Broken Tower Saga: The First Swordsman

Yet another fellow came behind from the other two. The newcomer was more cautious than the other two, while his tracks were hidden. Before even the two fellas could prepare for the newcomer, he hit one with the hilt of the sword right at the back of the head, knocking him unconscious. The other fellow of the two yelled in anger, seeing his companion on the ground. But he was not of much use either, as the newcomer disarmed him, pointing his sword at his neck.

Anton witnessed the entire thing, but he was not worried in the slightest as he recognised the swordplay of the newcomer. 

"Good work down there, Davin," he said as he climbed down the tree.

The swordsman, or Davin, was alarmed at first when he heard the voice. He sighed in relief, noticing it was Anton. His sword was still pointing at the neck of the fellow.

"Glad to see you here," Anton said, coming face to face with Davin. He noticed there were some bruises on Davin. He asked, pointing at the fellow at Davin's sword point. "Who are these fellows?"

"Can't you recognise them?" Davin said. "Look closely these are the fellows that you fought against in the cafeteria three days ago." 

"Ahh," Anton looked at the fellow as the guy's expression turned uglier than before. "I don't recognise them all, but this guy looked a little familiar, but I don't recall beating them."

"Gosh, you're hopeless," Davin said in annoyance. "These two are the men sent by that Theiron fellow after me, and I think there are a lot more. That guy is really nasty. I did not even beat his men, yet he sends them after me. He might go crazy if he saw you."

Anton snorted. "Rich kids, and their arrogance; there's no better combination than that," he mocked as his eyes drifted at the guy. "What are you going to do to him?" 

"I was thinking about asking for some information from him, that's why I left him conscious."

"What information do you need when you have me," Anton said arrogantly. "Let me beat that fellow again. All those bitches need is a good beating."

Davin sighed. "Will you be serious for a moment?" he said. "It's not as simple as advancing recklessly; besides, we have more problem to take care off."

"What are you talking about?"

"I had an emergency call about an hour ago," Davin said slowly, showing the orb. "It could be Wrik or Tanya. The signal came from the north, approximately an about a hundred miles from here."

Anton furrowed his brows, yet he did not lose his composure. "An hour ago? That's quite a long time," he said.

"Yes, I was moving towards the location first before, but I was intercepted by these fellows," Davin said, baring his eyes at the guy. 

"Don't worry, they would be fine. You know Tanya, she's a hell lot stronger than she looked," Anton said, calming Davin down. "And Wrik? He knows his ways with things. I can say he can survive here even if he was sent naked."

Davin nodded. "What you are saying does make sense, still. . ."

His voice was interrupted as the captive on his sword point sounded out.

"You can say goodbye to your companions now," the fellow at the swordpoint, who was silent the entire time, laughed maniacally. "Didn't you say north? If their luck is any good, they should already be disqualified from the test. If bad, then they are in worse condition by now. Might be dead or become slaves. . ."

Davin frowned; he was about to say something when Anton punched the fellow on the nose.

"Stand like a good captive. Did we ask you to open your mouth yet," Anton said. "Davin, what information do you need from him?" 

"I only wanted to ask him about Theiron and his gang. Apparently, that guy had managed over fifties of men in his ranks in just a couple of hours. I wanted to know how he did it as so far I remembered he had like only a dozen fellows that you beat the crap out." 

"This is interesting," Anton thought out loud. "So this rich boy has something as well. No matter, we'll move to the north first, then deal with them. Ask him what you want to know."

Davin nodded as he eyed the guy at his sword point. The guy laughed maniacally again saying: 

"Why would I answer you? You won't kill me. I just have to wait until my allies arrive here. Just you wait, I'll make your life miserable than hell." 

Davin gritted his teeth, but could not refute this guy. He could not kill any person in cold blood, even if they were wrong in the first place. 

Anton shook his head, noticing Davin's crisis. Without saying a word, he kicked the captive in the abdomen. The guy cried in pain, tossing away a couple of metres.

"Listen here pal, when I'm being good," Anton said as he moved to the guy. A deep sign of coldness glittered in his eyes. "Even though I would not kill you, I can make sure you are better off dead. What you're saying again? Make our life miserable than hell? I can do that as well, I'll break every bone of your body, make you dry as leaves or cut you like paper. I can make some art off you even your daddy Theiron might have to put together a dozen men to assemble it. You better answer it before I begin, before I stop being nice."

A pair of knives appeared on Anton's palms. Even in the darkness, they were gleaming with dark mana. 

The man shuddered in horror at hearing the coldness in Anton's voice, and his horror only tuned worse seeing the knives gleaming with darkness. "I'll answer. . .  I'll answer. . .  Ask me anything. . ." he repeated a couple of times in fear of Anton. 

____________

Another two to go. Sighs.