Chapter 78: Instant Death

Before I even took ten steps.

*BOOM!*

"Get away! That's the worst type of energy!" Luna cried as a fireball slammed into the ground just meters away.

Fireball didn't even begin to describe it.

Heat radiated off the blast in waves, scorching the air, pressing against my skin. From within the flames, the screams of suffering souls howled. They were twisting, echoing, and suffocating.

Its size was closer to the miniature sun from the previous trial, a blinding, searing mass of destruction. My heart pounded like a war drum, my chest tightening as the crowd behind me shoved me forward into the chaos.

Screams of adrenaline-filled terror rippled around me.

I ran at full speed trying to break ahead, to escape. But no matter how fast I moved everyone else was able to keep up.

Five.

Another explosion. Another cry of agony, sharp and fleeting.

Four.

I was panting so hard I could see my breath, even in the inferno's heat.

Three.

A hum of power shook the battlefield. Dozens of people, once unarmed, began manifesting weapons in their hands. Not everyone had a Spiritual Weapon, but many did.

Two.

I summoned mine.

"Peter! Fuse your sight with mine!" Luna's voice rang in my head, urgent.

One.

CRASH!

A wall of bodies collided in front of me just as my True Sight activated, revealing the pulsing world of Force, a fraction of a second before a war hammer filled my vision.

I barely got my left hand up before impact. The sheer force drove me to my knees as I caught it.

"Peter! Hit him anywhere!" Luna burst from beneath my gauntlet, her body curling like razor wire, warping my weapon once again into something menacing.

The hammer-wielding enemy tried to rip his weapon back, but my grip held firm. I threw my right fist into his leg.

"AHH—!" His scream barely lasted before his body convulsed. Foam frothed at his lips as his skin turned a sickly purple. Black veins streaked up his body like something crawling underneath his skin, spreading at terrifying speed.

Whatever Luna had done was ripping through him.

I stared at the grim sight. This didn't happen to Kazriel. Was it because I struck his head last time? It had been easier when they looked like ghosts, when it didn't feel real.

But now, faced with flesh and blood, watching his body twitch and shudder, I couldn't look away.

The man staggered forward. Just one step, as if he could still fight what was already devouring him from the inside out.

But there was no fighting the inevitable fate of death.

"PETER!"

The wind shifted. Something had nearly hit me, too closely, before a body crashed into the opponent attacking me, sending them sprawling.

"I told you I'd watch out for you, but come on, kid! Get your head outta the clouds!" My battle partner barked, swinging his axe down in a brutal arc, splitting the floored man's head in two.

Before I could react, his hand clamped onto my shoulder and yanked me to my feet.

"Surprised you got a decent weapon on you, but at least use it. Now stick close, we'll watch each other's backs."

I nodded, the battlefield still roaring around us. "Luna, how many more of those you got in you?" I ducked under a wild, horizontal swing just before driving my fist into the attacker's cheek. Bone crunched and he was out. Or dead.

"I can do two more at that same level," Luna answered. She had already shifted back into my glove, avoiding the risk of being torn apart by stray weapons.

Good. I'll save them for later. But there was something else I wanted to test now that we had physical bodies again. Though it obviously wasn't my real-world one, my right arm looked normal. No sign of Luna's roots.

"Can you check if you can manage my energy?"

The moment I asked something pulled.

A swathe of red energy floating in the air was ripped away, vanishing somewhere.

That's bad. "Hey!" I yelled at my battle partner. No reaction.

I barely had time to turn before an arrow whizzed past and I was forced to drop, narrowly avoiding it. "WE HAVE TO MOVE!"

I didn't wait for a response and instead grabbed his arm and pulled.

He resisted for a moment, but something in my eyes must've convinced him.

Without another word, we tore through the battlefield. Running over shields, broken armor, and corpses soaking the earth in acrid blood.

Even with Swift Stride active, he was keeping up, but we were both panting hard.

I felt it before I heard it. Which meant only one thing. The attack that had sucked in all the fire energy around us... was moving faster than sound.

A heat wave blasted outward from the impact, scorching the air. Even from this far, despite how much distance we had covered, the sheer intensity of it heated my skin.

*BOOM.*

It was like a command from the heavens, a thunderclap that split the battlefield. The force of it whipping through the air.

My ears rang and balance failed so I was forced to activate Sensory Veil just to stay upright.

There were no screams, no last words, or any final wails of regret. Just silence.

I turned back to where there had once been battle... Only charred corpses remained. Blackened, unrecognizable. The ground still smoldering, embers flickering in the remains of clothing, grass, and whatever else had existed there.

I had to marvel at both the power and horror. Who the hell could do something like this?

Seriously, gotta thank Elric for developing Swift Stride.

A sigh came from beside me. "How are we supposed to compete with those bastards? That bloodline of theirs…"

He shook his head, dismissing the thought. Instead, he held out a hand. "Thanks." I took it, shaking firmly as he introduced himself. "Name's Asmund."

"Peter." I still had to force myself not to keep staring at the obliterated battlefield. "Th—they killed their own people."

Asmund exhaled, stretching his back. The area around us had gone eerily silent. The only sounds of battle now came from the distance. "No." His voice was calm, but firm. "They didn't. They only killed our people, the ones stupid enough to side with them."

He turned, looking back at the scorched ruin left behind. A flicker of disappointment crossed his face.

"I can't imagine any loot left for us there."

I froze.

"Wait." I grabbed Asmund, pulling him down. "Over there, look." Something moved through the thick, curling smoke.

Four figures emerged.

They walked slowly, confidently. Even from here, I could tell they were proud of their work.

I honed my senses, listening.

"That was amazing!" A man's voice, light and amused, barely containing laughter. "With your blessing fused with Force manipulation, you can take out so many of them."

A girl spoke next, her tone loftier, dripping with arrogance. "Of course. My blessing is unique, after all. Unlike yours."

From a distance, I saw the man bowing slightly, his posture reverent. The other two echoed his praise.

"You are truly blessed, my lady."

"Yes, yes. A prodigy too."

Asmund tensed next to me and to my horror, it seemed like he was going to stand.

For safety I sent a Phantom Whisper to him. "Wait! Are you insane? That girl can fire something like that and you want to charge?!"

His gaze was fierce. "If you want to die a coward then do it alone. That is a major target, if we take her o—"

He made another move to stand before I cut him off, "What's the point if you die?" He wasn't convinced from the look he shot me. I let out a frustrated growl, "Fine. What do you think of the others' abilities?"

He must've caught on, "Not like her for sure. But probably not weak."

I nodded then called out in my mind. "Luna. Help me make the same needle as before."

I looked to Asmund as I prepared my Spiritual Object, "Do you know anything to create wind?"

"I'm not an idiot Peter. I've been fighting a lot longer than you."

Well then why was he stupid enough to charge at someone who could send out a fire at such speeds?

Anyway, time for my specialty. I'm sure some people could handle making a solid object like the needle. But to carve it, spin it, and launch it with precision? Either Luna was necessary or my domain was. "Get it ready."

We sat in brief silence as I manipulated my energy with the help of Luna. And before long there was a needle in front of me.

"We only have one shot."

Asumund looked at me like I was insane, "How are you going to fire that thing with any speed? And at this distance?"

I activated my domain, but not because I needed it for the current I would spin it with. I was going to send out my thread of will as far as I could. "Luna, just keep the thread stable and supplied with energy." 

"Got it!"

The needle began to spin lightly.

"Asmund, when I say, use anything and everything to increase this thing's speed."

He looked like he wanted to protest, but maybe he figured he would die either way… who knows.

I stretched out further. Further. Much further. The line of trajectory was much farther than I had ever stretched it out, which admittedly, had never been more than in front of my face before. But I needed to guide this thing as far as possible.

If I failed, then I could be dead depending on how fast that girl could summon an attack. And even if I let Asumund go alone, who's to say they wouldn't see me running in the opposite direction.

Focus.

"Kid?"

"Shut up."

My vision was getting fuzzy and my head felt like it was about to explode, but I had done it. Stretched my control to the absolute limits. I covered a distance of dozens of meters, only a few away from the group of four.

I could barely hear anything anymore, and it took everything just to keep my consciousness. "Fo—force the needle to spin. Then when I say, shoot a current be—" A wave of dizziness hit me.

Not yet.

I can't rest yet.

I forced myself back fighting the nausea and ring blaring in my ears. "Just make it go fast when I say… On three." I don't even know if he agreed.

"One. Two… THREE!"

I put everything into my own Silencing current spinning the needle as fast as possible before I felt an immense pressure shooting it forward. 

It flew on my line of force like a railcar, never deviating. I couldn't even see it move and in less than a second.

"My lady?"