The Villain's Sword Is Sharp

"You must've been mistaken. Demonic rituals sap lifeforce from creatures – something that'd gone through a ritual couldn't possibly move. Besides, look at it. It's a skeleton."

Johan immediately dismissed her claims, but Abbie wasn't so sure. She was quite confident she'd seen properly, so she decided to check it out. She approached the skeleton with 2 long strides, and it was as still as a statue. She slowly began to doubt herself, and she walked right up to get a closer look. Yep, it was completely–

The skeleton's tail flicked upwards, then slashed towards Abbie like a scythe.

She flung herself to the floor, narrowly ducking under the bone tail – locks of hair floated down after being cut by the tail. Abbie rolled away and got back to her feet. The other 2 immediately got into guarded positions and they faced off against the wolf skeleton.

Abbie's back was in tremendous pain after that defensive manoeuvre and she tried her best to retreat. Eva stepped in front of her and activated her Palms of Northern Frost Anima. Her hands were covered in a paper-thin layer of ice as she squared up against the wolf. Johan and Abbie stood behind her, ready to provide support.

"This wasn't in the plan."

Johan spoke the obvious and Eva gave a swift reply,

"Get out of the den and meet up with Isaac. I'll delay this thing and then follow you."

Johan and Abbie didn't object. Both nodded in agreemenet but Abbie offered some words of assurance,

"Keep close behind us and stay safe – thank you."

Eva didn't respond; she was too focused on the skeleton wolf. The two began exchanging moves, while Johan and Abbie ran.

They made it to the edge of the chamber and reached the passage which led towards the surface – but then they stopped in their tracks. Rows of human skeletons filled the passageway. Abbie panicked. She raised a snow wall to block the passageway and then retreated with Johan, but they had nowhere to retreat to!

The sounds of battle reminded Abbie they were trapped with the Sarcevic Wolf skeleton. Eva was handling it for now, but there was no telling how long she'd last. Meanwhile, Isaac was probably still wandering through the forest – they couldn't count on his assistance either.

They had to trust Eva with their backs while they dealt with the wave of skeletons.

The snow wall shook as the skeletons pounded on it. Then, suddenly, the top part of it collapsed. However, that wasn't because it had been destroyed – Abbie had deliberately got rid of it and modified the wall to become chest-height.

A skeleton began to climb over, but *Bam* an icicle crashed right into its bare skull, causing cracks to spread outwards. The skeleton didn't stop though. It continued climbing and was nearly over the wall. Then another icicle came flying. It struck to the right of the first and that part of the skull was destroyed.

The skeleton's cranium caved inwards and it fell apart into a pile of bones. The bones clattered as they dropped to the floor but Johan wasn't listening. He was already firing icicles at the next skeletons in line. His shots sailed over the wall and struck their targets.

Some shots bounced off the hard skulls while other times it took 3, 4 or 5 shots to kill a skeleton. Sometimes Johan missed the target, or only hit the chest. He was already having trouble holding the skeletons off, but then things only got worse... without warning, a small creature leapt cleanly over the wall. It charged towards the duo, but was stopped when Abbie created another wall.

The wolf skeleton circumnavigated the wall, but it had been delayed and Johan had time to prepare for it. He dispatched the creature with 2 shots to the head. Then he released a salvo at the oncoming skeletons to keep them at bay.

After he dealt with them, there was a moment of silence. The pair had a few precious seconds of respite and Johan thought to himself, 'Thankfully it was just a normal wolf, not a wild beast like the Sarcevic Wolf skeleton – otherwise we would have been goners.'

Just as his was counting his blessings, he heard something that made his blood run cold. There was a stampede of weird pitter-patter footsteps coming from the passageway. Then a whole brigade of wolf skeletons charged forwards...

*************************

Just a few metres behind the other 2, Eva also had her hands full. The Sarcevic Wolf was a menace when it was alive, and it was still a menace now that it was dead. She lacked a movement Anima so she struggled to keep up with the agile beast and had been hit twice already. Also, the Palms of Northern Frost Anima specialised in freezing flesh and blood – it had little effect on the wolf's bones.

Eva desperately tried to form a battle plan but she couldn't think of anything. Her thoughts were interrupted as the wolf lunged towards her.

Normally Eva would try to trade blows, but that tactic was doomed to fail; she would take far more damage than she would deal. This forced her to change her fighting style.

Instead of fighting back aggressively, Eva began to dodge passively and look for an opportunity to counter. This combat method really didn't suit her and she slowly lost control of the battle.

She ducked a claw swipe then moved back to avoid a bite. Then she targeted the skeleton's head with both hands, but it spun around and attacked with its tail. Eva had to retreat again but the tail still grazed her. It cut a thin line across her midriff and she began bleeding lightly.

Nevertheless, there was no pain in Eva's expression – only focus and icy determination. She knew she needed to turn the battle around or her defeat would be inevitable. She decided it was time to take some risks.

The wolf pounced towards her again, leading with its bony claws. Eva didn't faulter. She slipped towards the left, avoiding the claws by a hair's breadth. Dodging so narrowly meant she was still within arm's reach of the beast as it flew past. She pushed out her palms and made contact with the wolf's flank. One palm hit it in the side, while the other made contact with the hip joint.

Both areas froze. The wolf's bones were covered in small ice crystals, but they didn't seem to affect it much. It turned around and got ready to attack Eva again. However, there was a slight difference in its behaviour. Eva didn't notice, but the wolf was stiffening up where its hip joint had been frozen. Its back right leg was slightly clunkier and less mobile.

It approached Eva slower this time, walking her down. Its empty eye sockets were eerie and soulless.

Eva waited for the wolf to approach. It lashed out with its right paw and she tried to execute the same strategy as before. However, she dodged too wide this time. She wasn't close enough to counterattack and the opportunity was wasted.

The wolf didn't give her time to rue the missed chance. It followed with a sweeping left paw and Eva was still slightly off-balance. She really struggled to evade the blow and her stance was broken even further. She stumbled back a step and wolf was on her like a shot.

It bared its vicious fangs and bit towards her face. Eva couldn't dodge, so she tried to grab it by the neck. Her left hand wrapped around its thin neck, but her right hand slipped off of the smooth bone. She tried to pull the wolf away, but its leap had too much momentum. She couldn't stop it with one hand.

Luckily, she managed to change the wolf's trajectory. Instead of biting her face, it only got a small piece of her shoulder. Meanwhile, Eva's hand was freezing the wolf's neck.

The wolf didn't care – it was dead anyway. It tried to get a better bite of Eva's shoulder but she grabbed its snout with her right hand, then she threw it to the floor. Eva quickly grasped her own shoulder and deliberately froze the wound. It took a lot of skill to do: freezing only the surface layer of tissue to stem the bleeding while avoiding frostbite by not freezing anything deeper.

Eva was currently in an extreme state of focus – she was at the peak of concentration and things that might normally have been difficult became possible for her now. The wolf attacked again and she dodged it neatly. There was an opening, and Eva struck towards the skeleton's spine.

However, the wolf had other ideas. It lowered its body in an attempt to dodge Eva's strike. Eva hastily changed the attack's direction but she could only deal a glancing blow. Then the wolf swept around with its whip-like tail and Eva jumped to avoid her ankles getting slashed.

The wolf swiped while she was in the air and it looked like she couldn't dodge. However, Eva pushed off the low ceiling and avoided the attack.

Just when she thought she was out of danger, Eva heard a shout,

"Dodge!"

But the cry was too late, and an icicle pierced the back of her shoulder.