Chapter 59: Shut Eye
The night went smooth, or well, as smooth as a night in this place could go. The moon cast an eerie glow over the field, turning the withered petals silver against the darkness. The brittle stems swayed in the midnight breeze, creating whispers that seemed to carry warnings across the desolate landscape.
They only ran into two nightreavers during their trek through the darkness. Aziel took down one swiftly and fast, his spear flashing in the darkness as he dispatched the creature with practiced efficiency. Blood as dark as ink splattered across the withered petals, adding new stains to the already blighted field.
For the second nightreaver, however, Aziel stepped back and gestured toward Arthur with a nod. "This one’s yours," he said, his voice low and firm. But then came the condition that made Arthur’s blood run cold. "You’re only allowed to attack the beast with a downward slash."
When Aziel told him this, Arthur thought he was insane, but then he realized he already knew that and quickly dropped it, realizing he’d have better luck arguing with a wall. The nightreaver circled him, its jagged teeth gleaming as it sized up its prey, unaware of the arbitrary limitation that had been placed on its opponent.
Arthur was nervous being so restricted in a fight that already proved difficult enough when he used all the tools at his disposal. Being limited to only a downward strike would prove challenging to anybody. As Arthur stood there in his stance awaiting the first attack of the nightreaver, his hands were shaking and sweaty as he desperately tried to calm himself. The creature’s eyes tracked his every movement, searching for weakness.
When it finally lunged, Arthur barely managed to sidestep, the creature’s claws slicing through the air where he had stood just moments before. He pivoted, raising his sword high before bringing it down in a perfect vertical slash—just as he had practiced a thousand times earlier that day. The blade connected but didn’t deliver a fatal blow, merely slicing across the nightreaver’s shoulder.
The battle went on longer than he would have wished. The nightreaver was quick, darting between him and the sky, using its wings to its advantage. Each time Arthur had an opening, he was forced to use the same predictable attack—the downward slash that Aziel had drilled into him. Several times he instinctively began to move into a different strike, only to catch himself and redirect into the permitted vertical cut.
Sweat poured down his face despite the cool night air, his breathing becoming labored as the fight dragged on. The nightreaver seemed to learn his pattern, becoming more confident with each exchange. But in the end, Arthur prevailed. After maneuvering the creature into a position where it couldn’t dodge, he delivered a powerful downward slash that finally separated its head from its body. The creature collapsed among the dead roses, its dark blood seeping into the parched ground.
It had only taken so long because it proved hard to kill such an elusive beast with only that one attack. But either way, he succeeded.