Blood-Forged

The Demon Lord tilted his head to the side, his gaze on me heavy, making me feel as if my feet were sinking into the packed dirt road. “Oh... the blade that struck the final blow.” His voice was cold, emotionless, nothing like the smooth charm I remembered. Also, Valeron’s hair wasn’t white, but rather a dark brown that blazed red in the sunlight.

The questions forming on my tongue were answered when the ‘Demon Lord’ wrapped his hand around his hair at the base of his skull. He tugged and the hair separated where his fist was, becoming a short, chin-length cut and a long, gleaming, curved blade in his hand. A blade like a scythe.

The thought entered my mind just as Piercing Gale hissed it out through his teeth, “Massacre.”

*

Valeron should have been less terrifying at a distance. Surrounded by beastly looking demons, the uncanny humanoid Valeron should have looked unremarkable. Maybe if he was still... or maybe if he was wielding that thin ‘legendary’ blade Night Lover.

But he danced on air above the battlefield, twirling a scyther bigger than his body. Gorgeous sprays of blood followed the arcs of the curved blade, so silver it looked almost white.

“That’s what we are supposed to kill?” Xeit asked in awe... or, more likely, terror.

Ves’hil’n’s hand on my hilt was heavy and shaking, “Teacher,” he hissed out and Eun hummed an acknowledgement. “How do you parry a scythe?”

Eun tilted his head to the side, watching the Demon Lord Valeron’s dance. The decapitated head of a Kon soldier flew through the air. Eun’s eyes followed the arc, expression unreadable. “I guess we will have to experiment and see.”

*

I barely managed to dodge the first swing of the scythe, Massacre. A few clumps of black hair fluttered away in the wind following the arc of the blade. Massacre clicked his tongue, shifted his grip and swung again. I danced back again, only for two hands to grab one of my arms like a vice and yanked me to the side. I was thrown off balance and the scythe sliced through layers of clothes and nicked my hip.

I ripped my arm out of Piercing Gale’s grip and shot him a glare, “fuck off.”

Piercing Gale ignored me and instead shouted a question at Massacre, “I suppose you remain loyal to Valeron?”

Massacre swung again, his strike interrupted by Death-Bringer tackling him, his ethereal grace destroyed as he was knocked to the ground.

He struggled under her but she held tight, keeping him on the ground with his arms restricted. With his impassive face finally twisted in rage, he cried out, “Rain!”

Three arrows sunk into Death-Bringer’s back in quick succession, her scream of agony cut off as she reverted back to the form of an axe. Massacre got back to his feet and flung her at us. Piercing Gale pushed me to the side so that she flew between us, embedding herself in the wall of the building behind us, drawing screams from the cowering civilians.

I took a step towards Massacre, only for Piercing Gale to grab me once more and hold me back. Before I could tell him to fuck off again, an arrow hit the ground in front of me. I tried to follow its trajectory with my eyes but I couldn’t see an archer on any roofs.

Piercing Gale’s hand tightened around my arm, “I think it’s time for a strategic retreat,” he hissed through his teeth, dragging me back towards where Death-Bringer was. It took a hard tug to dislodge her from the wall and Gale grunted as an arrow buried itself in his bicep.

Massacre suddenly sprinted for us and I barely managed to duck out of the way, this time pulling Gale out of the way. From my crouch, I launched myself into an alleyway, Gale a half-step behind. At least the alley was narrow and limited some of Massacre’s movements.

“Can we do that?” I asked breathlessly.

“Do what?”

“Turn our hair into a weapon? Like a sword?” I glanced back at him, “well, maybe more a dagger in your case.”

“I don’t know! Give it a try if you think it’ll help!” We took a sharp turn and ducked down a new alley.

“Catch.” I tossed Death-Bringer back to him and judging from the lack of cursing he managed to catch her just fine. Then I wrapped a fist around my hair and concentrated.