Cardin laughed, not feeling the chill that descended upon the arena. As for the Mercenaries, they were getting nervous. Glynda, seeing that she'd be a hindrance, got out of the arena and gathered the students around her so that she could protect them from any stray attacks.
.
"You think you can stand against all of us?!" He laughed maniacally, "You're really stupid. Once we're done with you, we'll make a special decoration out of your corpse." Cardin's eyes had a slight orange hue to them.
"I see that madness has taken its hold on you," I said as I recognized the symptoms. "I shall make your death as painful as possible."
"Get him!" Cardin shouted.
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One of the mercenaries, deciding to test the waters, slowly edged closer to me. Once he was within range, I calmly brought Rivers of Blood down. Before the mercenary's eyes, the one that was getting closer to me suddenly split into two. Each one felt that the cut was too fast for their eyes to see.
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"One down," I breathed, "29 to go."
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A second one rushed me from behind. Without looking behind me, I reversed my grip on Rivers of Blood and stabbed them. The curse of bleeding on the blade took their life before they saw the strike.
.
"28," I calmly said.
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With how calmly I stated the number left, a few were scared shitless. One tried to run, keyword 'tried'. Using the Finger Seal, I quietly pulled out, I cast a glintstone pebble sorcery, and blew the man's head off.
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"27,"
.
This caused Cardin to rage, and the orange glow in his eyes intensified. He called the mercenaries to charge me, saying that I can't cut them all down at once. Three took the chance to do so, two from the side and one in front of me. Without missing a beat, I spun with Rivers of Blood in a reversehand grip. Cutting through the three of them at the waist in one strike.
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"24,"
.
With but a thought, I summoned several glintstone blades using the Carian Phanlanx sorcery. Nine cerulean blades of light appeared and hovered protectively around me. With a snap of my fingers, those nine blades shot out. Each one impaling one mercenary before dispersing. As the blades disappeared, blood spurted from the bodies.
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"15,"
.
With their force cut down to half, most of the mercenaries were too scared to move. As for Cardin, he was seething with rage. And the orange glow of his eyes intensified even more. It was at this point that the students and Glynda were scared but were noticing that glow of Cardin's eyes. Glynda thought that the secret of the Maidens was about to get out. However, not a single one of them knew about the danger of Madness of the Frenzied Flame.
Cardin, told them to charge once again, this time throwing one of them at me. No hesation was in my strike as I beheaded the mercenary as they sailed past me. The rest of the mercenaries started to step back in fear.
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"14," I calmly, far too calmly, spoke as I crouched, "If you aren't coming to me, I'll com to you!"
.
With that said, I dashed forward. Rivers of Blood was being swung in graceful arcs emphasised with trailes of blood. In a moment, 14 was cut down to ten. Then from ten to eight. From eight to four. And finally, all that stood left was Cardin. The Madness he was suffering intensified to his limit and he became nothing more than a beast in a human body.
He growled and lungded with his oversized mace. I calmly dodged back and stored Rivers of Blood since I intended to make sure he suffered. I drew out a simple dagger and began a ritual that was for those who desvered the worst or those who worshiped the Three Fingers of Madness.
Death by One Thousand Cuts.
...
..
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"Three hundred and eighty-two," I counted off as Cardin collapsed in a disheavled heap.
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Numerous cuts lined his body as he heaved and breathed deeply. I had gone easy on him and he was already in this state. Sighing, I ended Cardin's life as he was too far gone to save. As the dagger pirced his heart, he coughed up blood and sputtered before taking his last breath.
As I stepped back, I looked over to the gathered students and Glynda. When I went to address them, I heard shuffling behind me. Whiping around, I saw that Cardin was standing up. Knowing that he should be dead, I drew out Rivers of Blood once again and readied myself.
His, or rather, its eyes blazed orange as its body began to mend itself. I swore and yelled out to Glynda.
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"Glynda, get the students out of here!" I shouted over my shoulder as I didn't take my eyes off of it.
"What's going on?!" She shouted back.
"Cardin's gone!" I answered as the bodies around began to stand as well. "Shit, Get them out of here and call for backup! I'll do my best to hold them off until you return, go!"
.
Seeing that she couldn't really help in the situation where she was out of the know, she forced marched all the students out of the arena. However, it was for nought as a fog wall raised as soon as they got close. The students' pounded on the wall and Glynda tried to use her Semblance to blast threw the wall next to it, only for nothing to happen.
I couldn't help but sweat as I kept an eye on the monster in front of me. The bodies had began to fuze together and into a shape I recognized far too well. They grafted parts began to bubble and grow in size until it was ten feet tall. Too many arms, a bulging torso, and a face only a mother couldn't love. All that was missing was the Greataxe that was sitting in my bottomless bag.
It was Godirc all over again.