Tales of Minecraft: The Curse (Remake)

28: Fighting the myth

Don't mind me, just condensed 3 chapters of battles into one chapter by rewriting the entire thing.

3rd person POV
The plan was simple: the five couldn't beat Herobrine, so all they had to do was distract him enough to get the potion on the stone, and then they could get out of there. But as they charged towards the figure, Zip already starting to head to the side, he tapped his back foot against the ground and the podium with the stone on it sank into the wall behind it, disappearing. As their steps faltered, Herobrine grinned and charged forward himself, his two swords coming up to an offensive position.

Alex brought his bow up and fired two arrows at Herobrine in quick succession. Without any hesitation in his stride, Herobrine spun his swords and the two arrows ricocheted off and fell harmlessly to the ground. With fluid movements that almost made Zip envious, he sidestepped Tim's overhead axe stroke, striking his ribs with the hilt of one sword while deflecting Luke's sword to the side.

His other sword went to slice at the younger twin but Jade intercepted the stroke. Herobrine's leg flicked out, first at Tim behind him, then at Jade, disengaging their swords before he spun again to Luke, one sword locking with the boy's while his other swung for his neck.

By then Zip had jumped in and she caught the second sword, shoving Herobrine back. She went on the attack, trying to be as unpredictable as she could while trying to predict what Herobrine was going to do before he did it. He moved fast and his movements were controlled and Zip struggled to keep both his swords at bay.

Alex couldn't fire his bow for fear of hitting Zip but Tim had no such hesitations. He charged in, his axe sweeping for Herobrine's side. It split the air where Zip had been a moment earlier and hit Herobrine, who had only just avoided the blade in time to get nothing worse than a thin red line across his stomach. Instantly he jumped forward again, his sword going for Tim's throat until Zip caught it and flicked it away before Herobrine's fist collected her cheek. Momentarily blinded by the pain, Zip didn't see his foot coming until Herobrine's kick had thrown her away, sprawling onto the floor.

Her vision was blurred and she blinked her eyes, wobbling as she slowly stood up. Colours that she knew to be her friends darted around in front of her until they moved rapidly away. She rubbed her eyes and blinked them more, her vision clearing. Her heart rate increased and her eyes widened when she realised what had happened. Everyone was at various stages from getting up from the cold ground while Herobrine stood alone in the centre of the room, the edges of his swords slightly stained with blood and a twisted smile on his face.

"How...?" she breathed to herself. Even a master swordsman couldn't stand against five people all attacking at once for more than a minute and yet Herobrine had somehow survived for several minutes with nothing more than a thin red line across his stomach.

He saw her shocked face and must have guessed what she was thinking because his grin became a sneer. "Surprised?" he chuckled, raising one eyebrow.

"No one can survive being attacked by several people at once," Zip said slowly.

"I'm not 'normal'," Herobrine said calmly. "I've been fighting for longer than your civilisation has existed."

"Meaning...?" Luke asked hesitantly.

"Meaning that if you want to live...."

Herobrine's voice died away as his gaze became fixed on something behind Zip, to her left. His grin disappeared and he gripped his swords tighter.

"Come back to 'finish what you started' I suppose?" he growled.

Zip spun around and saw Fury coming out of a thin door that had been almost invisible in the wall. Her expression was practically murderous as she stepped out of the doorway, her gaze fixed on Herobrine. Her right hand held one of her swords and she took off her backpack with her left, leaving it on the ground before drawing her second sword and walking to Zip's side. Herobrine's eyebrows flicked up for a moment and then his smirk came back.