OVERPOPULAS

Chapter 24

I looked intently at Slinca for the first time in a while, her eyes still filled with burning hatred towards me. Though with all of that hatred, after the door closed in the metal room, she yet to charge me or even make any sort of move. A little panel came down from the roof that displayed like a projector, a red clock that had a ten minute countdown, probably the ten minutes we have to kill each other. After a few seconds of its display, the timer started to go down.

Slinca, without hesitation, started charging towards me. Her footsteps clamping down on the ground making a huge sound as she swung the sword high up in the air. I responded by drawing my sword out, blocking the blow she tried to deal to me. We were pressing our swords against each other, seeing who would get through first. I lifted my foot and kicked her in the stomach, making her stumble back and land flat on her bottom. I had the chance to charge right back at her and try striking her down, but I didn't. I just stood there with my sword still drawn.

She quickly got up on her feet and was ready to do another charge, but I was already ahead of her. As I myself waited until she had a fair chance of defending against me, I started my charge at her as well. My sword was already in motion to swing, she held up her sword to block and our swords clashed once again. The swords create a spark and bounce off each other, creating a sort of recoil sending my arm back into my shoulder.

We started clashing away at each other, the swords sparking as they collided. Every new blow sent at least one of us stumbling back from the force of it. We went at this for a good minute or two with none of us getting anywhere close to even getting a single hit. Slinca made a clever move by swiping up when I went to go and strike, slashing a little bit on my chin similar to a paper cut. She then grabbed the handle of the sword and thrusted right into my chest, making me drop my guard and stumble back. Slinca, with her free hand, punches me in the face, sending me flying back even more.

She took her sword and swung it down on me, but I was quick on my feet, being able to swing upwards and hitting the sword stopping it. Slinca pretty much expected that, so she controlled the recoil of the sword and got under mine, lifting it up out of my hands and sending it flying across the small room, and pushing me directly into the ground. My back was completely slammed into the ground, and I groaned in pain as Slinca got on top of me, with that fierce look in her eyes.

At that moment, I realized I lost, this is it. It's over for me. Slinca has already shown that she doesn't like me at all anymore and that she is completely determined to kill me. I'm gonna die, heh, that's funny. Sometimes it's funny to say that in your own head out loud. I've already come close to death with Runasi, now I'm facing death again at the hands of my own friend. I guess this is better than having that monster kill me, out of all the people in the world to kill me, Slinca would be best suited for the job. Come to think of it, as I lay my head down on the cold hard ground, looking up into Slinca's eyes, I feel more at ease than ever before. To be honest, I don't deserve to live. The person that I've become is terrible, Slinca said it herself, I'm not who I was, I probably never come back to my roots. I would like to say it's not my fault, but it is, I let everything get to my head and now I've fucked everything up. Slinca, I know that recently it's been tough on you and everything, but if you can even hear my thoughts, or just know what I'm thinking. Take care of Alice for me, please. Get her to a place where she can feel comfortable for the rest of her life, protect her at all costs even at the expense of others, she's the only living Pulpis left, don't let her be the end of our family. I let my body go limp and my mind relaxed as Slinca began to swing down on me, I closed my eyes, and I gave out a little smile, expecting for the pitch black darkness of death to consume me. Instead, Slinca slammed the sword into the ground right next to head, almost cutting my right ear off. I opened my eyes and saw Slinca crying, her tear droplets falling on top of me, splashing on my cheeks making them moist.