"Am I wasting my time?"
The path Leander was stomping through was lit by the glowing yellow crystals – perhaps a sign he was getting closer to his target. Leander's hand tightly gripped the sword he had just retrieved from the hole. As it had yet to speak again, Leander had no one to speak to but himself.
"Nessa…"
A pack of manyfang turned the corner – no doubt sent by Lewren to finish the job. Leander paid the manyfang little mind.
"Who are you, why do I feel this way when I think of you."
Without raising his eyes from the ground, Leander drew his sword as two manyfang lept into the air. They moved their heads forward as their mouths opened wide revealing their razor-sharp fangs. Coincidentally, they left their bodies exposed.
Gripping the sword with both his hands, Leander grunted as he thought to himself.
'This sword wasn't made to be held with two hands.'
Beheading the attacking manyfang in a single swing, Leander stepped to the side letting the bodies fall behind him.
"I can't remember specifics of my past. Not my home, my family, my friends… Nothing."
The next manyfang moved to attack. Seeing where the first two failed, it attempted to slash Leander with its claws. Without issue, Leander slapped the beast's claws aside with his free hand, stepping forward, Leander stabbed through the beast's body. Swinging his arm to the side, the beast's corpse slid off of the sword and was flung into the curved stone wall of the tunnel.
"It's just as Melaine said, my memories are all gone. Yet, I've remembered her. Nessa, I need, I need to find out who she is to me… Perhaps Melaine will be able to help me with this. But before I can think of doing that.
Leander looked up with a grim expression as hordes of manyfang came charging down the tunnel, all surging to meet him. Their eyes filled with rage having lost members of their pack, fangs dripping with saliva, gnashing in anticipation of tearing apart the lone man who stood against them.
"I need to get out of this damn cave!"
----
'What does my father know? Honour this, honour that. What need do we have for honour, we beasts take what they want. Those small things better finish with that human, I want more, more-'
Lewren's thoughts were interrupted as the sound of conflict arose from the tunnel closest to his pile of treasure.
Crashing, slashing, smashing.
Raising his head, Lewren growled before calling out into the dark.
"What are you pathetic vermin doing, kill him!"
Abruptly the loud sounds stopped, now only heavy footsteps could be heard.
And then something flew out of the darkness, a manyfang's severed head bounced twice before rolling to a stop next to Lewren's treasure. Its tongue stuck out into a pool of its own blood. The man who should be dead stepped into the light leaving a trail of blood in his wake as it dropped from his free hand and his sword.
Lewren let out a small growl as he rose from his ill-gotten goods.
"Now I am amused, you killed all of my little minions. Tell me your name human, I want to let those villagers know who sentenced them to death."
The man's gaze didn't waver as he continued to walk forward.
"This is for Ravenmother."
Grinning, Lewren dug his claws into the stone to stabalize himself. Slowly moving his tail into position. He tensed his tail muscles, preparing to spear the human in a single moment.
'He may have a new sword, but I'll break it just like the last one.'
----
Grabbing his sword in both hands, Leander grimaced feeling the uncomfortable feeling of holding a one handed sword with two hands.
'I need to find a two-handed sword.'
Just as last time, Lewren's tail shot forward within the blink of an eye. And just like before, Leander's sword collided with it in a flash of sparks. Bringing his sword back as he tried to regain his balance because of the recoil, the corner of Leander's lip pulled up into a small smile seeing that the sword was unbroken.
Gritting his teeth, Leander blocked Lewren's tail a second time, and then a third and a fourth. After the fifth block, Leander dashed forward ducking under another of Lewren's attacks. Reaching Lewren, Leander raised his sword swinging it at the beast's leg. Making contact with Lewren, Leander's hope to easily finish this fight was extinguished.
Unlike the manyfang's that Leander had been capable of killing in one blow – Lewren's was resistant to Leander's attack, leaving only a small gash on its skin.
Leander kept close to Lewren. Although this put him in danger of Lewren's fangs and claws, it was a danger he was more confident in facing than being solely on the defensive dealing with Lewren's tail at long range.
'This one's hide is much thicker than the manyfang's, I'm only scratching it.'
Lewren's shifted his body, moving his tail to crash into Leander's body. Leander brought his arm up to block the attack in a move reminscient of his duel with Merritt in the castle's courtyard in Funerary.
'If only I could use my power, just a minute and I'd have this thing's head… What if I don't need a minute, just a few seconds? I need to time this right.'
As Lewren moved its body again, Leander already had a new plan in mind. As Lewren's tail swung towards Leander – the Hero of Peace opened his arms. Catching Lewren's deadliest attack was not without its risks, as the tail made contact with Leander's chestplate, the armour withstood the attack – unfortunatly that was not true for Leander's body as something cracked within his chest.
'That unlocks a forgotten sensation… Can Melaine fix my ribs?'
Grappling with the tail, Leander's mind shut out the pain building up within him – not allowing himself to move an inch. As Lewren struggled against Leander's grip, the beast let out a loud howl as it reared up onto its hind legs. Smashing its front legs back into the ground, Lewren threw its back legs into the air, with its bottom half lifted into the air, Lewren threw its tail into the air pulling Leander – who was unable to let go in time – high into the air.
Letting go of Lewren's tail, Leander's momentum sent him higher and higher. Twisting his body, Leander landed on the roof of the cave, his now dwindling momentum kept him crouched upside down on the ceiling for a fraction of a second.
It wasn't quite how Leander had expected his plan to go, but this was a better time than any. Summoning a small fraction of his soul power, Leander channelled the anima towards his legs. Exhaling, Leander kicked off of the ceiling – the resulting force shattered the roof of the cave sending fragmentation of rock flying in all directions as Leander again twisted his body so he fell down towards Lewren.
His hands tightly gripping his sword above his head, for a moment as he shot downwards Leander's brow furrowed as his bottom hand slipped slightly on the short hilt.
'This is my final attempt, I've used anima so if I can't kill Lewren with this attack I've lost. But I don't know if I can put my all into this attack, the hilt, it's just too small'
As if it had read his mind, the blue eye reappeared within the cracked glass sphere. Its voice spoke to Leander, although no sound was made.
'I heard you the first time...'
Suddenly the sword began to change, glowing brightly with the same colour as its azure eye. The sword's length, width, and weight all increased. Leander was now able to properly wield the sword as its hilt extended offering Leander's hands proper purchase.
Within a moment the meagre short-sword had transformed into a mighty zweihander.
As Leander brought his sword down, Lewren's raised his tail attempting to block Leander's falling blade. But this time, Leander's strike was strengthened by his falling velocity – boosted by his usage of anima – and two-handed strike.
The blade cut through Lewren's tail and moments later, Leander's blade slid through Lewren's neck decapitating the beast.
Leander's feet landed on the ground with a crash shattering even more of the once smooth stone. Lewren's headless corpse collapsed in front of him, the dead beast's head rolled a few feet coming to a stop next to the head of the manyfang Leander had decapitated and thrown out of the darkness only a few minutes ago.
Before Leander could take a breath his sword glowed again reverting to its original short sword form, and with its change the eye within his sword disappeared leaving the glass sphere empty once more.
Frozen in place, Leo blinked as he looked at the sword.
"...What?"
Pain erupted within Leander's body causing him to drop to one knee, followed by a mouthful of blood that Leander proceeded to spit onto the floor. It seemed even tapping into his soul for a moment equalled a painful rebuttal.
After the pain had passed, Leander looked at the dead beast in front of him. A small frown creased the edges of his lips. Speaking, Leander's voice was the softest he had spoken since coming back to life.
"I hope you can find some rest, Ravenmother…"
Standing Leander walked to the beast – using its fur to wipe its blood off the blade – Leander sheathed his sword. With one last glance to Lewren, Leander slowly made his way out of the cave.
----
Hours had passed since Lewren's head had been separated from his body. Two beasts had just crept out of the darkness nearest Lewren's body. Having followed a tunnel that Lewren had used to travel under the mountain range bordering the Wilds and the Undead Kingdom.
These two beasts were smaller than Lewren but larger than the small manyfang. Two tails split out of the end of their bodies waving in the air as they sniffed the ground around Lewren's body.
The slightly smaller beast tilted her head to her companion.
"It seems we were only a few hours late. Thoughts on how we should proceed, Loose Fang?"
The larger of the two beasts, Loose Fang, sniffed at the air for a few moments before grunting.
"Whatever killed Lewren had gone out of the tunnel over there, an adventurer perhaps? Going back to reclaim their reward… Snaggle, go back and inform the lord as fast as possible. I'll stay to try and find the prince's killer."