The Grim Legion

by Kindred Ult

  The vampire smiled widely and laughed. Once he spoke, Demenn recognized him instantly. "Hah, no worries Demenn, it's me, Samael. I've come to take you up on that offer you made for a duel. I figured that, since we only have like two more days until the battle starts, we should fight now. That way, if one of us is seriously hurt or dies, he'll have those two days to recover. Genius, right?"

  Demenn seriously doubted if two days would be quite long enough to recover from dying, but the rest made enough sense to him. He slightly berated himself for foolishly accepting the seemingly offhand suggestion, but also felt that this would be a good opportunity to see how another captain would fight and how strong he could expect the others to be.

  "Very well, I'm afraid that you are a much earlier riser than I am, however, so I must beg your indulgence of a few minutes to prepare myself. Would you like to come in?" Demenn stepped to the side and swept his hand towards the inside of his house in offering, while at the same time wondering if it was large enough to fit Samael's hulking frame.

  Samael smiled widely, showing sharp teeth, and slowly shrunk to his normal size, which was still a bit too tall for Demenn's door. He slouched a bit and tucked his body through it, before finally being able to straighten up when he made it through, although his head was still only a foot or so away from the ceiling. Demenn smiled and told Amy to see Samael to the living room while he went to gather his gear. He had not thought what he would use to battle a captain if it ever came to that, but he always knew that he felt more comfortable with a spear in his hands, so he decided that he would fight with his spear for as long as he could. When he got to his room he strapped his spear, sword, and two knives onto him, put on his boots, and made slight modifications to his outfit before heading back downstairs.

  When he got down, he was amazed to hear Amy laughing, and upon entering the living room, he saw her sitting across from Samael and holding her stomach as she laughed and he smiled. When Samael saw Demenn enter he kept his smile and stood. When Amy stopped laughing, she looked at Samael and smiled.

  "Thank you."

  His smile widened as he turned and walked out, with Demenn following behind and wondering what had just happened. When they made it to the street, he asked Samael what he had said.

  "Oh, nothing really important. I just have this really good joke that I tell people from time to time, and I just love seeing women smile. It reminds me of the sun." They kept on walking for awhile before Demenn broke the silence again.

  "So what is the joke?"

  Samael smirked good-naturedly. "Aw, but I can't say it so soon. If I use it too often, it stops being funny. Gimme' a few years or so, then I'll tell you. If we live that long anyway."

  Demenn chuckled slightly. "So where are we going for this?"

  "To this place where the captains can go if we want privacy. It's been there for a long time, but I guess you wouldn't know about it, since you're new. You know, you're the first new captain in over twenty years."

  "Is that so?" Demenn had not thought about new captains.

  "Yep, amazingly, almost all of our captains survived the Werepyre war, although most of our troops were decimated, so we spent most of our time replenishing the units rather than adding new ones. So yours is the first new unit since that war, and the only other captain to be added was Julius, who took over his unit after I accidentally killed the old captain. He was one of the newer ones, and he looked really strong, so I asked if he'd spar with me, but I thought he was stronger than he was, it turns out, and I accidentally stabbed him in the head and took it off of his body."

  "His entire head?" Demenn was not faking his shock, or interest.

  "Yea," Samael scratched his head in embarrassment. "I honestly thought that he would be able to block it, so I gave it everything I had. Turns out it was just a bit too fast for him, and his sword came up while his head went off."

  "Ah." Demenn wondered if this battle was something he should try, but before he could think to question it, they arrived at a cylindrical stone building that looked fairly large while still being small enough to be unnoticeable. Samael walked up to one of the walls and placed his hand on it. At his touch, a section of the wall swung open, and he and Demenn entered into the stone building.

  On the other side was a spacious stone court and several alcoves with large pillars in front of them. In the alcoves, Demenn could see some of the other captains, who were either here as routine or to see Demenn and Samael's fight. With a fast look around, he soon discovered that the entire building was basically an arena with an open-ceiling and slots for spectators, he also found that all of the captains he had met before, even the captain of the first unit, were there in various places.

  'Great, so now if I lose they will all be able to see it.'

  Samael wasted no time, but went straight to one of the alcoves, picked up his curved metal pole with a spike on the inside, and walked to the middle of the grounds, beckoning Demenn to walk up to him. As Demenn did, he noticed that the pole looked to be too big for him, and then he remembered what Samael had said about it, and a wave went through his body as the full parameters of the fight were thrust upon him.

  'He will be fighting in his Other form.'

  As much as he did not want to, Demenn kept walking towards the center of the grounds, resolute in his determination. When he reached the middle, Samael beamed in happiness, shouldered his weapon, and swiftly shifted to his Other form. When he finished, all Demenn could do was gape. He stood taller than even a normal first class werewolf did, while most Other form vampires were a few feet shorter than them. He had four horns, which shot straight out from their roots at the four corners of his skull, but screwed around so that the grooves in them were clearly seen. His wings were smaller than Demenn had expected, though, and he wondered if he could stay airborne with them like that. The limbs and tendons were normal, but the leathery skin in between them was slimmer, making them look more like daggers than true wings.

  Demenn drew his spear and stepped back into his stance. They stared at each other for a moment, before Samael dropped his guard and stared at Demenn quizzically.

  "So, this is when you go into your Other form and we fight." He seemed marginally uncomfortable, as if the mood was broken.

  Demenn tried to smile as he also dropped his guard and began to try to word his response. "Well, I feel as if I have been relying on it for too long, and I would like to see how a captain-class Other vampire would fight and what I could do to battle one without my own power." He hoped that he had said it satisfactorily enough, but when Samael dropped his usual smile, he figured that he had said something wrong.

  Samael's frown, assisted by his screw-horns, spiked teeth, and demonic face, was terrifying. "So, you think that you can beat me without being on the same level as me?" He twitched unconsciously, and his entire body looked like a wound spring.

  "No!" Demenn did not mean to shout, but it felt like he had to or he would be attacked. His voice had the desired effect of making Samael relax, so he continued in a softer voice. "Of course not, I am not sure that I could defeat you if we were both in this form or the Other form. As it is, I am sure that I will lose, but I wish to know what I can do, and I trust that I will at least survive well enough to stay alive."

  Samael did not smile again, but his face lost its frown, and he seemed to be thinking. He spoke slowly when he did. "So, it won't be my fault if you die while finding out what you can do?"

  "I would welcome it." Demenn did not know the truth, but he knew that he would rather fight a complacent Samael than an angry one.

  Now he smiled just a bit, and he brought his pole in front of him, grasping it with both hands. "Welcoming death, that's not like the last captain Demenn. I like you. Don't die, or I won't have anyone fun around anymore."

  "I'll make sure to." Demenn stepped back into his stance again, but changed his mind and shifted his front hand, which was near the point, to the higher point of his chest while lowering his back hand to his w
aist. "When you are ready."

  A wide smile flashed across Samael's face, then he flashed towards Demenn with speed greater than anything he had ever seen. In seconds he was right next to Demenn with his bladed pole in one hand, swinging towards him. Demenn had no time to move his feet, so he opened his hands, letting the shaft of his spear rest in the crook of his thumbs, and shot it out vertically in a block. When the weapons met, however, Demenn realized that he had forgotten what it was like to fight an opponent that was immensely stronger. His spear, made of metal, bent inwards, and the spike that protruded from the dip in the stick came perilously close from his face, but then his feet lost their grip on the ground, and he was sent flying backwards. His flight lasted all of six feet before gravity reclaimed him and he hit the ground, but the strength of the blow kept his body flowing past, so he simply bounced, kept going, bounced again, and then slid for several moments before coming to a stop and getting back up to his feet.

  'So, no more blocking.' Demenn saw Samael for another moment before he was speeding towards him once again. 'How can he move so fast?' Demenn rolled to the side under a horizontal slash, hit the ground with his feet and leapt back the other way over another lower one, stepped one time over as the spike slammed into the tiles at an angle, then slid down into a half split to move he torso away from a kick. Demenn slid his back foot in front of his front and spun with the crossing of his legs, ending with a stab straight at Samael. The spear flew towards him, but with a pop Samael was flying away, then in another second he was flying back, and his pole was held in front of him like a ram, and Demenn could see him coming closer, but the spear had not even reached the end of its strike, and he could do nothing to stop the tip of the pole from crashing into his stomach.

  Once again he flew back, but this time it was with even more force than before, and he bounced twice before saw a very solid stone pillar in his flight path. Desperately, he stabbed his spear into the ground and tipped his body into a backspin, tucked in his legs, and slammed into the pillar. He felt his legs shriek in pain as they absorbed the weight of the blow, but they held, and he dropped to the ground shaking with tension and effort, but still alive. He watched Samael, who laughed, and then disappeared.

  Demenn opened his eyes wide and quickly shot his head to the sides in a vain attempt to see him, but at the last second his head looked up and he saw Samael falling towards him with speed greater than gravity could attest for. Demenn did not think anything, but rather jumped to the side out of pure reflex, and saw Samael slam into the ground, raising the stone out of the ground with his raw power. In the split-second after he hit the ground, however, he was heading towards Demenn, who was still in the air, and swinging out with both hands. Demenn stuck his spear out with both hands and thought of nothing but lightening the blow. Then he saw that the attack was heading towards his head, however, and shifted the spear until his hands were very close, and held onto only the last foot or so of the spear. The pole hit that one foot, and instead of flying straight back, Demenn spun with the strength of the attack in midair, with his arms and torso going low and his feet kicking up. As he spun, he held his spear with both hands like a sword, giving all of his strength to a counter at Samael's face, but he felt a blow of air and Samael was once again out of reach.

  Demenn hit the ground, shuffled for a bit to regain balance, then held his position and began thinking furiously. 'I can't hit him like this, he moves so fast that I can barely follow him. How can he move that fast?' He expected Samael to attack him again, but he stood where he was and paced back and forth. Demenn wondered about this until he saw the small trail of blood on the stones between the two of them, and saw that he had cut a line in Samael's forehead. 'So his reaction is normal, he can just move amazingly fast…No, that cannot be it, because his hands and feet, while fast, are not so fast that I cannot avoid them, his body is what moves fast, like he has the wind behind him…' Demenn's mind shot back over the fight, and the thought suddenly hit him.

  Then Samael was flying towards him, and Demenn smiled despite his pain. He was right. Now he only needed to find some way to use this knowledge. 'His hands and feet are normal, it is just his movements.' He rolled forward, barely passing behind the vertical strike and going between Samael's legs, and stood as quickly as possible while stabbing behind him without looking, then quickly ducking and jumping back while in a crouch. He felt the wind of Samael's blade fly over his head as he launched himself back, and saw blood on his spear, although it was only on one side, so he only cut, rather than pierced.

  Samael did not fly back, but turned around slowly. "Very good Demenn, you've survived this long, and even wounded me twice with no such wounds yourself."

  "I do not think that I could survive two hits from you," Demenn could not help but notice. "But it is good to know why you are so fast."

  "Oh?" Samael looked amused.

  "Yes, it is your wings right?"

  Samael rewarded him with a beaming smile. "Yep, they are special to me, and even though I can't fly with them, they do allow me to move very quickly for short amounts of time, and to leap very fast."

  "Very nice to know."

  "Yes, and that's not all, these horns are special to me as well." Samael indicated his head. "You'll notice that you can only dodge my strikes, and not follow my movement. So what happens if I combine the two?"

  He did not wait for a reply, but tucked his head back, lifted his wings in a way he had not done before, since he had nothing to hide, and shot forward.

  Demenn gasped as, before he even knew it, he was being flown back, and two spiraling horns were imbedded in his side while another was in his leg. He had his spear in between Samael's head and his body, but that had been there before, and was not a product of anything he had done. He knew without thinking that Samael's aim was to launch him into the wall, so also without thinking he used all of his strength to shove himself away from his spear and off of the horns. He barely had any time, so he simply shoved himself off and over, let go of his spear with one hand, and let himself fall to the ground. A moment later, Samael smashed into a pillar, and his horns shot into the rock with a sound that made teeth grind.

  Demenn hurt, and the fall did nothing to help him, but he had a feeling that he hurt far less than if he had let himself be rammed into the wall. He could feel where the three holes in him were, but he could not let that stop him. About the time he stood up Samael had torn his horns from the stone, and the two of them faced off.

  'Straight lines, straight lines. He moves so fast it has to be in straight lines.' Demenn's mind sped with thoughts. 'So all I need to see is him disappear to know where he is going when he is ramming me so-'

  His thoughts were forced to stop when Samael stopped and picked up his wings. Right as he did, Demenn stuck his spear in front of him horizontally, in a block, and closed his eyes. For half of a moment, which seemed like a full minute to Demenn, he heard and felt nothing, but he waited, his senses at their peak. The time began to feel like an hour to him, but then he felt pressure on his spear, and at that very moment he shot his feet into the air. It was only a fraction of another second before his arms and body were carried behind him with the strength of Samael's charge, and his feet slapped down, onto Samael's back. He let go of his spear with one hand once again, but then he grabbed it instantaneously, and as he fell back he dragged the serrated edge of his spear along the limb of Samael's right wing.

  At first nothing could be seen, but then in seconds the movement of Samael's wings could be seen, and once they were visible, he beat them twice more before his flight stuttered and he jerked violently. One more beat, and the right wing snapped off, spewing blood over the stones, and Samael went spinning out of control. His haphazard flight lasted only a few more moments, though, before he hit a wall with the side of his body, and Demenn flinched involuntarily as he heard the sickening crunch that erupted.

  In all honesty, Demenn did not think that Samael would stand up after that impact, which had lef
t large splashes of blood all over the courtyard and a silhouette on the wall. At the same time, he was hardly surprised when Samael clambered to his feet and turned back around with his pole dangling from one hand. What did surprise him, however, was that Samael's almost ever present, smile was replaced with a mask of rage. Something on his face told Demenn that Samael was not longer completely in control, and that Demenn would have to be far more careful than before. When Samael let out a yell that shook his eardrums, the thought was completely confirmed.

  Again, that feeling that he should be running stood strong in his mind, but he knew that, even if he wanted to, with his wounded leg he would not make it very far. So instead he stood his ground as the giant vampire ran towards him with speed that exceeded anything he could do himself, but that seemed slow compared to the almost-instantaneous movements before. Thankfully, in his state of rage, he was being very transparent, as his arms were held high, indicating a vertical attack.

  Demenn held his spear out in a high horizontal block, but when Samael swung down, he shifted one hand closer to the other, which slanted his spear, and the blow, to the side while taking out all resistance. He spun his hands over his head and tucked in his right leg while swinging his spear back to slash into Samael's stomach. As he had predicted, Samael's blow slid harmlessly to the ground, but after Demenn struck him, he realized his mistake. He had been so used to Samael leaping back at every attack that he had become used to it, and had unconsciously expected it to happen. As it was, he was too close, and Samael gave him no time to recover.