Chapter 37: What us this

The Grave Knight jerked in reaction as power flowed through the connection and into it. Blue sparks flew off its armor and, as if it gained more intelligence, it straightened.

It held its weapon above its head and began spinning it. The two were almost doing the same technique because they were both spinning their weapons, but the way it was done was different.

Blue sparks traveled up the blue armor and into the axe the Grave Knight was spinning until it turned into a blur of blue.

Riven shifted his attention to Spartacus just in time to see the man grip his spinning sword with one hand. All the energy that it was gathering throbbed with red blazing light, and without hesitation, he slashed.

Wooshmp!

It wasn’t a normal sword arc that came out. It was a storm, a tornado of red energy. The attack filled Riven’s vision in a blazing red, and he ran backward as the pressure it gave off was sharp and dangerous.

Meanwhile, the Grave Knight also finished its own attack and threw its spinning axe that blasted forward in a streak of blue sparking light.

The two attacks met, and the shockwave that followed tore the ground apart. Cracks appeared on the ground, and the howling wind blew a dust storm into the air.

Riven’s heart was beating fast because the connection with his Grave Knight was greatly weakened. He took in a deep breath and concentrated a little, pulling death aura from around him into his body.

The battlefield was filled with it, and with a little bit of concentration, he was filling his Sigil. That was the advantage of having a high-ranked Sigil. It helped with replenishing quickly. An average practitioner wouldn’t be able to do that.

He filled his connection with aura once again, and he felt it gain strength.

Clang! Clang! Clang!

The sound of metal came from the dust storm as they began to fight again. Each blow was strong enough to create winds that blew the dust away, and when the dust cleared, Riven sucked in a sharp breath.

The Grave Knight was in worse shape. Its left hand was twisted to the shoulder, the armor carved in. If it wasn’t undead, then it would have been the end of the fight.

It had somehow regained its weapon and was using it to fend Spartacus back, but Riven could tell it was a lost cause.

Although the warrior was wounded as well, his right hand was dripping with blood, but he didn’t seem to mind as he swung each sword strike harder and faster than the last one.

It was a show of overwhelming strength. The Grave Knight was getting pushed back, and its armor was getting twisted with marks.

With the loss of its left hand, it couldn’t hold its weapon with two hands again, lowering the effectiveness of such a long weapon. Its strikes were wide and slow.

In a flash, Spartacus bent his body and ran under its overhead strike that went too far. He was suddenly beside the Grave Knight!

With two hands on the sword that flickered with fire, he swung!

Bam!

Riven’s Grave Knight was cut into two!

The connection between them wavered, but the Grave Knight was still moving, weaving its long axe like a crab. Spartacus’s face turned solemn, and his sword flashed once more, cutting the helmet off from the neck.

But still, it was still moving.

Riven knew it was useless, so he cut the connection and watched as the Grave Knight slowly disappeared in a wave of green and blue light.

Spartacus turned to Riven. “You are very disrespectful of the dead! How dare you treat warriors like that?”

Riven shrugged. “The dead are part of my power. Don’t you use your sword? Is that disrespectful? The dead are my tools. They are part of my power.”

As he was saying this, he used his Shape technique and lifted his sword. He knew he was going to die as surely as if a sword was already at his neck.

He couldn’t call another Grave Knight, and no amount of undead he raised could face Spartacus. ’…This is something I have to do with my hands…’

Spartacus was stunned. In all his years alive, having fought and bled and killed, he had never heard anyone say they were using the dead as tools. “Just what are you?”

Riven smiled. His hand went to the necklace around his neck. “Undying Necromancer.”

“I have never heard that word before. Do you bleed?”

“Ahm… yes.”

Spartacus’s hand tightened on his sword, and he began to rush forward. He bellowed, “Good! That means you can die as well!”

Riven raised his sword and gave a shout of his own. He leaped forward and started to run at Spartacus. His left hand freed the necklace from his neck.

Spartacus was surprised that Riven was charging at him, but that didn’t stop him at all. The two met, and Riven lurched himself forward, his sword in an overhead strike that was simply slapped away.

Then Spartacus cut.

Riven knew a new sensation then. His body was too shocked to feel pain, just a mild hotness where his upper body met his waist. It was where he was cut into two!

He could still feel the illusion of his lower body on the ground, and he saw his spilled intestines, pink with steam coming out of them. ’…Is that…the fruits I ate earlier…’

The fruits were indeed body parts, and it was the sight of the undigested meat in his stomach that snapped him out of his shock. The pain hit.

It was too much, and he opened his mouth to scream, but suddenly a shadow filled his vision. Spartacus’s feet!

He heard the first few cracks of his skull breaking, and then darkness.

Spartacus stood over the body and shook his head. He stamped his feet more on the head until the brain was well mashed with the bones. “You deserve more than this. How can you be chaining the dead after they are free? You are worse than the Emperor because at least he only chained those who are alive.”

His dark eyes turned to the necklace in his hand, and he frowned. “What is this?”

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