Jack quickly lunged at Sir Willfest, but he blocked him easily, Willfest countered with his sword, but Jack made up for his lack of technique with his dodge, yet even though Willfest missed, he still managed to kick Jack in the back of the head.
-You fucking knight in the ass.
-You really thought you could come here and insult me, there's a sea of difference between us fifth rate artist, and you made the fatal mistake of asking me to give you my daughter, I don't usually enjoy killing someone, but I'll make an exception for you.
-I know quite well that I'm no match for you, gentlemen, but...
Jack took some spheres from his belt, he threw them at Willfest, he instinctively protected himself, he even managed to kick one of them away from him, but after a second they exploded, creating a black smoke screen that prevented the knight from seeing anything.
-Who said he would fight fair.
Jack laughed in a Machiavellian manner with complete confidence that he would be the winner.
-You know sir, I know very well who you are, you gentleman loser, look at you beating the Baron, that made you lose your lands, didn't it?
-You came to monologue or to fight.
-I told you I am an artist, and one must present one's work before showing it, I wonder what colour your entrails are?
Stupid idiot, my knife is poisoned, a single scratch will be enough to kill you in the most gruesome way.
Jack stepped into the smoke screen, somehow knowing exactly where Willfest was.
-Baron Mons sends his greetings...
A loud stabbing sound could be heard, the smoke dissipated, Willfest had managed to stab Jack's stomach with his sword, while with his other hand he held Jack's wrist to avoid being stabbed with the poisoned knife.
-Listen Jack, there are poisons that are usually very effective, but at the same time extremely stinky, and your weapon stinks more than you do.
With a jerk he withdrew his sword from Jack's body, and blood came out of his mouth.
-You damned dog...
Jack glared at Willfest with hatred.
Willfest sheathed his sword without letting go of the artist's hand, with his hand, now with his unoccupied hand he snatched the knife.
-Let's see how long you last with your own trick.
-Wait no, please, I'll go away without any trouble, I won't say anything, don't kill me I beg you... ahhhh.....
Jack screamed, he Sir gave him a moderately shallow cut on his cheek, then gave him a blow to the puncture in his stomach, causing Jack to fall to the floor shrieking in pain.
The poison began to take effect quickly, his eyes began to swell, his face began to turn purple, the corner of his lip was foaming.
Help...
Jack tried to crawl across the floor to get away from Willfest.
Within seconds, blood was pouring from his eyes, and he could be heard struggling to breathe.
Willfest kept watching his opponent all the time until he passed away.
-I shouldn't even remember your name Jack, yet I will.
-Die, you wretch.
One of the bandits was attacking Willfest's back with an axe, but he only saw it out of the corner of his eye and turned his attention back to Jack.
His head was severed from his body as if they were cutting butter.
Arthur with his rapier had killed with a clean blow the bandit who wanted to finish Willfest off.
-Thank you, Arthur.
-To serve captain.
-When we've killed them all, search their belongings. -When we've killed them all, search their belongings.
-Aye, aye, sir. -Aye, aye, sir.
Roy was impeccable with his sword, it didn't take him long to finish off one of the bandits by cutting off their legs, another one caught him off guard, but he managed to pull out the shield he carried on his back to protect himself from the sledgehammer, without any contemplation Roy inserted his sword in the enemy's neck.
Lay on the other hand, was the opposite of what I expected, she alone had already killed 3 bandits, but the way she fought was cruel, it was as if she enjoyed making her opponents suffer while she fought with them, she did not kill them directly like her brother, but she was giving serious cuts, but not fatal, causing her to be bathed with the blood of her enemies, every time she finished with the life of one she said out loud a number, first was 19 with the second 20 and the third 21.
Another bandit attacked him in desperation, but she easily cut off the arm with which he was attacked, then she made an upward cut in his chest, making his opponent scream in pain, then she pierced his leg when his enemy could do nothing more, until finally she pierced his heart with her sword.
Twenty-two
Lay's expression was even colder than usual, and the blood stains that adorned her face made her look like an unfeeling entity.
The others were finishing off the rest without a problem.
My attacker kept trying to hit me with the mallet, but he kept missing me, I even had the luxury of seeing what was happening around me, everything was nauseating, how they were able to kill someone so easily, how Lay was able to do something so inhuman.
-Let's get it over with.
When he attacked me again, I stabbed his arm, then slashed it to make him drop the weapon, but he still didn't, I removed my dagger from his body, he was still trying to kill me with his mace without any success.
What was the point of all that?
-Hey give up, I don't want to hurt you anymore, you can't beat me.
My words had the opposite effect, he increased the speed at which I hit with the weapon, even though being such wide attacks it was still easy to dodge them.
At some point my "captors" gathered around and stood watching my fight, doing nothing, until Lay deicide decided to approach to help me, but Sir Willfest cut him off.
-No, it is time for the boy to become a man.
Lay looked at me, wiped the blood from his face, then sheathed his sword.
The air felt stale, I didn't understand what was the fan of wanting to kill me when I hadn't even done anything to him, the situation was beginning to overcome me, the memories of Bert's murder, of the shadow that attacked us leaving a trail of corpses came to my head, my body kept dodging, but my mind felt absorbed by a darkness I didn't know, something that was inside me.
-Father, I don't think Gran will be able to kill him, if things go on like this, they're going to kill him," he began to move slower.
-He has to grow up, if he's not able to do it here, then he'll never be able to defend himself, Lay.
-Hey, there's something wrong here, look at the tree over there.
Roy was nervous for some reason, everyone stopped focusing on my fight to look at the tree Roy pointed to.
It was a dead tree, with no leaves, but in its dry branches, there were a hundred crows watching my fight.
Everyone except me, who was focused on my thoughts, tensed up.
-Father?
-Tell me Roy.
-I have a bad feeling about all this, I think we should intervene.
-You may be right.
-Why should there be so much bloodshed? -Why should there be so much bloodshed? No, why do I care about other people's lives? Are they trying to kill me? Shouldn't I do the same?
I saw 2 children, one sitting on the floor crying and the girl consoling him.
Who are those two... it's me and Hero as children, it's true she was always there to help me when I needed it, but she's not with me anymore... she's not there anymore, she's not there anymore in this time. I can't depend on her anymore, I should bury my feelings or they will bury me, if this era wants me to be cruel, then I will have to be cruel..... I hate them all!!!
I came out of my reverie.
-What was I doing, really you?
The crows that were silent began to caw.
The mace was close to my head, but I grabbed his hand and stopped the blow.
It was the first time I looked at the face of my opponent, his eyes were full of tears that reflected hatred, I suppose for the death of his companions.
Without any disgust I opened his neck and killed him.
The crows flew towards me, circled around me and headed for the body I had killed, they began to peck at the corpse to eat it.
I felt as if someone somewhere was smiling in a very macabre way.
-What the fuck is going on," said Roy in a panic.
Willfest could see me coming towards him with my knife.
For some reason Willfest unsheathed his weapon, but he held it in fear.
-I think I made a mistake with the kid....
Lay stood between me and his father, sword in hand.
-I'll take care of Gran.
Her gaze was as cold as ice, anyone would say there was no feeling in those eyes, but she really didn't want to do what she was about to do.
-You're going to take care of me?
I walked calmly towards her without even looking her in the eyes, when I had reached her, I walked past her and whispered something in her ear.
-Murderer.
A single word was enough to break her down, she dropped to her knees, tears welling up in her eyes, I had broken her already fragile spirit.
That was what I saw in her, someone who enjoyed making her enemies suffer without remorse, she played with them, she soaked herself with the blood of her enemies as if it was her prize, that was the image I had created in my head of her, or rather the lie that justified me.