Bloodstained Blade-Chapter 68 - Three on One

When the dust cleared, Var’Gar started as he noticed that his head was only inches from a boulder that would have been sufficient to crush his thick skull. The blade didn’t even pay attention to that. It had chosen its place well when it had dived for cover. The world might not be beautiful to its sight, but the lines in which fist and skull-sized pieces of rubble fell were quite clear to it now.

What wasn’t as clear was the very center of the disaster. The dust had muted the sights and sounds of the distant fighting, but that was returning. At the center of the collapse, though, a discontinuity lingered, and the Ebon Blade was having trouble seeing through it. It was a perfect sphere, and the fact that it existed at all meant that at least one of the mages had survived. It glowed dimly cyan there, in the heart of the beige dust cloud, and was the only source of illumination that could be seen.

The weapon studied it while its wielder coughed and climbed to his feet. It did nothing as Var’Gar approached it, though, and it was only when he was close enough to reach out and touch the swirling opalescent orb that it did anything at all. The blade was tempted to have the orc probe it with its tip so that it could see if it might be able to drain it or something, but before it had decided, there was a loud crack. Then, it shattered.

No, shatter was the wrong word. It exploded. The blade had been able to dodge the boulders, and it thought that perhaps, with a perfectly compliant wielder, it might be able to dodge or even parry an arrow or two. This was something else, though. Quicker than any human eye could see, the shards flashed outward. The blade didn’t even have time to force his wielder to shift his stance to present the smallest target possible to the onslaught. It barely had time to move itself to parry as much of the incoming force as possible before the magic surged past it.

The Ebon Blade did not feel pain. Not normally. None of the lightning or fire that had afflicted its wielder had done a thing to it. This, though, caused a moment of agony in the weapon as unfamiliar magics sliced right through the steel to strike its very soul. The world whited out from the pain for a moment, but when that moment was done, it was like nothing had happened. It had lost a little life force, but the rest of the magic had dissipated harmlessly, and its wielder was standing there, seemingly uninjured and…

-344 Life Force.

As the blade studied its wielder and looked from him to the three mages who stood where the bubble had been only a moment before, the orc’s body suddenly fountained with blood. Every limb and every organ ruptured and began to split as Var’gar bellowed in pain. The blade existed to cut, so in an instant, it knew what had happened. The magic that had traveled outward was like a storm of infinitely sharp razors, and it had cut right through the orc in hundreds of places. Any other man or beast would be dissolving into a pile of minced meat and organs right now.

-89 Life Force.

-186 Life Force.

-221 Life Force.

Var’gar wasn’t, though. The blade wouldn’t let him.

-297 Life Force.

Its magics strained to the breaking point, and so much Life Force poured out of it that its soul began to chill at the loss. Still, it held the orc together, and moment by moment, the seams in his skin and the segments of bone slowly came back together. This was a process, and as the weapon felt the amount of power necessary to fuel this reaction begin to ebb, it was pleased.

-111 Life Force.

No matter how much that victory gladdened it, though, the looks on the faces of the mages pleased it even more. When Var’Gar had first started to bleed out and stagger, all three of those cruel faces looked at him with sadistic glee. After several seconds, when he had not come apart, that jubilation had been replaced by confusion.

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-64 Life Force.

Now, though, when Var’gar once more stood tall and looked at them with murder in their eyes, they began to panic. They were so sure that they’d won, and that certainty would cost them both their lives and their souls.

-47 Life Force.

All three of them started to chant different spells then. The first never got to finish his before its wielder brought his blade down almost as quickly as the magic shards of light that had almost killed him. He split the red-robed mage from skull to crotch in a flash, and he was only falling into two symmetrical halves when the lightning arced out from the second mage’s hand. It ripped through the orc’s body, scorching organs, and burning flesh as wave after wave of power made his muscles spasm uselessly.

+44 Life Force.

+1 Human Soul.

-89 Life Force.

The blade wouldn’t let that make him fall, either, and it tightened its grip on Var’gar’s soul, forcing him to move stiffly, one step at a time, as it raised the bloody blade again. “It’s not working!” the second mage screamed in panic as the Ebon Blade brought itself down hard a second time.

-24 Life Force.

+8 Life Force.

Only the third mage saved him then. A swarm of angry faerie lights spring into existence, just as the elf had used to save her life. This time, though, they moved instantly to the second mage, and though nearly a third of them were extinguished when the blade slammed into the luminescent cloud, and sparks went everywhere, it was still enough to deny it another soul. The blade knew this trick, though, and it knew it wouldn’t last for very long.

They will have a hard time using any magic when we sever their hands, the weapon roared. Its wielder’s only response was to grunt and hack at the fading shield again and again.

“Hurry!” the second mage shouted, as the third mage had already started on another spell. “You have to open a portal so we can— Arhhhhgghhh!”

He never finished. The whirling, glowing cloud of faerie lights had dissipated more with each strike, and before the final mage could cause the swirling green gate he was creating to open, the orc sliced through the last wisps of magic and cut the screaming mage in two, just about above the waist, making him fall to the ground until the orc thrust down a second time, impaling his skull.

+38 Life Force.

+1 Human Soul.

It was that strike that saved the final mage, but only for a moment. The instant of delay allowed him to finish his spell and leap through the portal, but before he could slam the way shut, Var’gar was leaping through after him. While the blade hungered for the third man’s soul, it wasn’t sure that it was smart to jump through a portal without any idea of where they were going. Still, the orc’s bloodthirstiness could not be denied, and they went anyway.

The final mage had just enough time to fall backward as he realized what had happened and tried to scramble away. “No! Please!” he begged. “I can—”

He never had the chance to finish, which was unfortunate. The blade wondered what it was the man thought he could offer the orc to stay his savagery. It wasn’t curious enough to waste a question on it, though. Instead of worrying about exactly what it would ask his dead soul, though, for the moment, it just enjoyed the moment.

+33 Life Force.

+1 Human Soul.

Even though the first blow had been a mortal wound, Var’gar was not satisfied. He kept hacking away at the corpse while he bellowed insults at the thing until it was a bloody ruin, and he was covered in the red blood of his enemies rather than his own dark green blood.

It was a good feeling, and the blade basked in it. It was tired of killing those who couldn’t fight back, but moments like these were perfect, and it was only when the orc finally grew tired of turning a person into paste that it finally looked around to see where they were.

Such a simple question could have very easily had a disastrous answer. They might have been half a world away or someplace even stranger than that. Fortunately, that was not the case. As soon as the blade surveyed the horizon, it saw a fire that could only be the town they’d been sacking until a moment ago.

I’m missing out on countless souls right now, it realized. As much as it hated that, it couldn’t make itself be bothered by that too much. It had achieved victory over powerful opponents, and while Var’gar jogged back to the fray, it would have all the time in the world to dissect these valuable souls and learn more secrets about how its enemies might yet try to cage it once more.