Land of the Blades

14. Red

—What is happening? Why is it wrapping around me?! Why is it wrapping me up?! Shirou, Antarc, help me!

—Antarc, take her to Adamant!

—What? What about the enemy?!

—Just do it!

Antarc tried to lift Phos up, but it was too heavy and the alloy kept pushing him away. It kept growing and engulfing her, and there was nothing I could do at the moment.

—Phos, hold it there, we will get you to Adamant, he will know what to do. We just need to beat this one first.

—How cruel —a voice coming from the approaching figure said—, how could you refer to me in that way, after all that we went through...

The wind suddenly stopped, and we were able to see our enemy clearly. That person was carrying a red spear, and was wearing violet skinsuit that was so tight to her body it almost looked like body paint. Over it, she had what seemed to be the skin of a huge wolf. Her appearance was somehow familiar on its own, but her face... her face was something engraved deeply within me.

—Rin?

I almost dropped my swords from the shock, and I would have been pierced by her spear if Antarc hadn't blocked it with her sword, giving me a few more seconds to react.

—You gotta be more careful, I been waiting for this battle for a long time! —the person with the spear said, licking her lips.

—There is no time for you to daydream, who is he and why is he attacking us? —Antarc asked.

—... I don't know.

—But you called him Rin, isn't that his name?

—...No, I only vaguely remember Rin, it is just the ghost of a memory, but I know she wouldn't try to kill me without a warning.

The enemy smiled deviously.

—You are right, more or less, I'm not Rin, but I'm based on her. The name is irrelevant for me, but to avoid confusions, from now on you might call me Lancer.

Without giving us even a chance to take on what she has said, she started attacking us. She was very agile and quick, throwing her spear against me and Antarc alternatively, we could only block and deflect her attacks as she kept pushing us back. Soon, we were over the frozen ocean, and she started to use that to her advantage too, breaking the ice to try to make us sink.

Then the sky cleared up, and with the light of the sun, a sun spot appeared.

—They'll go after Phos! —Antarc said.

—Go and look after her, I can deal with Lancer on my own!

Without hesitation, Antarc rolled under one of our enemy attacks and went back running towards Phos. Lancer saw him getting away, but focused instead on me.

—Now that she is gone, do you think we can fight without holding our blows? —She said, licking her lips again.

—Yeah, let's finish this quickly —I said with as much conviction as I could muster, but the truth is that I have been doing my best just to keep up with her, and that was counting on Antarc's help.

Even my obsidian swords were starting to shatter, full of cracks all over their surface. Thinking about Phos, I stared mimicking what the gold alloy had done and filled the broken parts and fractures with my own steel. We keep exchanging blows, her hits were so powerful they would break the ice without even touching it, and even with steel holding them together, bits of my swords keep flying away after each impact. We had moved a lot during the fight, I could still see the island, but not the beach were Phos and Antarc where. I was running out of energy, and I had already lost a sword. Her body wasn't too strong, but she had managed to dodge or block almost all of my attacks with her spear, which seemed to be indestructible.