The Weaponsmaster

Chapter 13

Drea panicked. The thought of the knife twisting in her skin and the sight of her own blood dripping in puddles threw her thoughts into a whirlwind. The girl’s eyes shone like the devils, or maybe like a wolves. She didn’t know what to do with her mind in such a mess, but she knew she had to get away.

Drea balled her fist and did a sweep of her arm to get the girl to release the knife and jumped back. When she landed, she felt the knife scrape up against her bone and fell backwards, realizing that her leg wouldn’t support her anymore. It felt like spiders were crawling in her as the knife remained lodged in her muscle. She looked up to see that the girl had vanished, but something far worse had taken her place. A Lori, about the size of a doorway, stood where the little girl had been.

How could I have fallen for this, Drea thought between breaths. Its aura had felt like a human’s, and she fell for it.

She looked up at the Lori again. Its eyes gleamed with hatred as its teeth glowed venomously. This Lori was strong, and it had stabbed her in the thigh not to kill her, but to immobilize her. It wanted to draw out the battle. That little girl must’ve been part of the Lori, just like her so called friend many years ago.

Drea stood, never taking her eyes off of the Lori. She needed a weapon, but there weren’t any near… except for the dagger in her thigh. She looked down and cringed at the thought of pulling it out. She’d lose a lot of blood if she took it out. Looking at the Lori though, she had no choice: It was either die without a weapon, or die from blood loss with a weapon. She took a chance and grabbed the hilt. Each second as she pulled was filled with new pain. It was really stuck in.

After what seemed like an eternity, Drea felt the knife slide out, it’s cold steel slithering around, sending chills up her spine. As she pulled the blade out, a line of blood followed, splattering the ground in front of her and around her feet. It was already dripping out quickly. Almost immediately, Drea began to feel lightheaded and fell to her hands and knees; it was obvious she’d lost a lot of blood, too much. She took the knife and ripped off one pant leg below the knee, quickly tying it around her leg to try and stop some of the bleeding. She knew that wouldn’t do much, so she had to kill this Lori quickly. She stood, her legs barely supporting her weight.

Their eyes met as each tried to figure out how they could out do the other. In a flash, they moved forward and clashed, Drea’s bloody dagger matched up against its massive paws. Its fur seemed to be made out of a thicker material, a material that couldn’t be cut with a knife. The claws were fairly small, but hooked, made for optimal shredding of Kaienshi. The Lori reached out with its other hand to get at her stomach, but she jumped out of the way just in time. Her speed had drastically decreased, along with her stamina. She was already panting as she slid backwards. The blood was seeping through her pants, dripping in sad little drops of crimson down to the earth. Where are you Danny? Surely he felt her aura, but why hadn’t he come?

It doesn’t matter, she thought. I have to finish this now. Drea rose, ready to finish the fight. Hopefully her leg would hold out a little longer. She advanced towards it, moving as quickly as possible, but with each step another stab of pain blossomed in her, racing through her veins.

They clashed multiple times, both of them on an equal playing field at first. It occurred to Drea that the beast wasn’t attempting more strategic movements. It was just continually clashing with her. That’s when it came to her: He’s trying to force me to kill myself by bleeding out. It was a great plan, and with her restricted movement, she couldn’t counter it.

I have to end this, or else I’ll end up killing myself. She needed to change her tactics, and she needed to do it fast. But how could she inflict damage on this beast when she could no longer quickstep or even run for that matter?