Tear A Path 264 Dumbass

That last punch was something beyond what he could handle, if it wasn't directed at deflecting his sword and at him instead, it was hard to say if he would survive.

Reaching his door, his eyes flashed a trace of hostility as he pulled out a dagger. Were there some leftover attackers from the last attack in hiding? If they were waiting for him in his home, how many were there.

He cursed himself for leaving the stage without pulling out his weapon as he would be hard pressed to face more than 2 people with their weird shooting weapons with only a dagger. "Come in..." He suddenly heard from inside his house.

Sighing he opened the door, that voice came from only one person he knew, "Tess... why are you here?" He asked.

"That's funny... it doesn't sound like thanks for bringing your weapon over, do you know how heavy that thing is for an archer?" Tess said as she lounged on his chair, "Why'd you leave it anyway? Ans why'd you call a draw....? Oh...."

Only when turned to look up at the heavy weapons infantry captain did she see his pale complexion. The fight had taken a bigger toll on him than everyone had thought. "Sorry bout that..." He spoke as he brought himself to the edge of his bed before falling like a puppet who's strings were cut on top of his bed.

"He was that strong?" Tess asked looking over him worriedly.

Alos struggled to use his arms to take of his gauntlets with his trembling fingers, finally after several minutes of struggling, Tess opted for pulling it off herself to save them some time and trouble. As she held the gloves, she found that they were much harder to take off than she thought as she struggled greatly in yanking them off his hands, cursing herself for trying to help and thinking if his circulation was cut off from having his gloves on too tight making him put it on this way.

While putting in that much effort, she didn't notice the drops of blood coming out the open end of his gloves and onto the floor. Finally with a heave she was able to tear it off it's user but as she slid back, she stopped with a gasp.

It at least connected in her mind why it was so hard to pull off. His palms were mutilated beyond belief, huge gashes running from end to another formed streaks across his hands. He'd walked straight off the stage and brought this home, giving the blood enough time to dry his hands to it.

"This was from that last exchange?" She asked looking pale at the sight of the injury. It did not make sense to her how just trading blows with the guy could result in such an injury. Alos himself was no slouch, she'd seen his marble like palms formed from years of holding a sword, the calluses on his skin were thick enough to match horse hide and it was torn off in that one blow.

Alos nodded as he took in the extent of the damage. He'd felt the sting in his palms as he walked home, thinking back to that exchange again and again. It was like he was holding on tightly to barbed wire as his sword was suddenly ripped out of his fingers with immense force, if he'd held on a little tighter, his fingers might've had to come off for his sword to fall.

"Who was that anyway?" Tess asked as she brought a wet cloth to clean the wound.

"Ode the demon's wrath." Alos answered immediately.

"You knew him!?" Tess questioned, astonished by the reveal.

"It's not like I've ever met him before, it's just that no one who has ever fought on the front lines does not know his name, even Jeral probably knew it was him, if not when we saw him, when he grew stronger in battle." Ode said, a flash of admiration in his eyes as he recounted stories from the battle field. "...When the swords of men would blunt and rust in the midst of fiery war, the sword of the demon stood sharp forevermore. On mortal's armor, his whetstone was laid, with their blood he wet his blade... at least that's what the bard would sing... ow!"

"Oh shut it! if you can afford to fight a demon, then you can stand a bit of pain." She said as she poured a bottle of strong alcohol onto his open wound with much prejudice. "Stupid men, picking fights left and right."

"I had to, he was a legend since before I was even recruited in the army." He spoke as Tess worked on bandaging his hands.

"Wasn't he too weak if that's what they say about him?" She fumbled around some first aid equipment.

"Weakened, not weak." Alos replied. "He'd entered that fight with some injuries, else I'm pretty sure it wouldn't end with a draw."

"You knew he was that strong and yet still picked a fight..." Tess looked at him exasperated.

"I wanted to find out how close I am to reaching his level... as it turns out I'm pretty far-off." He spoke as he contemplated his strength. "Besides I happen to remember a person attacking a grand earth-mage without... Aaaaahhhh! Uncle! Uncle! you..." Tess tightened the bandages quickly causing Ode to scream, he wanted to say something but decide to swallow his guts after receiving a glare from the archer.

"Well at the very least we have some new reliable allies. Though you and that Ode will probably be out of commission for a while." She said as she packed up her equipment. Suddenly she looked down as she felt a strong arm coil around her waste.

"Dumba.s.s, you know you're injured." The arm stopped for a little as her finger jabbed into the wound, causing the warrior's face to turn quite pale.

It only lasted a second however before Alos began to pull her back, her sleek archer body unable to go against the strong swordsmen arm which gently but firmly pulled her back. "If I'm injured,I'm going to need some company..." Alos spoke firmly.

"Dumba.s.s..." Tess whispered under her breath as her face turned flushed.