Claws screeched against metal.
Blades clashed against carapace.
Red blood splashed across the floor, painting it a beautiful red.
Stewart was covered in blood, and his body was in pain. He was in so much pain that he desperately wanted to fall down and sleep. He truly did.
Why did he have to live like this? What did he do to deserve this? Where did he go wrong?
He parried the bug Bestial's claw as he slashed at its chest. The blade cut against its carapace, and a wound appeared. But seconds later, the wound closed up.
The Bestial lunged at him as it tried to close its mandibles on his neck, but Stewart simply raised his blade up and slashed it. The blade cut off one of its four mandibles, causing the Bestial to stagger back in pain. But slowly, the missing mandible healed.
The Bestial unleashed a flurry of scratches at Stewart. Seeing this, Stewart took a step back as he tried his best to parry all of the oncoming strikes. But he could not parry them all as several of them got through and slashed at his flesh.
He kept parrying until he saw the Bestial lax its strikes on its right side. Taking this opportunity, Stewart quickly dashed to its right and in a single moment plunged his blade into its side. The Bestial cried in pain as it slammed one of its massive arms down onto Stewart.
Stewart could do nothing but take the hit. His body slammed down onto the dirt floor, yet the grip on his blade did not lessen. As his body fell, he used his strength to pull his blade from the beast's side.
The beast staggered back as it clutched its side, blood trickling out. It growled at Stewart as it lifted its fingers off its wound. Slowly, the wound healed just like all the others. Its manidbles clicking ever faster.
This beast kept healing no matter what he did. If he blew up its wounds, it would heal. If he cut parts of its body, it would slowly heal itself. If he even tore them off with just his bare hands, that thing would heal it as if it were nothing.
Stewart slowly stood back up and lunged at the beast. The beast did the same as both sides lunged at one another. Before the two clashed, Stewart changed the position of his sword as he stabbed his blade multiple times into the beast's chest. The speed of his strikes grew faster and faster by the second.
Seeing this, the beast tried to match his strike, but over time, its own speed was falling behind. The beast backed off as it glared at Stewart. The beast bled out more blood as it staggered back, yet its wounds were slowly healing just like before.
Clicking its mandibles, it tried to punch Stewart with its two giant arms. But Stewart simply ducked under them and slashed at its two lesser arms. The Bestial grabbed the blades using its two lesser arms and was prepared to crush his skull using one of its massive arms.
The smart move would have been to let go of the blade and dodge. In fact, a sane person would not have even tried to fight this beast. Yet, Stewart did neither. Pushing all his strength into his arms, he gripped the handle of his blade tightly and pushed with all he had.
A scream escaped his throat as he roared with all his might. The blade that seemed not to budge between the beast's fingers slowly began to cut. Blood trickled down the beast's carapace finger as it clasped against the blade. Before the beast could do anything further, Stewart pushed one final time. His blade cuts the beast's six fingers before reaching the beast's chest and cutting it as well.
In pain, the beast backed away. But as it backed away, it did not notice that it had stepped over the line it had made.
"I win," Stewart mumbled out as he watched the Bestial step out of the ring. A smile plastered on his bloody and tired face as he just grinned at the beast.
Seeing this, the Bestial only clicked its mandibles before standing tall, the wound on its chest healing. It flicked the blood off of its fingers before it spoke, "You did win, but that won't save you. After all, who cares if you win this stupid game or not?"
Hearing this, Stewart just smiled, "You're right, no one would care if I won our little game. I mean, I was the one who asked you to play since I knew I was going to die. But, well, I might have overestimated you."
"Oh, and why is that?" The Bestial asked curiously.
"Before I answer, I would like to know your name. If you have one," Stewart asked as he rested his blade against his shoulder. A tired smile plastered on his bloody face.
"And why would you like to know that?" The Bestial asked, its mandibles clicking as its face shifted while it examined Stewart. Trying to look for any signs that could show why he was ever confident.
"Well, from my part of the city, we have a tradition to ask the person we are about to kill for their name. As a way to remember them and to pay respect," Stewart said as though it was common knowledge.
"... Cor, a name given to me by my leader after I killed the Wielder you called Marius," Cor said simply as he stared at Stewart, "now, as per your 'tradition,' I do hope you tell me yours and why you, as you said before, overestimated me."
Stewart simply smiled as he raised a tightly closed hand, "Well, the name is Stewart Morrow, and the answer is quite simple. I seem to have figured out how to bypass your little healing trick. After all, you haven't noticed your chest, have you?"
Hearing this, Cor looked down, shocked. His fingers were being healed, as were the other wounds, yet the cut on his chest was not. It was healing before, that was for certain, but now it seemed to have stopped. In fact, a red bubble was forming on its chest as of right now. Cor quickly looked up and saw Stewart spread his fingers.
Cor tried to dash towards Stewart, but it was already too late as the bubble popped. Cor staggered backwards as he saw his chest cave in. He took several staggering steps back as he looked at Stewart. He could feel the blood gushing out of his chest, but he could also feel it slowly healing.
Not letting a second pass, Stewart dashed at Cor. His blade raised high as he slashed down. Cor quickly raised his left bulky arm to block the attack, and it did block. As Stewart's blade met Cor's carapace, a gash was left behind as blood trickled.
Seconds later, the wound was slowly healing, yet Stewart simply raised his left hand up and clutched it. Cor watched with surprise on his face as a red bubble slowly formed. Before he could do anything, he watched as Stewart dashed at him once again.
Cor tried to use his other big arm to block the attack as well, but the speed of the slash increased as if boosted by something. Cor could only watch as a slash appeared on his chest again.
Suddenly, the bubble on his big arm popped, causing Cor to stumble to the side. He couldn't even understand what was going on before he saw a red bubble form on his chest. Cor quickly swung one of his lesser arms to slash at Stewart, his claw cutting the flesh on Stewart's chest.
Cor quickly followed it by plunging his other lesser arm into Stewart's side. Stewart grimaced as he gritted his teeth. He quickly raised his blade up to slash at the lesser arm that was plunged into his side. But Cor had pulled it out and dashed backwards.
"What a stupid bug", Stewart simply said as he raised his left hand up and showed a still clutched hand. A second later, the hand unclenched, and Cor's chest once again caved in.
"How!" Cor shouted as he clutched his chest. Blood poured out as though it were a dam that finally crumbled down. Pain shot through his body as he kept his gaze on Stewart.
Stewart didn't answer and just clutched his blade tight. He dashed at Cor with all his might. Seeing this, Cor spread his wings out and prepared to face him head-on. Cor lashed out with both of his giant arms, and Stewart slashed his blade upwards.
As both of them were about to meet, Stewart quickly skidded to a halt. With a quick step turned his body around and jumped to Cor's left side. Seeing this, Cor tried to stop his body, but his speed and the momentum of his fist didn't allow him to.
Cor could only watch as Stewart slashed his blade, his target being his neck. Cor's fist slammed hard against the dirt, and Stewarts' blade slit his neck.
Cor used his two lesser arms to clutch the wound before swinging one of his big arms at Stewart. Stewart backed off as he watched Cor, blood gushing from his neck.
"I remember you asking me how I did it. But you never said for what," Stewart said, blood trickling down his face and across his body. Stewart lifted his left hand up and slowly clenched it. As he did so, a red bubble slowly formed on Cor's neck.
"I am going to assume you meant why my bubbles still formed even though they were healing. But to answer that, I need to tell you something about my blade," Stewart said as he twirled his blade, "I myself don't know much about this. You see, it was a gift for my promotion given to me by my leader, and as he gave it to me, he told me it held a surprise. I didn't know what he meant until I met Lone. Supposedly, the more blood this blade spills, the faster and stronger it is."
Stewart paused as he watched the blood bubble grow more and more by the second, "You might be thinking, 'but during our battle you fought exactly the same', which you would be right. Now I won't sugarcoat this, but I was playing you. I wasn't actually using the blade's strength to the fullest until the last moments. I would say when I cut your fingers off."
Cor stumbled forward, his two lesser arms striking at Stewart. In response, Stewart slashed at speeds that even Cor could not see. All Cor could see was Stewart moving his arm before both of his arms fell to the ground, both being chopped off.
"Now, you're wondering why I didn't use this strength as we fought. Well, the reason for that is quite simple, I had no clue how your healing worked. From our battle, I guessed and tested how you healed. But I knew the moment I showed even the slightest hint of strength, you would either act confident and charge at me or be on the defensive. I would say you would have chosen the first one, but I couldn't risk that," Stewart said as he watched the blood bubble grow bigger than a fist.
"But to make a long story short, it was those little Mites, wasn't it. Those Mites roaming your body are either your ability or just a couple of Bestials you had under your command. But if I were to guess, your ability is probably commanding Bestials, more specifically bug-like Bestials," Stewart said as he pointed the tip of his blade at a giant leech in the distance.
The leech was writing in pain, its screeches echoing throughout the battlefield. Around the beast were bodies of dead Bestials who either got in the leech's path or were killed by Lone.
Lone in question was fighting against a swarm of Bestials, using a spear that Stewart had never seen before.
"Guess the kid evolved", Stewart said as he slashed at Cor's wings. He didn't know if Cor was going to run, but it seemed like the smart choice.
Seeing his cut wings, Cor clicked his mandibles quickly. As if a bell rang in their minds, all the Bestials stopped their advance on Lone and turned around. They all stared at Stewart for a small second before charging.
"I was right, good to know," Stewart said as he aimed his clenched fist at Cor's head. The bubble is now the size of Cor's own head.
"Allow me to end this little explanation. I discovered my ability doesn't need to target the whole wound; it can target any part of it. So I simply targeted the centre part of the wound that was out of reach of those Mites," Stewart said just as he unclenched his fist.
The bubble popped as Cor's entire throat caved in, and seconds later, his head fell off.
"... though you were a coward, you were still a member of the transportation. So, don't worry, but I have avenged you, Sir Marius," Stewart said as he looked at his blood-covered blade. He flicked his blade, the blood flying off its metal form.
"We should be an hour or so away from the Fort," Stewart said as he rushed towards the swarm. His bloody, tired form charging at the swarm.