The Foolhardies 216 Attack on Titan

This feeling lasted only about as long as it took Garm to laugh in our faces while yelling out to his troops, "No one interferes… these three fools are my prey." 

That certainly washed away any mixed feelings I might have had about honor and stuff.

"Triangle formation," I said quickly. "Azuma will tank him, I'll back him up, and Ty attacks with long-range spells."

An instant was all it took for the three of us to get in formation with Azuma in front of me and Ty. 

Now, although I wanted to keep track of the larger battle, I would have to trust in Aura and Arah to keep the unit together for any less than my full attention would put me, Ty, and Azuma in a really tough spot, the kind you don't come back from.

"Here we go, here we go," Ty said to psyche himself up. 

"Come at me, fools!" Garm growled. 

That's when Azuma launched a combination of attacks with his spear that even I found hard to follow. However, for each thrust or slash he sent at Garm, each one was deflected or blocked by Garm's greatsword. 

"More!" Garm roared at Azuma. "Come on, human, they told me you were a true warrior!" 

Garm's taunts only fuelled Azuma to try harder. He increased his speed and spun his spear around and around, and then used the momentum he'd created with the rotations to deliver blow after blow at Garm. 

The great general managed to block one, two, and three, but wasn't fast enough to block spinning attack number four whose shadowblade raked across his cheek and drew blood. 

Garm spat at Azuma's face, and although Azuma dodged the disgusting projectile, Garm capitalized on the moment and sent his greatsword on a side sweep arc toward Azuma's outstretched neck. 

That's when I slipped in and blocked deflected the attack by sending my falchion crashing down on the flat of Garm's shadowblade. 

At the same time, Ty screamed, "Frost Ray!" 

A beam of white energy launched from his outstretched hand and smacked Azuma on the right shoulder. Ice formed around the target area and caused Azuma's sword arm to waver just as he attempted to block Azuma's spear thrust. 

Azuma's spear tip grazed Garm's armor but didn't penetrate through the thick metal. 

"Aim for the chinks in the armor… the rest of it is just too hard," I explained just as I ducked to avoid the left hook that I thought had been aimed at me. 

Garm's left fist smashed the ice that clung to his right shoulder, breaking it into pieces and freeing his sword arm once more. 

"His armor must be adamantine grade then," Azuma spat. "Ty, keep trying to immobilize him!" 

I'd never seen adamantine grade armor before. Not even Aura, the richest and most important person I knew, wore something so rare and expensive. Even Darah's golden armor was only platinum grade. 

So as I gazed back at the dark blue chest plate emblazoned with Garm's symbol and its silver filigree, I found a new appreciation for what we were attempting to achieve. We were three soldiers of flesh and bone against a titan, and if we succeeded, we'd be the stuff of legends. 

With this thought in my head, I renewed my attacks on Garm's unprotected sides while Azuma kept his attention like a proper tank should. 

I reopened the cut I'd made earlier on his right leg and then proceeded to run around his back and repeat the process on his left head. 

Why go through all that trouble, you ask? Why not just attack his head while he was distracted? Like I said, Garm might as well have been a titan and everyone knows you bring a titan down by forcing it to its knees first. 

"Frost Ray! Frost Ray! Frost Ray!" Ty yelled repeatedly.

With each spell cast, a ray of white energy would smash again and again into Garm's armored form. And although these attacks would barely hurt him and proved no more than inconveniences to Garm, the constant need to break off the ice that grew on his body was starting to show on his face in the form of annoyance. 

Quick as a viper, Garm slammed his shoulder and pushed Azuma aside so could hurl his greatsword toward Ty who'd been hiding in the rear. 

It was obvious from his panic expression that Ty wouldn't be able to duck or create an arcane shield in time, but I was too far away to assist him. 

Luckily, Azuma, despite losing his balance, managed to throw his spear and deflect Garm's greatsword from reaching Ty. 

This caused Garm to turn his wrath on Azuma instead. 

Garm's right fist came hurtling toward Azuma head, but my martial arts teacher simply ducked right before sliding forward even further into Garm's range so he could deliver a rising uppercut up to Garm's chin. 

For the first time since our fight began, Garm head snapped back, but even in that awkward position, he managed to grab at Azuma's shoulder with his left hand. 

However, as he pulled Azuma toward him in what would either be a punch from his right fist or a knee from his right leg, I slashed down at his outstretched left arm. 

Garm roared as he pulled away from Azuma. Too bad for him, he'd stepped back into the ice mine that Ty had just cast. 

An explosion of ice spikes managed to unbalance Garm long enough for Azuma to jump toward him. 

While in mid-air, he reached out with his right hand, and like Thor's hammer from the movies, Azuma's spear came flying toward him. He caught the weapon just as he came within range of Garm, and then, he thrust the spear toward Garm's shoulder. 

I wasn't being idle either by the way. While Azuma performed his cool martial arts move, I'd called on the elements to grace my sword with the power of Augmentare. 

"Like a bolt of lightning, carve away all defences with a single glistening blade," I whispered. 

Azuma swung his spear down on Garm's front side while I launched a rising slash at Garm's back. And if that wasn't enough, Ty had cast a second ice mine right underneath Garm that was already in the midst of exploding. 

It did explode, but so did Garm. 

Garm slammed his foot onto the ground, and the force of his stomp caused the sand to explode upward, destroying Ty's ice mine and pushing both me and Azuma back for good measure. 

I stabbed the ground in order to not get blown away, but the sand was everywhere and my eyes were momentarily useless. 

A hand broke through the layer of sand in the air and grabbed my neck, and the next thing I knew I was being pulled forward and then launched away. 

I crashed into Ty moments later, and as our bodies collided, I felt my friend go limp from the impact. Ty, our heavy hitter, was down for the count. 

Even worse, the impact caused me to lose my focus and with it, the last embers of Fool's Insight winked out. 

The backlash from using it all day and night caused intense pain to shoot up my eyes, forcing me to cry out in pain for an entirely different reason from my body getting beat up after slamming into Ty. 

Despite this pain, my vision didn't get blurry which was a small mercy considering my condition and the situation we were in. 

So, it was in full color that I watched the curtain of sand particles subside only to give way to Garm slamming Azuma onto the ground. With his right hand wrapped around Azuma's neck, Garm unleashed a flurry of blows with his other hand that made me cringe with each impact. 

"Stop!" I managed to say. 

I picked up my falchion once again, and then pulled myself up despite the protest of my bones. Then I limped my way to Garm. 

He raised his head and sent me a death-stare that stopped me in my tracks. It would have held me there too if I hadn't seen his bloody fist. Underneath Garm, Azuma wasn't moving. 

I was about to fly at Garm in a rage but then I saw something that stopped me in my tracks a second time. 

"Too frightened to avenge your little friends, boy?" Garm taunted. "Come on… I haven't bloodied myself enough on you fools."

Oh, how I relished this next part for it seemed I would get the last laugh after all. 

"Hey, a*shole… I win," I said, smiling despite the pain exploding out of my eyes. "On your left…" 

Garm wouldn't be distracted, however, at least until he heard the raucous cheers coming from behind him. That's when he decided I wasn't bluffing and turned around. The sight he saw then made his face crunch up in apparent disgust.

A thousand more soldiers bearing the banners of the Foolhardies and the Pilgrimage crashed into the flank of Garm's men. We'd held out long enough. 

Chapter end