Re: Timeless Apocalypse-Chapter 152: Joy
The falling rain soaked the sandy plane, freezing it solid rather than turning it to mud.
The water flowed and splashed across the hardened surface, the level rapidly rising, pulled and strung in every direction by the sharp, biting winds.
The downpour was relentless and violent.
Uriel stood with the ruby wall at his back, and the fox waited in the far distance, looming at more than four meters tall and six meters long after having tasted so much of his blood, having turned into a true behemoth.
"Buddy, what’s the matter?" Uriel asked aloud, his voice barely cutting through the rain. "I thought we were friends, hm?"
"You know, being a fox and all, turning on me so fast truly doesn’t help your stereotypes, you know?"
"KIHHH!" The fox let out a shriek that shook the air, waves of aether exploding around its body, a golden-white hue rising around it.
"I know, I know." He feigned sadness. "Bonds of friendship are always so fickle. I just imagined that after tasting so much of me we’d be more than that."
"I’d been thinking of presenting you to my old mother, you know? The whole family as well. Maybe it’d make it official."
"...?!"
"Ah, maybe I was a fool."
His Mantle and Domain flickered in and out of reality, threatening to collapse, but he didn’t care in the least, his ivory pupils radiating a manic light.
His core was empty, his elements too weak to be useful, and magic useless in his current situation.
All he had was his blade and his sturdy body.
...
[Hey, Enoch, mind if I ask you something?]
{Hm? What is it? Be quick, we have to go. If we don’t get there early, the Lagoon’s gonna be crowded. I hate having to sit on the bottom floors.}
[I was thinking about battle and stuff like that in general. You know, brutality and violence as a whole, combat and war.]
[I was wondering how you ever got used to it, and how you got good at it. How do you become a good warrior? And what separates a good warrior from a great one?]
[And how do you become the quintessential warrior? I want to know.]
{What the hell are you talking about? Get dressed and—}
[No, I want to know. Tell me.]
{I—... *sigh* ...how to become a great warrior? I don’t know. Battle is what it is, and nothing more, and nothing less.}
{Battle is about ’taking.’ But it’s also about ’keeping.’ You want to take your opponent’s life and keep yours.}
{You want to keep your sanity and snatch your opponent’s. You always want to end up with more than you came with. You always want to leave with a pound of flesh.}
[I could’ve guessed that. What’s with all the ancient master talk? It’s not like I assumed battle was about kindness. It’s an exchange, a deadly one, where the loser ends up dead.]
[I get that. But how do I become good at that exchange? Beyond swinging my blade a thousand times, how do I become great?]
[It’s like the difference between you and me. There’s a gap of age, skill, and experience, I know—but there’s more, you know?]
[An intangible thing rooted in our mentality and philosophy. You know what I mean?]
{What the hell are you talking about? Shut up and put your clothes on, we’re running late!}
...
He shook his head. ’Would’ve been nice to know.’
He closed his eyes and took a deep breath.
...
{If you really want to know, just emulate a beast. They’re the greatest warriors out there.}
[That doesn’t help at all. Do you know how many beasts there are out there? Am I supposed to be an eagle or a dog? A crocodile?]
{Whatever! Let’s go!}
...
Uriel grimaced as the memory faded, a chuckle echoing through his deep exhale.
His grip around his glaive tightened, his fingers slipping from the rainwater soaking both him and his blade. His stance lowered, and his smile returned, all worry fading.
For some reason, he was excited.
...
The fox had been blown back hundreds of meters by Uriel’s last exchange, and yet its body was free of any damage.
Not because its body was unbreakable, but because during the few seconds it had thrashed across the sand, all of it had healed.
SHURR!
Its paws dug into the frozen ground below, bringing its body to a stop before flipping onto its fours, stabilizing itself.
A low, threatening growl escaped its maw, its three long tails undulating with a menacing cadence.
Golden-white radiance formed around the creature, chaotic aether sparking through its veins alongside orderly energy. The two swirled and clashed, filling it with overflowing power.
It eyed Uriel, its growls tapering off, and then—
SHAH!
The beast exploded forward, bridging the distance in only a few lunges, arriving before Uriel, towering over him and instantly swiping down with a chaos-fueled series of claws.
"Oh? No foreplay?! Haha!"
Uriel’s glaive spun across his palm, one hand sliding along its length and pushing down as the other slid upward, pulling the blade toward the incoming attack.
KAH!
Claws and steel met, sparks flying through the air as Uriel was forced back, his spine slamming into the ruby wall, the Fox’s might proving overwhelming.
Pain wracked through his frame, yet rather than deterring him, it filled him with a twisted pleasure and excitement. His limbs twitched as he pushed off the wall and surged back at the beast.
As he did, it did too, soaring through the air, maw wide open, ready to tear his head from his shoulders.
SHAH!
Rather than meeting it head-on, Uriel slid beneath it, his hand darting out to seize its front left paw and drag it along with him, completely shattering its balance.
The Fox found itself rolling over itself, Uriel’s hand clamping down hard on its limb.
Still sliding forward, Uriel planted a foot, then torqued his body inward, whipping his arm forward and hurling the hulking beast into the distance.
His calves tightened, then exploded with force as he pursued the airborne and disoriented creature.
He reached it just as its body crashed into the frozen sand, his foot slinging forward to tear into its gut, lifting it upward, perfectly lining it with a vicious cleave that he followed instantly.
BANG!
Ice and frozen sand erupted into the air amidst droplets of rain, the creature shrieking loudly as it was driven into the ground.
"Hahaha!"
