The next time we meet

"How. About. We. Have. Some. FUN?!"

Taken aback by the jubilant trainee hosting a manic grin on his face, Irhan begins to doubt if the person in front of him is insane.

'No that's not it, he must have a reason for being so confident.'

"Guys, fall back. I've warned Baccus and he should be here any minute now. We need to stall-"

The riled up trainees ignored Irhan's warning, thinking themselves superior to others they started shouting

"What do you mean fun? You fool! We outnumber you six to one, we are elites picked out by sir Baccus himsel-"

[Cloud Step]

A calm voice penetrated the circle of trainees as Cedric appeared in their midst, "You talk too much."

A thud, followed by the loud cry of the previously shouting recruit echoes across the field.

"AAAH, This fuck!"

Jumping back, Irhan is baffled by the scene happening before him.

'What the hell!? he was standing at least 10 meters ahead of us! How is it possible for him to cross that distance so fast?'

The trainee's wailing woke him up from his stupor, the gears in Irhan's head started rapidly turning. 'Damn it! There has to be at least SOME sort of a countermeasure here.'

"Riley, heal his stump. The rest, you're with me. Surround the fool and keep each other in your line of sight. We need to delay him for as long as possible."

'Trash! Why is everyone such shit?! Oh well, I don't have a lot of time left in this vessel. Grow strong, Cedric. So that I may use your body indefinitely!'

Cedric sets his gaze on the group surrounding him. One spell caster and three warriors.

Shaking his head minutely from the abysmally slow pace, Cedric replies in a horrid voice filled with unbridled insanity keeping count of the extra enemies starting to gather, "Might as well attack already! You guys probably don't know a thing about efficiency for fucks sake."

[Fire Blast]

Dodging the explosion spell aimed at his side, Cedric counters with a rising slash, cutting off the spell-casters arm. "Show me what you've got so that when I send you to meet your maker, he won't be as disappointed as I am right now."

Refusing to go down without a fight, The spellcaster casts another spell with his remaining arm aimed at Cedric's legs.

[Spirit chains]

Bluish colored chains appear from below Cedric. Unmoving, he takes the hit as the chains pierce into his legs, locking him in place.

"Now!"

Moving in to strike, the first warrior swings his massive sword at Cedric's side.

"Why are you so damn predictable?"

Deflecting the strike with his right hand, Cedric slashes his sword at the retreating warrior's exposed ribs.

Finding purchase with his hit, Cedric watches as the warrior drops down on his back, heaving.

[Minor Heal]

A greenish light covers the fallen swordsman's wound. Seeing the wound rapidly closing, Cedric turns gazes manically on to the chanting trainee dressed in a priest's robe in the back of the group.

"Fuck me, You guys are fighting dirty!"

He exclaims as he dodges a slash from Irhan aiming to decapitate him from behind.

"I like it!"

[Cloud Ste-] Huh?" Looking down at the chains embedded into his legs, Cedric comes to an abrupt realization.

'I can't cast my movement techniques? Alright then. How about this!'

Deflecting yet another slash cutting at his side, Cedric fails to react to a long sword piercing at his gut from below.

"Good. Finally you've done some damage. Alright, Fun time's over."

[Fulgurous Descent]

Flashing in a red arch of lightning, Cedric reappears above the healer of the group. Shortly after he descends with a thunderous boom, landing on the healer.

Raising his gaze, coupled with his unhinged grin to look at the group of trainees, Cedric recites in a melodic hum:

"Where there once was a body, there now lay ash."

A voice echoes from behind Cedric "You got that right!"

A giant club slams at him from behind, Cedric's body ragdolls into the far end of the tunnel, smashing into the wall with a loud boom.

A hearty laughter is heard followed by an announcement: "Your lord and savior, Baccus! Has arrived!"

The exhausted recruits reply, relieved at their boss coming to save them.

"Sir Baccus, Kill the bastard."

"Yeah that's right! He burned Riley into ash!"

"Haha! It's all right. Riley was a good fella, but he wasn't a great fella, you know what I mean?"

Seeing a lack of reaction coming from the group, Baccus turned his gaze to his side, looking at Meifeng's unmoving form. "My lovely girl. Soon I shall taste your sweet nectar!"

"Oof, that wasn't nice."

Baccus' eyes widen hearing the voice behind him cracking their neck. He turns quickly to meet the sneaky bastard giving him a bloodthirsty glare–meeting it equally.

With his hand outstretched, Baccus points to Cedric, but can't stop himself from giving out a chuckle, then furrows his brows.

'HOW?! I hit you with all I've got! I can see why they call you a Monster. Might as well send you your regards with another hit.'

"The roach returns. Maybe I need to hit you a little harder next time!"

'Shit. That bag of nuts is too strong for me to fight at my current condition. I need to retreat. But…'

[Cloud Step]

With a manic laughter, Cedric appears below Baccus' outstretched arm.

"Not before I give you a farewell gift!"

Sand lifts up and covers everyone with the grainy earth. With a quick slash and a thump, the stage settles.

"I shall keep this as a memento."

Disappearing in a blood red mist and sand, Cedric could no longer be seen.

Baccus screams loudly and laughs, hard to differentiate the feeling he has. Baccus, however, feels a radiating warmth within him for a job well done.

Leaving him with a bloody send-off keeps him looking forward to the next visit.

Reaching out to everyone with his right arm to give a thumbs up, feels a separate warmth running down.

'I'm gonna need to heal this. Wait. Where's my arm?'

"UGH! THAT BASTARD! MY ARM!" he yells and stomps his foot on the bloody ground.

***

Appearing some distance away in a collapsed cave, Cedric falls to the ground with the storage ring lighting up and shooting out Baccus's arm.

"Man, That sure was fun. Huh? Fine Fine. You can have your body back for now."

As Cedric regains his consciousness, he hears one last line from the manic voice:

"The next time we meet, you will die."

Lying on the rocky floor of the cavern, Cedric is unable to turn his head to look around. It's for the best, his bones were almost smashed to smithereens.

Every small movement sends a jolt of pain running through his entire body. Luckily it's his right hand that needs heavy healing.

As he lay there, exhausted and broken, Cedric can't help but reminisce about the time when he didn't have this voice inside his head.

Back when he was normal.