"This will be one hell of a fight."
— Those words, his statements bellowed like a thunderous declaration amidst the battlefield, the piercing eye-like glow being exuded from the darkness of his helmet boring through the stature of the enemy like a laser, sending a formidable chill down the blonde-haired youth's spine as he felt the surrounding air change.
"Heh." — The youth sneered as he felt the cold run down on his back. "interesting..!" — he yelled internally.
— Gray with a hint of metallic silver coloration; lightning sparks began to rapidly flicker around the jagged-black armour, originating from the breastplate where a huge, similarly-coloured, star-like crater with seven edges was branded. The lightning flashed and coalesced with one another, eventually flowing like a gentle, forest river throughout his torso and unto his forearm, where it concentrated for a few moments before..
"..?"
It rapidly imbueded itself unto his shortsword, giving it a piercing silver glow.
The individual then crouched and with a soft, yet resonant voice he muttered.
"Here I go."
— The youth, on the other hand assumed a half-crouched stance before bending his arms and pushing his elbow backwards, his hands forming a claw-like sign causing a sticky, gooey slime-like purple substance to proliferate on his palms and eventually coat his entire forearm.
"Come! Stimulate me."
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*WOOSH!*
The man vanished, leaving behind a small crater on the patch of grass he stood on. The blonde-youth, seeing the man disappear in front of his eyes could only frantically search for him around, but then,
"!!!"
he instinctively titled his head away and narrowly dodged.. nothing? No, there was something he could've sworn, a small wound has opened up on his cheek, if that was nothing, there wouldn't have been a scar.
He slowly raised his palms up to inspect the wound and then.
*FWOOSH!*
"TCH!" — The blonde-youth leaped away from his previous position, he crouched, a small wound opening up on the edge of his throat.
"...A gust of wind..?" — He thought, taking time to analyze the surroundings.
"..no..this is..!!!"
— A strong surge of air soared towards the youth with immeasurable speed before..
*FWIP!*
The Armoured man materialized behind him, slowly sheathing his blade in a controlled fashion.
"..."
— The youth crouched there, unmoving.
The armoured man then gazed back, and as he slowly finished the sheathing of his blade...
*SPLURTTT!!!*
— Hundreds of scars abruptly opened up all over the stature of the youth, causing liters upon liters of blood to flow out uncontrollably.
...
...
...
*smirks.*
"Fine technique ya got there."
— The piercing glow inside of the armoured man's helmet grew slightly wider as that voice entered his ears, the grip on the handle of his blade growing ever tighter.
*Crack..*
— A small fissure began to show itself on the body of the youth.
*CRACK* *CRACK* *CRACK..*
— More and more fissures had begun to materialize rapidly, growing larger and larger on his body. The armoured man, whom was frozen in place could only stare in horror as the cracked pieces of his skin tore off and fell down to the ground, coated in a sticky, purple-like goo.
"..what.."
— A devious smile formed on the organism's face as it revealed its true self.
— A human-like creature, but with skin resembling that of a slime, a purple coloration with no other redeeming features aside from his crimson-colored irises and eerily clean teeth.
"HUP! ..AHHH." — The organism stretched both of its arms before placing a hand above his shoulder. "THANKS A LOT." — "That human skin felt really disgusting you see."
— It then walked a few inches forward, each step causing the armoured man to stiffen.
"...?" — The armoured man looked at the pieces of broken skin that was once scattered around the creature, and there he saw.
"..!"
— The face that the organism wore. It was the face of the youth that he once looked like before, the eyes were red, the cheeks were fissured and the ears were melting. But the one that stuck out to him the most was; a gray-coloured line extending from its eyelids all the way down to its chin.
— The realization unnerved the armoured man as he attempted to recompose himself all while making sure it does not show in his external posture.
The vile sneer on the organism's makeshift face extended onto an eerie crescent-moon like shape.
— "Wow..!" The organism clapped it's hands in sheer reluctance.
"You're the first human I saw to be calm in the face of [R"№ot?⁹∅]."
— The armoured man blinked. - ("What?")
With the sneer transitioning into a crazed grin, the organism then proceeded to point at the side of its torso.
"..?"
*Splurtt...* *Gushhh..*
"!!!!!!"
— The armoured man looked down at his side, only to see his armour with pieces of his skin seared unto it fall off, the muscle strands that was once holding in place melted, releasing a soft, gray-coloured steam.
— The jolt of pain that was brought after the realization was intense, the warm moonsoon of the atmosphere tingling his exposed flesh as he felt a small surge of air entering his ribcage, tickling his vital organs. The man's posture broke as he planted his sword at the grassy surface, the only thing preventing him from fully falling, face flat on the floor. "GHH..!" — He coughed, a small splurt of blood exiting the darkness of his helmet.
"..I..tch..I rushed in..too recklessly..!" — The armoured man whispered inside of his head, recalling the barrage of blows that unfolded a while back.
...
— In his memory, he soared through the battlefield in a speed that slowed down the falling of the flying shards from the carriage, the descent of the dust into a pause and even the youth into a frozen standstill as freckles of lightning continue to constanly flash around his body, especially at his drawn-out blade.
"Die."
— He raised up his sword, before bringing it down with such force that it generated a small field of air attempting to resist it. Afterwards, as it made contact with the youth's face, he tilted his face away, dodging the blade in a nick of time.
"..!"
— As the youth dodged, the glow inside of his helmet widened.
"First Sigil.. Was Dodged..?"
"Then.."
— As the armoured man's greave made just a millisecond worth of contact with the grass, he rapidly rotated his waist alongside with his bent-arm that was tightly grasping the thunderous shortsword, travelling in such speeds that a large, bullet-shaped concentration of air coalesced around it before delivering a spinning slash in a circular trajectory, heading straight for the youth's neck.
"Perish."
*Fwip!*
— In a nick of time, the youth managed to tilt his head backwards, narrowly avoiding the hilt from slicing through his throat.
"..What..!?"
"..Two Sigils, he reacted to two consecutive sigils..!?" — The armoured man froze on his location, as he saw the youth leap a few meters away in slow motion.
—
After a few seconds of silence, the orb in his helmet narrowed as the grip resting upon the handle of the blade tightened. He proceeded to sheathe his blade before assuming a crouched down stance, focusing his gaze at the unmoving youth.
"Take this."
— The lightning that flash irrationally around his blade began to concentrate on the scabbard, lighting it up into a gray, silver-like glow.
"BlueMoon."
*FWIP*
— Despite already travelling in a slowed down version of time, he still vanished into thin air before shortly materializing in front of the youth to deliver one slash..? he delivered one slash before phasing through the youth and landing on the ground several feet behind him, then as he looked back, countless afterimages.. afterimages with their own afterimages began to rapidly slice the youth one by one before disintegrating.
—
Then as he sheathed his sword, the final afterimage delivered its strike then dissipated. Causing hundreds of deep, fatal wounds all over the youth's body to spontaneously explode, causing liters of blood to flow out like a fountain.
"Finished."
...
"How..did he.."
— The armoured man trembles, as he looks at the organism with a blurring vision, hands covering the place where a portion of his flesh spontaneously fell off.
"Creepy right..?"
— The organism chuckled.
"Though I couldn't see you strike, I knew you were coming for me head-on next. That's why I raised both my hands, even the slightest, quickest of contact can cause any flesh to melt... and in that strike of yours, you closed in the distance resulting in your body making unintentional contact with my hands right? Be grateful only your left torso was touched.. had it been both sides.."
— The organism slowly stepped forward. Its hands dripping with the sticky, purple-like substance.
"You would've been a lump of stew by now."
— It chuckled, gripping a portion of the substance on his palms, so much so that it bursted like a bubble.
The old lady, whom had been spectating the two for a while now made a horrified expression as she saw the armoured man fall to his knees, grasping the left side of his torso where the flesh has evaporated into a soft, steam-like vapour while some organs were left exposed, She then swallowed a saliva before embracing the little girl even tighter.
"What..in the seven stars is this..!?"
— The armoured man pondered, squinting a the organism's palms overflowing with that slime-like substance.
"..grr.."
— He groaned, gaze going back and forth between his injury and towards the smirking creature.
"Though I applaud your Courage. Those that I destroyed before you willingly fell to their knees and begged me for mercy, even going as far as to offer anything they possessed.."
"Money.."
- The creature began to close the distance between itself and him.
"Artifacts..."
- He steps, ever so slowly and deliberate.
"Servitude.."
- Then, with his feet a few centimeters away from the armoured man's helmet..
"And even.."
- He crouched.
"Loved Ones."
- He leaned in, a friendly, off-putting smile present in his poor imitation of a face, as if trying so hard to appear as human yet never once was and never will be.
"Of course, I never agreed. Well..almost, never agreed."
"One offered me his daughter, the other offered me their son, saying; wish.. and it shall be done. Intriguing isn't it? So Instinctive, So Primal for a race that claims to be so.. Intelligent."
It leaned in, voice dropping into a low coarse whisper.
"Tell me.. What exactly separates you from an animal when faced with certain death?"
...
It then released a forced sigh.
"See that over there?"
— It gestured towards the stack of its previously shedded skin, depicting the blonde-haired youth, it's face was of grave expression with tear lines indicating a glimpse of what he really went through.
"He didn't offer me anything. Heck, he didn't even hesitate to bare his fangs towards me, until.."
-The organism paused.
"To be honest, he was a sight to behold. But those types of humans evolve to become a really large hindrance for beings like me later on."
- It sneered once more.
"So what else apart from absorbing him?"
- It then released a demonic, resonant laughter that penetrated the air.
"He was, what most would consider, appealing. Why not use his skin then? To do so, I assimilated him."
"To maintain the purity of his skin, I had to slowly.."
"deliberately.."
"forcefully.."
"melt his insides, his flesh, while making sure he stays conscious through my body's natural aptitude for healing..That will keep the husk intact while removing all the bother inside."
— The creature then tilted its head with a soft smile on his face.
"He was kept conscious until the teeny, tiny bit of his insides were melted. I could tell that he enjoyed it.. he kept crying from happiness throughout the whole process..!"
"..." — The armoured man kept his steadfast gaze on the creature.
"I'll make an exception..just for you."
— The armoured man's eyes blinked.
"I'll leave you here, no more screwed up than you are now..so long as you offer those two to me."
— The organism pointed towards the old lady, whom had a cautious, yet defiant expression, seeing the creature gesture at her, she felt the need to embrace the child as tightly as she could.
"Not a bad deal right? After all, I know those two don't even matter to you."
— He leaned in even more.
"You don't even know them, what's the use of risking certain peril for those lambs? Just throw them to the wolves and those hungry bastards will even thank you."
— He stated, voice dropping once more into a low whisper.
"Why not just give them to me?"
There was a brief moment of silence before the armoured man muttered.
"..you...you asked me what separates a human from an animal right?"
"Indeed. What of it?"
"then..my answer to both of your questions are.."
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*SLASHHHHH!!!!*
— All of the sudden, a shortsword comes swinging upwards from below, effectively creating a crescent-moon like figure from the substance that it sliced through that were present in its trajectory. Alerted, the creature could only leap a few good meters away, eyes showing a sense of annoyance.
*Plop.*
— The creature's left arm, came crashing down on the patch of grass a few feet away from them.
"finally.. came close enough."
"You..just what are you trying to do..?"
— The armoured man, though pained, rose unto his feet, using his shortsword as a crutch
"I'm answering your questions.."
— The organism furrowed its eyebrows, tone transitioning into a hostile hiss.
"..This is your answer to me, human?"
"No. My answer is.."
The armoured man then took a few steps to his side, positioning himself between the creature and the old lady before raising his shortsword to point it at the creature.
"Go To Hell."