[Unitopia, Eastern Continent]
Under the blazing blue sun, abomination stood face to face with abomination, the air heavy with suspense. Motionless, each appeared alien in the other's eyes. Perspective is the ultimate segregator after all. All conflict arises from a mismatch thereof and, perhaps, in a different time or place, even these two would not be forced to fight.
But such an ideal remains firmly in the realm of fantasy, for dominating the minds of the two abominations in that endless battlefield was only a single purpose.
Kill!
Kill that which stood before it, profaning the very world with its continued existence!
The nameless soldier was wary of the monster's golden crystalline arm, the ground still glowing dull-red with the aftermath of that strike.
What's the condition? If it could do that all along, I would already be ash. Power? Direction? Information is the limiting factor. But such a blade runs both ways, it knows just as little about me.
Upon an invisible signal, the soldier burst into motion. His agility far outclassed the movement of that lumbering, lanky thing, but it far and above made up for it with its attack speed.
As he dashed forwards, the monster raised its bladed arm, readying a swing. This time, the soldier tensed his legs in readiness, feeling them thrum with spectral force.
Yet he had barely taken a few steps before the monster swung, launching the projectile faster than his eyes could see.
Same old trick won't work on me!
Raising his hands, he used his newfound ability to strengthen his hands at the same time of his legs, reigniting their ethereal glow. His celebration as the shrapnel collided with his palms and shattered quickly faded as he felt the hairs on the back of his neck shoot up.
A chill pervaded his spine and, without thinking, he abandoned his straight-on dash, halting his moment with a surge of effort, launching himself to one side instead. And not a second too soon, he barely noticed its golden crystalline arm glow from within before another pillar of light fell from the sky like an orbital laser.
It fell exactly where he had just been a few seconds earlier causing him to stumble backwards as the scorching heat emanated outwards with an almost physical force. As it faded, the monster was revealed stood further back, just out of reach, its arm smoking. Though this time, it had prepared another greeting present for the soldier.
A sharp fragment of a blade, no doubt launched while the thing was hidden from sight. He barely had time to curse, twisting his body to minimise the blow. A blinding pain erupted from his shoulder as it tore straight through without stopping.
He hissed, looking at the damage. A deep gash cut through collarbone, except where one would expect to see blood, only a ghostly mist leaked, forming an otherworldly aura around him. With each wisp that escaped, he felt his strength wane, the unknown energy sustaining his form dissipating into the air.
Despite having struck true, the abomination still stepped cautiously, mirroring the soldier's circling movements. A cornered animal is when it is at its most dangerous, after all. Using the pain as a whetstone, the soldier focused his mind.
This can't continue. Already I feel my strength waning, if a few more clashes happen, I'll be completely vulnerable. Who knows if my Soul will simply get dragged back to my body, or if it is simply annihilated here and now.
This book's true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.
I could handle the projectiles, but the orbital strike...what was the trigger, there had to have been something?! Think!
But the thing he faced would not be kind enough to let him breathe. Noticing the weakness in its prey, it would not let such an opportunity pass by.
It raised its bladed hand as the soldier got into a crouch position, ready for anything.
Always the blades first...never the orbital strike...
He was unable to finish that inkling of a thought, interrupted by the now familiar whistle of the projectile through the air. He was about to ready his hands to intercept before he paused. An idea bloomed in the barren landscape of his mind, a mad grin splitting his face.
I see! Some type of invisible marking, a trace left behind, that it could lock on to! Of course nothing else would be able to dodge its strikes, such a lethal pairing of attacks is nigh-unavoidable.
But there is a gap there, the tiniest sliver of a margin. I see it, like the pinprick of light in a dark tunnel. Now, then, is the moment where it must happen! I must thread the needle here and now, or face oblivion once again!
Onwards, unto the Abyss.
Instead of blocking the piece of shrapnel and facing the lock-on of the orbital strike, the soldier closed his eyes. Perhaps having one foot in the realm beyond granted him some sort of supernatural intuition, but he realised now what it was he felt.
In that first moment when the thing struck from behind and dodged. Each time the orbital strike was called and he felt that cold chill, knowing in the deepest parts of his heart that what lay in that moment was one thing.
Death! I can sense it. The Gaze of Death! I can feel his breath caress my neck, his cold scythe resting on my shoulders! I see, the eyes were just a distraction. All this thinking was never my way.
Instinct is the only guiding light I need!
As if the realisation crystallised something within him, he felt his Oath flicker in response. A piece of knowledge cemented itself in his mind, regarding this newly developed, or perhaps newly recovered, ability.
The Gaze of Death.
The premonition arrived with chilling certitude and, with his eyes firmly closed, he took a single step to the side. Past his ear, he felt a brush of wind and a sharp whistle that disappeared into the distance. His pulse roared in his ears, the euphoria of a dance on the edge of the blade coursing through him. A dance with a familiar friend.
He began to walk forwards, each step measured. Each time that premonition triggered, he simply adjusted his course. The monster was not one to give up, but it was to no avail.
As if he was an enlightened man, untouched by the filth of the world, the blades launched with the intent to kill simply flowed around him harmlessly. An aegis of invulnerability surrounding him as his confidence surged.
The monster reeked of desperation, even launching those orbital strikes. But without the aid of the mark from its metal blades, they hardly needed dodging. Avoiding their radius was easy, the soldier barely breaking a sweat. Soon enough, its attacks grew scarcer and scarcer until they stopped altogether. Finally opening his eyes, the soldier's triumphant gaze locked onto the monster.
Still at a safe distance, the lanky figure seemed visibly more disheveled. Hunched over, the wound on its torso noticeably worse. But more than that, its bladed arm was all but depleted of fragments, and its crystalline arm was lined with hundreds of tiny fractures. Looking up, the soldier proclaimed out in mocking glee.
"I'm right here, you wretched thing. Allow me to rescue you from the misery of your continued existence."
The monster shuffled on its feet, but it was clearly drained.
"You should have fled when you had the chance. Well, too late for regrets now."
Without another word, the soldier lunged forwards. The creature tried to move back, raising its bladed arm in a pitiful gesture of defiance, but it did little. Shattering what was left of it, the soldier's enhanced hand pierced through the creature. Gripping its spine from within, he tore it out with a contemptuous wrench.
Along with a burst of dark, oily liquids, the creature staggered back, falling to its knees. The once-powerful glow in its golden, crystalline arm faded for the last time, its head bowed and hidden from view.
Throwing away the disgusting spinal fragments scornfully, the soldier looked down upon the abomination. In that moment, he felt something change within himself. Perhaps until that point, no matter his proclamations, some tether still tied him to who he was.
But now, looking down at a behemoth that stalked the depths of Hell now laid waste at his feet, he finally was able to let it all go. The last of the impurities of his old self, distilled away, purified by the crucible of Death.
Leaving behind naught but he who dared to pit his Fate against the Stars.
The Nameless Soldier.