His devoid eyes suddenly noticed a faint ray of light coming through a hollow gap. He stood up and moved toward it, stopping in front of the exit of the cave. He was out, finally out.
But then—
Clink
A slash of a sword passed through him; his eyes were shocked, dazed at what happened in an instant. His heartbeat grew faster, sweat poured down from his brow— he saw death, but before he could see the light again—
Shinkk
The force shredded his body, blood splattered all over the ground. The cave crumbled into dust, and the sound of swords clashing and igniting rocks remained in the sky. The blood moon shone brighter.
There, under the red shade of the moonlight, two men were clashing like mad beasts; their every strike was enough to destroy mountains into dust, and the forest beside them was completely obliterated. Their speed was inhuman, moving at an immeasurable pace. Red beams of slashes were the only thing that remained visible.
Shadow of death and the ashes of blood burned the whole forest down, their mockery filled the air as one of them shouted with a heavy tone in his mouth:
"Is that all you've got? Getting old, Ashes of Blood?"
"Not quite. But if you dare… handle this!"
A vibrant purple flash of energy channelled into his hand, the whole space twisted around his fist as the world started flashing in black. Dark clouds gathered around in the sky, the air became cold, and an eclipse rose behind him. The darkness swallowed the sky; and with a thud, the whole sky became red—
A giant sonic boom launched, sending Shadow of Death flying in the air. A quarter of land vanished in an instant, while the air blazed hotter and brighter from the heat.
In the distance, he stood almost unharmed, holding his sword upward as a trickle of blood fell down from his brow.
A creepy smile rose on his ruptured face; the world seemed twisted, and a long laugh left his mouth.
His eerie gaze landed on Ashes of Blood, emitting bloodlust, He said:
"Still not enough to defeat me. Try harder."
"Ashes of Blood!"
"And also—"
"I have one piece of advice for you…"
"I'll aim for your skull!"
"Try plucking out my heart!"
"Yahahaa!"
His hand twisted around the hilt of his sword, a nine-tailed silhouette rose behind his back. The air flowed like running blossom winds as a red crimson glow ignited his eyes. His grip grew tighter on it while Ashes of Blood readied his lingering sword on his waist. His eyes glowed like a real demon, the world shook from fear; his presence was ominous enough to kill someone just from the bloodlust.
But behind the scenes, Noen Vale— who had turned into a sack of meat, was now reshaping into existence. His body stitched together bit by bit, a skull formed around his neck as the flesh grew on his body, and with a dim red glow he stood up in the same pose; like an undead.
A narrow fear lingered in his tired eyes as a phantom pain engulfed his whole body. His veins twitched, his hands trembled while his gaze shifted toward the red crimson sky, where those two men stood up in the sky holding their ground. And behind one of them was a horrifying image of a fox-like beast; its eyes were enough to make him tremble from fear.
His soul stuttered, yet he couldn't remove his eyes from the dark beauty of the sky — or he didn't move because of the bloodlust; that's the question he asked himself, and alongside it a confused emotion of what happened still remained in him.
The sky shook, the air grew denser, and with a swing—
Booooom
The whole sky burst into flames. A mountain in the distance crumbled under the blade as their clashing sound again echoed in the air.
Noen Vale stood there stuck, looking at the jaw-dropping sight
"What's going on here?"
"And how am I still alive?"
But a sudden twitch in his arm made him look at it.
He moved his hand closer, more toward his face, looking at the part where he felt the fragmented pain; but from inside he felt as if his body had grown strong. His muscles felt tighter, yet exhausted at the same time.
His gaze landed on a nearby rock, a thought struck him; and then—
Smash!
He broke his own arm. A searing pain filled his whole body, blood oozed like an unstoppable force. He bit his lips trying not to scream; and soon, in an instant, his flesh started to grow. Each fibre of his body moved, stitching like they were some kind of threads, and a new hand formed; built from nothing.
The pain still remained. But Noen Vale stood motionless, his pupils dilated; his mind blank, not able to process what just happened. It all felt unreal, as if he was in a dream— but he knew it was reality, as he wouldn't have survived that long.
He questioned, his thoughts scrambled, voice heavy:
"What the hell has happened to my body?"
"How— how in the hell— urghh…"
He rubbed his hair vigorously, a tiny faint light reflected in his eyes as he took a deep breath.
Trying to calm himself down while reorganizing his thoughts, he said;
"First I should get out of this place before I end up as yet another corpse on the floor."
"And if those two noticed me? On god— whoever they are, I'm not making it out alive.
At least… not pieced together."
He exhaled sharply, before he came back to his usual self, he said dead-pan
"I hate my life."
"First that cave and now this…"
"Sigh… yeah, sure, let me magically find a way out of this hellscape."
He moved his head to find something and soon at a long distance, he noticed a narrow pathway, safe and sound in the following destruction, yet all the trees were burned down to ashes; only the lucky ones remained— burned but standing still.
He took a deep breath again and jolted through the path. Hot wind blew past him, ashes touched his bare skin, his foot stung from the heat as the burning ashes clung to his feet. There was no way around.
And In the distance he saw a large forest, a last hope to escape and finally rest, but something else was written in his fate. He almost reached there, he finally saw the greenery but…