Seifer's Sacrifice Chapter 5

“I have no quarrel with you,” Seifer called to the man on the Malboro corpse.

“But I have one with you,” the barbarian called back.

“I don’t even know you.”

“You don’t.”

“Than why do you want to fight me?”

“You killed my father!”

There it was. During the wars, Seifer has taken lives but it was impossible to tell who this man was talking about. Revenge was a good reason for someone to fight but Seifer had enough of his past coming back to haunt him. Instead of drinking the liquid the ex-mercenary glared at the barbarian.

“It was you. You’re the one whose been trying to kill me. So why do you think I’ll drink this poison?” Seifer growled.

“There you are wrong. My companions tried to kill you up ‘til now. I wish to kill you in honorable combat, though you don’t deserve it. Drink the elixir or don’t, it matters not to me. I’ll be happy to take it back once you’re dead.”

Seifer looked from the bottle to the barbarian and back again. He didn’t know if the barbarian should be trusted. However, the barbarian did help him and was offering the ex-mercenary the rare potion elixir. Both actions shown that the warrior could’ve killed him after the battle with Malboro—which would’ve made him very exhausted—but he chose not to.

With a shrug, Seifer quaffed the elixir. The potion worked amazingly quickly, recovering Seifer’s T-Rexaur’s bite and the poison he suffered earlier. Even his hip from the fall felt better.

“Prepare for Helheim,” the barbarian said while jumping off the Malboro.

“Yo. You want Seifer, you will have to go through us, ya know,” Raijin said, stepping in front of his friend.

“DEFEND!” Fujin concurred.

“No. This is my battle. Please,” Seifer calmly said, stepping in between the two. “Stay out of this.”

The ex-mercenary leveled his gunblade, shoulder level, pointing the tip at his opponent. Swaying back and forth, Seifer began trying to confuse the barbarian by remaining in motion, keeping him guessing on which angle he may attack. One-handedly, the barbarian slash across Seifer’s exposed knee once he came forward in his sway. Before the ex-mercenary could counter, the barbarian was several paces back.

Again, Seifer held his gunblade in both his hands, lowering it in front of him and holding his ground. Never has the ex-mercenary been so quick to change his fighting style from his own to that of his rivals. However, the stance did keep his enemy at bay, leaving no real exposed weaknesses in his defenses. The fact that the barbarian held more respect for Squall’s technique just infuriated Seifer even more. On came Seifer, swinging his gunblade down, across and up. All three powerful blows were deflected with ease.

“I’m going to enjoy sending you to Helheim!” the barbarian bellowed, swinging his sword from side to side.

Though he was one-handed, the force behind each strike was fierce, powerful, and precise. If Seifer didn’t level his gunblade just right or if he was too slow, he would’ve been torn in half. After parrying a left swing, Seifer brought his gunblade up from the ground, which was predictably intercepted. The blades locked. Seifer fired his gun.

“COWARD!” the barbarian yelled at the cheap trick.

Without missing a beat, Seifer sliced his sword vertically down, cutting into the fabric of the heated air in the desert and then he turned his gunblade to the side and made a cross in the air. Pushing the flaming cross out, Seifer expected a devastating hit on his opponent. The second unsuspecting attack caught the warrior in the chest. Seifer took the advantage immediately, jumping up to finish the job with all his strength and speed behind the swing. It was blocked by the sword, one-handedly and behind his head.

Seifer backed off, shaking his head in denial. Somehow, he knew what the ex-mercenary was thinking. It was the only reason Seifer could think of for the surprising parry. A feral growl escaped the warrior’s lips as he rushed the ex-mercenary with his long sword swinging. Seifer parried the swipe but couldn’t react from the sudden stab to his ribs. Seifer blocked another swing, though he knew it was another feint and he was stabbed again, this time in the forearm. The stab was not mortal but the wound severed several muscles in his arm that now he couldn’t command, which cost him the grip of his gunblade.

With his right arm useless, his dominate arm at that, the ex-mercenary was not looking very good. Down came the long sword for a devastating chop but Seifer manage to lift his blade up to parry. The warrior’s arm and strength, unlike Seifer’s, were almost inhuman as much to that the swing snapped the gunbladed in two. Without missing a beat, the barbarian followed it up with a knee to Seifer’s gut. Both Fujin and Raijin charged, hoping to get to their friend in time.

“STOP!” the barbarian commanded. Both froze immediately, feeling the powerful spell behind that word tightening their muscles until they couldn’t move or even blink.

“Seifer, as a coward you don’t deserve a last request but I will be this merciful. Pray. Pray for your soul for your life is finished,” the barbarian stated.

Seifer, on his knees, did close his eyes and bow his head. However, he did not pray. Instead, his final moments he just wanted to remember. Remember his innocents being lost to him that dark day.

“Wake up! Come on, wake up,” Seifer cried over his friend’s body. Bringing her to the infirmary, he begged and begged them to wake her up. Every time a doctor opened his mouth, Seifer cried and called out to her to awaken.

A strong hand grabbed the young cadet, pulling and dragging the boy away. Seifer commanded whoever it was to release him but it was useless. The second they were out of the infirmary door, the man who dragged the boy slugged him in the gut.

“What the hell?” the boy cursed, looking up to the man. “Instructor Strife?”

“What were you two thinking?” the instructor snapped.

“She… we… she wanted to defeat T-Rexaur before the exam,” Seifer shouted back, forgetting his sorrow. The young cadet anger increased when the instructor lifted him by his caller to see the instructor’s face to face.

“Why would you do that?”

“She wanted to defeat—”

“That wasn’t the point!” the instructor spat, throwing the boy to the floor. “The exam wasn’t about defeating T-Rexaur. That great beast was put into the training center to push cadets to their limits but in the end, they all needed to understand that there are some battles that you must flee from.”

“What? That’s stupid!” Seifer wailed at his superior, for he couldn’t believe that his friend has died because of a misunderstanding.

“You were training us to run away! You should been training us to become stronger and preparing us for any battle.”

“You can’t win every battle,” Instructor Strife stated bluntly.

“I will never run from any battle and I will never surrender. I will…”

“Fight,” Seifer slowly said while opening his eyes as the barbarian leapt into the air.

True to his aim, the warrior chopped down to split Seifer’s head in half. Flipping blade over hilt, a mighty sword of the size of two men landed in front of the ex-mercenary, deflecting the attack. As the unexpected blade came out of nowhere and saved Seifer’s life, the barbarian leapt away from the sword and placed himself in a defensive stance.

With renewed vigor, Seifer stood to his feet as the sword shrank into a usable size. Grasping the hilt, Seifer removed the blade from the ground and waved to his opponent to continue. With a bellow, the barbarian charge headlong to his prey.

Seifer slashed out a heartbeat before his opponent was in striking distance, attempting to force the barbarian out of range. Instead of dodging the attack, the barbarian swung his own sword to deflect the slash. He dived into a roll as he felt a twinge of pain on his chest. Rolling into a defensive position, with his sword across his chest, the warrior looked down to the deep wound across his chest above the bullet wound in his side. Then he looked at his opponent and saw that half of his blade was on the ground!

Both charged the other with their swords leading, when a third broken blade was tossed in between them. Seifer was shocked to see his old gunblade literally destroyed before him and the barbarian was equally surprised to see his handsome brother was the one who tossed the gunblade.

“That’s enough, Tyr,” the handsome man commanded.

“Are you crazy? He still lives!” the barbarian cried.

“I know,” the handsome man began, dispelling his brother’s spell that held Fujin and Raijin. “He is alive. Can’t you see him, easily wielding Zantetsuken?”

Tyr turned sharply to Seifer and his eyes seemed as if they would pop out of his head. The barbarian couldn’t believe what his brother was implying and Seifer seemed completely lost. The handsome man looked down to the only blade that could kill a god and back up at the two combatants.

“Behold my brother. Seifer Almasy is our father’s avatar.”

Epilogue

All That Glitters Is Cold 4 Fanfic Competition


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