Page 95 of Heartless Enemy

Metal dinged as he reappeared next to me and rammed his knife into the side of my ribs with enough force to make me stumble a step to the side. But the metal underneath my clothes, courtesy of Levi’s brilliance, held.

“Fucking armor,” White growled.

Spinning around, I swung my sword at him. He worldwalked away right before the blade could cleave his chest. With my swing going wide, I was momentarily off balance. White used that well as he reappeared behind me and drove what felt like his boot into the small of my back.

I toppled forwards. Keeping my sword away from my body, I rolled with the motion so that I could come up to my knees on the other side.

The metal armor was fitted perfectly to my body, but it still restricted my movements more than my usual leather would have. And the helmet that protected my head and face limited my vision slightly. Still, better limited than dead.

While rolling to my knees, I swiped the sword across the ground.

Just as I had predicted, White had been about to strike me while I was on the ground. But the quick swipe forced him to abort his attempt.

I leaped to my feet and twisted around with an overhead blow directed at where I hoped the worldwalker would appear. It almost worked. He materialized a little farther to the left, so only the very top of my sword flashed down towards him.

Alarm crackled across his pale face as he threw up his knife to block the strike. Metal ground against metal as he barely managed to push my strike off course. He clenched his jaw while his blue eyes flashed with fury.

Then he brushed his palms together in that lightning quick way of his and disappeared.

I turned again and again, waiting for him to materialize. Usually, he did so right away. But not this time.

Right when I thought that he might have given up and decided to leave me alone, a whooshing sound came from behind me.

On instinct, I jerked up my sword as I spun around.

Metallic clashing filled the air as my sword crashed into another sword. I narrowed my eyes at the worldwalker who held it. So, that was why he had been gone for a few more seconds. He had returned to his side and retrieved a sword so that he could beat me. Or that was what he thought he would do, anyway. There was one problem with his plan, and he was about to find out exactly what that was.

Yanking up my leg, I kicked at his hip at the same time as I twisted my wrist and slid his sword away from mine. He leaped back to avoid the kick and then worldwalked out.

I whipped around and swung my sword wide.

He barely had time to block it when he reappeared a couple of steps from where I had guessed he would be. Rage twisted his features as he shoved my blade back and then swung at me. I sidestepped it and jabbed at the side of his ribs. He was forced to throw himself sideways to avoid it. I pressed the advantage.

While he was still trying to recover his balance, I lunged forward and slammed my sword towards his chest. He was already moving the wrong way, so he wouldn’t be able to change direction before the strike hit.

A fraction of a second before my blade could sink into his gut, he vanished. I let out a vicious curse but spun around as he reappeared a few steps from me.

His chest rose and fell with rapid breaths, and he stared at me as if he couldn’t believe how close I had come to killing him.

I flashed him a grin dripping with challenge.

This was the one thing practically all dark mages seemed to forget. Yes, they would always be magically stronger than the rest of us. But because of that, they never bothered much with normal fighting techniques. I had spent the past fifteen years of my life honing my skills with a blade while White trained himself to worldwalk and stab people in the back. Apart from annoying exceptions like Levi, most dark mages were severely outclassed against constables when it came to swordplay.

Fury coated White’s face like a sheet of ice as he stared me down.

Magic flashed all around us. The constables were once more helping Levi’s forces attack the army across the field, while the King of Metal himself protected his dark mages from a massive blast of lightning mixed with explosion magic. I could feel his eyes constantly darting in my direction, as if he wanted to abandon his role as the leader who directed the battle and rush over here to help me. But we both knew that I could hold my own in a sword fight, while his people would be at risk if he left, and that the armor he had crafted for me would keep me safe.

Deafening booms echoed across the grass and lights flashed in every color as magic shot through the air and collided with more attacks.

Christian White matched my ruthless smile.

Then he disappeared.

I kept my eyes moving as I turned again and again, waiting for him to reappear. This time, he was gone longer than any time before. A hint of dread curled around my spine, but I blocked it out. Whatever he was planning, I could handle it. I just hoped that Levi would remain where he was, because we needed him and his battle strategies to beat White’s forces relentlessly until the damn worldwalker was forced to call a ceasefire. Otherwise, all of this would be for nothing.

The skin at the back of my neck prickled. I whipped around immediately, but I was already a second too late.

A massive weight slammed into my side.