Chapter 32: -A Dance With Death [2]
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A/N: Sorry I missed a day, and I happen to be posting this pretty late. Many of you might see it tomorrow, but I've been studying for an upcoming exam that counts quite heavily for my class grade, so I apologize. I will try getting back on schedule soon.
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As swords clashed and sparks flew through the air, the sounds of a skirmish were easily drowned out by the sounds of another fight. A much larger fight. One who's echoes shook the very ground.
Cain stood with his back turned to the Tank, his expression lax with no emotions showing on his face.
The Tank however, was breathing heavily, sweat marking his forehead, and his posture betraying the exhaustion that Cain had beaten into him.
'Funny, I would have thought he would be stronger. Given that he is a Tank and all that.'
Looking at the Tank, Cain could only sigh in disappointment. His own expression showed just how annoyed he was with the Tank's performance.
'His durability is something to praise, but that honestly is all he has going for him.'
As Cain scrutinized the Tank, his eyes paused on the armor the man was wearing, gold and silver encrusted.
'That armor might be doing something to help him, but with just a punch it would shatter. Is this really all that boy brought with him?'
Glancing to his right, Cain searched for the body of Alan, knowing that he would be too frightened to move or attempt a sneak attack on him.
But as his eyes passed over the torn ground that they had called their battlefield, Cain was left surprised that no one was there.
Turning his head this way and that, he searched for Alan, somewhat doubtful that the man could have gotten far.
'Now where is…'
Stopping, Cain's eyes paused on two individuals fighting, their swords leaving sparks in their trails.
'So that's where he was.'
Shaking his head, Cain could only voice out his own disappointment for Alan, knowing that the boy wouldn't last long.
"Honestly, I gave the kid a chance. All he had to do was sit still and he would have lived."
Stealing one last glance at the two fighting pairs, his eyes fell on Lia, who was furiously engaged in the battle, her focus never leaving Alan.
"It's too bad he chose to fight her. Though she does look tired, I think this will be a great opportunity for her to learn. After all, one must save their energy in battle, if they wish to achieve victory against their greatest adversaries."
"AGHHHH…"
Suddenly, Cain's attention was torn from the battle, and back to the situation at hand, as the Tank rushed forward at full force.
However, all Cain had to do, as he had been doing for the past hour while indeed in this silly bout, was step to the side, easily avoiding the attack.
-Crash!
As Cain stepped to the side, the Tank smashed against a stone pillar that, at one point, might have held a water duct at some point in time.
The force of the crash wasn't enough to stun the Tank as he simply got back up, but it was strong enough to leave sizable cracks in the pillar.
"Bastard. Stop messing with me and FIGHT!"
Voicing his rage, the Tank picked up a large stone boulder and hurled it in Cain's direction, who merely leaned sideways, tilting his head left to avoid the flying rock.
"Please, if you want to kill me, put up an actual fight, and not this…this…"
Cain searched for the words, and upon finding it, snapped his fingers like he had discovered some great achievement.
-Snap!
"Ah, that's it. Tantrum."
His voice didn't need to betray his already lax and scrutinizing behavior, as it was written clearly across his face.
"Tantrum. You call this a tantrum?!"
The Tank's face contorted in rage, causing Cain to smile, only slightly however.
"Bastard!"
Using the same tactic he had used before, the Tank rushed forward, his arms positioned in front of his face to protect him.
Seeing this, Cain just shook his head.
'Does he think he's some sort of battering ram? What, did they use him to break down the door too?'
As Cain's attention focused back on the Tank, his eyes paused for a moment, only a moment, on something in the distance.
It caused his smile to widen even more.
***
As the Tank grew closer, the man's hope began to rise, seeing that Cain was doing nothing to stop his attacks, he believed that he would do nothing until the final moment.
For over an hour, they had been going back and forth, back and forth, with dozens and dozens of attacks.
But even with all the blows the Tank had landed on Cain, or the strength he put into them, Cain simply returned them full force, matching his strength.
In some ways, the Tank had begun losing hope that he would ever be able to defeat Cain, and face his guild master with a raised head.
But seeing Cain's lax attitude during their fight had only enraged the Tank even more, forcing him to continue on, having given up any thoughts of surrendering.
It was this rage that made him prone to mistakes.
Several of which were seen clearly by even him, as Cain's face had once portrayed excitement, had gradually lost it throughout the battle, losing any notion of entertainment half way through the battle.
It could also be seen by the way Cain dealt with the attacks, using simple sidestep movements to avoid the obvious attack, as if it wasn't worth taking full force.
Over the course of the battle, Cain had continuously used this form of evasion, again and again, almost as if he was rubbing it in the Tank's face that they were 'that' easy to evade.
The entire thing angered him. No, it enraged him, furiously, to the point where the Tank no longer cared about his original mission, and simply focused on killing Cain.
While he had sustained damage to himself from his constant rushing attacks, the damage was only minimal, nothing to worry about.
That being said, his armor was another issue at hand. Though it did provide a fair amount of protection, the man sensed that Cain, given how low he saw this battle as, could easily destroy it with one attack.
It was because of this, that the Tank's hopes had been raised when seeing Cain's position had not yet changed, even though he was only a mere ten feet from him.
He was going to do it, he was finally going to kill the bastard that had been mocking him.
'I'm so close!'
Time felt like it had slowed down as the Tank closed the last bit of distance between the two of them, his rage turning to arrogance as he claimed his victory.
"DIE YOU BASTARD!"
But…
"Not yet little one…"
A calm and crisp voice echoed in the Tank's ear, as Cain disappeared from his vision, and a large shadow over took the area that surrounded him.
'What?'
It was the last thing that passed through his head, pure and utter confusion and question, before darkness overtook him.
-BOOM!
***
As Cain's eyes passed over the Tank, and to the area behind him, he couldn't help but let his smile show.
'That might be a little fun?'
He teased, thinking of the many ways he could have killed the Tank, and deciding that this was his best option to gain any form of entertainment or satisfaction.
Deciding on this plan, Cain allowed the Tank to get closer and closer, his hopes rising with every step he took, and it only caused Cain's excitement to grow.
'I wonder. How would it feel to have all that hope ripped away?'
Truly, if anyone could read or hear his thoughts as he was able to do with Lia, they would call him demon, monster, and the likes of which he would not utter aloud.
But it didn't matter to him. He had been called all that before.
A memory he did not wish to have.
Shaking his head, Cain could already tell where his mind was going with that train of thought, knowing full well that his own mind often worked against him when he gave it even the smallest of chances.
So, he kept his focus on the task at hand, his mind racing with the idea of what he must do.
As the Tank grew closer, Cain's mana began to spike, his power began to rise, though it was only a small amount.
'Lia will probably get a boost in strength right about now. Let's hope she can handle it.'
Closing his eyes, Cain could sense the Tank's close proximity and shifted his weight onto his right and front most foot as it pushed off the cold stone ground.
And just like that, Cain opened his eyes to find himself standing next to the large pillar, its cracks betraying how fragile it truly was.
'The years have not been kind to you, old one.'
Cain thought, as his hand brushed against the individual cracks, the vines that had grown over the sides, and spiraled up to the top, and the even older encrusted stone markings and runes on it's side.
'Funny, this pillar represents strength, yet soon it will fall.'
Finding the runes ironic, Cain clenched his hand into a fist, and lightly tapped the pillars side.
Such a simple movement would have done nothing, that is, if it was a normal person…
-Cra-Crack!
-Crunch!
The sounds of stone cracking rose and quickened as the pillar's stability grew weaker and weaker, its encrusted runes breaking to pieces at the force of whatever had caused this.
Soon, the pillar had nothing left to support it, and just as Cain had begun admiring the pillar's design and the ironic meaning of the runes, the pillar began to fall.
Time began to slow down as Cain's eyes left the pillar and paused on the Tank, directly in the line of the falling pillar.
'He will be crushed, his death instantaneous. He won't feel a thing.'
And just like that, the pillar fell, crashing against the stone floor, sending debri flying everywhere, and a large crater formed underneath the pillar, showing just how strong the force behind the fall had been.
And with its fall, rang out an almost deafening sound of the crash.
-BOOOOM!
As the dust and debris settled, the pillar's motion now stopped by the ground, Cain's eyes passed over the scene before him with some hints of satisfaction.
The Tank was nowhere to be seen.
"Well…that ended faster than I thought it was."
His eyes and voice showed subtle signs of disappointment in them, proving just how disappointed he was that the scene had ended so quickly.
'Well then, on to the next one -'
But just as Cain was about to turn and focus his attention on another attacker being dealt with by Rian, Cain felt an almost piercing, agonizing pain in his chest.
The pain was so great that it would have brought any man to their knees. But Cain didn't have time for that, as his face hardened with shock and his eyes widened in fear.
A fear that had not entered his body in many years.
Quickly he turned his attention to the direction of Lia, who he had seen locking in a battle with Alan only moments before.
And what he saw, only left his eyes widening even more in shock.
-Squench!
Red was all he could see.
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A/N: The reason this ones so short is not only because of my shortage on time, but also because a lot of the main stuff is in the next chapter, and this seemed like the best place to end it off.
Next chapters coming tomorrow!
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