Bones held both of his curved blades in the air. Then he flipped them upside down.
The sand below him and the black sludge that crept out from his wounds spiralled upwards towards the weapons encasing his arms, too. Bones started to sink into the sand.
Merrymore sighed. "I thought that perhaps there was a hint of something special about you, but you're simply another fool who relies on an ability rather than skill." He then brought his sword up to his finger "How disappointing."
"You'll see," Bones cackled distantly.
In a moment's instant, the blackened sand dispersed from him like a mass of worms crawling away into the mud.
His hands were covered with black sludge. His body was encased in spiked armour. Black sludge covered his face, creating a slick dome shape with overlapping stone faces, frozen in agony. 6 red lights pierced past the stone eyelids, scanning every direction. Black blood burst from his back; his spine opened up like the jaws of a beast, and purple, glistening energy buzzed. They stabilised into thin planes of energy. Devil's wings. There was a curved, tail-like blade that emerged from his spine
A sickening, distorted laughter left his body, filling onlookers with dread.
With a flash of red dust, he disappeared.
A savage claw was thrown at Merrymore. Time slowed. The claw was blocked with Merrymore's sword. But what remained of Bones' human visage slowly warped into a smile. Each bladed finger slowly wrapped itself around the blade. Merrymore realised his intention, and in a split second Merrymore vanished.
Bone reacted and flipped away from the knight's strike from behind. The two shot back from one another, gaining some distance, and they eyed each other as time seemed to resume. Hoku and Guppy watched with uncertain awe.
Sand flew as the two crashed into one another, blades colliding at an unbelievable speed.
Bones stepped back, then darted around Merrymore until he was behind him. He swept his claw towards the knight's legs, scraping the sand. Merrymore flipped and did a mid-air spin, slashing at Bones' shoulder. His blade scraped against the hard side of the bone's claw.
On another spin, Merrymore aimed his other claw, but Bones beat him to the punch and launched his other sharp claw at the knight.
The blades crashed into each other, creating simmering sparks.
Merrymore continued throwing out strikes, which were met with violent counters.
Merrymore scoffed. He jumped backwards to gain some distance. But Bones spun around, and as his skeletal tail crashed into the knight, knocking him to the right. Merrymore skidded through the sand until he slowed to a stop with the help of his blade. There was a dented chip in his armour. Merrymore dusted the sand off his black cape.
"Eeheehee!" Bones didn't let up; he swam through the sand and jumped at Merrymore.
Merrymore dodged and aimed a precise slash at Bones' stomach. Bones deflected it and returned with 7 consecutive blows. Merrymore predicted their exact trajectory and parried every strike. As a final attack, Bones stretched his claws out to his sides. Merrymore hesitated but ultimately trusted in his speed. He lunged towards Bones between his stretched claws. He aimed his blade for his throat.
Merrymore missed. Bones planted his tail in the sand and used it to move him backwards rapidly, as his two claws flew towards Merrymore, closing in on him
Merrymore reacted to the blades, but they were too long to escape. He needed to jump over it.
"Too late," Bones smiled. In a moment, he smashed his claws together.
Merrymore jumped up but Bones used his tail and the wings on his back to raise his elevation, aiming his claws higher.
Merrymore plunged the tip of his sword into the speeding claw. He gave a mighy push letting him rise even higher than Bones.
Bones caught him by the cape, but Merrymore cut the cloth and ran on top of his claws, flipping over the top of the scavenger, flicking his sword as he landed behind him in the sand.
Bones felt a diagonal cut on his face that bled out with dark blood. But then the blood gushed even further as the back of his armour had been cut all the way down. Bones stumbled back as he spat out dark blood.
Merrymore flicked his blade, removing the blood.
"Apologies, I didn't mean to cut you in such a barbaric manner, but the way you were moving made it difficult to maintain precision"
"Alright, you win!" Bones shouted, surprising Merrymore.
"Please have mercy."
Merrymore turned around to face him and walked forward.
"No, stay back!" Bones shouted, "Don't come any closer"
"What? Ridiculous," Merrymore said, bemused
Hoku watched it from afar. "He did it, he actually beat that monster."
But he noticed something strange a the knight was walking towards the wounded scavenger.
"Something... something's off."
"The tail. It's gone..." Hoku said, examining the wimpering creature.
"He's planning something for sure, but where could it have gone? Don't tell me..."
"System. Summon rhythm tracker."
The white headphones appeared in Hoku's hands, and he put them on his head. He closed his eyes and looked towards the two.
'No way!' There was something digging through the sand. It was heading right towards the unsuspecting knight.
'Maybe he'll be able to see it coming. If I tell him, I might distract him.'
Hoku fretted as it seemed that Merrymore stepped forward with a cocky air, ready to arrest the scavenger.
'Aggghhh!!! Stop overthinking it,' Hoku pulled at his hair.
Hoku took a step forward and cupped his hands around his mouth. "Watch out below! His tail's underground! He's going to attack from underground!" Both of them briefly turned to Hoku, with Bones putting all his attention on slicing the knight in half with his tail.
Merrymore lunged forward; the skeletal tail emerged. It slashed the side of Merrymore's foot, but he jumped forward. The tail continued to move his back towards Bones' direction, but before it could harm the knight, he delivered a single slash to his chest. Bones' tail stopped, and he burst into a sea of black blood.
Bones fell back, but he caught himself before turning and dropping to the floor. He started to cackle.
Bones clutched the sand, but then he started to chant. His blood seeped into the sand. From the sand emerged animals.
Merrymore stepped back "Jolly"
"What the hell am I looking at?" Hoku stared.
Bones smiled on his knees. His appearance had gone back to how he was before.
In front of him, the animal carcasses started to rise into the air
Merrymore seemed cautious as soon as he started to chant.
The bodies and bones of dead animals clumped together in the air, forming smooth surfaces. The bodies materialised into a curved black door in the sand.
The door started to open an air of darkness wafted from the opening. Mud leaked from the opening, mixing into the sand outside.
Hoku covered his nose.
Bones gave one last smile before stumbling to his feet.
"Isn't he going to stop him?"
Merrymore seemed adamant about staying away from the door.
Bones left into the darkness of the door.
But there was someone else inside.
Hoku squinted and tried to see if he could see better. A little girl in a black dress.
She reached up to close the door as she turned to leave he noticed that part of her head was missing, like a cracked porcelain doll.
The door shut and the frame returned to bits of dead meat scattering to the sand.
Merrymore became disinterested and went to find the other scavengers.
"Did you know he could do that?" Hoku asked when he heard a thump.
Guppy dropped to the sandy floor. "He lost..."
Hoku eyed him.
"This is why you should choose who you ride with, kid. You guys said there were other knights, right? That you kidnapped and killed."
He flippantly waved his hand.
"You're young; you'll serve some time to reflect on the stuff you did, and then you'll be released. Whether you choose to stay with these guys or change your ways is up to you."
Guppy didn't say anything as Hoko eyed him.
"You've got some talent, ya know. When you get out, you should try to use it for something good."
"What are you talking about?" Guppy almost shouted at him, which unnerved Hoku.
"I'm going to be executed." He cried.
"What!?" Hoku yelled in shock.
Guppy broke down.
Hoku scratched his head. 'If they killed other knights, I suppose it makes sense. Yeah, in a world like this, the death penalty being a default isn't exactly surprising.'
Hoku examined the knight and the approaching carriage. Merrymore was preoccupied with gathering all the surrounding unconscious scavengers.
Hoku started taking off his shirt.
"What are you doing?" Guppy asked.
"Don't get your hopes up. But I have an idea to get you out of this. It all depends on him, though," Hoku said, looking at Merrymore. "But I need something from you first."
"What?" Guppy shuddered.
"You've gotta promise me to stop riding these scumbags or anyone else like them, turn your life around and do some good for once."
Guppy hesitated, then contemplated. Then he shook his head "Ok."
"Good", Hoku said, holding his shirt in his hand "That wasn't what I needed, though. "Give me your shirt"
Guppy jumped up. "Why?"