Kanteca chronicles page 7

Kanteca chronicles page 7

Stalne sat frozen in his chair, not daring to move even a nerve. It was unsettling to the bone of just how Stryzecenneca had said what he said. Zaire and Luther noticed the need for speech and so broke the silence.
"Oh don't listen to him." Zaire said as he clasped his hand on the dwarfs stiff shoulders; nearly jumping as he did so. "He likes to scare newbies like you."
"Right...uh, I didn't believe him anyway." he quickly replied. He had his arms crossed stubbornly, which only served to make his stubbornness obvious.
"I’m sure...” Stryzecenneca replied as though he were insulted. "Besides, mortals such as yourself have too much pride to admit fear. It angers me sometimes." The Demon picked up the mug in front of him and took a sip, pouting on the side.
An eerie silence broke through the group, daring any one person to speak. Fortunately, a roar from outside the lobby subsided the silence. Above them a loud commentator spoke high above the rafters.
"ALRIGHT PEOPLE, IT'S TIME FOR THE SEMIFINALS!!! WE HAVE THE ODD GROUP OF THE DEMON, VOXISH, DWARF, AND ONLY ONE HUMAN AND HAD ANNIHILATED THEIR OPPONENTS THUS FAR!! TO FACE THEM, WE HAVE A BRUTE FORCE TO BE RECKONED WITH CONSISTING OF WHAT APPEARS TO A GROUP OF AXEMAN!! THERE WILL NO DOUBT BE BLOOD!!!
The crowd burst into a thunderous roar yet again and the room shook with stomping and cheering.
"They sure are fired up, aren't they?" Luther questioned as he looked up with a stressed expression.
"Why wouldn't they be? Thats's what they came here for, is it not?" Stryzecenneca replied, swaying side to side trying to rid himself of boredom.
"That is not humane though; watching others fight to the death merely for amusement. Sister Luna does not condone such actions and punishes all those that do."
Stryzecenneca snorted in disgust. "Then what do you think you are doing here? Aren't you aiding in the fight alongside us? Shouldn't you punished then?"
Zaire and Stalne sat still in their seats, feeling the tension build between the two.
"That's not the same. I am not doing any killing in this tournament. I will only aid you in harmless non-physical ways." Luther held his head up high in pride, yet a glint of shame in his eyes was all that Stryzecenneca needed to understand.
"We shall see then..." Stryzecenneca said as he got up and went over to the arena entrance and waited for the rest of them to follow. Without much choice, Luther stood up and walked over as well. His armor gaining a grey dimming shine from the outside light beaming in. Zaire and Stalne followed closely behind, and as they reached the two in front, all four began to walk out into the sand filled pit.
Right away, cheers and jeers poured into their ears as they entered. The other team, opposite of them, was recieveing the exact same.
"READY EVERYBODY? CONTESTANTS, YOU MAY NOW BEGIN!"
Instantly, Zaire, Stalne, and Stryzecenneca began to rush the the field. The axewielders ahead of them appeared to not be making a move as the three advanced. It gave them an almost sure confidence.
Luther sat back, yet again, and was flipping through his prayers, and began to speak when the audience gasped ratherly loudly and the commentators voice roared up. Luther looked up from his book just in time to see an axe spinning towards his face and ducked down in time as it passed harmlessly above him.
Before the rush of confusion had worn off though, Luther had yet another one being swung at him. This time, Luther raised his shield, placed conveniently on his forearm, to block it. He could now catch a glimpse of what had happened before he had started reading.
Two of the opponents had somehow leaped with amazing strength over the three runners while the other two cut them up into two smaller groups and were causing a harder time for them. The two that had leaped over were now causing a disadvantage for Luther, two against one.
"THIS IS QUITE SHOCKING, FOLKS. NEVER WOULD I HAVE EXPECTED SOMETHING AS SPECTACULAR AS THAT TO HAPPEN. LET'S SEE HOW THIS WILL TURN OUT FOR THE PALADIN, THOUGH."
Luther's mind was brought back to the fight as he was forced to lean back and duck into a backwards roll. The two kept advancing though, allowing no time for Luther to counter attack. There appeared to be no luck for the others yet either. They had been cut off by two and were fighting independent fights, Zaire on one and Stry and Stalne on the other.
He kept on blocking and dodging the wave of endless attacks, waiting for his chance to attack but could not find any opening. As he went to duck under one swing, he had not seen that the other had swung at a lower altitude with the flat of the axe. As fast as he could Luther attempted to smash it down with his forearm shield, but could only manage to lower it so that it would hit his left shin instead of his upperbody. Pain rang out in his body as his leg shattered and crippled down a bit but held himself steady, merely out of pride. The armor around the leg was broken and several holes now had blood pouring out of them. He could see the second opponent raising his axe for the kill...and start to lower it down.
This is it...I'm going to die now. Sister Luna...I am sorry.
Luther closed his eyes as he prepared for death. Seconds passed by without so much as a twinge of pain. Confused, Luther opened his eyes to see Stryzecenneca's swirling purple eyes centimeters in front of his. The Paladin nearly leaped backwards from surprise.
Stryzecenneca chuckled at the mix of fear and bewilderment that came from Luther. He stood straight up, right in the middle of the two axemen. They appeared to be frozen in place, as well as everyone else around them including Zaire and Stalne.
Luther looked around in what he believed to be absolute horror. Stryzecenneca could feel this and said to him, "Do not worry, this is merely a break in time. You need not worry."
Luther stayed glued to the ground, not wanting to get up even if he could.
Stryzecenneca smiled and pointed to Luther. "Get up....now."
"What are you, crazy? My leg has been shattered. I could not even dare to..." Luther looked down to see his leg in an almost perfect condition. The armor wasn't even dented. There were still blood stains though, which was proof that there was an injury before.
"What is going on, Stry?" Luther asked sternly as he stood up.
Stryzecenneca spun lightly around the frozen warriors. "You were about to give in. Do you know why?" Luther shook his head just enough to be visible. "It is because you could not bring yourself to harm them. Can you not see past that?"
Luther placed his arms defiantly across his chest. "It is against that which I-"
"You will die...if you do not act!" Stryzecenneca's eyes flashed a brilliant indigo as he spun viciously and glared at Luther. "I cannot have you dying on me yet. I still need you for my plans."
Before Luther could respond or react, his body began to return the state it was in; battered and bloody, yet he could feel no pain. He was pulled by an invisible force back to where he was kneeling and almost instantly as it happened time resumed back to normal. Stryzecenneca was still fighting alongside Stalne and the axe was still flying down at his head.
Despite what he had learned as to being a Paladin, Luther knew that there was only one way out of this situation: Fight or Flight....except that Flight was not an option.
The Axe had come so close now that the blade was only a few inches away when, with inhuman speed, Luther batted it away with his shield and leapt up towards the axemen, chanting many words at an insane pace. A bright white light began to form in his left hand, the hand with the shield, and appeared to cackle with energy.
Holy energy is only accesible to those who most deserve it: the churches priests, and the military units of the church. It is different for each religion and also from person to person. For those that follow Sister Luna, it emits an almost electrical power, yet all it really is is just a high energy concentration.
In any case, The amount that Luther now had in his hands was enough to counteract nearly 1000 demons at once.
"SISTER LUNA! I ASK THAT YOU SMITE MY ENEMY WITH ONE SURE BLOW!" Luther screamed as he implanted his palm onto his opponents face.
Almost instantly, the axemen's head exploded and sprayed blood all across Luthers armor and face. His ally appeared to freeze with fear for but a second before he charged after his friends murderer.
Luther did not stop his flow as he leapt off his victim and, with a raised mace, smashed the others' skull inward.
The Paladin stood slowly and quietly above his victim. He did not hear the cheers of the crowd, nor the deathly cries of his allies finishing their own battles. He could only hear one phrase in his mind that echoed for eternity.
I win the bet...