NIMBUS AND THE KNIGHTS OF CENFERUM

Chapter 29 part 2

Minutes earlier, while Nimbus and Lonios watched Adon charge against the enemy, the boy threatened to follow him but was stopped by his master.

— No, let him follow his destiny; it was his choice. The order is to wait for him to clear the way and advance. Don't forget the military hierarchy, and he is our commander.

Nimbus waited as the man opened a corridor of agonizing enemies behind him, while everyone outside the ships at that moment looked in terror at the mountain of muscles in front of them, trampling over everything and everyone in its path.

— Attention, men, it is our duty to keep this corridor open. Follow me, Nimbus. Valeros, you wait here with Adon's team. Men, follow me.

Lonios advanced, and Nimbus, as ordered, remained at his rear. Behind them, several frightened soldiers tried to fill the corridor on the battlefield created by Adon. This was the center of the battle, and it was fervent. Lonios coordinated a simple shield wall to keep the corridor existing. It was a corridor that extended from the reserve of soldiers occupying the Brand to the enemy command bridge, where Adon now knelt. That area had to be defended at all costs; the invasion into the interior of the ship would be crucial there. Dozens of men, half of Lonios's squad and Elisis's squad, eagerly awaited to enter the battle, while Adon's platoon remained at the forefront, occupying the entire enemy deck in a bloody fight. There was no room for anyone else on the enemy deck. So the corridor had to be maintained.

Nimbus stayed behind his master, trying to hit approaching enemies in the corridor, where they were more numerous and intended to defend the bridge. Lonios moved back and forth promptly, cutting with his Diamond Steel sword. Now he didn't care about hiding; he couldn't afford it. Nimbus had immense difficulty staying in the rear of his master due to his great mobility; he found himself fighting two enemies most of the time and couldn't afford to hesitate. Suddenly, he felt a cut on his shoulder and bent over; a third enemy had approached from behind, between him and Lonios, who had moved away to thrust at an enemy and was returning. Nimbus dodged the blows, cut some enemies, just disabling them from combat, nothing lethal, and leaned his back against Lonios.

— Master, I'm injured.

— Is it serious? — by his tone, Lonios seemed apprehensive.

— A cut on the shoulder.

— Stay as close to me as possible; we can't leave here now.

— Master, there are too many of them. I don't know if I can keep up with you.

Lonios turned to him and looked him in the eyes, ignoring the enemies in front of him.

— Nimbus, this is not a training session where we can ask for a break for you to rest. FIGHT! — He turned to the enemies moments before being hit. Skillfully, he parried the blow with his sword and impaled the enemy who fell to the ground, writhing in agony.

Lonios had never spoken to Nimbus like that before, and now he understood that it was a life-or-death moment. After all, he himself longed for his "baptism of blood"; he wanted to be there, and now he was scared.

Huddled behind his master, he defended himself as best as he could against three enemies. He didn't want to kill; it wasn't in his nature. So, he disarmed enemies and injured them in the legs or arms, trying to disable them from combat. But it wasn't enough; they kept on fighting. The moment to kill was inevitable, but Nimbus procrastinated that moment as much as he could.

Now, he noticed that Lonios's soldiers were far away from them; there were several enemies between them and the platoon. He and Lonios were at the forefront, alone among dozens of enemies, which frightened him even more. Lonios was fierce in combat; Nimbus had never seen him like this before. He didn't know if he could keep up with such ferocity. That's when he was injured again; a fourth enemy had approached from the front, from below, and struck him in the stomach. Quickly, the boy hunched over and kicked the enemy away. The cut was superficial, probably due to the protection of the leather armor, but if it continued like this, he wouldn't be able to keep up with his master until the end. It was the first time he thought he would die.

Now four enemies were fighting him. The one who had been kicked was back and attacking him. Lonios's soldiers were too far away and too busy to help him, and Lonios himself was also busy with his enemies. It would be his end; fighting against four enemies was beyond his capacity. Then Nimbus remembered the meditations his master had taught him and all the times he had practiced them. So, he tried to enter that state of serenity, using the hand position Lonios had taught him in training to invoke such serenity. He took a deep breath and made the movement with his hand. At that moment, he felt a terrible headache that made him hunch over. It would be his end; cornered, he would be killed by the soldiers.

He waited for a few moments for the final blow, his death. He didn't even allow himself to breathe; he held his breath for a few good seconds. Due to the unbearable headache, he was bent over, and he would certainly be decapitated. But the blow didn't come.

Curious about not being attacked, he lifted his head, which seemed to weigh a ton. What he saw scared him even more. Everyone around him seemed to move slowly, as if they were frozen in time. Indeed, a blow was heading towards his head. With all his strength, he raised his sword; his body also seemed to move more slowly and feel very heavy. The sword literally felt like it weighed a ton, to the point that he could hardly move to lift it. If it continued like this, it wouldn't reach in time to parry the blow that would decapitate him. But he exerted more force, and the blade moved faster; now it didn't seem to weigh so much. It was as if the inertia had been broken, and now the blade was lighter. With such force and speed, he not only parried the enemy's blow but also disarmed him. His sword flew upwards as if in slow motion.

Using even more force to make his sword change direction, he hit the leg of the enemy, and, to his surprise, the man's leg was severed as if it were butter cut by a heated knife. At first, he thought that his weapon had passed through the opponent's leg as if he were a ghost, but slowly, the man began to fall, and the severed leg detached from the enemy's body.

Noticing the tremendous force of the blow, Nimbus decided to deal with the other three enemies. Using absurd strength, he forced the sword to make an arc and disarmed one of them just by striking his sword. Then another and, finally, the man in the middle. When the blades moved away from the enemies, he noticed that they were embedded in enemies still around him, waiting for an opportunity to fight. Probably, they would die due to the severity of the wounds from the weapons stuck in their bodies. He didn't want to kill; it was an accident, he thought. With the hilt of his weapon, he knocked down the three enemies in front of him, who would probably be unconscious due to the marks on their bodies where Nimbus had hit them.

At that moment, a large gap had formed around the boy. Four fallen enemies in front of him, three more around him in the air, falling to the ground with swords embedded in their chests. Nimbus began to attack the pirates around him, who tried to harm him. Three more unarmed, in what seemed like an endless time, and more space was made around him. It was at that moment that he noticed Lonios staring at him with a look Nimbus had never seen before—a mix of astonishment and fear.

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