The Last Circle-Chapter 15: The Line Between Man and Beast

"Time to die, beast!"

Nameless drew his blade against his forearm, inflicting a shallow wound, before bursting into raging flames. In an instant, he'd transformed into a fiery humanoid, with his physical features—from head to toe—outlined in a thin black. His weapon retained its shape in the form of a bright, incandescent flame, crackling and popping.

Interestingly enough, he didn't feel pain. Neither the wound he gave himself, nor the flames that embraced his form, caused even the slightest bit of discomfort.

Taking notice of the hellbound beast quickly closing the distance, Nameless dove to the ground, turning into a stream of fire as he guided himself, regaining his form once he landed.

He looked up, noticing two of the remaining eleven hands swinging right at him—each one an abyss, ready to crush from either side.

Nameless leapt back, yet again turning into a stream of fire that travelled through the air, quickly getting out of reach of the beast's cupped hands. He stopped, watching the beast raise its hands to its face as it trembled in pain, thanks to the [Gaze of the Cleansing Fire] attribute, before it swung them out and let out a tremulous roar into the sky.

Seeing his window of opportunity, Nameless decided to test the Rift of Flame's power. Quickly, he two-handed the weapon and slashed down, watching as the tip ripped into the fabric of Hell and traced an arc of fire.

Between seeing the window and swinging the blade, the whole action lasted a second, and the flame guided itself straight to the beast's maw. The hellbound beast noticed the arc with the eyes laid around its underbelly, but it was just a tad bit late to react in time.

In battle, even a fraction of a second meant everything. No matter what one fought; no matter how weak the opponent was; no matter how much stronger one was, it meant little when caught off-guard. As a result, the arc collided with the beast, leaving embers that traced its strike across the face and horns, burning the ivory white into charcoal black.

Nameless watched the beast screech in pain, before it leapt right for him with its mouth opening in a rigid, right-angled gape. Thanks to the Rift of Flame's power, however, this reaction from the hellbound beast was yet another window of opportunity.

He slashed the air again, sending another flame arc. He turned into a fire stream, flowing to a point just under the massive frame of the flying beast. Once he had landed, Nameless stomped firmly into the ground, shattering the ground around his step, where the incandescent light of fire shined between the cracks. He raised the blade and swung down, dragging it through the underbelly as yet another fiery arc travelled forth.

It was a reckless act, for the beast's force would've easily broken his hands if he messed up—perhaps even tear them off—but Nameless was confident. It was as though the weapon felt natural in his hands, perhaps a sign of proficiency with slashing weapons in his past life. He finally felt alive.

He darted his head back, watching as the hellbound beast crashed into the pillars. Its face excavated the black ground, sending sharp fragments flying to the sides, dragging right through with ease.

Nameless scoffed. The tiny black outlines of his brows raised themselves. His voice was different in this form. It was gravelly, rough, and harsh. But his awe over the change in his voice was quickly wiped away, for the hellbound beast stood once again, rushing towards him, despite the searing wound leaving its underbelly agape.

Nameless shook his head. 'Why are you so difficult to kill?' he wondered, quickly dashing out of a swift swipe of the beast's clubbed, space-black fingers.

'You're missing nine arms already, so,' he raised the blade once more, slashing down as he yelled with his otherworldly voice:

"Just die!"

This time, a larger arc of ruinous flame flew forth, crashing into the beast that relentlessly charged after Nameless. Unfortunately for him, it meant little to the beast that had an unfaltering will to kill anything that moved.

That wasn't to say that the strike was weak, but rather, the beast's intoxication in bloodlust was more than enough to keep it going, which caught Nameless off-guard.

And it was because he was caught off-guard that he found himself just barely blocking a punch with the flat end of his blade, digging through the rough and sharp rock-littered ground that his back scraped against. The only reason he didn't go crashing all the way to the pillars was thanks to colliding into what little of the Weaver of the Sky's soft flesh remained. The pain of fire and wounding himself may not have existed, but he most certainly felt pain this time around.

'How am I alive?' he asked himself as he morphed into flame once more, flying off to the side before he stood his ground, watching the hellbound beast rush him again. 'Focus. You can't die here. Not after all of this effort.'

He drew a deep breath, readying himself to take on the towering beast that roared in pain. But even taking a stance was difficult to do with the pang of the rocks dug into his back, along with the shock that travelled through his handle as he blocked the punch, his hands feeling numb as a result.

The hellbound beast swung with a right hook. Nameless jumped, feeling the wind rush past him even in his fire stream form. Once he landed, he slashed the air a few times, letting the arcs collide with the gaping wound in the beast's underbelly.

He would've loved nothing more than to focus the weak point, which were the eyes. Even severing the rest of the arms would've been better. However, he knew that he lacked the strength to do either with ease, and he couldn't afford to suffer another hit.

'I should've done this without getting hit,' so he thought, watching as the beast lunged with its gaping mouth, which he dodged by leaping atop its horns and onto its back. 'Well, my luck is back.'

He got straight to work with slashing whatever eyes he could find, which proved incredibly effective, courtesy of the hellbound beast's howl of pain that shook its entire frame. Nameless struggled to keep his balance, but it was nothing that a simple digging of the sword's edge into the beast's back couldn't resolve...

At least, that's what he thought. He quickly found himself hanging by the hilt as the beast stretched its back, trying its hardest to shake him off while it struggled to reach him.

Ultimately, this led towards the beast suffering more damage to its body. With enough shaking and Nameless's iron grip on the handle, the blade slid down, splitting the hellbound beast's back open. Soon enough, Nameless found himself sliding all the way down, dragging the blade's sharp edge through, before turning into a stream of flame once more and landing on the ground.

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He looked back, taking notice of the hellbound beast falling backward.

'Finally! We can kill this bas... We can kill this guy and get out of here!'

He dashed out of the way, narrowly dodging the ground-shattering slam, which sent cracks flowing through the darkened land. Wasting no more time, he began slashing at whatever other eyes he could find around the underbelly.

Black smoke followed with each eye being extinguished. The end of the hellbound beast's life was in sight. Nameless even resorted to severing off some of the road-sized arms, ensuring his safety.

After taking out enough eyes, he leapt away from the aggressively twitching hellbound beast, narrowly dodging the erratic swings of its arms and bouncing body. Once he was in a safe spot, he started slashing the air as much as he could, unleashing a barrage of the Rift of Flame's fury.

One, two, three, four... ten, twenty, thirty, fourty, and the beast was more red than space-black. Nameless had no intention of showing it mercy... or perhaps doing all he could was mercy enough. After all, the beast was clearly suffering.

With a dying roar that transitioned from a loud, ferocious noise, to a quiet, shrill screech as it reached for the sky with a quaking arm, the hellbound beast froze, before its arm crashed into the ground.

Nameless huffed and puffed as he stared, exhausted from all the swinging he did in rapid succession, yet he was pleased with himself.

It was finally over. The two most scary, ferocious, and powerful beasts he found throughout the Vagrant's pass were finally dead as confirmed by the system:

[You have slain a Transgressor Hellbound Beast!]

[The Shard of Sin whispers your...]

Nameless dropped to his knees, too tired to read that last part about the Shard of Sin as he continued breathing heavily. One moment, he was an otherworldly creature of fire, and in the next, the flames extinguished themselves, and only his true form remained.

His blood painted his back in a deep red, while the many sharp rocks still pierced his skin, dug deep within.

Again, he wanted nothing more than to sleep, but he used all in his remaining willpower to resist. He was scared. He didn't want to die and go back to the beginning, even if he hadn't made it very far to begin with.

"Don't..." his voice was muffled, his eyes burned, his back was scorching while his warm blood spilled forth. "Don't... fall... asle—"

He was cut off by his own collapse, smacking face first into the ground, and slowly, he drifted away into a deep and dark place.