Tch-ta-ta-ta...tch
It echoed across the floor, back and forth, as if the monster stalking me from every direction. The hairs on my arm stood at attention. My grip tightened around the sword's hilt, my eyes flicking across the melted arches of the chamber—but the Bloodwraith was nowhere to be found.
Just blood glossed stone, subtle crimson light, and the cold air punching my lungs.
"Come on... Just show your—"
TCH
Behind me.
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[Resonance Shift—Activated]
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The world split into two like always, and the future hit me like a fist.
—My chest exploding outward in a shower of blood.
—The Bloodwraith's hand punched clean through my sternum.
—My body dangling like a pierced insect.
"Hell. No."
I whipped my body around immediately, meeting the threat, bringing my sword in front of me just as the rotted hand grabbed toward me.
CLANG—!!
The impact was ridiculous, like being hit by a car made of bone and malice. I was thrown across the chamber, slammed into the melted arches hard enough to rattle my skull—sparks bursting from behind my eyes.
Dust rained over me like falling ash.
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[INJURY DETECTED]
[Recommended Action:] ...
Escape Not Possible
[Reevaluating...]
[Recommended Action:] Kill Before Killed
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Yeah... no shit.
I brought the sword's blade shakily to the ground, bracing myself against it as I brought my feet under me. My sides ached with every movement.
I would've died from that just yesterday... But—
I flexed my fingers. My body was somehow... okay.
The Bloodwraith floated where I'd just been, head curving in slow, deliberate curiosity. Hollow white eyes locked onto me with an unsettling focus.
Its stare said it cleanly: Your move, human.
My grip tightened and I made my way to the center of the chamber.
Then... it vanished again.
Lines of possibility sketched across the chamber, the familiar arcs of blue guiding me forward.
There. Right in my blind spot.
No better time to try this skill out than now.
[VOIDLASH ACTIVATED]
A force of invisible pressure washed over my arms as the spell triggered.
Black mana surged from my off-hand, rigid like someone had torn off a piece of the night sky and lashed it forward.
It didn't bend or flow; It struck in a straight, merciless line.
The recoil shocked me.
"What—?"
The momentum jerked through my shoulder, nearly dislocating it. My heel skidded across the ground as the lash slammed into empty air—space that tore open a second later.
SCHRIPP—
I'm figuring you out.
The Bloodwraith blinked in the air exactly where the Voidlash struck—the strike carving a diagonal gash across its torso. A thick violet liquid poured from the slice, seeping from the rotting veins of the monster.
CHAAAAA!!!!!
It screeched—a sound so sharp it shook the chamber, causing bits of rock to pour down in thick curtains.
The shockwave hit me a second too late.
My knees collided violently with the ground, coughing, my head hot and buzzing.
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[WARNING:] Mana Sickness Imminent
[WARNING:] Resonance Vision Has Been Overused. Blindness Possible.
[Mana Remaining:] 14%
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"Already? I just leveled up...?"
The voidlash punished my reserves hard, but it hit harder...
The Bloodwraith staggered, its form twitching as if phasing between frames. The wound across its torso shone brighter—then darker—as its body began flickering in and out:
Here—then nothing. Behind—blinked out. Above—gone before I could register it.
A glitching nightmare. Panic clawed at the back of my throat. Maya flashed in my mind. Her laugh. Sophia's constant suspicion. Even Camden's stupid shoulder-check in the hallway. It was all so annoying in the moment, but now, I'd give anything to go back to it.
"Calm down..."
Don't do this to yourself again.
I forced myself to breathe.
One shaky inhale.
Another.
My resonance vision flashed violently, each surge of light burning deep beneath my eyes. I shoved the pain down, scanning.
"Kinetic—" I growled.
[KINETIC PUSH—CAST]
A blunt wave of energy shot from my palm, slamming the Bloodwraith backward. Not strong, barely enough to do any damage—but it hit the Bloodwraith's forming silhouette and made its strike falter.
Tchhhh—
Violet tendrils burst from the wound, made of its own blood. They were thin, oily-slick strands snapping toward me like they had minds of their own.
"What—what is THAT—?!"
They moved nothing like its usual attacks. One shot straight for my throat. Another curled toward my ribs. A third angled for my eyes with perfect aim.
My stomach flipped. "Shit—shit—!"
I barely ducked the first one, feeling it sting my cheek like frostbite. The second tore through my jacket like paper. The third skated just past my eye.
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[VOIDLASH—CAST]
...
INSUFFICIENT MANA
[STATUS:]—Mana Sickness
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A weaker lash split the air — shorter and thinner — but still sharp enough to cut through the tendrils. They shriveled with a hiss. But I was losing ground.
Small cuts stung across my arms and ribs. Every step I took back left a smear of my own blood on the stone.
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[WARNING]
[Resonance Shift Overuse Detected]
[Visual Distortion Imminent]
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White pain. Fuzzy. A shape lunging. A hand. My throat—
"Hh—!"
I squeezed my eyes shut, shaking the image off.
"I can't let this thing kill me." I whispered, barely hearing myself.
A frigid exhale brushed against my neck—the same feeling I felt when it followed me and Sophia.
Then—
Tch-ta-ta-ta…
Its voice crept into my ear.
I froze.
I knew its final strike was already on its way.