Chereads / VAGRANT / Chapter 25 - The Castle of Togenshire (3)

Chapter 25 - The Castle of Togenshire (3)

Tusk ran across the night-lit courtyard. Whistling arrows passing overhead, each shot across the sky. His footsteps crunched across the hard stone, the moonlight shining ever so far.

As he ran, heads turned to his echoing silence. Archers and soldiers all standing in leather and iron, but their tough strong armor still couldn't withstand the precise shots of Caroline's bow and arrows.

Slunk-slink-clank!

Every shot was immaculate. Flying across the sky like diving birds. Their points gaining speed as the whistling sounds of their specific tips spun in spirals. They pierced faster than the guard's heads could turn. By the time the final soldier had fallen to the Hawk's claws, Tusk was already at his destination.

The large wooden door leading into the castle...

He opened it up and entered.

---

Meanwhile deep inside the castle, in the dark cobblestoned bedroom of Magnom Calisto, with the singular window staring out at the bright crescent moon, the General himself turned with a confused alerted expression, his sword pulsating in a glowing yellow light.

The Second Corporal looked up at the taller and stronger General in front of him, his face tense and angered.

"Sir is something-"

"Shush... Don't you feel it, Second Corporal?"

The soldier looked around the room but felt nothing.

"Umm... No..." he replied puzzled by his General's question.

Magnom Calisto turned to his four servants and pointed at his massive golden suit of armor that hung in the corner of the room.

"You four, equip me now!" he commanded.

His servants rushed over to his spikey yet smooth suit of fully plated and fully covering golden armor. They started picking apart the pieces and jumping over to their master to place them on his body.

"General, why are you getting dressed in your battle armor?" asked the Second Corporal as Magnom Calisto grabbed his light cloth clothes and slipped them on.

His four servants then started placing the pieces of golden armor on him as quickly as they could.

"Second Corporal I would move away from the door and jump out the window if I were you."

"Why?" asked the soldier as he instinctively followed his General's orders and moved away from the door and closer to the window.

Magnom Calisto was suited up in his full plated shining golden armor. His shoulders swung out in massive spikes as his legs and chest were covered head to toe in slopes and curves. He was a moving fortress, indestructible with not a single open area to be hit. The only open area was his head, which was mostly covered by a spiked-out helmet, round at the bottom, and flat at the front, with a small slit in the center to let out his vision.

The Second Corporal stepped from the crimson bench and onto the windowsill. He looked out at the two-story drop and turned back to his General.

"Sir, is the castle under attack by an assassin? Should I alert the other commanders?" he guessed with one foot out the window.

Magnom Calisto turned from the door with his stiff helmeted head and said, "yes, and do so quick."

Whistle...

An arrow across the sky...

Slink!

An arrow pierced right through the Second Corporal's head, it's whistling sound echoing across the room as he fell backward, his body slamming against the bench and floor in a splatter of gory blood. All the servants turned in fear as they scrammed to a side closet to hide.

"An arrow..." muttered Magnom Calisto as he turned back to the door and waited for his enemy-

Slam!

Tusk kicked open the door, his sword held up verticle to his body as he huffed and puffed in exhaustion from running the entire length of the castle in search of this very room.

Magnom Calisto peered through his slit, the man in front of him was rough, strong, different... He felt something odd about this man's presence. His sword was telling him strange truths, strange ideas, and strange futures. He was cornered on both sides, he could either escape through the window and possibly get shot down by a master archer, or he could fight his way past Tusk. And to him, the first plan sounded the safest, since his sword was giving him weird vibes about the swordsman in front of him.

But vibes are vibes and Magnom Calisto was the strongest General to ever live. His own pride was stronger than any life he could give up. He felt that his entire image compared to this roughed-up leather-strapped man in black would be tainted for all of eternity if he ran away.

So instead of escaping with a guaranteed survival rate, he decided to fight the man in front of him...

Whoosh!

Tusk swung his black and golden katana vertically down on Magnom Calisto, as he raised his bronze longsword high horizontally at matching speeds to block.

Tink!

He deflected the hit sending Tusk back against the power of his own force. He then reordered his large two-handed sword, gripping tight on the leather straps as he swung its blade horizontally again across his waist.

Tusk then within a second of reaction time, recalled his footing, jumping up into the air and stabbing the ceiling so he could get his legs up above the slice of Magnom Calisto's longsword.

Everything then came to a standstill as the bronze longsword cut through everything, walls, furniture, the entire room. He swung his sword in a circle cutting down all in his path like a bull in a tea shop. It was a barrage of sparks, scraps, and shards. All in the meanwhile as Tusk floated above the giant of a General, his legs hovered perpendicular to his body as he kicked in the air, hitting Magnom Calisto's armor and sending him stumbling back against the weight of his heavy golden suit.

The General then reordered himself against the back window wall. He lifted his massive sword across the confined space of the room and readied himself to cut down on the floating man in front of him. But Tusk was faster. With all his strength he pushed down on his blade, cutting not only through the ceiling but also through the air. The two forces combined into a fury of power, allowing for his strike to be more powerful than normal.

"Thunderstrike!"

He was like lightning. His sword coming down on the golden man in front of him faster than the eye could see. A marvel of not just magic, but man.

BOOM!

Pufff...

Immediately upon impact, a cloud of smoke spread across the room as the clouds of dust and chipped wood floated aimlessly behind it. Tusk landed firmly on the ground with his sword stretched out in Magnom Calisto's direction. He had no clue if his Sword of Thunder actually made contact due to the cloud of smoke in front of him, but he was one hundred percent sure that he at least did some damage with his lightning.

Tusk was wrong.

As the smoke parted all he saw was the colossal beast in front of him, the two-handed bronze longsword held out horizontally to Tusk's sword. Somehow Magnom Calisto had predicted and seen through Tusk's more than superhuman attack.

"How..."

Magnom Calisto stepped back to the window side of the room, his sword glowing bright yellow as he held out firm.

"This sword is an all seer of truths. For as long as you are in view of this sword, this sword will tell all your eyes vision, your thoughts within, and your minds futures. You will never be able to outsmart me, outwit me, or outplay me. I will always be one step ahead of you Assassin!"

"So it's a Sword of Feun?" asked Tusk as he stepped back, placing his sword firm against his waist ready to do another powerful thunder attack.

Magnom Calisto looked at Tusk's sword. It's unchipped frame, the thundering lightning, the powerful attack.

"And yours the same?" he asked.

"We'll see who's is stronger..."

They stared at each other.

One standing half a foot taller, in golden armor that towered over anything and anyone to ever live. A set of armor so fierce and strong it put the image of fear in all of Magnom Calisto's enemies.

But on the other end stood Tusk. A wild card of any swordsman. A man in all black, wielding a weapon of god-like power. He was unpredictable and never giving up, a true prodigy of power.

And neither could get a good image nor the weakness of the other, it was a true stalemate of fates.

Whistle...

From a dark moonlit hill in the distance. A singular arrow was perfectly shot over the surrounding stone wall. It flew high over the shining moon, past the dead guards and men, straight past the sky-lit castle walls, and through the open blood-covered window.

Slunk!