Authors Note: Hello All! Long time no see/hear/read. I do apologies for my absence. Thing in my life have gotten complicated, thus affect my time and ability to write. But recently, being sick i should say, has gotten me behind the comp to write. I hope this Chapter is ok with all of you readers. Please let me know how this goes.

Thanks Again,

Riyougi

Chapter 34

'I'm back in the game!' Linked mused to himself

Link, having regained his composer to stand, after landing most painful upon his back, returned his focus to the matter at hand. Link squatted momentarily before springing on his feet, as his back ached slightly due to his rough landing. The boned creature was still playing its hide and seeks game with him. It chose to hide from him, and only chose to attack the warrior when he had lowered his guard. Link thought of it as a tasteless, cowardice tactic; but still, an effective one.

Having fallen to its tricks once, Link was not going to allow himself to be a victim to it twice. He had to think of something different to counteract such a tactic. Link, not wanting to ponder too long on the spot, had to think quickly before the creature took advantage of his delay in movements. Nothing seemed to immediately jump out to his mind. No tactic was totally perfect to counteract a surprise hit and run scheme, but he just needed something, anything to protect his back from being a target.

Link travelled through all the archives in his mind of gathered knowledge of fighting tactics and combat training, for an approach to this creature. Link pondered hard on the limited knowledge of the creature against all his combat experience, in order to make a decisive move on the boned demon; all the while his eyes scanned the forest and the canopy above.

Link's long ears twitched slightly as the sound of a twig suddenly snapping flooded to him, causing the warrior to break free of his thought to confront the source. Link's leather boots grounded the soil as he spun about in the opposite direction. Link's hands were tightened incredibly on both his sword and shield, ready to block or to deal a quick blow.

The path behind him was clear. The forest path was totally empty; beside him, as it has been all the while he travelled it. Despite the appearance, he knew it was far from empty. I know your there… why play such a foolish game with me? Link quickly heard the sound of rustling within the bushes behind him echoing in his long sensitive ears, again causing the warrior to turn about to face the source.

This is getting pointless, Link thought, staring at the bush where the sound had come from. As soon as he had gazed upon it, the bush became still and lifeless. No forest animal ran out or mere bird flutter forth from the bush; it just remained still. Link saw this as a mere act by the creature to confuse him in lowering his guard. Though Link wouldn't allow such a thing to happen, the creature's tactic was seemly to gain its effect over time. It's playing these damned games with me, because it's knows that any sound made would alert me into that direction – its keeping me in a consent state of confusion and alert. If I don't do something soon I'll start to get sloppy and it will take a swipe at me!

Link soon heard another rustling within the bushes, again from behind him, and was quick to face its direction. Though he knew it was again a mere trick, he could not simply allow the misjudgement of ignoring it, just in case the sound was indicating a coming attack. Link frowned in annoyance as he gaze fall upon the bush, once again becoming still.

'The creature is moving about…' Link mumbled under his breath, taking note of the creature's new tactic. This tactic was a familiar tactic to the warrior. It was used to confuse it victim about the opponent's whereabouts, and, depending on how inexperienced the victim was, to lure them into a surprise attack from behind. Link, having been placed as the victim in this situation, was far skilled and experience for this tactic to easily surpass him. The creature may have the upper hand by being evasive and agile, but he knew how this worked, and could safely move ahead without being surprised. 'If it is allowed to catch me in a still and constant state, as I am now, this would work – I need to keep moving, keep adjusting'

With that, Link made his move.

Rising both shield and sword high, Link began to move in a circular motion. It looked somewhat like a dance step he had once seen in the royal court of Hyrule, but now had a different purpose then that of a simple dance. He would not simply head in a direction in the normal sense, leaving his back expose to attack, but would move in this circular motion so he could see all around him while moving in a single direction. It meant he wouldn't be able to focus on a particular area for long, but also meant the creature could not have an opening for an attack. It made him stagger slightly between each step, being a very unnatural way to move about, but he was able to adjust his footing and recover his balance.

Amidst this motion, Link neither heard any twig or bush, or any other forest sound being made. Link summed up that his tactic had confused the creature; thus rendering the creature's tactic useless. It could not surprise him while he moved about like this. It required Link to be still and in constant state of fear of where its next attack would be coming from to work.

Link allowed a satisfied grin to draw across his face, but it didn't last for long. Though this had stopped the creature from surprising him, he had only bought him some time before the creature thought of something new. Link needed to do something quick before then. Again he was unable to think of something properly. He needed more time to mould over his thoughts for a better plan of attack.

Link, staring about the forest as best he could in his movements, searched for a place to give him cover; even for a short time, so he could formulate a plan.

The trees surrounding the forest path seemed to provide a good cover, but because the trees had grown so close together, it still provided the creature with cover as well. His chance of blocking or preventing an attack would be lessened. He needed a place that still kept him in the open. The creature, if it dared attack, would have to expose itself from hiding, thus giving Link the chance to block and to focus on where it was.

Making a step to the right, Link's eyes glided over the derby just offside to him. The pile of fallen branches was centered mainly in the middle of the forest's path. The many branches proved a good cover, if he could positioned himself just right amongst them. It would be temporary at best, but just perfect enough for him to do what he needed.

Using this motion, Link moved towards the fallen derby, where the sun's light was still pouring through. It was a close point to the field and it also provided him with some cover. He would press himself against one of the tree branches and have his back protected, while he thought out his next move. The creature would lose its opening once again, but the downside, it would leave him a sitting duck, if it did decided to make a move. At that moment it didn't really mattered, it offered the warrior more protection – his circular motion was good for the moment, but even he would tire of it and return to his normal routine.

Link made his way quickly to the derby, where he slumped himself against the tree branches. From here, with his Mirror Shield covering his body and his Great Fairy sword slightly hovering off the ground, Link kept watch of the canopy and the forest around him; watching for the evasive creature. While he did this, Link began to think out his next step. Again, his current idea was good for cover, but it would only be a matter of time before the creature figured out a way to attack him. That and he still wanted to follow after this Master Sword. His fable sword had not left his mind during this battle, and he wanted to deal with this quickly as to resume its trail. If the creature wasn't going to make this quick, Link decided, he would rather chase down his Master Sword rather than to destroy the creature. Destroying the fragments in the creature was important, but this Master Sword was more important to him in the long run.

Link had to make this decision carefully, knowing it would affect the turn of events ahead of him.

After a few minutes, considering the creature was not going to make a decent confrontation to this fight, Link decided to move along. He knew he could not attack this creature properly, having it hide from him all the time, hovering about the air and or dashing about the forest at such incredible speed. So, thinking upon his options, Link decided to have the advantage of a forest terrain taken away from the creature.

Link knew the creature wanted the Soul Edge fragments he carried and would not let him go so easily without them. Therefore, knowing this bit of information, Link would head towards the field. If he got outside the forest, and the creature still followed after him, then the creature had lost its ability to hide behind the trees of the forest. But, if the creature didn't want him to leave the forest, it would have to make itself visible and attack him in order to stop him. Either way, he would get the creature into a position he could take advantage of.

With that, Link pushed away from the fallen derby he had taken refuge under and, again using the circular motion as before, made his way towards the forest's exit.

The forest seemed to stand still and motionless, with the exception of the occasional gentle breeze blowing through the trees, as the warrior made his way towards the field. Though he could not stay focus upon any particular area of the forest for long, as he was continually moving about, in order to conceal his back from attack; he could still feel the stillness about him. Link felt himself getting worked up and his body stiffen slightly with tension. His movements and even his way of thinking at the moment were expecting an attack to come at him any second; his body and mind were ready and expecting it. But because the creature was not doing anything, besides waiting, the tension Link was building inside had no release. Link sensed that if nothing happened soon, he would lowered his defenses once more, in order to relax himself; but at the same time leaving himself open to attack.

If I gain some more distance, then I can reach the field and be out in the open, Link thought, eying the field of open grass just beyond the forest's trees. I can be more relaxed then – it'll have no way to conceal itself and I'll be able to see it that much better than what I can in here!

With that, Link opened up his movements a bit more. He lessen his circular motions, as to allow himself to head towards the forest's exits much quicker, but would keep turning about periodically, to keep his back conceal from attacks. His legs were steady in his movements, and his fingers were tight upon both sword and shield, in case the creature attacked.

.
.

After a few more steps and turns, Link was well into the mouth of the forest's exit. The trees thinned out at this point and the light from the open field beyond shone in brighter and purer. The wind greeted the warrior with a soft breeze as he stood before the last frontier of trees to the forest. Having made it to exit, Link no longer saw the need to keep up his defensive movements. The creature had not made any effort to attack him nor to prevent his escape from the forest.

Link made a quick glance over his shoulder at the forest behind him. The forest was still and silent as it had been before. There were some subtle movements from brushes and branches behind him that swayed from either breeze or animal, but nothing more than that. Link wondered, staring at the forest scenery with focused eyes, if the creature had been there at all while he was making his move towards the forest's exit. Had he done all that for nothing? Feeling that he was being watched was nothing more that an overworked mind, playing upon the conjured fear of the creature's presence?

Link, turning away from the forest behind him, shook his head slightly. Despite the apparent fact, Link knew that what he did kept him from harm; even if the threat was no longer there. He'd rather be safe than sorry.

'That's it I guess – there is nothing more here for me then…'

With that thought in mind, Link lifted his gaze to the open field before him.

SMASH!

The wind was suddenly knocked from the warrior's lung. His stomach and lower chest area exploded with pain and a ferocious burn of fire erupted froth within. Not even able to take a decent glance at the greens blades of grass before him or of the ocean blue sky above was Link suddenly struck hard.

Link felt his stomach suddenly scream out in anguish for what felt like hours and the air in his lungs rushing free till he was out of breath entirely. Link was lucky that his Mirror Shield had still cover most of his body when he had face the field, even in his relaxed state, to have absorbed some of the full impact of the hit. His bare stomach copped only a small portion of the attack, but judging from what he felt now, he sworn he might have taken the attack's full force.

It happened so fast that Link had no time to react, nor time for his mind to comprehend or to command his body as the pain surged through him. All he could do at the suddenness of the attack was to simply gasp, helplessly and automatically from the escaping air and from the increasingly amount of pain channeling through him, as his feet left the ground and he was flung back into the forest's depths.

The warrior again felt like he was hovering in the air, with no pull for his descent to the earth. In his mind, time had slowed down, as it tried to take in what had just occurred. When his mind took in the sudden event and caught up, Link wished it hadn't. Time sped up and he suddenly hit the ground hard, with his back taking the rough impact, before suddenly being flipped over and landing a second time on his front. With the roughness of his body, and the Mirror Shield and Great Fairy Sword acting as weights, Link slowed his slight skid along the dirt trail to a halt. Link grunted slightly and painfully; causing the dirt directly under his face, to flare away from his mouth. With wide white eyes, Link worked his mind at easing his pain. It wasn't easy to do and Link himself felt the pain could not be silenced. He focused on his breath first, greatly needing to supply his body with oxygen. Once he had gain some air, Link focused on cooling the aching fire in his stomach and looking for that which had attacked him.

As Link's gaze began to rise from the floor, to search for his attacker, Link was suddenly surprised by an incoming projectile attack. Link didn't see the attack being thrown, nor could he tell what the exact object coming towards him actually was. The object spun greatly in its flight, making it difficult to analyze or recognize, yet its rotation didn't seem to affects it dead on path towards him. It also seemed to hover just inches above the ground, causing a dust trail to follow behind it, as it sped towards the fallen warrior, which never seemed to inch any closer towards the ground. Link had to guess that the 'throwing dagger' as he imagine the object to be, had to been thrown at the same level he was at, otherwise it would have struck the ground had it been thrown from a higher location. Link tried to see the attacker behind the dagger out in the field, with what little time he had, but failed to see anything beside the grass.

Link growled in dismay but retained his focus on the dagger. Link had no means to block the attack properly, but knew he didn't have to block it. With a quick adjustment of his arms and repositioning of his feet, Link built tension in both his biceps and legs, and pushed energetically off the ground.

The attack sped right under Link, just missing his stomach. As it past under him, Link tried to identify what it was. The thing moved to fast for his eyes to see anything beside a blur, but judging from it size, Link knew it was no throwing knife. The thing seemed a bit lager than a dagger, heavier too and looked to be something rounder; like a ball or something. Also, as it past him, it made a strange whistling sound, like it had holes it in - much like the boned demon.

It might be a home made weapon of some sort… would a dead corps bother with such a thing? Link thought, as the object disappeared behind him.

'We're sorry… but we can't have you leaving so soon…' the creature hissed, its diverse voices falling in unionises, as its words echoed about the forest. 'We have not finished playing with you... we want more…'

'Humph… the rotten thing speaks again…' Link mumbled coldly, listening to the creature's words.

Using the push from the ground, Link gained enough air time to pull his legs underneath him to land properly on his feet. Link tried to straightened himself up from his landing, but found himself falling back onto his knees. His body was still in pain, and his quick action to evade the attack, had come too soon for his body to handle. The damage he felt obviously required more time to heal, or to even cover with simple mind tactic than he thought. Link had to breathe a lot more and take a few seconds to steady his body, before taking a defensive stance. Getting his body up from his knees was not a simple task and his body wavered in his composer. Link paused slightly amidst his rise to his feet, to gather more air and strength, but soon found his balance. Link raised his Mirror Shield once again to his chest and his Great Fairy sword steadily offside to his head, as he began another search for the rotten demon.

Again, before even starting to look about, Link was confronted with another sudden attack. Like the pervious time, the attack appeared from nowhere, leaving no sign of where it was launched from or from whom. These attacks made no sense to the Hylain warrior: they came from nowhere, with no disturbed bushes or leaves and the attacker was nowhere to be seen behind them. Link had nothing to go on, nothing to aid him in finding this demon creature. Link couldn't help but frown; this was most difficult.

The attack Link faced now, twirled sharply about in the air in the same fashion as a boomerang; slicing through the air with ease and speed. Having used his own boomerang many a times in his youth, Link knew what troubles to expect, but as he watched it, something seemed strange. Just like the supposed dagger attack before, this object didn't look like any normal boomerang design or make he had seen; it didn't even appear to be a boomerang at all. Link couldn't be sure of that by the way it was hurled through the air, but the shaping of it didn't match up. The edges or ending were big and thick, while the wings thinned in towards the middle. The middles itself or base of the boomerang appeared to be a joint like connection, indicating this was something that could be assemble. Link was growing more baffled with these things, they made no sense, yet they seemed to work perfectly. Also, each weapon thrown thus far had the signature of being made hollow or had holes, as they each made a whistle or hissing sound as air past through.

Before Link could ease his mind over these strange attacking objects, the boomerang began darting about the air towards him.

Link's face sunk slightly with a shred of confusion drawn on his face. It's acting in the same manner as the boned demon…how is that possible? Link thought, noting its strange movements to that of the demon.

Link could only sum up that the creature was using some dark power to take control of the boomerang to be able to direct its flight. The concept was not hard to imagine, as the warrior had seen this kind of control back in his adventures across his home realm.

With that in mind, Link held his ground. He couldn't rush the attack and block it like normal anymore; he had to wait and make sure he blocked it properly at the last moment, as to avoid it suddenly changing direction and striking him. Link lifted his Mirror Shield higher to his face, allowing his sharp ocean eyes to just rest above.

With intense eyes, Link watched the boomerang in its zigzagging movements, trying to figure out a pattern – if any that was constant. But as he continually watched, Link's ears suddenly began to twitch. Another attack is coming this way, his ears warned; and coming fast.

Link was slightly rattled by this as his concentration was already fixed, but heeded the warning and broke his gaze off the boomerang. Following his ears, Link located the surprise attack easily. This attack was much like the first attack made against him; utilising another throwing dagger or maybe even the same one, in combination with the boomerang. Link found himself to be in a wedge attack. Two attacks on both side and him stuck in the middle.

Not bad, Link thought, slightly impressed. The dead thing can actually do such complex planning… how does one do that when the brain is nothing more than sawdust?

Link gave a slight chuckle, but retained his focus to the situation. The wedge attack was a basic trap tactic which causes the victim to focus on one attack and be struck from behind by the surprise attack. This would have worked, if the surprise weapon or any of the weapons used had not been made with hollows or holes in them to allow the wind to pass through them, giving away their desire. Link smiled slightly at the demon creature's stupidity in using such weapons, and for his powerful sense of hearing to have picked up on it.

Now knowing what he was caught in, Link, with his smile still present on his face, made a dash towards the right. At this distance, the attacks would simple past him by. The boomerang was a slight problem as it was still curving his way, but Link made sure to move further ahead to avoid it when it began to curve in. Too easy, Link thought simply, as the attacks closed in to each other. With the warrior out of the danger zone and at a safe distance from either weapon, Link relaxed his guard slightly, keeping his small smile on his face.

'Wedge attack… failed' Link mutter with slight glee.

'…That's what you think…'

Link's smile vanished upon hearing the demon creature's words and replaced it with a puzzled look. Link didn't understand the meaning. He had cleared the danger zone of that wedge attack; what more could there be that he couldn't see to it? The two weapons flew straight on as they had been when they were thrown at him and there was nothing more to suggest he was still in any danger from the failed tactic.

Then it happened.

Both weapons began to glow in the same dark red aura of the Soul Edge shards and of the boned demon, and froze suddenly in mid charge. Both weapons still twirled and spun like normal, but they remained hovering in the air. The dark auras added a ghastly sight to these weapons, and the hissing wind sound only increase the eeriness to them.

'What the hell…'Link muttered softly, before his words were trail off into the wind. His face was drawn again with great disbelief, but still bared his harsh features.

Still shrouded in their dark, pulsing auras, the weapons turned and reacquired their lost target. They hovered there, spinning and twirling like before and simple watched him, like a predator watching a prey. Seeing this, Link now sensed he was again in the danger zone. This time, a simple dodge would not suffice. Link began to slowly back off, raising both his sword and shield in ready for the coming attack.

Seeing the warrior take guard, the weapons launched at him.

Linked narrowed his eyes slightly, bared his teeth and sighed heavily as he glanced between both weapons. Each attack was being controlled simultaneously, yet moving in abnormal ways to each other. The creature can control multiple attacks at once? Sheez, this is going to be more troublesome than I thought… Link thought with a heavy grunt of dismay.

Link cursed his luck, as he was again place in a situation that required his mind to race ahead of things in order to come up with a plan of attack or even an evasive tactic. He didn't like to put in such predicaments, but he was usually lucky enough to come up something at the last moment. Barely escaped by the skins of my teeth as Link usually put it, but still it had severed him well. He hoped this time it wouldn't fail him.

The boomerang sped ahead of the dagger and race at Link. The boomerang had downed it zigzagging movements and gone for the straight rush. Link blocked it easily with his shield, but the impact was greatly unexpected. As the boomerang clashed to his shield, Link felt like he had just been hit by a raging beast. His arm was thrust into his chest, even though he was tensed and ready for the hit, he couldn't hold it. Link staggered back, almost falling to the ground. Link tired to gain balance, but the throwing dagger was quick to come at him. Seeing this charge, Link wanted to run, but because his balance wasn't restore properly, all he could do was awkwardly slide to the side and tumble to the ground.

Link used the tumble and rolled to his feet. Link hoped to gain his ground and take a defensive stance, but the boomerang was already at him. Link again used his shield to block. The boomerang hit hard and bounce offside and the impact again put Link off balance. Link felt like his right arm would break from the sudden force and from the strain and tension from trying to brace his Mirror Shield. Link stabbed the ground with the Great Fairy sword to keep him from falling and used it to push him to his feet. As soon as he was firmly on the ground, Link suddenly spun about to incept the dagger. Without realizing it because of the sudden rushed attack, Link had raised his Great Fairy sword to block instead of his Mirror Shield.

Link cursed himself as the dagger slammed into his sword. Just like the boomerang, the dagger hit with tremendous force, slamming his own weapon into his body. Link was winded slightly, but luckily not wounded, as the flat of the blade hit his chest. Link rubbed his chest quickly to ease the pain and then focused back to the battle.

Upon doing so, he was quickly surprised. The dagger, as soon as it had been deflected off Link's Great Fairy sword, was no longer shrouded in the dark red aura.

'The aura was dispelled?' Link noted watching the dagger closely. 'But that boomerang thing still held its aura when it crashed into my shield… why didn't that thing hold onto its when hitting my sword?'

Pondering on that question quickly, knowing he was still in the mist of danger, Link held his Great Fairy sword closer to his face for an answer. Link was surprised, upon holding his Great Fairy sword closer to his face, that the sword was glowing. The etching of the rose, the strange vines, the ancient text along the blade and even the blade itself had a faint yellow glow. Link had never seen the sword react like this before; even in battle he had not notice a reaction like this.

Link knew that the Great Fairy sword was bestowed with hidden magical properties, and wondered if this was one of them. The sword had been granted to him by the Great Fairy in Ikana Valley, in the Termina realm. She told him it was a powerful blade that only reveals its power in great need. Link guessed this situation was one of them. He wanted to know more about it, but the faint aura faded away, returning the Great Fairy sword to its original state.

'…Figures…'

Having the sword become quiet, Link returned his focus to the dagger. The dagger had been flung back in the air, with the aura dissipating and landed, lifelessly, in the forest grass. Link saw no movement from the weapon and sense it was no longer a threat to him. He was about to turn away, when something about the dagger caught his eyes. He turned his head back to focus on it properly and grasped in shocked at what he saw…

'It's… a HAND?!' he shouted in disbelief, pointing his sword at it with wide eyes.

What Link had thought to be a throwing dagger all this time was nothing more than a hand. A human's hand. A dry up old fossil looking human's hand. But this hand was far from normal. By looking at it, the bone hand was well maintain even though it look decades old, and was much stronger and dense than normal. He could tell that by the faint cut mark on top of the backhand. That was where he had tried cut it with his Great Fairy sword and had only managed that scratch mark.

Link peered at the boned hand, while scratching the back of his head; his face filled with questions.

'That dagger thing was nothing more than a hand? It felt more like I had been kicked by five men… I guess that is thanks to the power of Soul Edge as usual,' Link thought, examining the defeated hand carefully. Link's ears began to twitch, but not in its usual alerting way. Link lifted his head slightly and turned about. There he saw the boomerang hovering in the air, watching him from afar. Link peered at it with a questioning eye, before glancing over at the old hand. 'If that was nothing more than a mere hand, then I'm guessing that thing up there…' Link paused to look closely at the boomerang. Since he was getting the feeling it was a human bone of some sort, he tried to figure out which part it was. 'It's either an arm or a leg… one of them…'

Link didn't really care which bone it was, he was more intrigued that the corps demon could use it own limbs to attack him – more so, that he could now destroy each limb and leave the demon with nothing left to attack him with. It would be easily dealt with then, Link thought as he narrowed his eyes on the boomerang like weapon.

'Firstly, I will dispel that aura that protects it, and then…' Link began to say, mumbling his words under his breath, as he reached into his tunic.

Upon doing so, the boned boomerang jerked back slightly and began to spin quicker. It increased its spin rate till it was nothing more than a spinning blur in the air. Link stopped his hand from reaching further into his tunic upon seeing the boomerang's reaction. The boomerang spun at such speed that the very air around it began to follow the same pattern as the weapon and formed a vortex about itself. The air became greatly compressed around it and the hissing wind sound it emitted became more of a snarling swirl sound, like that of some new age machine, and the air itself was strong enough to begin slashing at the ground and trees in its path. The air was so compressed that even Link could see the ferrous vortex take form.

Link was just far enough to not have the air slashing and ripping at him or his tunic, but felt the air as an incredibly harsh wind, similar to that of a hurricane – forceful, powerful and threatening. Link's mouth hung slightly ajar for a moment upon seeing this, but quickly swallowed his surprise to focus on this new task.

'Rats… There's no way my bow will penetrate through that wind now…' Link thought, removing his hand from his tunic with great dismay. 'I have to think of something else now… perhaps I could use-'

'…No…We will not grant you the time…to think' the demon hissed, 'all your tactics will fail against ours…all your feeble weapons will falter against our…power'

Link paused in mid thought as the boned demon's voice echoed about the forest. Link listened to the demon's boast with a semi-sour expression on his face. The creature thought too highly of its powers, that the Soul Edge fragments had granted it, thinking it could not be beat. From it point of view it might have reasons to believe such thing, but Link knew that you couldn't always rely too heavy on such things; needing a great deal more to get you through. Besides listening to its dull words, Link tried to locate the demon's location. However, with the voices echoing and bouncing off the forest, locating was difficult.

'Humph, this creature assumes too much too easily…' Link thought, repeating the demon's words over in his head, 'my tactics will fail… feeble weapons? Never be overconfident about an opponent you know nothing about, demon!'

Before Link could even think upon his new forming questions or even plan for an attack, the boomerang charged at him. Diving for the ground and for its prey, the wind around the boned weapon began to rip at the ground. Link could feel the wind beginning to slash his tunic and slightly scratch his skin as it charged him.

Link gritted his teeth angrily and, with a great and sudden burst of energy, leaped out of the way. The warrior crushed heavily into the ground, not really having the time to perform a proper landing as his reaction was on the spur of the moment. As he landed, Link quickly rolled over and gazed at the spot he had been standing not even a mere second ago, being torn apart by the charging boomerang. The vortex the boomerang created around it was powerful enough to tear up the very earth beneath him and able to cut, if not slash through any tree that stood in its path; as Link witnessed when the boomerang stopped before a forest evergreen was quickly slashed to bits.

Link gulped hard and nervously as he watched the mighty trees torn asunder. To think, that could have been me… Link thought nervously. An image of himself being torn apart tried to play itself before his mind, but Link held it at bay, not wanting to see such an ending to his life.

Link shook his head clear of that thought and of his fear and leapt to his feet, taking a defensive stance behind his Mirror Shield.

Seeing the warrior's stance, the boomerang locked onto its prey and again charged at him. Link watched the coming boomerang and vortex, ripping at the ground in its charge towards him, with great fear rising in its approach. Link's skin began to crawl, shiver and sweat as the wind again began cutting at his skin as the vortex drew closer. Calm down Link, calm down Link, calm down LINK! Link repeated in his thoughts, trying to use this mantra to ease his nerves. But as the vortex approached and the wind felt more like knives upon his flesh, the more his nerves got the best of him. Link soon felt paralyzed to the spot, when his fear of being ripped apart got a hold of him. His body shook too much with fear to heed his commands, even when he finally wanted to move.

Link almost thought his body wouldn't move at all, giving into the fear of death, and having him frozen still to the spot, until the vortex had drawn close enough to cause a deep cut on his face. It was this cut and the pain it brought that snapped Link out of the fear and made his body finally responsive. With no second to lose, Link again leaped out of the way. This time however, he couldn't face in the direction he wanted to evade too. Having no time to do this properly, he instead, leapt offside with his Mirror Shield covering him. The attack was too close; he couldn't do it any other way. The vortex slammed into the warrior's shield and began slashing at the Mirror Shield and at any exposed limbs not protected by the shield.

In this moment between his evasive jump and hitting the ground, Link felt his legs being cut deeply and in multiple spots. Link could feel his blood ooze forth from the open wounds as the vortex's wind cut into his flesh. Link felt the urge to scream suddenly shot forth from within, but bit his lower lip tightly to hold his screams at bay. Bitting his lip seemed to ease the pain of these wounds, but knew it would only conceal the pain for a matter of seconds. Link's legs burned with incredible pain from each wound he had received. The warrior, allowing the new pain to traverse his nerves; in order for him to assess the damages caused, could feel a fire like burn in each wound - an added effect granted by the power of the Soul Edge fragments, Link assumed. This added fire, was almost crippling in conjunction with his new deep wounds. Link wanted so much to treat his legs of their injuries, but knew that laying there and resting would not do him any good. The boomerang would take this opportunity and shred him to bits.

No, the warrior would not let such a thing happen so easily. He had to keep moving, keep defending, he had to stay alive.

Gathering as much air and mental power to cover the pain of his wounds, Link again got onto his feet.

As soon as he had got onto his feet, Link was again confronted with the boomerang charging towards him. It was still a bit of a distance away, but its speed would soon close that gap. If anything, Link had only a few measly seconds to think before it was upon him again and he was again forced to dodge. Still feeling his wounds burning upon his legs, Link had to do something to dispel the vortex protecting the boned boomerang, knowing his legs would not last for much longer as they were.

Link didn't need to assess the situation anymore as it was a plain charge and strike attack, with the additional offensive and defensive properties by the swirling vortex the boomerang had created. All Link had to do now in this situation was calculate a plan to dispel both the vortex and dark aura from the demon's weapon and then destroy it. Easier said than done… he sighed in thought

With that thought, Link began running his mind over his vast list of weapons and items within his tunic; trying to find a weapon or combination of items to use to dispel the vortex and aura. All his items and weapons came easily compiled in his mind - having memorized each one to memory, countless times before each journey, for such an occasion. Each weapon and item appeared clearly to his mind, like a vision or past memory, showing great detail of its abilities and proprieties in battles. Link made a quick elimination of most of his weapons, since the ones he carried didn't really have the power to penetrate the swirling vortex about the demon boomerang, and because he couldn't be sure that any of them would have the same effect that the Great Fairy sword apparently had hidden within its blade.

With his Great Fairy sword in hand, Link needed only a method to get through the vortex. Link thought such a thing would be naturally easy, but knew from past experience that this was a common mistake to judge such simple things as easy. The Boss in the Water Temple proved that lesson to me, Link thought, casting his thoughts on the Water Temple's Boss fiend, 'Morpha'. When he had first seen that water-made fiend, Link didn't know what to think of such a creature or of its attack plans. It was a bad judgment call and Link learnt it well not to assume that such elements could not be harmful or easily beaten. This time, the seemly innocent element was air; compressed and channelled with dark energy to form a protective and destructive vortex. It held a slight physical presence, which caused damage to anything that got in its way. Link had to only gaze over at the poor evergreen tree that had caught the wrath of the vortex after missing the warrior. Link's legs were more a painful reminder to this fact, with each pull or movement of his muscles near his afflicted wounds sending him new kinds of pain.

Link ignored the swelling pain and the increasing urge to collapse his legs once again, as the demon boomerang was soon upon him. Link readied himself and his legs again for another evasive jump. But as he prepared himself for the jump, his legs replied with great pain and tension. Link breathed out a heavily hearted groaned upon feeling this restriction, holding the mass of a mighty scream in his throat. The situation was worsening by the second, and each use of his legs without proper treatment was costing him the ability to stand and move accordantly. The warrior summed up he had only a few more minutes or two evasive dodges left in him before his legs would unwilling collapsed from underneath him. Link wanted to reverse his time and use what strength he had left wisely, but saw no other reasonable option for this current situation. Link required more time to properly assess the demon weapon and the vortex surrounding it, to be able to find a weakness – only then could he save his strength once he knew what to do and how to attack.

Link swallowed hard the scream that was amassing in his throat, and tighten his grip on both sword and shield. He muttered Hyalin curses under his breath at the frustration of his condition and because of the situation he was in. He wished he could somehow change his current predicament, in order to either prevent his legs from being wounded or to simply allow himself more time and strength to fight. Unfortunately, the warrior knew such fortune was not on his side.

With a might roar from both the warrior and from within his legs, Link again leapt out of the way of the demon weapon as the vortex's wind began to slash at his flesh. But this time, the angle of his evasive dodge was closer to the demon weapon than his previous ones. He wasn't in the direct damage field of the vortex's wind, but was still in a close proximity of it. Link held his shield firm against his body as the off-side winds began to slash at him. He could the wind cut into flesh, but nothing as deep or as painful as before with his legs. These cuts were again something like scratches upon his flesh; something he could easily bear with. Ignoring these slight afflictions, Link kept his eyes locked upon his target as it became levelled with him in mid-air.

Link released a mighty warrior's scream as he suddenly attacks the pasting demon weapon. He removed the protective shield from his body, and with a mighty swing of his left arm and the combined weight of the Mirror Shield, caused his body to rotate suddenly in the air. His right arm held tightly the Great Fairy sword, as the increased rotation allowed his body to spin around faster, thus bringing the sword to be swung quicker and with added power, at his foe.

Link, with added pain and fury in his attack, swung the sword deep into the vortex's protective wind. As soon as the Great Fairy Sword entered the surrounding vortex, Link could feel a great deal of resistants from the wind, and also felt the sword being pushed along by the winds current. Link narrowed his eyes and gritted his teeth, tensing his arm's muscles to hold the sword steady in its path. The sword continued moving pasting through the swirling wind about the demon weapon, as Link's body continued its rotation in the air. However, as the warrior had already assumed, the wind closer towards the demon boomerang was denser and fast channelling than the wind swirling further away from the core. Link tried pushing the blade further in, his muscles in his arms already burning with great tension, but had neither the strength nor a quick enough rotation to achieve his goal.

Link's Great Fairy sword was forced heavily out of the vortex's wind, causing the warrior's rotation in the air to stop suddenly and caused his body to plateau in the air, with his back expose to the ground. Link, taking in a glimpse of the blue from the hole in the canopy, sensed he was in for a rough landing. Knowing this, Link sighed slightly and prepared for the impact. Link crashed heavily upon the earth and skidded along the ground for a short distance.

Well, I didn't hit the damn thing, but at least I know now that normal attacks can't bypass that wind, Link thought in dismay, while making a note of it in his mind. Exhaling heavily, Link lifted his torso and upper body off the ground. He took a few seconds here to compose himself and gain back his breath. Link went to stand up and ready himself for the next attack run that would be surely coming his way, but soon stopped himself before he did so.

Link's eyes were drawn down to his semi blood soak white tights. Ripped, torn and discoloured by his own blood, Link took in the extent of the vortex's winds damage from before. The wounds accurately reflected the pain he felt, minus the extra sensation of fire from the dark energy of Soul Edge. Blood was oozing freely from the opens wounds, and showed no sign of slowing. Link wished to get a bandage to his wounds immediately to stop further lost of blood and strength. He would even settle for using one of his few bottled 'Healing Fairies', despite them being used solely as an insurance in case of death. But Link knew, like he did before when he pondered this, that he would not have time to do so.

Link's gaze shifted quickly to the demon weapon that had travel a short distance away from him, after his dodge. The weapon had come to a halt now, and was now turning around to reacquire its target. The demon weapon was too fast moving for Link to even attempt properly cleaning and dressing his wounds with bandages. Everything he needed was right in his travel bag that still rested against his side, but the problem was, he lacked the time and speed to do what he needed to do.

Watching the demon weapon for a few seconds more, Link again shifted his eyes back to his legs. The blood strains on his tights were continually being refreshed with new blood, shrinking what little white remained of his tights. Link didn't want to move anymore for fear his legs would suffer permanent damage if overused or damaged heavily again; not until his legs were attended too. But that wasn't going to happen, not until the weapon and the creature controlling it was dealt with. Link, putting aside the pain his legs were feeding him, slowly shifted the muscle in his legs and rotated his feet about the dirt. Link bit down hard on his lip to ignore the pain, as he tested his legs. Link soon stopped, wanting to take no more pain. The warrior concluded he had only a small amount of strength left in his legs, before they would give out entirely.

Grief flashed across his face and he made no attempt to hide it. The situation was no longer in his favour, nor did he think it ever was. Link sighed heavily and remain in a sitting upon the earth, prodding his finger about his wounded legs, testing how much of his muscles were already weaken to their max. Each prod hurt, and all the pain seem to melt into one, making it hard for him to tell which muscles were really damage from those that could handle some more.

Link again stopped his testing, concluding the same answer as before. He had a small amount of strength left in his legs before his leg were beyond control. Link pondered that he probably had enough for a quick spar, but nothing too extreme. It would be more of a heads on attack, considering moving about and dodging require a lot of muscle control and strength. That is, if the situation presented itself that way. Link had to deal with this weaponries limb first and then he had the rest of the boned demon to finish off.

Link's ears twitched wildly. Link didn't even have to look to know what it was. The sound of wind tearing at the ground was more than enough indication that the demon weapon was charging at him again. Link grunted heavily and muttered a single curse under his breath, before looking at the charging weapon. The attacks never differ from its usual charge attacks. Link was usually good against foes that had a repetition to their attacks; but none were as well defended as this demon limb. If it weren't for that swirling vortex, I could have finished off already, Link thought with a heavy mind, but that vortex offers too much of an offense as it does defense… how does one breach that?

Link's mind was again filled with questions he had not the answers to. Link was sure the answers he sought lay hidden somewhere in his collected chronicle of past adventures; he just needed to filter through it all to find it.

Link stared intently at the demon weapon and surrounding vortex charge towards, offering no resistance or attempt for evading. Link hadn't given up on the fight; far from it. It was just that he was running low on ideas, on strength and on blood. He could feel his body already succumbing to the blood lost. His head was feeling light and his body movements were becoming uneasy and soft. There wasn't much time left. He had to think of something to take the advantage. But what could he do in his current state?

The wind channeling in the vortex seemed to spin a lot faster now and became more destructive than before. Link wasn't sure if the lack of blood caused this illusion or if the demon had sensed Link's weakened state and had commanded the weapon to react so. Watching it approach him, the wind had collected a lot of soil and derby within itself, making the vortex appear as a more solid object than just compressed and channeled air.

It looked something like a boulder was rushing towards him, rather than wind.

Looking even more closely, and with a weak and exhausted mind at work, it looked more like it blades attached to it…

.

.

That's IT!

Link's half opened eyes, drawing slowly closed from lack of strength, suddenly flash open wide upon taking in the wind appearance. Link's mind fired up to life and his body became energized suddenly. The warrior, ignoring the lost of blood and overwhelming pain in his legs, jumped to his feet with a delighted smile spread across his face. Link couldn't help but chuckle slightly, as he quickly reached into this tunic and felt around his countless items. Link's hands searched furiously about his tunic for the item he sought. His eyes remain fixed on the demon weapon that was close approaching, while still holding his smile upon his face.

I can't believe I didn't think of this sooner, Link thought to himself, keeping his hand fishing in his tunic. All this time, the answer was plain and simple and it's taken me all this time to remind myself of a similar dilemma…

Link's thought began playing out a number of past memories of his that had revealed the answer to his problem. Link counted three memories altogether revealed him the answer to him. Link at first didn't understand why he was thinking of such old battles, but as it played out it before his mind's eye, it began to make sense to him. The first memory was old; back when he was but a child, starting off on his grand adventure as a child to save Hyrule. The memory took him back to the ancient dungeon beneath Death Mountain, where he had faced off against the Infernal Dinosaur, 'King Dodongo'. He remembered how that giant Dodongo kept rolling about after him, and breathing fire at him once enough air had been collected in its fiery lungs. The next two memories weren't of battles, but were more focused upon the Goron people themselves. He remembered how they could curl up like a ball and just roll about – downhill, uphill, across uneven terrain and even clear great gaps. The vortex as it was now, with it collected dirt, reminded him of the Goron's rolled up state. He could even remember the Goron Races in Termina he took part in, while assuming the body of the great Goron, 'Darmani'.

They could roll incredibly fast and were dangerous if anything stood before their path.

It would take a wall or larger boulder to stop them in their roll…

…Or…

'A bomb!'