When I got hit by the dagger earlier, I felt that it should have left a wound. I suspect the dagger is built for being sturdy rather than sharp and I think my opponent realized he needs to draw his main weapon, I can see sheathed my his left hip, and that is what I am aiming for. The weird stick may be great for launching javelins, but it is just a stick in melee combat.

Once he backs off, I try to follow him, but weirdly and unnaturally, he is already further away than when he should have been, considering when I saw his retreat start. His gift obviously messes with people's perception of him in some way, but I have a hard time figuring out what the limitations on it is.

Suddenly the stick comes flying straight at me, without me seeing him move once again. I raise my shield to block it, and dash forward to pressure him, but when I lower the shield from blocking, he is already gone from my sight. Shit. I think he might try to approach me from somwhere outside my field of views and turn around, slashing my sword in a wide arc around me violently. It hits nothing, but I spot him once again to my left, seemingly having just jumped back, unfortunately already having drawn his sword. Most swords I have seen here have a traditional design, with a long, flat, dual-edged blade. His, however, I much thicker and looks sturdier, looking clearly designed for only piercing.

I think he can force any visual information I receive for him to not "update" for a very short amount of time, which he is abusing to create holes in my defence, so my counter-play is clear. every time I have been caught off-guard, he has been standing still and masking the start of his movement, but if I keep him moving, it will be much easier to notice the discrepancy.

So I charge him, attacking ruthlessly with a light bestowal in my legs to give me additional speed. I used a lot of mana to escape the mansion, so I have to be conservative. There is no exhaustion or feel for how much mana you use, and I have used a variety of on-the-spot spells today, so I don't have a clear idea of how much mana I have left.

As I charge him, he steps back and evades, every slash met with his weird dagger, but I keep moving in on him. We move quite a lot around in the forest while the pursuit continues. I make a mistake. I let my sword linger too long on his dagger, after some fatigue has built up, and he turns it, creating a friction I did not anticipate and I lose my balance while clinging on to my sword. Immediately, a sharp pain hits my left knee, which he pierced with his sword, when I look.

In a moment of madness and inspiration, I twist my own knee, gritting through unbearable pain, and he loses his balance much like I did a moment ago. The sword is still stuck, so I make a split decision to let it go, and aim to punch his face with a hastily constructed bestowal in the arm.

It connects, and he staggers, loosing his grasp leaving his sword behind, but I fall. The pain in my knee catches up to me and I scream from the insane pain. It feels like it's burning, and wet and it is incredibly painful. I dare not look at it. He slowly gathers himself, and approaches my sword. As he does, I grit through it once more and dash up from my sitting position, trying to tackle him, but it is slower and clumsier than I would like due to the completely ruined leg.

He quickly gains dominance in the grapple, even though he is on the bottom, grabs the sword and lifts it. I put one last urge of strength into pushing him down, but I quickly feel another sharp pain in my lower backside as he jams the sword into me. I feel like I am almost done.

But then, a sword pierces the man's head, killing him instantly, and I look to my saviour, Kamas, standing right there.

I had planned on merely trapping this guy in a few for a while from the beginning, since Kamas and crew would definetely come back once the time was up, also lead by the sounds of our fights and grunts and the scream.

"Not looking all that good, Yos" Kamas says with a smirk.

"You could have come a little earlier" I reply with my own smirk "I am leaving the cleanup to you" I say before letting myself lose consciousness.

I come to the next morning, Kamas, Bern and Larn sleeping around, the latter two in bedrolls. Judging from the humongous size of the one I am in, and him lying on the bare ground, I must be in Kamas'. I have a bandage around my waist and a another, very red one around my leg. Shit, that hurt so fucking much, I never want to do something like that again. I wonder if I would have been able to do something so suicidal if I were ever forced to feel the consequences of my own wounds in this world.

Oh well, thoughts for later, we gotta catch up to Atna.