Sezel's pulse increased, his heart pounding like a drum against his ribs. Sweat rolled down his temple, he slowly turned around to face a rotting visage—a zombie, its hollow eyes glinting, clutching his dislocated arm with a bony grip.
His heart skipped a beat, Sezel yanked forward, bracing against a gnarled tree for leverage. His tattered sleeve tore, freeing his arm, and he stumbled forward, legs trembling, before breaking into a sprint.
Behind him, the Black Knights slashed the Zombie like a slice of cheese.
He stumbled onto a few trees while trying to keep an eye behind, his body pushed to the limits trying to survive. Could he outrun death itself in this hellish realm?
Suddenly, a beast lunged out from the shadows without any warning, as if it had waited for this precise moment. A dog-like beast he had beaten before.
It jumped at him, its claws threatening to slit his flesh. Worse, it was on his left, his dislocated useless hand, now not even protected by the thin fabric of his shirt.
Sezel clicked his tongue, rolling down, and the beast sailed over him, landing with predatory grace, its maw gaping, jagged teeth flashing in the violet light.
Sprawling on the damp earth, Sezel crawled backward, the beast stalking closer in relentless pursuit.
He got the hang of a broken stick on the ground, its splintered edge a frail hope. Sez halted, bracing the attack of the furious beast. The beast jumped, using his hand as a shield he stopped the beast, its claws digging into his flesh, seeping out blood.
But Sezel swallowed his agony, teeth grinding. With a desperate kick to the beast's groin, making it squeal. Seizing the moment, he drove the stick into its neck, targeting the gash from his earlier pickaxe strike. The wood sank deep in the already made wound, black blood spurting.
The beast stumbled back, jerking its head around in agony.
'Shit, these things don't die even after they're impaled directly in the neck.'
Sezel scrambled back to his feet, sprinting again, but the beast didn't rest for long, it soon followed behind, and so did the Black Knights. His heart cursed the Spirit realm's cruelty, despair clawing at his resolve.
'Fuck.'
Sezel lost his distance because of the beast, suddenly his legs tangled in a metallic chain, half-buried in the ashen soil, sending him tumbling. Pain shot through his ankle.
'Where did this thing come from now?' he seethed, glaring at the rusted links, but soon an idea popped up in his mind.
The beast followed behind him, black blood dripping from the gash in its neck. Sezel stood right in front, facing it head-on with a metallic chain in his hand.
The mindless beast attacked again, consumed by fury and hunger, it lunged, baring its claws.
Sezel smiled, "Here is your present, bitch."
He turned aside and ran around the tree, the chain tightened and gripped the beast between the tree and itself, its legs bound in restraint.
Sezel pulled it with all his might, giving in all his weight. As the restraint tightened, the beast howled in pain. Soon, its legs broke, paralyzing it.
Sezel collapsed, gasping, victory fleeting. "I… I won."
But the fleeting moment ended before it could start. The footsteps of Black Knights reached sooner than expected. Sezel pushed himself up from the ground, sparing a gaze at the beast whimpering in pain, its legs broken, unable to move.
"I am sorry, I can't kill you, but they will end your misery."
The Knights' blades flashed, beheading the creature in a single stroke. Sezel sprinted, not daring to look back.
The forest abruptly ended, revealing a clearing with a pond. Sezel skidded to a halt, saving himself from falling into the pond.
Its surface a black, liquid-like mass, still as death under the starless sky. 'What the hell is this?' Hesitant, he dipped his hand into the liquid—cold, unnaturally viscous.
'Water?'
Rustling broke his thoughts, he pulled his hand out and turned.
Three of the Black Knights emerged from out, they had finally caught up with him, and he was trapped with no place to run. Behind him, going to the left or right was no longer an option. He could see countless monsters stirring in the shadows.
'My run has ended.'
He exhaled, trembling yet resolute, raising his bloodied fist.
"I refuse to die without a fight," he roared.
In the distant clearing, the Mighty Black Knight King's laugh echoed, a grating cacophony, [This roach is interesting.]
Through the eyes of his knights, he watched, a god reveling in a mortal's futile struggle, enjoying it like an entertainment series unfolding live.
The battle started, and ended in just mere moments, of course, the outcome was clearer than anything else in this hellish realm.
Sezel sprawled on the ground, clutching his abdomen. But he staggered upright, struggling. One of the Black Knights slashed, he twisted aside, saving his torso, but the blade carved into his dislocated arm, cutting it down.
Screaming in pain, he stumbled back, on the edge of the pond behind him, his face expressionless, his body felt numb.
PIERCE!
The sword of another Black Knight pierced through his chest in an instant like he was made of paper.
Sezel puked a glob of blood, he choked, blood gushing from the wound, crimson mingling with the black liquid below.
His vision dimmed, yet a smile curved his lips—pain's end, a release from the Spirit Realm's torment. His body tipped backward, plunging into the pond's icy embrace, the black mass swallowing him whole.