Raid: The Blacksmith-Chapter 84: Get The Fuck Up: Part Three

The clones are consistent. Them along with Taipan. Throwing their daggers at me repeatedly. Their attacks grow faster and all the more powerful. Which pisses me off. So I decide to stop messing around as well.

"Some truths are better understood acted on than told." I utter as I begin to get faster and more intense with my attacks. I send my daggers flying towards the clones. Their parried but the clones get pushed back in the process.

"What?" Taipan quietly exclaims, noticing the difference in the force of my attacks.

"What? You thought that was all I had? Pitiful." I utter.

"Jeez, I think I’m starting to sound like HIM." Is the name I gave the voice in my head. But moving on...

I continue launching my attacks, hurling my daggers at Taipan and his clones, pushing them back with each swing, allowing me more room to breath. They continue throwing theirs, but I don’t even catch or dodge them anymore. I simply parry them at a trajectory that sends them straight back towards their senders.

Having grown tired of the repetitive battle, I swing my daggers back behind me then swing them forward, only to then swing them to their respective sides, sending Right Fang to my right and Left Fang to my left. As I do, I let go of their chains while the daggers are sent flying towards the clones on my sides.

The chains join with a-

~Click~

-At their ends as I let go of them, while the daggers themselves pierce through the clones they were sent after.

Acting fast before the two clones’ bodies dissipate, I grab the now joined chain at its centre and grip tight as I pull back with furious vigor.

The clones get pulled towards me from my left and right and immediately clash into each other in front of me. I jump up towards them as they do, pulling my daggers out of their bodies with a swing, so that the daggers slash through the clones’ bodies as they leave them. The clones’ bodies start dissipating, turning into black mist. I use that black mist to conceal myself from Taipan and his remaining clones, having jumped into it.

Driven by utter confusion, the clones hesitantly approach, only for another two of them to each be impaled by a dagger attached to a chain, coming out of basically nowhere from the dissipating black mist to pull them towards that mist, creating more of the mist once they dissipate as well.

Taking complete advantage of the situation, I repeat this act one last time, ultimately killing the last two of Taipan’s clones.

From the large cloud of black mist, I emerge, with my daggers in tow and their chains separated.

Sparing no second, I descend down, straight towards Taipan and swing my daggers up then immediately swing them down to attack Taipan.

~Clank!!!~

He parries as a loud sound of metal clashing hard against metal results from the impact.

Keeping a favorable distance, I repeatedly send my daggers hurling at him. Then I jump, flip and spin sideways to launch an even bigger double slash with my daggers. He blocks it with his own daggers but gets pushed back about five metres or so away. "Urk!" He grunts.

"Looks like the tables have turned, number one." I utter with assurance and quite the smug facial expression.

"Tch. Don’t be so sure of yourself!" He argues. An expression of annoyance and very visible anger lacing his face.

"Have you even thought to take a second to look at your weapons?" I ask him with a tone of pure and utter condescendence.

He pauses at my question and almost instinctively shifts his gaze towards his daggers. "Wh-what! How!?" He exclaims in utter surprise of the sight before him. His daggers, though still in somewhat of a repairable condition, both have a crack in the middle. "When did you?-"

"Don’t tell me you actually thought all those slashes I kept launching were for nothing." I say with a grin. "No. You really did, didn’t you?" I ask, all for the purpose of rubbing salt on the wound.

"No. No, but that’s impossible! My weapons are of the same grade as yours aren’t they!?" He looks at me with utter confusion and something akin to denial as he questions.

"They are." I readily affirm. "But, you see, the weapons of the Blacksmith don’t really like following any rules except his, or should I say, mine, and right now, you could say the only rule I’ve set in place is, my weapons are simply just stronger than yours. That’s all." I declare with confidence as I continue attacking him.

"Fine then!" He shouts as if to say, "’to hell with it all.’’ "Since it’s come to this..." He adds. "It’s about time we really finished this!" Bracing himself accordingly, he backs up a great distance, only for that distance to be covered by the appearance of more clones.

"This is really getting tiresome." They attack me one after the other after I say that. I cast Domain Transit in response. Then I begin instantly teleporting behind each clone, immediately beheading them as I do.

Twelve Taipans turn to nine. Nine turn to six. Six turn to two, until finally, once again, there’s only one Taipan left.

I join the ends of daggers’ chains, grabbing the makeshift whip by Left Fang’s handle and speed towards my opponent as he continues backing away from me. I cast Domain Transit once again, immediately appearing in front of him. Only a metre away, ready to cut him down but then...

"You fell for it." He says with a thin smirk and his right dagger pointing straight at me... then adds:...

"Venomous Redemption." His most powerful Special Attack. The words are uttered with a tone of unyielding purpose.

Then I also smirk. No. Mine is less of a simple smirk and more of a pure evil grin.

"That’s my line. Took you long enough." I say as I snap my fingers with my free right hand... then add:...

"Domain of The Frozen Void." My newly attained Spell. The words are uttered with a tone of inarguable dominance.

His attack, Venomous Redemption, dissipates before even reaching me, as if erased completely.

The sunny brightness of day immediately turns dark as the moon appears in an instant. Almost like a simple switch was flicked to turn day into night. The sun disappears as its replaced by the moon, which then shines a dark light on the entire land below. A dark light that’s only battled by the brightness of the countless bits of white light in the sky, and of course, the pure white snow forming over the entirety of the planes. The cold wind from before returns and begins blowing with purpose.

This is Domain of The Frozen Void. A great and powerful Spell that can turn the desired environment into a frozen paradise that the caster has total control over.

In this Domain, all Skills, Spells and Special Attacks, basically any ability whatsoever, that is in any way related to ice, or snow or the very idea of coldness itself, is amplified beyond leaps and bounds.

"It’s over Taipan." I say as I slowly plunge Right Fang through Taipan’s stomach. However, we only look like we’re moving slowly from our perspective due to our increased perception.

"H...how...? Kark!" Taipan wails as he coughs out blood. My dagger sends a cold chilling aura through his body from his wound. One that freezes his torso. A simple effect of the Spell alone, without me having to activate any of the cold related Skills I got from Amaruq.

"This is a very special Spell I got from the Dungeon Boss of this Dungeon. It’s called Domain of The Frozen Void." I tell him. He drops to the ground on his knees after I remove my dagger from his stomach. The freezing effect doesn’t stop though and persists until it covers his whole body, save for his neck and head.

"Hah." He breathes roughly, as slowly but surely, his air supply is being cut off, causing him to pant painfully over and over.

I stand but half a metre in front of him as he kneels, his arms dropped and immobile. Yet still his hands are gripped tight around his daggers. I doubt it’s on purpose though. The blood he coughed out has already been frozen down his chin.

Only being able to move his neck, he slowly tilts his head to look up at me.

"What... hah.... what are you waiting for...? Go ahead... finish it... you won... so get this over with already..." He glares at me with slowly fleeting resistance.

"You’re not gonna plead? Try to beg for your life like number three did?"

"... Number three did that...?" He asks. "Pitiful..." He taunts. "This fight had only two possible outcomes. Either you dying by my hands, or me dying by yours. Begging to be spared just because a fight to the death didn’t turn out the way you wanted to is... well... I don’t even know how one can still call himself a Warrior after doing something like that." He manages to make his point, even while his voice cracks as he speaks.

"Well..." I’m a bit taken aback by it. I didn’t expect myself to develop this level of respect for someone who is a part of the Reinhardt Family. "I’ll be honest. This might the first time I found myself respecting one you Shadows. I mean I had some respect for the pride Sonoran had in being associated with your Family, but that was pretty much it. You on the other hand, are very different." I praise with sincerity.

"S...Sonoran?" He asks with a lazily confused expression.

"Oh... right... you don’t know. See, believe it or not, the Warriors Association knows all about the Twelve Guardian Shadows. Have for a long time actually, so much so that they even have nicknames for all of you since you yourselves, go by just numbers. Well, they’re more like codenames, really, and number three was codenamed Sonoran." I explain.

"... I see." He says with a lowhanging voice, his gaze shifted to face the ground. "So they knew about us all along. And we thought we were the ones who were steps ahead. How humbling..." He sighs as he continues. "Names, huh? Then... what’s mine?"

"Hm?"

"My name... given to me by the Warriors Association. What is it?" He looks back up at me and asks. The question is genuine. I can tell that from the simple sincerity in his eyes alone.

So, with just as much sincerity, I answer him. "It’s... Taipan. Your name is Taipan." I say.

"Taipan." He echoes. "I don’t... I don’t hate it. Taipan. Heh, yeah... thank you, F-Rank-no... thank you... Raid." He adds, his tone genuine.

Then I reply.

"You’re welcome." I may not have known him long. But I somewhat understand him now a heck of a lot more than when I first met him a few hours ago. I understand his ambitions, why he is so utterly loyal to the Reinhardt Family, and why his last wish was to know his own codename.

"It’s a shame I have to kill him. But whether I sympathize with him or not, an enemy is still an enemy."

As I’m slightly lost in thought, Taipan just lifts his head up, as if willingly offering me his neck, all with a thin smile on his face.

"Incredible." I praise internally.

This isn’t surrender. It’s acceptance. There’s a difference between not giving up and simply being stubborn.

Deciding to respect his actions to the best of my capabilities, I finish him off with my most powerful Special Attack, Sunset Slash. To make it a point that, even at his lowest point, a true Warrior deserves nothing short of the best.

"He may have looked down on me at first, but who wouldn’t? I’m an F-Rank. So I can’t take it as a reflection of his character... This is goodbye then Taipan. I wish you nothing but the best on your next life in the Spirit World."

With that, a single slash to the right with Right Fang as I whisper-

"Sunset Slash."

-Sends Taipan’s head rolling off his body as it falls with a soft puff on the snow, followed by his upper body shortly afterwards.

Such is the end of the Reinhardt Family Household’s strongest surbodinate. Such is the end of Taipan.