Boom...
Loud crushing sounds resonated after the tip of the eagle's sharp wings slammed at the window, shattering it completely and pushing Lieutenant Gray out of the window, falling alongside the debris of the glass.
Gray rolled, curling and tilting his body in the air, and landed on his feet with a soft sound. Straightening himself upward, his breath ceased, noticing a sharp claw coming for his head. He blocked it with the sword. The impact ignited sparks in the air, pushing both the lieutenant and the creature backward.
Stopping five kilometres away, the eagle roared as warm liquid began to seep out of its right wing. It spread its wings, piercing its beak at where the liquid was gushing from and pulling the feathers from there. Then, burying its claws in the ground and digging stones cremated beneath the ground, it roared, surging forward at high speed.
…
Gray, who now stood there with shaking arms and breath after hitting the back of his head on a jagged broken stone, gasped, pulling another katana sword from his back. He exhaled deeply, turning the swords straight, each tip facing another direction – from left to right – and slammed them together, merging them into a long two-sided sword.
He held at the center of the merged swords, the only place the handles were, his palms facing upward and downward, clutching tightly at the merged handle. Evaporated air erupted every time a drop of rain fell on the sharp edges of the sword.
He loosened his shoulders, closed his eyes, gave out a sharp inhale, and shifted his weight onto the leg placed at the back. The sword followed in a controlled diagonal drag, tracing an infinite line through the air in an 'S' shape.
At the moment the eagle neared him, he cracked his eyes open, turned, and slammed the sword repeatedly at the creature's black body, igniting sparks as it screeched against the hard feathers.
The eagle rolled and halted after it got pushed by the sword's pressure. It jolted in the air, its feathers bursting outward in a scatter of black and ash. A high-pitched cry split the wind bouncing on the walls around as it fought to regain balance.
The bird's reddish eyes, burning with rage, locked on the lieutenant who struck the sword on its feather. It arched high, beating its wings with powerful and uneven strokes, spiraling upward and sending torn newspapers into the air.
It turned sharply midair, folding its wings halfway and diving downward, letting the wind scream around it as it plummeted with terrifying precision. Its talons extended long and curved, each one trembling with deadly intent.
Reaching the lieutenant, it flared its wings, slashing one talon forward aiming for his head and sweeping the other low toward the waist.
Gray turned, tilting sideways, ducking under the claws, and crashing the sword on the talon aimed for his waist. The creature's beak snapped open, striking toward the sword in a blur, trying to disarm him with sheer force.
When Gray moved the sword again, the eagle twisted, its sharp wing striking the metal in an indirect sweep – not enough to break it, but enough to throw sparks into the air. It shrieked, rising with a furious beat of its wings, and circled above him.
Gray steadied himself, tightening his grip on the sword, and scraping his boots across the wet stones as he shifted, his eyes staring deep at the creature which dived again in a faster and angrier stance.
Gray stepped back and lunged forward, swinging the blade in a sun breathing dance. The tip of the sword clashed at the eagle's beak, igniting sparks. Though the strike landed on the eagle and left a wound on it, the force rattled through his veins, causing his bones to shake.
The bird shrieked, circling on the side this time and diving low, spreading its wings wide enough to blind him. But Gray spun, twisting his body and dragging the merged sword in a low sweep that scraped across the ground before rising in a sharp arc.
The edge of the sword tore through the eagle's right wing, scattering the black and smoking feathers and making the creature's flight falter, sending it tumbling into the wall with a crashing sound that shook the loose stones.
Before it could recover from the crash, Gray moved, sprinting through the rain and screeching the swords on the weak walls.
His soldiers, who were now standing miles away, rushed into the bus and drove it backward. At the turn of the front tire, a large stone flew and struck where the bus would have been if it hadn't moved.
The eagle staggered up, flapping its wings wildly, one eye fixed deadly on him and the other on the moving bus, as blood kept running from its wings. After a blink, it lunged forward with a desperate strike, both of its talons stretching out and pointed at Gray's chest.
Gray slid lower under the strike, water spraying beneath his boots as he twisted his torso, stretching the sword vertically into the eagle's skull.
A dull, cracking sound echoed in sync with the thundering sound above as the creature convulsed once, its wings flaring wide in a final shudder before falling still.
Gray held the sword, broke the upper sword from the lower sword, and swung it, letting the ichor on it slip from its sharp edges. Then, he wrapped his fingers around the only handle which stayed visible on top of the eagle's head, pulled it alongside a stream of blood, which then got washed away by the rain. But red trails lingered on the ground before mixing with the swampy water.
He stood over the fallen bird, his chest rising slowly, the two swords humming faintly in his hands before dimming back.
The nine soldiers became ten as the one who saw the eagle before its attack came and joined the rest in the bus. They moved, walking side by side and directing their steps toward the lieutenant.
…
On the road leading toward the walls of the city of Bion, everyone sitting in the black fifteen-man bus sat still, but kept their focus on the small boy sitting at the back. Kai kept his gaze locked at the ichor on his boots, his mind reeled, replaying how he acted toward the bandits.