The Second Hand of Time

CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE

ACTUALLY, THE MAN BEHIND THE MASK IS... NOPE. I CAN'T SAY IT.

"DIE! DIE! DIE!" James shouted as he slashed his scythe relentlessly.

He destroyed a lot of tombstones just to defeat Clifford.

Clifford jumped and blocked, while carefully hiding his shadow; because, if James stabbed his shadow, its game over.

Dan had told Clifford how to defeat his enemy. He'll be useless once he stabs his own shadow.

James' scythe reached in for a strike, aimed at Clifford's neck. Clifford parried the strike using Destroyer. Then he followed the attack with a vertical slash upwards, giving James' face a good-sized cut.

"EEK!" James yelped, holding the wound on his face. "IT HURTS!"

Clifford then slashed using Destroyer and set the distance between him and James on fire.

Clifford then jumped back and recovered. "Athena, can you cover fire for a few seconds?"

"Of course." She said. She summoned stones and fireballs then shot them all on James' direction.

James spun his scythe in front of him so fast; it looked like the blades of an electric fan. The projectiles thrown at him were neutralized.

Clifford summoned a giant hand made of water. The giant hand smashed towards James' direction. James jumped back and forth. Then he slashed at the giant hand and the hand crashed into a puddle of water.

"DIE, WATER!" He shouted. "HAHA!"

Then, he pounced at Clifford. He raised his scythe up as he jumped and slashed down. Clifford blocked with both swords, making an x with his swords.

James kicked Clifford's gut. Clifford toppled on a tombstone. James was about to stab Clifford's shadow, but Clifford shot flames at James and interrupted him.

"OW." Clifford groaned. He stood up.

Clifford thought that distracted James. He was wrong. James jumped forward, ignored the flames and stabbed Clifford's shadow.

Clifford felt like he was shot with a very strong drug that causes one to freeze in place.

"HEEE!!!" James cheered happily. "You're dead now!"

"Clifford!" Clifford heard Athena shout behind him.

Fireballs sailed towards James' direction but he fanned it out using his cloak.

"QUIT INTERRUPTING, STUPID GIRL!" James shouted.

"Get away from him!" She shouted.

Clifford tried to speak, but he can't move his mouth. Clifford's left eye was closed and he couldn't even blink. His breath was shallow too as if he was breathing inside a plastic bag.

James took out a ritual knife. The knife was shaped like an F. The two prongs were the blades and the long rod was the handle.

James slashed the knife at Clifford's face. Clifford felt a burning sensation on his cheek. He wanted to thrash and cry, but he can't even blink.

"HEEE!!!" James cheered with glee. "DO YOU WANT MORE?"

Clifford wanted to shout, DIE! But he can't move. James slashed the knife on his gut horizontally.

Clifford was burning with rage. The pain on his gut was unbearable. Suddenly, there was a clanging sound. Clifford realized that he dropped his swords.