ALL NOVEL Chapter 16: And then there was 1
[ You have slain an awakened human, unknown human]
[ You have slain an awakened human, unknown human]
[You have received a memory: Blazing Glory]
Chiron's smile was as broad as ever, when he saw that notification and the female saw a spear impale her through her head. *Preparation is half the battle and what has killed half of the freaks!*
The echo he hid long before the awakened even came onto the field finally paid off. This was the first gamble he had won. Chiron was willing to bet the cloak wasn't much of a defensive tool, but he was fortunate enough to startle her into facing down her death, not even having to worry about if the cloak was good defense or not, as his Echo ended the awakened instantly.
"Run away!" Chiron ordered quickly and the echo disappeared into the crowd just as fast eventually disappearing literally and returning to being an Echo in Chiron's soul sea. Those who tried to apprehend it, never even stood a chance, as before they even realized it was near them, it disappeared.
Elbaf grit his teeth and looked at Chiron with undisguised anger "Damn it! To think we had even more traitors! Find me who ever that was and bring me his head! You, Chiron the bastard, prepare to die!"
The two awakened he had been facing suddenly rushed towards him... *Shit! Guess whatever that was is no longer active! But it no longer matters, I can fight now!*
The arrows rained down, as the tall man kept shooting him. Chiron quickly condensed back to 6 feet and shut his wounds again. The arrows left small piercing points and superficial cuts, but that was that. He turned his back toward the archer, who now could no longer see Chiron's eyes, so his sight was safe and no other senses mattered to him.
Elbaf descended his hammer with greater force than any awakened could ever dream of, but that meant nothing, as Chiron simply took a step back and Elbaf's slow self couldn't reach him. While he countered every attack Elbaf threw at him, the swordsman was completely ignoring the defense part of his aura and concentrated it all on the sword.
Chiron wanted to attempt to endure it, but he knew he wouldn't be able to take another hit from Elbaf or the swordsman, the only chump he could tank was the archer now. But the situation was miles better now! There were no bombimancers to ambush him and only physical attackers to combat were peft, the original 4 awakened and 1 ascended VS Chiron had been effectively reduced to a 2v1 between Chiron and Elbaf and his sword!
One side had 2 awakened and 1 ascended, while the other was a simply dormant man. Any sane person would say it is obvious who would be winning, but reality is often not so straight forward.
The soldiers watched incredulously, as a mighty ascended general and his elite cohort were being fought off by 1 man. Their faces wore expressions of horror, as they could only watch Chiron randomly explode with bursts of speed and accumulate wound after wound on the head of Elbaf, dodging the masterful swordsmanship displayed by the man and paying no attention to the archer.
Even Elbaf himself could only watch in horror. Chiron's strikes weren't even powerful, they were as weak as ever. This mysterious acceleration added no strength to him, but, for someone, who doesn't have Chiron's unique mindset, cuts accumulate and the bleeding gets only worse! "Eeeelbaf! Deeeeth is nir!" His voice distorted along with his unpredictable bursts of speed. Sometimes sounding extremely fast, but the next moment stopping at a single note.
Slash
Clank
Clank
Clank
Slash!
Chiron kept his eye only on Elbaf, attacking him without giving recovery time... But that was as far from the truth as it could be. Not for a second has Chiron even stopped keeping tabs on the archer, much less the swordsman, but they didn't know that.
Chiron swung the greatsword at Elbaf with a wide arc, but his speed decreased, almost returning to normal. "NOW!" screamed Elbaf, as his sword rushed at Chiron, all the aura once again focused in the sword, while Elbaf himself brought his shield up to block.
Chiron chuckled in super Speed, as he once again accelerated, easily hitting Elbaf and turning around to counter the swordsman, but the speed he went was far greater now than even before! He parried the swordsman and instantly swung for his neck!
*Sh"t! My aura can't make it in time!* The aura traveled up the sword to the body of the swordsman, but how could his speed compare to Chiron? Sadly, just like the awakened faced the harsh reality of life, so did Chiron.
Running on nothing but caffeine and willpower took its toll on him, as the caffeine crash hit him all at once, causing his concentration to falter and distracted him from keeping this state up, giving the aura enough time to cover the swordsman, saving his life, but Chiron was no fool!
*If I can't have your life, I will take what your friend also took from me!* His concentration slipped for only a half second, as he instantly forced himself to recover and used the aura to bounce his sword upwards, towards the swordsman's ear, directly severing it!
*F"ck! I was careless with my aura! I can't keep my aura only on my blade and active with such intensity, my soul essence is running out and I will exhaust it soon, then I will be nothing but dead weight to sir Elbaf... Or just dead! I need to decrease my intensity or I will also face the same fate as the others!*
Chiron's smile got wider and wider when he saw the aura stop flaring and decreasing. He was ready to charge the swordsman down, but arrows rushed at his face. He was no fool to trade his life for the swordsman's, so Chiron turned back and ignored the arrows and the weaker swordsman's strike attempts.
He simply didn't care about the "weaklings" any longer. His one eye only watched Elbaf, as his body shrunk, expanded, pulsated along with his speed and voice "EEEeeeelbaffff!"
His haunting and distorted voice boomed across the entire battlefield, as Elbaf kept taking steps back from the now intensified onslaught. It seemed as if... Chiron was moving faster and faster!