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Flashback (300 years)
Inno's POV
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I turned on my heels and bolted away, dropping the spoils I had managed to salvage.
"Impossible! It doesn't make sense." My legs didn't stop moving. I scaled large distances swiftly. The forest floors was soft and hard in some places. I had to keep my senses up to avoid tripping.
"But I saw...." At a point, I began to doubt my own sanity.
I stopped to catch my breath. I looked back and my eyes met the eyes of the hunters, I had killed, staring back at me. Their eyes were empty and blank.
They were emitting black smoke from the pores of their bodies.
"Ha ha ha ha!" A laugh came from a place in between some bushes. A man in black robe stepped out, a dubious smile on his face.
It was the King.
"The King came himself because of me. I'm touched." I said sarcastically.
"Did I?" Smoke emitted out of the man completely engulfing his entire body. When the smoke dissipated, the man was no longer looking like the King.
It was... me. He looked like me. He had the white tattered sleeveless top I had on, down to the dirty sandals.
"Akzari, you b****rd! So this is the dark art you've been practicing." I was astonished. This was... I couldn't even describe it.
"That's no way to address your King." King Akzari said in a belittling tone. "Ha ha! I needn't come myself to take care of you. I merely used a body of one of the 'beloved' people of this kingdom. I can manipulate it as I see fit. Now..." King Akzari brought his two hands together forming a kind of hand sign. He went on to utter some incantation.
Immediately, the lifeless hunters hands mutated into sharp edges and went on to face me. A dark aura filled their presence, their fleshes losing the little warmth they had left.
They began to attack me with swift and frantic attacks. It was frantic, yes, but it was also coordinated in a sort of way.
They stabbed, bit and kicked. I managed to dodge all their blows, but I was being subdued by the minute.
{<
King Akzari uttered some more incantation. I felt a sharp pang in my head at that moment; my movement drastically slowed.
Whoosh!!
One of the hunters use the opportunity to drive it's sword-like hand straight through my right shoulder.
"AARGH!!!"
A scream left my throat as the claw sunk into my shoulder. Using my left hand, I broke the claw and distanced myself. Realization hit me quick. If I don't get serious, I will lose and be captured; God knows what they'll do to me then.
Clenching my teeth, I pulled the remnant claw from shoulder wheezing in pain.
I took a stance gripping the claw in my hand and ignoring the pain in my shoulder and dizziness in my head.
[Swift Step]
Propelling my legs forward, I swiftly moved and appeared right behind the one who stabbed me. I jammed the claw straight through his head. "You can have your stuff back," I said, my face darkening.
[Swift Step]
I appeared behind another and brought my left elbow down onto its head, crushing it there and then.
The others rushed me, stabbing at my vitals. They wanted to render me immobile so it will be easier for them to win.
[Light Manoeuvring Skill 16: Treading]
I moved lightly, continuously dodging the hunters' attacks. My legs moved like they had a life of their own. They moved back and forth in a certain manner making it difficult for the hunters' attacks to touch me, but I couldn't really get an opening to strike.
[Light Manoeuvring Skill 7: Parry]
I grabbed the arm of a hunter and sent it straight into the head of another. I continued diverting their attacks until I managed to impale each of them with the claws of their allies.
Pant! Pant! Pant!
As the last of the hunters fell, I turned to face King Akzari.
"Wow! Well done." King Akzari clapped. A large smile crept on his face. "Too bad you can't kill the dead."
I couldn't believe my eyes once again. I was simply petrified by the sight in front of me. Is this the power of the dark arts, bringing back the dead? No. It was controlling the dead; this wasn't even a fraction of the skills in King Akzari or any other dark arts user's arsenal.
The hunters I spent so long defeating stood back up in an inhumane manner. Those who were impaled in the head removed the claws without so much as a flinch. It was obvious that the hunters were no longer living. I had been fighting corpses.
"What the f***?!" I managed to let out. 'Shouldn't there be a limit to all this power? Some sort of drawback or something.' I thought trying to look for a loophole, but I guess it was too no avail.
"That's the power of dark arts. I'm invincible. You can't even dream of defeating me." King Akzari said with that same eerie smile on his face. "The only thing that stands in my way and true invincibility, is you. But, that won't be for much longer. Ha! Ha ha!"
Not wasting time, I immediately bolted away. My legs going beyond their limits. The adrenaline already kicked in giving me a boost in speed.
Seeing my figure vanish through the forest, Akzari could only laugh.
[<
He began saying some weird words that were incomprehensible. We were already several distance against each other, but I could hear it. He wasn't even shouting. It felt like the words were landing directly in my brain and not through my ear.
"What kind of witchery is this?" I said as I felt my consciousness slip.
My eyes were open, but I felt like it was closed. It was a strange feeling. Something I still can't understand.
I tried to open my eyes even though it was clearly already open. But nothing happened, I was still seeing myself running away.
I tried again and again and finally, my eyes opened. But could I say it opened when my eyes was never closed.
I briefly lost my sight but it was restored a while later. But I wasn't ready for what I saw. My eyes came face to face with a palm. It was... my palm, wasn't it?
It slowly moved to touch my face. Immediately after, everything went black.