My right arm just completly locked up on me.
This sick, blinding cramp shot from my shoulder all the way down to my fingers.
I yelled out—sounded pretty pathetic, honestly—and dropped hard to one knee.
It felt like someone hooked a vacuum directly into my veins.
The skin on my palm literally tore open.
Wasn't a huge cut, but shit, it hurt.
Then thick, black-red blood started spraying out, mixing with this sudden burst of black smoke.
My head was spinning from the pain. I just sat there staring like an idiot as my blood and the smoke mashed together.
It was hardening right in mid-air.
Took like two seconds for the bloody mist to turn into an ugly, heavy iron sword hilt.
The blade dropped downward.
So that was the price. Not gold or whatever. It was using my actual life.
Great.
My fingers were shaking so bad and covered in my own blood.
I barely managed to grab the cold iron before that demon girl was right on top of me again.
But I actually had a weapon this time.
And I was so, so mad.
I didn't even think.
My body just jerked, swinging the heavy sword up to block her.
CLANG!
Sparks went flying everywhere. The impact almost knocked the sword right out of my slippery grip.
My whole arm rattled, but I didn't drop it.
Her red eyes went wide for like, half a second. She definitely didn't think I'd block that.
She hissed at me, jumped back, and then just... blurred.
She got way faster.
I couldn't even track her properly, she was just this jagged shadow darting around looking for a way to stab me in the back.
I spun around, awkwardly deflecting a hit to my ribs.
I stumbled and ducked a slash that almost took my ear off.
In the panic, I just blindly thrust my sword forward, hoping to hit something.
I missed her completely.
But the edge caught the leather thing strapped across her chest.
Riiip.
The fabric just tore right off. So now her chest was basically exposed.
For any normal guy, or the absolute idiot I was ten minutes ago, that would've been it.
Game over.
I mean, it was distracting as hell.
And the worst part? She knew it.
She didn't try to cover up or anything.
She actually used it. She stopped moving so fast.
Just stepped right up into the dim light, letting me see everything.
Her red eyes locked onto mine, and this heavy, disgusting wave of magic just hit me.
She gambled that my dumb male brain would short-circuit my survival instinct.
And for a second... fuck, she was right.
My mind went totally empty.
The sword in my hand felt too heavy to hold. My gaze drifted down.
I was just staring at her skin like an idiot. That sweet, sick fog slammed right back into my head, way worse than before.
Because of the haze, I didn't even see her hand moving. I totally missed her curved blade sneaking up to slice my stomach open.
I was seriously about to die. Gutted like a fish because I was too busy staring at boobs.
But then something flashed in my head.
That stupid iron carriage.
My dad, smiling with that greedy look as he took the coins. Selling me.
My fingers twitched, remembering the pain of those pliers ripping my nails out. The feeling of falling into this black pit.
I got sold out by my own family. I was tortured. I'd literally walked through hell today. I am not dying to some cheap magic trick.
I didn't think twice.
I just clamped my teeth down hard on my own tongue. Like, as hard as I physically could.
My teeth went right into the muscle. The pain was ridiculous.
A mouthful of hot, gross metalic blood filled my mouth. I almost threw up, but the sharp pain worked.
It broke the spell.
The foggy feeling just vanished. I blinked, my eyes watering, but I could finally see straight.
Her blade was maybe two inches from my gut.
With a mouthful of blood, I didn't even try to dodge.
I knew I'd be too slow.
So I just twisted my body and swung my heavy ass sword as hard as I could in a sloppy horizontal arc.
SPLASH!
The sound was... ew. Wet and gross.
I didn't even hit her weapon.
My sword just bypassed her gaurd completely and hacked straight into her wrist.
The heavy iron crunched through bone and muscle like it was nothing.
She let out this horrible, screeching noise that actually hurt my ears.
Her hand—still holding the knife—flew through the air and hit the dirt.
Thick dark blood just sprayed everywhere from her stump, getting all over my face and clothes.
She fell backward, grabbing her arm, screaming her lungs out in the dark.
I just stood there panting. All that magic beauty crap?
Gone.
As she rolled around in the dirt, her face got all twisted up. She looked ugly now. Feral.
The monster underneath the fake hot girl mask.
I leaned over and spit a glob of blood onto the rocks.
My hands were shaking so bad I could barely hold the sword.
My cheek was bleeding.
My tongue throbbed like crazy, and I was so tired I felt like I was gonna pass out.
But looking down at her, I gripped the handle tighter.
I wasn't scared of her anymore. The kid crying in the cage earlier was gone.
I just wanted to live. Whatever it took.
(Author's note : Welcome to all the new readers If you like the dark world of " The shadow of vessel" don't forget to save it in your library. My full effort will be to update a new chapter every day. If you like this help drop your Power Stones! Thank you for reading! )