Every cell in my body; every fibre of my being burned with an intensity to rival the sun. Having stared down my opponent for a brief fraction of a second, a powerful force propelled me forward with an all-consuming rage, as if my brain were begging my body to win no matter what.
His arrogance reflected in his empty grin as he too burst forth, could only further exacerbate the animosity festering within me. I must say, as someone who aspires for justice, it was unbecoming of me to feel such negative emotions against a foe, but this one was someone that could only be defeated, for the sake of my dream.
Blades flying in circular motion all around me acting as a defence as well as offense, allowed me to engage in close combat with confidence.
His own unyielding blade aimed to shatter my soul in two with several strikes, and each time, I fired swords at him while striking back to keep him on the defensive. An all encompassing offense gave me the advantage that he couldn't block everything. Although his sword was unstoppable, he couldn't destroy every blade in time, and could not so much as touch me.
However short the assault lasted for, I knew that it had little effect on him other than just hindering his advances. We both realised that. He did something unthinkable for any human, granted their mortal and vulnerable nature, but a vampire far removed from any conceived notion of life would be able to find such a method effective.
Put simply, he abandoned the concept that was defence, and focused his attention on killing me with all his might.
His body pierced with blades all over, was relatively unaffected, as he charged forward at me. The point of his blade that could tear anything apart was aimed directly at my heart. Quick and easy, yet still a painful death was what he wanted to bestow upon me. To aim for the heart was to aim for one's future. Without a heart, there would be nothing. Everything ultimately ceases, but we suffer along the way before the end consumes us. Fittingly, for a man as cruel as him, he wanted to ensure I would die but suffer while doing so.
Inches from my chest, one of two actions could have been made. That was, to run away and retreat, being the option void of risk. Or, I could challenge him. His advances were certainly threatening, and to challenge his blade would have no shortage of risks involved, but after a brief evaluation I realised I couldn't allow him to succeed. If he did, then he would believe that his attacks were working, further encouraging him.
Swords are designed to be sharp. Used as a weapon for war, it needed to be able to cut through flesh and bone. But only the outside is sharp. The edges are potent killers, but the rest of the blade is no different than any other. Just as fragile.
Previously lodged into the boat, I manipulate several blades in close proximity and shot them at the centre of his cutlass. Even if they couldn't break the sword, they would have enough power to push his sword just enough so it would miss any vital points. It was a gamble, but the odds were irrelevant if it meant victory. Risk is all part of battle.
As predicted, upon impact, and while still in forward motion, his blade veered off its intended path and found it grazing my arm, forming a cut that stung but was not fatal.
Expectedly, he was surprised at my brazen actions to challenge him. Not a second later was that surprised face smashed in by my fist with such great force he flew across the ship, and smashed through the masts in the way, causing them to all fall over in to the ocean.
Hoping not to give him even a moment to recover, I sprinted to where he had landed and with two reinforced blades in my hand, and tens of other swords flying at him, about to decimate him at the same time.
No connection. I didn't even manage to make full motion. A fist, or maybe a leg, though it happened too fast for me to tell, made contact with my chest and sent me flying in the opposite direction than him, but luckily he cleared out the objects blocking the way for me.
'Surprise after the next after the next! You have some of the most unorthodox methods of fighting I've ever had the displeasure of dealing with!'
The vampire count was leaning over my body, staring down at me as I stood up. His darkened face caused by the rays of light blocked by his back, seemed to lack the earlier killing intent in his expression, so I swung my sword quite carelessly at him in order to make him jump back. Rather compliantly, he took a step back and I stood up to face him on even ground.
'Speaking of unorthodox, you are quite the unusual one yourself. I had you pinned as a lawless pirate of the seas, but I see you much more now as a just as lawless nautical soldier.' I responded to him, as we started slowly walking around in circles around the centre of the deck.
'You're half-right, I guess. The lawless part is incorrect, but indeed I was the captain of a fleet of ships some four hundred years ago.'
Searching frantically for an opening, I engaged in menial conversation.
'Hmmm? Seems rather contradictory, no? Unless you counted incorrectly, that far back didn't find cutlasses in use very much. I can't tell so much with guns, but those swords aren't of that time.'
'You think yourself a historian? Proficient in the knowledge of the forgery of swords? Well, I guess you have exposed me in that regard. While its true that I sailed the seas at the time aforementioned, I found myself wanting to... upgrade, later on. Why continue to use those weapons when far superior ones were crafted following shortly? Loyalty to the outdated shan't outweigh my loyalty to power. I ultimately settled on the weapons you saw, to be the most fitting for me, as I wasn't so proficient with others.'
Though I didn't want to admit it, in a way, he was like me. Using weapons not of his own; valuing utility and combat above all else.
'I guess we're both fakers in some regard. I can't exactly admonish you for casting aside your age's weapons, considering your immortality. But to a warrior like yourself, is the blade they wield not their identity, at least on the battlefield?'
He suddenly stopped.
'Shut up...' He was angry for some reason.
'Don't open that mouth of yours again! You say I'm fake? That I have no identity? Wrong, wrong, wrong, WRONG! You're sorely mistake, human! Identity means absolutely nothing! Truth doesn't exist! In the end, its all about how others perceive you! I built a persona from the ground up, rose to the position of captain of the English Fleet, and garnered the love and respect of all. It didn't need to be real! It couldn't have been in the first place! I'm a vampire after all! I can't be real to anyone!'
And so is the flaw of a vampire's existence. If they wanted to integrate into human society, their only option would be to create a façade. True immortality is unfathomable to those lacking it, including me, and so the ones destined to live forever must come and go, changing with the wind so not to cast suspicion.
'Svelten, enough talk. I'll shatter every wall you put up and expose your true self. I'm sure its nothing short of a malevolent monster.'
Abruptly, the moment I finished my sentence, he disappeared. His speed was too great for me to grasp its scale, so it looked to me as if he was there, and then not.
From behind, I could sense a strike coming. His speed had greatly increased compared to before, and the only way to survive his flurry of blows was to dodge with all my ability.
Indiscriminately, yet with enough force to obliterate my very being, each thrust and slash of the blade was backed with his utmost anger and killing intent. He just wanted to kill me at this point. Though, he always did, but before he wanted to do it in a more sadistic way.
Breaking my body to survive, I used time manipulation to speed up and dodge every blow. A few attacks grazed my body, and I very slowly began to accumulate damage.
Quickly, realising that I was dodging everything somewhat competently, he attacked with a rising kick to my chin, shooting me into the sky.
As he soared towards me, taking a great leap to reach me, I had no way to manoeuvre in the air, and so I was a sitting duck. But I had to try something.
The same trick had worked under water, and so I thought that, with much less resistance, it would work more effectively in the open skies.
Extending my hand out towards the ground, swords flew into the sky, and I grabbed onto one as it zoomed past, managing to avoid his attack. As he was descending, I sniped him with many blades, to which he responded by destroying each one shot at him.
The moment he landed back onto the deck of the ship, despite having escaped far away from him by firing swords, he closed the distance easily.
Something that would have seemed ludicrous to me ages ago, and still somewhat felt surreal while doing it, I strategically fired swords, timing them with such precision that I could jump off of them to create make-shift platforms. I had to concentrate with all my focus, as I could only do so if they were in motion, and couldn't have them lying in wait or they wouldn't support the weight of my falling on them.
I was in quite a precarious situation, being in the sky and having to precisely run across the clouds without messing anything up. Soldiers from below were aiming and firing at me, and Svelten used his ridiculous strength to jump up to me over and over, requiring me to also accurately shoot him out of the sky before he could reach me.
It was hard to maintain, but for a while, I was untouchable up in the heavens, but it was also difficult for me to get back down.
That was when Svelten did the absolutely unthinkable. His ultimate weapon, capable of cutting through anything, came sailing through the air directly at me, with such accuracy and speed that it was dead on target. The fact that it pierced through everything meant that it would meet no air resistance and maintain a velocity rivalling light itself.
With barely any time to react, I swivelled mid-air to dodge the strike, and with a reinforced sword in hand, as it soared past me, I stabbed the centre of the blade hoping to shatter it at its core. I wasn't going to let this opportunity pass me.
Upon contact, my sword started to crumble as if it was disassembling itself. With my own blade now dust, the attempt was a failure. Or so I thought, but, taking place straight after the destruction of my own blade, the unknown metal of his weapon began to crack, and break apart, and so the unstoppable force had been stopped.
However brief that moment was, it didn't last long. My short burst of euphoria at this accomplishment vanished instantaneously, just as fast as it had come. Svelten was by no long shot a veteran warrior, who had great experience attributed to his long life span, so even that incomprehensible move of his had meaning.
In my reaction to his blade and taking the chance to destroy it, I had fallen for his trap. Of course he didn't really care about his own weapon, because he wouldn't need it to kill me. Anything would do, and he has no attachment to it at all. Who's to say he doesn't wield anything more powerful?
'You fell for my trap, you incorrigible fool!' He screamed with delight as he rocketed towards me.
Like Icarus, who flew too close to the sun, I too failed to understand the limits of my own humanity, and came crashing down. Humans were never meant to fly, so naturally, trying to abuse height advantage in order to survive would eventually fail to prevent something inhuman like a vampire from hunting me down.
His fists collided with my chest and I plummeted downwards, colliding with a ship, and landing on the deck, forming a crater.
He then landed beside me and kicked me while I was down. He seemed to keep his power in check so that I wouldn't go flying, allowing him to keep kicking me in succession. Even with swords lodged into his body, he didn't care. His onslaught was ceaselessly brutal, and my whole body screamed in pain.
Eventually, I found my back against a wall, with his feet swinging back and forth in front of me. I was blocking with both my arms, but they were breaking under the pressure. Svelten had become like a hedgehog so much so that I wouldn't be able to fit any more swords, apart from his face which he shielded with his hands.
'Where'd all that spunk go, you p*ssant!? You're taking all this punishment so well for me, and I can enjoy myself to the best of my ability.'
He kept kicking me.
'You said you would break me down, and expose my true self? The only thing broken here is your bones, and it will stay that way till the moment you die.'
He kept on kicking me.
'You can't expose my true self, because it doesn't exist! Can you even comprehend such a thing? That my truth doesn't exist? That there is no such thing as truth?'
He kept going on about the falsehood of truth, but it seemed to me as if he was in denial. I certainly didn't believe him. Zelretch himself told me that the reason he trusted in me was because he could trust in my conviction to do good. And that very belief is integral to my existence, it seems. So, even if he tried to be something he wasn't, that was nothing but masquerading as something false. He denied truth because he knew that he was a liar.
'Svelten, truth exists, and your truth is that the only one who's lying here, is you. And the only one you're lying to is yourself!'
He reached his hand down to my neck, and with that one hand, he lifted me up.
He was staring right at me with an intense rage, but despite that, it felt as if he wasn't really looking at me, but beyond me. As if he saw something that wasn't there, through me.
'DRAKE!!!! You b*stard! I'll kill you!'
An ear-deafening screech burst out from his mouth, as he called me a name I didn't recognise but one he hated with all his soul.
'How dare you!? Preaching to me about such things? A hypocrite through and through, you are! How could you reject my evil despite being a lawless pirate!?' It was as if he was blinded by his rage. He saw within me the shadow of someone who must have said the same things as I did.
Vaguely, I began to understand who he truly was.
'I guess I'm not the only one... who thinks your fake...!' I managed to force out the words from my throat.
His hatred seemed to focus back unto me, rather than the person he saw in me, indicating he snapped back to reality.
'Damn it! Damn you!' His grip tightened slightly.
'Who the hell are you...? "Drake" refers to Francis Drake... doesn't it? You weren't even a pirate so how the hell do you know him? You were part of the English Navy, weren't you?' It was getting harder to breathe and talk.
'Indeed I was! It was I who led the navy of that time to victory. Against a fleet of Spanish, I led the English mortals into battle with them, and utterly crushed them. It was me who brought them all glory. And that Drake! She should have adored me, and glorified me, just like everyone else!'
He paused, and his face contorted into a nasty frown.
'But she only looked at me in disgust... Said that I was a liar. She said, "Charles Howard isn't your true name is it? That isn't who you are? You made this fake persona, all so that you could bypass the law and get away with your heinous crimes!"'
Having lived in England for a bit, I did know a little about its history. In the late 16th Century, an Armada from Spain invaded England, and with the power of Francis Drake (who is apparently a woman) and her crew of pirates, alongside the English Navy led by the vampire before me, triumphed in battle at sea against them. Svelten had integrated into society, becoming a well loved figure, according to what he said.
'Is it true? That you became a renowned figure in order hiding the truth of your crimes?'
He looked at me, puzzled by this question, and then laughed.
'THAT'S ONLY HER TRUTH, NOT MINE! TRUE VERITY DOESN'T EXIST!'
He roared at my face, breaking my ear drums. He paused for a moment, and continued to monologue.
'I had drank the blood of many humans in my lifetime by that time, and I had an acquired taste for the blood of the youth. But not just any ol' boy. It was the blood seasoned with the sadness and fear upon being betrayed. So, no better way to go about it then becoming someone loved by the public, and then preying upon my victims while tasting their blood soaked in the tears of the deceived! And in the end, I got away with it all!'
I was sick to the stomach, and wanted so very much to kill him and avenge all he had wrongfully and brutally murdered.
'You psychopath, Svelten!'
'She said those exact same words to me! Ridiculous, isn't it? - That a lawless pirate who robs and kills without a care in the world, wants to lecture me about evil? What's the difference between us? If anything, at least I respected the laws enough to be of service to the country!'
This b*stard doesn't understand!
'The reason why she hated you was because you tried to act as if you were good, so you could commit acts of terror and violence with ease! It was all a visage to allow for your evil to go unnoticed! A pirate may be evil, and surely doesn't follow the law, but at least she accepted that fact. She was true to herself and the world about her own selfish desires, but you weren't. Hiding behind a mask, you wanted to fulfil your evil desires without dealing with the consequences!'
'Shut up! Shut up, or I'll rip your tongue out! You perceive that as truth, but it simply doesn't exist. I may have created a persona but that mask of mine is no less me as well! It's also a part of me, so you can't claim that I built the illusion of Lord Howard for that purpose. I am him, after all, and he commits atrocities behind a veil!'
'The truth you claim doesn't exist is real! No matter how much you deny it, you can't change the fact that you embodied an immoral, and cruel evil that no matter how you view it, it was irredeemably injustice! So of course she hated you!'
He was done arguing, as he raised his other hand, curled into a fist, about shatter my skull. But I was also done too. No matter how I tried to persuade him, he would never accept truth.
I had entertained the conversation for so long, because I wanted him to realise he was wrong, but also in order to set up a decisive assault.
As his fist drew close, and was right about to end me, I deactivated it.
RELEASE ALTER
Every sword protruding from his body exploded in size, with their blades ripping apart his body and organs. Their high velocity allowing them to break their way in originally through his tough shell, set the stage for a devastating attack.
'ARGHHHHHHHHH!!!!' He screamed in pain.
'WHAT THE HELL HAVE YOU DONE.'
'You should have been more careful to bat away every sword shot at you. I cast reinforcement magic on them alongside time control, in order to slow their expansion, allowing me to release the spell when there where enough swords to incapacitate you. You won't be recovering so quickly this time!'
'You scheming fox! I should have crushed your neck earlier, rather than going along with this foolishness!'
Having fallen to his knees, he was dripping with blood, and his arm that had been holding my neck had been removed from his body entirely when the swords expanded, allowing me to land back onto the ground.
I projected Caladbolg into my hand, and started to fill it with a large amount of mana. Surprisingly, the hilt of Eden which I had been drawing mana from wasn't empty yet, and I was able to make an incredibly energy-dense Broken Phantasm.
I thought that, if I couldn't kill him conventionally, I'll just blow him up so that there will be nothing left. Surely he wouldn't be able to recover from nothing.
'Any last words, you b*stard?' I raised the spiral into the air and aimed it at his right eye. He was stationary, and didn't try to run away. He couldn't even if he wanted to, because his limbs were torn apart by swords.
His expression darkened.
'Do you know how, human, I managed to break open the Spanish defence? The method in doing so was quite ingenious of me at the time. But anyway, let's just say, it involved the explosions of eight different ships. Now, there are a lot more than eight ships in this fleet, but the question is, how many of them do you think I can get my soldiers to explode?'
He sneered at me.
'YOU!'
'Go on and try to save her. That girl will never reach salvation, but I'll allow you the chance to save her from us accursed vampires for the first time in her life. Will she escape our clutches now with your help? Time is running out!'
Immediately, I stabbed him in the eye, and ran past him. Running with all my might, I tried to reach the ship she was staying on as fast as possible.
Behind me, Svelten exploded in one of great magnitude that I could feel rather than see, but alongside him, so did many ships in the vicinity.
Far off into the distance, I could see it. I remembered where I had left her. In that place I told her to stay, so she would be safe.
'LUVIA!!!'
It exploded.
I didn't make it.
I fell to my knees, and tears started to flow from my eyes. I smashed my hand down onto the hard, wooden floor, as the sky was filled with smoke and the ship began to burn.
Letting out a heart-wrenching scream, I cried. I cried at my failure to save her.
I just wanted her to be happy...