Sune pivoted up into the air. His vision narrowed as the wind blazed past his face. The raven shook and shuddered as they ascended.
The rest of the soldiers took notice and followed. Swarming him. A choir of flapping wings. Above and below. Left and right. A murder of ravens in the dozens.
Sune raced, aiming for distance-- but the soldiers were far too experienced the air. This was their domain.
Ravens caught up one by one, Sune gritted his teeth.
'I can't shake them off.'
That was when Sune noticed a key detail. Something that bode well for him. Even if only on the surface.
The soldiers were hesitant. Afraid. At their core, they were reluctant to fight an Assurance Bearer.
It was natural. In the human world, they were regarded as demigods. Chosen ones. With untold levels of power at their fingertips. And Sune was one that had emerged from nowhere.
They still challenged him, of course. If they did not fight him, they would be faced with the wrath of the Gale King. All paths lead to being faced with a Bearer.
So they fought, but cautiously. Weaving in and out of melee range. Sticking their hands into the fire for an instant, and recalling them back the next. Abusing their superior ability to fly.
Sune quickly realised that their fear did not truly work in his favour. They were able to strike him and retreat before he could retaliate. Unlike them. he could not balance between striking and steering effectively.
Cohort VI's attacks grew bolder. Confident. They quickly took notice of Sune's lack of range.
This attack strategy became near flawless and rhythmic. Drawing him out and punishing him.
Sune's blood boiled. His head grew heated.
"What? Is that all you've got?" one jeered.
"You must be the weakest Assurance Bearer I've ever seen!"
"You're embarrassing yourself!"
'Shut the hell up! Damn it. I can't reach them. I can't move the damn bird and hit them at the same time.'
"Even his majesty is stronger than you!"
'Everything I've done. Everything I planned on doing, cut short. Even worse, by a bunch of cowards. I'll carve out their tongues!'
"Surrender yourself, foreigner!"
"A Bearer with no range, who could have imagined?!" Another chimed as they effortlessly struck him and turned away.
Sune's attacks became more wild, frantic. He yelled with each swing of his blade.
"Don't cry, foreigner! It's okay!"
Another soldier swooped in. This time, the blow landed. Swiping Sune against his cheek. Sune's eyes widened. The sky was an orchestra of cheers.
Sune put his hand over the cut, staring at his own blood for more than a moment.
'I thought I had buried this where it could never be uncovered. This weakness of mine. I thought I would never need to feel this way again. My mind pounds at itself once again.'
Sune's mind was drifting away from the battle. It was the only way to detach from his own shortcomings.
'The last time I felt this powerless... it was at the hands of these same bastards, wasn't it?
Visions of blood gushing from his mother's breast flooded his mind. He felt the weight of being held down. Powerless except to watch.
He heard his brother's screams fade away in the wind.
'I thought I could let it all go for a moment, focus on the mission… but what if I don't need to? What if I can't bring myself to?'
Another soldier swooped in, Sune dispatched him, instantly. Skewering him through the neck. The sound of him choking on his own blood became music to his ears. He unhanded his body, allowing his corpse to cascade into the city.
'Yeah. That's right. I don't need to be calm… in order to be strong. What if I let myself go? Is that so weak of me? No... I don't believe so. My plan can go to hell. Cohort VI dies. Every last one of them.'
Sune unbuckled his saddle.
Slowly lifting himself onto two feet. Raising slowly, cautiously. Sune had no intention of losing balance.
The soldiers fell erupted in echoes of surprise. The crowd that had long gathered below all gasped. Children pointed before their mothers could shield their eyes. Citizens left their houses and paraded the streets. All were watching.
"What on earth is he doing?!"
"Perhaps we've struck him too hard!"
"Must have given up on living!"
Sune glanced around. Fully upright now. Maintaining balance was not so difficult. He had trained relentlessly, after all. Not to fly, but to stand and fight. Even in the air. There were few who could match him on two feet.
One soldier attempted the same strategy as before. Driving a spear at Sune's chest.
'Stupid fuck…'
Sune pivoted and wrenched the spear from his hand. The soldier recoiled slightly, shocked. Fearful.
Leaping from his raven, Sune jumped to the right, plunging the spear through his liver.
Sune dangled as the enemy raven plummeted. Yells and cries sounded through the earth and sky. His own raven circled back to catch him again. The soldiers' confidence dwindled to nothing.
They were overcome with fear. The endless onslaught of attacks on Sune slowed. It was less potent. Less assured.
Few soldiers dared to get close. Diving in at all angles. Sune span, spear held at his back, keeping them all at bay.
An archer soared in the corner of his eye, shooting his crossbow. His hands quivered and his aim rang untrue.
Sune hurled the spear at him. It impaled the raven like butter, sending him plummeting mid-air with a scream. Sune gripped his knife tight as he engaged close range with all the other soldiers.
He danced atop his raven. Dodging and weaving every swing at twice the speed of a regular being. His erratic, unnaturally rapid movement distracted from the wrath of his blade. He cut through soldiers like meat. None could even crease his shirt nor dirty his boot.
Cohort VI was reduced to a worse state of fear than they had started with. They subtly retreated from him, it seemed as if they were trying to come up with another strategy. Sune would not allow them.
One man had become the aggressor against a hundred.
Riding on his own raven, he chased the troops down mid-air.
"Retreat at all costs! Retreat! Retrea--!" Sune slashed him through the neck.
He began to jump from raven to raven, murdering soldiers and leaping to the next, then jumping back onto his own. He had found his own rhythm of slaughter.
They were in full retreat, just as Sune was originally aiming for. Only now, he had set his sights higher. Darker. Deadlier.
Bodies plummeted into the city. Some blasted through roofs and into living rooms. Blood drizzled from the sky. What was once a chorus of gasps from below had become silent. Perhaps out of fear, perhaps of sheer disbelief.
One soldier still dared to challenge him close range, Sune ripped them from their raven and threw him, crashing into another.
It was not necessary. He could have fled. Waited for his ticket out of the city to arrive. But he wanted this. He craved it. He wanted to kill them all. He felt the urge for blood, and did not even play at trying to resist it.
Sune had butchered nearly half of Cohort VI. Now he was merely picking off as many as possible.
But as he charged his raven toward yet another fleeing soldier, a figure in the distance caught his eye. Sune furrowed his brow.
'The General...'
General Yorgos of Cohort VI had decided to challenge him headfirst.
'Never met him before. As if I care. He dies.'
Sune peered behind him. The one they called 'Gerard' barrelled at him from behind. Both aiming to guillotine him through the air.
Sune braced himself. At the perfect moment, he somersaulted over both of their heads, landing back on his own raven and flying past them.
Yorgos flew behind him, turning mid air. Gerard slowed down to meet him at his side.
The two clashed swords, Gerard held his own, but Sune's violence prevailed.
He fainted an upward strike, falling into a drop-kick, sending him plummeting into the city below. Gerard bellowed at the air.
In a flash, Yorgos soared behind him, attempting to wrangle him with his chains. Sune turned weaved past each attack, aiming to shove him off his raven with both hands.
But to his surprise— Yorgos's hands met his, they both locked in a power struggle.
Both could see into each other's eyes. As soon as Sune let go of Yorgos and attempted to slice through his stomach... he felt it.
The same unnatural breeze. One seeped in power. Vicram had emerged once again.
'NO!'
Vicram flung everything in a violent torrent of wind. Even Yorgos was sent flying. Ravens crashed as the saddles were blown from their backs. Metal clanged and clattered. Sune flipped and twisted through the air, arms outstretched, flailing to slow himself down.
He was hurling towards the citadel wall, just over top of it. Straight to his death.
Sune slowed time on his body. Sticking his blade into the top of the wall. It dragged. The wind still blasted on the other side, but it could not reach him. His blade stopped steadfast in the stone, preventing him from being flung over it. Once the storm had diminished. Sune hoisted himself up.
Panting for air, Sune glanced aimlessly at his surroundings yet again.
In his rampage, he had not noticed that he had even come close to reaching the citadel wall. He had crossed the entire city this way. The sun was now setting. He had crossed the day as well.
He had also not noticed his own fatigue. Both his mental and physical energy were almost entirely used up. His head was light. His vision blurry. Nothing felt real. He was like an outsider looking at his surroundings from within his own head.
However, he still had enough focus left to notice.
Vicram exploded down from thin air. Lightning crackled around him as he landed. Sune leapt back, assuming a battle stance once again. His body ached at the thought of another battle.
Then, Yorgos appeared, crash-landing his raven onto the scene. He combat-rolled heavily, landing next to Vicram, his hammer outstretched.
A moment of silence ensued. Both sides simply staring at each other. Too far from each other to read their eyes.
'…Is this it? Do I die here? I don't enough energy left to fight back, and it's two of them... But so what? At least I took their shitty Cohort with me…'
Vicram was the first to make a sound. A slow clap.
"Well... what can I say, foreigner? You're a monster, to say the least."
Sune didn't react.