Zero turned his attention back to the approaching sand beast and readied himself. With his spear and throwable shield, he had the advantage of range. Still, Zero felt uneasy. There was no injury to abuse or Azarax to save him, so if he made a mistake, it was all but over.
Coming into relative range, Zero took a couple of jabs at the sand beast and watched as it backed away. To the side of him, he also began to hear steel clash.
Zero nervously circled the sand beast and was able to catch a glimpse of Azarax and the lumberjack's fight. Azarax seemed to be on the defensive, which made sense due to the spear's long range. If Azarax was able to go on the offensive, the lumberjack would already be dead. Perhaps the lumberjack was aware of that, as he was backstepping.
Zero completed a semicircle, then jabbed again at the beast. This time, the beast did not leave it unchecked and swatted at the spearhead. Perhaps by luck, or maybe great instinct, the sand beast parried the stab quite well.
Zero's senses immediately heightened, sensing the danger and the upcoming moment he had been waiting for. The beast charged in and slightly tilted its shell to protect itself from the spear.
Zero jumped back, pulling the spear with him. Then, he stabbed forward, but at the ground in front of the sand beast. Landing a few steps back, Zero leveraged the spear and pushed it straight up, while simultaneously pushing his shield in front to protect himself if needed. The leverage from the shield pushed into the sand beast's body.
While the speed of the spear's shaft was not great, the leverage created a strong force. Shifting it like a lever, Zero pushed up. The wooden shaft creaked under the pressure from the beast's impact. For a moment, Zero thought the spear might break, but luckily it held.
The spear bounced back into shape and threw the sand beast with it, and beast flew back, exposing its weakened stomach for a moment.
'Bingo, wait, what does that even mean?'
But before Zero could finish his counterattack and attack its stomach, the sand beast released copious amounts of sand into the air, a lot of it directed at its opponent. Zero jumped backwards, but it was too late to nullify the full effects of the blast. His vision began to blur, a rough watery film covering his eyes.
'Aghghhh.'
Zero took a couple of steps back before regaining his offensive state of mind. Regaining a sense of awareness, Zero unlatched his shield from his wrist and hurled it at the sand beast. By now, the beast had flipped itself off its back, but had not regained its stance.
While the shield's impact bounced harmlessly off the shell of the beast, the momentum destabilized it, and the beast tumbled back onto its side.
Wasting no time, through watered, red eyes, Zero closed the distance. But rather than aiming for its weaker underbelly, Zero shifted his vision into the fractured plane and saw that the underbelly of the sand beast was all but covered by now. So instead, he swung his spear in a wide, strong arc again, aimed at the side adjoining the beast's momentum from getting up.
Similar to the initial strike from the shield, the spear's impact did not harm the beast but rather destabilized it; however, instead of just knocking it off balance, the natural leverage from wielding a spear allowed Zero to follow through and completely topple the beast.
Then in a fluid motion, reminiscent of the motions Azarax used to kill their first opponents, Zero brought the spear back around and stabbed into the large fracture amid its stomach. The hit was most definitely fatal, but he was not going to make the same mistake as last time.
After all, wounded beasts are always the scariest. With nothing to lose, they lose their sense of self and always go for the kill.
Zero shifted his stance and stepped to the side, moving the spear while it was still inside the beast's body, using the rotation to dig deeper. Then, in a final motion, he yanked out the spear and plunged it once more into the beast.
{Mundane Sand Beast slain}
{Ineligible for spirit crystal}
Strange words echoed inside Zero's head, but while he listened, he did not give them much thought. Rather, he turned his attention to Azarax's fight. The lumberjack was kneeling and clutching at his side with his spear lying a few meters away. To Zero's shock, the man's severed arm was still attached to the spear, leaving a puddle of blood in its wake.
Azarax stood over the lumberjack, unharmed, and was conversing with him. Zero decided to be polite and not interrupt their conversation. They continued conversing for a couple of moments longer until a single boo resounded from the crowd.
Then in a symphony, a chorus of boos resounded from the crowd. Zero watched as Azarax and the lumberjack exchanged their last words.
A small, wistful smile crossed Azarax's face. Then, in a smooth slice, he severed the lumberjack's head.
The crowd erupted into cheers, which made Zero feel sad. He found it sad how they treated a life. Not only as a form of entertainment, but almost as insignificant entertainment. Each person is terribly complex, but here, they were all reduced to nothing more than a few moments. For the first time, Zero looked at the crowd.
They looked excited, overjoyed even. There were smiles on their faces, and a gleam in all of their eyes. A gleam similar to the first man Zero:
faced. The same gleam he had when his death was certain, savage and inhuman. That gleam made it so Zero almost understood, but he still did not agree.
A small salvation he had was a boy and presumably his younger sister, watching without cheering. Even they seemed a bit somber themselves.
Azarax approached Zero with a noticeable difference in his demeanor. A certain Melancholy to it.
"You did well, comrade."