Hollow Dash

The Hollow dash. A rare type of dashes mastered by only the Hollowbanes. They are the ones who created that type in the first place. A dash that involves pure efficiency of being untracked and also attacking stealthily.

Its difficulty is not in understanding its nature and how its performed, its in how you can control it. That's what Ash realized after performing some Hollow dashes. Sometimes he couldn't stop himself, others he couldn't balance his weight.

Apparently, the Hollow dash is what makes the Hollowbanes a fearsome warriors in their territory.

At the start of the assault, Ash didn't know how to control such a devastating ability. Until he knew the tip of the string to how to master that ability.

It all started with a drop of rain.

***

The two foes disappeared into a blur, Hollow dashing around each other. The Hollowbane knew that that human wouldn't be able to get along with such an ability like this so fast.

That's why he dashed to his place to attack immediately, but Ash wasn't there as he also dashed to where the Hollowbane was.

The Hollowbane could stop itself from slipping and could control it decently. Ash, unfortunately, couldn't as he lost control and crushed at a nearby tree.

"Ah Shit! That dash needs some time to--" Ash was interrupted as the Hollowbane's claw was mere centimeters from striking at his head.

The strike landed on the tree instead, Ash dashed to the right side as fast as he could, forcing him to lose control again and stagger after hitting another tree.

'This is tiring.' Ash realized that the Hollow dash consume so much stamina over time, along with his transformation. The Hollowbane Skin Fracture really is something else.

'Maybe I shouldn't dash a long one, a short dash would be great.' Ash calculated a plan to take out the Hollowbane with the least effort possible and also make sure that he would have better control than before.

The Hollowbane dashed again with his claw ready to tear Ash apart. Again, Ash dashed, But not away from the Hollowbane as it thought.

Ash didn't even dash, he used his speed to crouch faster than he could before. The Hollowbane took a blow from below, striking at its jaw as Ash landed an upper-cut punch.

The Hollowbane's head was raised high, the punch was powerful even for it. Ash took the chance and kicked it just like the kick he had received from it a while ago.

The Hollowbane flew backward and there were no trees in its way. Ash grinned as he will finally deal the blow he wanted.

Ash squeezed his arm muscles to the maximum he could and dashed towards a point ahead of the Hollowbane, controlling his dash the best he could. Ash then jumped and rotated his body that seemed nearly impossible to pull.

That rotation resulted in increase of his back's pain as it was already broken. Still, Ash simply groaned and continued his twist.

Ash remembered how he had defeated that Hollowbane when he, Aeris and Nyro were fighting in the forest. He recalled how he finished off that Hollowbane, and he was determined to bring it back to life once more.

Once the Hollowbane reached Ash, still airborne because of Ash's kick, it saw a punch descending upon... its eyes. To Ash, the bane's eyes is their most vulnerable point in their anatomy.

The blow landed upon its eyes, forcing Ash's arm to stagger above and the Hollowbane to strike at the ground with sheer force.

While still in the air, Ash laughed before landing on his feet. Ash dashed away from it in case that attack wasn't enough and waited patiently.

After a second, Ash's intuition was right. The Hollowbane didn't meet its end, its hand twitched and started to pull itself together.

"Like I would allow you!" Ash said as he barged toward the Hollowbane with another strike, this time again, at its eyes. The Hollowbane staggered and struck at the ground once more. The crash was deafening, a shockwave resulted from the impact traveled around the area.

Ash didn't stop here and jumped high, grinning with his vermillion eye, shining under the rain. Once he reached the ground, he slashed its legs, separating it from its body.

Azure blood flowed like a river as the Hollowbane lost two of his limbs. It groaned out of pain and let out a shriek that didn't even install some mercy in Ash's heart.

Ash grinned even more and stabbed the Hollowbane in its core. The Hollowbane raised its hand and grabbed Ash's neck, squeezing it as much as it can. Ash felt the air stopped entering his lungs and his head started to turn blue from being choking. He pulled the sword from its core and cut off its arm. Blood spilled on Ash like a dye.

Ash didn't wait and slashed the last limp of the Hollowbane. Ash stood under the rain, washing the blood gradually. His grin was cunning yet majestic to witness.

And he waited for the system to announce the victor.

"Hey, system. Sing that song of yours!" Ash said while raising his head high, looking down at the fallen Hollowbane with pity.

[You have slain a LV. 16 Old Times Twitchling, Hollowbane!]

[190 EXP gained!]

[3 SF EXP gained!]

Ash clinched his fist as the system declared his victory and also gave him those juicy EXP he favored. He even realized that he got 3 EXP for his Skin Fracture from the kill. He thought it would be only one.

"It must be the tier. If I killed a Fluffbane, then it would be one, two for the Fangbane also. It's easy to understand… for a manipulator at least." Ash said as he calmed down his maniac personality.

He picked up the fallen Hollowbane to let his friends see his achievement, but before that happens…

"Yea, I must unsummon my Skin Fracture." Ash calculated logically. If they saw his trump card, a lot of questions will pop up instantly. And Ash hated being asked. Ash unsummoned his Skin Fracture, the white smoke retreated again from his mouth, his hands returned to its usual shape, and the white fur retreated under his skin. Ash then went into the same way he got thrown from.

As soon as he was heading toward their friends, something flashed in front of him. A claw, slightly bigger than the Hollowbane's and had a red hue in its white fur, was about to shatter Ash's skull into dust.