Chapter 155: After The Shards
The Minotaur charged through the air to perform a sloppy, but quite powerful attack on a reanimated skeleton.
The skeleton wielded a short sword and a rounded shield. Nothing he had could truly hurt the beast. And nothing he had could truly guard him against him either. The skeleton attempted to block the sharp horns of the demon with his shield. More or less managed to do it, but was sent flying backward. The shield wasn't enough protection. As expected. The skeleton landed on the ground. On his back. Even though it had recently been hurt, (if it was possible to hurt skeletons in the first place), it was heard cackling. Cackling with a maniacal tone in his voice. It was a manly voice. This skeleton was a he. There was no doubt about this. Even though it didn't truly matter.
"Did you have enough? Give us the cauldron shard," Junk demanded out of the skeleton. It wasn't exactly clear if the skeleton was truly in the possession of anything other than his short sword, a rounded shield, and a pair of old, dirty, leather boots. Other than that, he wasn't wearing or carrying anything else. No proof of him being in the possession of a magical shard.
The demon and the skeleton were battling it out on the outskirts of a city at night. Could this city, visible on the horizon, be the same city as the one September was recently in? From an outside look, it sure felt that way. The horned demon towered over the fallen and cackling skeleton as he waited for his answer. Junk was carrying his battleax with both of his hands. His weapon of choice. And he was also still wearing his red and black armor set. Triumphant. Defeating the skeleton without an issue. However, the skeleton attempted to get back up on his feet. Not giving up. A reanimated creature like this one was having way too much fun being alive again and causing havoc. He managed to get back up on his feet much quicker than the demon expected him to.
"Last chance: Hand me the shard and then, I'll promise you I won't break all of your bones," Junk asked him one more time.
"The cauldron shard is the only thing that is maintaining me alive. Are you nuts? You are not going to get shit!" he cackled.
"Then, you leave me no other choice," the Minotaur smirked and prepared himself to charge back at the creature. The two rushed into one another. The battle ax hitting the blade of the short sword. One time. Two times. Three times. Over and over again.
The skeleton was much faster than he expected him to be. Currently, as the demon wore his heavy armor, the skeleton ended up being much faster than him. At one point, the skeleton circled around the demon and managed to hit him in the back with his short blade. It didn't critically hurt Junk simply because the armor he wore was simply too protective, but he still felt it. It hurt him. The skeleton cackled as he attacked him. It wasn't over. The skeleton was going to continue no matter what. But enough was enough. And the Minotaur had been more than patient with him for him to give him the shard. Junk swiftly turned around after receiving the attack in his back and fully lashed out at his adversary.
He threw the battleax right in his direction. The skeleton was fast, but couldn't expect this. He wasn't able to move out of the way in time. He received the powerful battle ax right in the face. Immediately removing his head from his body. The ax left with the head as the body was still able to walk around and battle. The skeletal body was still battling the Minotaur using his short sword and rounded shield, but Junk no longer had a weapon on him.
His battle ax had made a cut in the head of the skeleton and was resting in the grass a few feet away from them. The skeleton was still cackling. Now, at this time, the only thing the Minotaur could do was to avoid all the attacks of the headless skeleton. Which he managed to do. Up to a certain point. But he wouldn't be able to escape him for too long.
However, as the Minotaur was attempting to come up with a half-decent plan, he randomly noticed something: There was something, hidden, in the rib cage of the skeleton. Then, he saw it. It was the cauldron shard he had been after ever since he tracked and hunted this skeleton. It was hidden inside of his rib cage and the shard was pulsating like a beating heart, somehow. The cauldron shard had turned into his heart. Replacing the one he had lost a long time ago. Knowing what he had to do now, the bull quit being on the defensive and trying to avoid his attacks and switched back to the offensive.
He stopped. Waiting for the right moment. Anticipated it. Waited until the skeleton swung his short blade at him again‒then, as a reaction, Junk caught the blade of the sword with the palm of his left hand. He caught it. Stopped it. The blade hurt his hand, but didn't entirely cut it, since he was wearing armored gauntlets as part of this armor set. Still, his hand bled. Quite a bit.
Then, since he had him locked and that he couldn't get away from him and was trying to jump around, the bull headbutted the skeleton's shield, strongly, causing him to lose it. And then, for a short moment, his guard was lifted. The Minotaur gained access to his chest. He gained access to his rib cage. Junk shoved his right hand into his rib cage and pulled on the beating cauldron shard. The skeleton was heard screeching and screaming in pain. It took him a while, but the Minotaur was able to pull it out. Sort of. There was still something that was linking the skeleton and the piece of cauldron: A bloody cord. It was absolutely disgusting. No matter how much Junk would pull, it wouldn't break.
"Don't take it away from me!" the skeleton screeched.
"Come on. Just a little more."
Then, an arrow was suddenly shot between the demon and the skeleton. The arrow pierced through the bloody cord and severed it.