99 Lord of War (2/2)

Then she pulled his hand and falchion to the side while rotating her entire body a hundred-eighty-degrees so that her back was to him. And while his sword arm was extended and incapable of harming her, she released an elbow strike at Spellweaver's chest. Spellweaver blocked the attack with his free hand, but the impact was strong enough to swat his hand away, leaving his head open for a second elbow shot that struck him right on the nose.

Darah released his sword arm, and her opponent pulled back while screaming obscene curses at her. The dude had a potty mouth to rival Deadpool .

Spellweaver took several steps back, but Darah followed him, moving forward in a twirl that allowed her to smack him on the side of the head with another spinning heel kick.

”She's showing off now,” I noted.

”Yes,” Aura agreed.

”Uhuh,” Luca added.

Spellweaver was driven back but reclaimed his footing away from Darah's reach. He shook off the pain and raised his head to glare at her—but she was gone from his line of sight.

While he was disoriented, Darah had ducked to the side and skirted the corner to bridge the distance between them unnoticed by her opponent. And by the time Spellweaver spotted her, she was already at his side and launching the attack that earned her the monicker of Iron Fist.

Darah stepped into range and slammed her left fist into his gut with the force of a wrecking ball, causing Spellweaver to double over in pain. Blood and spit came out of his mouth. Even his Augmentare was dispelled. However, this critical blow wasn't enough to bring Spellweaver to his knees.

Swift as lightning, he swung his falchion around, and I watched it finally break through her armor and cut into Darah's shoulder as she barely pulled away.

Blood trickled down to her heaving chest. Darah looked winded. Although she was still smiling like she was enjoying the fight.

Then Spellweaver roared.

It was a horrific scream that made my spine tingle with nervous anticipation as I realized I'd heard a similar berserker roar before. In fact, I was pretty sure Luca was equally unnerving to hear whenever he activated his Foolish Insight .

”Ah, yes… I wondered if she could bring it out of him… that ridiculously wrathful side of his,” Ardeen Spellweaver mused.

Like a mad dog, Spellweaver forced Darah back with swing after swing even as Darah cut his flesh. Darah rolled away. Dodged. Ducked. Even countered. Still, Spellweaver stuck to her like a lizard on the wall. He did not give her a moment to breathe.

”Hmm…”

”What?” I glanced at Ardeen Spellweaver's masked face. ”What is it now?”

Even behind his mask, I could tell that he looked bored. Somehow, I had this gut feeling that his father's transformation annoyed the guy.

”At this rate, your Great General Darah might not last much longer…” After he said this, Spellweaver looked over to the masked rider he'd left with his troops. He signaled her with his hand. ”I can't have that happening too soon.”

I don't know why, but that signal sent my proverbial spider-sense tingling.

The masked rider acknowledged his signal with a nod of her head. Then she was gone—vanished into the Magesong soldiers like the shadow she was.

Seeing her vanish sent a chill up my spine because this was the moment I realized that having everyone distracted with the generals' fight made now the perfect opportunity to pull an underhanded scheme that could upset the battle.

”Wh-what are you planning?” I asked. Find authorized novels in Webnovel，faster updates, better experience，Please click for visiting.

But behind his mask, I could already see the glint of triumph in Ardeen Spellweaver's eyes. The smile he'd given me when we met was back too. As if to tell me that whatever I did now would be too little too late.

”You really are surprisingly sharp-witted, boy touched with fire,” Ardeen said. ”I would love to match wits with you again — should you survive tonight…”

My hand reached down for my falchion.

”N-no...” Every nerve in my body told me I had to stop this elf before he could do anything to change the status quo. ”S-stop!”

I unsheathed my falchion. The shadowblade sprang out of the hilt.

Beside me, Aura could sense the tension roll off me. Her eyes darted between me and our unwelcome neighbor.

”D-dean… what's wrong?” Despite her confusion, she unslung her staff and held it aloft in her right hand, seemingly ready for anything. ”Tell me.”

I didn't answer her as it was already too late.

Then came the sound of unfamiliar horns like a cacophony of wails unlike anything I'd ever heard before. Manufactured death rattles that were repeated over and over until all we could hear was this horrific wailing rolling onto the battlefield from somewhere beyond my blurred eyes could reach.

”Damn…” I glared at Spellweaver. ”What did you do?”

He responded in a foreboding voice with a phrase I knew all too well. I'd read Dracula enough times to remember it. ”The children of the night. What sweet music they make!”