THIRTY-FOUR: LETO

  “I can go and retrieve your cousin,” Cassius volunteered as he stood over the last of the slain undead. The simple corpses had proven to be no trouble, rushing forward and dying as fast as they came.

  “I know you mean to spare me, but it is my duty,” Vira said, shaking her head as she looked around them. Her face betrayed her, a tiredness, a weariness, exhaustion on her that she did not wish to see another of her kinsmen dead.

  “You would do me a favor. I have no desire to dig through corpses for skill shards,” Cassius insisted. Vira paused and Cassius knew she would yield, even her innate stubborn pride could allow itself to bend like this.

  “As you wish. See to my cousin, and if the worst, please bring him,” Vira said softly.

  “I will be back soon,” Cassius promised, wading out of the pile of corpses that had built along the street. With the wide gates now open, it was a simple matter to walk through the sprawling lawns to the estate they had left Leto at when the man refused to rise.

  Cassius took only a few minutes to walk there, passing through the back door to find Leto exactly where they had left him. The man was pallid as a ghost, hair stiff and eyes clenched shut. It looked as if he had passed in agony, but Cassius saw how Leto’s chest rose and fell ever so slightly.

  “Strong will to stand firm for so long,” Cassius said, finally feeling a trickle of hope that his companion would survive. There was little love between them, but every blade in the Wilds was appreciated.

  Cassius cursed as he was forced to drop his shield and spear to grab the man. Bending low, he scooped Leto free of the floor, throwing him across his shoulder with ease. Even in his armor and with his pack, Leto felt light now after his blessings. The man’s head hung by his back, with Cassius’ arm wrapped around the back of Leto’s thighs to keep him pinned to Cassius’ shoulder.

  ““Stay alive for just a bit longer,” Cassius pleaded with the man, turning and running back toward where Vira was. He could only hope that she had found a [Regenerate] skill shard to feed the man, and that Leto was aware enough to take it.

  Pushing himself to the full extent of his new abilities, Cassius crossed the expansive yard in moments, flying across the street as he called to Vira. While he could see through the fog, it did muffle his voice, causing Vira to look the wrong way at first. When her head swiveled back to him, Cassius felt his stomach lurch.

  Vira was scared. It was evident on her features, the wide eyes and clenched jaw as she tried to master herself. Leto stirred on his shoulder, a groan coming from the nobleman as Cassius jostled him.

  “I have Leto! He lives! We need the skill!” Cassius yelled in short sentences as he rapidly closed the distance.

  “DROP HIM!” Vira screamed, panic rife in her voice. Cassius obeyed without hesitation, freeing his arm from Leto’s legs and throwing his shoulders back to send the man crashing to the ground. Cassius lunged forward as his well honed senses screamed that danger was there with him.

  Metal screamed where his legs had just been, slashing apart air as Cassius hit the ground and rolled. The gladius sang as it came free of its sheath, Cassius in momentary awe of his own coordination. Then Leto was upon him, raining steel from every angle.

  Now that Leto’s eyes were open, Cassius could see the scarlet rage in them. Lips peeled back to show onyx teeth as the former nobleman launched a series of strikes with precision. Cassius cursed as he was forced to meet each of them, the dark mana on Leto’s blade sparking against [Reinforce].

  “Where are you?” Vira cried, not twenty paces away. She was moving slowly with her sword extended, moving in the right direction, but it was clear that the mist had confused her.

  “Straight…agh!” Cassius cut off as Leto chopped down hard on his gladius, lowering the blade. The turned nobleman thrust at Cassius, sliding his own sword along the gladius’ edge. It was only his superior speed that kept Cassius from being skewered, spinning away from the attack.

  It was galling to admit, but even with his increases in speed and strength, Leto was besting him. Whatever had been done to the nobleman, he still retained more skill than those that had been the original guardians of the street. Leto perched with his sword in front of his face, balanced on the balls of his feet. Shining onyx teeth shone with spittle as he took a step forward.

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  Cassius screamed as pain erupted through his thigh, Leto’s sword buried through it. Mana wafted off of Leto’s feet even as the man ripped his sword out in a spray of blood. Ice cold pain doused him as Cassius cursed and spat in rage, frantically reaching out to start [Regenerate] while fending off Leto’s almost lazy attacks.

  There was a casual cruelty to the turned nobleman that hadn’t been there in life. A joy in Cassius’ pain as he limped away, blood pouring free of his torn apart leg. The world spun as Cassius’ head grew light, but he could feel the flesh growing tight around the leg as it healed.

  All he needed was a moment or two and he’d be fine, but Leto gave him no rest. Steel rang out as Cassius tore his leg in his hurry to put distance between them, but Leto was relentless in his hounding. Over and over the man’s sword was just a tad faster, forcing Cassius back until he heard the ring of steel as his momentum was arrested, pinned firmly against one of the estate gates.

  Leto’s smile widened further as Cassius breathed heavily, not understanding how the weaker man had so quickly beaten through his guard. Death perched upon his shoulder, strong fingers pressed tight, ready to whisk him to the next world.

  Red hot defiance roared in him as Cassius shrugged off death’s grip, pushing off of the gate as he threw himself at Leto. The nobleman’s blade flashed silver, but Cassius took the blow, allowing feet of steel to slide into his guts. Leto’s confident smile wavered as Cassius clenched his teeth, hot blood running down his face as he reared back and struck.

  The gladius was made to stab, the point built to pierce flesh or metal. Leto’s skull was not as hard as steel. Sickly black blood ran down the pale man’s face, over his nose and down his chestplate. For a long moment they stood locked together, Cassius’ gladius in Leto’s skull with Leto’s sword in Cassius’ gut.

  “By the gods,” Vira whispered as she stumbled upon them, her eyes wide in shock and horror as she took the scene in.

  “Pull. It. Out. Will. Heal.” Cassius spoke, each word a challenge as more blood ran over his mouth and dribbled down. Darkness clouded the edge of his vision, but he fought back, knowing he’d die if he couldn’t stay awake long enough to activate [Regenerate] again.

  Vira grabbed Leto’s shoulder and threw the corpse to the ground, pulling his sword out of Cassius’ stomach with a sucking sound. The pressure that had filled him left, leaving behind a gaping emptiness that was slowly filling up with more pain. Cassius was alright with pain, it kept him awake as he slowly folded down to the ground, clouded mind fighting to activate his skill.

  [Regenerate] flickered to life slowly, dreadful in its apathetic appearance to Cassius’ state. He could feel his depleted mana stores, not recovered from the fight with the undead warriors yet, begin to flicker and fade away. [Hunter’s Sight] snapped off and the world became white, fog so thick he could hardly see his stretched out feet.

  “This is what you have to deal with?” Cassius said with a cough as something shifted in his guts.

  “What?” Vira said, hollow in her pronunciation as she walked slowly toward him, emerging from the mist as a shadow turned solid.

  “I turned off my skill. This dungeon is difficult to see in,” Cassius said. His mouth felt dry, tongue heavy as his brain struggled to make sense of what he was saying. As long as [Regenerate] continued to grind along, he didn’t mind how he felt or what he said.

  “Yes. Without your skill this would have been a challenging dungeon. Are you well?” Vira asked stupidly.

  “Your cousin stabbed me. Repeatedly. No, I am not well,” Cassius said.

  “I am sorry, I tried to warn you. One of the skills I found was called [Infect]. I feared what it meant, but it was too late it seems,” Vira said.

  “Your warning saved my life. It was humbling how skilled he was, even in death,” Cassius said, laughing and coughing out a clotted lump of blood. He didn’t know why that was funny, but his mind insisted they laugh about it.

  “The two paths for warriors. [Knight] or [Duelist] if we can ever find the wealth to ascend to the second tier. Titus and I were set on becoming [Knights], but Leto loved the blade and arena. We all knew we would never ascend, but Leto still moved toward becoming a [Duelist].”

  “He was good with a sword,” Cassius admitted. Far better than Cassius was at least, if it wasn’t for his recently acquired skills, which Leto hadn’t known about, then it would be his corpse cooling on the street.

  “Leto was good with a sword and had the skills for it. How much longer till you are ready to move?” Vira asked.

  “A few more minutes at least. I think my stomach is no longer perforated," Cassius said, having felt the burning pull of mana stop working on his stomach and instead focused now on the muscles in his leg.

  “I will go and get the rest of the skills. Stay right here and keep healing,” Vira said, slapping him on the shoulder and getting up to go.

  “My spear and shield, I left them back in the manor, could you retrieve them?” There was a certain amount of satisfaction in making one of the strata go and retrieve his gear as Vira readily agreed.

  Cassius leaned his head back against the iron bars of the estate lawns and let himself relax now that the immediate threat of death was gone. That berserker-like rage had left him just as exhausted as being stabbed. His wounds continued to close together as he slowly fell asleep, chin pressed against his chest.