The scroll erupted into several white beams of light which spread out across the field. Everything they touched exploded. A beam hit a bandit blowing a hole the size of a basketball in his chest straight through his armor. The ground they hit exploded into flaming pieces of dirt and stone, kicking up large amounts of dust.
Rinero dodged a beam which was headed straight to him and faced Krieger yet he was nowhere to be found. Rinero searched around, yet even using his keenest battle instincts could not search out the man through the dusty and flaming field. Suddenly a longsword came swinging through the dust which Rinero ducked under and countered with a saber swing followed up by a dagger thrust.
These attacks hit nothing but another sword swing came from Rinero's left which he dodged, then a thrust from behind which Rinero sidestepped. Around Rinero sword swing and thrusts came from around him by Krieger, yet he could not find the man in the dust cloud around him.
Another thrust came from in front of Rinero which Rinero leaped at with his saber and dagger ready to strike. He came through the fading dust cloud to find Krieger in front of him. Krieger's blade smashed into Rinero's side, bouncing off his armor sending him staggering left.
Krieger followed up with another swing bashing into Rinero and then thrusted with his blade which broke through Rinero's armor and punctured one of his lungs. Rinero staggered back, dropping his weapons and crumpling to the ground.
He coughed up blood, struggling hard to breath and quickly losing consciousness.
"Oh god, OH GOD OH GOD OH GOD OH NO! I'm gonna die! Why here why now? That bastard Zetarnu and his quest. Even if I didn't go Dunstrik would have been raided by the Black Dagger Bandits and I would have been killed anyways. Why me, why must I die. NO DAM IT I REFUSE TO DIE!" thought Rinero.
In this moment of desperation a cage opened within Rinero's mind releasing a great and terrible beast, one hidden in the dark depths of his mind. A beast which was awoken when Rinero first killed a man and only now has been fully released. Primal instincts overrode Rinero's fading consciousness making it go blank. Rinero's eyes went blood red.
Rinero quickly grabbed his weapons and dashed toward Krieger while shouting and snarling like a rabid animal. Krieger lifted his shield in surprise, watching a man bounce back from a fatal wound like nothing. Rinero's blades came crashing down on him with twice the speed and strength than before.
Krieger tried to go on the offensive but Rinero's blade were far too swift and far too fast. Sword and shield bashed against saber and dagger in a savage exchange of blows. Sparks flew in the air as the two men fought, each of them one misstep away from being shredded to pieces by their opponent.
Krieger's blade slashed Rinero's right cheek and Rinero's saber slashed open Krieger's left side, ripping through his chainmail. The two dashed away from each other creating distance. Rinero vomited blood and wiped the crimson from his lips with his sleeve.
"Dam it! Who the hell is this guy. I gave him a lethal wound and he just bounced back like nothing stronger than ever. His eyes are red and his strength like a bear, he fights like he is possessed. This power is almost like vice-commander Fangrim's berserker ability." thought Krieger.
Rinero snarled like a wolf and stared at the wounded Krieger with his blood red eyes, then smiled. Rinero slowly advanced towards Krieger with a sadistic smile on his face. He made feints and was snickering as he advanced towards Krieger.
Krieger was on the the defensive, his shield raised and his sword prepared to thrust.
"He must have the blood of the berserker with the way he fights! I can't go on the offensive against him so I'll wait for him to lower his guard during his attack and strike swiftly," thought Krieger as he slowly backed away.
It all happened in a flash.
Rinero dashed forwards with lightning speed weapons flashing through the air. Krieger blocked and parried through the first onslaught but was caught off guard by a kick from Rinero to the shield. Krieger staggered back and raised his shield to defend against the charging Rinero who had his blades down.
Krieger thrusted with his sword and the fully exposed Rinero but was a millisecond too late and the attack was dodged. Krieger felt the saber go through his armor and body and hit his heart.
"What! My shield was lifted and I attacked with my sword!" thought Krieger.
Krieger looked at the blade that had been stuck in his body and realized what happened.
"THE CURVE! He used the curve of his saber to thrust and get around my shield. I'm sorry Commander Yegar, I have failed you."
Rinero drew the blade from his body and unleashed a storm of slashes. Krieger's body was ripped to bloody pieces. Blood sprayed and flesh flew as Rinero's strength ripped through armor like nothing. By the time Rinero's attack was over Krieger had been reduced to a pile of severed limbs and shattered bones mixed with broken plates of armor and rings of chainmail.
Rinero crouched over the body and picked up a piece of flesh and took a bite out of it. The wounds on Rinero's body healed as he tore through flesh and slurped blood. He was operating entirely off primal, savage instincts, those locked away until the hour of absolute desperation when a man's sanity and reason runs dry and is replaced by the need to survive.
After feasting on Krieger's body and regenerating all his wounds Rinero stood up. As the adrenalin from battle faded from his body his eyes faded back into his regular black. His blank consciousness slowly returned, like when waking up after a long sleep.
His memories of the last 10 seconds were hazy, an almost incomprehensible red blur. The last thing he remembered was him laying on the ground dying.
"My wounds are gone, and I feel full even though I have not eaten in several hours. What the hell happened!" thought Rinero.
Rinero looked around him, he saw Krieger's mauled body, then he saw the wounded Lazarus surrounded by eight dead bodies. He looked behind him to see Simon slowly get up as he healed himself. Rinero then saw that the wagon had been destroyed by the scroll Krieger used leaving only the horses grazing the blood stained grass.
He was incredibly confused, how on earth did he go from dying on the ground to now all of a sudden be standing over the shredded body of his opponent. His mouth was filled with a sick, sweet, iron like taste. All he remembered from the last 10 seconds were survive, kill, and red.
Simon approached awkwardly due to his broken glasses while glowing with his healing blessings.
"Looks like we won Simon," said Rinero.
"Somehow. Anyways we should get to healing up the others, mainly Zetarnu and Noname," said Simon.
"Right."
Rinero searched around the bloody field for healing potions. He found one unbroken in the ruins of the wagon. He then got a few small vials of healing potion from the bodies of the bandits. Rinero poured the potions into the open mouths of Zetarnu and Noname's unconscious bodies. This combined with Simon's healing blessings brought back the two to full health.
When the two awoke Rinero quickly informed them of what happened since they were knocked out.
"Hey Lazarus get over here!" shouted Zetarnu.
Everybody looked over to where Lazarus was who was running away. Lazarus slowly looked over to Zetarnu while slowly backing up. Zetarnu then raised his hand which was in a snapping position. Lazarus dropped his head then reluctantly walked over to the group which had gathered into a circle.
"That's right good boy, come over here," said Zetarnu with a wide grin on his face.
Lazarus tried his absolute hardest not to draw his blade in anger and joined the circle.
"Now then let us discuss how we will proceed on our quest under these new, rather unfortunate circumstances," said Zetarnu. "Our most immediate concerns are how will we now travel and how will we bring our supplies with us."
"We could take the bandit's horses, I took enemy horses plenty of times during my time as a mercenary," suggested Simon.
"That is a good idea,"
"We can take supplies from the dead bandits to. They had plenty of nice weapons, potions, cloths, and armor," said Rinero.
"The bandits had backpacks with them to didn't they," said Simon.
"Then I guess its settled. We travel on horseback with bandit supplies. Noname wrangle us some horses and the rest of you take what you can carry off the bandits. I'll scavenge what I can from the wagon with the assistance of Lazarus," said Zetarnu.
They all went to their tasks. Rinero immediately went to Krieger's body to retrieve his stolen tournament money. He searched Krieger's body and got the chest, he then kicked Krieger's head like a soccer ball.
"That's what you get for taking my money fucker," said Rinero.
Rinero and Simon were able to get some new armor by scavenging, Simon equipping himself with a black kettle helmet, some gauntlets, and a chainmail hauberk over his priest robes while Rinero got a steel breastplate to replace his ruined brigandine, some gloves and also got Krieger's sallet which was in surprisingly good condition.
"I might be sacrificing speed with all this new metal armor but I'll need some good protection if I'm going against these powerful guys," thought Rinero.
The two also got some beast hide capes and nice leather boots which had steel plate attached to them. All in all they were now quite well protected though they now looked like bandits themselves in the scavenged gear. Rinero ran around jumping and swinging his blades testing the new weight of the armor while Simon sat recalling his mercenary days while looking at the carnage around him and feeling the familiar weight of a kettle helm an his head and chainmail on his body.
"Father Simon I thought you might want to have this," said Noname as he brought Simon his scavenged briefcase which was in good shape.
"Thank you Noname," responded the thankful Simon as he took the briefcase.
Simon crouched down and opened it and withdrew a steel flask. He took a long drink from the flask, closed his eyes, and slowly exhaled.
"Whisky my faithful friend, you always help me forget," thought Simon.
Simon put back the flask and withdrew a new pair of glasses from the briefcase and put them on. Rinero and Simon got to scavenging the dead bandits for supplies. They got some nice backpacks and filled them with small potions, pouches of dried foods, and flasks of water and alcohol. They brought them to the rest of the group who had also finished their scavenging.
None of the others got themselves armor but Noname got a hatchet, Zetarnu a short sword, and Lazarus got a knife. They all also got many supplies and additionally got some coins. They all decided to put the money into the Zetarnu's magic black bag including Rinero's tournament money.
Noname had the horses which they quickly mounted and they set off back on track under the golden rising sun and indigo skies.