Forged Destiny [Book 8: Ch. 6]

His eyes flashed with power.

A Skill! I held back instantly, wanting as much distance between us to react.

He drew a circle in the air with his weapon and then pointing it towards me and whispering, "Four Flowering Petals."

My eyes widened.

That was my Skill.

Four attacks. Simultaneous. He didn't take a step towards me or strike at all, but my instincts screamed that four attacks were coming, and I just about saw the glimmer of red light before the firs struck. I tried to block it, bringing Crocea Mors up, but it slammed down onto my shoulder. Another caught me on my right, above my hip. The third scored my left, under my armpit – and the fourth cut a large gash into my thigh, dropping me to one knee.

They were impossibly fast. Impossible to block.

[...]

The captain's eyes flickered with light.

He was on me a second later, sliding his sword under my guard in a Skill-based thrust that had closed the distance faster than I could ever hope to predict. I managed to turn, enough to lessen the damage, but it still scored a deep groove into my armour, nicking and drawing blood on my flank where the breastplate didn't cover me.

While painful and bloody, the wound wasn't a dangerous one, cutting through flesh and fat rather than muscle. It still hurt and I gasped, grappling his arm and using my superior Strength to hold him still as I drove my forehead down into his nose.

[...]

As my sword smashed the railing behind him to pieces, he grabbed the rope tied nearby and looped it over and around my neck from behind, strangling me.

I got a hand up in time to stop that, but found it pinned to my neck and chin as he pulled it tight, then unhooked the rope from the metal hook. It spiralled away and the sails fell, the rope going taut and hauling me off my feet, choking me. Crocea Mors fell from my hand as I was dragged up, eyes blurring as I struggled to breathe.

A flash of black passed above me, severing the rope before I could be lynched. Or, more likely, before my neck snapped. I landed hard on the deck and gasped for breath.

[...]

Sat on the floor behind her legs clutching my side, I looked up in confusion.

—Forged Destiny [Book 8: Ch. 6]