Switch It Up [Chapter 121]

I stand up, feeling a calmness settling inside me. Normally I would be panicked, but something has changed. I focus on Grim, his power and his strength. I feel my body become warm, slight purple flames starting to appear around my hand. I charge forward, feeling more in touch with the powers I've been gifted. I feel my speed gradually increasing, a slight trail of silver and gold following behind me. Soon, I break into the clearing, seeing her holding Blankk off the ground. She smiles, seeing the multiple gifts in use.

"I knew you were in possession of their gifts, but to think that you have already learned how to call upon them in such a brief time."

She tosses Blankk towards me, dashing behind the limp body. As I start to catch it, she moves to my side. Instead of catching Blankk, I slap his body to the ground so he doesn't get hit and jump back, narrowly avoiding her sideways slash. She turns her focus fully to me, swinging her scythe towards me at strange angles. Even using the two gifts I now have, it's still incredibly difficult to dodge her strikes. I'm dodging her attacks by slightly more than a hair width. Suddenly, she leaves an opening, raising her scythe high off the ground. I lunge forward, throwing a swift right jab towards her face. Right before I make contact, I realize I fell for it.

She takes one hand off her scythe and grabs my wrist in mid punch, twisting it to gain leverage on me. Before I can react, she jerks my arm down, lining my elbow up with my knee. She switches grip on her scythe again, holding it with the blade facing away. She slams the blunt side down, breaking my elbow and knee at the same time. I fall back, her foot stomping onto my chest right as I hit the ground. I look up in time to see her swing the blunt side of her scythe towards my other arm. I try to pull my arm out of the way, but she strikes my shoulder. I grit my teeth in pain, both my arms currently useless. They start healing instantly, and she tilts her head.

"Oh? I don't recall any of you having a heightened healing ability. Your siblings all had regular healing, for what they are. This seems faster. Hmm, could it be the gifts are mixing?"

I swing my healed right hand towards her leg, but she easily reangles her scythe and places the blunt side against my elbow joint. As my forearm folds over it from the momentum of my swing, she easily pulls the blade up and cuts it in half slightly below the elbow. I once more grit my teeth in pain, the purple flames starting to spread all over my body.

"Ooh, Grim's flames."

While she's distracted, I summon a sword behind her, using magic to hold it. I push it forward, right towards her neck. Right before it pierces her, she tilts her head. The blade continues forward, coming towards me. I use magic to stop its momentum, but she places her hand on the pommel and starts pushing it forward, closer and closer to my throat. I use all my concentration to hold it back, while she casually pushes it forward with one hand.

"I will admit, you're putting up a rather good fight. I'm almost having to try to push this sword through you."

I grit my teeth as hard as I can, focusing everything on the tip of the sword. It gets right to my throat, the tip sinking slightly into my skin. Suddenly the sword gets tossed to the side. Before I can say anything, she grabs me by my collar and lifts me off the ground.

"Even if you are strong, you aren't fighting smart. You could've just released the magic and the sword would've been gone."

She mumbles, quickly jerking me to the side. I feel a blade sink into my back, and I gasp in shock. I look over my shoulder, seeing Zero stabbing his daggers into me. She used me as a shield. From the corner of my eye, I see Blankk running towards her, the blue glow rolling off his entire body. She sighs, tossing me above herself. From above, I see her easily disarm Zero then throw his daggers at Blankk. Blankk manages to dodge, so she throws Zero at him then vanishes. Blankk doesn't see her disappear and tries to slide under Zero. As he passes underneath him, she appears in mid flip over them. With a powerful kick, she slams Zero down onto Blankk. The ground cracks and heaves in a large, rapidly growing area. The ground seemingly rolls like water, dust flying up into the air. I land on the newly loosened soil as a few white flowers fall passed me. The dust quickly settles, Zero and Blankk both seemingly unconscious underneath her feet.

She stands upright, turning her attention back to me.

"It must've been so nice, being stronger than everyone else down there. But that is sadly no longer the case. Here, you're weak. But you don't have to be as strong as me to defend this world, and that's why I'm testing you."

She hops off their bodies and starts towards me.

"I can feel it, you're overwhelmed. You're only human, and this is far beyond how you saw life going. Do you ask yourself why this all happened? Why did it have to be you, right?"

I stumble back as she gets closer. She extends her hand, continuing to speak.

"You were chosen by fate. This is your destiny, so embrace it. One day, you'll be in the same situation as me, and you'll see why I had to do this."

Right as her hand reaches my shoulder, she stops. She inhales deeply, closing her eyes. I feel my body grow a little heavier, a swirling black mass appearing behind her. From the swirling mass, a man slowly emerges through. Pitch black hair falls past his hips, the silver and black armor fitting tightly to his skin, two gray horns on his forehead, and his deep red eyes. His and her eyes lock, the ground almost rumbling from his appearance.

"Ah, there he is. My old favorite child, Nevereth."