Genblade leaped almost five feet into the air from a standing position and flipped over his opponent, landing on the other side and slashing at the Womb’s backside. Blackness spiraled in long slithering strands in the direction of the blade, the wounded human flesh underneath visible through the gap in the oil. The slashed strands slithered their way back, rejoining Black Womb at the hand. Within seconds the wound had closed and was followed by the gap in the blackness closing up as the strands flowed back into place.
The Womb stood up and tilted its head to one side until the calcium popped, then turned to face its attacker.“No. It shouldn’t.”
Genblade gritted his teeth. His eyes narrowed into little slits on either side of his pointed nose and his fingers stretched along the grip of his sword. The blade hung by his side loosely until he let it fall until it almost hit the floor, then caught it. Extending his arm slightly, he let the metal touch against the metal of the tile, creating a small sound.
-shink-
-shink-. Again.
He did it over and over, all the while keeping his eyes locked on the Black Womb’s opaque pupils. The Womb stared back at Genblade, but with each -shink- the urge not to look down at the blade became unbearable. It strained, forcing itself not to comply with its reflexes. Genblade paused for a moment, the blade rising as he finished scraping the floor.
-shunk-.
Genblade had let the blade drop again. It created a louder, more intense scratch. The Womb’s pupil moved down to the corner of its eye as it glanced, only briefly, at the blade. When it looked back up, Genblade was already bearing down upon it. The spiked blade ripped across Black Womb’s face, briefly revealing the guise of Xander Drew underneath, writhing in agony.
Black Womb reeled backward in pain, gripping at its face with its hands. It howled as it remembered the claws too late, ripping them away and taking a large chunk of its own cheek with it. The sliver of meat dropped from the talon as it retracted and fell to the floor with a plop.
“Gah!” it hissed, staggering as it tried to steady itself on its feet.
As the brute’s arms flailed, Genblade kicked it in the side and sent it teetering even more off balance. More specifically, its right side. The creature’s mouth opened wide as it forced back a scream of pain. It looked up at its opponent standing over it, as it crashed to the ground.
Inside it, Xander’s pulse began to beat so loud that it was all he could hear thumping at the base of his skull.
I’m done, he thought, gasping for air and getting a mouthful of the dark bile that covered him instead. I may have power, but I have no idea what I’m doing. This guy has skill. He knows what he’s doing and I don’t. He’s better than me. He growled as he got up again, clutching at his side. Don’t know what’s going on, but if I’ve got power I’ve got to use it now. Use so much of it that it won’t matter how hard this guy’s trained himself. None of it matters. I’ve got to get out of here, Cathy still needs me.
The Womb raised its hands, palms open. It gritted its teeth as its talons unsheathed from their holding places inside of its fingers again, each one accompanied by a tiny spurt of arterial blood. It lunged at Genblade, mouth open and arms reaching out toward the murderer, aching to repay him for the flesh it had lost.
Genblade shifted his weight to the right foot casually, letting the Womb pass harmlessly by.
“This is really starting to get sad,” he tisked, reaching out and grabbing the creature by the back of the throat. Bringing him up to eye level, Genblade looked at the monster and laughed, slamming its head into the hard metal floor, then raising it up again.
“Guh... tit... gug,” the Womb mumbled as both red and black blood spewed from its lips, its head bobbing around on its neck as if one of the joints which held it there had come loose.
“You know what the difference is between you and me?” Genblade taunted, forcing it to crash into the floor once more, then bringing it back to eye level again.
Black Womb merely stared at his assaulter in a cold response. Xander’s bruised and cut face was visible through the small gap in the oily substance, before it swallowed into itself.
“No, not about a hundred I.Q. points,” he quipped, smashing his rival into the now bending metal once again, then brought it up to answer the question himself. “It’s just like I whispered to that dumb blonde before I cut her.”
Xander’s eyes went as wide as they could while still bruised, and the Womb’s followed.
“You can knock ‘em down, drive skates through their hearts or shoot ‘em, but one thing always stays the same.”
SLAM.
“...death ALWAYS has a face.”
SLAM.
“ALWAYS has a name.”
SLAM.
“And today, that name is Genblade.”
SLAM.
Genblade looked at his adversary for the first time since beginning his little speech. The Black Womb’s healing process had obviously slowed, the blackness now looking as though it were painted on and barely clinging to the flesh beneath. About half of Xander’s face was visible now, and it was in bad shape. The wounds looked to be closing, but not as fast as before. His vision was impaired by large, swollen bruises and his cheek and forehead were cut deep with gashes.
Xander’s pupil turned to look at Genblade, his voice somewhere in between the Black Womb and his own.“Sara?”
“Bit the dirt like a starving earthworm.”
SLAM.
SLAM.
SLAM.
Suddenly, Black Womb’s eyes began to glow bright aqua again. It reached behind itself, grabbing Genblade by the wrist and
