He looked at me quietly after I put the dagger down. He simply took human form and just sighed deeply. With Shank being the way he was, it probably was more than a bit humbling that he was beat at all. I did not make a big deal out of it. I really did not need to brag or boast. Ace and Deuce certainly did enough for me. This was their victory too. Krit could not learn how not to be an asshole. He challenged Shank to a fight. Even with the advantage of not having just been in a big fight, he was still no match for Shank. I watched along with the other blade spirits as Shank mopped the floor with him. I was really happy to see what Shank could do. Krit gave up. It was too much for him. We just looked at him with mockery. He was not going to live this down for a while. I would make sure of it. Shank, Krit, Ace and Deuce had to go back to their village. If they got attacked now, they would be totally defenseless against another bandit raid. Knat and I were protecting the village. A couple of days later, one of the other villages without us got leveled. There were no survivors there. Mercenaries did this.
The next village immediately surrendered to their might the next day. They were spared because of this. All the mercenaries spent the next day pillaging and having their way with the women. It was not pleasant. The third village was similarly sacked after their surrender. Then it was time for them to go to Shank's village. Our village only had 2 blade spirits. There were 4 in that village. The selected champions were sent out with all the other fighters in the village to defend their home. Only their champions made it back home alive. Even then, they all were heavily wounded. They had taken out about a dozen highly skilled and trained men. The mercenaries really were not expecting such a loss. They had to go back to get more men from the other villages. I thought it was about time when Liam and Darrien were sent to go aid them in their fight for their village. It only made sense. If they fell, our village was next. It was better to at least weaken them, so that we could survive. We got there at about the same time as the reinforcements for the mercenaries. There was another dozen of them to fight now.
It did not matter to me. I was going to make sure that Darrien and I got out of this alive. That was not even up for a debate. The battle began. All of the mercenaries were wearing heavy armor. That made it much harder for Krit and Knat to make an impact. They were blunt weapons. Shank was a dagger. Up against a bastard sword, it was an uphill battle. Ace and I were not any better as a sickle and kunai. However, I was making sure that I was the one taking the heavy blows for Darrien. That allowed him to take more ambitious moves against the opponents. We took out 3 mercenaries by the end of the battle. Darrien was covered in wounds and completely exhausted. It was the same for Liam and Knat. We got to stay for a celebratory feast. This was a pivotal battle for us blade spirits. We were growing in power. Both Shank and I were a bit closer to the third milestone than the others. He had a good 15 kills before this battle. Now it was 18 kills. Ace and Deuce both had 10 kills. Krit also had 9. Knat had only 8, but he was trying his best. I had 19 kills myself. We needed 25 kills before we evolved.
