Aruthral: The Broken Ones

Rest In Pieces Part 2

        Hours passed. There were only five people still alive. Silence...Xen looked more carefully. He saw a blur of movement move from one pillar to another. There! Xen took two swords next to a corpse and ran to where he saw movement. “Hey there buddy!” Xen said. The assassin glanced at Xen and motioned two oh his men to attack the Queen. “You fool, you actually fell for the bait,” the assassin said. “Let go of me scoundrel!” the Queen yelled.

        The last three guards were quickly executed. Xen shrugged and chuckled. Xen was now circled by the three assassins. “Weak, all of you” Xen said. “Weak? We’ll see about that after we kill you!” the assassin to his left said. The assassin charged at Xen, but Xen parried the attack like it was nothing. Xen slashed at the assassin, but he blocked it.The leader and his other member joined in. The sound of metal clashing filled the room. Xen made a feint to one of the assassins, and it caught him off guard, so Xen stabbed him in his spine.

         “One down, two to go.” Xen said to himself. The other assassin swung his sword in a wide arc, then chaining that move with a 3-slash attack starting from the left side, upper strike, then back down. Xen parried each move, then in exchange, swung the sword on his left then right, and chained it with two hit kick. They traded sword for sword, punch for punch, and kick by kick. The assassin was fast, but Xen was faster. The assassin did an axe kick, but Xen’s reflexes were fast; he leaned back and sliced the assassin’s leg off. The assassin screamed in pain as he bled to death.

“RAHH!!”

        The leader dragon kicked Xen in his side and sent him flying to the wall. “ARGH!” Xen cried out in pain. “You let your guard down, fool,” the leader said. “He’s right, I was too careless,” Xen thought to himself. Xen got up and shrugged off the hit. “Ahhh….that was a good one. Wanna try that move again?” Xen taunted. “Bring it,” the assassin replied. Xen made the first move to attack his arm, but the assassin was fast. He parried it and sliced Xen on his cheek. “What?” Xen said incredulous to what happened. “Keep your guard up scum!” the leader said as he disarmed Xen. “What the he-” Xen was cut short by a punch to the face. The assassin chased after Xen and chained a sword and kick combo.

        At this point, Xen was badly injured. “Give up?” the assassin suggested. “Keep dreaming idiot,” Xen remarked. Xen coughed up blood. “What drives you kid?” the assassin asked. Xen smirked. “I don’t even know myself, but I know this: I’m still alive, meaning I can still kick your ass,” Xen said as he got up and walked over to the pedestal with the two katanas. The assassin cocked an eyebrow. Xen breathed in slowly, knowing that, if he didn’t have the strength to control the swords, they would reject him and kill him. He grabbed both katanas by the hilt and slowly unsheathed them.

        As he unsheathed the swords, he felt a surge of power flow through him. Xen could feel his wounds heal as he pulled out the swords. Xen overcame the two swords. Xen turned to face the assassin pointing the obsidian katana at him. “Rematch” he said. The assassin chuckled, and nodded.

“What’s your name kid?” he asked.

“Xen Mikaels Ortiz” Xen replied.

“Your an amusing kid”, the assassin said. “Shall we begin?”

“Anytime your ready,” Xen said.

        The two sprinted towards each other. Xen was faster than before. He blocked and parried the assassin’s hits unlike before. Xen thrusted the crimson red katana at the assassin, but the assassin dodged it quick enough only to get a scratch from it. The assassin slashed at Xen in five different directions. Xen blocked the attack and returned the favor. He started his combo with a sweep, then followed up with two slashes of his swords.Each slash that Xen hit the assassin, the assassin grew weaker and weaker.

        The assassin’s breathing grew heavier and started cough blood. Xen finally figured the swords out. The red katana steals life force with each attack you hit and the obsidian katana gives him a speed enhancement. It wasn’t before long, the battle ended. The assassin was on one knee only having his sword to support him. “You have great skill with swords, kid”, the assassin complemented. The assassin stood up and limped over to Xen. He gave Xen a piece of paper, then said: “Never thought that my last fight would be with the grim reaper himself.” He chuckled. “Find what drives you Xen, without it, there would be no meaning in living. My time is up in this world.” He looked Xen in his eyes and nodded. “Do it.”

Xen nodded. Xen stabbed the assassin through his chest, absorbing his power. Xen caught the lifeless body and laid it down carefully on the floor. “Thank you” Xen said to the friend he made during battle. Xen sheathed the two katanas in their scabbards and put them on his back. Xen took out the paper, the assassin had gave him before his death. He unfolded the piece of paper and read it. Moments later, the Queen had arrived and congratulated Xen on his victory. “As a reward, what would you like?” she asked him. Xen smiled at the Queen, and she smiled back, but for some reason something about her hurt. She looked down and saw a katana through her. She looked at Xen in confusion. Xen pulled out the sword.

“Why?” she asked.

Xen glared at the Queen as she died slowly with his piercing, cold, blue eyes. Xen threw the note, the assassin gave to him next to the corpse of the Queen.

“Contract #48

Kill the Queen of Aeterna

Crime: Treason against the Government.

Imprisoning random bystanders

Illegal Arena fight

Murdering the King of Aeterna

Illegal experiments with prisoners, mostly young ones

Reward: 1,800,450,000 Dysoks

Anonymous