System Break

To the naked eye the bluecloaks moved at incredible speeds, but for me everything was in slow motion; their speed was relatively average.

I'd never fought someone who had a deep understanding and a lifetime of training in the qi arts. But they had never fought me either.

Mother had painfully inserted wood into my arms and knuckles for a reason. She knew the Svartalfar lore and somewhere in the past they must have learned its use. My qi loved the wood and licked it like it was a jubilant puppy. Qi flowed into my arms - ready to strike – it lapped the wood, pooled in my knuckles, and flowed to my antler mask.

My qi licked my wooden face and horns. It was like standing under a shower and my qi was the water running over it before returning to my core. The living wood was bathed in it.

The old man must have been in his forties, but he was as lively as a spring chicken. He lifted his sword above his head and held it with both hands. I could see his qi pooling in those hands, and it was obvious to me the blow was meant to be devastating. He would expect me to dodge, because parrying that bastard sword unarmed should end up in my arm being severed.

I raised my arm and his eyes widened in surprise. He was fast, years of training with qi-enhanced speed. His core was nearly as large as mine. But I was faster. I stepped in, close to him, we were almost nose to nose. His reflex was to raise a qi-barrier to fend off a low strike, but I wasn't striking I was parrying his arm instead of his sword.

I was taller than him by a foot and my antlers stretched another. The force of his blow was halted by my arm, his barrier protected him from a punch from my other hand. My raised arm pushed his sword arms up and back - I was stronger than him in terms of muscle, qi and I had the living tree inside me. A little fact the Chancellor had no fucking idea about.

His face naturally titled up from the force of my parry and I brought my wooden forehead down onto his face. My qi soaked mask was hard as diamond and it turned into one hell of a headbutt. He had hardened his skin with an ability, but it wasn't enough to save his skull from cracking open.

He was still alive, but in shock, and I did not hesitate. The barrier blocking my left hand had disappeared, so my hand snaked up to grab his throat. I didn't use I qi-strike, I just grabbed a hunk of his flesh and ripped. A satisfying hole appeared where his Adam's apple used to be.

Underestimating your opponent was the fatal mistake on his part. All his experience in qi-techniques was undone far too easily because of his arrogance.

I didn't spare a glance for Alejo. He was now one on one with his former companion and he should use the shock of the other's sudden death to his advantage.

Sakaala was missing and hopefully not under siege by some other scum sucking guild. That left us with two archers and despite Gisael's deadly accuracy and speed, she merely thinned out the numbers of the on rushing guild draped in red.

The thing about wooden docks is – they're made of wood. And the Svartalfar have an ability known as tree-run which works on most types of wood whether the tree is alive or a plank in a far flung city.

I ran up and along the side of a shanty, past Gisael and Ailen. Reyas crouched allowing arrows to pass over her head. I ran past her with a roar and assumed she'd follow.

Twenty four simps stood between me and the Red Queen. Wisely she was at the back or I would have used her as a human club for a second time in two days. While arrows took down the simps in the front, I ran through a dozen swinging swords which was like a human blender.

Their ineffectual qi-strikes were parried, or they missed although together because I was too quick. One caught in my antlers and the blade was ripped from its wielders grasp before it fell to the ground.

I ran over them rather than around. It was easier and the fear in their eyes was delicious. I moved as fast as I could and caused maximum mayhem because a sword in the back was one thing that would stop me.

An elbow to the face, a shoulder charge and I kept pumping my legs like the Road Runner ploughing through them.

.

The Red Queen's mouth hung open. It was happening again. Her sword hung loosely at her side, she had been recently reset and felt drained. She dipped into their reserves and recovered her qi, so it wasn't the physical aspects that were wanting. Mentally she had not recovered from her horrific death.

They were supposed to be support. They were supposed to exact revenge on the monster's companions and he would be well taken care of by the bluecloaks. Except he had his own bluecloaks and he killed one of theirs in a few seconds.

Now he was charging through her guild members like a psycho on PCP and had her in his sights. She fell to her knees and pleaded as he broke through the last line. 

Her voice reeked of vulnerability. "Mercy. Please," she said. 

.

I didn't have time to gawk at her. We were in a battle. The stupid bitch just asked for mercy after she led her band of merry soft cocks tried to kill me and my friends. A few of which were not adventurers and they would not return – a fact she knew all too well.

"Fuck off," I said and pulled her to her feet by the hair. I swung her round into the path of her swordsmen who were closing to stab me in the back while she pleaded.

I pivoted a full three sixty on my heel, let go of her hair and she flew into her swordsmen. It was a like a hammer throw in the Olympics. More than a couple of swords sliced her accidently and her severed foot skidded along the deck.

Reyas and arrows hacked at them from one end. While I smashed heads from the other. Twenty five quickly became twelve, then after the death of their queen, the last six tried to flee. I didn't let them. They were all headed for reset.

When you run away, it helps if you're actually faster than the predator who is chasing you. These pricks stood no chance. Reyas happily axed them in the back and Gisael shot them in the neck. I tripped them or pulled them by the head and threw them into the bath of the beautiful yet deadly women.

The last one standing got special treatment.

I grabbed his shitty chainmail shirt stopped him in his tracks. With a flick I turned him around to face me and he dropped his sword without a word. Then I grabbed either side of his head.

"When you reset remember what this feels like. This is what it means to fuck with us." I squeezed his head pumping qi-strength into my arms and the wood inside them. My shoulders and back muscles strained, and I added qi strength throughout my chest.

His face turned red and then an awful purple preceded the sickening crackle and pop as his head burst into a gory mess of blood and brains.