'Steady'--were the words I mentally muttered as I took in deep breaths. Handling this much power was a struggle; I'd instructed her to pour out all my magic into forming a light enchanted arrow but the result was far from what I expected.
Here I was, aiming an unbearable amount of power that literally pulsated the longer I held it yet everything within me tried to hold me back.
Fear; it had crept up on me whilst I was unaware but it sure as hell made itself known when it finally left the shadows it was hidden in. Hard to believe it, but even an old man like myself trapped in a young lad's body still had weights I'd carried from my past life--a sharp pain on my shoulder reminding me of mine.
It was far but sharp; not a wound that was visible but one that very clearly was there.
Kagetsu Academy, 1996.
Just some hours past classes, a particular fellow was busy practicing how to handle a bow better in preparation for an upcoming competition.
Innocent, back when I still though I could go somewhere with the skills I had. The competition was meant to prove this; whoever won got to progress in the world of archery and possibly get poached by teams interested in their skills--you can guess why I chose to practice before-hand
Pulled a bow string to its limits, snapped it but still managed to use its remaining force to propel the arrow forwards--or at least that was the direction that the arrow knew it was going.
The shock from having my string snap and the sudden loss of what I was pulling onto sent my body back a bit, the arrow B-lined right for a classmate's leg. Pained and confused, they accidentally let go of theirs as well, the arrow planting a permanent mark on my shoulder--rendered me unable to use a bow.
As a result, I had to walk out of the whole competition and eventually lost enough to give up on archery. Shoulder never fully recovered back in my old body--struck and cracked a bone before dislocating it and causing more damage to my tissues as well. Unfortunately hit the right place for the wrong reasons.
This was no time to be thinking about the past, old man.
Suppressing my made-up pain, I took in a sharp breath before recalculating my aim.
The deeper the sun sunk into the horizon, the more horrid Baldwin looked. He'd seemingly given up on retaliating and focused on Defending his crucial parts; probably boiling up his anger and soaking everything in to deal double our damage.
"Not on my watch..." I let out, my voice nearly disembodied as the chaotic power before me charged up even more, making the arrowhead look like a fiery ball of azure flames that constantly grew.
After letting it all gather, I tightened my jaw before letting go of the bow's string.
This time, it was immediate.
No delay, no lag, no cinematic pause to build up for an epic moment.
The arrow flashed out of my sight, leaving a trail of light that led straight to Baldwin's temple even before the bow bounced back. Its scream followed it accompanied by an explosive blast, entirely inhuman and almost as if the air itself was pained by the shot I'd just taken.
Then came a blast of wind that sent Assa sideways for a long moment before she'd managed to regain her balance; catching Leilatha who'd managed to fall off after the unexpected attack.
"Shit..." the words came out of me almost defeated.
Calculations were right, but they never took the target into consideration.
Aiming for the head was a one-shot-one-kill situation, regardless of what being you were, being pumped by that much light magic was in now way good for your body...especially if it was straight to your noggin.
Problem is, handling a demonic being with superhuman capabilities, the head wasn't exactly the best target. The more I watched him stare back at me, unscathed, the more I learnt of my own mistake--the arrow sizzling on the ground it had stabbed, a fair distance away from his own head.
"Have you all had your fill?" Baldwin let out, his voice a low growl that easily echoed across the open field, easily shaking the walls of the kingdom that stood behind us.
The sun was bored, that lightshow was merely an imitation of its own radiant rays--not interesting enough to keep it hanging over the horizon for a second more. Its absence was made clear by the man we'd been fighting, his armor quickly building itself back to its initial condition as the red glow in his eyes brightened up.
His armor ripped open with a pair of shadowy and bony wings rising; nearly giving Assa's a run for their money.
They enveloped the entire area momentarily, allowing everyone to get a view at the true form of a demon--no, a devil. Or perhaps, THE devil.
There was still light in the sky but it clearly didn't matter anymore--our damage had already been erased and now the being before us was practically reborn in its true form. No longer spraying out its dark magic to keep it strong enough to compete, even brute force was enough to turn us into clouds of dust.
The chill I had was shared between us all, even Alexander had to use blink for the first time to distance himself from the being that was being reborn before his own eyes.
Grat, who'd been sending a devastating blow, instantly stopped the momentum of his axe and leaped back as well...any further hits would simply deplete his weapon's durability--that is, if his body was confident enough to throw in another attack.
With simple movements, Baldwin stretched his body; cracking noises emerging from his limbs as he did so, a relieved sigh escaping him after doing so.
"It seems the barking dogs never learnt how to bite..." He continued, his words sending a chill up my spine as he glanced at the men that had once surrounded him, "...too bad, felt like I almost died just then."
His head then turned to the skies, his eyes locked on mine. I couldn't see his expression, but I knew exactly what he had on his face at the moment. A smile--beaming from his left ear to his right, a mocking look to rub salt onto the injury. I'd missed what seemed to have been a fatal shot and failed to take down the man that was focused on bringing me down...I'd mock myself too had I been in his shoes.
Within a second, his wings expanded gloriously before flapping the air a single time; sending an explosive blast of air all around the ground as he propelled at a breakneck speed towards me.
I was more surprised by the fact that I'd noticed it because the next time I opened my eyes after blinking, I was his +1 for this flight, enjoying the comfortable sensation of an ironclad palm tightening around my neck as gravitational forces threatened to crush my head into a flat amalgamation of flesh.
After experiencing more G forces than a Northrop B-2 Spirit's pilot flying vertically towards the exosphere, everything came to a standstill.
The grip on my neck disappeared and my body remained suspended mid-air for a moment as a random object was hurled at me fast enough to counter the fore-image it brought.
A sharp sensation quickly took over my body before blood gushed out of my mouth before evaporating on Baldwin's armor.
Looking below me, the source of the pain finally got an explanation; a rather obvious one.
Unless there was anything far more obvious than a 70 inch long, 60 inch wide blade driven right into my body. This wasn't a stab...far from it. This was a one-man massacre on a single person. The equivalent of solo-ulting a low ranked player for the fun of it.
A knife stab to my heart would have been a lot more enjoyable--regardless of how much I tried, more blood just kept spraying out of me.
I'm your enemy dude...but isn't this a bit overkill?
"Tsuin-no-Kyōkatsu..." Baldwin let out, pushing my shoulder to further drive his blade into me, "...a blade forged specifically to end the architects' spawn's life."
He then paused before angrily pushing the blade deeper; seemingly enjoying the pained screams of agony I released each time.
"The perfect blade to end all of you Tylvannis scum for good." He added, letting out a disembodied laugh afterwards.
"I'm not...a fucking...Tylvannis!" I mumbled out, my thoughts no longer remaining in my mind.
That space was probably a lot more chaotic than the situation I was in--could barely hear Mes' words, but I could tell she was speaking.
My random words spat out due to the pain I was in seemed to have reached the man bringing my end though. His pushes paused as the distance between him and I slowly increased.
"That you aren't...but you occupy one of their scummy bodies." He growled out, anger very visible in his tone as he curled his free hand into a tight fist, "...had you been in another person's body, perhaps I wouldn't have cared about this job."
In pain, confusion still clearly took over; and having opened a topic that was clearly sensitive to the man before me, it seemed like the answer to my mental question was going to be answered...why exactly did he have this hate towards me specifically if being an Architects' spawn wasn't his main concern--and what the hell was this hate he had towards Aeron's blood.
"Seeing as you won't breath past half an hour, I'll fill you in." He let out, closing the gap between us that he'd created, "...the boy who's body you occupy has nothing more than a scummy father that wanted anyone that opposes him dead...even the boy himself."
For a moment, my eyes involuntarily widened and my heart seemingly chose to release a single beat louder than the rest. The words were clear but my mind wanted to blur out some details instead of accepting it all; a reaction that felt more than what I would normally do...heck--this whole reaction felt outside my normal self.
Caring to hear about the scummy acts of a renown king who apparently wanted his son dead? that was beyond me, regardless of how I looked at it--so why exactly did it sting?
"Even sent us a request to take down his mother." He continued, his anger growing even more, which was clearer in his tone, "...a request I took in my quest to bring death upon all who are tied to that animal."
"All who brought suffering to my people will answer to me...my blade will not rest until all your heads are cut down."
"What...did you say?"
The words left me before I had even registered them. Funny enough, I couldn't tell if I was the one who'd said it or not--everything felt like an out-of-body experience. The stab, the shattered ribs, the punctured abdomen, the shifted spine...everything felt numbed when compared to the anger that had unknowingly risen within me.
Here's something I can say; 2 truths and 1 lie.
1. Baldwin was a demon.
2. there was a blade clearly destroying me slowly.
3. I was the one in control of my body.
Take a guess, which one do you think was the lie...
"YOU BASTARD!" I roared out, my body sliding all the way to the handle of his blade as my fingers drove themselves into his eye holes--blood spraying out a second later as its red glow dimmed.
Then, like a flame being relit, his red glow returned and a burning sensation took over my body.
A black flame from his blade was quickly flowing into my body at an abnormal rate...painful...excruciatingly--but a dumb move on his end.
Sorry...auto pilot?...but I was going to need my body for a second.
"Mes!" I shouted out, tightening my jaw as I received every spark of his painful flames.
"releasing the cap!" She quickly responded, somewhat relieved that I'd called out to her.
The power he was feeding me was catastrophic...but I stayed in physics class enough to know one thing.
An action had an equal and opposite reaction...
He was feeding a nuclear bomb with a metric shit-ton of magic...seems like I had to show him exactly what his equal reaction was.
Noticing that his attack wasn't exactly working, he quickly pulled back his blade, readying himself to drive it straight into my head. I was dying anyways...so how bad did going out with one more doom flare sound?
You were taking me out for sure bucko...but not without suffering generational amounts of damage.
Just as his blade was about to blast my head to smithereens...a lavender glow emerged, quickly forming a massive arm that nearly crushed Baldwin himself in one go. Following it was the roar of a dragon, one look below us and a relieved sigh escaped me.
Lady Adelaide coming in with a save...her hand stretched out with a lavender glow emerging from her eyes as she rode on Assa's back with Leilatha.
Hope? Perhaps that's what sunk into me...but having it was futile.
Whether he dealt the finishing blow or not, the damage was done and I was about to do more. Doom flare spelt doom for me a lot more than it did for him--maybe only ensuring they'd get a charred body instead of none at all.
Well...here comes a trip to the afterlife, it was not fun knowing any of you.
My hand quickly stretched out, two fingers aimed at the being before me imitating a gun for a second and last time.
With a short breath and a disembodied tone, the words left me...
"Doom...flare"