The Demon's Blade Read Online Free PDF Page A

mountain of malice, too large, too strong, and too fast to be beaten. Darien began to tire. He could feel his chest heaving as he gasped for breath. If force would not bring down the Master, perhaps magic would. The Executioner focused the power of the blade into a dark vortex. He channeled the energy into a shadow void, a churning, crushing, consuming, ball of pure nothingness, and his most powerful technique, amplified further by the energy of the Demon Sword. He hurled the black void of emptiness towards the Master, but the monstrous man raised a hand, producing his own vortex which absorbed and cancelled Darien's. It was no use. Mental and physical exhaustion were overtaking the Executioner, after only a few minutes. The Demon Sword granted him enhanced power, but it was also taxing, an unforeseen difficulty. The Master made no move to attack.
    "See, you impudent traitor?" the Master taunted. "You cannot even touch me. For centuries I have drained the power of that weapon, becoming the god among men you now see before you. It is now nothing but a husk of what it once was. Still, even such little must have made a tiny little mortal such as you feel as though you had the power to move the world itself." The Master laughed, and the gathered onlookers in the hall laughed along with him. "How foolish. Such is the infinite arrogance of man. You have learned nothing. Think of all I have given you. I have made you more than you were before. When you came here you were only an angry, wayward child, cast out by those who hated you for your blood, cursing your birth for no reason but their own prejudice. I have given you a home. I have given you law, order, and a purpose. I have even given you vengeance upon those who once hurt you. Now you betray me, and for what, for a false friend who turned you against me? Such a waste.” The Master turned his back and shook his head, clearly daring his former student to attack, and that student seized the opportunity, throwing all his force into a single lunge towards the gap in the Master’s armor between his breastplate and left shoulder plate. The Master turned quickly, avoided the blow, and struck Darien’s head above his right eye, stopping his assault and driving him back several yards, as though he had swatted a fly. “Once I thought you might be the greatest student I ever had. Now you are nothing but a worthless traitor. Your death will not be quick. You will know the meaning of suffering, and then, when you are utterly broken and defeated, and I become bored with inflicting pain upon you, only then will you die."
    It was over now. Darien had failed, and there was now only one more thing to be done. ‘I will wait for you beyond the doors of death’, the words of his mother echoed in his mind. He thought of his mother’s face, smiling down at him, and prepared himself for the end. He took the blade and put it against his chest. "Ha, so you will choose the coward's path then." The Master sneered. "How disappointing. I had hoped you might be better entertainment." The Master burst again into laughter and continued. "Go on, you change nothing, whether you die by my hand or yours is meaningless. The truth is that your life is mine, as it always has been. Mine to give and mine to take. I have made you, and without me, you are nothing, so finish it then. Take it as the final order you will receive, and the last mercy I shall grant you." The Master grinned wickedly, and waited.
    Darien struggled a moment, on the edge of death by his own hand, but no matter how hard he willed himself, he could not finish the deed. Panic began to take hold of his mind, and he thought to throw himself into one final desperate attack, but in that dark moment, the light of an idea came to him, something he hadn’t thought of for a long time. A simple trick which might fare better than his most powerful spells. He held himself steady, and instead of pushing the blade into his chest, began to pull all the