Bloodsword: War of the Leaf

Closure

Luathain stared at Tev for a brief moment, eyes wide.  Then he was staggering drunkenly as the growl of magic pulsing off the human abruptly quadrupled.  It was a magical tsunami of sensation that slammed relentlessly into him, nearly bringing the tall Silver Hawk to his knees.

Ignoring Luathain's shout, Hestegan lunged forward, sweeping the Silver Hawk's weapon aside with his sword to tackle the staggered Solavar around the waist.  The impact bore Luathain back into the wall where, his senses somewhat restored by the blow, he wrapped his big hands around the smaller elf's neck with an animalistic growl.

The rush in his veins reaching a crescendo, Tev was rewarded by feeling the physical presence of the S'ia sword appear in his hands, apparently summoned by the power of his will.  This time looking down yielded the sword he had found in the S'ia ruins before jumping into that Mardish jungle.

"Amazing," he breathed, eyes flying wide in astonishment as the fire in his blood began to subside.  Picking the weapon up, again he marveled as spinning the sword revealed its perfect balance and heft once again.  Then, as the reason for needing the sword returned into his mind, he found his eyes searching out the Mardish Crimson Shadow, who had contented themselves with watching their leader battle the lean Silver Hawk commander.  'Time to return to the fight.  And why don't we start with these bastards?' he darkly mused.  Then he was launching forward with a growl, the S'ia weapon held ready.

Catching the bemused Mardish agents by surprise, Tev deftly used the gleaming S'ia blade to cut three of them down before the dark skinned elves could react.  Then the remaining agents were rounding on him with their magical blades and enhanced bodies and Tev found himself in the fight for his life as two attacked simultaneously with grimaces of anger on their swarthy features.

The powerful human twisted rapidly from side to side, using the S'ia blade to hold off the darting attacks of the Mardish blades.  Despite his new strength and speed, he was having difficulty keeping up with the agents' enhanced capabilities.  If he didn't take advantage of the S'ia weapon's amazing handling and balance, they would cut him into bait.  And that was perfectly illustrated when he snapped his sword in a tight arc in front of him and only just managed to knock away two lunging ripostes before they reached his body.

Grimly Tev dug deep into his reserves of strength, skill, and speed and shuffled his feet in time to his rapid counter-attack to push the Crimson Shadow agents back.  And in doing so, his own blade penetrated their defenses almost enough to cut them down.  Firming up at the last moment, the agents held, throwing up a curtain of magical steel to keep Tev back.  The human, however, wasn't daunted and kept up the attack.

After what seemed like an eternity and just as his great strength was beginning to wane, Tev found an opening.  A hole had appeared in one of the Mardish agent's defenses.  Slight, but enough to attack in the hopes of making it bigger.  And so he did, turning slightly to focus his slashing cuts and lunging thrusts on the agent with the flawed defense.

There!  The hole abruptly grew as the agent overextended to counter one of Tev's slashes.  Abruptly changing direction, the former pirate lunged smoothly forward to bury his blade in the elf's chest almost to the hilt.  Instantly the Mardish stiffened in death around the ancient blade.  Nodding in satisfaction, Tev pulled his weapon free in anticipation of having the enraged second agent on him the instant he saw his comrade fall.

Instead of attacking, however, the second agent cautiously retreated, a calculating look on his face as he kept his eyes on the muscular human.  And in doing so, he wasn't prepared for Lax and Feral'Sath counterattacking from behind.  In one moment he was slowly stepping back, watching Tev.  And in the next, he was cut down in a flurry of violence by Tev's teammates, who had recovered enough from the magical attack to lend a hand.  Having handled two other agents as well, Tev's team had effectively destroyed Hestefan's team, leaving only the leader himself alive.