"Shoo!"
Leo left himself wide open as he gave his best attempt at a sword stance - his sword pointed sideways to the ground with both his hands on.
Turns out there was more to it than just looking cool.
Air was tight in the room, clinging to the dust and all sorts of particles that would deliver themselves into his lungs. With his heart surging, it was only going to get worse.
'I need to escape fast, it feels like my throat is gonna explode if I stay any longer.'
It screeched and lurched forward with its arms, it was incredibly agile - understandable as it was merely half of Leo's size. In comparison however, its wingspan stretched a staggering length - it was at least five times the size.
The runes encompassing him pulsed just before the moment of impact, turning a golden colour before wrapping themselves around his arm.
Clang!
A vicarious clash, his arm had moved on it's own; parrying away the lusting eagle.
"Woah! What the hell did I just do!"
The crab wailed in disdain, on its wings had formed a little cut, one produced by the sword Leo held in hand, it was shallow but deadly nonetheless.
The silver beauty was now stained with the abhorrent blood of a beast, and by the looks of it, a ashen smoke was coming off the surface of its wound.
At first the sword didn't strike Leo as anything special, it was too long to be called a straightsword, too thick to be called a rapier, too sharp to call it anything but a tool and on top of all of that it lacked the emrbace of a proper hilt, the whole thing was bare metal, it was far from the ideal sword Leo had imagined.
His initial worries were queled soon after though as his eyes spiralled at its strength:
'I don't believe it! This thing?'
Out of many expeditions, Luna had one unique story in particular that had captivated Leos interest. She was often sent out on missions down east of the continent, simply for the reconnaissance of unexplored territory as part of the empires 'expansion' operation, their town was luckily very near so Leo often got to hear all of her expeditions soon after they'd happen.
The one that caught his interest, and perhaps his sisters favourite one as well given how enthusiastic she was to tell him, was the 'Wizened Mansion'.
~
"It was like a fever dream! They said the place was haunted, so we took a detour to hire a spiritualist, but get this, the place wasn't actually haunted. Instead the things that were making all that noise and punching through the solid walls were werewolves!"
Leo could recall this memory vividly, every single detail was clear in his mind, Lunas soft and gentle voice - masked by the calluses on her hands and the purple tinted area under her eyes. Her bright jade eyes coupled with a snowy blanket running down her hair, everything was so clear in his mind it almost made him shed a tear.
"I was scared to death going in there, to be honest I'm not as brave as I thought I was, I even asked the squad leader to leave but he just brushed me off."
They both giggled at her remark, a momentary piece of bonding between the two siblings.
This narrative has been purloined without the author's approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.
"We went in — eventually. And you know, before this mission I did hear a rumour about 'quicksilver' being effective on monsters."
Leo's memory was foggy to everything but Luna, he couldn't hear himself talking, he couldn't hear the background, just her.
"~~~~"
"Haha, of course not!"
Luna retorted at some mumbled up question that he couldn't hear.
"~~~~"
"No , it's not the same, and anyway I wouldn't have believed it unless I saw it. That's exactly what happened, the spiritualist kept hiding his face behind that dark hood of his when with us, and otherwise it looked like he would tru to avoid the squad at all costs. I didn't think much of it at first, but then it all clicked once we stepped through the doors and met our first enemy."
Lunas eyes went glittery with awe.
"He threw his cloak aside and revealed a thin greatsword hanging from his back. I'd never seen one like it before, a pure silver sword like that, it didn't even look like a sword, more like something a kid would make out of clay because it looked cool, just it was silver - you know? But it was definitely one, you should've seen it in action. That sword moved like the wind, it was incredible, he went from beast to beast and cut them all down in one beautiful movement of his sword. And that's not all either, the wounds he left behind splashed blood everywhere with a powdery smoke, it was burning the beasts from the inside out, I couldn't believe it!"
Exhausting her breath, she placed her hands on his shoulders to reassure him just how incredible the sight she had engraved in her mind was.
"~~~~~¿"
The mumbling continued, it was sorta iritiating, like an itch you couldn't reach.
"I didn't catch who he was, he was wearing some weird horned mask. But I did find something about his sword, at the mercenary lodgings they had a book called the Steel Nail, most of it was ripped out - besides the back cover which talked about swords, it had no real information on them though, but the sword on the back had the exact same writings on it and was fully silver - just like the one I saw, im sure theyre the same type."
"~~~~~"
"Im not sure either, Ive never heard of 'Steel Nail'."
"~~~~~~~~~~~"
"Creepy right? Well I tried asking around, but nobody knew anything about it or the book. I'm certain though! It was the same kind of sword..."
~
Stone pebbles were hurled at his feet, the eagle was writhing in pain and unwilling to go down, it was a sign for Leo to snap back into reality and finish it off, reminiscing was a luxury he was denied for the moment.
What little blood had stained the silver was now fumigating the air, rather than disappearing, the blood was being absorbed and its impurity expelled out into the air.
It was feeding on the beasts flesh and blood.
'Haha, this feels great!'
With newfound confidence through the swords prestige he pounced at it, the runes tightened around his hand and focused at the tip of his blade as if pulling the strings of a bow back, and hard it pulled, real hard.
"Hyiah!"
The sword spiralled with a golden ambiance, it was such a dexterous movement Leo couldn't help but relish in a made-up sense of glory. Face to face with the monstrosity, it pierced through the air at an alarming rate, and at the critical moment:
He missed.
Stepping to the side in a pained fashion it capitalised on the opportunity and struck. It swung its wings around aiming straight for his flesh. Leo was quick on his feet though, or rather the runes were as his body twisted to parry the claws that threatened to dig deep into his back.
The air around shook as the two engaged in combat, it was foolish of him to jump in, the quicksilver had already started its job, it was only a matter of time before the smoky flames would swallow up the eagle whole, he just had to wait it out.
His arrogance in the moment wouldn't allow him to back down, to tell the truth Leo had always been reckless, for most of his life he tried proving himself to Luna - and most importantly to himself, trying to prove that he wasn't just a burden, that he could do something, that he was someone.
That very same arrogance now plagued him in the heat of battle, certainly not a quality befitting a warrior, much less one welding a beast killing weapon.
'Fuck, just die already stupid crab-bird.'
The sparks extended far and wide, spreading faster by the second as it engulfed it in its brilliant flames.
"How'd you like that hah!"
It was all just so exhilarating, he'd never moved like this in his life, but now, now an opportunity came by, and he was taking full advantage of it.
'These letters are incredible!'
Amazement was written across his face, the runes were doing the fighting for him, though it wasnt completely independent.
It could only move his two arms and control the sword, he still had to sway his legs about to move into position - that didn't really matter though, it was so precise and intricate that it could adapt to the body's natural movement and find the swords best path at any point in time.
Leo's face turned beet red from excitement, his blood was pumping to heights he thought impossible. Even his crystalline eyes were turning a cloudy white.
As it stood the scorching flames took over, it flapped it's wings around, it kicked its claws, and it spat its guts out through its carpaced head, the noise was dying down, it was slowly being erased in the blanket of ash and smoke.
[Slay The Beast!]
The runes appeared more cryptic than ever, but he could still make out some sense from them.
"Kill it? It's already dead though..."
{Slay The Beast!}
The runes grew impatient, Leo had no real choice here but to obey as they stretched out, after all it did just defeat it on it's own, he couldn't risk having them turn his own hands against him.
Leo took one last look at the poor crab, he had to iron out his nerves before the flames started reaching for him as well. He gripped his sword tightly in the sweat of his palms, getting himself ready for the finishing blow.
"Fine."
And so he he obeyed - plunging the argentine sword deep through the eagles core, following through a vortex of flame and magic splurged out as the rest of its flesh was torn apart and absorbed by the brilliant sword.
Leo tried hard to drown out the screeching as his hands stabbed deeper, untill finally the eagle ceased its eratic movements, slowly being drained of its strength as obvious by its shrivelled state.
The eagles body dispersed into a rush of silver sparkles, flowing straight to the tip of his sword and finding their rest somewhere along its edge.
A wave of sweat trickled down his ruddied face as a mix of excitement and fear washed over him, he'd finally done it, his first fight, his first win!
'I didn't do much... but still, I wish Luna could've seen me in this way.'
Thereafter the runes made one more appearance, seemingly satisfied with Leo's performance before returning to their seats at the centre of the blade.
[The Night Approaches]