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Chapter 52

One knight fell, and then another. It wasn’t just sword play either. At various points, a bolt of electricity or a flame would appear. These had to be related to the skills humans unlocked. Most of the skills came from Tanner, who used them to deal with the men trying to break into his house.

The three who stayed behind, the champion and two others, were the highest ranks among the knights. The other twelve were merely evolved, so even though they had numbers, Tanner’s flawless level outranked them completely. He was overwhelmed but still managed to hold on ten to one. He had even managed to kill two of them until they started to be more reserved.

I realized that the three standing at the back never intended for their fellow knights to beat Tanner. They were merely fodder to exhaust and tire Tanner out. The three in the back were in charge, and they’d rather see half of their men wiped out than risk their own lives fighting Tanner. Even the leader, who was an entire evolution over Tanner chose to let the others fight in his stead when he likely could defeat Tanner himself.

However, fighting had many unknown variables, as I had found myself. Even though my status overwhelmed champions and prestige, I still found myself facing unexpected things when fighting both that knight and the fish. Suffice it to say, just because someone was lower level than you didn’t mean you could underestimate them. Just because they couldn’t kill you didn’t mean they couldn’t make things difficult.

At first, I wondered why these knights would be willing to throw their lives away fighting someone like him. These were people who shamelessly murdered people and burned villages. They didn’t seem the type to be all that loyal to their country. That’s when I recalled how evolution worked. You had to fight up. If you couldn’t find something bigger, then it needed to at least be someone stronger. For humans who were already at the top of the food chain, an unattached paragon like Tanner had to be like a buffet.

Even if they had to risk their lives, the one who defeated Tanner would gain a ton of experience. It might even be enough that they could evolve into their next evolutionary tier. That would be a quantitative leap in their abilities, as well as a higher rank among their peers. The strongest became lords, kings, and emperors. To these people, evolution wasn’t just power, it was status. The temptation to increase their status by fighting a superior opponent with numbers was too tempting for these guys.

I remembered back to my origins. If I hadn’t been able to split my body up into innumerable copies, would I have been able to survive in that pond? I had copied myself millions of times, and those copies each had their own consciousness, wants, and desires. They were all dead now, and I was the only one who survived. I couldn’t even call it luck. It could have been any of us who made it, but one of us had to, and why not be me? I felt like these knights had a similar feeling.

A third man died to Tanner’s sword. The remaining nine were starting to get antsy. A few of them looked back at the higher-level knights who were overseeing them, but they gave nothing away with their expressions. They merely watched as the rest continued to wear Tanner down. He was already covered in sweat, and although he hadn’t been struck with more than superficial wounds, it was clear he couldn’t hold out forever, but none of these men wanted to be the next to die either.

Some of them realized that they were going about it wrong. They glanced over to the windows, and then moved to the side of the house. Tanner was too busy fighting off the remaining six guys. It wasn’t clear if he saw the three sneak away, but even if he did, he was too busy to do anything about it. The broke through the windows and entered the house behind him. A few moments later, there was a scream as Carolina inside the house encountered the men. This caused Tanner to look back, and for the first time, he received a real hit. He let out a shout, and his body glowed for a second. His speed increased and he managed to kill the man who stabbed him. The guy’s triumphant expression was still on his face even as his head fell from his shoulders. He never even knew how he died.

The other five minutes, perhaps growing bolder thanks to their friends already getting into the house, began to press him. He had no choice but to abandon his position at the door and fall back. While this was happening Carolina, pulled Mara with her as they fled the three men up the stairway. The men followed after her, but she managed to get into her bedroom and barricade the door just in time.

The three knights had greedy, disgusting looks on their faces that seemed to say what they were going to do to Carolina and Mara if they caught them. They began to use their weapons to hack away at the wooden door, slowly breaking it apart. Even though it was a steady door, it was already starting to splinter. I seethed on the inside, but what could I do about it? I had already given up my chance at evolution. I was trapped within the pond, unable to take a step toward them. Even my best weapon forged after ten years of testing could only reach out about three feet.

“Carolina!” Tanner roared. “Get to the pond! It’s your only chance!”

That was all he could get out, and doing so resulted in him being stabbed two more times. Carolina ran to the window, and tying the bed linens together, created a rope.

“Go, Mara, go!”

“You first!” Mara cried.

“We don’t have time, go!”

She acted a bit forcefully, shoving Mara out the window. Mara had no option but to grab onto the rope. She held out her hand to help her mother, but a moment later, the window shut.

The men had managed to make a large enough hole to get through, and one of them was already climbing. Mara pulled a letter opener from her nightstand, and without hesitating, she stabbed it into the man’s neck before he could finish climbing over their barricade.

He let out a scream as she stabbed him several more times. However, even if I could extend my senses into the house, at that distance I could only focus on one thing at a time. My focus turned to Mara, who reached the ground, half climbing, and half falling. She was still crying, but as soon as her eyes turned to the pond, she began to run like her life depended on it.

It was just a short run. It took about twenty seconds. I had seen her take it enough. I saw her run down when she was a toddler, often falling and rolling as often as she ran. She would always giggle as she got up. I saw her run when was a young girl, eager to avoid chores. I saw her run when she was a young lady, looking to read her newest romance. Now, she was a budding woman, and she was running to the safety I could provide one last time.

Ten feet from reaching me, she grabbed her hair. She ran forward and then was yanked back. She reached up, letting out a scream.

“Well, well, look what we have here.” The leader stated, his two men right behind him, chucking to themselves. “That idiot boy had better tastes than I thought. This girl is quite pretty, and still a virgin too.”

She had run as fast as she could, but they saw her and moved even faster. They had an almost supernatural speed I had never seen before. They moved like ghosts. Now, they had her, and she was just out of my reach. He sniffed her neck, and she let out a cry, trying to kick him. However, she might as well have been punching an elephant for the amount of damage it did to him. He laughed.

I started to surge with anger. My water was practically boiling.

“Spirit!” Mara cried out.

“Speerwit!” One of the men behind her declared mockingly.

“Is that the name of your little pond monster?” He laughed. “It is confined to the pond, huh? How pathetic. It must have been how Tanner got away all of these years, huh? I can sense a great deal of power.  In must be a prestiged, maybe even a lord.”

“A lord!” One of the men behind him cried out. “S-should we be worried?”

“Are you afraid of krakens on dry land?” The man bellowed, smacking the other guy with his free hand. “The creature is useless. All it can do is splash in its puddle and throw a tantrum. If it could do anything, it already would have.”

“I-I see…” The man nodded. “Should we go get the man and his wife yet?”

“Let the men have the wife. It’ll keep them happy after losing so many. As for Tanner, he’s just a small fish. We get to enjoy this young beauty, and after, we’ll kill the scourge. There is nothing it can do to hurt us as long as we keep away from its shores. We can still poison it and then dredge its waters. It might even be enough for me to evolve. Soon, I’ll be a prestige. You’ll all have to call me captain.”

The two other men laughed. The most maddening part was that they were correct. There was nothing I could do. For the first time in this life, I felt true regret and helplessness.