originally posted in:The New Dojo
Ite knew it had come down to close quarters combat. Traps would be near impossible to set up now. Unless the trap was close quarters combat.
Ite flourished his right hand over one scythe blade, then his left. It began to gleam a teal pearlescent; small seeds dotted along the blade.
Ite walked away from the flame barrier, toward Cain.
English
-
Cain stopped the turning of his spear as he began to run at Ite. His greatsword was behind him in his left hand as his spear arm was bent for the strike.
-
Ite held his scythe in his right hand, and on his left appeared a great shield of thick ice. Inside was held a skeleton of wooden branches, apparently to reinforce the structure of the shield. He spun the scythe around, the side that had been modified took its place behind him. The untampered side was set up and askew as Ite positioned his shield in front of himself.
-
That didn't stop Cain however from rushing at Ite as both his weapons ignited in flame. He spun his body around as he swung his massive greatsword around his body and followed through on Ite's shield as he cut at its side. The Greatsword cleaved trough to top of the shield and shattered its top, and the tip of the blade grazed Ite's arm.
-
The cut dipped into Ite's arm, causing a good bit of pain. But he never expected the shield to work in the first place. He figured Cain would've charged in, just as any other bull of a man would. The great spinning slash gave him a great bit of speed. Turning with the strike allowed him to speed up, and in with that speed, he took the back end of the blade and slashed at Cain's upper body.
-
However, Cain proved to be formidable here as well. His left foot spread out as he held his ground as his greatsword fell back behind him as he brought his spear up to meet the scythe that cut at him. He brought the spear under the scythes blade so It was in between him and Ite, where he then quickly bashed to his right and redirected the scythes blow so it only struck the air to the right of Cain.
-
Ite stepped forward with his left foot, closing the distance between his now open left hand and Cain's similarly open chest. He punched at Cain's breastplate, and used the last of his magic to attempt to freeze his hand against Cain's armor. Ite also shifted his feet, planting them in the ground. It wouldn't provide much defense, but it could possibly keep him from falling over.
-
Cain looked down at Ite's hand for a moment as it touched his armour. Ice seemed to form, but not much. With that, he dragged his sword from behind him and slashed at Ite with a wicked upwards slash.
-
Ite lifted up and blocked the sword. The slash caught his shin and cut nearly through the bone. The near severing of a limb caused Ite to fall flat on his back. His foot dangled by a thick slab of flesh, and mixed blood with the ground. "Well shit." He took his scythe and slammed the enchanted blade into the ground. From the blade spring a massive cloud of fog and powdery snow, and showered massive fragments of bark everywhere. The shards missed Ite as he crawled back a short ways to plan something.
-
The bark hit against Cain, and pierced the webbing underneath his armour. How ever he quickly got on one knee and raised his massive blade, which covered him incredibly well from the wooden onslaught. He had his spear in his right hand gripped tight.
-
Shards of ice and tendrils of wood reconnected Ite's severed limb, which he proceeded to stand upon. He dashed forth, and with his broken scythe, slashed at Cain's left wrist while he defended against the makeshift magical explosive.
-
The scythe hooked around and nicked his wrist. But, now that Ite was close again, he took the opportunity to thrust his spear into him as the scythe hooked him. The spear's head stabbed through Ite's side, and with that Cain rushed forward, so the scythe's blade ended up behind him and away from his wrist. More bark hit his armour and body, but he pushed Ite back with his spear....
-
Ite fell away, and landed on the ground front first. He pushed himself up with great difficulty, and decided to try one more thing. He opened his left hand, and out poured a deep fog. Once vision was obscured, he sank into the ground, prepared to ambush Cain once more.
-
Cain backed around i the fog. He looked around for Ite, and had his greatsword at the ready. He began to spin his spear around incredibly fast, and that started to clear an area of the fog around him.
-
He stayed perfectly still underground, and waited for Cain to walk over the patch he was under. The ground felt uncomfortably compressed, almost akin to a coffin.
-
Cain stepped across the stone paved road. He continued to clear the area with his spear, until he got very close to Ite's position...
-
Ite reached up through the ground, grabbing onto Cain's legs and pulled downwards in an attempt to entomb him up to his chest. Root systems had grown from Ite's hand, and latched onto Cain's legs as well. It did it's best to hold Cain in place until Ite could position himself to sway the fight in his favor.
-
Cain looked around in panic by the surprise attack, but then he saw Ite right in front of him. Through the dirt, Cain tore apart the gravel and soil with his spear, and jammed the head of the spear into his opponents torso repeatedly. One stab, two stabs, three stabs...
-
Roots surrounded Cain and Ite on all sides, fed by the bloody gore torn from Ite's chest. They had grown thick. They had become strong. This wasn't something Ite had planned to survive. Quite the contrary actually. He reminisced on the old times he had with friends in the Dojo. He remembered Sal, long gone by now. He never really did speak right, but that just added to his charm. He remembered how Sal tried to save him when he had been fatally wounded the first time. Ite was reminded of by this of an old pants salesman. In fact, he'd given him the pair he was wearing currently. Some say he singlehandedly saved the Dojo on some other dimensional plane, but who knew what that meant? He was dead now, but not before giving everyone a memory to treasure. However, he especially recalled a time when some crazy scientist was rambling about something known as the Genesis project; how Ite had applied and was given something very special. A volatile reactor for a heart. Through the pain of being stabbed over and over and over, Ite removed his gauntlet, silently thanking Mortar for bestowing such an artifact unto him. The cursed greatwood would most likely protect the village from most of the explosion. This was the end, but Ite wanted to ask one more question. "Cain... You said you only stood by while the execution took place. You sounded regretful. We both know we aren't making it out of here, so answer me: why fight for something you seem to know is wrong?"
-
"Not...making it out of here?" Cain asked Ite as he put his flaming hand to the roots. "Hmmm. You ask an intriguing question Ite of the dojo. But I will answer you briefly before you die. I...I am doing this for my family. That is all. I will not betray them no matter the cost. Which is why you must die. Do as you will, Ite." Cain said to him as he put his life in the hands of fate. "This...will not be the first time I have died."
-
"Well, dying always sucks the first time, but I heard the second time is fantastic." The greatwood pushed Ite and Cain together, furthe impaling Ite on Cain's spear, nearly killing him. Ite reached out and shook his hand, to thank him for the fight. He then made his peace, and died. The explosion was quite deafening.
-
The explosion burnt through the great wood, and completely obliterated it. The explosion coated the intersection, and burnt it to a crisp. But no homes were hit. The smoke began to clear hours later. But even then...A flame rose from the ashes. As Cain rose from the ground like a corpse from the grave, and stumbled to the floor. His flame was extinguished. For now. But Ite...Ite was gone. [spoiler]end of chapter 9[/spoiler]