Echoes of the Abyssal Blade: Path to Free Will-Chapter 48: Surprising Confrontation
The Abomination staggered, clawing at its face, the long blade vibrating violently as if trying to bury itself even deeper.
Jonan blinked, struggling to comprehend what he’d just seen, so was the situation with the other members of his cohort.
The blade didn’t appear to be a normal weapon.
It was menacing with pitch black darkness, and crimson lightning at its tail, Its surface was completely black, yet somehow shimmered like a liquid void, where it had landed, the abomination’s flesh began to spurt shadowy ichor, it was screaming at the top of its lung, being stopped right at its moment of ascension to the next stage was humiliating for it.
Once glowing with dark energy, the altar dimmed, and its runes flickered with uncertainty.
The abomination staggered again, roaring now, its voice filled with seething pain.
But the blade remained motionless like a mountain completely etched on its skull.
The abomination, who was writhing in agony and pain, lunged forward at Jonan and his cohort, to devour them like the mice they are but right as it was going to pounce, a hand seemingly out of nowhere came upon the hilt of the blade, stopping the abomination’s movement altogether.
With a swift slash, Rhydian drew the blade out of the abomination’s skull, where more shadowy ichor started flowing out of the abomination’s head.
Its eye were that of crimson shade, its lower serpentine body attacking in all directions, and its upper body now huge was overflowing with serpentine vein muscles, its veins were twisting in an unnatural way.
"Who are you mongrel!!!, How dare you interrupt this lord’s ascension," with intense agony it screamed at Rhydian, who was coolly observing it without much expression.
"If not for your naïve pride, dealing with you would have been troublesome, thankfully you were such an idiot to be complacent enough to plan your ascension out in the open, I must admit your abomination’s talents are quite scary, but you have your flaws, now just return to the earth with all your victims," said Rhydian in an indifferent tone.
"Ahhhhh, I will kill you human rats," with a loud screech, it attacked Rhydian, who just dodged its attack to the side, and slashed again, cutting one of its four arms.
The abomination winced in pain, as it noticed its opponent to be someone who was beyond him in strength and he was also someone who was dealing with it effortlessly.
Holding on to the area, where one of its arms was in pain, it started to control its composure, losing its cool resulted in drastic injuries on its side.
Noticing its opponent, it started to analyze the best way to kill its opponent, whereas Rhydian who was observing the abomination, clicked his tongue, "These abominations are really a scary bunch, even after all this, it didn’t lose its presence of mind, either way, it’s at the end of the rope, the final result won’t change."
The Abomination, while it was calm and collected now, it was troubled by its wounds, they were not healing, even when it fought the bestial tribe’s ancestors and was wounded in a far worse manner, due to its spirit companion, it was able to heal without any difficulty.
The abomination’s serpentine body coiled like a spring, ready to launch again, but its movements had lost their former grace, black ichor still oozed from the deep wound in its skull and from the severed stump where one of its arms had been, its elongated jaw twitched, its single eye was blazing crimson as it studied Rhydian with newfound caution.
Rhydian stood still, with the pitch-black blade resting loosely at his side, his black and red cloak fluttered gently in the chaos, untouched by the dust splattered across the area, Jonan, Elias, Marla, and Edric watched from a distance, barely able to comprehend the scene unfolding before them, none of them knew much about Rhydian, but his strength and his movements showed them their leader’s might.
The abomination hissed its forked tongue lashing. "I see... You’re not like the other rats, I really miscalculated."
Rhydian’s eyes narrowed slightly. "Your overconfidence in yourself was your downfall, but it’s true, a full-grown you would have slapped me to death, but now you are barely holding yourself together."
Without warning, the abomination lunged.
It came with terrifying speed, its serpentine limbs lashing in from different angles, its jaw splitting further than humanly possible, revealing a gullet that pulsed with malevolent spirit energy, its entire body twisted mid-air as it launched itself at Rhydian like a spiraling missile of flesh and fury.
Rhydian stood till, without a care in the world.
CLANG!
A shockwave boomed through the air as his sword encountered the first strike, sending a clawed arm flying so hard it shattered the floor, Rhydian followed up, spinning with clinical elegance and cutting upwards.
A second limb sailed through the air, whirling like a hideous boomerang.
The abomination howled, crashing into the earth beside Rhydian. It tried to rise, but a flash of steel tore into its side before it could react, with effortless precision, Rhydian’s blade dug deep, twisting through muscle and bone before being yanked free.
He stepped back, his expression was unreadable.
The abomination stumbled, spitting blood and shadows.
"You... wretched thing," it roared, its voice laced with pain and disbelief. "You dare—!"
Yet another strike graced it, and another flash, Rhydian didn’t wait for its speeches.
He spun, slashing in a wide arc, the abomination barely dodged, but not without cost, his blade grazed its neck, opening a long gash that sprayed shadowy ichor like a severed artery.
The abomination retaliated with a furious barrage, its tail whipped across the field, toppling trees and leaving craters where it struck, serpent spirits burst from its back like angry phantoms, lashing at Rhydian with fangs and tendrils of soul-venom.
For a moment, the battlefield became a hurricane of motion, the very air was pulsating with energy.
But Rhydian... moved like water.
He flowed between attacks, slipping past the venomous strikes by mere inches, his blade carving elegant arcs in the air, he parried one spectral head and cleaved through it in a single stroke, his body never turning, and then he ducked low, severing the abomination’s tail-tip with a precise counter as it passed overhead.
Every movement of his had purpose, there was no energy wasted.
To the observers, it looked more like a kid playing with its toy, than a fight.
The abomination howled in growing desperation. "HOW CAN YOU HURT ME, HOW CAN YOU POSSIBLY KILL MEE! THIS ISN’T POSSIBLE!"
"I have met the likes of you, who don’t believe that they can die, so don’t worry, but you will soon get to witness your own death," Rhydian murmured, side-stepping another assault. "I just don’t lose."
He drove his blade into the abomination’s side, pinning it to the earth, before it could scream, he twisted the hilt and yanked it free, drawing another arc of black blood across the dying grass, with a forward kick, he sent the beast flying, its massive form crashing into the remains of the dark altar, which crumbled with the impact.
Smoke and dust rose.
The altar runes flickered and finally, they dimmed.
For a moment, silence ensued.
Then the abomination, its movement was sluggish and uneven, the abomination dragged itself free of the rubble, its form twitching, convulsing, its bone jutted from open wounds, and its once regal serpentine body now sagged and trembled.
Its eye locked on Rhydian, and there was fear now, palpable, primal fear.
"Stay... away from me...please spare me" it begged with a rasp, its voice was broken.
Rhydian approached slowly, step by step, his blade was humming with dark and crimson light, it was resonating with his rhythm.
"You wanted ascension," he said, his voice utterly calm. "But you tried building it on the suffering of others, you feasted on souls, and devoured whomever you wish."
He raised his blade.
"For your hard work, this is your ascension."
The abomination shrieked and unleashed its last desperate card, a pulse of energy exploded from its core, raw, unstable, and wild, the serpentine spirits that hovered around it merged violently, fusing into a single grotesque wyrm that coiled protectively around its host, its wounds began to glow as it siphoned energy from the altar’s remains, its cracked veins pulsing unnaturally.
It was trying to force another transformation.
"No," Rhydian muttered, flicking blood off his blade. "You don’t get another chance."
He charged instantly without a second thought.
The abomination didn’t see the strike, it only felt the pain, Rhydian’s blade penetrated through its thick neck, and then slashing downward cutting into its core, the spirit-wyrm shrieked as it was cleaved apart, unraveling into threads of cursed mist.
A long, awful silence ensued, and then the upper torso of the beast slid off its lower half, collapsing in a heap of blood, shadow, and ichor.
The battlefield fell quiet.
Jonan and the others couldn’t breathe, they just stared, wide-eyed, at the unbelievable scene happening in their presence.
The abomination, impossibly, was still alive, even with its head detached, it was twitching, its mouth trying to form words, and its headless body dragged itself with one remaining limb, reaching toward the broken altar.
"No... no... I’m not done... I’m not done... I was chosen..."
