Arc 3 - Arrogance

Ikarus dodges the man's approach and when he is inches away he hits him on his right knee, a crack sounds and the man falls to the ground with a cry of pain.

"AAAAHHHHHHHHH! My leg!!!"

The shinobi ignores the man's screams and punches him in the face, knocking him out. Ikarus does not know who these men are, he has never seen them before in his time in Westeros. But if he knows what they are: bandits.

`Scum. They are scum. There is no need of being merciful`

Bandits in this world, and any other world, are the worst kind of criminals. They are a mixture of murderers, rapists and thieves.

`Three in one` Ikarus sneered.

He is outnumbered, the Senju is not planning to hold back. When he fought the guards he didn't want to kill or maim them, so he held back a lot.

The group of bandits look at their fallen comrade with shock on their faces, but the shock soon turns to anger. They are determined to make this brat suffer.

"Damn bastard!"

"You will pay for that!"

"No one messes with the Bloodbrothers!"

Three bandits lunge at him.

He blocks a swordsman's slash but has to jump to the side to avoid another bandit's axe. Not allowing him to catch a breath, another bandit tries to stab him with a spear. Dodging the spear he feels a deep pain in his right leg.

"Ouch!" He screams in pain and looks to the ground, sees a stone.

He quickly ducked and dodged another stone, the slingers are peppering him with stones!

The blow didn't break the bone but-

`Hurts a lot!`

He grits his teeth.

His mobility is quite reduced.

When a bandit armed with a spear tries to stab him in the side Ikarus jumps dodging, not giving the bandit time to react he stabs him in the stomach with his sword.

Ikarus watches as his blade slides with unexpected ease through the bandit's leather breastplate and into his stomach, piercing flesh like butter.

Time seems to have stopped as the shinobi looks at his sword stuck in the bandit's stomach, looks up and stares straight into the man's eyes.

`He has brown eyes,` he observes absently.

As the man starts vomiting blood time seems to thaw.

Ikarus pulls the sword out of the man's stomach and moves quickly, avoiding another bandit's axe blow.

`2 down`

His sword collides with the sword of another bandit, both caught in the struggle. Ikarus drops one hand from the sword and uses it to catch a rock that was aimed at his face, then throws the rock at the slinger.

The rock crashes into his face with its hideous crack, the bandit falls to the ground with a bloody face.

`3 down`

With the same hand he punches the swordsman in front of him, breaking his jaw and knocking him out.

`4 down`

Ikarus feels confident, he woke up surrounded by bandits, outnumbered and still he is winning.

Apart from the blow to his leg, he is unharmed.

He smirked as he kicked another bandit in the chest, breaking his ribs and sending him flying several meters.

`5 down`

"He is a monster!"

"An abomination!"

The other bandits spit in his direction and curse him in a thousand different ways.

Two bandits lunge at him head-on, both holding swords aloft. Ikarus swings the sword horizontally and stops both strikes. As the two men struggle Ikarus grins at them.

His physical strength is far superior to that of two men.

"Problem? Can't you outmatch a boy?" Ikarus taunts them.

He feels the hairs on his neck rise but lost in his arrogance he ignores his instincts.

FUUSSHHH

"Ouch!"

Ikarus screams in pain - he feels a prick in the back of his right shoulder, in the scapula. His grip on his sword loosens and he jumps to the side dodging the swordsman's slash-

FUSSSSSHHHH

"Ouch!"

He feels another prick, this time on his side.

He looks down and sees an arrow sticking out of his side.

`I've been shot...`

He looks through the trees but doesn't see the archer.

He barely dodges another two arrows. The bandits in front of him are attacking him continuously.

The slingers joined the action. Between arrows, stones and weapons Ikarus can barely keep dodging, and the pain of his wounds increases every second.

`This is bad- I can't win in these conditions, I have to escape`

He kicks the leg of one of the swordsmen and as he falls to the ground Ikarus runs into the trees.

With each passing step the burning sensation increases even more. He channels chakra into his legs, yet his speed does not increase much.

He hears the bandits chasing him.

"Come back here you cunt"

"Fucking coward!"

`Coward me? I wasn't the one who ambushed a kid with a fucking army!`

Ikarus ignores them and keeps running.

FUUSSSHHHH

He can barely dodge the arrow.

FUUSHHH

Another arrow, this time it's grazing his right leg.

"Shit!"

He feels that his speed decreases, his body feels heavier and taking each step costs him more.

But he is not going to give up.

`Please work!`

Ram

Boar

Ox

Dog

Snake

"Huh?"

"Where has that little shit gone?"

"Come on, look for him in the undergrowth, he can't be far away."

***

Standing on a tree branch a couple of meters up, Ikarus watches as the bandits try to find him.

Ikarus sits on the branch and assesses his condition. Two arrows stuck in his body, a nasty blow and a small cut on his right leg.

He feels a great pressure in the places where he has stuck arrows, the burning sensation increases even more, his vision begins to blur and he feels a strong throb in his head.

He struggles to stay conscious.

He is not going to give up.

He has to go home.

He promised Aemy that he would play with him.

He can't give up.

He grits his teeth and fights the pain.

***Ikarus POV

I see the sun, I feel its warmth.

So warm.

If I closed my eyes even for a moment.

Just a mome-

No!

I can not give up!

Hours have passed since the attack, the bandits have already left.

It's safe, I'm going down the tree.

I have to get home-

I walk among the trees, my steps wobbly.

|"Ikki, let's play hide and seek!"|

I keep walking.

|"Ikarus tell me Kaguya's story again.|

I keep walking.

|"Ikki you're not going to leave me like my mom did, are you?"|

I trip over a root and fall to the ground.

I close my eyes for a moment.

|"Ikarus wakes up."|

I open my eyes, I struggle to get up.

|"Come on Ikki, you can't give up!|

I get up and keep walking.

I keep walking.

And I keep walking.

I eventually close my eyes for a moment between steps.

I can't reopen them.

Sorry Amy, Jenny.

I succumb to the darkness.

***

An old woman walks through the woods with a basket full of herbs.

Under a tree she sees a boy lying on his stomach, one arrow sticking out of his shoulder, another out of his side.

The old woman walks quickly towards the boy and tries to wake him up without success.

She puts her face closer to the boy's.

"He is breathing."

His breaths are slow and ragged but he breathes.

***

NOTE: I know many will say that he should have easily won that fight,...

Ikarus was fighting over a dozen bandits at the same time, at first he was overwhelmed but soon he adapted and started winning. THEN he got cocky. Arrogance. That happens a lot, I have seen it in many shows. Character get a lot of power, obviously way stronger than his opponents and stop taking the fight seriously.

Gohan VS Cell. SSJ2 Gohan was way stronger than Cell and he knew it. He played with his opponent and Goku died.

Ikarus played with his opponents and he got shot. Twice. With still half a dozen enemies left and injured he knew he had zero chances of winning, he was gonna get killed so he escaped.