Chereads / The Soul Slotter / Chapter 24 - The Gauntlet pt. 2

Chapter 24 - The Gauntlet pt. 2

There were two young men and two young women in the final four. Two set of couples one a pair of divines the other a pair of daemons. These ones all knew how to use their wings to their advantage in combat, if not to their full extent. So Damien had to be extra careful in evaluating their battle prowess.

"Im gonna have to take the initiative in this fight to gain the upper hand." He thought to himself "it will be hard to get back on top of I'm put on my back foot." He slowly scanned around looking for a good opening. Watching as the four circled him like a pack of hungry hyenas. Damien was taking long deep breaths his focus lasering in. He reached the pinnacle of battle focus, he could see every muscle twitch, every movement of their eyes, every grip tightening and loosening of their hands, every flap of their wings.

Damien moved first diving backwards as one of the young men loosened his grip on his sword. The sweat from his hands causing a lack of strength on the hilt. Damien swung as he pivoted, knocking the sword from his opponents hands then front kicked him sending him flying into the wall. His momentum was short lived as he saw a fist swing for his head from the left.

He caught the hand only to have a kick hit him in the back before he noticed a sword coming for his right side. He stumbled forward from the kick and blocked the sword awkwardly before dropping and rolling so he could turn to his opponents. He barely managed to spin around when another fist was heading his way, this time he ducked under and swung his sword up followed by the crunch of breaking bones and a yelp of pain as he hit the forearm of one of the ladies.

"You bastard!" Her partner rushed forward swinging his sword wildly. The thought of his beloved harmed causing him to lose some of his rationality from anger. Damien was put on his back foot as he blocked swing after swing. His hand going slightly numb from the strength behind the strikes.

Finally seeing an opening Damien swung his sword back but feinted out of it before stepping in the mans guard and headbutting him. He stumbled back and Damien rapped him in the temple knocking him unconscious. He still had no moment to breath as he had to lean back far to avoid another sword strike aimed at his neck. The man he had hit first had come back with his partner at Damien's six. He narrowly avoided the sword aimed at his neck when he felt danger from his rear he sidestepped to the left seeing as a sword passed harmlessly through the gap in his rip arm and hip. He stepped back and locked his arm to his body as the hand passed through the same area and rolled his hips flipping the girl over him and into her partner.

At first it looked like they both took a tumble and Damien moved in for the win. He was surprised when two swords came swinging at either side of his neck. He dropped quickly feeling as the training weapons whipped at his hair. He quickly jumped back up and rushed doing a diagonal slash up and to the right catching the daemon man in his face flipping him back over his partner. He followed up with a stab at her chest which she parried. She tried countering with a an attack of her own which he dodged this time by doing a leg sweep. He caught her legs perfectly throwing her on her back and immediately pounced on her. He ended the fight by holding the sword to her throat. His breathing ragged as he looked up at Sera. He had one final hurdle and he would be able to fight another trial runner.

"Well done young shadow walker, I hope you're ready because as I said you get no rest during these fights, and I'm your last." Sera's smile his something sinister this time. She was not going to go easy on him at all

"Bring it on she devil"