Chapter 11: Trial part 2

At the moment of impact, Kaze tried to get up quickly. He was supposed to protect Shoun, but instead, Shoun had protected him from the attack. As he stood up, he turned his gaze toward his companion and showed concern.

—Shoun! —shouted the masked man as he got up and ran toward Shoun. The young man had already gotten up on his own and was still staring at the Hydra—. Are you okay?

—...Okay? Hahahaha! I feel better than okay —said Shoun with clear amusement. When he turned to face Kaze, his playful expression and slightly crazed eyes were visible—. Hahahaha, how lucky that thing had such a nice gift for us.

When the lightning struck Shoun, he instinctively absorbed it with his ability, filling his nearly empty core in the process. He even left an excess of electricity that could have endangered him due to core overload, but he simply redirected it evenly throughout his body, surpassing the limit he had set for how much electricity he would allocate to each limb. He had no other choice.

—Hahahaha! —As he looked at the beast, he couldn't help but laugh even louder. Kaze was confused by this reaction until he looked at the Hydra, which now had six heads.

—...Shouldn't it have eight heads? —It was at that moment that he realized something important: the neck that had been electrocuted by Shoun hadn't regenerated the Hydra's heads, revealing the true way they were originally supposed to kill the creature.

—Same tactic, I'll go ahead, you cut off its heads. Don't worry about it regenerating; I'll handle it! —Shoun declared as he started running. Kaze didn't respond, simply wrapping himself in his cloak and disappearing from sight. As he ran, his own situation became clear: his body hurt, it hurt too much. While the creature's attack had made him more powerful, it had also brought him dangerously close to being unable to move due to the pain, leaving him in a half-crazed state to endure it. It was either laugh or cry.

But none of that mattered much to Shoun. The only thing he wanted was to kill that thing. Ignoring the spasms and sharp pains in his body, he ran toward the creature, reaching it in a few seconds. Due to the young man's speed, the creature didn't have time to prepare an attack, so it decided to bite him with two of its heads.

Shoun responded to this attack by lunging forward. Moments before being crushed by the creature's teeth, he feinted to the right and delivered a powerful punch to the head's face.

On the left side of the creature, Kaze approached stealthily and cut off one of the heads that was charging a fireball. Seeing Shoun's actions, he quickly deactivated his cloak and ran toward his companion. The young man understood and ran beneath the Hydra's heads, which couldn't react to their speed.

Both did their job: Shoun discharged electricity into the severed neck of the Hydra, and Kaze cut off another head that had regenerated. They ran again to change positions, and at that moment, the Hydra finally reacted.

Kaze, running to the left, was intercepted by a Hydra charging a fireball. When it launched the attack, Kaze was too close to dodge, so he decided to gather wind around his sword and deliver a strong slash, cutting the fireball in two. At that same moment, Kaze tried to cut off that head, but another head prevented him by launching another fireball, forcing him to reposition. Overusing his wind slashes would drain the little spiritual energy he had left.

On the other side, Shoun was intercepted by a Hydra with purple smoke slowly pouring from its open mouth. Knowing that Kaze was running out of strength, he thought the best course of action was to stop the Hydra at that moment. Using his left hand with the dagger, he stabbed the upper part of the creature's snout, causing it to close slightly. Then, with his right hand, he delivered a punch to the creature's jaw, forcing it upward. When the creature's mouth was closed, he placed both hands on the dagger's hilt and pulled down with all his strength. A few seconds later, the dagger pierced through the Hydra's mouth, preventing more purple smoke from escaping.

This had all happened in just a few seconds, but when Shoun looked to the side, he saw that the neck Kaze had severed was already starting to regrow. Not daring to delay any longer, he approached and placed his palm on the creature's body, sending electricity into it. Shortly after, the neck stopped moving. Shoun looked around and saw Kaze retreating, so he hurried to his side.

—Two down! Only four left, hahaha —he said with a big smile on his face, though his body was visibly twitching, with one cheek slightly sunken and his eyelids rapidly opening and closing.

—Yeah... one can shoot fireballs, two can shoot lightning, the last one…

—Shoots smoke! Though I closed that big mouth. What can I say? It had terrible breath, and I didn't want to be rude by pointing it out! —Kaze would have given him a strange look for those words if he hadn't been focused on his opponent, planning his next move. But the now talkative Shoun interrupted him—. Let's kill the fire-shooting one first, then the electric ones. They can't hurt me, but I think if I take another shock, I won't be able to handle it! Jijiji —Shoun's body was gradually releasing electricity through exertion, but this only worsened the pain he felt. Knowing that Kaze wasn't in much better shape, they had to end this fight quickly.

Kaze didn't respond, simply nodding and starting to run. Shoun followed behind. The fireball-shooting head did just that, while the electric Hydras began charging their own attacks. Meanwhile, the smoke-shooting Hydra thrashed and slammed against the ground, trying to remove Shoun's dagger.

Shoun knew that thanks to his weapon's effect, the creature was gradually slowing down, but they still had very little time to finish it off. Both young men continued running forward. Kaze cut the fireball with his katana, clearing their path. When they reached the creature's neck, Shoun immediately began discharging electricity into it, while Kaze took advantage of the momentary paralysis to cut off the fire-shooting neck, which was then eliminated by Shoun's electricity.

—Three more! —Both turned at the same time and ran toward the central head that shot lightning. Both heads fired simultaneously, one shot aimed at each young man. Kaze, seeing the lightning bolt approaching, partially activated his wind cloak. He dodged to one side, but surprisingly, the lightning followed him. So, Kaze began moving side to side to evade the bolt.

The lightning gradually closed the distance between the masked man and himself. Kaze, almost out of energy, had to make a quick decision on how to escape the situation. At that moment, he saw that the head that had fired the lightning still had a blue sphere sparking in its mouth.

In that instant, Kaze realized he had no other choice. He fully activated his wind cloak and gathered wind around his sword. He made a sharp turn, but thanks to his cloak, he didn't lose any speed or momentum, reaching the creature's neck in moments and cutting.

~Shink~

The head fell to the ground along with purple blood. Kaze, now completely out of spiritual energy, let his cloak deactivate naturally, but before that, he jumped to the side, narrowly dodging the lightning bolt that finally crashed into the red dome.

On the other side, the head aiming at Shoun fired at the same time as the one aiming at Kaze. The young man had understood since being struck by those bolts that while they could charge his core thanks to his ability, they could also kill him due to core overload. And unlike Kaze, he couldn't dodge lightning bolts, so he had to think of a solution to the problem.

In the time that had passed between those two events, he barely had time to think of anything given his current state, but he came up with an idea that might work to repel the lightning and kill the creature... or kill himself.

—If this doesn't work, I'm definitely dead! Jiji —Shoun raised his left hand in front of his chest, taking the creature's attack head-on, once again activating his ability and allowing his body to absorb the attack. As this process unfolded, his face shifted from absolute ecstasy to absolute suffering. His face contorted, his legs trembled, and his ears bled. He was gradually succumbing to his core's overload, but Shoun had anticipated this.

His right hand, which he had set aside, was charging the electricity in his core into a blue sphere. The electricity he used to create it was almost instantly replenished by the attack, continuing to feed the sphere.

This was a difficult process, not only because of the physical pain of enduring it but also because of the effort. Gradually, he felt his feet wanting to lift off the ground, but if they did, he wouldn't be able to kill that head. So, this had become a battle of endurance.

Little by little, drops of blood began to trickle from Shoun's nose and eyes as he continued to receive the attack. When Kaze cut off the head that was attacking him, it presented Shoun with the perfect opportunity.

The head that had been firing at him stopped and showed visible fatigue. Shoun released the sphere in his hand, firing his own lightning bolt at the creature's body. The direct impact decapitated the head that had been attacking him, while the neck Kaze had recently severed stopped trying to regenerate.

At that moment, only one head remained: the one that released smoke. After many strikes against the ground, it finally managed to remove the dagger that prevented it from using its powers. Thanks to that last strike, the dagger broke and fell out of the creature's snout. A notification appeared before Shoun's eyes.

[Your artifact "The Sting" has been destroyed.]

But the young man couldn't care less. At that moment, he felt as if his body had been put through a shredder. His core was still full of electricity; after all, to release that shot, he had only used the electricity he absorbed and the residual energy in his limbs. But it seemed that all the pressure he had put on his body had taken its toll.

Saying he was at his limit was an understatement. Theoretically, he could keep fighting, but he believed that if he channeled even a little electricity into his legs, they would explode. He also felt phantom pain coming from his core. Because of all this, he saw that it wasn't feasible to use his electricity for the rest of the fight.

Shoun watched as the last head gradually charged a ball of smoke in its mouth. He turned and looked at Kaze, who was lying on the ground, panting and struggling just to stay conscious. He, too, had pushed past his limits and overused his abilities.

—...No... I-I can't... move... —Kaze confirmed in a monotone voice between gasps. The masked man watched as the Hydra charged its attack, and Shoun did the same. The masked man could see Shoun's body gradually giving out, evident in how his legs trembled. It was already surprising that he could even stand in his current state—. ...Shoun... I can't protect you. I'm sorry —he said with a hint of regret in his voice. Despite it being the first time he had heard clear emotion in his companion's voice, Shoun had to ignore it and focus on getting them out of this situation.

—(If that thing fires, we'll die from the smoke. I can't move my electricity, Kaze can't move, and cutting it myself... besides, I don't have my weapon... damn it) —They were so close, too close to finally escaping that hellish place, but now the final obstacle stood in their way—. (No, I won't give up, not when I'm this close to getting out of this damn place. I'll kill you, you and any other remnant that gets in my way!) —With a determination never before seen in his eyes, Shoun moved his hand back and shouted—. Kaze, the sword!

The masked man took a moment to understand but finally got it. With some difficulty, he grabbed his katana by the blade, cutting his palm slightly in the process, but he didn't care. After getting a firm grip, he decisively threw the katana toward Shoun.

—Sorry to leave it in your hands —he commented briefly as Shoun caught the katana.

—Don't worry, I'll handle getting us out from here on out —Shoun said as he adjusted the sword in his hands. With a firm grip, he began taking small steps toward the creature. He could feel his body begging him to stop, causing him even more pain. The time a child had scratched his arms or when he had been pierced by the attacks of the Profane Antlers couldn't compare to the pain he felt now. But still, Shoun pressed forward. The remnant looked exhausted, both from the fight and the poison now coursing through its blood. That's why it took so long to charge its final attack, but it was finally ready. Purple smoke began to pour from its mouth, soon filling the entire dome.

Shoun began to run. He was very close to reaching the area where he could cut the neck. There was a reason he had waited for the monster to release its smoke—a detail both of them had missed during the entire fight: the heads didn't move while attacking!

With determination and terrible technique, Shoun made a cut toward the creature's neck, but he didn't manage to cut it completely. Shoun applied more force and tried again, but he still couldn't cut through.

—Damn it! —The smoke began to reach his surroundings. Soon, he wouldn't be able to breathe. He had to hurry. He tried again, cutting and cutting, but he was still only halfway through—. (Why can I never achieve what I set out to do? Why do I always fall short?) —The young man asked himself as he continued trying to cut the neck. He remembered how he had always been protected—by his family and now by his companion Kaze. But when it came time to return the favor, he always failed, over and over—. (I'm just a disappointment... I can't... I can't... I can't... grr, enough of "I can't"! That's the past, and it doesn't define my future. I'll kill this thing, and then I'll go eat with Kaze to celebrate our freedom. No one and nothing will stop me—not this remnant, and most importantly, not myself!) —With determination, the young man cut into the flesh again, gradually making progress but struggling to keep going—. Screw you!

At the last moment before the dome was completely filled with smoke, Shoun cut with all his strength. The neck fell, severed from the body. With no more heads left, the body couldn't regenerate, and a screen appeared before both young men's eyes.

[«Residence Trial: Completed»]