044 | Overwhelmed

The name is Waryun. It's a fine night to tell the tale of an intense battle.

Under the midnight moon, magic spells glisten beautifully like no other.

I'd say I'm pretty proud of all of us. We had perfect teamwork and managed to dwarf the Grim Reaper's plans to take the life of that poor golden-haired boy.

Haydon ran in with his Holy Magic while Bridgette turned into a stream of water, quickly splashing her way to the child to heal their injuries.

I think I played the biggest role here. I covered myself in Raw Energy, picked up a tree trunk, and threw it at the Grim Reaper.

Although the Grim Reaper easily slashed it in half, it was enough time to distract him from the kid.

Speaking of the kid, he's actually stronger than I thought.

With his incredible swordsmanship, using nothing but the tiniest amount of mana he has as a child, he was able to stand toe-to-toe withstanding the Grim Reaper's assault and even attack back.

He didn't seem to be able to use Raw Energy and his tiny amounts of mana suggested that he wasn't the one who shot a meteor crashing down upon our enemies.

The three of us regrouped together in a triangular formation. With me, as the vanguard, in front, while Bridgette and Haydon were at my sides.

"What did you think of that kid?"

"Haha! I wish someday I can achieve such a level with my swordsmanship!"

"He's really cute! Like, his hair was golden. Like, GOLDEN!"

Looks like Bridgette developed a little crush on the kid.

"Now's not the time, Bridge."

"Haha! I have to agree, my friend!"

"Ahem-", Bridgette cleared her throat to regain her composure, "Regardless. He must have an accomplice or two. The magic power that we witnessed from him when we came will no way suffice to conjure a meteor. Even if it's on the smaller side."

I nodded, "Just as Felix said. Anyways, what are we going to do with him?-"

I motioned my chin towards the Grim Reaper who stood a small distance away from his. He held his scythe, ready to swing at us at any moment.

Haydon covered his sword with a yellow aura, "Haha! We shall use Holy Magic to-"

"-You mean, YOU will use Holy Magic."

"You're right, haha! Good one, my friend."

I'm not sure if my Raw Energy will be enough to inflict any real damage on the Grim Reaper. If anything, I'll only play the role of support in this fight.

"Let's go!"

Bridgette splashed away with a drop of water. Her body reformed at the side of the Grim Reaper and she nocked a water arrow on a longbow also created out of water.

Haydon charged straight toward the Grim Reaper and erased any oncoming spells. He made life much easier when fighting against this skeleton.

"Pathetic...pests!"

The Grim Reaper let out a loud screeching noise. Everyone covered their ears, the sound was petrifying. It was as the screams of children and the elderly all came together.

Haydon went in front of me and stabbed his sword onto the ground, erecting a small ovular barrier in front that neutralized the sounds. I removed the hands that were covering my ears.

"It's magic! Haha, I never thought I would witness such techniques from a monster!"

"Silence, human!"

The soundwaves got louder in our direction and Haydon's Holy barrier cracked slightly. I had to resort to covering my ears again.

"Argh!"

"Haydon!"

"Do not worry, haha! We must find a way out of this predicament!"

"Is Bridgette alright?!"

I got the answer by simply looking around. She was completely unfazed by the loud screams.

"Haha, do not fret! She is able to change parts of her body to be water!"

Ah, that makes sense. She probably did something with her ears so that she wouldn't be able to hear those sounds. She looked over to us and signaled us her next move with her hands.

She pointed at herself and made imitated the movement of shooting a bow then spread out her hands if there was an explosion. She then pointed at the two of us and imitated someone running and slicing with their sword which then switched to punching with their hands.

Bridgette went behind the Grim Reaper unnoticed. She charged up a spell but I couldn't make out what the spell was since the only thing that was audible was the Grim Reaper's screams.

Several magic circles of varying sizes appeared on Bridgette's water arrow. When she released it, the water arrow went straight through the Grim Reaper's chest, striking the weird black ball of mass that twitched inside his ribcage.

Bridgette clenched her hands and the water arrow exploded and shot out high-pressure water in every direction.

The Grim Reaper stopped screaming.

The Holy barrier was lowered and the two of us charged in. I covered myself with Raw Energy, running straight towards the Grim Reaper.

"Holy Sword!"

Haydon's yellow holy aura that surrounded his sword grew larger and shaped itself into a huge yellow sword made of Holy Magic.

The Grim Reaper stood up and spun his scythe behind his back, deflecting the dozens of water arrows that came from Bridgette.

"Jump, Haydon!"

I raised my right hand and clenched it with all my might, using all my Raw Energy and dispensing it to my fist.

Haydon jumped as I punched the ground with all my force, causing a crater that disrupted the Grim Reaper's balance.

"You! Humans...are such pests!"

Several water arrows pierced into the Grim Reaper and Haydon began to execute an overhead slash at the Grim Reaper's skull.

"Curse all of you! I apologize!! My Lord!!!"

Suddenly, the blue flames acting as the Grim Reaper's eyes became dim. Haydon's slash connected and managed to decapitate the Grim Reaper.

His skull rolled on the ground.

"We did it?"

Haydon was silent, "..."

Bridgette came closer while a water arrow was still nocked. Her sights stayed on the black skull.

I got a running start and kicked the Black Iron scythe out the way. It skids across the broken landscape but it was a fair distance away to not be an immediate threat.

The terrain was rough after I punched the field but after sloppily piecing parts of the ground that were raised back down like a puzzle, things were much easier to walk upon. We examined the body of the Grim Reaper.

"We won, right?"

"Stop asking that you dimwit."

"Haha...I thought there would be more to this?"

We were all waiting for something to happen.

It was a good thing we did because the Grim Reaper's body rose on its own. It got up slowly like a rusted machine starting up after a few years of unuse.

"Haydon, stop him!"

Haydon generated a lot of Holy aura covering and shaping his sword once again.

"Holy Sword!"

He stepped in and as I watched, it was as if time slowed down. Haydon was slowly lowering his sword down to cut the Grim Reaper's body diagonally.

However, the Grim Reaper was faster. He sent out a quick palm strike aiming for Haydon's right lung.

This blasted Haydon back, sending him all the way back hitting a tree, and falling unconscious.

"F*ck! Bridgette, stop him!"

"Shut up!"

Despite her rude remarks, she was already finished charging up a powered-up water arrow. She released the arrow and just like before, I felt as if I saw time slow down.

Though, I know there was no Time Magic or anything like that involved. The Grim Reaper was simply moving too fast and I happened to be in his zone, allowing me to witness his movements.

The arrow flew straight towards the Grim Reaper, as it was about to connect with his lower spine, he turned around and grabbed the water arrow, turning it into vapor.

Bridgette dashed in with both of her daggers, ready to slice off the Grim Reaper's limbs. She was easily defeated when the Grim Reaper instantly did a frontflip and kicked Bridgette's head into the ground.

The Grim Reaper's skeletal foot was holding Bridgette's head and pushing her body deeper into the ground. When he raised his foot, Bridgette didn't respond or get back up.

The body turned in my direction.

"A-ah, B-Bridgette?"

The Grim Reaper's body zoomed past me and palmed my face.

Another voice came out, it wasn't anything LIKE how he talked before.

The voice was a mixture of all men and women as if the most terrible of sounds came together to form one voice.

The Grim Reaper's body started to crumble slowly and a silhouette made of dark electrifying particles took form. It was a slender body with no head that belonged to no gender.

"Kneel."

As told, my body kneeled despite what I wanted to do.

"You!- You think you can do as you please?! After what you did to my friends?! I will-"

"Silence."

No matter how hard I tried, even after imbuing my entire body with Raw Energy, I couldn't muster the strength to get up or speak.

"Talk again and I'll kill one of your two friends."

That got me to quiet down real fast.

"I can barely take a physical shape now...How far I've fallen...I especially hate THAT one..."

Their hand grabbed the top of my head and turned it to face Bridgette who was still facing her head down in the ground.

"Anything related to that accursed Lord of Water makes my very being...boil with hatred!!"

The air nearby sparked with black electrical charges, the grass that moved so lively about withered away.

"Ah...Apologies, I got ahead of myself."

The crumbling skeleton walked over to their skull and reattached it on itself. The silhouette was now complete as its head reattached itself.

"I humbly greet you, human, I am known as the Lord of Darkness."

I felt my throat being unclogged of whatever blocked it. I gasped for air and looked up at the black crumbling skeleton with a silhouette.

"...What are you? What do you want with us?"

It spread out its fingers on one hand and then clenched it once more.

"I have gotten...weak after my battle with the Lord of Water...With the help of your beautiful kingdom, I can restore myself to my prime at a faster rate. After devouring Yanalia, I will take advantage of the civil war in Naskac to help myself to seconds."

"Were you behind all of this?! Are you the one responsible for killing all those people in our dungeon?! Are you the one who created the Grim Reaper?!"

"One at a time, human. I would barely call this pathetic tool a Grim Reaper. I merely gave him a small sense of power and he pretended to be someone he's not."

"So...you ARE the one behind all this!"

Although I couldn't see it, I could FEEL a sinister smile on that blank expression of the black silhouette.