Six Sacred Swords

by Andrew Rowe

As I recovered from being shoved, I advanced on Zenkichi. I couldn’t afford to allow him to keep casting spells at range. He’d eventually wear us down that way.

  Zenkichi turned toward me. “You have fought better than most humans. If you surrender the sword, I will gladly offer you a place as one of my honored servants.”

  I raised Dawnbringer as I continued to advance. “I respectfully decline your offer.”

  Dawnbringer wasn’t going to be able to hurt him significantly with an ordinary attack, and I knew she was out of mana. I contemplated switching swords, but the whoosh of mist in front of me made that a poor prospect. The Sae’kes could hurt Reika even in her mist state, and I couldn’t anticipate her movements effectively enough to avoid hitting her.

  Reika reappeared to Zenkichi’s right side, so I approached him from the left.

  We struck at the same time.

  Reika swung a claw down to smash him, and I lunged with Dawnbringer.

  He raised both hands, catching Reika’s massive claw with a grunt, and somehow bearing the weight.

  Dawnbringer pierced straight through his chest.

  He groaned, then his expression began to shift, and his body began to melt.

  Within a moment, his entire body had turned into a pool of acid.

  I hastily pulled Dawnbringer back. Fortunately, the acid didn’t do the blade any harm.

  Reika, however, had been touching him when he shifted forms. She pulled her claw back, hissing as the acid burned her hand.

  It took me a moment to realize that the pool of acid was moving, and fairly rapidly. It got about a dozen feet away before it coalesced into a humanoid shape and re-formed into Zenkichi.

  That must be his variation on Reika’s mist form, I realized.

  When he re-solidified, his body didn’t show the slightest hint of injury.

  To my side, Reika was trembling and staring at her badly burned palm. She growled. “Buy me a minute.”

  Then she began to take a deep breath.

  Light began to pool around her jaws, and the ground trembled beneath her.

  Zenkichi, now once again several feet away, raised his hands and conjured a pair of orbs of acid.

  We were losing badly. I needed to do something to change the fight drastically, or he’d just keep wearing us down.

  The winds were picking up speed around us, but I didn’t think they’d be enough to significantly throw off Zenkichi’s aim.

  Zenkichi pointed his hand at Reika, and it was my turn to jump in the way.

  I didn’t have a chance of staying in the fight if I got hit with two acid globes like those, and I knew it.

  But I did have one more trick to play.

  As Zenkichi threw the orbs, I called on Dawnbringer again. “Radiant Dawn!”

  I slammed Dawnbringer’s blade into the first orb.

  Dawnbringer flashed with inner light. She’d recovered enough mana for the spell to work.

  Unfortunately for me, Dawnbringer’s ability to reflect sorcery didn’t work perfectly on globes of liquid.

  The sphere exploded on impact, rather than being reflected at Zenkichi like I’d intended. Since the explosion splashed across my blade rather than impacting directly on my body, only a fraction of the liquid actually hit me, but that was bad enough.

  I felt pain scream through my body as droplets of acid splashed against my hands and face. Fortunately, my tunic protected most of my chest.

  Equally fortunately, Zenkichi didn’t hurl the second orb at Reika while I was recoiling in pain.

  Less fortunately, he did something considerably worse. He hurled the orb upward and it flew toward the sky until it disappeared into the clouds above us.

  My eyes widened as I realized what was about to happen.

  “Reika, take cover!”

  Acid rained from the sky.

  Reika was still in her dragon form, titanic in size. Rain began pelting every inch of her exposed body.

  She slammed her jaws shut with a growl, the light she’d gathered fading. Using her breath attack while it was raining would have drenched her mouth with the acid.

  I slammed my boot into the ground.

  Wall.

  I formed a wall of stone in front of us, making it curved to block the flow of the rain, but it wasn’t nearly large enough to shelter Reika in her dragon form.

  Reika shifted into her incorporeal state, then rematerialized next to me in her human form. We huddled together behind the wall of stone, but the acid was quickly melting through it.

  “Sorry.” I grunted, pressing a hand against the wall and shaping more of the ground to rise up and reinforce it. I couldn’t maintain that for long, I was just too exhausted. “I didn’t get you enough time to attack.”

  “Not your fault. I didn’t see the acid rain coming. He’s a hydra, he knows what a breath attack looks like, and he had a perfect counter prepared.” She shivered next to me. “Ideas?”

  The rain began pouring harder.

  I pointed back at the shrine. “We need to get back inside. If we can stop the rain for a moment, I can relight the torches and—”

  A blast of acid ripped through the wall, leaving a huge hole. Reika and I were driven apart.

  I grunted, reached past the hole, touching both Reika and the ground.

  Armor.

  Mud and stone below us flowed upward and over Reika’s body, forming a crude shell around her.

  It was meager protection. It probably wouldn’t last for a more than a few moments.

  She gave me a grim nod, then pulled away. “Get the door when the rain stops.”

  Reika rushed out from behind the shelter, charging at Zenkichi. She raised a single arm to stop the rain from hitting her eyes.

  Zenkichi was waiting. A half-dozen spheres of acid were hovering behind him, and they launched forward the moment she left cover.

  She had no way to stop them. She just raised her arms and kept charging forward. The stone I’d put around her wouldn’t be anywhere near enough.

  The globes of acid exploded in mid-air as a blast of cutting wind scattered them into a dozen directions.

  The acid rain shifted, torn in another direction, then stopped entirely as the cloud it had emerged from split apart.

  Then the winds died, and the fighters momentarily stilled along with it.

  A dark-skinned man wearing a blue robe with symbol of a hydra emblazoned on the back descended from the skies above us. His long black hair was tied back neatly.

  He had no scabbard for the tremendous blade he wielded. It was forked in the center, giving the impression of a bolt of lightning. That impression was strengthened by the flickers of electricity across the sword’s surface.

  He landed in the midst of our battle without a hint of concern for the danger. Instead, he turned toward Zenkichi, driving his greatsword into the ground. “Brother. You have intruded upon my prey.”

  “Raizo.” I heard Reika’s voice, barely a whisper.

  I recognized the name Reika had just muttered. I moved closer to her, feeling my jaw tighten.

  We’d already been losing badly to a single one of the leaders of the Tails of Orochi.

  If this was Raizo, that meant we’d have to deal with two of them. That took our odds from extremely poor to virtually impossible.

  ...And, to make things worse, I could see Miyuri getting back up out of the corner of my eye. That was just perfect.

  “Raizo. How...unexpected to see you here, brother. I was under the impression you were on the way to the Temple of Air.”

  The newcomer leaned up against his sword, offering a nod. “I was, until I heard a most interesting rumor. It would appear that Dawnbringer has finally been claimed. You must know how long I have waited for this day.”

  Zenkichi folded his hands together. “Indeed.”

  “Excellent. Then you should have no objections if I lay claim to the sword.” He turned his head toward Reika. “And to this small dragon, too. Her father was delicious.”

>  

  Dawn warned me just at the right time.

  Reika moved to lunge forward, but I managed to catch her arm and stop her.

  “Wait,” I whispered. “We need a plan.”

  Reika growled, pulling her arm free, but she ceased her charge.

  Raizo smiled at the two of us, then turned his head back toward Zenkichi.

  Zenkichi spoke next. “I am pleased that I was able to find them for you, brother. Perhaps we can share the dragon meal? Spirit dragons are such rare delicacies. After we’ve disposed of her and the human, we can discuss an amicable way of handling the sacred sword as well.”

  Raizo nodded amiably, drawing his sword from the ground and turning toward us. He assumed a low, defensive stance that I was extremely familiar with.

  That’s the Terisgard Low-Blade Style, from back at home. How does he...oh!

  And in that moment, I knew what I needed to do.

  Dawn, I need you to tell Reika something. Read my mind.

 

  I sent my plan to Dawnbringer, then turned to Reika. “Use Dawn. You’re going to need her.”

  Reika looked at me in surprise as I shoved Dawnbringer’s hilt into her hand, then drew the Sae’kes and assumed the same defensive stance Raizo was using.

  I still had reservations about using the Sae’kes. It was easy to picture scenarios where I lost control and hurt Reika, and the long-term effects of using the weapon would build over time.

  But at the moment, I had to take those risks. It was the only way I could see to give us any chance of surviving against an opponent of Zenkichi’s level of power.

  And I wasn’t going to restrain myself from using lethal force against an opponent that was openly planning to eat one of my friends. Even my preference for non-lethal conflict resolution had limits.

  My eyes met Raizo’s, and he gave me the slightest hint of a nod.

  “You go for Raizo,” I told Reika. “I’ll fight Zenkichi.”

  Sending Reika toward Raizo would get her further away from me, giving me more room to use the Sae’kes without worrying about hitting her. And, if my assumptions were right, it would put them in a good position for something later on.

  Reika took a deep breath, raising Dawnbringer.

  There was no breakneck charge this time, no bursts of motion carrying us forward. Just a slow advance with our swords at the ready and the hyper-awareness that came from standing near the edge of demise for too long.

  Zenkichi made the first move, as expected. He raised his hands over his head to conjure another large orb of acid.

  Before he could direct it at us, I swung the Sae’kes and launched a disintegrating shockwave. It ripped through the center of the orb, causing it to burst instantly and drench Zenkichi with the remaining acid.

  The acid didn’t burn him in the slightest.

  He clapped his hands together, still perfectly calm, then drew them apart. A long, whip-like tendril of acid extended between them.

  Reika continued to advance on Raizo, her jaw set. “You’re going to pay for what you did to my father.”

  “I think not.” Raizo met her first swing with an easy parry, simply twisting his blade to the side.

  Reika pulled back after the impact, snarling. It took me a moment to realize why; the electrical charge on Raizo’s sword had shocked her.

  He launched a counter attack immediately, but Reika side-stepped it and battered his larger sword into the ground. She ignored the shock and stepped in, swinging a claw, but he retreated before she made contact.

  I turned my attention back to Zenkichi just in time to see his acid whip cracking toward me. I cut it in half on instinct, but that just made the tendril lose cohesion. A portion of the acid splashed on me again, and during the moment of pain while I reacted, Zenkichi conjured an entirely different form of attack.

  Dozens of spears of acid appeared in the air around him, spinning in a circular pattern.

  I barely had a moment to consider just how bad that was before they shot forward.

  I had, however, dealt with very similar attacks before.

  Burn.

  I sent a surge of flame mana into the aura around the Sae’kes. The aura shifted into flame, burning bright and hot. As the acid spears approached, I slashed the first few apart with ease, then swung and sent a shockwave of fire in Zenkichi’s direction.

  He shifted the remaining spears backward, forming them into a wall. My flames weakened as they passed through the liquid, but evaporated the barrier.

  I pushed forward, swinging as I moved. The next shockwave would have hit him directly, but he shifted into his acid form and dropped to the ground, then re-formed after it moved past him.

  That’s getting really irritating.

  To my side, Raizo and Reika exchanged swings, neither seeming to gain the advantage. Reika wasn’t particularly experienced with a sword, but she had tremendous raw strength and Raizo was fighting defensively. He had no injuries and none of the fatigue we’d suffered from, so his approach was likely to wear her down eventually. And that wasn’t even accounting for whatever other abilities he had, which he didn’t even seem to be bothering to use.

  I closed as much distance as I could while Zenkichi was reforming, but he was still a good dozen yards away.

  He conjured another orb of acid and pointed at Reika.

  Distracted by the exchange of blows with Raizo, she didn’t see it coming.

  I slashed through the air, sending another shockwave forward.

  Zenkichi waved his hands, splitting the orb of acid in half in mid-air. My shockwave passed harmlessly through the air, missing the orbs.

  The acid would have hit her right in the back if Raizo hadn’t shoved her out of the way.

  One of the two orbs impacted against his sword, the other his right shoulder.

  Both began to melt. As the sword burned away, it smoked not like metal, but like wood.

  And where Raizo’s body burned, there was no blood beneath. Only a glowing wound of light.

  He fell back, releasing his grip on the sword entirely to grasp at his gleaming injury. The remainder of his sword shifted forms into a stick a mere moment later.

  “Oh, no!” Reika grabbed him as he fell, before he could collapse all the way to the ground.

  I couldn’t let the window he’d created be wasted. I rushed forward, closing the distance to Zenkichi as his eyes narrowed at Raizo in confusion.

  “An imposter,” Zenkichi mumbled. “Ah.”

  I pressed forward until I was finally in reach of Zenkichi, then I raised the Sae’kes and prepared to strike. “Surrender. This is your only warning.”

  Zenkichi snarled at me. “Pitiful creature. I decline—”

  I swung the Sae’kes with all the force I could muster.

  Body of Iron.

  Mana surged through me, multiplying the force of my swing.

  Pain followed. I’d pushed my body far, far too hard.

  Zenkichi raised a hand to catch my sword, just like he had with Dawnbringer.

  The Sae’kes cut right through his hand without resistance, then passed through the rest of his body.

  I’d cut him in half.

  He looked with an expression of disbelief, then collapsed into a puddle of acid.

  Release Body of Iron.

  I fell to my knees. My strength had fled.

  This was unfortunate, because the acid in front of me was bubbling, spreading, and rising.

  Oh, no.

  A moment later, Zenkichi loomed over me again.

  This time, he was about fifty feet tall, and he had eight serpentine heads.

  A single long wound was visible on his chest, trailing blood. Bisecting his human form with the Sae’kes had apparently damaged his spirit enough to hurt his hydra form, too.

  That was little consolation, since I could barely manage to lift my sword.

  Body of...

  The first of his heads
snapped down, biting my right shoulder. The head itself was about the size of my torso, and the fangs that bit into me were as long as knives. My tunic prevented them from sinking in all the way, but they got pretty deep.

  I think I actually blacked out for a moment because of how much that hurt. I definitely lost the grip on my sword, the only thing I knew had any chance to deal lasting damage to him.

  When I regained my senses, it was because something had shaken the head that was biting me, which only made it hurt more.

  I realized a moment later that something was Reika. She’d turned back into her dragon form, and she was tearing into the hydra with a series of rapid swipes of her claws. She managed to bite one of the necks hard enough that I heard a snap, and that head fell limp.

  The head that was biting me didn’t let go, of course. I wasn’t that lucky.

  Most of the other heads were focusing on Reika. I saw one of them take a breath, then exhale a blast of acid in her direction. She shifted into mist to avoid it, then turned back into her dragon form almost immediately, only to be smashed backward by the hydra’s tail.

  Reika recovered from the swing, but one of the spikes in the hydra’s tail had left a bleeding gouge in her front leg. She lunged forward again, only to be forced back by three snapping heads.

  She was fighting admirably, but this was a battle of attrition she couldn’t win.

  My vision swam. I was bleeding badly, and by badly, I mean my wounds were almost certainly fatal.

  But I wasn’t going to let a little thing like certain death slow me down. I had a fight to win.

  I couldn’t reach my sword. It had fallen to the ground, and the head that was biting me was pinning me in place. In truth, I didn’t know if I could have picked it up, even if it stopped biting me. My right arm wasn’t functional. I wasn’t even sure if it was still fully attached.

  I tried to call out to Reika to take my sword, since it was the only weapon that seemed effective, but I couldn’t even muster the strength to speak.

  I fumbled with my left hand to find something, anything I could still use as a weapon.

  And then, in a moment of clarity, I reached into the bag on my left side.

  Shift.

  The door handle in my pocket shifted into the form of a dagger. I jammed it into the hydra’s throat.