Sek'en's bloodcurdling scream ripped through the forest like sharp claws on paper.
Ut'ia watched in horror as Quantum dug into his innards, tearing him apart. Her sword shook wildly in her hands, her grip tighter than ever. She stepped back as blood splattered on her, the squealing of guts accompanied by a screeching flame.
Ut'ia grimaced.
She had seen many horrors of humanity. But never a man unmaking another. To have her fellow Erref, a fellow human being torn apart in front of her like this.
It was infuriatingly horrific.
Her weakness screamed alongside Sek'en.
Sek'en howled as Quantum bloodied his hands in his liver. His smile was long gone. His innards squelched with maddening pain.
His eyes run bloodshot. The brown irises turned dead black.
He flailed, desperately trying to pull the monster away from him. Gurgling, blood rushed up his throat. Quantum broke past his ribs, something inside gave way.
Sek'en's life flashed before his eyes. Every single achievement of his sank in a sea of blood. He watched his entrails flee from him. A demon with a half-smile on his face watched him. His eyes were death.
Unflinching.
Sek'en's screams slowly dwindled as he drowned in his own blood. His pupils drew back, dilated into mere dots in a crimson backdrop.
His white cloak had been painted red.
So was his justice.
He had nothing but horrified faces and lashed wills of men to bid him goodbye.
Not a dirge.
Not a funeral.
Not even a wish to rest in peace.
Only memories. Joyful ones. A soothing innocence sat above him. He always believed he was the monster. It turned out in the end, he was only human.
The pain faded away. Darkness spread at the edges of his vision. Everything became blurry, fading in on itself.
Eventually, there was nothing left but silence.
Within that silence the drip drop of blood, as Quantum raised himself. Standing above the corpse. Entrails in his hands. His face cold and expressionless.
He was now destruction personified.
A monster every human being would hate.
The Erref wasted no time.
Charged by the Sek'en's fall, they roared.
Ut'ia's horror disappeared. Adrenaline rushed through every tissue of her muscles, filling them with a prime focus.
Vengeance.
Retribution.
Justice.
Arrows coarsed through the air, cutting through the roaring flames.
From all directions they came, tipped with Rotzeshel. Miniscule black particles spread out from them, as the Rotzeshel diffused into the air.
Cloaks billowed with the thwacking of strings pulled.
Time stood still.
Quantum moved.
They barely grazed him. Quantum dodged expertly, his awareness spread out around him.
Reality shuddered as he danced, his boots swinging through the air.
Parrying two of them, four more flew past him.
One grazed his eye.
Another slit his shirt.
The arrows ceased.
Ut'ia growled. Her brows curled like daggers. Her lips cracked with with the heat from her own body.
Quantum moved, coated in Sek'en's blood, towards the flame.
It lurched at him, and instantly fled.
Parting like curtains, the fire drew back from him, kissing the blood of the Erref. Ut'ia stepped back, pouring every bit of rage within her sword.
She disappeared from Quantum's sight, behind the blade swung by a soldier. Stanced magnificently, the soldier swung his blade, its edge cutting through the air with ridiculous strength. Quantum weaved underneath the blade.
It fell short of his eyelash.
Quantum dropped into stance, steadying his core.
Delivering a powerful kick to the jugular, the soldier flew through bushes. He crashed against a tree, his spine malformed.
Quantum grabbed the sword that remained, mid-air.
Two white clads took his place, their eyes burning with a warrior's convinciton.Blades of grass flew as hips turned and hard metal cut through the air.
It was pandemonium.
They had to hold the monster back.
Charging their blades, they lit up the surrounding air. Searing heat whizzed past Quantum as he dodged and parried their strikes.
Steel clashed of their blades shuddered the forest. Quantum flipped back their attacks, swinging precisely. Targeting an opening, he cut through one's cloak, as it drew close to the side. The heat of a fireball enveloped him. Cancelling his strike, he jumped back, a deafening explosion blackening the air.
Through the black Quantum lurched forwards. His whip like cloak fluttered upon one arm. A fallen's sword he clenched in the other.
He needed to preserve his energy. Using the cloak required much from him.
The two Erref prepared themselves once more, charging their swords with divine energy. Grunting, swords clashed as man fought with beast. Quantum balanced between the two Erref, disturbing the rhythm of their strikes. The dying flames of the Rotzeshel breathed their last, as Sek'en's blood soiled the earth.
"Hekar'in! Tefdi! Draw back now!!"
The two obeyed Ut'ia's split second order, expertly jumping back.
The flames from their swords sizzled in the air.
In the next second, heat vaporized the grass as four fans of fire surged towards him.
There was a bright orange as embers stormed the earth, spreading in all directions. The Erref withstood their flames, their soldiers standing back.
Crackles filled the air as the Erref wheezed. Grass burned alongside branches and the trunks of trees.
Smoke filled the air. The eyes of the Erref sawed through it. Taking their stances, Ut'ia knew it wasn't enough.
They needed more. Much more.
Ut'ia's heart raced as she searched through the smoke that had filled the air. Winds billowed past her, lifting her cloak.
She didn't blink. She couldn't afford to.
'Much time has passed.' She thought.
"The fiend hides from us!" she roared.
"Guard the path to the Hae'l! Do not let him pass!"
Her insticts yelled at her. She gasped.
"Step away from the trees!!!" she screamed.
The Erref and the rest of the soldiers lifted dust as they sped away from the bark that surrounded many of them.
Unfortunately, however, Ut'ia didn't realise on time.
"Argh!" A man's cry tore across the ash in the air.
A throat had been slit.
Blood poured. There was the clang of armor being dumped on the ground.
"Fire! To our left!"
Pyre light flared through the air once more, magnificent orange blazing past the trees to the west. The force of the wave of fire broke bark and launched heated earth.
Ut'ia wheezed as her palm sizzled.
They could not let Quantum pass.
"No more hiding for Rahiel! We charge!"
Quantum smiled as the forest rung with the boots of charging warriors.
Justice burned in their eyes. Their whole lives revolved around moments like this.
None were righteous. None were holy. All were sinners.
Regardless, they swung their swords for the sake of their fragile empire. For the few smiles that kept them alive.
Human, they were.
Their will resonated, as Quantum danced with them in the smoke.
Sparks flew from swords grating each other. In a charged flurry of movements, three Erref attacked him.
Their movements were faster. Their steps were lighter. Their attacks, more precise.
With solid coordination, they pressed Quantum, constantly sandwiching him with their attacks.
Quantum broke through their attempts to box him. He was understanding their tactic. They would keep him in one place, just long enough for the other Erref to launch their forceful blasts of fire.
'Their flames complicate things,' Quantum thought.
'If it weren't for the cover of the trees…'
Quantum needed something to break through the loop. He could last longer than them. However, he couldn't take any more direct blasts like that.
The charged blades continued to fly.
Quantum couldn't help but be in awe for Ut'ia.
Her leadership was exemplary.
He swooped past a blade cutting at his blind side. Only to meet another one driven right where his head would be at that moment.
In a quick move of inhuman muscle action, Quantum escaped the slash with only a small cut.
It seared painfully.
'That thing…' Quantum observed.
Their blades were covered with the Rotzeshel.
Quantum could feel his strength dampened. His skin was on a constant verge of catching fire.
Explosively.
'It is everywhere.'
Flaking off the swords of the men he faced, the Rotzeshel flew through the air, disguised as ash.
Quantum's brows furrowed. He needed to finish things quickly.
In a split second of freedom he had, Quantum breathed.
Power surged within him almost intstantly.
Just as Nekea had said.
His chest tightened as he forced to stabilize a volatile force within. It overflowed, rattling violently within him.
There was a burst.
Ut'ia watched as blue eyes zipped past the forest trees. Rahiel was suddenly moving with an explosive speed.
It was unprecedented.
They began to fall.
One soldier screamed as his arm flew off his mass. A moment later, his head had joined it. Blood splattered throughout the forest. The flames licked them up.
Rahiel bent about the strikes of the Erref, their flames spitting past him. They burned his clothes. Like a whip Quantum danced with the long piece of cloak that hung from his arm.
In a flurry of black, the Erref's coordination was ruined.
Ut'ia watched in horrow as the Erref were murdered. Every swing was countered with an even more powerful slash. Armor broke. White cloaks grew red, soaked with blood.
In moments, her comrades had been reduced to corpses.
It was only her and Rahiel.
He approached out of nowhere, the black tunic like a scythe, his sword bathed in blood. The leaves flew as Ut'ia countered him.
They locked swords violently.
"You die here, Rahiel" Ut'ia growled. Her effeminate voice had disappeared.
"This is greater than you, Erref. Join your brethren," He said.
His voice rung like one beyond humanity. An entity formed from the pure will of Creation.
In the fleeting half-second, Ut'ia was bombarded with thoughts of Rahiel's origin.
'Who exactly are you, demon?'
'What do you seek from us?'
'Why do you stand against us?'
Her thoughts screamed. The images of her fallen friends violated her mind. She desired peace. But there was none. Only fire, and blue eyes peering through.
Her motive charged once more, she swung her sword.
Ut'ia's mind raced as she thought of ways to defeat Rahiel. She pieced them together, bit by bit, as she parried and dodged his demonic speed.
It struck in her mind like lightning.
With a curl of her wrists she conjured a flame, prepping it to explode in the next moment.
Quantum moved, anticipating the line of destruction.
Ut'ia feinted.
Quickly switching the position of the cast, she set it right where Quantum would move. It landed near his chest.
He was done for.
There was an explosion as fire surged forwards. The trees shuddered as their blackened trunks suffered once more.
Ut'ia stepped back, her strength sapped.
A dying tree collapsed from the flames, spilling embers on the earth.
Fires crackled violently, dancing in the air. The heated earth sighed relief. Smoke cleared slowly.
'Its over,' she said to herself.
Her ingenuity had cost her dearly. Her muscles burned viciously as the adrenaline seeped away. Her knees bent, struggling to maintain her weight. She stuck her sword into the earth, leaning on it. Ut'ia looked down at her bloodied garments. The pain gnawed at her from every direction. She trembled, clenching her teeth. Blood oozed down her left ear.
Littered all around her was destruction.
There was no one else any more. Only she remained.
A peculiar dark shadow loomed over her.
It had been there for a while.
Her tired eyes had only now realized it.
A greater power burned behind her. Two windows, blue energy surging from them.
Ut'ia smiled.
She ignored the pain from her tired muscles. She had fought the good fight. She had pushed her limits beyond anything she had ever done. In the very least, she deserved to smile.
She desired to ask,
'Who are you? Where are you from? Were you born like me? Did you suffer like I did?'
Ut'ia knew they had much in common.
It was a shame, alas.
She closed her eyes, as the tattered black tunic gripped her throat.
Her breath left her before she realised it.
It was the way she always wanted to go.
Fulfilled.
Strangely enough, she barely felt any pain.
Quantum held her tired body in his arms.
As the forest burned, he spoke.
"Rest young one. As you brought light to many, so will you rest in light."
Ut'ia didn't understand. Within his bosom, there was a delightful warmth. She listened to the heartbeat of a life beyond, greater than anything she had believed.
She laughed, as the curtains slowly closed.
Her last thoughts weren't of her empire, or her god.