Chapter 17: Castaway VIII
It didn't take long.
Adrian didn't flinch.
He surged forward to meet them — tomahawks in both hands, the blades gleaming under the red light of Force Dominion.
CRACK!
The impact of his foot igniting a forceblast behind him shook the temple floor, launching him forward with brutal momentum.
He was faster than them now — a blur of red light and snapping wind.
The first monster lunged — too late.
Adrian twisted mid-air, carving across its chest, a deep gash spilling blackish-red fluid. The creature stumbled back, shrieking — but Adrian wasn't done.
"Burn."
He whispered the word as he turned his wrist — and the blood on the axe ignited.
The fire cast impossible shadows, shapes that twitched and spasmed like they were screaming.
Another two lunged, aiming their bone-blade arms to impale him from both sides.
Too slow.
Adrian dropped low into a spin, sliding between them. In one fluid movement, his tomahawks traced two flashing arcs — cutting clean across their necks, right through the main arteries.
There was a pop — then a detonation.
BOOM. BOOM.
The beasts imploded violently — blood igniting instantly, their heads bursting apart like rotten fruit under pressure.
Shreds of flaming sinew rained down.
Adrian stood from the slide, axes raised, breathing hard. Dozens more were charging him now — dozens more after that, waiting in the dark.
But he was ready.
The red mist of Force Dominion thickened. He raised one hand, and the field pulled — dozens of monsters were sucked in, their momentum hijacked, claws scraping stone as they were dragged toward him.
And then — he vanished.
To the monsters, it was like he disappeared in a blink.
Force Empowerment: his most powerful technique.
He didn't run. He didn't jump.
He moved. Instantly. At the speed of thought.
His body stopped relying on muscle. He became a projectile of his own will — riding the vector of his telekinesis, body alight with pure, invisible thrust.
The air around him warped.
His eyes glowed red, blood pooling in the whites as the strain of control began to show.
Veins across his face bulged.
His body split the air, just below the sound barrier.
In less than a second, he was already inside the crowd.
He moved like a storm, every step another blast of telekinetic force, every slash hitting with surgical violence. His tomahawks became arcs of blazing red, guided not by hand but thought, cutting through arteries, joints, necks.
Every weak point — obliterated.
One monster lunged at his side — he appeared behind it and tore through its spine.
Another tried to retreat — he shot forward like a bullet and crushed its skull with a downward cleave, blood igniting on impact.
Dozens fell within seconds — screaming, writhing, burning.
Flesh sizzled.
Smoke choked the temple air.
Bodies slammed into one another, bursting into fire and igniting those next to them — turning the battlefield into a chaotic inferno, an avalanche of fear and flesh. Even the fearless began to panic, running blindly, setting others ablaze by proximity.
Through it all, Adrian didn't stop moving.
He was everywhere.
Twenty-three seconds in.
Blood spilled from his nose now — a thin stream down his lip.
His bones ached from the pressure. His skin had begun to crack at his knuckles. Internal bruising. Strain.
Still — he kept going.
One minute. That was all he had.
"May!"
Adrian yelled, hurling one of his flaming tomahawks into the air with pinpoint accuracy.
May landed lightly behind him
She couldn't use Force Empowerment.
But she didn't need it.
The monsters couldn't see her.
She darted between them like a shadow with a blade.
Her axe moved in sharp, deliberate motions — silent, surgical — lighting beasts on fire before they even knew where the hit came from.
One tried to react to her — its milky white eyes scanning in panic — only to find its jaw split from its skull before it could scream. Another thrashed, sensing death close by, but she was already gone.
"Nice throw." she murmured — but Adrian was already moving.
He plunged deeper into the temple.
A twisted corridor, half-flooded in red mist and firelight, led him to the center — where the last big group of them waited.
Hundreds dead. These were the final ones.
Chaos all around. Screams. Burning flesh.
But to Adrian — this was the eye of the storm.
The last charge.
He raised both hands, blood spiraling around his arms like smoke, and Force Empowerment surged again.
A roar of pressure kicked off from his heels — the stone cracked.
Then — he was gone.
He blitzed into the horde, a red comet ripping through the center.
To them, it was like being struck by lightning.
He crashed into their numbers, body ricocheting between them, tomahawk dragging fire through the air, severing limbs and spines. Every movement was a detonation. Every slash was a death sentence.
But this time — it hurt.
The recoil from moving at such high speed began to crush him.
Veins in his arms burst, shoulders dislocated and re-socketed mid-motion by the sheer force. His legs burned like molten steel inside. Bones cracked. Bruises blossomed black beneath the skin.
Still — he moved.
One monster dove low to impale him. He jumped — force-blasted straight down — and crushed it beneath his heel, igniting its blood mid-impact into a burst of flame.
Another leapt from behind — and caught his shoulder with a swipe.
RIP.
Adrian hissed — blood spraying from the wound as he spun, embedding a tomahawk deep into its chest and setting the thing ablaze. He was slowing. Not much — but enough.
The rest sensed it. They began to swarm.
He dug deeper.
He activated a final pulse — the air around him twisting violently as he forced himself forward through the pain.
WHAM. SLASH. BOOM.
His eyes were fully bloodshot, red mist pouring off him like smoke from a fire.
He kept slamming forward, incinerating the monsters from the inside with every arterial hit A dance of violence and death.
Until—
THWACK.
The last one stood there — grotesque and taller than the rest — its limbs twitching, eyes wide, mouth dripping saliva as it hissed in primal hatred.
Adrian appeared behind it before it could react, gripping its neck with both hands.
He pulled.
CRACK.
Its body fell. Still twitching.
Silence.
The hall was littered with burnt, broken bodies, blood-soaked ash and crackling fires. Every breath Adrian took sounded like a storm behind broken lungs. His hands trembled. His left eye was nearly swollen shut.
But he stood.
"That's all of them." he muttered hoarsely.
The red mist of Force Dominion began to recede. The glow around him dimmed.
He knelt beside one of the corpses — and pulled the blood out, absorbing it into his system. The wounds along his chest began to seal slowly, torn muscles knitting, torn flesh patching.
He healed himself — drinking the last of their strength.
For a moment, there was only the soft crackle of fire.
Adrian walked through the center of the ruined temple, his boots dragging through the ash and broken bone.
"So that's it," he said aloud.
His voice echoed across the dead halls.
He stepped between the crumbled pillars, past twisted roots and burned corpses. His eyes wandered, now dulled again — exhaustion written in every step.
Then — in the corner of his vision —
A glimmer.
Blue light.