"The fear of death follows from the fear of life. A man who lives fully is prepared to die at any time."
― Mark Twain
***
Even as he continued to block and weave through the flaming claws and the rumbling wings, his mind remained in a strange lull.
His duty was fulfilled; he could be at peace now.
The moment this thought emerged in his mind, his heart, which was beating rhythmically, skipped a beat.
His eyes widened as a feeble thought echoed through his desolate mind.
That's right, I hate these beasts… Yes, I loathe them… How can I let them be killed like this? They… they deserve worse.
His mind cleared as he focused on the maw about to chomp him to death.
His body moved without any thought, and a [mana severance] flickered out, carving the tendons connecting the jaw altogether.
CHI!!
Stepping out of the way of the dragon's trajectory, he kicked it with full force as it blitzed past him.
BOOM!!
A barrage of bluish bolts assaulted him just then. In response, he phantom stepped while using [illusory sword].
His mirages scattered and slashed out towards both targets.
Talons, claws, and tails swept at him as he continued to push his opponents further, swinging himself like the autumn wind, fluttering and free-flowing.
His body was hot with bubbling mana and surging adrenaline. But his soul was doused in a block of ice, unmoved by the combat at all.
His body moved to preserve his life, but his mind was analytic, …strangely inhuman.
He finally seemed to recognise that he was no longer 'himself'.
Only the faint sense of self in his rock-like mind made him realise the situation.
A bittersweet feeling spread through his lingering mind as he saw himself fighting better than he ever had, using his techniques more efficiently than he ever knew..
His body moved without any delay, without feeling emotions and the like.
He didn't want to admit but all his accomplishments, all his existence were being erased.
He almost wanted to laugh, but his mind deemed it redundant.
He… didn't know if this was what he wanted.
Was this what his life had led to?
The one thing that didn't change was the hate smouldering in his belly, the wrath he felt for these foul creatures.
He bitterly focused all of his ego, all of his mind on this single thought.
Outside Rya's desperate mind, the two other combatants were fighting laboriously, trying to kill the pesky human…. Or whatever this being was.
They threw all of their attacks, with all their comprehensions lacing their blows.
But still, even after all this, they couldn't seem to make a killing blow!
Rya shot beside the rock and slashed down, severing the lightning constituting its now enigmatic form.
Bloody red lightning bloomed from the cut, its blood having been converted into charge and crackling thunder.
It shrieked with rage… and fear, still managing to look regal and mighty even in this pathetic state.
Rya honestly couldn't give a damn; he remained consistent in his barrages, unfeeling and calculating with every move.
His lips pursed together whenever a fatal blow came close to scratching him, as if annoyed by the sheer audacity of the beasts.
Inwardly, his remnant ego floated aimlessly while drowning in hate and desperation.
Just as the faint remnant was about to be snuffed out, his blade came to his mind, more importantly, his enlightenment.
Speed, momentum, space, time….
His slowed thoughts were not of resignation or worry, but of the one constant in his entire life.
How to move his blade.
How to channel his mana.
How to engage in battle with proper footwork.
How to move despite the pain and wounds.
How to prepare for the worst outcome despite the odds.
All these thoughts blurred into a misty mess, leaving behind a single thought, a single formula. A formula containing his everything, his every loss, his every gain, his love, his sadness, his loneliness… his existence.
In the aerial battlespace, the two opponents, sensing something amiss, moved back in sync with wariness fueling their movements.
The feeling lasted for but a second, then, as if snapping out of it, both the beasts charged again with renewed ferocity.
One thing they missed was the slight flicker in Rya's calculating eyes that shone with a yellow tinge.
Amidst the combat, he moved with grace and effortless fluidity. Dancing to the hymn of death, clashing, retreating, studying, and calculating endlessly.
A pincer attack came at him, the dragon having a flaming ball glowing in its mouth, while the lightning incarnation of a roc moved, calling down bolts from the heavens themselves.
The dragon also fell in the area of effect of the bolts and was zapped indiscriminately; he didn't let up, though, and for the first time while fighting side by side, they drew blood.
Rya's left arm, reinforced by mana, blocked the flaming ball right in front of him as lightning bolts pelted him from every side.
Resulting in his hand being melted to the bone and darkening with ash that spread fast, like a rot eating up from within.
He cut it off before it could fester. Though the regeneration factor granted by the sigil on his head worked tirelessly, it was still considerably slower than the two beasts'.
The flaming behemoth and the lightning incarnate didn't let go of the chance, though; they swept at him from all directions; sky shuddering with grey embers and flashing sparks dancing throughout the space.
Rya managed to hold them off, but their attacks grew more ferocious, more desperate.
After a particularly nasty blow, his eyes finally rippled with yellowish gold that spread throughout his body in gentle gusts.
Seeing this, a claw of degenerating flames descended, and a pillar of lightning streaked towards him. His body blurred with speed as he dodged to the side.
The shape of the sigil on his forehead sparkled as if delighted by this, and continued to etch itself faster and faster still.
Its character was almost formed, just a couple of seconds more and 'he' would disappear, although his body would remain.
Smelling the whiff of its impending death, the dragon did something unexpected before its unintended comrade could even recognise it.
As it passed by the roc, it moved with starting agility and bit its lightning body where the throat would've been.
In response, the roc erupted with so much lightning that the air around them glowed akin to plasma.
The dragon didn't care, though, as it spewed out flames and continued to chomp down with its half-destroyed maw.
Desperation and a manic light flared in the roc's eyes as it detonated its core, intending to kill the dragon too.
Lightning swelled, a dam about to burst from the body of sparks making up the beast.
And just as the explosion was about to erupt, the grey flames coating the dragon moved like wriggling tentacles.
They flailed and rose to form a dome of swirling greys, compressing the swelling body of the roc, until only a ball of grey, sparking with blue bolts occasionally remained.
Rya, seeing all this, didn't react; he continued to stand in the distance while glancing at the skies with vacant eyes.
In a blink, the dragon swallowed the grey ball with evident delight and difficulty.
Finally looking down, Rya locked eyes with it. The dragon's aura continued to rise rapidly until the air around it glowed with both flaming haze and flares resembling those of the sun's surface.
The world slowed in Rya's mind as a countdown echoed in his ego.
Seven
His left hand finally regenerated, clenching and unclenching it, he grasped the blade.
Six
His feet planted in the air as mana streamed out in trickles, all but most of it being directed to his 'blade soul' and his sword.
Five
The dragon, too, sensing the final attack, prepared all its mana. Its body shimmered with raging flames and bubbling flares that shrank till they started to compress to point sizes.
Four
Rya calmed his eyes, letting all his thoughts simply… evaporate. His face blanked… and he moved.
Three
Rya phantom stepped, flickering across the distance between him and the dragon.
The dragon, in response, opened its reptilian eyes, focusing all the mana into them as they ignited with a grey hue.
Twin beams of flames shot out, oven faster and deadlier than before, intending to erase Rya from existence.
Two
'I wish I could see ma and pa once again.'
This final thought streaked across his mind as his body erupted with all of his mana, [---]'s will being intertwined within it.
The blade formed from twinkling crimson starlight hummed in evident delight while nestling in his hands.
The two needle-thin beams of grey flames were so close to Rya that they licked at his dominion, burning a hole through it.
One
Rya's ego blinked out entirely, being erased by the sigil finally etched on his forehead.
But one thing remained before the [---]'s ego could take over and deal with the mess Rya had made: his body buzzed on its own.
Zero
[Duskblade seventh form - Tranquil heaven (寂天) ]
The world went silent, the lasers of flames homing in on Rya stood still..
And amidst the silence, Rya's body moved; it stood in a perfect stance, performing the most basic attacks even duskblade toddlers knew.
A vertical swing
A horizontal cut
A diagonal slash
A straight stab
Just as his body completed these motions, the world whitened, air whining, space bending, and the world itself struggling to catch up.
CHI!!!!!
The place where the dragon stood and the path to it were torn to shreds. Space itself transformed into blades so sharp that it cut the dragon's body like butter.
BOOM!!!!!
All the mana in the two-thousand-kilometre radius simply…. Vanished. The land below rippled with a blade light that flickered for a moment and eradicated the mountains, valleys, and the sparse life forms down below. Carving out a sword scar that looked like a god had split the grounds for slighting them.
Clouds behind the dragon were torn apart, and as for it, its body was severed so many times that only a bloody fog remained where the once majestic beast stood.
And as for Rya, his limp body stood for an instant, then the skin ruptured and blood flowed from every pore, drizzling down like dew on a cold winter morning, mana from his mana pool trying but failing to stabilise his condition.
Eventually, his body became so horrifying to look at that it was moments away from scattering into fleshheaps that drizzled with mana and blade lights.
But before that moment came to pass, the sigil on his forehead finally bloomed in full force, mana from at least ten thousand kilometres rushing into him like a pup running to its owner.
His body tilted forward, slipping from the mana foothold he had made, and plummeted down.
A crimson-violet light flashed, and a character for heaven (天) emerged on his bloody forehead.
While falling, just as he was about fifty meters away from the ground, 'his' eyes snapped open.
"What a thoroughly annoying brat."
'His' mouth widened in derision and faint annoyance as he looked at the desolation around him.
...…..
It is now confirmed that the notorious terrorist organisation by the name of 'Mag-Daha' planned to obliterate the most prized possessions of the four ruling races, namely, their capitals.
During the confrontation, all four ruling races stood shoulder to shoulder with each other to deal with this malignant force, a sight not seen ever in the history of Yah-Ahar.
Fortunately, the emperors of the four races only suffered from their central prisons blowing up, which was controlled, and the inmates were apprehended in no time.
It seemed the organisation had tried to cause panic and mayhem in the capitals, while attacking several geographical locations that connected the four continents.
Fortunately, the emperors took the battle to an isolated mountain range at the border of the human empire and fought with valiant might.
After a gruelling battle, the emperors had finally managed to eradicate all the heavy hitters, the twelve seats of mag-daha.
This occasion marks the arrival of a new era, where the four races, after much bloodshed and millennia-old grudges, stood with each other to eradicate a common enemy.
This marks the possible beginning that may lead to the peaceful cooperation between the four races and the development of Yan-Ahar as a whole.
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[A/N]
This is the conclusion of the story, as I wrote this just for practice, your comments and any suggestions about the story or my writing in general would be appreciated.
Anyways, See Ya'll with another short story in a couple more days, the schedule would be 1 chapter per 2 days.
I'm thinking of a romance or a slice of life next.
Tell me what you guys prefer.
[romance]
[slice of life]
Ps- after this, I intend to do a fic on 'a silent voice'