Moonlight Blue

Allen approaches Garrin slowly, with each step being the sound of the gongs of Garrin’s life coming to an end. Fear washes over him.

W-what do I do? I’m as good as dead right now.

“Calm down. How can the strongest cower like this?”

Who’s that? Wait a minute. I’ve heard this voice before.

“I’m the one whom you wield. I am your strength.”

With those words, Garrin finally understood where the voice inside his head originates from. His scythe.

“I have a plan to end this fight my vessel. You just need to get me closer to him and I’ll do the rest.”

I-I see. I’ll trust you then.

If the scythe had a mouth, it would be grinning right now. After all, their opponent is strong which means he would make a good vessel.

“W-What are you fools standing around for? Attack him!”

Everyone is shocked. The soldiers, who have been spectating all this time start staring and murmuring at each other.

“What do you think he’ll do after he kills me, huh? Do you think he’ll just walk away? This person is an assassin sent here to stop what we are doing. He’ll come after you guys after he’s done with me.”

The soldiers can’t stop themselves from being afraid. He is right. After all, why would this unknown person be attacking a Slayer out of nowhere. He MUST be an assassin sent here to stop their investigation.

“Who knows. Maybe he could be the MONSTER behind the massacre of the city lord and the lieutenant.”

The soldiers present are mixed between Garrin, Barion and the Law Enforcement division’s soldiers. The emotions vary from fear and anger. Some retain their emotions, not sure what to do.

“He’s right.” Mutters one of the soldiers.

“If we don’t help the commander and he dies. We’re next.”

Allen stops as he looks at the soldiers.

***

I guess this guy really doesn’t want to die huh. So, he’s willing to let his subordinates die.

“Aaaahh!”

A bunch of battle cries resound as the soldiers attack me all at once. The one in front exudes a lot of bloodlust as he leaps in the air, swinging his sword with all his strength.

“DIE!”

I sigh before slightly smashing his face in with the back of my hand. Smashing his face in might be an understatement. I… blew his face off as blood splatters everywhere.

Shit. I wasn’t expecting it to get all this messy. I used the same strength that I used against the Slayer guy.

Well kid, in terms of strength, these guys are way weaker than the King Cobra Slayer.

Huh. Well, no matter. I was going to kill him.

The momentum didn’t stop nor slow down with the soldier’s death. I guess they are soldiers for real, huh.

They all swing their swords at me but none connects. With my fast reaction, I dodge them all while counter-attacking. Blood sprays everywhere as I pulverise each and every soldier out for my life. In an instant, I’m standing near a pile of bodies on the ground.

“Damn it. It’s always messy fighting without mana.” I say as I shake my hand, removing all the blood on my hand.

In an instant, Garrin shows up behind me and swings his scythe with all his strength. Of course, I catch the attack with my other hand as I continue shaking off the blood on my hand.

“Just because I’m not looking at you, doesn’t mean I’m not paying attention.”

I look at Garrin with the corners of my eyes, but he doesn’t seem shocked. Instead, it seems he expected me to catch the attack. And then, it happens. It is a faint feeling, but it feels like the scythe is draining something from me. Due to the confusing feeling, I push him ten steps away from me.

I then look at my hand as I open and close it over and over.

What was that? That weird feeling? Ariel, do a quick scan of my body. See what he did to me.

Command received. No unknown energy has penetrated the master’s body. All vital organs are undamaged and stable. Nothing is out of the ordinary, master.

Are you sure, Ariel?

I’m 99.99% sure master.

I see. Then what was that strange feeling.

An explosion of energy surges across the area.

“HAHAHA, I’VE NEVER FELT THIS MUCH POWER. IT’S INCREDIBLE.”

I look at Garrin as his stature grows muscular and more powerful. Even his energy has increased.

That’s weird, where did he get the power-up? And the scythe? Why is it at full power? No, it seems like its energy is over its limit.

***

I knew it. From the first attack that he stopped of my vessel, I sensed it within him. Curse energy. Even though it was only for a second, I sensed the enormous amount of curse energy within this human. I was shocked as to how a human being can possess so much curse energy.

The only thing I had to do was absorb that unused curse energy so I made a plan with my vessel. Since that human is strong and sharp, he would have probably figured out our plan if we simply attacked him straight on or he could have killed my vessel.

So, a distraction was needed which my vessel’s soldiers executed perfectly. The only thing I needed to do was to touch him and drain his curse energy. I only drained him for 2 seconds before he pushed me away and that curse energy was enough to restore my full power. Just how much more powerful would I become if I drained more of it. No, what if I drained all of it.

***

What’s going on? Did that scythe absorb my mana and convert it into curse energy? No, that’s not possible since my mana didn’t decrease. Then what was that weird feeling I felt? Sigh, all in all, something did happen, but I guess it doesn’t matter. I’ll just kill him.

Subtle bloodlust from my last thought made the scythe react. If the scythe had a face, beads of sweat would be raining down on it.

W-what was that? It only lasted for a second. That insane bloodlust. No wonder this human has so much curse energy. We need to run. I was planning on making him my vessel since he’s a ‘normal’ human unlike that guy with the ‘hero’s aura’. It seems I was mistaken.

“I’m much more powerful than I have ever been. HAHAHA.” Speaks Garrin as he laughs maniacally.

Fool! We need to get out of here.

Hmm, what do you mean?

We can’t win against him. RUN!

I punch Garrin in the gut sending him crashing into building after building.

“D-damn. What the hell was that?”

Idiot. Get up. I ended up using a quarter of the energy I’ve just gained to protect you from that attack. Run!

Seeing the severity of the threat, Garrin musters everything he has on him and sprints to the gate of the city. I appear in front of him and with a flick, I send him back to where we started.

He crashes hard on the ground as Naomi and her people remain in shock.

“I-is this even a fight?” says Naomi as cold sweat sends chills down her back.

I come walking to Garrin who’s on the ground, vomiting blood.

I guess that’s a check for speed. Since I’ve tested everything that’s needed now, I guess I should kill him.

How much have you been saying you’re going to kill him kid.

Have I said that a lot? Huh, I’m killing him for real this time so shut up.

*Cough, cough*

Damn it. It seems escape is also impossible. What now?

I’ll use everything I have left for a last attack. Get ready.

Yes.

Curse energy explodes out of the scythe. Garrin’s stature shrinks as the scythe starts to absorb even Garrin’s mana. An energy in the shape of the scythe covers the scythe itself.

Garrin charges at me full throttle.

“AAAAAHHH! KING COBRA SLAYING SLASH.”

The scythe descends upon me and connects. The impact from the attack is powerful enough to even blast off the earth itself, sending a cloud of dust everywhere.

Silent washes over the entire area.

“How disappointing.” I say.

The dust begins to clear.

“Even with all of that, you only managed to leave this much damage.”

The dust fully clears. The scythe is on my shoulder. Blood slowly drips from the small cut the attack has made.

“W-what?” says Garrin shocked.

“WHAT?” follows Naomi and her followers.

I thought he was going to dodge or block it. But instead, he took the attack head on. And that’s the level of injury it did? How is this even possible? Thinks Naomi.

“D-did he use mana to tank that attack?” asks Naomi.

“No madam. There was no mana fluctuations from him at all. He took the blow with only his body.”

The look of Garrin sank in despair. I grab his scythe as I give him another flick on the head sending him flying into a wall. The cut on my shoulder heals like it was never there. The only proof that it was there being the torn part of my clothes that the attack connected with.

“Now scythe. What did you do to me?”