Chapter 106
The biggest advantage of a knife is concealment and surprise. Take those two elements away, and the prospect of fighting with one becomes far more precarious. My father told me something once, on one of those days, where he came home pale and stricken, and wanted nothing more than to sit in his chair and stare at the TV.
In a knife fight, the loser dies in the street. The winner dies in the ambulance.
Mantle reeled backwards, hand covering his bloodied eye, letting out a scream of pain. I hauled myself up and grabbed him by the throat, drawing my crossbow with my freehand and pressing it to his stomach.
I flew backwards, momentarily airborne as the SUV took a hard left turn and collided with the panel of the side-door. Fire shot up my spine. The pain plateaued as Mantle followed me. His forearm landed full-force on my rib-cageit was purely reflexive, an attempt to stop himself from falling, but judging from the sickening crunch in my chest that followed, his intent didnt matter.
Jesus! Someone yelled from the front seat. I caught a glimpse of the two men up front. The driver was swiveling in his seat, trying to get a glimpse of the scuffle and keep one eye on the road, respectively. The othera medium build man wearing a crimson jeweled ringlet that was a borderline tiarahad gone up on his knees and was pointing a thorned wand in our direction, squinting with focus, trying to get an angle.
Stop the van! Ringlet shouted.
The brakes arent fucking working!
Still pinned under Mantle, I drew my leg up and kicked outwards, trying to knock the wand free. I pinned Ringlets arm against the drivers side seat with my heel and ground my foot, feeling the bones in his hand flex.
Ringlet yelped and slammed a fist into my leg. He was aiming for my knee but missed, fist impacting my upper thigh. When he drew back to strike again, I managed to kick him in the face, sending him colliding into the driver.
There was an impact, followed by a sudden heat emitted from my side with the intensity of the sun. A slick feeling of wetness followed.
I fought back against the shock that came with a realization. Id been stabbed.
Mantle had stabbed me.
All that talk about not wanting to kill a kid sure went out the window fast.
His expression was a mix of pain and outrage as he tore the weapon free and stabbed down again, inches from where the first blow had landed. My mind and survival instinct went into overdrive. I trapped the knife with my arm and struck out with an open palm, driving the meat of my hand into his nose. Cartilage snapped, and blood spewed out of Mantles nose.
My options were perilously scarce. Id thrown and hadnt had a chance to summon it back before losing consciousness. Both Audrey and Talia were out of play. Nicks Saber wouldnt help me in such tight quarters.
I reached for and came up empty. Suddenly, the familiarity of the hilt jutting out of my side was all too significant.
Bastard stabbed me with my own knife.
A wave of rage followed. This chapter is updated by nov(e)(l)biin.com
In the chaos, I was barely cognizant enough to make out what Beanie was saying as he yelled out the crossroads heading north, currently under attack by a rogue User Calling all guild members, we are code bri
I got both knees under Mantles chest and him off of me, ignoring the pain as the knife came free. Then I reached up and yanked at the top of the drivers side seat belt. It locked on the first attempt. When it slackened on the second, I looped the dark fabric around beanies neck twice and yanked it taut. Beanies eyes bugged out of his head. He struggled with the seatbelt but managed to keep one hand on the steering wheel. I ravaged his mind with
If you dont keep driving, your friends are dead.
An ear-splitting shriek rang out, followed by a bright red light and a bang. The tempered glass window on my left shattered. Ringlet had recovered his wand and had apparently decided to be far less selective with his shots. I got a knee on Mantles knife wrist and threw myself at Ringlets shoulder first, hitting hard muscle. He wasnt squishy like most spell casters Id encountered. Either he was already built before the system came into being, or he was going for some sort of hybrid build. Regardless of why, he barely moved, absorbing the impact with a quiet grunt and managed to keep his wand pointed at my head, tip growing red, scorching my skin.
I waited for the last moment and ducked. My face was pressed against the console between the seats, so I didnt see it land, only the aftermath.
Oh shit. Ringlet said, voice tinged with horror.
You killed us all. Mantle whispered.
I released him and took a step back. You brought this on yourself.
All that self-righteous horseshit when you could have just let us go.
He was wrong. What had happened was self-defense, by any reasonable metric.
If you ignore the part that came before, where you chased them down and jumped into the car. cackled.
I reached in my inventory and withdrew a potion. Then hesitated. Talia walked in front of me, a dark glitter in her eye. This scum saw your face. Stole from you. Theft and double-cross aside, there is a reason they took you with them. They likely intended to kill you.
Yes I faltered, suddenly feeling very small. He had a knife to my throat. Before I fought back.
Then you owe him nothing. Talia growled. She pressed her head against my thigh.
I knew it. That she was right. Saving Mantle was my first instinct. He didnt have long. There was no one else nearby and if I acted, there was a chance I could save him. Harm reduction had always been key to my ethos. It didnt matter that my actions had led to the deaths of two. If there was something I could do to stop that number from becoming three, that was the appropriate course.
Only, as I watched him crawl away, it dawned on me that it wasnt as simple as I wanted it to be. Because for the first time, my core philosophies were in conflict. Mantle would never forget my face if he survived. There was a strong possibility he could throw the people I cared about in jeopardy.
Mantle placed his arms beneath him, as if intending to push himself to his feet. Then collapsed.
A purple notification light appeared in the corner of my vision.
I removed my glove and checked for a pulse.
Nothing.
Numbly, I returned to the SUV and retrieved the bag of lux. Talia was still standing in the center of the road, her head cocked. There are many vehicles headed this way, pup.
I froze. For the first time, I took in my surroundings. We were standing in the center of a cul-de-sac in a small middle-class neighborhood. Judging from the distant skyline, I was somewhere on the north side of Dallas. Beanie had probably panicked, driving into a residential area and eventually a no-outlet road before colliding into one of the houses on the road.
And managed to get a message to their guild before he died.
The first set of headlights appeared at the end of the road, followed by another. Despair washed over me. I was so close. I could hop a fence, but if there were enough of them it wouldnt matter. Theyd cut me off.
This might be it, I said grimly.
It will be a noble end. Talia stood in front of me, facing the oncoming vehicles, her head held high. But it is surprising. That you would give up so easily.
I havent given up. I multitasked, beginning the process of resummoning Audrey and pulling up the system message that wouldnt go away. Text scrolled in front of me.
