The root - Act 2: Part 4

He pulled his weapon out as soon as the first one attacked. His right hand held a short sword which was used to deflect the incoming parry of attack.

He had learned his lesson by using longer weapons in the forest pretty early as he moved around his attackers swiftly while their sword fumbled around due to the presence of the trees.

His body twisted out of another attacker’s path as he interrupted another projectile aiming for him. The pattern was a tad repetitive, if not a little underwhelming.

These people were a far cry from elites, more like lackeys that were being used as a distraction. There was a feeling of wrong here again but he could not stop and observe more in the middle of being attacked.

Finally, gaining some distance, he decided to immobilize his opponents first before anything else. There were about a dozen of them and he had to make sure they were stepping on the shadows before he could act.

It took some time with him moving around and positioning himself around his surroundings before he achieved what he wanted to. The problem with such low skilled people was that they often made mistakes in their form and timing.

Many times he had expected someone to go for a move, they had fumbled leaving him frustrated. It was annoying and time-consuming, to say the least and he found himself at a loss when this happened.

But he had learned to cope and this proved to be his saving grace in such situations.

Once everyone had at least a part of their body attached to the shadows, Xiao went for the kill. The pattern on his body extended down into his own and the existing shadows solidified immobilising the hoard.

“What is going on? I can’t move?” the person questioning this was not the only one to notice this as similar things could be heard all over the place. The panic on the faces of his opponents was real and he did feel sorry for them somewhat, but he could not afford to openly show that compassion.

He was not that naive.

“Now, which one of you will answer my questions? I have a lot of them” Xiao approached the nearest person of the group, allowing his aura to show a little. While it would not do much to intimidate his opponent, it would throw him off enough to give him a head start.

But miraculously, none of his opponents opened their mouth. Xiao’s eyes narrowed at that and then widened as a surge of power almost blew his head off.

Luckily it missed him but it was enough to flatter his concentration off enough to let his prey escape.

He wanted to curse but couldn’t. He had missed a golden chance which he was not sure he would get again, but he could still remedy this situation.

The blast had originated from behind him and all he had to do was to make sure the one who attacked him didn’t escape.

Navigating the forest was easy, for at this moment he and his senses were one. The presence of even the smallest thing inside the forest could be felt by him and he could pinpoint exactly where he needed to go.

He was almost there, his hands ready with his sword in front before he actually saw the figure and hesitated. It was a familiar figure, one which he might have called a friend if it had been another time of his past self.

But it was just a shadow of his past now and he wanted to escape it all.

The one in front of him was the leader of the hunters and most likely the one who had started all the mess they had been a part of.

And his gaze was fixed right toward him.

“Come out already, I know you are there” The achingly familiar voice called out to him as he sighed and escaped his stronghold of shadows into a much more revealing spot of light.

Two figures stood in the whole clearing, without making any sound or move, just staring. But both bodies were tense and the atmosphere was almost toxic.

“So, you were the one behind this whole mess? What are you trying to gain here Sumera?” The obnoxious guy laughed at him, his head thrown back as his body shook. He didn’t know what he found so funny, but he wasn’t going to question it.

“Sorry, sorry. You always see the immediate picture and make your assumptions. Maybe you should look at a bigger picture sometime. Me? I was there as a guest, but it looks like I fell into a trap” Xiao didn’t trust anything that came out of that guy’s mouth.

His words would have sounded sincere to anyone’s ear and had he been anyone else, he might have believed his tone and words. He would not make that mistake again in his life as he had already paid for it once with death.

“You? Trap? Isn’t it the other way around? When did you plan all this? How did you plan all this?” Xiao had no doubt that the man in front of him had been a big part of whatever had happened here.

“Me? It’s not me, but even if I say that you would no longer believe me, just like that time before” it was this nonsense again. That time had been his fault and now was his fault as well.

“I don’t care who’s fault it was. It was a lifetime ago and I’m someone different now. We no longer have any connection, but I would still like to get a confession out of you” that was a silent agreement on their part.

The body of Sumera’s once-beloved had died and he was lashing out at the world for it. The hunters had been once peaceful and helpful, but now they were just a ploy for revenge.

He almost missed the blade due to it reflecting the sun into his eyes, but luckily he adjusted just in time to miss his face. It was close though and he hurriedly went low for a sweep of his own.

His leg swung out but his opponent jumped up to avoid the blow. He himself took advantage of it and gained a little ground.

He could not fight in close combat here, he needed to attack from a distance. Sumera was a vicious warrior and he had no way to beat him in a normal fight. But he could play dirty and not get close at all.

The sword in his hand was no longer needed, so he dissolved it into the pattern. What he needed was something more accurate, so a bow was out.

There were blasts of energy heading his way and the trees which he used to dodge didn’t fare well at all. Perhaps he should have felt bad for all the destruction he was causing the flora and fauna around him, but he had bigger fishes to fry than that.

In his desperation, he decided to try something he had never done before. He was not even sure if his powers could adapt in such a way and he cursed his unprepared self to not carry a talisman around.

Somehow he felt he wouldn’t need it this time. Why had he felt so then? He cursed his then self, but he had no time to do so. He needed to concentrate.

The next attack missed, but it spooked him enough to blank his mind and his hands felt a weight he was not expecting them to feel anytime soon.

In his hand, he held a black crystalline gun. It was sparse and without any marking or decoration. It looked crude and unfinished at best but all Xiao needed for it was to work.

Taking a tentative aim, he fired it and a boom echoed as a blast of energy exploded into himself. The gun had backfired on him, no doubt due to the unformed design and the beast was strong enough to render him immobile for a few seconds.

But those precious few seconds were enough for his opponent to gain all the advantage he wanted.

He had a sword in his face and a body in front of him and any move he would move here could turn out to be his last one in this body.

“You always were fiery, but unfortunately you burned too fast. Don’t worry, I’ll take you along as a prisoner as soon as my people are done collecting the samples. It’s for my beloved and her research after all” the man in front of him said, his tone taking a more affectionate tone in the end.

“Your beloved is dead. I of all people would know but you were never supposed to. You just had to go and mess it up with all your fooling around in labs” Xiao snapped and the anger in his opponent’s body could be seen visibly before it went cold and deadly.

“She’s not dead, just lost for some time. It was fate that returned my memories back to me. That makes me and her connection special than any other out there, even stronger than the world tree’s hold on me” The guy was delusional in his beliefs.

Xiao thought back to the time the guy had been an unparalleled genius of their generation, maybe even a few generations. He had been the one to form the amalgamation of science and technology.

Under his and his wife’s leadership, hunters rose to prominence.

And then his lover died. He had at that point known them for some time now when his beloved made a wish in exchange for his life. He could still remember her words when she died.

Save Sumera

And the tree had taken it as saving him physically. They had been messing with the abyss’ energy at that point and it had backlashes at them. The woman had perished and the man went mad.

It had changed him and his struggle to get his love back had been brutal. The once respectful organization fell from its grace and had been blacklisted. He had tried to help them but his time was up at that point.

His new body just didn’t have the luxury as his old one did and regaining the right connections again took longer than he had expected.

Sumera was too out of control at that point. It weird that he had been allowed here with such a mental condition known to most higher-ups.

And now he stood over him with a blade which never descended at him as a pained yelp reached his ear.

The man in front of him had a blob of black sticking to his body as he thrashed around.

His black cat had attacked the man to save him and it currently hung onto his attacker biting and clawing him.

His heart almost leapt in his throat as the cat got dislodged and something broke in him as the cat was flung far away and crashed into a tree. There was a shallow moment in his body and he could feel his mind go into a panic.

The cat had saved his life, if only for a moment. He could not let it die here or it would haunt him forever. Even if it was an animal, it had been intelligent enough to save him.

Besides, where would he even run to?

He dragged his body toward the hurt car as he cradled the soft body in his hand while their attacker stood in front of them, still looking at his wounds.

But not for long since his attention shifted toward him and the bundle of black in his arms. There was a malicious smile on his face which froze Xiao in his tracks.

“Fine, perish together then” the blade was raised and then there was a flutter of black in front of him.

(Additional chapter will be posted in few hours)