slit in his helm and nodded.
"Not bad."
"That’s my line glutton." Eliron huffed.
The two of them took their stances once more, their eyes locked on even the most minute movent.
Eliron took a deep breath, his grip on his weapons tightening.
And then he moved, racing through the snow.
Running through the thick snow felt like running through mud, and the winds felt like ice in his lungs. But Eliron kept at it.
The shogun raised his sword just as Eliron unleashed a devastating strike, sending a shockwave rolling through his arms.
With a swift manoeuvre, the shogun stepped in the space in between himself and Eliron, sending his elbow flying towards him at shocking speed.
Eliron twisted his body swiftly, dodging the strike, but the sword ca next, even faster than the strike.
Swords t, the force of the blow sending Eliron’s feet sliding through the wet floor. The shogun took another step forward, delivering a nasty horizontal strike that sliced through the snow.
The sword glowed a bright blue, the demon’s sword aura bubbling vibrantly.
Eliron coated his blade with mana, but he had no ti to righten his foot work on the wet snow.
"Shit!"
Booom!
His feet left the floor as he was knocked to the side, his body rolling several tis in the snow.
Right in the spot where he had been, a deep groove in the shape of a sword strike had dug into the floor.
The sword demon turned in his direction and leaped into the air. The snow scattered around him, a massive gust of wind blowing past as he launched himself into the air.
The demon soared, raising his sword up into the sky.
The sky was suddenly obstructed by a large vile sword aura that billowed out like a fountain, the snow curling around it, so that it was as though he held a storm with his sword.
"Frost Fall!"
Eliron stared at the sight, a small smile tugging at his lips.
"Is this how you want to play it? Alright, I’ll humour you..."
He held his sword tightly, pushing one foot back and sucking in a deep breath.
"Sumr Rain—"
User Comments
0 comments from readers