If my old body had survived Jia Wei's stab, my current state could as well.
I will teach you how to absorb any damage without dying.
- - -
The thing wore Hashur the way rot wears bone. Black liquid pulsed along its limbs, thick as oil, dragging itself across skin that was no longer skin. It had grown until its head scraped the chamber's ceiling, shadow cutting the light that fell through the rupture above us.
The chamber felt too small for either of us.
I reached for the bandages that were tied around my arms.
One pull.
Then another.
Slipping from my fingers and falling into the sand. The fabric sank slowly until nothing was visible
My eyes shifted to the mark that was carved onto my wrist. It seems like tonight the moon will be brighter.
It glowed faintly, orange like embers, the hue of a phoenix revealing the new moon.
I put away my blade before whispering.
[ From the hush of the underground, I summon the pause before oblivion : Skill Unlocked. ]
「 Thanatos' Forbearance 」
The chamber remained the same. Dust and sand hung in the air. Hashur paused, his monstrous frame tilting waiting for something to happen.
He scratched his body, liquid pouring out.
Hashur's lips curled into a jagged grin. Then the grin broke into laughter, echoing against the stones. "This is your skill?…how disappointing! "
His laughter rose, almost maniac, until it snapped into fury.
He was clearly not satisfied with what I gave him.
He thrusted, black liquid surging from his arms, striking down with savage force.
I didn't dodge it.
The impact crushed the breath from my lungs and drove me into the sand. Pain flared, bright, distant. I felt a few bones breaking.
His clawed hand grabbed me by my hair, and before I could brace, he hurled me sideways.
The stone shattered as my body slammed against the wall. The impact stole my breath, but Hashur didn't back down.
— I thought I was in for some action when I saw your chivalrous act. Guess you're one of those.
He seized me again, his hand clamped around my chest, dragging me upward, then drove me into the ceiling with bone-splintering force. Dust rained down as I crumpled, gasping for air.
I tried to rise, but his grip returned, crushing against my ribs. Pain flared white-hot as he swung me across the chamber, slamming me completely into the opposite wall. I coughed out blood, dripping onto the sand and the stone floor.
My lungs were burning, my body screamed in agony yet I forced myself to stay conscious.
One last.
Hashur loomed above, his grin feral.
— This is your fate. The fate of those who cling to the other side of the wall, who lay in ignorance.
Hurled me upward. I slammed once again into the stone.
with each impact, it shaved something off the ceiling. As sand rushed down in choking clouds. Cracks spidered outward, thin at first.
Hashur followed, climbing the chamber walls with impossible weight, dragging me back up just to throw me again. Shaking the chamber.
My back punched through the stone instead of stopping at it. Rocks gave way with a wet, crumbling sound. Light spilled through the fracture.
Now it was thin enough.
Once settled down, I reached for my sword.
The motion was slow as Hashur watched me struggle.
confused, he froze for a half second.
Hashur expected me to aim for its throat. Its core. It's heart.
"En skia thanatou hestēka,
Kai ho oros ouk eteleiōthē."
I swung.
Arcs of electricity leaped from the blade, painting the chamber in jagged bursts of light.
"To haima mou epesen,
alla hē hodós ouk ekleistē."
The blade tore upward, ripping through the fractured ceiling in a screaming arc of steel against the stones.
The stones split. Layers sheared apart like rotten flesh.
For a heartbeat, nothing happened.
Hashur laughed. Amused by my foolish action.
Then—a deep, wet sound that shook dust loose from the walls.
With his giant arms, Hashur clapped. "In case you didn't see correctly, you broke the only exit you had."
I smiled.
Just a little.
"No," I said. "You broke your own exit."
The ceiling detonated.
Fire and force tore downward through the chamber, not exploding outward but collapsing in, a roaring tide of heat and stone. The light vanished—replaced by white, then red, then nothing but a ringing noise.
The ceiling came down on us.
Hashur's body began to panic. The fear came from the inside.
He tried to pull away. Looking in every direction.
He tried to shield itself. He tried to flee through a tiny gap I had carved with my blade.
I didn't sit back.
I wrapped my arms around its body and used my remaining force to lock us together, my sword driven into us.
— You're not leaving.
Now it was Time against Death. The bombs ticked.
Fire swallowed us.
stone crushed down.
Pain erased thought.
The chamber exploded.