District 42-Chapter 179: Regaining confidence
Casper raised his guard as well, to protect himself. In the meantime, during all that scene, he had drawn his knife stealthily, and he was ready for any approach that those people could make.
The Sgails didn’t wait even for one more second after the confirmation of Leonel. After he finished his statement, just the time to hold their breaths was given.
Casper kept waiting until a hand appeared on his peripheral vision. His heart throbbed when he noticed the speed behind that attack.
Barely being hit, the soldier put his forearm in position and changed the course of the punch with that. If he delayed to parry the enemy’s hand for a millisecond more, he would surely be caught in that attack.
Right after, he felt a sudden pain in his left arm and instinctively leaped to the side. Just when he had parried the first attack, another came in sequence hitting his arm. But it wasn’t a punch, the wound that it left just could belong to a sharp thing.
The soldier charged an attack to counter them before they could follow with more aggressivity and left him cornered and helpless. Since he was in a battle with three people at once, it would be three times as bad to be caught at their pace. He needed to, at least, maintain the battle even, so he could find more openings there.
He could swing the knife he was wielding, making them retreat some steps, but they avoided it easily.
Casper, though, didn’t have a second chance to continue attacking. He heard a very low and not natural noise behind him. He decided to trust his senses and instincts, turning his body at once and facing what was possibly coming.
What appeared in his sight was the edge of a blade that would pierce his eye in a matter of seconds. Fortunately, the soldier wasn’t a beginner, and his hands were still raised, protecting his body, and ready for a counterattack.
He positioned the blade of his knife right beside his eye. The blade of his attacker collided with it and passed directly, metal scraping metal. It was so intense and quick that sparks came out of it.
Casper followed quickly with a counterattack, his blade made quickly its course, also aiming his eye, but missing for inches and just scratching the side of his mask.
The White warrior retrieved, giving his back to the wall opposite of the Whiteboard, looking to his attackers with his guard up, and his grip tightened on the knife.
"I am truly amazed, and yet frightened, by their coordination. They rushed at the same time, yet could vary their rhythm to catch me at three different times. I don’t even know how I could get off from there with just a cut on my left arm."
He was proud of himself, and also relieved. He thought that, when the time to fight came, his mind would go blank and he wouldn’t be able to react, but in the end, he could go through it.
"My ankle is completely fine, which means that the doctor did it alright. I am still trembling because of the fight, and it is not usual, but that’s way better than I thought it would be!"
As long as Casper kept analyzing his performance, he also started to gain more confidence. His insecurity was vanishing, and he was sure that it would be advantageous for that fight.
"I don’t know what’s up with these guys, nor the reason as to why they are attacking me, but it doesn’t seem to be an execution... They aren’t going at full throttle against me."
The Sgails were sliding their feet through there, disposing themselves in front of Casper again. They were taking a good distance from each other, and their movements seemed to be synchronized. Their steps didn’t do any noise, nor their breaths, or clothes.
The soldier hated to admit it, but they seemed to be even more competent than him.
One of them suddenly kicked the ground and shortened the distance so quickly that Casper even gasped in surprise. Before, he was without anything on his hands, but now the White warrior could glimpse the weak gleam of a blade in his hands.
The blade was aimed to his throat this time, and he bowed his body backward, in a quick movement, avoiding the first attack, then a second, third, and fourth.
He was going to counterattack but needed to reverse his movement to stop the knife of another Sgail assaulting him. Again, the soldier waved his body backward, and to the sides, the knives’ blade nearly touching his skin.
Once one of them tried to aim at his face again, he ducked, getting closer to him quickly and hugging his waist, using all his strength to lift the person and throw him on the ground.
He didn’t wait to see if it worked or not and turned again, sure that the third Sgail would be already bursting towards him, and he was right.
Another attack came, one that he couldn’t dodge without being scratched in the nose. This Sgail drew a second knife in his left hand and continued to press forward. Soon, another one was trying to hit Casper on his right flank, and the soldier was having to dodge two people at once.
Casper was in a pinch there and was trying to think of a way to overcome it before the third could come along and turn things even more difficult.
His time was nearly over since he was sure to have glanced the third Sgail getting up from the ground.
Casper couldn’t run anywhere in that small room, and it was difficult to move along there without too much space to take advantage of. That table turned things to be even harsh for him.
"What should I do? Think!" He was going crazy with the desperation to find another way around.
"I can’t see any openings to counterattack them. I am completely cornered here. If I try to do something with just one of them, then the other will take advantage of it to finish me... I can’t wait forever for an opening either... It would be easier if I was dual-wielding blade..." The soldier’s eyes lit up once he had this last thought.
He looked to the Sgail in front of him who was using two knives at the same time.
When he saw the opportunity he didn’t lose time. Instead of dodge his attack, or then parry hitting his forearm, Casper used a different approach.
Once the knife swung in towards him, the soldier didn’t put his arm or hand to stop the Sgail’s attack but gave a counterattack about at the same time as him.
As his enemy was the one in advantage and was doing a flurry of blows, he needed to economize in strength and stamina.
Casper also needed to do it, since dodge was also a tiring thing, but not as much as keep launching and missing blows. In this case, he could go at full speed and everything would be just fine. Because of it, his attack was way faster than his enemy’s. 𝐟𝚛𝕖𝚎𝕨𝗲𝐛𝚗𝐨𝐯𝐞𝕝.𝐜𝗼𝗺
His knife drew an arc in the air quickly and struck the blade of the Sgail, making it fly off his hand.
"It worked! Now, be quick!" He dodged one more attack from the opponent on his flank, and then charged forward, chasing after the knife spinning in middle-air.
The Sgail he threw on the ground got up and was preparing himself for more fight but was bumped by the White warrior, falling again.
Casper stepped on top of the table getting in range to take the knife before it fell on the ground.
He adjusted his grip on it, and raised his guard again, looking between his hands to the three Sgails below him.
They were looking back, kind of impressed by his last performance, but with an air of superiority, like they could do it as well, and even better.
The battle came to a stop again, the Sgails didn’t seem to have lost as much stamina as Casper supposed they would after that assault. They were breathing heavily, but the soldier was worse.
"That’s a reminder of how useless you became after all those days inside Halden..." He thought, displeased.
The White warrior started at the trio, looking at them rounding the table carefully. Whenever one tried to approach Casper, he would intimidate them with feints.
"You all better stay away from here..." Now, he was looking at that battle more as a competition than a fight for survival.
Casper was pretty sure that he wouldn’t die there and that the strange fight they picked with him was merely a test.
Once the Sgails stopped at their places, the environment got heavy and tense again. Both parts knew that something was going to happen, and it would be soon.
Casper closed his guard even more, frowning, and gazing seriously at that trio.
Then, he heard a giggle.
