Traveling Through Tales

Chapter 12 Clash then Flash

Kajima charged at the Kengiri and intended to stab one of its long, thick centipede-like legs. Still flying through the air, Azi braced himself as he saw that he was heading towards Shizu. Wanting to lessen the impact he had on her, Azi tried to think of what he could do but thought of no ideas.

Azi then felt a soft impact, Shizu was luckily still conscious and had caught Azi with her two arms outstretched. Azi was relieved to see that she was still conscious but saw she had a bruise on her right shoulder. Shizu grunted in pain as the aftereffects of catching him had made her bruise feel inflamed.

At that moment, Azi made a snap decision as he took out a red tube from a pouch on his hip. He aimed it up and pulled the cord. A red magic flare went flying up into the sky which was enough to signal the other western forest parties to converge on their location. Now, he, Shizu, and Kajima just needed to buy time.

Hearing some rustling in the nearby bushes, Shizu released Azi from her grasp. Azi, now on his feet, turned to the front of the party and took out his short sword and raised his shield. Out from the bushes came numerous gengiri who turned their gazes upon him.

With fear in his voice, he called out. "Multiple gengiri sighted. I see 6 in total in front. Shizu? How about you?"

Shizu heard more rustling from the party's rear and frowned.

"I see another 3 but they are behind us. They have us in a pincer here. We need to hold out." Responded Shizu as she got to her feet.

Calling out, Kajima stated. "I'll keep the kengiri in place, you two handle the gengiri and make it quick!"

While blocking another blow from the Kengiri's claws, he listened to Shizu's response.

"No, you won't be able to hold your own against a kengiri for long without assistance." Said Shizu, who then turned to Azi.

She saw that Azi was trembling in fear, this was familiar to her as she would see new soldiers cower in fear in times of sudden danger.

Shizu nonetheless gave him his instruction with an assuring and commanding tone.

"Azi, I need you to hold off the 3 gengiri behind us. I'll work to kill the 6 in front while helping to keep the kengiri's attention divided. Can you do this Azi?"

With fear evident in his voice, Azi said in the most resolute manner that he could manage. "Y-Yes, I-I'll do m-my best."

Putting her hand on Azi's shoulder, Shizu reassured him. "Only defend and don't die! Now. GO!"

"Yes!!" Affirmed Azi, as a sense of duty began burgeoning from his heart.

Screaming in his mind to drive off his fear, he moved to face the 3 gengiri at the party's rear. He raised his sword and pointed his sword toward the enemy in an amateurish stance as he stared down his opponents.

Shizu, impressed by Azi's resolve to hold his ground, also cried out and rushed to kill the 6 gengiri in the front. She assisted Kajima by getting the kengiri's attention with an occasional swing of her metal umbrella.

This prevented the kengiri from focusing too much attention on Kajima as it now had to be wary of Shizu's occasional heavy strikes against its claws.

With her right shoulder bruised she had to use her less dominant left hand to wield her weapon and could use her trump card with only one arm. Even at a disadvantage Shizu was making quick work of the first couple of gengiri while also landing a few hits on the kengiri. On the other hand, Azi's situation could have been better.

Azi felt multiple strikes against his shield and soon his left arm was going completely numb from improper bracing and positioning. He looked over and saw that Shizu had already killed two gengiri but after doing so, the kengiri made a few clicking noises from its mouth which caused the other 4 to start avoiding Shizu as they kited her around.

Azi saw this and realized that the Kengiri was somewhat intelligent. It planned to waste Shizu's time as she was recognized as the strongest by the Kengiri. So, the Kengiri had its gengiri move to kill the weakest member of the party which was Azi himself.

Seeing the gengiri approach him slowly, Azi felt frustration in his heart as he realized that the Kengiri was looking down on him and cursed himself for causing trouble due to his weakness and inadequacy. His emotions distracted him as he was then hit in his left shoulder by one of the gengiri which wounded him with a deep cut on his previously bandaged shoulder.

Azi screamed out in pain as while the cut did hurt, there was also a burning feeling that began to spread from his left shoulder. He then noticed that the gengiri that attacked him had bits of benweed in its jaw and mouth.

From what he learned from Kajima, benweed dulled the senses when ingested but when put on an open wound it would cause a burning sensation due to how the plants non-lethal poison would spread quicker through an open wound.

This brought Azi out of his thoughts as he stepped back to get away, but the other 2 gengiri followed and attempted to strike. One went for his shoulder again and the other his feet. Time slowed from Azi's perception as his mind was processing a sudden question that filled his mind.

'Is this where I die, is this where I .....FAIL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!'

Anger marred his face as Azi then gave a war cry as the thought of him failing had enraged him so much that he was gritting his teeth so hard that it produced an audible grinding sound he could hear in his ears.

From his broken memories, he remembered that he would bottle up his anger, but he had forgotten why. Without the inhibiting memories from his past, Azi let loose his rage towards the enemy that now attempted to kill him.

No longer would he hold himself back, and instead choose to live freely in the new and strange world he found himself in. He wished to learn about the world, and nothing would get in his way.

After striking down 2 more gengiri whose blood now stained her umbrella, Shizu noticed Azi's warcry and attempted to call out to calm him but was amazed by what she saw next. Azi had shield bashed one of the gengiri that now splattered against his shield and kicked the other gengiri with a forward kick which pierced through its underbelly.

In his anger, Azi pulled his foot back to let the gengiri corpse fall to the ground. He then started to stomp on the corpse, crushing it to a bloody pulp. As he did this screamed out with every stomp. "DIE, DIE, DIE, KILL, KILL, DESTROY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

The remaining gengiri looked on in horror as it saw its kin's insides splayed out on the snowy white ground. Azi, satisfied by his handy work, turned and approached the remaining gengiri, causing it to back away in fear. Noticing this, Azi gave it an evil grin and gave another war cry as he charged to strike the gengiri with his sword.

The gengiri moved to protect itself with its hard carapace, but this was useless as Azi's short sword had split it down the middle through its carapace and all.

Huffing and puffing, Azi looked at the now broken short sword in his right hand and the gore on his shield. Again, he felt a strange tingling in his arms so he took a few deep breaths and was able to calm down, but the tingling did not cease.

Ignoring the sensation, as he had more important things to concern himself with, he turned to the ongoing battle behind him and ran to join in the fight. He then saw that Shizu had killed the last 2 gengiri, but Kajima was injured as he clutched a wound he had received on his side.

During the time Azi killed the 3 gengiri, Shizu had killed the 6 gengiri at the front.

With all of the gengiri killed, the kengiri was enraged by the sight of its younger kin being slaughtered by Shizu and Azi. With far faster speed than before, and fueled by its enraged state, the kengiri charged at Shizu who did not notice that the Kengiri had changed targets.

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" Screamed Azi as he pulled all the power he could muster into his legs to rush forward to intercept the kengiri's attack aimed at Shizu. His speed was unusually fast, but he paid it no mind and focused his attention to his current goal.

While Azi did not get along with Shizu, he did not want anyone to die in front of him.

He raised his shield and braced it with his now freed right hand which released the broken short sword to lighten himself to move even a bit faster. Making it to where Shizu stood, Azi got between Shizu and the kengiri just in time. In the next moment a loud clang then rang out.

Azi noticed that time had slowed from his perception again and he could see that the veins on his right and left hands were glowing a very bright blue-white for a few brief moments as the kengiri charged at his shield.

He could feel the tingling sensation more clearly and saw that the blue-white glow of his veins were branching out and were extending from his skin to spread across the back of the shield's surface.

Being blown back by the kengiri's strike, Azi crashed into Shizu as she caught him and was pushed with her back first to a nearby tree. Shizu had only noticed that the kengiri was targeting her when Azi took the hit that was coming for her. She looked down and saw Azi unconscious, his head leaning against her stomach.

Azi had blood dripping from his arms and hands, but Shizu also noticed a warm and wet sensation on her left hand. She looked and saw blood, but it was not from her as she saw the blood dripping out of Azi's mouth.

Azi likely took some internal damage as the impact that traveled through the shield had likely done some damage to his insides. Shizu panicked as she had no idea how to heal his internal wounds.

"Azi!!" Cried out Kajima. "You damn monster, DIE!!!"

Witnessing Azi taking the kengiri's charge, Kajima's rage boiled over as memories of his fallen comrades reminded him to not fail again. He had already lost his wife and children, so he would be damned if he let another person die on his watch. With a soldier's resolve burning in his heart, Kajima charged the kengiri.

He jumped up, and on his descent, he struck with his halberd. He was able to chop off one of the kengiri's large claws with a downward slash, this caused the kengiri's attention to be drawn away from Shizu and Azi. In the next moment, Kajima then exchanged blows with the kengiri.

Kajima pushed out multiple jabs with his halberd's spear point and combined it with the rotation of his hips as he also attacked with slashes that utilized the spinning of his long halberd to build up momentum.

The Kengiri responded by swinging its remaining claw hand in quick succession to attack Kajima with its own rage fueling its movement. The pair's attacks clashed against each other, and the reverberations of their battle sounded out through the nearby forest for all to hear.