RED TAPE

The red tape was small barely noticeable. But when Faux poured his Will into it the tape began to stretch.

Soon it was circling Faux like a ribbon caught in a whirlwind. 

The Calamity wasn't too thrilled. Its single eye glowed with molten malice. Steam rolled out from between the cracks of its steel fangs. 

There was a shift in the air, and moments later red Calamitous Will had begun to gather at the centre of its bloodshot eyes. 

"Not again."

Faux whispered a quiet curse as he shot forward. He had the red clutched tightly in his leather grip, and it followed closely behind him. 

The ice was shattering as the water beneath it rolled and seethed. 

Vvhhoooooo

The air sizzled as the Calamity's rage poured out in a stream of blinding red light. 

Faux was quick, quicker than most Paladins. After all that the government put him through it wasn't hard to imagine why he was cut above the rest.

Maybe it was the sheer destructive Will of the Calamity or whatever had made the kid go full Kaiju mode. But the ice wasn't just shattering it was rising into the air. 

Faux had his mouth slightly ajar as he witnessed. Ice platforms several inches thick hover into the air by some gravitational pull of sorts. 

'Sebas would know what the hell this was.'

"Where's the kid when you need him."

The Calamity still towered above the scene. Reaching several meters into the air. Its eyes still weeping hot molten Will with little remorse. 

The floating islands of ice now circled around it, held up by sinister Will. 

That was how Will worked at the level of a Calamity. They had four revolting cores that served as their souls, and not just that. Those cores were blood red. Which made it more than capable of influencing the world around it– to an extent.

Paladins were like that in a way. When they released their Will through Soul Arts. It directly influenced the world around them. Although limited it was still an overwhelming card to have in your deck. 

That pissed Faux off though.

He had split his soul into four incarnations to deal with the well-coordinated series of attacks. So right now he wasn't at his best, he had the last part of him fighting a horde of mindless puppets that consisted mostly of Knights and deathly abominations.

He wasn't at full strength. But being who he was he had little fear. 

"I am him."

Faux grinned. The red tape was still latching on behind him as he leapt from ice cap to ice cap, evading the deadly beams of the bone-white abomination. His black boots slid across the frozen field like a sledge. But the ice he stood on was unstable. He could barely keep himself from rolling into the freezing water below. 

"Damn it! This is too much even for me."

The contingency plan that had been put in play to contain the ill-born known as Calamity Cas, required the entirety of the Dove special forces. Unfortunately, he had no idea where most of his men were. 

'I doubt they're dead though.'

Faux declared as he rolled underneath one of the raised ice caps. He had no doubt that most of his men were still alive. They were hard to kill. 

He trained them himself so he knew. Each member of his troupe was a Cardinal and well-experienced one. Sebas was only made his lieutenant due to absolute competence– In the brains department, and also because he was a government baby. 

Either way, the kid managed to form two cores and he was barely fourteen, not just that he was capable of performing Elemental Spells and was also very attuned to using his Gifted ability in combat. 

'The kid couldn't be any more lethal.'

The thing was the other operatives of the Dove special forces were even scarier. They were a cut above your regular Cardinal, and they are hella good at taking orders. 

The chance of them lying dead in the snow was very little. 

"Shit!"

Faux yelped as he watched the massive paw of the abominations swing right for him. It moved deceptively slow, of course, it was only an optic illusion so Faux knew that it would be upon him any second.

He barely had enough juice to teleport with his blade again so he had to think of something else. 

Faux had a cold look on his face as he shook away his doubts and shot in the direction of the speeding forearm. 

Boom! 

It struck the floating ice cap moments later shattering it to pieces.

Faux meanwhile landed on the pale white flesh of the abomination after leaping into the air just in time. 

He had very little time so he had already begun running across its arm as the abomination gathered Celestial Will around its eyes again. 

"Yeah, you do that."

With how erratic its shots always were, Faux could bed that the monstrosity was damn near blind whenever it poured out its blood beams. That could give Faux all the chances he needed.

"I better get a raise after this."

He yelled leaping off the arm of the creature. Then came the beam grazing the flesh of the abomination. 

It let out a terrifying wail as its flesh sizzled. Faux wasn't expecting such a dumb move but he was very glad.

He watched all four of the creature's limbs and when one landed on weak ice he sent a black bolt of Celestial Will barreling forward from his great sword. The blast shattered the ice swallowing one of the creature's limbs. 

Yes, the abomination was far more powerful despite the fact they shared the same number of cores. But Faux was groomed for situations just like these. He had to figure out another way to win. 

So he sent another blast towards the ground on which one of the abomination's hind legs stood. 

The ice cracked and soon the wolffish figure of the abomination could be seen struggling to stay on its feet.

Faux watched this from above, and After leaping off a couple more ice caps he was hovering right next to the giant eye. His red tape was there too, circling the eye as Faux ran circles around it.

"This could make me a legend."

He snickered. It wasn't far-fetched, even with how powerful Paladins were. They still paled in comparison to the Lances and some other outliers– abominations included.

Paladins were often regarded as the perfect soldiers. Just powerful enough to get the job done but not powerful enough to threaten the hand that pulled their strings. 

Faux didn't care much though not as long as he got his accolades. 

Grghaaaaa!!!

The beast roared as it fought to stay on the ice. Because if that it couldn't risk raising its claws to strike at the red tape that continued to cloud its vision. Out of fear that it would sink. 

So it gathered its Will again, readying another terrifying blast. 

"Come on go ahead!"

Faux grinned as he waited anxiously for the Calamity to fall for his trap.

But just then the flaming purple arc that crowned a part of the abomination's head suddenly quaked. The abomination waved its head about for a bit in protest of the foreign force. But soon it just seemed to grow quiet. Then moments later's red eyes now had a tinge of purple glimmering within them. 

Faux had a tight scowl on his face as he stared right at the creature from the other side of the red tape. 

Just then the black spirals that served as the creature's pupils snapped to the side staring right at Faux. 

The knight could have sworn that he saw the hideous jaw of the creature curl upwards. Then seconds later it widened its jaw till its deep dark throat was visible.

Faux was beside the abominations open maw. The reeked of death and the sight of his gaunt figure reflecting off the surface of the creature's fangs was offsetting.

He started to perceive Will gathering in the beast's maw. Faux's eyes open wide.

"Shit shit!"

Faux yelled as he scrambled to get out of the way. Right then the space before him trembled and then a sonic wave of sorts shot out of the creature's mouth evaporating the space Faux occupied.