Haunted House Flipper

Chapter 41

As I expected the demon wanted to keep talking.

"Well come on human, is that all you've got? Now that I've heard all this talk I'm intrigued by you. It would be a shame to end this quickly."

"Yes it would," I said.

"I've also never fought with two blades. It feels strange, but I think I can get used to it. I might as well get some practice in on you."

"I'm just trying to get you going. Please, take the advantage and attack," I said.

The demon laughed and then raised one sword back in an over exaggerated way. He started to bring it down so I raised my sword up in anticipation to block his strike, but it was a trick. He came down with the blow and then brought the other sword into my side. The blade struck my magic cloak and bounced off of me. I used his moment of surprise to pull my blade back and swing it through the sword he held above me. The edge of my blade sliced right through his and he was left with only a handle. He looked at it, looked back at me, and then threw it aside. He took up a new stance holding his remaining sword in both hands.

"It felt weird to fight with two blades anyway," he said.

I waited for him to make a move, knowing that I was outmatched as a swordsman. I had to rely on the superiority of my blade. He came at me with some quick thrusts. I was only able to bat the first couple of blows away with my sword, but the next few hit me. If I hadn't wrapped that table cloth around me who knows what would have happened in that moment.

He kept trying to attack me with his blade, but his sword could not penetrate my defenses. He was, however, forcing me back toward the edge of the roof one small step at a time. I grimaced at all the extra repair work I was causing with my heavy frantic footfalls. I knew it wouldn't be long until he forced me to fight back, or fall off the roof. I took a step back to gain a little space between us, and then swung my sword as hard as I could at his midsection. He jumped out of the way with ease. He was so quick. I moved forward and tried again, this time not swinging as hard so I could swing the sword at him again after my first try. He dodged my first strike, and blocked my second one with his blade. A tiny chunk was wedged from his sword from the contact, but I needed to hit his weapon with more force.

I had a very dumb idea, but I was desperate. I didn't see that there was any way I was going to beat this demon. Unlike the others who had been enraged, he was too levelheaded and calm. Breaking one of his swords hadn't even phased him. He was too quick for me. Every time I tried to get a good swing in, he dodged it with ease. I needed him to come at me, and I needed the cloak to protect me. If I could stop worrying about blocking his strikes and take a blow with the cloak, then maybe I could focus on his sword and find an opportunity to break it.

I watched his blade, holding my sword back ready to use it to strike instead of defend myself. He must have been watching my eyes because he started to fake me out, swinging his sword to one side and then the other. Every time he did this I clenched up and leaned over following his blade. He was just toying with me, and he was enjoying it.

I stopped watching his blade and stared at his chest. I tried my best to ignore his arms and wait for his strike to come. I studied the movements of his sword, but only in my peripheral vision. He waved it to either side of me, but I stood my ground no longer following his lead. He wound up and swung at me. I cringed, closed my eyes, and leaned away a little. His sword felt like a bat against my left shoulder, but the blade couldn't pierce the cloak. I tried swinging at his sword, but I was much too late. He sidestepped and swung it away from me leaving me to slice through empty air. It threw off my balance.

He struck again, this time from below, smacking me across my left arm and driving his blade into my chest knocking the wind out of me. I took several steps back. He hit me again on my right side while I tried to catch my breath. I'm sure if we wanted to kill me he could have just lopped my head off, but he was having fun. This was just a sparring match for him.

Fear is a powerful thing. I realized I needed to end it soon or I would find out the terrible things that could happen when you lost a fight to a demon. I was still in pain, but my breathing almost felt normal again. I focused on his chest one more time, willing myself not to flinch when he swung at me with his sword. He took a step forward, and instead of swinging he stabbed his blade into my chest. I flinched and close my eyes again, but knew right where the blade was from the pain blossoming above my stomach. I wrenched my sword handle around, slicing through the demon's blade. He took a step back and looked at it. I had found my moment.

I mimicked his action and plunged my blade deep into his chest plowing forward with all my strength. He shrieked and flew backward off of the blade. He dropped his sword and fell through the mansion rooftop. I held my blade at the ready and studied the area he had disappeared into. Then I lifted the sword up and behind me, getting ready to swing it at a moment's notice. I felt the sword being tugged upward.

I tightened my grip as my feet left the roof. The demon gave out a kind of grunt, and then dropped me. I came crashing down onto the clay tiles, breaking several of them as I hit the surface and rolled. I looked around, but the demon had disappeared again. He must have been hurt to drop me like that.

I held the sword close to my chest, scanning the rooftop for any glowing signs of movement. All of the sudden the cloak around my neck pulled me down. The demon was below me, choking me by pulling on the end of the cloak. On instinct I tried to cut the cloak away with the sword, but that did me no good. My strength faded as black began to creep in around my vision.