Arat moved his sword to block the incoming attack, the iron mace collided with the sword, the loud sound of clashing metal echoing through trees. Arat succeeded to defend himself but the woman's strength was greater than he had anticipated, forcing his blade back slightly.
The woman continued her relentless assault, Arat's only advantage was his weapon's reach, but the female knight's height and agility easily neutralized this. He was only able to withstand her blows because she couldn't string her strikes together thanks to Arat who didn't fight back and only defended and jumped side ways.
Arat knew that if he gave the woman the chance to keep hammering her mace at him repeatedly, he'd soon be trapped in a defensive stance, his blade overwhelmed by her surprising strength. So he decided to to tire her out, He decided to wear her down instead, aware that unlike him, she hadn't walked all night and was somewhat full of energy.
This strategy allowed Arat to conserve some of his energy while he hoped to wear the woman down. It was nothing like the training he had done with his grandfather one strike here could determine whether he lived or died.
As the fight went on, Arat's main focus became to stay as far as he could from the knight, he noticed that the woman's armor might work in his favor, since it made it harder for her to chase him down. On the other hand In the end Arat had to either injure the woman or kill her. It was clearly a hard task to land a severe blow while she was equipped with an armor specifically forged to withstand demons.
Eventually, the toll of marching through the woods all night caught up with Arat, making it harder for him to evade the woman's strikes.
Damn it. I can't keep this up for long. if I were to really fight her, there is very little chance of me actually winning. Just now I understand how easy grandpa was going on me.
Still defending and dodging her relentless attacks, Arat's trained instincts honed over six years of sparring with his grandfather kicked in. His mind searched for patterns and weak points that might save his life amidst the female knight's furious assault.
Gradually, Arat began to understand her patterns, making it easier to defend as he could predict some of her moves. He had learned that patience was key in fighting, many times during his years of practice in his duels with his grandfather, he found unreliable openings, only to risk it and taste the sting of his grandfather's wooden staff for it.
Just a bit more, she will reveal more of her moves, just a bit more, I need to wait before I make my move, with grandpa I almost knew his movements so I could charge in more freely but when I'm fighting someone for the first time its different. But fighting someone for the first time is different. I have to study how they strike, the angles they use, their maximum speed, where they place their feet, and how well they can launch a surprise attack. I need a clear sense of all these things before I act.
After Arat noticed a few gaps in the woman's fighting technique. Arat began to imagine what could he do to counter her while he still remained in height alert and kept his distance as well as dodging and defending the female knight's iron mace.
It was shorter than a sword its cylinder handle split to four sections evenly and had sharp ends, Arat recalled that it was named a bladed mace he saw in book.
The "Devil bride" put her right foot forward and swung her mace downward, previously Arat would have side stepped and avoided it but this time he held his sword vertically over his head to meet the heavy force of the one-handed iron mace.
"You think you have it in you?"
Arat didn't respond, his entire attention fixed on the mace, the instant in connected his sword he released his grip, letting the mace bring down the tip of the sword as it slide with it, just then he side stepped to his right, the mace went downward were he stood just a second ago.
Seizing the opportunity, Arat swung his sword toward woman's head were no thick sheet of steel protected her. she stopped Arat's sword with her steel-clad arm, his sword left only a deep scar on her armor.
Tch, grandpa tore right through them as if they were made out of paper. These armors are really hard.
"Seems like you finally decided to fight back."
The female knight said with a smirk, dashing forward delivering a wide, powerful swing at Arat. He deflected the blow and quickly closed the distance between them, preventing her from moving her mace freely. He thrust his sword straight at her. A simple attack, easy to defend. She could either sidestep or block it with her arm or mace. Arat hoped for the latter.
Arat did so that this would happen, this forced the woman to defend not to attack him, so it was safe until he didn't lose his balance, as expected the woman wasn't that easy to strike. Arat hid himself so that she couldn't see what he wanted to do.
The woman retracted her right arm the same arm that had swung the mace forcing Arat to step back to avoid a crushing blow. Anticipating this Arat held his blade before him and steadied his blade in front of him, aimed for the back of her arm. He put all his strength and weight into the strike, determined to meet her force head on.
In a split second he heard the sound of metal objects clashing, he was staring up at the beautiful stars of the night sky, flipping in midair seeing the forest and trees afterward, feeling a burning pain in his back, he let out all the air in lungs out, feeling as if he had hit the bottom of a stair case after jumping backward. Arat didn't understand what had happened.
He was slammed to a tree at four or five meters above the ground, crashing through one or two thick branches before hitting the ground with his face; more precisely, his iron mask. Dizziness washed over him as he struggled to stand on one knee.
Looking around he noticed he no longer held his sword in his hand, after regaining some clarity he found himself about twenty meters away from the female knight that was walking toward him in steady pace. He found out that he was thrown away by the force of the woman's backhand strike.
What? She was this powerful? And she didn't use her power from the beginning? if she had done so a single strike of her mace would have crushed me instantly. How, how am I supposed to fight such a monster like her?
The woman got closer with each step, her mocking voice cutting through the air as she saw Arat struggling to get back on his feet.
"Ah, you are still conscious after that?"
With his head still a bit dizzy and his visions clouded Arat, tried his best to maintain his balance, if he was an ordinary child his spine would have been snapped by now, leaving him motionless on the dirt and dead leaves scattered on the forest ground.
"How?, how is this possible, you weren't this strong when you fought grandpa."
The woman closed in, Arat who found himself helpless facing an opponent this terrifying had only one option. Summoning all his remaining strength, he forced his aching legs to move. He endured the pain as he ran for his life.
The woman seeing how he ran, fastened her pace and broke into a jog, soon she reached Arat and hit him in the back using her mace, The impact caused Arat to lose his balance, and the blades on the mace sliced through his back as he fell to the ground.
He wanted to stand back up and run, but a powerful force yanked him off the ground by his hair, Arat reached up to grab the devil bride's hand, desperately trying to force her grip loose as the pain was unbearable.
His wish was soon granted, She threw him against a tree, smashing him into the hard trunk. It was only then that he noticed his fur coat had been lost during the fight at some point, leaving him in just his over-sized brown shirt that he took from the hairy man. The rough bark tore at his shirt and scraped his skin along his arms.
Once again Arat who was barely recovered tried to stand up, but the devil bride stamped him onto the ground with a vicious kick, His hands, which had been supporting him, lost their grip, and he hit the ground hard, his head taking most of the impact.
The female knight kicked him once again in the side, she then moved her foot beneath Ara's upper body and brought it up flipping him onto his back , Without hesitation, she delivered another powerful kick, this time to his stomach. Black blood splattered from Arat's mouth beneath his iron mask, and his eyes rolled back as he was overwhelmed by the pain.
"Disgusting devil."
The woman kicked Arat with increasing force, each blow made him shriek in pain. One after another, her kicks were merciless.
"Arghhh, sto…"
"Urghh, plea… sto…. p."
"Arghhhhh."
Arat moaned and cried uncontrollably, desperately trying to block her attacks with his hands. Each attempt was met with an even harder kick.
In his agony, he shouted for help but no name came into his thought except that of his dead grand-father's
"He… help me gra… npa…. Save…me."
He whispered his voice barely coming out of his mouth.
The female knight, oblivious to his plea, continued her relentless assault. Every time Arat tried to roll onto his back or curl up to defend himself, she responded with an even fiercer kick.
After he finally lost all his strength to fight back anymore, he threw up inside the iron mask, his stomach's contents mingling with blood as it spilled from his mouth. He had never imagined finding himself in such a state, being trampled to death in the forest's silence under the cover of night. Not in a million years he thought his plan would go on this horribly.
The female night then grabbed Arat by the leg and removed the dagger from his belt to make sure he wouldn't do a surprise attack. This wasn't her first time hunting half-devils so she was no stranger to what one of these devils would do when they faced their end. She then started dragging Arat all the way to were they had originally started their fight, she was in no hurry to kill him, as he was in no condition to resist.
While being dragged on the he felt each and every dead leave, small pebble, stone and broken branch of the trees, bruising his now bare back, scraping his skin. In his state he drifted into a memory from a happier time.
The sky was a clear blue, dotted with small, milky-white clouds. The warmth of the sun was soothing as he drank fresh milk from the goats. Later, he arrived home to find his grandfather roasting a boar over a campfire outside that he had hunted. The sight of his grandfather's white skin and calming smile gave Arat a sense of peace, making him feel as though he had everything he ever wanted then.
On the other hand, the harsh reality he lived in was starkly different, leaving him with a single, crushing thought:
I'm all alone in this world, I only have myself.
covered in blood, mud and vomit he was being dragged on the ground, he hated this, hated such a reality, he despised and detested it.
Why should I be treated like this, getting beaten up, shot by an arrow?
I haven't done anything wrong.
I haven't done anything wrong.
I haven't done anything wrong.
I HAVEN'T DONE ANYTHING WRONG!!!
Arat felt a flow of energy from his heart surging all over his body, his anger and pain fueled it more he felt lively as his emerald green eyes turned bright. He could feel his hands and legs and the disgusting smell inside his mask as well as the rushing blood in his veins.
Stretching his hand as he turned his upper body, he grabbed a tree root that jutted out of the ground, the devil bride who felt like he moved turned her head and looked at the struggling child.
"Such an annoyance, forget it. I will kill you here and just deliver your body to the commander."
Arat's vision was blurry like a layer of red covered his eyes, his mouth started watering and his sense of smell and hearing became sharper, he could feel all muscles in his body, he twisted his body frantically to free himself from the woman's firm hand.
Sensing the abnormality of the child she used all her strength and lifted him up holding his leg as if Arat was a straw doll, she intended to smash him on the ground, But in a sudden surge of strength, Arat used his muscles to bring his upper body close to her face while still hanging from his leg.
He threw his hand at the woman's face punching her in the face before she could react, this resulted in her letting go of his leg as she distanced herself from Arat, standing on his feet, Arat removed his leather gloves to reveal his burnt like skin full of bumps and his long and yellowish-black nails that resembled animal claws.
He roared like a beast while his eyes looked at the woman filled with a killing intend beyond that of a humans.
"You look more like a devil now."
In response she only heard Arat roaring, she took her stance confident in her years of experience and her ability to easily eliminate the half devil child, since she knew he had no chance of even scratching her by his claw like nails. She was wearing a steel armor after all.
Arat leaped at her with full speed, dodging the mace effortlessly and slashing at her with his claws. Though his attacks left only small scratches on her thick armor, his primal instincts took over. He felt a split within himself, he was conscious but seemed like an observer while his body acted on its own.
This is me, myself. Every time I lost my control and desired blood and flesh this was the me that pushed me to do so, this is the me I have kept tamed inside me all my life. No not tamed, more like caged.
After using all his stamina and strength Arat who couldn't injure the devil bride started panting to catch his breath, he felt the illusory red layer hadn't disappeared yet but he could think more clearly. He had more control over his body.
I should run, I have to run. Without a sword there is no chance of defeating her.
Rejecting his primal instincts that wanted to kill and bite off the flesh of the woman Arat turned his back at her and started sprinting, the woman followed him through the trees, Arat could feel that he could now run better than before he was injured. His body was warm and he felt alive more than ever. Yet, the woman was still following him, getting closer as the time went on.
Soon she will reach me and then hit me at the back, then I will be dead for sure. I have to somehow make her stop or slow her down.
With this thought Arat shifted the direction he ran in, hoping that he was on the right track and that he had let go of his sword near the tree he had crashed into.