Awake, a Hell of a Comeback

- AMAGHIEL -

Darrel felt nothing at that moment, but he could hear the sound of white noise in his head as he was thrust in midair by the impact of the strike.

'What happened? I thought he could not use that ability anymore. Wait, this was different.'

Darrel's mind wandered as his body came falling back to the ground, time seemed to have slowed for him as he saw everything around him appear to move sluggishly, he could not even make out the words that the Captain and Sognie were saying to him.

The one thing that Darrel knew at that moment was the fact that he needed to regain his sense of self and get back in the fight, but to his dismay, his limbs would not comply.

'Get up! Get up! Get up!'

Darrel heard himself scream in his mind, he had no idea what sort of ability he had been struck with and the effects it now had on him.

'Dang it! I won't it end like this!'

A dark blank canvas suddenly filled Darrel's sight and upon that canvas, symbols began to etch themselves on it.

This time when Darrel looked at the symbols, he could only recognize a couple of symbols, but from them, he could see a slight glimpse of hope.

"A- Activate!"

Immediately after uttering these words, a jolt of shock suddenly filled his veins once more and he felt a particularly unfamiliar feeling in his body.

First, it was his hands, then his arms, and his legs followed and after that, he felt a burst of power fill his body.

When Darrel opened his eyes he saw the Captain looming over him with a membrane of fire and his mace aimed straight for Darrel's head again.

"Mmmh I thought [Confusion] would last a few more minutes, sadly it's already too late." The Captain announced snarkily and swung his weapon.

As the flame-coated mace flew at Darrel's head, it left a blazing trail and blaring intensity in the air, but to the Captain's dismay, the mace struck the ground just above Darrel's head.

"How did you-"

Darrel could not fully explain what had occurred, but in the split second of him regaining control of his limbs, he had also reacted fast enough to escape the Captain's strike. With a rapid pull of his hands, Darrel had managed to slide his body forward and avoid the trajectory of the mace entirely.

As the Captain was distracted by Darrel's escape, he managed to slide out of the Captain's reach and roll back to his feet, and when he looked at his hand, Darrel realized that he had not imagined the change.

"My hand, it looks bigger..." Darrel muttered as he recalled the dark canvas he had witnessed when he was knocked out. "That place, where was it?"

Darrel clasped his hand into a fist and felt sparks of electricity jitter within his hand, he felt his aura calling out to him as he remembered the time when Muriel was teaching him how to use his magic.

Muriel had explained to him that nearly every mortal in Morland had the ability to use magic, and that magic usually came in form of a particular element.

'Fire, Water, Wind, and Earth.'

These were the base elements that every mortal was drawn to, but in rare instances, it was possible for mortals to gain affinity to more advanced elements.

'Like the Shock element!'

This was a wild and powerful element that was rarely used even by powerful magic users in Morland, Muriel had warned Darrel that every element bared a risk when used by its user, and though highly rewarding, the risks of using an advanced element was very high.

"You are quite the stubborn one." The Captain grumbled.

Darrel returned to reality and quickly locked his eyes on the Captain, he held his arms close to his face like a boxer tightening his defense as he awaited the Captain to blitz him once more.

Unfortunately, Darrel knew his arms would not do much good against the Captain's steel mace, but it was his only decent defense especially now that he had dropped his blade when he got knocked out earlier.

"Gah!"

The Captain lunged at Darrel and swung his blazing maze at him, Darrel quickly veered in the opposite direction but the Captain used his momentum to close the distance between them and then chain a series of attacks by jabbing Darrel with his mace.

Darrel managed to dodge the first two strikes, but the narrow streets made it difficult for him to escape the tip of the Captain's mace.

"Ha! Got you!" The Captain exclaimed. "[Flare - Explosive Crush]!"

With Darrel tipped over by the initial strike, the Captain raised his mace and expanded the flames on the ball with his ability threatening to finish off the falling Darrel.

"Gaaaaagh!"

While screaming at the top of his lungs Darrel's veins took on a blue glow and he was filled with shock magic, the sudden burst of aura allowed Darrel to regain proper movement of his body, and with a thrust of his one free leg managed to push himself away from the radius of the attack.

A ball of flame seemed to engulf the Captain and a small area around the street, Darrel had crashed into one of the building's barred doors, and even though he was injured, Darrel was grateful that he had escaped from the flames.

"How many abilities does this guy have?!" Darrel was at a loss for words, though he could dart around and evade the Captain's attacks, the Captain did not give him a chance to retaliate with his own attacks. "He has to have a weakness..."

As the smoke from the explosion cleared, Darrel finally got the answer he had been looking to find, the Captain appeared to be breathing heavily again.

"You got faster." The Captain stated.

"No, you are getting slower." Darrel retorted.

The Captain remained silent, it was clearly obvious that he had used up a vast amount of aura maintaining his buff, and even the membrane of fire that was wrapped around the Captain's armor was starting to fade.

It was unfortunate that all his efforts had yet to yield any decent results, his prolonged battle with Darrel had only caused damage to the city and if it continued this way, the Captain feared the city streets would not be the only thing getting damaged.

"You fight like a coward, a fool pretending to be a warrior." The Captain scorned.

Then the Captain raised his mace and the membrane of fire flared up, the heat from his aura began to melt the cobblestones around him.

Darrel looked at his hands once more, he knew something had occurred when he fell unconscious, but he had yet to grasp it.

'Wait a minute...'

His aura had been calling out to him and Darrel felt it, the sudden burst of shock magic had saved him moments ago, only because he had longed for it to happen.

'Magic was intent and ability was will!'

Muriel's teachings resounded in his head, it may have been a brief experience, but Darrel had gained much from it and he was truly grateful.

The Captain suddenly charged Darrel and without a second thought, Darrel took a stance and spread his arms wide, as his veins took on a bright blue glow and shock magic began to emanate across his hands.

With a furious swing, the Captain swung his mace to crush Darrel under its blazing ball, but somehow Darrel managed to tip away from the incoming attack and with an echoing thud, the flaming mace smashed into the ground raising a cloud of smoke and dust.

"Wha- How did I miss?!" Stunned by the outcome, the Captain's eyes peeled open as he tried to locate Darrel.

Using the temporary smokescreen, Darrel had slunk away from his initial location and vanished from sight.

"Where are-"

"In this world, you call it Shock Magic, but in my former world this was called Electricity." Darrel suddenly placed his hand on the Captain's back. "And your silver armor is a great conduit of electricity."

"You-" The Captain tried to swing at Darrel, but his mace was stuck in the ground and it would not budge.

"[Thunder Wraith]!" The words did not appear in his mind like on previous occasions, this time he felt sure that what he uttered was what would manifest.

Surely enough, sparks began to form from his blue glowing veins and then one at a time they connected and formed a mesh which then burst into electrifying energy that was immediately sent through the Captain's body.

Darrel could not believe what he had done, but he was finally beginning to fully understand what he was capable of when he put his mind to it.

'I just created a new skill!'

Fried by the intense Shock magic, the Captain collapsed to the ground defeated by Darrel.

Before Darrel could let out a celebratory cheer, he suddenly felt his body weaken and his hands return to their normal size.

"Darrel!"

A voice called out to him, but he was too weak to turn around and see who it was, then Darrel felt his body like loose clothing, his knees weakened and his head felt hazy before he collapsed to the ground.

The last thing that Darrel saw were maidens looking down over him, and he could not help but recall ancient Norse legend from his former world that talked about fallen warriors in their last moments would look up to the heavens and witness...

Valkyries.

With his last strength, Darrel managed to utter one question, and he asked the maidens before his blurry vision.

"Are you taking me to Valhalla?"