34 – Life or Death

Jonny had been in many fights, but he had only been unfortunate enough to fight someone with a weapon twice. Well, three times, if you counted the one where he died. In both of those first two fights, though, Jonny had a distinct size and skill advantage, and he was able to overpower his opponent without suffering anything more than superficial cuts. This time, he was outsized, and while he didn’t doubt his skill, from the other man’s demeanor and the way he held the knife, he knew what he was doing.

Jonny was both excited and apprehensive. Excited because he was finally getting a chance at a real fight again, and apprehensive because he knew this would be unlike anything he had done before. This was a life or death battle, and he was at a disadvantage, and unlike when he fought the primaboar, he had no clue how big that disadvantage was.

I’m not in the octagon, he told himself. There are no rules.

The man casually deflected another bolt of mana from Marianne, and stepped closer, holding his knife at the ready. Marianne continued trying to shield Jonny, but Jonny took a silent step to the left behind her, giving him a clear path to the assassin. Whether the assassin saw him or not, Jonny didn’t know. The mask completely covered his eyes. It didn’t matter. Jonny didn’t need to see his eyes to predict his movements.

Marianne fired another futile spell, and this time, instead of deflecting, the assassin ducked underneath and darted forward with his blade drawn. Marianne flinched and cringed backward, but the blade was not aimed at her. It was aimed at Jonny.

Jonny was ready. The attack was fast, but he had been mentally preparing for it to be faster, and was able to leap to the side and out of the way of the strike. This caught the assassin completely off guard. He had clearly not been expecting Jonny to even know the strike was coming, and he didn’t see Marianne as a threat, so he had gone all in on his attack, throwing himself off balance.

The assassin tried to pull back, and while he was fast, he was out of position. Before he could pull his lead leg away, Jonny stepped forward and delivered a powerful left-legged roundhouse kick to the man’s calf. He went beyond the Igrette-approved mana allotment, up to about 25% of his capacity, and he could feel it straining his muscles, but it was still doable. His body could handle that much, at least for a little while.

The assassin hissed in pain, and swiped downward with his knife, but Jonny was already dancing backward, well outside the man’s range. Marianne shouted something, but Jonny didn’t hear what she said. He was completely in the zone. As a fighter on a big stage, he couldn’t afford to be distracted by the audience, and had mastered the art of tuning out anything not directly related to his current fight. His vision was tunneled on his opponent, and the only other thing he was aware of was Marianne’s position.

He doesn’t actually want to hurt her, he realized.

Jonny was the obvious target, but it looked like the man wasn’t lying when he said that Marianne wasn’t. And Sister Eliza was probably still alive, just like the man said. Jonny thought that seemed weird, since even if Marianne was weak, she was still a witness and an enemy. He filed that information away for later, though, as he didn’t have time to think about the reasoning in the middle of a fight.

The assassin looked down at Jonny, and while his face was unreadable, his body language was clearly more cautious. He was smart enough not to show how much Jonny’s kick had hurt him, but just from the way he was holding his weight, Jonny knew his leg couldn’t be feeling good.

Jonny’s confidence was bolstered by the fact that he was able to hurt the other man, but he didn’t let it get to his head. His opponent was still a trained assassin with a weapon, and Jonny was still in the body of a five year old.

He and the assassin regarded each other with caution for a second or two until Marianne tried to step between them.

“Stay back!” he snapped. “You’re in the way!”

Marianne stopped moving, frozen in panic and confusion.

“Out of the way, girl,” said the assassin. “You’re just going to get yourself hurt.”

“I– I–”

“Support me from behind,” said Jonny.

Without giving her any time to process or respond, he ran past her, charging the knife-wielding man. He was ready for the charge, and thrust his blade forward, but Jonny dove to the side, rolling away and coming up on his feet. He raised his arms in a defensive stance, then felt a small trickle of warmth run down his cheek, followed by a drop of blood falling to the ground.

What? But didn’t I dodge–?

The assassin thrust his knife forward again. He was not close enough to Jonny for the knife to actually hit, but this time, Jonny was paying enough attention to sense the mana. His eyes widened, and he barely sidestepped in time for the blade of pure mana to slide right past his neck.

Oh. Right. Magic.

The man thrust his left hand forward, and a much wider wall of mana flew at Jonny. He braced himself, but was still thrown back, and the assassin followed up by dashing forward with the knife again. Jonny ended up in pure escape mode, rolling backward, then diving to the side to avoid the assault. He got backed into the corner of the hallway, and got another cut on his shoulder as he rolled out of the way.

The assassin attacked a half dozen more times, and all Jonny could do was keep running and rolling. He was barely dodging, and sometimes, he failed to dodge entirely, and would get a small cut, or get hit by a larger wall of mana. He suspected that if he wasn’t child-sized, he probably would have died already. The only thing saving him was that he was a small target.

I can’t keep doing this.

His opponent had an extreme range advantage that Jonny couldn’t hope to compete with. Even before the assassin started using spells, Jonny already knew he needed to get in close, but now that was even more important. Just like when he fought Tommy, he needed to find a way to get his hands on the man, and unlike when he fought Tommy, waiting until he ran out of mana wasn’t an option. These weren’t light wind spells and snowballs. Every glancing blow made him bleed, and a single clean strike would mean death.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

Jonny rolled away from another mana blade, and this time, instead of coming up facing the assassin, he turned away and ran, pushing mana into his legs to launch himself down the hallway. He went right past a shocked Marianne, silently apologizing. He was intentionally using her as a shield, betting that the assassin would go around her. Even if he went through, it would buy him a bit of time, but he would rather that didn’t happen.