A Hand-Woven Universe

Despite their shock, everyone in the group managed to react quickly.

"I don"t think so." Tobias grunted and used the handle of his two-handed axe to sweep the demon"s wrist off to the side – but he failed to deflect the blow entirely. A force like a mountain hit Tobias" shoulder, sending him stumbling backwards a few steps before catching his balance.

Tobias had severely underestimated the amount of momentum behind the being"s attack. Despite using considerable strength, he only redirected the blow slightly. He grit his teeth and his shoulder ached. His armor protected him from much of the impact. Even with his armor though, he was still forced back.

Noone hesitated for a moment from his attack being blocked and failing to kill the large paladin. Rae and Feylin were quick to circle around. They were on Tobias"s right and surrounded the demon"s side. Their movement distracted the wild Noone who quickly focused in on Rae.

With Tobias having been knocked out of the circle, they realized how tall this being was. His body was large and densely muscled – combined with his frantically violent movements. They felt like they were facing a beast more than a person.

When Rae made eye contact with the demon, she couldn"t help but tense up. With a flash her spear cut through the air and jabbed directly towards his head. It missed his skull by only a few inches.

"Keep the distance." She chided herself. Over the span of a second, she repeatedly pierced towards him, using the range of her spear to keep him from closing in.

The demon did not press forward or act wildly, merely keeping inches out of reach of the spear. From the side everyone looked on in shock. They could barely follow her attacks and yet Noone who was on the receiving end was effortlessly dodging them. It watched her movements, a.n.a.lyzing her attack.

Tobias quickly returned to the circle, rolling his shoulder as he regripped his axe. Sarah and Sally were behind Noone - fighting a single opponent should be easy, as long as they were careful.

Suddenly, when pulling her spear back, Noone lunged forward in tandem following the spear to Raelith. Rae"s eyes widened but she didn"t panic. She quickly stopped pulling back and instead dug her feet into the stone and swiped it edge-first towards him, wanting to force him back. It was in a perfect arch towards his neck.

Faster than any of them realized, Noone"s standing leg bent, dropping his height down by a foot. The edge of the spear sliced the air above his skull. If he had hair, it would have certainly taken a few inches off.

Using his position and height, his leg shot out like a whip. His shin impacted against the side of Rae"s thin torso. Her whole body was lifted off the ground a few inches. Like a sandbag, she was knocked into Feylin, who was preparing to support her. A crack could be heard and Raelith let out a choked yell. Her bottom two ribs were broken. It wasn"t life threatening yet, but it hurt like h.e.l.l.

"I got you!" Feylin caught Rae, being careful to not limit his shield hand. He stood firm, stepping slightly in front of her with his shield at the ready.

Noone was already taking a step forward to continue his pursuit, but suddenly right in front of him a battle axe came down from above, carving a deep gash in the stone. Rubble and dust sprung up from the impact. Noone had to stop his attack and dodge out of the way. The axe was easily pulled out of the ground and arched towards him.

He stepped back three paces, preparing to lunge at Tobias again. His legs flexed violently – wanting to dash towards the paladin, but before he could a shocking pain struck his shoulder. Sally and Sarah were behind him. Sally had taken the initiative to use his blind spot to her advantage.

She struck down with her hammer, violently crushing into Noone"s shoulder. She felt the crunch of bones as his scapula was shattered into shards by the force.

A screech that seemed to defy the laws of sound echoed into their minds.

"Watch out!" Sarah, with full view of what was happening, could see the beings arm move in an unnatural way towards Sally, as though completely ignoring the broken shoulder.

Before Sally could pull back, the same arm she had just struck reached her wrist. It was far faster than she could have been prepared for.

The large hand gripped her tiny forearm - with a sickening crunch and then a thud, the hammer fell to the floor. Her wrist was crushed into dust in his grip, blood seeped out between his fingers. A wave of nausea came across Sally as she fought back against the pain. She couldn"t help but scream at the suddenness of it.

It didn"t end there. Still holding onto her wrist, Noone lifted her body over his shoulder and then with a twist he threw her directly towards Tobias who was actively advancing towards him.

Tobias was quick to move his axe out of the way - catching Sally whose face had gone flush in pain. Seeing her crushed forearm, Tobias stopped his pursuit for a moment starting a healing miracle that would get her back into battle.

Sarah saw all of this happen over the span of a second. Her knuckles turned white as she gripped her weapon. The man turned to look at her, she was now separated from the group. Noone stood between her and them.

Rae and Feylin both rushed towards Noone when they saw the situation. But they were too slow, Sarah was already face to face with him.

Using the extended reach of her weapon, she lowered her stance and swung it at an upwards arc.

"If I can, I will hit his legs before he can get close. If he dodges, I will still be able to hit him in the side." She stared at the being, blood red eyes stared back, the smile never having left his face.

For some reason, something about the grin was equal parts terrifying and morbid. It left her entire body screaming to escape. But she fought those feelings and planted her feet.

The weighty bladed head of the pole-mace struck Noone who was rushing directly towards her. With a crunch, Sarah saw his arm bend backwards from the sheer force of the impact. Blood spurted onto both of them and a giant gash formed on his flesh, hanging viciously from his muscles.

Sarah had fought with many wild beasts since beginning this a.s.signment, but the sight in front of her was sickening. As though Noone did not even care for his own injuries he advanced directly inside of Sarah"s striking range before she could attack again.

Sarah knew her weapon was now useless at this distance. With shaking hands, she dropped it and fumbled to pull a knife from her waist band before the demon could act.

As she did, Noone"s hand struck out. He grabbed onto the front of her clothing. Sarah gripped the knife like her life depended on it. She struck upwards aiming for Noone"s chest. As she did though, Noone pulled her with such force that she completely lost her balance.

The knife still imbedded itself into Noone"s abdomen, but before Sarah could try again, she heard the sound of crunching bone emit from within her own skull. What? She barely had time to think before she pa.s.sed.

Having one useless arm didn"t leave many options, so Noone had used the force of her body to crush her skull with his own. The thud was sickening.

"Sarah!" Feylin screeched, eyes going bloodshot from the sight. He was only a few paces away now, and with a lunge, he struck with his sword, readying to pierce through the demons back. Noone dropped Sarah, unconscious and bleeding profusely over the ground, and silently stepped to the side.

Feylin was too slow to readjust his momentum and suddenly he found himself completely exposed. His body was launched upwards into the air by a sharp kick to his abdomen. Feylin doubled over, immediately puking out blood. His eyes dulled, pa.s.sing out immediately from the pain.

Noone used Feylin"s opening to plant his foot squarely into his side, kicking him with enough force to launch Feylin through the air.

His body hit the ground, crumpling into a twitching mess.

Noone stood there silently. Blood streaked down from his head. One shoulder crushed and caved in, the other arm broken and bent at disgusting angles. A knife protruded from his abdomen, and all of his clothes were stained red. If he didn"t look enough like a devil before, he certainly did now.

Sally and Tobias approached with a violent intensity. Having used the last few seconds to heal her wrist, she was already wielding her weapon; a scowl was on her face as she looked at the two acolytes crumpled on the floor. She could tell they were only unconscious, but if they weren"t healed soon, they would certainly die – especially Sarah.

"Sally, cast a ritual ma.s.s heal. Rae and I will engage. But we must stabilize the kid"s conditions." Tobias took no more than a second to instruct her, already his steps were bounding towards Noone war axe drawn.

Without question Sally immediately dropped back, she pulled out an expensive looking holy artifact and began a prayer. It would take at least 30 seconds to cast. Tobias and Rae would have to hold the demon alone for that long.

Rae was already engaging Noone in combat while Tobias was bounding towards them.

Her spear moved like a snake, constantly taking small bites off of Noone"s flesh. Blood sprayed across the ground.

Part of the fundamental of fighting was never taking eyes off your opponent. At a point at someone"s skill, just looking into the eyes of your opponent was enough. But when she looked into his eyes, it felt like a void. There was no contemplation or strategy to his movement. There was action and reaction and pain.

Noone continued to dance between attacks. Despite being serrated with small cuts, none of them struck deep. He watched Tobias approaching axe drawn. As he danced between attacks, he made careful note of the feel of the earth under his feet.

Suddenly he stopped moving. Raelith saw an opportunity and prepared to take advantage of her momentum. She just needed to hold him for a moment longer until Tobias arrived.

Noone stood straight, smiling at Rae as though mocking her. Like a hammer striking the earth, Noone"s foot lifted and struck the floor. Suddenly a layer of sand which had been eroded into the stone was shot into the air from the impact. A smokescreen of dirt exploded out completely covering Noone and Rae. Tobias stopped just a foot away stunned by the sudden occurrence.

"s.h.i.t!"

As the dust began to settle, there was a deep thud of flesh against flesh, and Raelith"s body was launched out of the smoke. In the split-second Tobias saw her, he was able to see a large gaping hole in her side. The frown on his face deepened. Their losses were much more severe than he was expecting. He glanced back at Sally, a white glow was spreading from the artifact. The healing ritual would occur soon, Rae would last until then.

Suddenly the dust in front of him stirred, his eyebrows scrunched together, and he took a quick step back, swinging the battle axe in front of him.

A dark hand with white glowing markings had shot out of the smoke, Noone"s fingers were stretched out as if trying to grab Tobias.

The battle axe cut through the dust, sending a blast of air clearing the s.p.a.ce. As it swept through, Tobias felt a familiar impact.

Noone was revealed just behind the smoke, the axe had cut through his arm, covering both him and Tobias in blood and dirt. Instead of reacting or reeling away to the sudden dismemberment though, Noone struck out with his foot.

Tobias grunted under the impact of the large beings" weight, his armor supporting the main brunt of it. Despite the armor"s protection, he felt his organs bruise.

"What a monster." He mumbled. Noone looked more like a mangled corpse than a statue at this point. Despite being covered in blood and bruises, knife still sticking from his abdomen, having just lost an arm, it was almost as though he didn"t care or couldn"t feel it.

Nearby Sarah was beginning to toss slightly. She groaned, and her eyes fluttered. Her hand reached up to her head, it throbbed under its own weight and she could feel wet blood still pooling out of where she was. .h.i.t.

When she looked up, she saw Rae and Feylin both crumbled on the floor unconscious. She saw sally glowing white preparing some kind of spell. Tobias and the man were exchanging blows. At some point he lost an arm.

Her consciousness wavered, fighting her will to return back to unconsciousness. She couldn"t feel her legs and knew she was in no position to return back to the fight.

"What can I do…" Her mind throbbed as she watched the two fight. It was a brutal encounter.