The Foolhardies 177 The Changeling

I was already beginning to feel drowsy, and remembering how quickly Edo fell, I suspected a minute or two was all I had before I fainted too.

In front of me, the hashas.h.i.+n who'd stolen Luca's face continued to brandish his two shadowblades at me. His threat was still clear in my head. Move or die — that was his message.

But I couldn't move. Not when Princess Aurana was in his crosshairs. And so, with what little time was left to me, I resolved to end this fight as quickly as possible which meant a single strike filled with all my killing intent.

I exhaled a long breath and then pointed my falchion forward with my one good hand. This was me showing the hashas.h.i.+n that I wasn't about to back down.

He got the message as I could feel a tremendous killing intent surge out of him and slam into me.

I was used to these incredibly suffocating killing intents by now, but I did feel a sharpness from his aura that I'd never felt before. It was like standing in the way of the grim reaper's scythe as it came slas.h.i.+ng forward at you.

In response, I sent out my own killing intent which I imagined had gotten considerably stronger since my fight with Jimmy Jonas.

Our wills collided, neither of us backing down from the other, although inside my s.h.i.+rt I couldn't help but sweat buckets at the thought of my time running out on me.

I raised my falchion high at the same time as the hashas.h.i.+n blasted forward and hurtled himself toward me.

Maybe a second or two was all it took for him to bridge the distance between us, but that second was all I needed to swing my shadowblade down on him.

I noticed it earlier, his willingness to get hurt in exchange for hurting me back. It wasn't a bad plan if you were the type to use poisons, and as long as the damage to you wasn't fatal, you could certainly walk out the winner.

However, I'd taken this into account already which is why I used the high-guard stance. Keeping my upper body open just long enough for him to take the bait, and as his sword and dagger came slas.h.i.+ng forward, I stepped back a single pace at the same time as I slashed downward.

I was suddenly out of his range but he'd extended forward enough to still be in mine and so my falchion came cras.h.i.+ng down on his other shoulder and cut deep into him.

Blood gushed out of his wound in a spray, and I took a second step back to avoid that. But as I felt victory within my reach, I felt a stabbing pain in my right leg, and it was only then that I saw the kris dagger poking into me. It was held there by a hand attached to an arm that was unnecessarily long.

"Sh**," I hissed, realizing too late that my enemy had another advantage I failed to take into account.

I stepped back a third time, and as his dagger left me, I crumpled to the floor on one leg.

"You can change shape," I reasoned.

The hashas.h.i.+n that still wore Luca's face was much taller now than Luca ever was. His body stretched and distorted to unbelievable proportions. Even worse, the wounds I'd inflicted seemed like lesser wounds now that his form had elongated.

"It's a changeling," Princess Aurana called from behind. "A rare kind of fairy with the ability to change its shape and form…"

"Great… and here I thought I'd seen them all," I growled.

My mind was a blur of pain and a feeling akin to some kind of anesthetic. Fool's Insight deactivated too as it was impossible to maintain under the circ.u.mstances.

"You should have stepped away, Dean," the hashas.h.i.+n said in Luca's voice.

"Shut up," I countered.

I looked over my shoulder and noticed that Aura was finally done treating Edo. He was already beginning to stir but he would be a minute or two too late. No way would the hashas.h.i.+n allow him to recover in time before it finished the job.

My eyes found Princess Aurana gazing back at me, and even through the haze beginning to cloud my mind, I couldn't help but think of how pretty she was and how fiery she looked at this exact moment, the defiance clear in her eyes.

And just like that, my plan to tag out and let Ashley handle the rest fizzled out as a light bulb lit up inside my head.

"Princess… I'm going to need a blessing," I said as I raised myself up with the help of my falchion. "Give me a minute… will you."

"Oh, Dean," the hashas.h.i.+n dangled a finger at me. "And here I thought you didn't cheat…"

"I don't want to hear that from a poison carrying b.a.s.t.a.r.d like you," I countered.

The hashas.h.i.+n lashed out at me with outstretched hands like a king cobra striking down its prey, but I managed one final trick despite my brain feeling lethargic.

"Oh, great fool, let my sight turn deathly cold that I might turn my foes to stone!" I yelled.

As the heat in my eyes washed over the hashas.h.i.+n, his entire form wavered suddenly. It was only for a few seconds but that was all the time Aura needed to chant her spell.

"Spirits of the sacred flame, I call on you to ignite the fire inside these warriors. Lend them your will of fire and send them your fiery blessing!" she said, her voice rising with each word.

I didn't wait for Aura's blessing to affect me. While she chanted, I was already moving forward and chanting myself, "Like a bolt of lightning, carve away all defenses with a single glistening blade…"

My voice was barely a whisper but the static electricity exploding onto the edge of my shadowblade was the sound of a hundred birds chirping together.

Stumbling, I pushed forward while my enemy remained outstretched and unmoving. At the same time, I could feel Aura's blessing charge me with renewed strength so that my stumble became a stride.

Bear in mind that this entire series of movements lasted no more than five seconds, which was less than the time my Basilisk's Eye managed to hold my enemies in place since its upgrade. And despite the hashas.h.i.+n already showing signs of breaking away from the paralysis effect I'd given him, those five seconds were enough for me to do all the things I mentioned above and still send my falchion over his neck.

I cut off the head of the snake with a satisfied smile plastered on my face, and although it was Luca's head that rolled to the floor, I didn't feel the least bit guilty. It was a first among firsts. I killed a fairy and didn't stress about it internally.

Suddenly, I felt chills rise up my back and felt the hairs on the back of my arms stand on end.

"No freaking way…" I whispered right before I dodged the twin attacks of the headless hashas.h.i.+n. "How are you still alive?"

'It's a changeling, Dean," Princess Aurana reminded me. "They won't die unless you can stab them in the heart!"

"I could have used that info much earlier!" I yelled back.

Like a spring, the hashas.h.i.+n's upper body was pulled back into its lower body, and from there it reformed itself until it was back to Luca's size with a new Luca head sitting neatly on top of the neck I'd severed it from.

Yes, it was a gross as it sounded.

"Mudd.a.m.nit!" I yelled as round three began.

Luckily, Princess Aurana's Fiery Blessing kept my mind and body protected and any further poison cuts I received from the hashas.h.i.+n were rendered moot, at least until the blessing winked out.

And yes, there was cut after cut appearing on my body as the hashas.h.i.+n had renewed its a.s.sault in a more frenzied manner than before.

For every cut I got, I gave back in return, and if I was against any other opponent, this fight would have been over already. But the hashas.h.i.+n and I continued to hack and slash at each other for the next few minutes.

Blood seeped out of our many wounds as we began to paint that part of the meditation hall in red.

Don't get me wrong, each wound hurt like no one's business, but I was lucky the hashas.h.i.+n had chosen a narcotic poison instead of a deadly one. Otherwise, I'd be dead by now despite the princess' blessing.

We'd been going at it more than two minutes when I finally broke the silence, and with it, our concentration in hacking each other into pieces.

"Guess what?" I asked him.

Seeing as he was still opting to use Luca's personality, possibly to rile me up more, I knew he would respond with, "What, Dean?"

Sucker — everyone knew never to answer a 'guess what' question because it was bound to bite you in the a.s.s.

"I win!" I said happily just as my body finally began to slow down and I nearly stumbled forward.

Princess Aurana's blessing was finally losing steam, but it didn't matter anymore because the ogre was awake and he was very p.i.s.sed.

As I fell to my knees, my mind feeling even more muddled than before, I still manage to smile at the sight of the hulking figure over fake Luca's form.

If that wasn't enough to secure our win, the sound of an excited man's voice reached my ears.

"Looks like you're in need of some a.s.sistance, boyo," The Lord of Stars called from the entrance to the hall.

The second voice I heard was unexpected but certainly welcome given the circ.u.mstance.

"And here I wanted to see more of what you can do, Dean Dapper," said the voice of Inquisitor Rita.

Oh, man, the hashas.h.i.+n was going to get it now.