Soldier of God, Part Two

A few seconds before.

Max POV:

My whole body froze up. I didn't know what to think about the scene which played right in front of my eyes. This was the first time I killed somebody. The brainless zombies don't count.

As I cut his throat his blood spilled on my face. I could see it in his eyes.

The despair.

Denial.

Fear.

And finally rage.

He looked at me and tried to say something, but soon blood also started flowing down his mouth. Therefore, he was unable to speak. This didn't stop him from trying though, it sounded like he was drowning in his blood as he gasped for air.

However, I couldn't sort my thoughts, because suddenly something struck me from behind. The impact shook my balance and I fell on my knees as I screamed from the pain. I tried to get up and run away, however a second bold hit my leg, causing me to fall down once more.

Enduring the pain, I gave my best to keep moving. I could hear the sound of a crossbow reloading. Out of fear, I desperately crawled faster. But my effort was useless, as the third bolt hit my left hand, completely penetrating it. My face grimaced and my body trembled due to the pain.

General POV:

While the soldier was mercilessly shooting bolts, somebody else arrived at the scene. He was tall and wore the standard green armor. Furthermore, the soldier holds a Lordsworn's Greatsword with his two hands. As the soldier with the crossbow noticed him, he informed him of the situation.

"Captain, we found an intruder. It's a tarnished. It seems like he came alone."

"A tarnished, you say? What about the zombie search teams?" inquired Rick.

"I assume that they were killed by him."

Rick nodded and looked at Max with cold eyes. However, he thought that the timing of his intrusion was too coincidental. Could it actually be, that they weren't just wasting their time searching and that somewhere here was indeed a talisman? A small smile appeared on his face.

"Captain, please let me kill him now!"

"No! Don't kill him, I need him alive."

"But why? He killed my friend!"

"I said I need breathing. Don't worry, feel free to torture and play with him as much as you want however make sure he doesn't die, or I will make you wish you were never born."

The soldier gulped, but a sadistic smile could be seen on his face.

Looking at the poor state the body of Max is, Rick decided to leave them for a short while in order to request more zombie slaves from his superiors. In his point of view the chances of the tarnished knowing exactly where the talisman is are low and he definitely didn't have it on him as its said that people wearing talismans radiate a dangerous aura and while looking at the tarnished, Rick didn't feel anything like this at all, quite the contrary, from his perspective, the tarnished was nothing special.

In the meantime, Max didn't hear their conversation, but then noticed a shadow approaching him. The shadow kicked him in the stomach mercilessly multiple times. As he looked up, he saw that his aggressor was the soldier with the crossbow. With a creepy smile, he spoke to Max:

"Captain Rick told me not to kill you, so don't be afraid you won't die. I will make sure of that. Now let's have some fun until he comes back."

He proceeded to kick his most precious part of the body. Max gasped for air, in that particular moment, all of his pain disappeared for but a second, however it came back tenfold. He struggled to breath due to the agony he felt. Furthermore, he instinctively put his hands on his balls to protect them from further damage.

Seeing Max wincing in anguish satisfied the culprit and even encouraged him to repeat his actions one more time. The second kick made Max almost pass out, the soldiers sadistic smile grew even bigger, although he decided to stop because he feared that his victim would pass out. He punched Max in his face and spoke:

"Hey, don't black out now. The fun is just beginning!"

He continued punching him in the face. After a while Max had a broken nose and a completely bruised face, then the soldier found it boring and took out a small dagger from his pocket. As Max saw the dagger, he started begging him to stop.

"Mercy? You killed my comrade and yet to ask for my forgiveness?! Dream on! Now the only thing I want to hear from you are your screams!"

He then stabbed Max in his leg. His screams were like music in his ears. He proceeded to torture Max. Cutting, kicking, punching and taunting him. Then he grabbed Max by his hair and pulled him closer to his face to substantiate his superiority over the tarnished. Though the hand of Max could be seen grabbing something from his pocket. His action wasn't noticed by his torturer, who was momentarily stunned as he looked at his face. He expected to see eyes who lost all life or were full of fear, instead he saw rage and the will to fight. Frowning he decided to take the torture a step further to break him. However, he never got the chance to do so, as some object rammed into one of his eyes. He immediately backed off screaming in anguish and putting hands on his now empty eye socket.

Max looked down on his right hand holding the bloody finger severer he picked up a while ago and put it back in his pocket. In his rage he didn't feel pain as he ripped the arrow from his left hand out and he picked up his sword from the ground, while limping towards the soldier, who was whining on the ground. He raised his sword, a look filled with hate and anger flashed on his face as the sword struck down upon his enemy, ending his life. Blood splattered all around him, now his body was covered with his blood and that from his enemies.

When Captain Rick returned, he truly didn't expect that his underling would die at the hands of the weak tarnished. Looking at the corpse Rick already figured out what happened. Knowing his soldier , he supposed that his subordinate listen to his advice and still put his face near the victim, to taunt him, even though he told him multiple time that they might have hidden weapons. Up untill now this never occurred so, he didn't take his captains advice serious, resulting in his death. Rick made eye contact with the Max, who still stood there, covered in blood and a crossbow in his right arm, he grabbed from the corpse.

"Foul tarnished, what is thy business in this cave? Perhaps in search of the lost talisman?"

Max was confused for a moment and thought, so that's what the zombies were searching for. A talisman. After a few seconds he remembered about which talisman he should be talking about. It should be the Haligdrake Talisman which can be found on a corpse, on a ledge above the start of the tutorial.

Max didn't respond but instead gripped the crossbow tighter. Meanwhile Rick closely observed Max and he didn't miss the small hesitation he showed, when he mentioned the talisman. So, it seems he does know something, concluded Rick. If he gets his hands on this talisman, it will definitely boast his strength and he will get promoted to a Godrick Knight. With a better future in sight, Rick was now more determined than ever before.

Killing him isn't a problem, thought Rick; however, I need him alive. He coldly looked at the tarnished and got ready to fight.

Meanwhile, Max knew, that his chances of winning were close to zero. From his point of view, the only way he could come out victorious, was to sacrifice a part of his body in order to create an opportunity to deal a critical blow. As he saw the cold look in Ricks eyes, he knew that if he lost, he would be tortured once again and this time there wouldn't be an opportunity to reverse the situation like before. Rick then slowly advanced towards Max, suddenly he angled his Greatsword to 90 degrees and tried to stab Max once he was close enough. Seeing this, Max hastily took a few steps back and to the right. He then aimed his crossbow and fired, successfully hitting Ricks leg with the intention of restricting his movements. Ignoring the pain, Rick attacked also aiming at his enemy's legs but only managed to scratch them. They continued to exchange attacks and as the fight prolonged, Rick noticed how disadvantageous his position was. Therefore, he decided to go for critical attack and hoped that the tarnished wouldn't die. He then aimed his next attack higher. As Max saw his chance, he grit his teeth and steeled his resolve and stepped forward to block the incoming strike with his already injured left arm, at the same time he swung his sword with the right. Facing the incoming attack, Rick realized his mistake, but it was already too late. He underestimated the tarnished resolve of being willing to sacrifice parts of his body to achieve victory. He could only watch as the blade split his neck open.

Is this how it ends? A lowly tarnished defeated me? Thought Rick in his last moments, before life disappeared from his eyes forever.