Lightning split the dark skies, followed by thunder. It seems like the storm clouds had been waiting for this very timing to release all of their contents. Rain fell not in drops, but in sheets, immediately wetting anyone who would even think of walking out a step from the comfy protection of their house. And yet, stomping about in the rain were two men, completely drenched and yet locked in fierce combat.
There were few distinguishable features about the two of them, due to their dark clothing. One had silver hair, while the other was bald and every time he struck, there was a glint of metal. If observed by any casual onlooker, they might have thought the two of them were acting out a script. For every attack one threw, the other would evade, resulting in an endless dance of non-contact between the two of them. Until the silver-haired male managed to evade an overextended right cross and retaliated with an uppercut straight for the lower jaw.
For a moment, time seemed to freeze as the bald man’s eyes went wide with surprise. He was lifted off his feet by the force of his opponent’s uppercut and immediately fell back to the ground in a heap, the ground too slippery to land on his feet. Instantly he was back on his feet, as fast as a cobra, quickly assuming a fighting stance again. The glint of metal had been knuckle dusters, one in each hand.
The silver-haired man, a mage from Aurora named Shane Stern, was standing in a relaxed posture, giving his limbs the flexibility they would need to react to any sudden attack. After about three seconds of intense glaring, and more importantly, catching their breath, the two charged at each other again. It was taking too long, and Shane had been distracted long enough. Somewhere, the Castle Killer was now roaming around Rose Garden, finding a building to wreck while he was caught up by this small fry. An extremely combat capable small fry.
Gathering wind in his right hand as he charged, the accumulation of wind in his palm going unnoticed in the combination of darkness, lashing winds and flashing lightning. The moment Shane was within striking range, he ducked low and without hesitation, slammed it forward into the man’s torso. The combination of a physical hit and the blast from the wind shell around his palm, carrying more than enough force to break multiple ribs from the various cracking sounds, threw the man into the air and backwards, as he rolled sideways across the ground.
He coughed and hacked while trying to get off the ground, failing in the initial attempts. Shane walked over and kneeled on one knee, his right hand pulling the man’s head up by his collar.
“Where’s the Castle Killer?” Shane asked in a clear and cool voice, his left hand grabbing the man’s left pec in a tiger claw grip. The bald man screamed in pain, before Shane released his grip.
“He’s at Rain Dinners. The biggest casino in town. To the north,” the bald man said in between gasps of pain. Shane took in the information and dropped the man back to the ground, who again tried to push himself back up. However, Shane had no intention of letting him stand again. Once he stood up, the silver-haired mage casually sent a low kick towards the man’s face. The man’s head rocked upwards from the blow and he slumped back to the ground, unconscious. A trickle of blood exited his nose, but never pooling as it was quickly washed away by the rain.
Shane walked away from the unconscious man and then broke into a run as he made his way towards Rain Dinners. This trip had marked his first time in Rose Garden as he never had any reason to be here. However, while waiting for the Castle Killer to show up, he had walked through the entire town, making a mental map of the key landmarks. And the Rain Dinners casino was one of it.
Easily the biggest the casino in town, mainly catering to the high rollers who came to either build their fortune or lose a portion of it trying, Rain Dinners was also accessible to anyone and everyone. It was built in the likeness of a pyramid, with a golden crocodile statue at the top. The golden crocodile statue was a play of words on the name of the owner, Crow Codyle, also one of the richest man in Rose Garden.
As he neared the casino, Shane began to hear loud shouts and subsequently screams of agony. Increasing his pace, Shane arrived in time to see the Castle Killer slash deeply into the chest of a constable with a single swipe of the three blades attached above his wrist. The silver-haired mage stopped dead in his tracks, shocked by what he saw.
The term “a hulk of a man” had never rang more true than the felon in front of him. Standing at a great 10 feet tall, with arms and legs the size of tree trunks, the Castle Killer didn’t look human at all. In fact, he literally didn’t look like a human. Lightning flashed just as the Castle Killer sensed the stunned mage standing behind him, a few feet away and turned around to observe this newcomer.
Shane couldn’t believe what his eyes were seeing as he took in the sight of a face that resembled a crocodile, complete with a short snout and large crocodilian teeth jutting out from them in an angry snarl. The man-crocodile hybrid was also shirtless, wearing only a large pair of purple trousers, ripped below the knees. On his right arm, was a special arm guard to attach the hilt of three sabers, the blades extending curving over the back of his hand. Claws, to be exact. And as the rain pelted his bare upper torso, Shane had also noted that he had scales. The only thing he lacked was tail.
“Fuck me,” Shane whispered, the moment the Castle Killer rushed in his direction. Quickly looking at the five constables still surrounding the Castle Killer but temporarily ignored, Shane shouted for them to get the other three men on the ground, nearly bleeding to their death, to shelter. While he prepped himself to take on this behemoth of an opponent. The Castle Killer barreled towards Shane, right arm raised as he closed the distance between them in two long strides and slashed downwards towards him. With the size and number of blades, it didn’t matter if he aimed or not. As long as it connected, Shane would immediately be grievously injured, if not killed.
The Aurora mage leapt back, out of the swipe’s range and while his opponent’s arm was still at the end of the swinging motion, Shane leapt upwards with a flip and attempted to drop with a devastating axe kick, one of his spells called Mountain Breaker. It was lucky that the Castle Killer had the mass and strength of his size but lacked in the speed department. Shane’s right foot, sheathed in wind to further reinforce his kick, dropped down on the Castle Killer’s exposed right shoulder. He had expected the force of his kick to break the monster’s shoulder bone but it seemed like the scales were too durable.
As his axe kick connected, the Castle Killer’s left claw quickly grabbed on to Shane’s right leg and tossed him upwards into the air with a powerful swing. The Castle Killer pulled his right arm downwards, the three sabers facing upwards. It was an attempt to impale him as he fell. The silver-haired mage was not in the least fazed. The Castle Killer wasn’t the only one who had weapons. As he reached the peak of the throw, Shane quickly twisted his body and repositioned himself so that he was now upside down.
Breaker was already in his hands, spear length. With two hands gripping the shaft near the end, a slight gap between both grip, Shane dropped downwards and swung the spear towards the raised upward thrust, using the clash between the blades to throw himself off to the right side and rolled on the ground. He quickly got back to his feet, Breaker still in spear form, leaned forward and attempted another wide slash across the monster’s chest. The latter couldn’t evade in time, sustaining a long wound across his chest as he stepped backwards.
Shane pushed forward, currently gaining the upper hand but the monster reared back his head and then thrust it forward as he opened his jaws. The former had no time at all to evade as a torrent of water blasted from the Castle Killer’s maw, engulfing him completely and sending him flying towards a wall. Shane smashed bodily into the solid wall, before dropping to his knees, supported only by his spear or he would have fallen flat to the ground. Such was the force behind the jet of water.
A loud rumbling pulled him back to his senses and again he was slammed into the wall, roaring in pain, as the Castle Killer unleashed a bone-breaking punch with his left, Shane barely defending against the punch by holding his spear horizontally across his chest. The Castle Killer pulled back his fist, letting Shane slide down the wall, still holding spear horizontally. But the monster wasn’t done yet. He could have ended the fight by easily slashing across Shane’s body with the three sabers attached to his wrist but he was enjoying the fight too much.
Instead, grabbing the spear in the middle, between Shane’s own grips, the Castle Killer lifted the spear along with Shane still holding on to it and swung it above his head, smashing Shane down into the ground on the other side. The mage lost his grip on the spear as he smashed into the ground, bouncing once on the wet pavement before lying on his back. He had smacked the back of his head as he landed. And he was coughing up blood.
Shane still managed to pulled himself up despite the numerous injuries, refusing to succumb to the pain. What a laugh if he, the man who would complete his master’s last mission, to defeat a monster beyond the Castle Killer, would give into adversities such as this. No, he would soldier on, take whatever was thrown at him and still get up, refusing to fall. And for what it was worth, he was a freaking Demon Slayer. As he stood back up, Shane let out a hoarse laugh, a trickle of blood by the side of his mouth, as another straight punch came looking for his face.
Shane put up a feeble defense, crossing his forearms in front of his face as he prepared to be sent flying again. But what was a desperate attempt proved to worked. The expressions on the faces of the two combatants were mirrored. Stunned for a second, the Castle Killer pulled back his fist in disbelief before dropping to his knees, roaring in pain. Shane watched as something happened to the monster before him.
Something was running amok in the monster’s body, and the longer he watched, the more amazed he was. Steam began to emit from his body, and in the increasingly wide white haze, Shane watched as the Castle Killer’s body shrunk. First it was his shoulders, the sound of the sockets twisting horribly, followed his upper body. The sounds, what Shane could only imagine was his entire skeletal structure reorganizing itself, was accompanied by hellish howls of pain. The limbs eased out of their size fluidly, deflating like balloons. As time passed, the inhumane roars and howls began to taper down into more human-like sounds as the Castle Killer finally assumed the size of a normal human.
The large arm guard he wore on his right forearm was now disengaged, abandoned on the ground while what remained of the monster, curled up into a ball, fetus-like. He was now whimpering, from pain, Shane guessed. The transformation had been too sudden, but in a way made sense. The constables from before, started to approach them, closing on the man in a half circle formation, their swords and shields drawn.
“You win another round, Stern. But next time, you won’t find it so lucky. This is merely a sampling of what the Lord of Anarchy will perfect in time,” a venomous voice suddenly spoke beside Shane’s ear. Without waiting for a response, the shadowy figure behind Shane swooped to the ground, grabbed the large arm guard and disappeared in the same manner as how he had appeared. Shane had completely frozen up, a chill down his spine. The constables waited for a response from him, looking at his shocked expression.
The silver-haired mage swallowed hard, before instructing the constables to apprehend the man on the ground. He would obviously be interrogated. And at that moment, Shane decided that this was a matter above him. And the Rune Knights were the perfect people to notify. He watched as the constables brought the man away, still in a daze.
There were few distinguishable features about the two of them, due to their dark clothing. One had silver hair, while the other was bald and every time he struck, there was a glint of metal. If observed by any casual onlooker, they might have thought the two of them were acting out a script. For every attack one threw, the other would evade, resulting in an endless dance of non-contact between the two of them. Until the silver-haired male managed to evade an overextended right cross and retaliated with an uppercut straight for the lower jaw.
For a moment, time seemed to freeze as the bald man’s eyes went wide with surprise. He was lifted off his feet by the force of his opponent’s uppercut and immediately fell back to the ground in a heap, the ground too slippery to land on his feet. Instantly he was back on his feet, as fast as a cobra, quickly assuming a fighting stance again. The glint of metal had been knuckle dusters, one in each hand.
The silver-haired man, a mage from Aurora named Shane Stern, was standing in a relaxed posture, giving his limbs the flexibility they would need to react to any sudden attack. After about three seconds of intense glaring, and more importantly, catching their breath, the two charged at each other again. It was taking too long, and Shane had been distracted long enough. Somewhere, the Castle Killer was now roaming around Rose Garden, finding a building to wreck while he was caught up by this small fry. An extremely combat capable small fry.
Gathering wind in his right hand as he charged, the accumulation of wind in his palm going unnoticed in the combination of darkness, lashing winds and flashing lightning. The moment Shane was within striking range, he ducked low and without hesitation, slammed it forward into the man’s torso. The combination of a physical hit and the blast from the wind shell around his palm, carrying more than enough force to break multiple ribs from the various cracking sounds, threw the man into the air and backwards, as he rolled sideways across the ground.
He coughed and hacked while trying to get off the ground, failing in the initial attempts. Shane walked over and kneeled on one knee, his right hand pulling the man’s head up by his collar.
“Where’s the Castle Killer?” Shane asked in a clear and cool voice, his left hand grabbing the man’s left pec in a tiger claw grip. The bald man screamed in pain, before Shane released his grip.
“He’s at Rain Dinners. The biggest casino in town. To the north,” the bald man said in between gasps of pain. Shane took in the information and dropped the man back to the ground, who again tried to push himself back up. However, Shane had no intention of letting him stand again. Once he stood up, the silver-haired mage casually sent a low kick towards the man’s face. The man’s head rocked upwards from the blow and he slumped back to the ground, unconscious. A trickle of blood exited his nose, but never pooling as it was quickly washed away by the rain.
Shane walked away from the unconscious man and then broke into a run as he made his way towards Rain Dinners. This trip had marked his first time in Rose Garden as he never had any reason to be here. However, while waiting for the Castle Killer to show up, he had walked through the entire town, making a mental map of the key landmarks. And the Rain Dinners casino was one of it.
Easily the biggest the casino in town, mainly catering to the high rollers who came to either build their fortune or lose a portion of it trying, Rain Dinners was also accessible to anyone and everyone. It was built in the likeness of a pyramid, with a golden crocodile statue at the top. The golden crocodile statue was a play of words on the name of the owner, Crow Codyle, also one of the richest man in Rose Garden.
As he neared the casino, Shane began to hear loud shouts and subsequently screams of agony. Increasing his pace, Shane arrived in time to see the Castle Killer slash deeply into the chest of a constable with a single swipe of the three blades attached above his wrist. The silver-haired mage stopped dead in his tracks, shocked by what he saw.
The term “a hulk of a man” had never rang more true than the felon in front of him. Standing at a great 10 feet tall, with arms and legs the size of tree trunks, the Castle Killer didn’t look human at all. In fact, he literally didn’t look like a human. Lightning flashed just as the Castle Killer sensed the stunned mage standing behind him, a few feet away and turned around to observe this newcomer.
Shane couldn’t believe what his eyes were seeing as he took in the sight of a face that resembled a crocodile, complete with a short snout and large crocodilian teeth jutting out from them in an angry snarl. The man-crocodile hybrid was also shirtless, wearing only a large pair of purple trousers, ripped below the knees. On his right arm, was a special arm guard to attach the hilt of three sabers, the blades extending curving over the back of his hand. Claws, to be exact. And as the rain pelted his bare upper torso, Shane had also noted that he had scales. The only thing he lacked was tail.
“Fuck me,” Shane whispered, the moment the Castle Killer rushed in his direction. Quickly looking at the five constables still surrounding the Castle Killer but temporarily ignored, Shane shouted for them to get the other three men on the ground, nearly bleeding to their death, to shelter. While he prepped himself to take on this behemoth of an opponent. The Castle Killer barreled towards Shane, right arm raised as he closed the distance between them in two long strides and slashed downwards towards him. With the size and number of blades, it didn’t matter if he aimed or not. As long as it connected, Shane would immediately be grievously injured, if not killed.
The Aurora mage leapt back, out of the swipe’s range and while his opponent’s arm was still at the end of the swinging motion, Shane leapt upwards with a flip and attempted to drop with a devastating axe kick, one of his spells called Mountain Breaker. It was lucky that the Castle Killer had the mass and strength of his size but lacked in the speed department. Shane’s right foot, sheathed in wind to further reinforce his kick, dropped down on the Castle Killer’s exposed right shoulder. He had expected the force of his kick to break the monster’s shoulder bone but it seemed like the scales were too durable.
As his axe kick connected, the Castle Killer’s left claw quickly grabbed on to Shane’s right leg and tossed him upwards into the air with a powerful swing. The Castle Killer pulled his right arm downwards, the three sabers facing upwards. It was an attempt to impale him as he fell. The silver-haired mage was not in the least fazed. The Castle Killer wasn’t the only one who had weapons. As he reached the peak of the throw, Shane quickly twisted his body and repositioned himself so that he was now upside down.
Breaker was already in his hands, spear length. With two hands gripping the shaft near the end, a slight gap between both grip, Shane dropped downwards and swung the spear towards the raised upward thrust, using the clash between the blades to throw himself off to the right side and rolled on the ground. He quickly got back to his feet, Breaker still in spear form, leaned forward and attempted another wide slash across the monster’s chest. The latter couldn’t evade in time, sustaining a long wound across his chest as he stepped backwards.
Shane pushed forward, currently gaining the upper hand but the monster reared back his head and then thrust it forward as he opened his jaws. The former had no time at all to evade as a torrent of water blasted from the Castle Killer’s maw, engulfing him completely and sending him flying towards a wall. Shane smashed bodily into the solid wall, before dropping to his knees, supported only by his spear or he would have fallen flat to the ground. Such was the force behind the jet of water.
A loud rumbling pulled him back to his senses and again he was slammed into the wall, roaring in pain, as the Castle Killer unleashed a bone-breaking punch with his left, Shane barely defending against the punch by holding his spear horizontally across his chest. The Castle Killer pulled back his fist, letting Shane slide down the wall, still holding spear horizontally. But the monster wasn’t done yet. He could have ended the fight by easily slashing across Shane’s body with the three sabers attached to his wrist but he was enjoying the fight too much.
Instead, grabbing the spear in the middle, between Shane’s own grips, the Castle Killer lifted the spear along with Shane still holding on to it and swung it above his head, smashing Shane down into the ground on the other side. The mage lost his grip on the spear as he smashed into the ground, bouncing once on the wet pavement before lying on his back. He had smacked the back of his head as he landed. And he was coughing up blood.
Shane still managed to pulled himself up despite the numerous injuries, refusing to succumb to the pain. What a laugh if he, the man who would complete his master’s last mission, to defeat a monster beyond the Castle Killer, would give into adversities such as this. No, he would soldier on, take whatever was thrown at him and still get up, refusing to fall. And for what it was worth, he was a freaking Demon Slayer. As he stood back up, Shane let out a hoarse laugh, a trickle of blood by the side of his mouth, as another straight punch came looking for his face.
Shane put up a feeble defense, crossing his forearms in front of his face as he prepared to be sent flying again. But what was a desperate attempt proved to worked. The expressions on the faces of the two combatants were mirrored. Stunned for a second, the Castle Killer pulled back his fist in disbelief before dropping to his knees, roaring in pain. Shane watched as something happened to the monster before him.
Something was running amok in the monster’s body, and the longer he watched, the more amazed he was. Steam began to emit from his body, and in the increasingly wide white haze, Shane watched as the Castle Killer’s body shrunk. First it was his shoulders, the sound of the sockets twisting horribly, followed his upper body. The sounds, what Shane could only imagine was his entire skeletal structure reorganizing itself, was accompanied by hellish howls of pain. The limbs eased out of their size fluidly, deflating like balloons. As time passed, the inhumane roars and howls began to taper down into more human-like sounds as the Castle Killer finally assumed the size of a normal human.
The large arm guard he wore on his right forearm was now disengaged, abandoned on the ground while what remained of the monster, curled up into a ball, fetus-like. He was now whimpering, from pain, Shane guessed. The transformation had been too sudden, but in a way made sense. The constables from before, started to approach them, closing on the man in a half circle formation, their swords and shields drawn.
“You win another round, Stern. But next time, you won’t find it so lucky. This is merely a sampling of what the Lord of Anarchy will perfect in time,” a venomous voice suddenly spoke beside Shane’s ear. Without waiting for a response, the shadowy figure behind Shane swooped to the ground, grabbed the large arm guard and disappeared in the same manner as how he had appeared. Shane had completely frozen up, a chill down his spine. The constables waited for a response from him, looking at his shocked expression.
The silver-haired mage swallowed hard, before instructing the constables to apprehend the man on the ground. He would obviously be interrogated. And at that moment, Shane decided that this was a matter above him. And the Rune Knights were the perfect people to notify. He watched as the constables brought the man away, still in a daze.
[2198 words]
