章 24: Escape

As the connection grew more and more deeper, so did these sensations. When before I could only see and hear what the duskwraith was seeing and hearing, now I could feel much more.

The feeling of bare feet touching the cold stone floors, the anger, the pain. Even though I wasn't inside the duskwraith's body, I could still perceive it all. It almost felt like I was standing in my own body.

Of course, the cursed statue didn't care about any of this. Just like before, it ran towards me and lunged with its stone sword, slicing it through the air in an arc, once again aiming for the duskwraith's neck.

Seeing the incoming sword, my instincts screamed at it to dodge sideways… and it did. The moment the thought appeared in my mind, the duskwraith dodged to its side without hesitation, missing the sword by a hair's breadth.

The statue followed with another swing, and I barely ducked in time, the edge of his blade grazing my shoulder. Pain flared, but I pushed it down- instinct taking over. I leaped back behind one of those stone pillars on the side of the room.

I had an idea of what was happening here, having noticed this with the storm raven beforehand. While asking it to patrol the sky the last couple of days, whenever I would concentrate more on our connection, not only would I start feeling the wind coursing through its body, but it would also be able to do exactly what I wanted it to do without me even ordering it.

The same seemed to be happening here, only on a much deeper scale. Diving and concentrating deep into my connection with the duskwraith, it seemed I had reached a point where it was able to sense every momentary thought coursing through my body. If I wanted it to dodge sideways, it did so without any delay, and if I wanted it to jump behind the nearest pillar, it did that as well.

The statue moved unperturbed, one of the runic symbol on it's chest glowing red. a tremor rattled through the floor. My ears flattened, and I ducked just as another spike shot up behind the pillar, nearly gouging my leg.

I immediately jumped out of the hiding place with a sudden burst of energy; I darted forward, aiming to surprise him. I swiped at his chest with my remaining arm, but he parried with the hilt of his sword, the impact sending a jolt through my arm. The statue was relentless; I had to outsmart him.

I spun away, using the pillars to my advantage but every time I tried to circle around him, he would be ready, another rune would light up and stone walls would come crashing up to block my path, shards exploding and whistling past like arrows. He raised his hand, and the whole hall seemed to quake as the floor cracked and shifted beneath me.

I had no plan. All I could do was dodge and slip between the pillars, my claws scraping for room as I stumbled and nearly fell. I was running out of room. The walls were closing in; I could almost feel his eyes on me, sharp and pitiless like he'd already decided my fate.

"Come on!" I growled under my breath, frustration fueling my desperation. I could sense the duskwraith wanting to fight back, but I forced it to stop. Fighting was pointless; we weren't that thing's match.

I needed an opening, a moment where I could escape this relentless pursuit.

The duskwraith's body was already screaming for a break by now, unfortunately, there was no time to rest. With a sudden burst of determination, I pushed off from the pillar, vaulting over a shard of stone that had fallen to the ground. My eyes locked onto the statue. That thing was so intent on taking me down, that I could almost feel the bloodlust radiating from him .

A bit longer, I only had to survive for just a bit longer. I repeated the same sentence once again before continuing to defend myself against the unending assault.

I feigned left, then darted right, my heart pounding as I felt the blade sweep by again, missing me by mere inches. The statue was strong- so strong, in fact, that each moment I survived felt like a small victory.

Thankfully, I didn't have to wait for much longer. While I had been concentrating on keeping the duskwraith alive, I had sent the storm raven to aid in its escape.

With half of my mind focused on the fight the other half had finally reached it's destination, circling above the marble building, trying to look for an opening among the squad of statues moving outside in perfect formation.

And I finally saw it. Calculating every last moment, the stormraven dove down near the broken window duskwraith had entered the building from. At the same time, I made the duskwraith leap high up in the air towards the same window. The stone statue expectantly tried to chase but was just a moment late, yet somehow still managed to grab one of Duskwraith's legs.

The stormraven was only seconds away from reaching the window, dodging arrows from the statues standing outside. I wasn't going to get this chance again. Without a moment of hesitation, I used the claws on the remaining arm and sliced my captured leg, separating it from the body. I then used the second leg to step on the statue's head and propel myself forward, leaping through the window.

Now was the crucial part. Passing through the window, the duskwraith's body began falling down on the street between the group of statues waiting outside with weapons in hand. It was just about to reach its attack range when suddenly, the storm raven dove in from above, grabbing its body. It then proceeded to zoom high up in the sky using all its speed, dodging the stone arrows coming its way.