Emilia heard the wood splinter in the loot house, accompanied by the swift whistling of the air. Something cut through soft ambient light, darting around the entire hall with a speed that seemed unnatural.
Elsa jumped off from the pillars, the ground, the ceiling, the walls, the tables, the furniture, anything she could set her foot upon. Hedin stood calmly amidst it all, his disposition serene, yet hardened like steel. His jaw tightened. His eyes, lit like the morning sun darted around as he followed Elsa's phantom figure.
Her wicked laughter echoed in the loot house. And then, an attack.
The dagger gleamed with intent and her figure dashed towards him, tearing through the air like an arrow shot from a bow. As her body, still in the air and carrying all the momentum, reached within striking distance, her arms blurred, carrying a promise of pain. Their target lay as Hedin's abdomen.
Instead to retreating back, Hedin stepped forward, his free hand blocking the woman's wrist, stopping the attack in it's tracks. In that split second, Elsa's grin widened maniacally — right before her body bent into an unnatural shape.
Her feet, supported by heels dug into the wood below and her torso bent backwards, almost as if her spine had cracked. And so, a gust of wind swept above her, right where her neck had been.
Time seemed to slow down in Hedin's eyes. His glowing pupils looked at Elsa's strange body frame. Her neck which was bent clicked into place with a sickening crunch; and he was sure any lesser humanoid would have been paralyzed from such controtions.
The ambient lighting that seemed to originate from Hedin himself lit up the woman's face, revealing a large blush on her face, accompanied by a grin - too large to be considered in the domain of normalcy.
Time picked back up, and Elsa sweeped low with her right leg. Hedin blocked the kick with his left leg, and the blade in his left hand found it's mark.
Clang! Clang! Clang!
Click!
A large tremor shook the loot house as their forms dashed from the ground. Hedin felt his arms and legs go momentarily numb from the impacts, just before strength flooded into them in waves. The light that surrounded him intensified many folds - and with it, a bubbling confidence and a surge of power overtook his senses.
It was a feeling he was all too accustomed to. His blade was enveloped in a yellowish shimmer, and as it met Elsa's dagger with every impact, it produced a heat that was difficult to displace. In just a few moments, the entire loot house had been reduced to a sorry state.
Each of their clashes broke through the furniture and each of their steps splintered the floor.
Emilia watched in awe, her attention momentarily drawn away — no, torn away from healing the poor man under her. Her amethyst eyes widened in shock as something she had never seen, nor heard about happened before her.
The lesser spirits. They were singing.
She had no idea they could sing.
She was not sure if it was even possible. She was so stunned that she questioned the reality of what was happening before her. Her gaze was drawn to the figure clad in soft, yellow light, shining down upon the interior of the loot house like the rising sun.
The lesser spirits circled around him, as if drawn to a single focal point — a swirling mass that gathered up every spirit in the area, pushed into a tangent with itself. A whirlpool of light and spirits so innumerable they seemed in her eyes like a tide of thousands of glittering gemstones. It was... breathtaking...
"You can handle yourself pretty well!" Elsa yelled, but Hedin didn't care to answer.
Another swipe came towards him, this time at the right arm. He shifted his body, narrowly avoiding the attack while positioning his blade at the right ankle, where a curved knife had been thrown.
As the knife deflected, Hedin found himself face to face with the killer again. And so, his blade slashed.
And this time-
It drew blood.
Elsa's eyes widened as she leaned back, barely avoiding having her head sliced clean off her shoulders. She retreated, prompting Hedin to follow up with another attack.
"What's with you?!" Elsa yelled, a manic smile still plastered on her lips. The thin line of blood at Hedin's blade and the red ichor that flowed down Elsa's throat couldn't be mistaken. The attack had missed. Perhaps it was Elsa's own instincts that had saved her, or maybe it was luck, but the streak of red right below her chin couldn't be mistaken for anything else.
"Why do you keep going for my head?" She purred, again engaging in a fierce exchange of weapons. Another whistle of the wind, and something grazed her neck, just before she pushed it away with her dagger.
Her eyes gleamed with a strange intent. She could feel it.
The first clash had been nothing special. Aside from the surprising amount of skill and initiative he had displayed, it was nothing she hadn't seen before. She had overwhelmed the man in terms of strength, as she did most her victims. Although she would be lying if she said that his strength was nothing special, because in all honesty, his strength was monstrous by itself, but nothing to contend with her.
Now..
Clang!
Another clash of metal. She was pushed back.
Boom!
Crash!
More of the loot house, destroyed.
"Hahahahaha!" And more of her maniacal laughter. She could feel it.
His strength was growing. It seemed to have something to do with the light that surrounded both him and his weapon. With every clash, every strike and every punch or kick, his strength seemed to be soar to new heights.
And she could never mistake the intent behind them. The oh, so sweet intent to kill, pouring over like sea foam on the ocean floor. It flooded her senses every time the man sliced at her neck. There was no doubt about it. If the attack hit, her head would be sent flying.
Her laughter carried a strange glee. Perhaps she was happy she had found a match, or maybe she was just weird like that. Regardless, it mattered little to Hedin.
His eyes flashed with light. It was so bright it momentarily lit up the entire loothouse!
Elsa reflexively closed her eyes; and that was the mistake.
Fwish!
Spurt!!
Boom!
Hedin's cleaver did what it was made for. The metallic edge, laced with a brilliant light tore through flesh like it was paper. And Elsa's body flew.
Crash! Shaaaa!
The far end of the loot house, crumbled, Elsa's body having been smashed right through the wall. The debris fell onto her figure, covering her presumed cadaver.
Hedin breathed deeply - letting go of the shallow breaths he had been taking through the fight. It was certainly strenuous. The fight had been more challenging than most of the low risk missions. But it certainly didn't come close to the various life threatening encounters he had gone through in the eternal fight against blasphemy.
The light receded from around his body, drawing back into recesses unseen. He felt the ever increasing strength leaving his body as the light of dawn that carried the glory of humanity ebbed away.
"Hedin! Are you okay?" He heard Emilia's worried voice speaking from behind him. He turned around with a smile, meeting her worried gaze with relaxed shoulders.
"Don't worry, I took care of it." He smiled. It was not too wide, neither was it too underwhelming. It was just right - fitting for a gentleman like himself.
Emilia stood up, the light at her hands disappearing as she left the man at her feet, now completely healed. Her amethyst eyes, glowing in the dim phantom lighting stared at Hedin with unbidden curiosity.
"What was that?" She asked. Her question was vague, she realized that too. But she, in her entire life - provided most of it was spent in ice - had never witnessed an event as she had just some moments prior.
Spirits could talk. In fact, they were very extroverted, at least to those with high spiritual affinities.
They could communicate very well, they were capable of iterrating complex information and even serve as a de-facto hivemind capable of conducting vast arrays of information. But she had never felt that they could sing.
It was... breathtaking in a way.
"What do you mean?" As expected, Hedin lightly tilted his head, looking at her with doubtful eyes. The light in them had retreated, leaving him looking quite normal in a sense.
Emilia huffed through her nose, a small smile at her face. Then, she shook her head.
"No, its nothing."
"Then let's just leave it at that." Hedin didn't bother to chase the subject. If Emilia had dropped it, he saw no reason to keep it continuing.
Just then, as Emilia looked around the loot house, Hedin's eyes widened. He felt his hackles erect and a shivering chill swept down his spine. In all honestly, it felt as if someone had impaled his back with icicles.
And then-
Clang!
Something inhumanly fast. It darted through the loothouse, rushing out from the rubble that had formed at the far end, kicking up dust and wood. Hedin turned around so fast that he fely like his ankles might have twisted, and then, he flew.
His body was thrown back, as if hit by a train.
Bang! Boom!
His back slammed into the opposite wall, crashing through a still intact pillar on the way. He felt blood well up inside his mouth from the bottom of his throat. He knew what it was, a sign of internal injury.
Alas, he could not dwell upon it. The moment his feet touched the ground, he felt them give way. It felt as if they had turned into jelly.
Clang!
As if drawn by pure instinct, he held his cleaver before his face, which promptly blocked a curved blade that was thrown at him.
Light flooded back into his body as strength surged into him like a raging tsunami. The pain receded, the blood in his mouth not so much,
He saw red. Two dots, impossibly crimson peered right at him, held in the gaunt sockets of the woman he was sure he had defeated just a moment prior.
A disgusting smile hung at her lips.
In her right arm, a dagger and in her left... her left arm dangled by a small thread of flesh, barely twitching as she moved over him.
A chortle. One that froze his blood, but not enough to not act.
He realized his blunder. He would base the end of a battle when he felt the blasphemy from his enemies dissipate. Here, there was no blasphemy. His body had unconsciously felt that he was safe.
His muscles tensed as he readied himself once again.
Elsa's blade flashed over him, and he prepared himself to at least suffer a fatal wound.
But the attack never reached him.
Boom!
Shaaaaa!
Icicles, cold as the deepest trenches of hell slammed right in front of his figure, blocking out the attack and forcing Elsa to retreat.
Hedin wasted no moment. As the light of dawn once again rose from his body, he rolled to the side, escaping from the corner from a small opening Emilia had left him that led him towards herself.
Standing tall, some distance from Emilia, Hedin readied his blade and observed the enemy.
Elsa was... different. The red wound at her neck was unmistakable. Hedin saw it clearly.
No... I slashed through her arm, I know it. Then I felt my blade connect to her neck. Neither her arm nor her neck should be attached. Healing? Is it so potent that it can regenerate a head? Or did I fail to sliced her neck in the first place?
I indubitably sliced her arm. The wound on her neck is also only on the left side, nothing on the right. Did I only partially cut her neck? Did she use the momentum to throw herself away and avoid fatal damage?
It was at this moment that he realized how foolish he had been. Not feeling the presence of blasphemy in his enemy made him think the moment his weapon connected to a fatal strike, the opposition was dead. He had failed to notice how weird it was that her body flung to the other side of the loothouse, when clearly her head and arm should have dropped right then and there, followed by her body.
And looking at how her arm still dangled on her torso, she was sure to have some sort of healing power. Such a mistake.. what am I? An amateur?! He reprimanded himself again, vowing to never make such a blunder ever again.
"My~" Elsa purred, her words causing the tension in the air to thicken. Her voice was distorted, most definitely due to her partially slit throat. A mocking smirk was held over her face, disgusting and oh so dangerous.
Hedin narrowed his eyes.
"A git of healing, perhaps? Or maybe of survival?" He whispered to himself. Then, he let go of the notion almost immediately. There was no Miracle here. And so, no gift could exist.
"You've certainly done a number on me~ Your attacks hurt, I never thought I'd feel so much pain from anything else~" She said, showcasing her teeth.
Hedin and Emilia held their ground, not speaking. Tensions were almost tangible. And then, a cute voice cut through it all.
"Well well~ That's a sorry sight I've arrived to!" Puck said, materializing above Emilia's head.
"You're late." Hedin chuckled.
"At least I came before you died!" Puck yelled, crossing his arms and turning his head away in mock dissatisfaction.
"Enough!" Elsa's voice stopped their chatter, and the clash of metal began again.
Hedin felt strength surge into his body again. Elsa was faster, deadlier and more calculating. Their blades clashed, and Hedin felt as if his arms would be ripped apart from the shock. And then dawn found his arms and he felt rejuvenated. They clashed again, then came the shock and followed by the light.
In just a split second, they had clashed blades several times over!
The clash wasn't meant to last, as just then, ice raged like a tsunami and washed over them. Hedin and Elsa retreated, which gave Puck and Emilia the necessary leeway to start the ranged battle!
"Don't forget us!" Puck yelled as icicles appeared in the air and dashed forward, ripping through the air with a particular whistle!
Hedin's eyes focused instantly. Elsa dodged through the relentless barrage of icicles; a sight that left Hedin speechless. He knew, if he was caught off guard like Elsa was right now, he would not emerge out of the aftermath unscathed. Yet, here was the bowel hunter, maneuvering through the onslaught with the grace of a dancer moving across the floor.
The wood she stepped on splintered, the pillar she hopped off of shattered and the air parted in the wake of her movement. Her strength was not only unnatural, if was borderline magical. And for Hedin, who could not sense the Miracle on her at all, it was a sight to be wary off.
Just then, his eyes widened and as he held his cleaver to the side, a shrill screech of the air reached his ears, right after he was thrown back by an incomparably strong force!
She broke the sound barrier! Hedin realized, turning in the air and slamming into the wall. His figure broke through the loothouse and was thrown out!
Bam!
Thud!
Instantly, he sprang back to his feet and gripped his weapon tighter.
A blur dashed out of the hole he left in the wall, followed by icicles and a floating cat.
Clang!
Metal clashed below the twilit sky, sending sparks red as blood into the air. Hedin's mind worked on overload, the light increasing in intensity every passing second.
He remembered the last mission he had to push himself like so. A city with a population of 40,000 had been corrupted by a Great One, who held the power over Destruction. He has been the first to arrive and was quickly overwhelmed. He lost an arm that day after being caught off guard assaulted by a tide of 300 corrupted, but he had survived and reinforcements arrived the next day; a procession of 60 hunters following the Third Hunter, each set on liberating the people of blasphemy.
Relatively speaking, the current predicament was hardly like that, but the problem lay in the time frame.
Clang!
Twang!
Cling!
Metal continued to clash and soon, the ice was upon them, Puck overlooked them from the sky and the icicles shot down at the speed of sound!
Hedin clicked his tongue and retreated a few steps, Elsa had to dodge to the right, just before an icicle as large as his forearm could catch her leg.
The Miracle was Omnipotent. Glory could strengthen him so long as he held the capacity for it, and would go on indefinitely if he kept amassing strength. But the crux lied in the timing. Instantly gaining strength was not something he could achieve at the current level. Only people like the Third Hunter, Ranger of Glory, and Master of Arms among the Hunters could achieve such a feat without problem.
He breathed, feeling the strength in his lungs and the blood coursing through his limbs. His heart pumped like it would leap out of his chest and his pupils were dilated, catching all the movements made by the bowel hunter.
Then, he moved.
Glory overtook his senses and the light of dawn erupted like a tsunami.
With a single step, he broke the sound barrier.
Boooom!
A deafening sound that travelled for miles on end rang in the air and Elsa's body bent into a V shape from the hips. A pained groan escaped from her mouth as her body was flung far into the air, a hundred meters up!
Hedin planted his leg back into the ground and squatted down. The light around him had intensified, making it difficult to now loom at him.
Puck and Emilia did not let up on the opportunity. They shot the icicles up into the air where Elsa could not possibly dodge.
Blood spurted, red like the finest of wines and Hedin's legs snapped back like stressed strings.
Boom!
He shot up like an arrow, tearing through the atmosphere akin to a natural disaster!
The light of dawn made the air swelter, sending eddies of blazing winds into the distance and amid the rapidly descending sun in the horizon, a new one appeared above the slums of the capital city of Lugunica.
Far in the distance, on the upper levels of the capital, many people squinted their eyes as they gazed on with unconcealed trepidation at the slums. A man with red hair suddenly turned his head and disappeared in a gust of wind.
And a group of ravens flew around in the air, eyes dead and empty as they croaked at the light.
His cleaver rose and sweeped horizontally, sending a wave of heat and glory cascading through the air; and speared Elsa's body from the spine and exited out through the other end, sending blood and entrails out from her body which were promptly burned by the light.
A soundless scream, full of pain rang out from Elsa's controting face. The ice that had embedded into her body had melted and her skin held burns all over.
Hedin descended, alongside the corpse of the bowel hunter, finally heaving a sigh of relief after making sure that the bowel hunter's pulse had ceased.
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Throw some stones. Bonus chapter at 150.
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(Image Here)
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A/N: Read upto 10 advanced chapters on my patreon.
Link: patreon . c o m/Yesnth Just remove the spaces from between.
Cheers~