The Dark Edge Chronicles - Clan War

Chapter 36: Those Who Live by the Sword

Even as Demaskieros began speaking, Romanescu was darting forward, looking for first blood and a fatality with his radioactive stone blade his goal. Lash almost sighed in resignation as he smoothly stepped to the side to let the stab go by without striking him, then twisted to avoid the slash Romanescu made on the way by in the hopes of scratching him.

This battle was going to be an exercise in polar opposites. Because either a scratch or a mortal blow could kill. Even if the mortal blow was normally repairable, the radiation from the car'deith blade would kill. It was death by all measures. And the traitor was resolved to inflict that death on the Ventru high lord.

Quickly resetting from his lunge, Romanescu reset his feet as he brought his weapon up to a classic knife fighting stance. As he did, Lash turned to face him, dagger held chin high in one hand, his other held close to balance his stance. Ironically the traitor wasn't wrong; knife fighting certainly wasn't something the big vampire considered himself an expert in. The Nosferatu vampire across from him was, by a fair margin, better at it than he was, the Nosferatu clan supporting a knife-fighting subculture amongst its noble class.

With that said, Lash wasn't about to let this slaving piece of shit get the best of him, car'deith blades notwithstanding. There was a reckoning coming for Romanescu, and he was here to deliver it!

An eyeblink to set then Romanescu, his face a mask of determination, was lunging forward again, knife held out point first in an attempt to stab the bigger vampire. A quick twist and a slap across his body against Romanescu's wrist pushed the stab to the side. Then they were exchanging a flurry of cuts, stabs, slashes, and blocks.

A final attack and block sequence then they were stepping back from each other to reset for the next series of attacks and defending, both vampires breathing hard from their efforts. Lash grimaced as he could feel tingling burns along his forearms where Romanescu's blade had come close enough that its radiation impacted his nervous system. Thankfully not close enough to cut him; that would've overloaded his nervous system and started an ash out.

The slaver, on the other hand, was sporting several cuts on his chest and arms. As Lash noted them, he felt a tight twist in his gut when he watched them closing on their own.

It was about as much confirmation that Romanescu was infested with nanites as one could get, the microscopic robots working to repair the damage to his nervous system that Lash's car'deith was inflicting with every cut. So, instead of triggering an ash out cascade, he was just annoying the other vampire with what amounted to paper cuts for as much damage as they were inflicting.

Lash's eyes thoughtfully narrowed as he realized why Romanescu hadn't exerted more energy in getting out of the way of those nicks. The fact that the nanites could compensate for minor damage from the usually deadly weapons was making the slaver careless. He wasn't avoiding getting nicked because those nicks wouldn't hurt him. Where they would trigger an ash out cascade for Lash. If he could take advantage of that carelessness, he could inflict more substantial damage. Or, the Night Father willing, just kill the filth outright!

Romanescu must've noticed him watching the nicks closing thanks to the nanites inside him. Because, when Lash lifted his eyes back to the Nosferatu vampire's face, he flashed the bigger vampire a cocky smile.

"Game changer, no?" the slaver said, his smile becoming a smirk. He then looked down at one of the longer cuts that were just in the process of sealing itself on his arm.

"I was skeptical, at first, when Janner's medical scientist said they would enhance my healing factor among other things," he said in a conversational tone before looking back up at a now snarling Lash, his smirk deepening. "I never could've imagined the nanites would've allowed me to take a strike from a car'deith blade and not immediately begin to ash out."