The Smiling Sword Chapter 6: Chapter 6: That Hell

Read chapter 6 of The Smiling Sword by IchorX on NovelPedia.

That Hell Drops of Kard's blood splatter across the rocks as he spins round and falls. The shadow that struck him moves into the light. It's a human. A tall, muscular human clad in dark combat clothing, wielding a bloodied metal bat with a black chronafibre mask over his face. I can only see his eyes, which glow eerily blue in the shine of spores and chrona, like two little holes of hate and death. And suddenly, all around me, screaming erupts amongst the survivors, and all hell breaks loose. People run, fight, clash and yell. In front of me, the attacker moves forwards, advancing on me. "WAKE UP!!" I yell at everyone, then I have to shut my mouth and dodge before my brains are spilled across the rocks. Kard's lying there after taking a direct hit from a steel bat, full swing, on his temple, alive or dead I do not know. The enemy shifts his centre of gravity, holding the bat loosely between his fingers. He's at least seven foot tall, a real beast of a guy. I've only ever fought in simulations against mimicked opponents in virtual reality. I'm not ready for a life or death 1v1!! He lunges with an inhumanly fast and powerful thrust, and I fold my whole body backwards to dodge it. The metal grazes me and shears a bit off skin off my forehead. It stings with pain, but its bearable. As fast as it had come, the bat retracts, then blurs at my ribs. I block it with both forearms, but the impact gets through all the way to my shoulders and my ribcage, resonating through my whole body. That's gotta be a fracture in both arms. Then he slams me, hard, in the side, and I feel like someone stabbing me in the gut with fifty knives. I can't see it. I can't see his movements. He's waving that bat at a stupid speed, a blur of metallic whirling. He rams it into my ribs like a truck. I feel three of them snap instantly, and the pain almost makes me black out. My guard is- A strike directly to my lower jaw from below. I feel myself lift into the air, then nothing at all. The world's ringing and spinning and swirling, and suddenly I'm lying on my back on the cold, hard, stone ground, with something wet and hot running down my cheek and neck from my broken jaw. What just happened? Elemental's words come back to me. "This place is absolute hell." I think I get what he means now. The bat-wielding menace advances, and lifts it above his head. I can't move, all I can do is struggle to draw in another breath to keep my heart beating. Shit, shit, shit, shit, shit! I can't die yet! Not like this. Then a hand reaches out and grabs his ankle, and yanks him off balance. "GET 'IM!!" Kard yells from the floor, words slurring together. Blood's pouring down one side of his face, and his eyes are glassy and unfocused. Then suddenly someone dashes past me and jumps in. It's Elemental, and then everyone else is here too. Elemental Elemental went airborne, and knee-slammed the masked attacker in the centre of the face. With that kind of momentum, anyone else would have had their head caved in instantly. The batsman didn’t even budge. Seriously!? "Artee, Ronin, now!" The duo swept in, rapid-firing punches at the attacker's face in the wake of his knee-slam. Elemental circled round and went from the other side as Ronin skidded round to the back. "EVERYONE ATTACK!!!" Neo was yelling, as the whole group yelled and charged in at one attacker. For a few seconds, he was swamped by bodies, kicking, punching, yelling, grabbing. Then suddenly the bat broke through them, sweeping people aside three at a time. It collided with skulls, jaws and ribcage, and seven people dropped at once, blood spraying across the floor. He spun around and dispatched Ronin with a swift horizontal blow to the head. 006 barely blocked it with his arm but the impact still hurled him to the ground where he lay still. 004 and Artee pincer-attacked him from two sides, but when they hurled their punches the attacker was gone. He felt cold air above him, and flung his head up. ABOVE!? He barely sidestepped