Nevereth [Chapter 92]

Step by step, Vex walks closer. An obvious hatred burning in his eyes, with a strange sadness in his hesitant motions. I stand from Arthur's dead body and stare at Vex.

"Y'know, after all this time of watching and listening to you, I still can't figure out what's going on in your head."

I mumble, seeing Vex's shadow extend backwards, seemingly covering everything behind him. He stops his forward movement, quickly reaching his free hand back towards the shadow. I watch, curious to what he's planning.

With explosive speed, hundreds of pitch black arms reach from the darkness, each wielding a different weapon. As they raise from the shadows, fully emerging, I laugh.

"Well that's suprising, I had never considered combining those two spells. [Shadow Stalk] seems to also remove the time limit imposed by [Dread Legion]. But even so, with the short time frame that you've been traveling alongside Dante, you can't have many more soldiers at your disposal."

I chuckle and pop my neck. Vex continues to just watch me for a moment, then speaks up.

"He Who Lost Everything."

I feel my heart race at his words, a painfully familiar rage slamming into me. I feel my hands and legs start shaking as I grit my teeth. Vex takes another sword from one of the shadows.

"I haven't finished the book, but I know why you chose Dante."

I quickly look up, seeing Vex watching me closely. He speaks up again, this time a familiar voice overlaps his.

"I will save you, Dante."

"I will save you, Nevereth."

I feel my body ease up slightly. As I start to speak up, all the shadows appear around me. They all attack me simultaneously, but I easily slap all their attacks away and knock them away. One hit is all it takes to disperse one.

"[Clone 11]."

Once again, twenty clones appear around me. With a nod, all the clones start attacking the shadows. The small army parts, revealing Vex slowly walking towards me. He now has the platinum sword strapped to his back.

"I see, so you used them as a distraction to grab that sword."

I ready HexCalibur and grip it tightly. Vex carefully edges his foot towards me, clearly understanding the strength difference. Vex nods slightly, ten clones of him appearing beside him.

"Oh? So you can silent cast? Impressive."

I stand up straight and stare at HexCalibur.

"Sadly it won't help, their weapons are mere reflections of yours, none of them could possibly cut m-."

Vex and all of his clones quickly start jumping back and forth, blending together then tossing their weapons to each other. While keeping an eye on them, they all suddenly jump in different directions and throw their swords toward me. I manage to dodge all the attack and step back, a blade piercing through my lower back.

I quickly look back to see Vex staring at me. I grab the blade jutting from my stomach and slam my hand sideways against his head. His body slams into a building several hundred feet away, then disappears.

"Damn, a clone. But it was using his real sword."

I look forward, seeing them all jumping towards me again. I quickly count all of them, seeing ten in front of me.

One of them has to be the real one, and the drawbacks from using eleventh level spells are slowly wearing down on this weak body. A few more and Dante will lose consciousness. I can't act senselessly.

I stamp my foot into the ground and jump hundreds of feet into the air. I extend my left hand and feel blood once again pooling up in the corner of my mouth and nose.

"[Telekinesi-"

Blankk appears beside me, the blue symbols glowing brighter than ever. Before I can finish the spell, Blankk flips forward and kicks me downwards at an angle. I crash through two buildings, the second crumbling inward onto me. I slowly stand up, pushing aside massive stone blocks as though they were pillows.

My foot extends through the rubble, but immediately a sharp pain radiates from the center of my foot. I quickly slam forward and grab the unknown attacker. I see my hand on Vex's throat and grit my teeth.

"[Absolute Negate]. You are all quite annoying."

I slam Vex to the ground, crushing his throat inwards. His body falls limp, Blankk appearing beside me. He throws a punch towards me, but I catch it. I quickly sweep Blankk's legs and punch him in the face on the fall down. He slams into the ground, getting pushed into the stone.

I pop my shoulders and feel my heart slowing down.

"That was a good warm up."

I start to walk away, each of my ankles suddenly being grabbed. I look down, seeing Vex and Blankk holding me. I stare at them for a moment, then slam my right leg through the barely standing building beside us. Blankk rips through it, but doesn't let go.

I grit my teeth and slam my other foot onto his wrist, but he still won't let go. I try over and over, stomping and slamming both of them around, but they refuse to let go. I keep my guard up, incase this is a trick of some sort.

I growl, forcing myself to undo [Absolute Negate] for a moment.

"[Phase]."

I step back, Blankk and Vex losing their grip on my now ethereal form. I cancel that spell and solidify while glaring at Vex and Blankk.

"Why are you trying so hard? What do you have to gain from any of this? What is your reason to fight?"

I watch them, Blankk slowly raising his head and sighing.

"You couldn't have forgotten me that easily, Nevereth."

For a split second, his eye turns deep blue and a white slit appears in the middle. I stumble back, feeling memories clawing at the back of my mind. Vex slowly stands up, blood rolling down his arms, chest, neck, and face. He looks to me and smiles strangely.

"You could never forget us, don't fool yourself."

I feel my heart suddenly drop, all the pieces falling into place in my mind.

"Wait, you're their avatars. Why would they pick y-."

A platinum blade pierces my chest and slides into Vex's hand. Still stunned by the revelation, I stumble forward. Vex slams his blade into my left hand and catches me with his other arm. As my vision goes blurry, I see flashes of images.

"You were so overwhelmed by hatred, you forced yourself to forget us. But now you can remember why you feel that hate."

A man's voice rings through my head as I fall back into blackness.

"Zero?"

Four things flash before me. An angel with four massive white and silver wings. Her long silver hair blows in the gusts of wind, while her massive silver sword rests firmly in her hands.

A dragon soars above the ground, screams and the sound of running echoing around me. Purple flames roll over the ground and flood passed me.

A massive beast, a collection of eyes and tentacles. It looms above me, walking on its eight strange looking legs.

A man, with long white hair and a white cloak. He leans closer, the mask shattering revealing two deep green eyes with no pupils and a twisted expression. He has no mouth or nose. His skin looks almost like wood.