A sharp hum pricked at Sam’s ear from the starboard. He acted on instinct and swung his sword in the direction of the sound, and not a moment too soon, as it cleaved through a line of three glowing blue blades. They shattered on impact. A man was on the shore, clad in dark blue that melted imperfectly into the dark-green shadows, moving alongside the boat. He moved alongside the boat. Ethereal swords fired from his shoulders and out across the river. Enough flew that they formed a river themselves, in a way.

Sam swatted the swords out of the sky like mosquitos, and those very few he missed exploded when met with Alucard’s bullets. They were little more than a nuisance. It seemed that nuisances were par for the course in Hell.

“So!” Sam said, raising his voice to vie with the distance, and the ever-present sword explosions. “Will you keep tossing pebbles? Or are you going to come closer?”

- Ragnarust Round 1