Wooden world(32)

The voice that resounded was filled to the brim with intent, but it did not resound in the world, no, it resounded in his head, and it didn't even consist of a sound, it consisted of pure intent, an intent that wanted him to listen, it was simply the case that Cades had interpreted that intent by himself and created these words to fit them according to his and the word's agenda right now, a subconscious affair that he could not and would not control.

But the voice didn't continue, it just wanted to convey one thing to Cades, at least until it would eventually continue on with the intent to convey something to that very unnatural degree, it was the intent to convey that Manug was alive, if barely, and that he had something to convey to him, though he was seemingly not able to.

At that point Cades however began to realize something weird.

Manug could not not understand him right now, after all, he had been speaking another language, and he had probably somehow been conveying his own intent to the stupidly beautiful archer, just like the archer had done now that he was incapable of talking, perhaps Cades could do the same thing by simply talking, perhaps Manug would understand him, despite the fact that his hearing ability was without a singular doubt in his mind gone.

And as such, with his heart and soul weighing heavy and almost hindering him from breathing with all the sorrow that he himself refused to even acknowledge right now, he began to talk with what could only really be called a weirdly beautiful corpse.

"What is it, what do you want to tell me, Manug !!!!"

He didn't know whether the archer heard, or rather, felt his intent, but he did hope so, seeing the light in Manug's eyes return for just a fraction of a second before Cades realized that he just saw the reflection of a small white amber of flame far away, still drilling into the bark of the ancient tree that now stood aflame from the inside out, hollowing it out while somehow, as if sentient, protecting itself from the wind.

However, just a mere second after that, and after the realization that the huge tree was slowly dying because of the seemingly unstoppable flames that were still propelled by the occasionally appearing wind, he began to hear something once more.

"I saved you..... return favour.... kill me..... useless to live.... silver..... kill...."

And that was it.

Cades knew what had to be done, and this time he knew that he should not hold back ,no matter what, he would have to kill Manug by his own hand, he would have to release Manug from this suffering, he would have to free Manug from his own active, or perhaps even some constant power that he hadn't told him about.

He slowly heaved his sword up that now seemed as if it was heavier than even his own soul, heavier than his staff had been, something that he was now wondering how he even used it with such ease back then, and finally, he descended the sword, right into Manug's neck, finally separating the head from the body, and ending the entire thing.

"Not.... enough....."

And indeed, it was not enough.

Cades felt how his entire body shuddered in horror as he felt the intent of the archer once more, now just a decapitated head but somehow still alive, perhaps because of the very same active from before, but Cades didn't know what to do, aside maybe use magic.

And so, following the order from the decapitated head that seemingly still wanted him to kill him, he rose his sword once more, now filled with the overload ability that his very head had given him, ready to descend it in a fashion similar to that of a guillotine and cause the bodiless head to burn with the magical lightning, perhaps finally taking away the brain's miraculous power of survival. 

It stabbed right through the left eye of the skull that once belonged to the miraculously beautiful archer, and as it did everything around it began to move once more, at first causing Cades to think that the eyes were being revitalized, but soon after, when it burned in a violet light and he began smelling a horrible, indescribable stench, he began realizing that what he saw behind the eyes of Manug were flames, horrendous flames that were now devouring the internal organ of the head, the brain, right in front of him, while the brain itself was, just maybe, still alive.

The only saving grace for Cades right now, and perhaps also the little bit that remained of Manug, was that the brain itself could not feel pain as far as either of them knew, not as if they could really know it, on the other hand Cades only really felt the pain on the skull itself and not wihin his brain when his skull had that slight dent just a few minutes ago.

But still, Cades had a horrible feeling, he felt that success was near, but what was it, what was devouring him like this...

Was it an active....

No..

"mOROEOee....."

Cades had no idea what that intent was supposed to convey, perhaps it was working, perhaps he would finally be able to leave this plane and go to wherever people go after their death, Cades internally prayed, but it was not enough.

He needed to give the lightning more power, and so he did, pumping even more power into the sword's hilt, feeling his own energy spreading through the holes, up the sword's blade, and finally, causing the head to die.

As the last wave of mana hit the head, the seams of the head began to widen, the skull cracking and the lower jaw just falling off, it exploded, spreading out while transforming into a hot goo that would've covered Cades head to toe had he not, almost reflexively, created one of his shields to save himself from the potential explosion.

It was over, and as soon as it was, a golden light ascended from the skull that was now more of a small crater covered in slimy, steaming goo, and began to crawl along the blade that had caused all of this, finally resting in the hand of Cades who had long since let go of his sword, simply being in shock at what had happened.