I will try and release one chapter a week now that I am getting used to my hours at work, anyways if I have a lot of time and I feel like writing a lot I might write 2 chapters in a day

Chapter 23: Ares Stand

Volume 2 Chapter 10

(10 minutes before Anastasia and Gabriel fought Bilvorax)

Ares Perspective

"Anastasia and Gabriel told us to stay with Brooke, I won't be able to protect her alone!" I yelled hoping to convince the others to stay

"I can't sit here and do nothing Ares, what if Anastasia and Gabriel need help. Gabriel's skills don't work on the Angels that means Anastasia is fighting alone." Paul said as he grabbed his sword and let it rest on his uninjured shoulder as he started jogging towards the devastated city

"I agree with Paul, we have to help them... I will do whatever it takes to help them so we can all go back home."Shiro said as he put his bag over his shoulder and followed after Paul

"What if we are attacked by goblins or orcs! I'm not a match against them! Have faith in Anastasia and stay here." I screamed and watched the shadows of the man and the boy fade into the distance...

I took a seat by Brooke, "Well if someone or something comes I will protect you for Gabriel..." I changed the bandage on her leg and sat her up to have her drink the Vigor potion we have slowly been giving her so she could recover.

I sat beside Brooke and the camp fire, roasting some meat from the Tohur(chameleons) Anastasia and Paul butchered a while ago, the taste wasn't bad I just wish we had spices...

I slowly ate the Tohur meat, and I glanced at Brooke and guilt overtook me, "Hey Brooke... I never really did try to get to know you, when I first met you I scorned you, I saw you as a rival as I saw the way you looked at Gabriel. I wanted Gabriel to only look at me." I said smiling at Brooke as I ate more of the meat

2 full minutes of silence ambushed us, we could hear the Tori (birds) chirp and the Ekis (crickets) clicking

"Even though he saved my life I was wary of Gabriel, I thought he had ulterior motives for saving my life. As I got to know him, I noticed he was very withdrawn, he liked to keep to himself and involving others was never something he allowed, It took less than three days for Gabriel to sink a hook into my heart. He didn't even have to try, it just came naturally. Then I saw the way things were between you and him, there was tension an atmosphere that didn't exist when Gabriel and I talked..." I stopped talking so I could catch my breath

"I was jealous, I wanted what you had with him, I desperately wanted his attention. The first time I saw your power it shook me to my core, I was so jealous of the power you possessed, I figured he would pick you for sure, you were more beautiful than me, smarter than me, stronger than me... I hate myself, I can't believe I was actually happy when I found out you were injured, I thought great, now he will pay more attention to me. But of course I was wrong I saw the way he looked at you when you were hurt, he looked like a completely different person, there was rage in his eyes like I had never seen before. I was so far behind you it made me envy everything about you.

"That was the first time I had ever felt fear towards Gabriel, the longer I looked at him while he looked at you I noticed a look of regret... I was sad because he had a face so evident with guilt that it was obvious he was beating himself up over his inability to protect you.

"It seems as though you have experienced an enormous amount of bad luck so I guess this is the way the universe is atoning... I truly hope that you two are happy together. I know he doesn't think of me like that and seeing you two together will only hurt me so I will split up from the party as soon as the path to Gathri is clear."

I knew I was talking to myself as she was unconscious and deaf but I needed some release... I needed to tell someone.

"I might have eventually surpassed you with the help of Anastasia and Paul's training, but by then im sure it would be too late..." I said snickering...

After I finished talking to myself silence came back for a minute as I sat there thinking about what I am going to do after I split up with Gabriel.

A bush nearly 20 feet from myself shook and caused me to tense up, and the 2 goblins and orcs that came through the bush broke the silence and my spirit.

"Shit I knew this was going to happen." I reached for my sword and began to walk towards the new enemies. "I will protect you, not because Gabriel asked me to but because I want to show you that I have grown." Once again I am talking to a deaf unconscious girl... maybe I need mental help

I got into my stance by holding my left arm forward and raising my sword to match the level of my chest, bent my knees and waited for the enemy to come.

The two goblins looked at each other and began snickering as they moved towards me, they split up to go to my left and right. They were both carrying clubs and were lightly armored with hide armor that looked really worn out, they probably made the armor from wild life or stole it after killing the person who previously owned it.

They both stopped 5 feet from me and for 10 seconds they just stood there, it felt like an eternity had passed as beads of sweat were rolling down my forehead and into my eyes.

After the 10 seconds passed the goblin on my left moved and raised its club to bash me, but I quickly stepped towards the goblin and easily sidestepped the slow vertical attack the goblin initiated, as I stepped past the goblin I slashed at his chest, and faced both goblins once again.

This time they stepped towards me at the same time both raising their clubs I stepped towards the one I previously injured and deflected his club this time and quickly counter attacked by punching the goblin right in the face and bringing my sword down diagonally cutting the goblins left thigh and hurriedly stepped to the side to dodge the other goblins club but I didn't expect this goblin to be left handed.

The goblin was able to change the direction of his strike easily as he swung down with his left hand meaning he could just shift his body weight and turn his wrist. The vertical attack had missed but when the goblin turned its body the momentum of the swing sped up along with the new direction, I quickly put my sword up to block this heavy attack *Crack*

I blocked the club but at the cost of my sword, I flew back and rolled on the ground and stopped nearly 2 feet from where my broken blade landed

I grabbed the broken blade with my left hand and held the grip of the broken hilt with my right hand. Out of the corner of my eye I noticed the orc stopped watching me and started heading towards Brooke.

After I grabbed the broken blade I stood up quickly and the two goblins were nearly upon me, one was closer than the other as one was injured and limping towards me.

The uninjured goblin jumped into the air to strike me from above with the idea to pop my head like a grape.

I took a sharp step forward and with the momentum I executed a head first roll under the jumping goblin, the goblin flew right over my head and as I looked straight ahead at the other goblin I noticed it was readying its attack to decapitate me like I was a baseball and he was getting ready to swing his bat.

He swung and it would have been a homerun if I wasn't a slider, the club flew right over my head, I had went from a roll to a dive so I could avoid being killed and it worked except for the fact I was now face down in front of the goblin and I am sure he's still mad about what I did to his chest and leg so I swiftly rolled to my left. Not even a second later a bang was heard from where I was just laying...

I pushed myself off the ground and back onto my feet, I was covered in scratches and scrapes.

They were both standing in front of me again, I looked around and noticed the Orc was now standing directly over Brooke. "Damnit!"

I stepped towards the two goblins hastily as I needed to kill the small fish to get to the bigger fish.

I was originally holding the broken blade inwards so the blade was pointing towards me but now it was pointing outwards towards the ground.

I broke into a sprint towards the goblins who were practically standing side by side, they had both readied their weapons to swing from the right and left. I didn't falter in my sprint, no hesitation and no fear I needed this to work if I was going to save Brooke.

I jumped forward as both the goblins had swung from the right and left, I thrust with the broken hilt in my right hand towards the injured goblin on my left and turned my back on the second one as I was now sandwiched between both of them, I lifted my left hand and the broken blade entered the neck of the uninjured goblin.

Both goblins clubs smashed into each other nearly a second later, both parts of my broken sword were covered in goblin blood as the goblins collapsed onto the ground holding their necks. I stood between both of the dying goblins watching the Orc who never turned around.

My left hand was stinging as I gripped the broken blade too tightly and the rest of my body felt heavy with all of the scratches and bruises.

"Ughh... how am I supposed to fight that goddamned orc." I said clicking my tongue

The orc had picked up Brooke and began walking towards the forest, it didn't even turn around as it probably figured the goblins were going to knock me unconscious without a problem.

I shivered a lot thinking about how impossible fighting an orc without a weapon was a suicide mission and I was still traumatized from the last orc.

I thought I had gotten over it after I killed the orc that killed my mother but it is apparent that I hadn't gotten over it with the way I was trembling.

'The orc isn't aware that the goblins are dead, I can make this work... I have to make this work!' I yelled in my head as I broke out into a sprint towards the orc.

I squeezed both broken fragments of the sword and prepared to jump and impale the orc with both parts of the sword but that wasn't what happened.

When I got within 5 feet of the orc *Crack*... the orc turned its head at the sound of the twig I stepped on, 'Shit... I can still make this work!'

I jumped as it turned its whole body towards me and begun to raise its arms, with my left hand I stabbed the broken blade into its chest while I swung the broken hilt of the sword into its neck, blood spurted all over my smiling face... which quickly faded and turned into a grim expression, 'not deep enough' I screamed in my head and then out loud when the orc hit my stomach and shot me back fifteen feet.

I moaned in pain as I coughed up blood.

I tried to move but couldn't, I think the orc broke a couple ribs, the ground shook with every step the orc took towards me.

The orc came into my view and I grabbed the broken hilt laying at my side, tears formed in my eyes as the orc reached down and grabbed my leg.

It turned around and began dragging me, every step brought an excruciating amount of pain as my broken ribs rubbed against each other... "Nooooooo, Noooooooo, NOOOOOOO! Not again, I am not being defiled again!" I screamed as I put the broken blade of the hilt to my neck getting ready to do what I failed to do to the orc.

It paid no attention to my screaming and had no clue I was about to end my own life, it probably wouldn't have cared anyways...

"Im sorry Brooke..." I said as I slowly pushed the jagged blade into my neck

*Shwaak*

This sound echoed in my mind a thousand times as I saw a hole the size of a human adults head appear where the orcs heart was supposed to be.

I didn't know what happened buyt I was so relieved.

"Tha- thank y-" my smile and tears faded as quickly as they came... I saw my savior and to my surprise it wasn't one individual but two and they had wings as they bathed in the light of the sunrise.

As they hovered over head, I heard "Oh they are quite beautiful, I call dibs on the light skinned one." ??? said to the other Angel smiling deviously

"Kota, we have to get to Artok and help Team Sera with the annihilation of the city. So we can hurry and take them back to the cursed grounds of the Bathalli Hills to help us fight the heroes." The Angel responded to the Angel named Kota.

"Come on Fowler, the heroes have been just as weak as the civilians we will be butchering in the city, besides they are just civilians, Team Sera can handle them with complete certainty... SO LETS HAVE SOME FUN!!!" Kota yelled joyfully as he looked at Brooke and whispered "mMmm she is going to be tasty."

'I need to kill myself they will torture me for hours... but I can't leave Brooke to that fate either' I glanced over to Brooke after thinking that...

"Well I guess showing up a little late won't matter as we are just showing up, we didn't send a message first so we can get there whenever we want." Fowler said smiling and unfastening his trousers

"Hey boys, you might want to keep your pants on~" A seductive voice came from th shadows of the forest.

A beautiful black haired Asian woman came out of the shadows, "My name is Sora Yamoto, memorize it as it will be the last name you ever hear... And I heard you mention a game... I really like games so I was hoping you would play with me instead..."

Sora smiled seductively before licking her lips.

Comment if it pleases you, I appreciate any and all feedback as it shows me my faults, I hope you enjoyed. I would like to know your opinions on how I started the story and where It is at now and if you think it has been an improvement or a disappointment.

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