Online In Another World

The Dragonheart turned back to the others, who were still on the sidelines to avoid the catastrophic conflict, “…He’s weakened! Now’s our chance!”

This revelation brought Everett and Yuna forward without hesitation, and even Melisande joined in despite her bruised abdomen, closing in on Amon who was being held at bay by Asher’s dark claymore.

As the group closed in on all angles, leaving the recruit killer no chance for escape or a counterattack, the blood-spilling, sanity-dry man had his smile finally fade in completion as the air around him changed.

…I have a mission of my own. A mission more important than my life. A purpose I must fulfill…so in that case, I’ll use it all, Amon thought.

Together, Everett, Emilio, Yuna, and Melisande attacked from all sides of Amon, with Asher pressing with more strength to keep Amon locked in their clash. Though as they neared him, time seemed to crawl to a still solely for the vibrating figure as he slowly exhaled.

“Absolute release,” Amon whispered.

The black tattoos stretching across the recruit hunter’s body expanded, covering his entire body, leaving only the white of his eyes and teeth as he covered himself in darkness.

[Chaos Throttle: Requiem Overdrive]

In that moment, with blades, a shield, and wind magic mere inches from his skin, Amon’s eyes opened before–he vanished.

“–!”

Each member of the group missed their attacks, causing Yuna and Emilio to bump shoulder-to-shoulder, and the silver haired girl’s wind blast to knock against Everett, nearly knocking the blonde-haired shielder to the side.

“Sorry!” Melisande called out.

Everett caught himself, “–It’s fine! No worries!”

“We missed…?” Emilio questioned.

“How? I felt it–we were right there,” Yuna said.

Asher was just as shocked, feeling his blade locked against Amon’s just the moment prior, “…What did he do?”

Suddenly, Emilio felt his instincts go haywire, noticing Yuna’s red tail standing up before in the next moment–

“Pyuh!” The Dragonheart spit out.

It wasn’t just him, either; Asher and Yuna, the closest to him, had the breath knocked out of them as they each received a blow to the gut.

I got hit…? I couldn’t see anything…He thought.

As he felt his feet momentarily leave the ground from the force of the blow, which managed to penetrate even his sturdy armor of azure scales, he saw it for just a split-second, so faint that it almost seemed like an illusion: a subtle blur.

It was roughly the shape of Amon; a high-frequency blur that moved so fast that it didn’t settle for even a second.

Asher was the first to recover from the blow, enduring it without missing a beat, “Did you see that? It was him.”

“I saw…!” Emilio responded, momentarily recalling the scales that acted as a helmet.

“I didn’t see it, but I felt him…if he just attacked us then,” Yuna quickly turned around, “You two! Guard!”

Everett and Melisande didn’t know what to expect from that callout, seeing nothing before the shielder finally got the jist of it, dashing over as he stood in front of the silver-haired rookie, planting his shield down before–

WHAM.

A second later, and the blow would’ve hit Melisande, though it knocked heavily against Everett’s shield.

“Damn! It feels like a behemoth rammed against it!” Everett grunted.

Again, Emilio witnessed it that time, having a clearer view of Amon just for a moment when he had attacked: faint lines of the blurred being.

The sort of speed the Dragonheart witnessed left even his heightened reflexes working in overdrive just to attempt to follow where the blurred figure went, having to constantly spin around along with the others as they stood back-to-back, watching all angles.

“How can anybody even be this fast…?! I mean, come on–!” Everett complained.

“Shut up and stay focused!” Yuna yelled.

“I am!” Everett huffed.

Paranoia took over for some when standing around in wait, only able to somewhat sense and perhaps, if lucky, see remnants of the blurred killer zoom by.

SQUELCH.

Before even being able to react to what had come, Emilio looked down as heat condensed on his abdomen, finding the scales covering his stomach cut through with his belly being sliced open.

“Emilio…!” Melisande screamed.

“I’m fine…!” Emilio assured the girl.

The black strands of his Undying blood stitched him up, but his worries stood with what this speed meant for the others around him.

After all, he could recover from heinous wounds, but the same could not be said for the others. With that in mind, he took things into his own hands, choosing to use his naturally healing body to put himself forward.

“Emilio! What’re you doing?!” Asher asked.

“I’ll pin him down!”

“But you’ll be killed in a second if you leave the circle!” Everett yelled.

The Dragonheart looked back, allowing the scale helm to cover his head once more, “Don’t worry about me. I don’t die easily.”

It was a simple plan that would be suicide for anybody else, and perhaps it still was: Emilio stood alone in the clearing, hearing faint, taunting laughs and gusts of wind as the blurred killer encircled him.

“I thought you were serious? Stop playing around,” Emilio said.

The challenge he led with his words was immediately met as a massive slash ripped through his shoulder, cutting deep into it as a stripe of crimson painted the soil.

“Emilio…!” Melisande called out again.

“Dammit! He’s being reckless!” Everett gritted his teeth, feeling his natural instincts as a protector being challenged.

Yuna and Asher knew well that this plan was as good as it got for them though, having the same pragmatic mind to look past the visceral pain and injuries being inflicted on their comrade.

“Calm down, he’s got this,” Asher said, watching with his claymore readied in his hand.

“You barely know ‘im! How can you say that?!” Everett contested.

Asher kept his eyes forward, “I know a lot more than you might think.”

–

Once Emilio felt the presence of the unseen figure encircling him, finding another evisceration cutting through his scales, shattering the protective layer on his side as his blood sprayed into the wind, he clapped his hands together.

Got you! Emilio thought.

From around him, he summoned walls of stone that swiftly sprouted from the soil, trapping himself and Amon in the close-quarters vicinity.

“So that was his plan…!” Everett said.

Though it wasn’t as smooth as it seemed as once Amon was completely sealed in the stone room with Emilio, a set of blitzing slashes cut through the Dragonheart.

“Grgh!”

It seemed as though trapping the blurred killer in close-quarters was a double-edged sword as the rate at which attacks came increased.

“You think you trapped me? All you did is expedite your death! I’ll rip you apart and then do the same to your friends!”

Amon’s voice was distorted completely by this point, warped by the speed he moved and the electricity emitting from his overdriven mana.

As Emilio swung his sword to try and catch the blur, he was dodged and instead left with multiple slashes cutting through his chest.

“Ghh—!”

Blood seeped from between the scales of his living armor, healing at a slower pace as he was repeatedly eviscerated by the enemy.

Through the adrenaline pumping through his body, the pain was dulled, replaced by a heat resembling molten as his blood poured with an immense pressure with fingers being lobbed off and deep cuts severing his flesh from his body.

“Nnnrgh…!” He gritted his teeth.

It felt impossible to comprehend the speed that simply surpassed reason. Even then, Emilio knew why it felt unfair: it inherently was.

He could feel it through each attack: the killing intent and desperation from the opponent unseen as slashes buried the flashes of steel past his neck, even attempting to remove his head.

…He’s exchanged his life for this power. Of course…resolve like that is something else entirely. Even if I think I’m trying, what he’s doing is inherently different from ‘fighting for your life’–he’s fighting with his life. He’s promised it–there’s no going back now, Emilio thought.

With that thought, he found himself stumbling back, pressed against the back of the stone room as his body was covered in gashes, unable to heal faster than they were being created as the wind continuously howled by his ears.

Still…! I have my own resolve to win, a resolve that goes past my own life, too! Emilio though, I’m tired of it. I’m sick and tired of losing people–others getting hurt because I was too weak!

Just as the blur came forward again, the bleeding Dragonhearted swept his sword forward, summoning not a strike of his steel but manifesting a magical force beyond it. From all around him, filling the small space within the walls of stone, bands of water summoned, whipping around in over a dozen forms.

Though there was no way for him to discern where exactly Amon stood, as the man stood as just a blur, the number of water-made ropes made it impossible to miss in the small space. As they made contact, the binding lines of water wrapped around and bound their target, revealing the recruit killer once more as he was held to a stop.

“…Grh…” Amon gritted his teeth, resisting.

By this point, the recruit killer was clearly on borrowed time as his blackened skin was stained in his own blood, spilling from his eyes as well, along with most of his pores.

The life of an adventurer is one with triumph and loss. It’s a messy path of gray that is filled with horror and mystery; a world ahead that I can’t even hope to fathom…Yet I want to see it all. To do that, I have to win–right here, right now, he thought.