Chapter 75: Fighting Shadows (2)
Atia’s blade clanged with the crescent blade of his opponent’s, blocking his strike to the warrior’s open side—or it had been open until he’d moved in a blur that should be unnatural even for an Elite warrior of Silver Feather. Atia’s brows furrowed.
That second of distraction cost him. He hissed as a Featherblade raked across his cheekbone, followed swiftly by another carving into his arm with the deadly whisper of steel slicing air.
With a grunt, Atia slammed his weight into the blade, piercing it through the gap between his opponent’s ribs, making him cry out. Atia didn’t waste any more time on him. He slammed his forehead into his nose, the bone crunching beneath the impact, wrenched his weapon free and swiped both his blades outwards, tearing through the flesh of his neck. Blood splattered across his face and aggravatingly in his hair.
A glint of steel swiped through the air, and he ducked as multiple Featherblades rained down on him. He used their buddy as a human shield, holding his heavy weight in front of him. Only the sounds of their wings beating followed. They were probably figuring out how to kill him without getting too close.
"I didn’t think Silver Feather’s ’Elite’ warriors would be such cowards!" Atia taunted, trying to bait them closer to him. "Come at me! Warrior to warrior! Be a man!"
The warrior to Atia’s left snorted, rising higher in the air and putting more distance between him and Atia, assuming he was better protected there. He wasn’t.
"It is strategic. Not cowardly. If we fight you head on with brute force our failure is inevitable."
"And here I thought you were the best of the best," Atia snickered then redirected his human shield to the right. Two knives sank into their friend’s back and their eyes flared with anger.
At the sudden jolt of movement, the head of the man he’d killed fell from his body with a thud, allowing a clear view of Atia’s face. Blood spurted out of his neck like a geyser, forcing Atia to rear back a bit. He hadn’t thought he’d struck that hard, but his twin blades were made of Starstone—it could cut through bone easily. Evidently.