Φ I charge forward, and from my hand a sword made from the same substance as my body manifests, and I slam it into the arm of Ten. Her arm is nothing but a collection of her circular blades, and as I struggle against them, cracks appear on my blade before she swings her arm, slicing it to bits.
She then kicks up towards my body, slicing it up as shining, bladed projectiles shoot out from her blades. Yet before they reach my head, I manifest flowers and blow my head into the sky.
Ten's curse is split into two sections: the ability to manifest a unique energy that can take the shape of whatever she wants, which is mostly blades and clothes, and the ability to look into the future for a bit by staring into her blades.
She usually fights by swinging around as if she is lost in a dance, looking at her blades and sending her slashes everywhere. However, that was the fighting style she used when she only had three blades, constantly swinging around her body.
With her new shape, I don't know how effective it currently is, which gives me an opportunity to exploit this for a victory.
The body she sliced up explodes, and the flowery substance that makes up its body spreads onto every single one of her blades, obscuring them, and then from my head I manifest a series of bodies, while using the flowers that come from my head to propel myself in the air.
With a top-down view, I should be able to do this far better; I am more used to it overall. It's a waste of my flowers, and tiring, but it is not like I am going survive this if I don't.
Φ Manis moves his body directly toward Ten, and each swings their sword towards her, and like expected, she swings and turns as if she is dancing, using the blades around her body to counter each of them, pushing herself forward.
She swings without a single care in the world, as every single movement from her body slices everything in her way, allowing her to move unabated by the world itself.
Yet she soon gets thrown off her balance as her blades clash against something sharp, and opening her eyes, she sees that one of the bodies holds another body, which has been reconfigured into a sword.
Putting more energy into her swing, she destroys the body and the giant sword, but in that moment, across her body, more of Manis's puppets, wielding giant swords at full force smashes into her blades, sending her body off balance.
Φ The power that she has makes it so that even if her dance is less refined, the power she releases allows it to continue, but at the very least, when I interrupt her dance, she struggles to start it up again.
Just from the look on her face, I can tell she must be high on her power right now. She wants to dance and move freely more than anything else, so by interrupting her but not fully stopping it, I am putting a mental tax on her that increases the frustration in her body little by little, and soon it will happen.
Φ With her lungs full of rage, Ten says, "STOP BOTHERING ME, YOU PEST!"
In an instant, from each of the blades around her body, flying slashes of energy move everywhere, cutting up the surrounding area, and in the very same instant, each of those bodies are cut, they explode, and Manis sends her head downwards into the giant flowers' mist caused by them.
-14 years ago-
Φ My life was rather simple when I was younger: eat, sleep, play, and train. I was from a family of Nightmares who could turn their flesh into armoured and historically were hunted by corpse collectors because of this, yet instead of cowering, we took on the plagues thrown against us and became warriors who could push back against the evils inflicted on us by the outsiders.
I felt pride in such a responsibility, as the looks of happiness and respect people had whenever my family appeared filled me with such. So I always tried to be understanding in every situation I was put in, and had others rely on my time, and time again, devoting myself to my families princpals, and getting copious amounts of praise in return.
Yet I was a selfish person in truth. I merely used my family's principles and morals to compete in the never-ending social game that is being a human. The looks of others who put themselves below me as they knew they were inferior filled me with joy, the power of a strong curse and a human-looking body I had made me a person who I can only say fills me with shame.
And one day, whether it be by god, chance, or fate, my head fell off. It seems I had a mutation in my curse powers, and soon my face started to rot, along with my head remaining detached from my body. But far worse than any of that, all sensation outside of my head started to vanish ever so slightly.
My curses allowed me to make a new body, yet the bodies I make a all almost without feeling. The life I had once lived was over, and I had to spend most of my existence as a head covered in armour to protect others from the sight of my face.
The sensation that once gave me overwhelming pride had left, along with everything else. I could no longer appreciate the sky, or the wind, or the food, or the music, or even the connections between two human beings. I had stopped feeling entirely, and my mind couldn't handle it.
I felt like who I was had vanished, like something key in my soul was missing, so I didn't know what to do except lie in my bed each day, unable to even muster up the strength to end it all.
I lived a hollow life, and when such pleasures were in accessible to me, my mind could only think of the end as a way to cope with it. Yet in the darkness, someone reached out to me. The Queen.
I still remember the days she walked through the doors of my house, the radiance and beauty that emanated from every single fibre of her being. A woman who has transcended time and death itself to carry this country in her bosom for as long as my bloodline can remember.
As I lay on my bed, she whispered a few words to me that I still remember till today. "You're pathetic."
Seeing such an exalted creature say such a thing about me almost broke my mind, yet I retained my sanity despite my shame, so I could bask in her for just a few more moments till I ended my life.
"Do you truly believe that life is so controllable and predictable that such a curse shall render you unable to experience it. Your beauty may have faded, but the love of people moves beyond that. Your arrogance may disgust others, but change can happen to each of us. And the lack of feeling may make life feel bland, but the sensations that exist in this world can overcome it all."
With her delicate hand, she slips something into my mouth, and as I bite down on it, a flavour almost incomprehensible to mymind bursts out across my oral cavities, overriding my mind for a moment as flowers burst out from the bottom of my head, sending me across the room flying like a feather carried by the wind.
As the taste starts to fade, I fall, and she grabs my head, then says, "A bomb of flavour strong enough to override even your dull senses. One of the many creations that the people of this country have created for each other. So remember this pathetic child, that no matter the despair a curse may bring, we can overcome it.
These challenges are given to us, like how all beings have their own, and only by accepting that and moving forward can we truly live our lives to our fullest potential. And the great discoveries we find across the way are pretty fun, don't you think?"
As the last syllable leaves her mouth, a smile so bright that it blinds me reaches my eyes.
I was indeed pathetic. She was there when this country was first created, and I am sure the despair of this being her entire life must have been crushing, yet she overcame it. And now in this world, we stand as one of the planet's greatest powers.
Our lives are unfair, but so is life, yet we can find untold wonders in surpassing these challenges, and the beauty of it is priceless, so I won't let anyone destroy that. I will grow strong, I will protect this country.
-Present-
As I fly down, I form a body, condensing a giant amount of the flying flowers around me into a blade, and with a single power swing, I bring my sword toward Ten's neck to rip it off, and yell, "FOR THE NIGHTMARES!"
Yet as I smash into her face, my sword stops in blades as if it hit something hard, and in that moment, my eyes gleam across her face where I see it return to the plant featureless canvas it was before this mutation.
She grabs my head and says, "Even my new curse couldn't give me back a humane face, but at the very least, it expands my ability to make clothes into making a false face. Still, I don't want anyone to know that, so Manis, you can die or join us?"
From beneath Ten's body, all of my flowers scattered towards the ground form into swords. My blade pierces multiple parts of her body, and I say, "I exist to counter the despair of the next child who curses their existence. This violence is something I will never stand for.
"Then die."
Holding up her other arm, she prepares to cut my head in two, and I close my eyes. It is sad that it has come to this, but hopefully the wounds I left on her will allow another warrior to have a better time. I have no regrets except wishing I could see the Queen one more time.
I feel the muscles in her right arm twitch indicating the movements in her left, yet before any pain moves to my head a blast of wind bursts through the area and soon the grip she has on my head is released and as my eyes shoot opening I see the warrior Dumnorix in front of me with the happniess that once permeated his face during the Cursed Chess match no were to be found.
Φ Ten, who was just sent flying backwards quickly slams its feet into the ground to regain its footing, and stares at Dumnorix. Then, as he walks forward with Manis's head on his tail, he points his sword up and says, "Aren't you one of the three generals who lead Blamator?"
"I didn't cause anything, just merely facilitated the new destiny of our people."
"I don't feel like playing coy with you."
Her eyes gaze down at her blades, and Manis shouts, "SHE IS LOOKING INTO THE FUTURE!"
Ten quickly let's out to slashes cutting open to buildings, and soon from the rumble two rampaging Nightmares appear and attack Dumnorix, and in the same moment he lunges Manis into the air, and grabbing his tail he quickly stabs both of the Nightmares, making them both fall down as their bodies go completely numb.
Then, turning to Ten, Dumnorix says, "Now I ask you again, are you one of the three generals? Because if not, it will save me from ripping you to shreds, piece by piece, to get the information out of you.