Chapter 59: Chapter 59: Coward
"I see your memory is still intact." His father's voice was cold. "I suppose you just chose to be disobedient then." He growled and the bloodthirsty aura smothered Tsugi, making it painful to breathe.
Ser Gorou was injured and bloody. Blood dripped from his forehead down his eye, and from his lips down his chin. His hands were scraped and bloody, along with his arms and body. He shifted slightly in order to bring what was in his grasp into view.
Tsugi's eyes widened in terror, but a furious flame also lit at the same time. Ser Gorou had one hand grasped around Yamo's neck. His face was just as bloody as Ser Gorou's.
"NO!" Tsugi screamed and pushed off the balls of his feet. It was like everything occurred in slow motion. Tsugi ran toward them with black smoke forming on his hand. Yamo smiled wistfully and slowly raised his hand, just as Tsugi tightened his fist around the hilt of the jagged broadsword and charged, swinging with all of his might.
The cold biting wind blew, but Tsugi couldn't feel it freeze his fingers, just like he didn't feel the teardrop frozen to his cheek. The wind was harsh, but Tsugi couldn't hear it scream at him, everything was concentrated on saving Yamo.
Wind started to gather around Yamo, lifting up the snow and fallen leaves into the air, slowly enveloping them. Through the leaves, he could see Yamo's face that smiled with a solemness to it, like he had accepted his fate. The ear splitting sound of breaking bones reached Tsugi's ears, and what followed was a deathly silence that lasted much too long. The wind stopped, and the leaves floated to the ground so slowly that it seemed years had flashed before his very eyes. Ser Gorou released his grasp and Yamo dropped to the floor throwing up a puff of snow into the surrounding air that was so still, it was like time had frozen at that very moment.
"NO!" Tsugi screams as he reaches his father. He swung his sword at Ser Gorou with both skill and power, strong enough to rile up Ser Gorou, who was already injured severely from the battle with Yamo. Ser Gorou dodged and blocked Tsugi's attacks with his own sword that was still sheathed. Tears flew off Tsugi's eyes and froze before they hit the ground. Trees explode upon contact with Tsugi's sword, flying across the forest, crashing and slamming into other trees.
"You killed him!" Tsugi cried furiously.
"You have no one to blame but yourself!" Ser Gorou screamed, landing a hard kick to Tsugi's chest, sending him flying back.
"I did nothing wrong! I completed the mission just like you wanted!" Tsugi cried his heart out and charged, spinning wildly, the purple flame flew like streaming wisps around his body. Their weapons clashed and rang through the forest like thunder.
"I wouldn't have killed him if you returned like you were supposed to when your mission was complete!" He parried Tsugi's attack and jabbed the hilt of his sword into Tsugi's chest, swiftly knocking the wind out of his lungs and making him spit out blood. "His blood is on your hands!" He said into Tsugi's ears before Tsugi went flying into a tree. The soul weapon began to waver and flicker like it was almost dissipating but yet still whole.
Tsugi coughed blood onto the white snow and wiped his mouth with his sleeve before lunging. He crossed through the air in a flash and brought down his sword on his father like the hammer of judgment.
"Yamo!" Volgan's voice echoed into Tsugi's ear and his anger dispersed for a split second. But that split second was all it took for everything to turn sideways. Ser Gorou raised his sheathed sword and pulled it out of the sheath just enough to intercept Tsugi's blade, cleanly cutting the dissipating blade in half. The part that broke off, immediately de-materialized into thin air.
Tsugi quickly grabbed hold of his senses and managed to graze Ser Gorou's shoulder as he stepped toward Tsugi. It was an exchange of sacrifice, Tsugi had sacrificed his queen to take down the opposing king, just as Ser Gorou threw himself in as bait to put Tsugi in checkmate.
The grasp around Tsugi's necked pressed hard against his carotid arteries, and he could feel his consciousness leaving him. He struggled and raised his sword, but Ser Gorou grabbed his arm and with one squeeze it cracked, sending piercing pain up Tsugi's arm.
"Do you think this weak flame can do anything to me?" Ser Gorou hooked his sword to his belt and raised his hand up to his shoulder. A bright yellow flame covered his hand and engulfed his shoulder. The small dying purple flame disappeared. "Now." Ser Gorou spoke in a calm and low tone. "Do you want more blood on your hands? Or will you stop your childish dreams and come back home?"
"Yamo?!" Volgans voice was rushing closer.
"Decide." Ser Gorou reached his free arm around his body and grasped the hilt of his sword. Tears poured down Tsugi's cold frozen cheeks as he let out a defeated sigh. His sword vanished completely when he decided to let it go.
The soul that was ripped in two, now disappeared and the bond broke. The soul would now return to the other world and spend a millenia to reform itself. Death doesn't mean lost forever, it's always there, just like how atoms could never be destroyed, only broken down to its lowest form.
Tsugi's eyes widened and his heart filled with the intent to raze. "I…am home!" Tsugi squeezed every bit of air out of his lungs. He threw up his legs and wrapped it around Ser Gorou's arm. He wrapped his hand around Ser Gorou's pinky and pulled back, just like how Volgan taught him.
~"The chances of you fighting a bigger opponent is very likely." Volgans voice rang in his ear. "You have to figure out a way to fight them, and use your small body to your advantage. Find their weakest point and go from there."
Ser Gorou's grip weakened, Tsugi turned toward the side of where Ser Gorou's thumb was and twisted himself to escape the death grip. Tsugi launched a kick upward right into Ser Gorou's nose and knocked him back, stunning him for a moment from the intense stinging pain of the broken nasal bone.
Tsugi quickly grabbed hold of Ser Gorou's sword and took off with it, launching it deep into the forest, disappearing out of sight.
"Volgan!" Tsugi screamed and darted back in the direction of the gate, pressing his broken arm against his chest.
"Enron?!" He saw Tsugi, bloodied and injured, staring at him and quickly assessed the situation. "Run back to Fay!" He shoved Tsugi out of the way and pulled out his sword just in time to intercept the sword Ser Gorou had taken from Yamo. "RUN!" Volgan screamed.
He didn't want to leave him, but the memory of Yamo getting hurt in the dungeon flew across his mind. He hesitated for a brief moment, but he turned and ran.
"Coward!" Ser Gorou screamed, his voice so full of wrath that it instilled fear, rattling Tsugi's heart. Ser Gorou tried to fight off Volgan to get to Tsugi, but Volgan was too good of a defender and refused to let Ser Gorou get by him.
Soon the sounds of the battle faded and Tsugi could see the gate in the distance.
"Enron!" Fay ran up to him, her expressionless face was now covered with worry.
"Yamo's…" Tsugi cried loudly, he couldn't make himself say the word. His stomach turned like he was going to be sick. Tsugi explained everything to Fay as fast as he could, but even that was barely enough time.
"Well." Ser Gorou approached from behind them, with a bloody sword in his hand. "Are you done running?"
"Run." Fay's face went stern and expressionless again. She stood up slowly and pulled out her chained scythes.
"Looks like you have another toy for me." He smiled sinisterly, flinging his sword through the air, drawing masterful bloody art into the snow.
Simultaneously, they crouched low and launched at each other. The scythes hit the ground with enough force to cause explosive power, creating craters and throwing snow and dirt into the air. Fay danced beautifully, even more so than Yamo the day he taught Tsugi how to use the chains.
Ser Gorou grabbed a hold of the chain and yanked Fay, sending her hurling straight toward him. Tsugi quickly stood to his feet and rushed in, but he would never get there in time. The sword pointed straight at Fay and just waited for her to impale herself on it.
How dare he taint Yamo's sword by using it to kill Yamo's only family he had left? Tsugi's feet ran as fast as he could. A sword went right through Ser Gorou's abdomen, right when Tsugi reached Fay and yanked on her foot. The sword lowered in Ser Gorou's hand, but it still sliced Fay's arm before he turned to face Volgan, who stood at a distance, clutching at his bleeding stomach. If Volgan hadn't thrown his sword, Fay wouldn't have survived.
With Ser Gorou's back turned toward them, Tsugi yanked the sword out of his fathers back, enraging him even more. Ser Gorou swung the sword around and hit the sword out of Tsugi's hand, reaching his other free hand to encircle Tsugi's neck again, but a flying scythe caused him to retreat his hand and parry with his sword instead.
Volgan retrieved the sword on the ground and joined Fay. Their speed and power were so overwhelming that Tsugi's eyes could barely keep up. Tsugi was drowned into the fight, and he became complacent.
Fay flew into Tsugi and they slid across the cold snow. She bled from gashes on her body, but she pushed herself back onto her feet. "Why are you still here?!" She screamed. She had a bloody slash across one of her eyes, turning her vision into a dark red blur.
Volgan placed a hand on the ground and vines whipped out of the ground entrapping Ser Gorou in place.
Fay immediately raised her hands into the air and rained down icicles onto the battlefield. Explosions threw dirt and snow into the air obscuring their vision.
All was quiet, not even a tree dare to creak. They waited for the air to clear, standing very still and basically holding their breaths. A faint light shone from within the fog of debris. A sharp swish of a sword rang through the thick fog, parting it in half…and then silence filled the forest once more.
Volgan dropped to his knees and his head dropped to the floor with a thud, rolling away as blood splattered around him. A loud whirring sound with a loud squish next to him, and warm droplets covered Tsugi's face, reddening his vision. He blinked, but the redness only got worse. He wiped his eyes and looked down at his blood covered hands. Is he injured? Is he dying?
A thud next to him caused him to look over as Fay dropped to the ground with her own scythe straight through her chest cavity.
Shock had taken over, and he couldn't quite grasp what had occurred. The fog cleared and his father stood in the center of it: the snow melted in a perfect wide circle around him; the roots were reduced to ashes at his feet; puddles were left where the icicles should've been; a bloody sword in one hand; and the other scythe with the broken chain in his other hand.
Ser Gorou dropped the weapons and slowly approached Tsugi. He needs to run, he needs to escape, but his legs wouldn't move as they stayed planted on the ground. He couldn't even manage to get up off his knees. He looked down at his hands that were shaking in the cold snow, trying to support his body that weighed like a mountain.
"Why?" Tsugi cried. Ser Gorou's bloody boots stepped into Tsugi's line of sight.
"You will understand one day that I am doing all of this for you."
"How?" His lips quivered. "How is this for me?" He looked up at Ser Gorou towering over him. "How is killing them for me?!" He screamed and cried slamming his fists into the ground. "Kill me!" He sobbed. "Just kill me."
"They died because you ran. They died because you're a coward. I warned you. Their blood is on your hands."
A hard hit to the back of Tsugi's head and his vision went dark.
CREATORS' THOUGHTS 
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LucyXiong Is it a relief that the dread has finally arrived? Or is it worse?
Creation is hard, cheer me up!
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