Cordis glanced at the cut to his arm before looking at the blade in between his hands. “You know, despite how much courage you may have,” he commented, pulling the sword closer, “it does not make up for stupidity.”
Once the brunette was close enough, Cordis knocked the weapon aside to grab the woman by the face. Giving her a once over, he noted the bite to her shoulder before throwing the woman aside in favor of retrieving the scythe.
“What are you going to do about her?”
Gold eyes shifted towards Magpie before Cordis made his way back over to her, resting the blade of his weapon over his shoulder. “First, Vandal challenges me and now this woman, Magpie?” he replied with a chuckle as she made a grab for her weapon. He then swung it, leaving a cut in the ground between her fingers and the hilt of her sword. “Since everyone is being so persistent, I’m now in an obliging mood. Do try not to disappoint, dear.” He then twirled the scythe overhead. “I’ve never gotten to clip a bird’s wings before.”
Chuckling at the quip, he signaled for the Umbra to hold off as Magpie got back to her feet, sword in hand. Keeping his eyes trained on the woman as they circled one another, Cordis started humming as he eased a bit closer. Giving a playful swing, he watched as she deflected it with her sword before swinging again to get the same result.
“What are you doing?” she questioned after deflecting a few more swings. “You don’t seem like you’re taking this seriously.”
“Should I?” he replied prior to receiving a glare. Lowering the scythe as he stopped circling, he rolled his shoulders then cracked his neck. “Alright; it’s your funeral.”
Twirling the scythe overhead, Cordis sprinted towards Magpie before going to swing. When she went to counter, he pivoted to catch her unguarded side before looking at the edge of his blade to see a thin line of red. Tilting the other end of the scythe down, he listened to the clang of metal then looked over his shoulder to see the sword before looking towards Magpie.
Cordis simply hummed again before turning to swing again. Smirking as she blocked, he swung once then twice. When they were blocked, he swung harder making the woman slide back with each strike. Raising the blade for a downward strike, Cordis froze at a stinging sensation. Looking at the sword in Magpie’s hand to see the blood on the blade, he looked down at the slash in his reddening shirt.
“Oh…” The Umbra chewed on its nail before a wide grin split its face as Cordis slouched forward. “Birdie, you may want to step back.”
Gripping her sword tighter as he placed a hand to his chest, he looked at the blood with a raised eyebrow before he chuckled. Rubbing the blood between his fingers as his laughter grew louder, he sobered as he licked some of it off his hand.
Taking a step forward, he kicked her into the wall before reaching back to grab his scythe. Swinging the weapon as he walked towards her, Cordis hummed to himself as he ran his bloodied hand along the lattice bindings at the center of the staff.
“I’ll start by saying thank you for a couple of reasons,” Cordis mused as the bloodied bindings began to unravel themselves. “The first reason is for this little farce of a battle. I’d say it was a nice little distraction but now I’m even more eager to continue my previous search.” His attention then focused on the weapon that had split in two. “The second reason is because I wouldn’t be able to get this scythe to this stage without receiving a bit of damage. Unfortunately, self-harm doesn’t suffice but leaving oneself open during a fight never hurts.” Cordis twirled one half at his side by the reddened binding before crouching down over Magpie to place the same blade up to her neck. He then snorted at an afterthought before jabbing the second blade deep into her thigh, listening to the scream as he gave it a small twist. “Lastly, I must thank you for helping me locate, Animae.”
“You know where he is?” the Umbra questioned before gold eyes shifted. “Ah.”
It vanished into the shadows soon after.
“I noticed that little toy at your waist had a cut on its arm after you struck me. It could’ve been a one-off event but, when you cut my chest, the same thing seemed to happen to that doll. Even more, its head has been turning every so often now.” Cordis gave the second blade another twist. “If you don’t want her leg cut off, you better get out here,” he warned.481Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXfMEvoMdUb
“If you don’t want her leg cut off, you better get out here.”
I looked down at the Magpie doll to see its left thigh torn with a bit of the stuffing poking out. That was followed by the faint tear at the neck before a bit of stuffing started to come from there as well. The unsettling scream echoing in the hall had me lowering my head before I froze at the hand resting on my shoulder.
“Found you~” came the familiar lilt before I was dragged from around the pillar and up the hall.
I grunted from being dropped prior to looking up as I heard footsteps. Tilting my head up as a blade rested under my chin, I could see the bloodied one being twirled before coming to a rest on Cordis’s shoulder. The reddened gash running down his chest and the cut to the arm confirmed as much as to why the scythe was in two pieces.
“So nice of you to join us, Animae,” he chided as his eyes transitioned from gold to green. “You won’t believe the amount of trouble your friends put me through just to get to you. They’re so determined to die.” He the nicked my chin with the blade before I noticed the same mark to his chin. “Then again, I might not be so inclined to oblige them if you stopped running from me. If anything happens to them because of that, it’s your fault anyway, right? They’re your charges after all.”
I lowered my gaze before wincing at a sharp pain between my shoulder blades. Looking at Cordis to see a look of utter confusion as he removed the blade from my chin, he then took a step back to reach over his shoulder. Watching him cringe as he removed what appeared to be a dagger of sorts, he slowly looked over his shoulder to glare at Magpie that was in the process of getting to her feet with the use of her sword.
“Little birdie still wants to play~” the Umbra sang as it stepped from around me. “May I?”
Cordis simply shrugged before throwing the dagger into the wall beside her head. “Do as you please.”
“Wait–!” I climbed to one knee before having the blade pointed at my throat. “Cordis, please!” I watched as the Umbra walked by us before charging at Magpie to snatch her by the throat. “Call it off!”
“Why?” he asked, the Umbra giggled madly as it ran its tongue over sharpened teeth.
“Cordis!” I looked back at the woman before knocking the blade away to get to my feet. I only got about two steps before having a blade resting at either side of my neck. “Cordis!”
“Why do you feel so responsible?” he whispered in my ear. “So, what if they die? It’s not going to bring you any closer to judgement if they do or not. You should be more concerned about going h–!”
“Fuck you!
I threw my head back before feeling it connect with his nose. Feeling my own bleed, I ducked under the blades before kicking him in the chest to at least distance him from me. Pushing back the inflicted pain, I rushed towards the Umbra as it continued to giggle madly at Magpie.
“I see someone got to you first~” It sniffed at her before licking her cheek. “Not a soul but you still don’t taste bad; however, I don’t like sharing,” it added before biting down hard on her other shoulder, eliciting a scream.
“Mag–!”
At first, I didn’t register it but then there was a sharp pain in my stomach. Dropping my gaze to the source, I looked down at the blackened blade lodged there before tracing the rest to see it going through the Umbra.
“Hmm…” My gaze drifted up to see the gold pair looking at me, but a smile was no longer present. “I thought the idea was to survive,” it stated before turning its attention to the blade in its stomach. Pulling the sword out in one go, it tossed it aside before its gaze shifted. “Hmm…”
While he was distracted by that, I shoved the Umbra aside before moving to stand in front of Magpie.
“Animae…” I looked over at Cordis to see him take a step forward with one hand pressed firmly against his midsection. “You fucking idiot,” he growled through clenched teeth.
“Well, aren’t you lucky, Animae?” the Umbra commented as it glanced my way. It then looked at Magpie, running its tongue over bloodied teeth before heading over to Cordis. “You too, little birdie. ‘Til next then.”
“What do you mean ‘til next time’?” Cordis snapped before using one of the blades for support. “What are you implying?” The Umbra merely tilted its head as it hummed in response. “We are not leaving!” he yelled before stumbling back as he gripped at his stomach. “Dammit…”
“Come along,” the Umbra cooed before having its hand swatted aside.
“Don’t. Touch. Me,” Cordis growled as he took a step towards Magpie and I. “Animae…”
“You know, you can’t go home if you die, right?” Cordis scowled before glaring at the Umbra. The Umbra then turned to us before giving a two-fingered salute. “’Til next time.”
I kept my place in front of Magpie as the Umbra transitioned to that of a more gaseous state. As it continued to spread, I took a step back as it enveloped Cordis before we lost sight of the pair shortly after. Once I was sure they had left, I turned my attention back to Magpie before helping her settle back down into a seated position.
“I’m s-sorry,” I muttered as I tilted her chin up to see the thin cut there before looking at the fresh-looking bite to her shoulder. “Sorry…” I looked down at her leg with relief to see that her main artery hadn’t been severed before checking the cut to her side. “If you don’t mind, I’ll need your hood.”
“Jayden?”
I glanced at her before removing her cloak. Giving an apology beforehand, I started tearing strips from the hem to start wrapping her shoulder. “We’ll need to see if we can find a first aid kit for that bite,” I muttered as I started tying off the makeshift bandages before moving on to her leg. “I think you should avoid using your leg for the time being though.”
She tested her leg, staggering like a newborn lamb, before leaning against the wall for support. “Perhaps I can with my sword,” she suggested.
‘I won’t be able to carry her.’ I grimaced at that thought as retrieved the bloodstained weapon for her. “You haven’t seen the others by chance, have you?” I questioned as I gripped my stomach tighter. ‘This is bad…’
She shook her head slowly before noticing the Nuallis doll. “That should help though.”
I picked up the toy seeing how it tilted its head slowly. I hadn’t noticed that feature before and it was a bit unsettling as it continued to do so but it was all we had.
“Alright then. Shall we get going?”
“Yeah, but you are ok?” she asked as her gaze panned downwards towards my stomach.
“It’s…it’s ok,” I said as I started off ahead. “Let’s just find the others, ok?”
“Jayden…”
“C’mon,” I said as looked back at her with a smile. “Let’s find Nu to get you fixed up.”
I waited for her to start walking before setting an easy pace for her. Glancing down at the doll now and then, I altered our path a bit when the doll moved accordingly. But the longer we walked, the more sluggish I became.
“Jayden?”
I turned my head to see Magpie to my right with a concerned look on her face.
How’d she catch up so fast?
“Something wrong?” I asked.
“You’re pale.”
“What?”
“Jayden, maybe you should sit.”
I carried on. “No, we have to find the others.”
“Jayden, please.”
I shook my head slowly as I felt lightheaded. “We need to get you fixed up. We also have to find… the others before Cordis does. We have… to…find…” I leaned against the wall before sliding down to the floor. “We…”
“Jayden!”481Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRLc0xch9Xa
