Flat-Brim Samurai Chapter 123 - In nothingness, he stood
He backed away, looking at the horrifying figure in front of him, his skin, muscles and bones were being eaten away. Nearly dead, the thing still lived, what once was Theo was nothing more than a husk of a person. Apollo dodged the next swipe, ducking the next one, and the next. Apollo created distance between himself and Theo. The energy eating away at Theo was consuming him faster and faster, spreading like the plague. The energy in the atmosphere was leaching the energy of the universe. Apollo went around and swiped up the energy with Akarui for another attack. Theo dashed in his direction, Apollo deflected the attack and used Art: ??? Wave again. Theo's mouth opened up as if he was to scream but nothing came out. Theo then looked Apollo directly in the eyes, Apollo looked back. He was drawn to the glare, like the energy wanted to talk to him through a glance.
In an instant, his mind was sent to a battlefield. Strewn across it were dead bodies numbering in the billions. In the next moment, he saw an entire civilization hanging on a long and sharp chain. He looked on as suns were turned into black holes, entire universes turning into dark wastelands. Apollo's mind was flashing with horrific images of those who were dead and the living whose lives were taken before his very eyes. Instinctive terror flood across his being as the visions became faster and faster. Trillion of people dead in an instant, Apollo screamed AAAHHHHH (Make it stop, make it stop, MAKE IT STOP). ,"Whatever you wish."
A mysterious voice flooded his mind. In an empty nothingness, he saw a figure in a voided cloak, tattered. Apollo couldn't see his face, but he wasn't even sure he wanted to. He was trying to think of what to say next (Who are..) ,"My name is none of your concern right now." ??? took a step forward and Apollo immediately gasped for air, fear took over his mind, he felt as though death itself gripped his throat. ,"I've been enjoying your story Apollo, really. And I really am sorry for having you wait so long, but I wanted the time to be right, separated from the others." Apollo listened intently, not daring to think anything ,"I wasn't expecting John to save you like that, but we're here now, so I have no complaints. I'll tell you what, meet me again in the next dimension, and we'll have a longer conversation. I feel that I've overstayed my welcome." ??? walked away into the darkness as an ethereal voice encompassed him ,"Grow strong Apollo."
Then he was back in reality, Theo was nearly fully eaten away, his internal energy was disappearing, along with his soul. His body pulsated and Apollo knew it was going to explode. Apollo dashed towards the energy and started absorbing it into his sword, the weird energy went from the blade to the guard, from the guard to the handle, and from the handle to his hands. He was stopping the energy from exploding but his hands and forearms were creeping with the energy, the pain was more than just what he felt in his body, it was his existence itself that was threatened, he twisted his body and used the energy as a catalyst to fuel it's journey to a long time into the future, where it couldn't hurt anyone ,"YYYAAAAAAHHHHHHH," SWOOOOOOSH.
As the energy left his body he immediately reverted to the physical universe, Cias was the first to notice and floated over to check on Apollo, he created a Barrier and observed him. The others entered the barrier and saw Apollo unconscious, probably due to the dark energy that ate away at him, the exhaustion after the fight and the pain he experienced with his whole body and spirit made him look dead. They all combined their powers and started healing the damage, the worst of it all was his arms, all the way up to 3/4ths of his forearms were eaten away to his muscles, and even some of his bone. They immediately saw his bones healing at a rapid rate, then his muscles and then his skin. But when they were done, his arms were covered in scar tissue. Most people hadn't seen scars their whole lives, so it had to be a special case when they were to appear, much like Tinser the scarred when they had fought the four kings. Cias's eyebrows furrowed ,"What the hell happened while you were outside time?!?"