Chapter 299: Oh, The Irony! (3).

Nero threw himself backward, the axe blade slamming into the stone where his chest had been, the impact sending fragments of rock flying with one of them cutting a line across his cheek.

Blood ran down his face, dripping onto the hazy floor.

Rummel Abellion, in its twisted glory, inhaled deeply, as if savoring a pleasant aroma.

“Yes,” the Angel breathed. “Yes, that is perfect. Keep bleeding, boy. Spill your blood for me.”

Nero scrambled to his feet, backing toward the pool. Arthur and Jacob followed, both of them bleeding now from multiple wounds. Arthur’s enchanted sword dripped thick with crimson while Jacob’s face was a mask of blood from the reopened gash on his forehead.

And above them, Rummel Abellion watched. Although he could not see its true countenance, Nero could tell the damned thing was watching them with evident satisfaction, like a crowd roaring with spittle flying at a pit filled with fighting dogs or barbarians tearing at throats and ripping out spines.

He glanced over his shoulder and his blood ran cold.

He’d backed up to the very edge of the pool. The crystal-clear water lapped at his heels, and in its depths, that vast impossible thing still slumbered, unaware of the violence unfolding above.

Arthur and Jacob advanced from the front, cutting off any escape.

He was trapped.

Arthur lunged, his sword thrusting straight for Nero’s heart.

Nero twisted, the blade passing so close he felt it tear through his shirt. He grabbed Arthur’s sword arm with his good hand and pulled, using the noble’s momentum to throw him off balance.

Arthur stumbled toward the pool’s edge.

For a moment, Nero thought he would fall in.

But at the last second Arthur caught himself, spinning back around with his sword already moving in a backhanded cut.

Jacob’s axe came from the other side.

Nero dropped flat, both weapons passing over him. He kicked out with his good leg, catching Jacob behind the knee. The big man went down, but immediately began pushing himself back up with a shocking level of agility than nearly made Nero begin singing his praises if it wasn’t so to his detriment.

’This can’t continue.’ Nero thought to himself.

He was already exhausted from drawing the array, from the ritual, from his injuries. His movements were getting slower, and even worse, his reactions were being dulled by pain and fatigue.

And Arthur and Jacob showed no signs of tiring at all.

They pressed their attack with relentless coordination. One from the left while the other circled right, but both seemed very determined to crack his skull open by all means necessary, it seemed. There were more very impressive, feints followed by real strikes followed by more feints. They fought like they’d trained together for years, every movement perfectly synchronized.

These flurry of strikes might as well could have been unbeatable for Nero.

He had trained under Sergeant Vane for quite some time now. And yet, he had never seen something like this.

Something so brutally overpowering.

Nero managed to deflect Arthur’s sword with his dagger, but the force of the blow sent his weapon flying from his grip. It clattered across the stone floor, coming to rest near the edge of the chamber.

Unarmed now except for his wits.

Jacob’s axe caught him across the thigh, a shallow cut because he had been able to react in time. But, it was enough to make his leg buckle. Nero went down on one knee, his hand pressed against the wound to stem the bleeding.

Arthur’s sword came down in an overhead strike aimed at splitting Nero’s skull violently open.

Nero threw himself to the side at the last possible moment, the blade carving through fungi and stone. Without even thinking twice, he summoned Gungnir.

But before he could regain his bearings, Jacob was before him, his axe slamming down to block Nero’s path. The blade embedded itself in the stone floor with a crack like thunder, shattered the ground and sending spiderwebs in all directions.

’So strong!’

Nero twirled his spear and changed direction, but Arthur cut him off from that angle too.

They herded him back toward the pool. Nero swung his spear and parried as much as he could.

Forget the Sergeant’s training… He could barely even catch a breath, much less muster a counter attack!

“This is delightful!” Rummel Abellion’s laughter echoed out.

’Shut the hell up, idiot! I’ll get to you in a minute!’

Nero’s breathing was ragged now, each breath sending spikes of agony through his mind. His left arm hung useless, blood soaking through his shirt from the cut across his bicep. His leg throbbed where Jacob’s axe had cut it.

There was nothing he could do to escape their barrage, he figured.

Unless he embraced his darkness of course. However, that would involve soliciting a rather unstable power. He would hate to tear these two apart with enormous saw-like claws. That was not something he was willing to stomach just yet.

But without it, there was no way he could subdue these two.

Solely on a skill level, they had him completely outclassed. It seemed as though they were completely different people when compared to the fighting he had witnessed earlier in the day. It was completely different it seemed, when their aim was to kill.

Nero’s heel touched water and he stopped, refusing to go any further. Whatever was in that pool, he wanted no part of it.

Arthur and Jacob stood five feet away, both bleeding from multiple wounds, staring at him with those eyes with the eerie glow engulfing them.

However, before he could hash out his dark thoughts properly, the two damned bastards turned on each other again.

“For the love of the gods…”

Blood poured from both of them, splashing onto the fungus-covered floor.

And with each drop spilled, the runes in the array behind them glowed brighter.

Nero saw clearly what was happening. Their blood was feeding the ritual. While it technically wasn’t going to kill them, from the looks of it, it was draining their life force with every passing second, which was not a good thing at all. Every drop that hit the floor was strengthening whatever working Rummel Abellion had set in motion.

He had to stop this.

Jacob’s axe caught Arthur in the side of the head— the flat of the blade caught him. Arthur went down hard, blood streaming from his temple. Then Jacob turned back to Nero, his empty eyes fixing on him with ravenous killing intent

After everything he’d survived— the damned, godless wilderness, his vile journey from Gor, his profane transfiguration…

He was going to die in some ditch in the dirt…

“Oh, the irony…”

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