Thoom!

When the dust cleared, I expected myself to be dead and in two pieces. I was neither. Life just loves playing jokes on you sometimes. Don’t you love life? I sure do.

My body was surrounded in a dark black smoke that not only prevented the sword from sinking into my hand and cutting me down, but also seemed to give me incomprehensible strength. I felt…invincible. And very, very thirsty.

Snarling, I swung my arm as hard as I could at Eldest Brother, who hurriedly jumped out of range. When the smoke cleared, I saw very clearly the blood that was oozing from his chest. I’m not sure what expression I had on my face at that moment, at that time, I only knew my twisted glee and their fearful faces.

Eldest Brother clutched at his chest. Though the cut was not deep, he seemed to all of a sudden fear me much more. And I loved it.

“Kill me! Take my life you fools! Kill me! Ah hah!” I charged at Eldest brother again, and barraged him with wild, furious strikes. You know the part where I couldn't die earlier? It gets better. I was literally cracking Eldest Brother’s sword. It watched it crumble to pieces and not even leave a scratch on my hands. Just kill me already.

Just let me die. Just let me…die, I thought.

As these words rang in my head, the black smoke seemed to hear me. And it vanished. Finally, the throes of death fell upon me. Arrow after arrow finally sank into my body, sword after sword cut deep into my flesh, bringing forth spout after spout of blood. I laughed, mad with sadness, anger, and pain.

I drew my sword, and with a tortured howl, began to fight them, reveling in the blows that I did not not block and the pain that they brought forth, for the more pain that was inflicted on me, the closer I was to death, and the less my heart ached from betrayal.

I do not know when the first of them died, nor who it was. All I remember was the squelch of the blade as it pierced their heart, and the tang of blood that spurted from their fatal wound into my mouth. Thunder boomed overhead, as if heralding their death.

Laughing again, and the sadness in me greater than ever, I charged another person. I remember…the delicious expression of fear he had on his face, illuminated by a flash of lightning. Soon, he too, died. Again, the spurt of blood from his death made me only more bloodthirsty.

“Die! All of you, die!”

Metal flashed, and I watched my blade bite through a bow and bite into soft flesh.

I sobbed, choking out a burst of tears that trailed through the blood on my face.

“Die! Just die…” I’m not even sure who it was that I was telling to die. I think it was them, but I might have meant myself. My blade began to grow heavier in my hand. Heck, my arm began to grow heavier in my arm socket. Looks like the blood loss finally caught up with me. Finally…looks like I'm able to leave this world behind. Finally…looks like…I can die.

As my blade bit into another body and brought out another fatal spurt of blood, the blood splattered into my eyes. My eyes were stained red, and I paused to blink them out.

It was at that moment, that a crushing blow cut into, and halfway through, my waist.

“Ah!” I screamed from fury and pain. Reflexively, I whirled around with my longsword and it bit into someone’s head. The whirling motion also wrenched the blade out of my body, and allowed some organ matter to spill onto the grass. But I didn’t notice. Or care.

As I stepped toward the retreating four disciples, my feet finally gave out from under me. My knees buckled, and I fell over. The second I tripped over, the four instantly fell on top of me, and their swords rained down, cutting across my hands and legs. Soon, my limbs were nothing but a bloody mess of flesh and bone. There was not an inch of recognizable skin on them. Oh, I imagine that they relished in torturing me. For as much as they stabbed, cut and slashed at me, they all missed my head, and prevented me from dying instantly.

I kept laughing and crying. Until my voice was hoarse, until I spat out mouthful after mouthful of blood. Finally…I would go.

A dark silhouette loomed in front of me. I couldn’t see from all the blood that was running into my eyes. I grinned a last, crazy smile and lunged forward with my mutilated abdominal muscles and bit the shadow at where it’s neck would have been. The now familiar tang of blood soothed the pain across my body. I bit harder, and harder, until I tore off the flesh. There was screaming after that. And during it. Not sure if it was mine.

Finally, a cold pillar entered my chest and pierced something. That was it. That was all of it…I gave a sigh of relief…and everything went dark as my eyelids grew heavier and heavier.

I tried to open my eyes one last time, and take a look at the cruel world I was about to depart. There was only shadow…surrounding a pair of twinkling, jade-green eyes.

…