A Hint of Nightmare

Frein had never parried with Nakiri. His style with the sword was greatly inspired by the flashiness of Iaido, keeping the katana sheathed until it was the right moment to strike. Of course, this meant keeping the sword strapped on his waist while he used hand-to-hand combat to navigate for an opening.

Needless to say, as proven by his almost unblemished record in the underground arena, it was an effective style against his opponents. Against Nightmares, however?

Only one way to find out.

The Fallen now looked like a gigantic quadrupedal spider with four rib bones for legs and the upside-down madman with skulls on its stomach for the body. Based on the behaviors it displayed, it had clear instincts to prioritize easy prey. Whenever it felt danger, it would emit a meiyal wave. It had used a particularly strange meiyal wave that erased active Meiyal Arts, but there was little information for the conditions of that attack.

For now, Frein settled on a simple objective. While the main goal was to keep this Nightmare contained until it died on its own, the adventurous side in him wanted to defeat it.

Dodge the attacks, chop off the skull before it roars. Let’s go from there.

With no other nearby enemies to take its attention, Those That Fell Off a Cliff rushed at him. Despite having more limbs, the Nightmare lumbered on in a sluggish effort to put one rib in front of the other. It used three as feet while it swung the fourth with reckless abandon, throwing its weight every which way.

Frein danced around the skeletal weapon while predicting the main body’s trajectory. He weaved in and out of the Fallen’s range, testing for any reactions. They danced around the cul-de-sac while the Visitor ensured they avoided getting too close to any of the houses.

Those That Fell Off a Cliff let out a roar of frustration, but no meiyal wave followed. This aroused a certain suspicion. Frein Drew an observation Meiyal Art to see if he could gauge the Nightmare’s meiyal reserves.

The Fallen’s meiyal composition made his skin crawl. Tendrils of what he described as inky meiyal leaked outside the madman’s body, crawling and wrapping around the rib limbs. The stitched-up skulls protruding from its stomach emanated with a sickly, bubbling, dark green glow.

The Nightmare struck before Frein could make sense of what he saw. Frein slipped diagonally underneath, intercepting the Fallen’s sluggish momentum.

The instant he got within striking distance, the sickly green meiyal swirled. At the same time, the inky meiyal gathered within the madman as though it was sucked up with desperate force.

Frein readied his Siffera to defend, but thought better of it; his gut telling him to strike now. So, he channeled the Art throughout his entire body and directed the flow towards Nakiri.

Following the all-too-famous adage: Be one with the sword, Frein believed his Siffera would recognize Nakiri as part of himself and thus strengthen it. He didn’t waste any time to confirm. With a motion he had practiced hundreds of thousands of times, Frein pulled the katana and sliced, aiming at the skulls.

The roar came and Frein—although already too late—realized his mistake. His Siffera was completely erased and the meiyal wave blasted him high into the air. The pain barely registered, but he couldn’t understand if it was due to shock or if he was actually almost unharmed.

Priorities first.

Frein barely managed to re-Draw his Siffera in time before he landed on the ground hard; the force skidding and bouncing him off quite the distance before he caught himself upright. He was flung by about a hundred meters outside the cul-de-sac.

He quickly assessed himself. Amazingly enough, Siffera regulated his breathing and mitigated the pain. Both the exhaustion and the hurt weren’t actually gone, simply held back by a surge of energy akin to adrenaline.

He bled from the eyes and nose, but thankfully, they didn’t feel deformed. His right arm was busted and barely responded to his commands, but he managed to hold onto the drawn Nakiri despite the force.

The sword was the problem.

For one, the meiyal wave ripped the scabbard off its strap. But the more pressing problem was the missing half of Nakiri’s blade.

Guess the plan didn’t work out. Frein cursed himself and started for the cul-de-sac where the Nightmare continued to rampage. He managed to take a few steps before his knees gave out.

He felt nauseous. The world around him spun in intertwining spirals and a vision started to form.

Frein was rooted in a tree, a large trunk growing thick, leafless branches. It oozed of slime, acidic to anything but the plant itself. Somehow, it smelled of a fragrant flower, a calming aroma to help one sleep.

Years passed and his body was slowly absorbed into the tree, making him a part of the trunk.

He had turned into a Nightmare.

“Oi, laddie! Get a hold of yerself!”

A nudge brought Frein back to his senses. A stout, balding man with a luxurious beard held him by the shoulders. He was using Samesia over the busted arm. To the Visitor’s surprise, his injury quickly healed.

A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

Almost as good as Katherine’s.

“Ye okay, laddie?” he asked. “Yer bleedin’ like a squeezed fruit.”

“Thanks. But I need to help the Princess.” Frein assumed the only reason the four remaining houses still stood was because of Kristel keeping the Nightmare’s attention.

He stored Nakiri back into his Spatiera and began to Mill.

“Ey, stop Millin’, lad. Yer gonna make yerself sick again,” the man said. He was quite short. Dwarven, Frein assumed as he passed a confused look. “Ye probably Gather’d some nasty meiyal, being too close to that Nightmare and all. Ya’d have to—”

Frein Milled anyway. This time around, he paid attention. Indeed, he saw the nasty meiyal. In his mind’s eye, they looked like the ink-colored tendrils surrounding the Fallen. He tried to precisely leave them out of the Milling process and he was mildly surprised by how easy it was. He could only credit it on his perfected Perpetual-Layered Milling form.

“Oi…” the dwarf began but quickly lost his words. “Ye’re separating them.” Frein supposed he was using an observation Meiyal Art. He made a mental note to check with Katherine if there was an Art to conceal him from observations—to minimize information when needed.

Speaking of the Lady, her current absence despite all the chaos meant that she found a way to save Xiv. I suppose I can’t just sit here and be a disappointment.

“Please stay here,” he said to the dwarf.

“Meiyal Arts ain’t gonna work on that Nightmare, laddie. Unless ye have something on yer Display that can pierce through their resistance, ye’d be best better off leavin’ it to the Princess.”

“No can do.” Frein didn’t bother explaining himself. With renewed meiyal reserves, he reignited his Siffera and headed back.

Sure enough, Kristel was there zigzagging around the Fallen.

“Observation Art!” he called out. Kristel didn’t bother turning to him and Drew.

“It’s weird! What about it?”

“See the black tendrils? If they get absorbed into the green core, it’ll blast an erasing wave. We’ll have to get out of range fast if that happens.” From what he could tell, the tendrils weren’t as prominent as last time but they were steadily growing. “Let’s switch. I’ll force it to use the erasing wave again, then you finish it off. Aim for the skulls.”

“But Meiyal Arts won’t work on it!” the Princess retorted.

“Just give it a try! I don’t think it can use that attack in quick succession.” Frein kicked the flailing rib swinging from the Nightmare, forcing its attention back to him.

Kristel relented and jumped back to one of the house’s roof. She focused and showed off her Display, creating a small ring of meiyal on her back.

While that was the plan Frein had come up with on the spot, he had one other agenda in mind. This time, instead of dodging away from the rib-weapon, he met it head-on. A punch or a kick, it didn’t matter. He deflected each attack with one of his own.

The rapid collisions reverberated around them, and slowly but surely, Frein brought the tide to his side. He increased his pace, hitting the rib twice each time it swung. Cracks began to form. By the time Those That Fell Off a Cliff realized what was going on, Frein had chipped off a significant portion of the bone.

The Nightmare jumped back, and Frein was quick to give chase, deliberately aiming for the damaged rib. He assaulted relentlessly until the entirety of the limb fell off with a loud snapping crack.

There was silence for a while, as though the Nightmare instinctively realized the purpose behind Frein’s attacks.

While it looked on dumbfounded, Frein glanced around the shards of bone scattered on the ground. They were already beginning to dissolve into meiyal. He picked up a thin shard long enough to act as a sword.

“That was for earlier, cliff-head.” He Drew an observation Meiyal Art and made his approach.

Without a weapon to defend itself, the Fallen began to retreat. Frein dashed around it, keeping the Nightmare contained within the cul-de-sac. It backed off, roaring and emitting harmful meiyal waves—not the erasing kind.

Frein took his time and observed the timing of the waves. The inky meiyal tendrils were back in full form and primed for the erasing wave. With a precise step, the Visitor closed the distance and swung the bone-sword at the skulls.

The moment the inky meiyal retracted to the green core, Frein bolted away to the other side. The erasing wave still caught him, but the distance he made mitigated any other harmful effects. He was barely pushed a step back.

“Now!” he yelled.

“Dai Irista-style,” Kristel chanted as she directed open palms towards the Fallen. Lightning crackled all around her arms. “Judgment!”

A white flash. Then a thunderous roar. It was over in an instant.

By the time Frein’s vision cleared, the disgusting smell of burnt flesh and bone had filled the air. Those That Fell Off a Cliff sizzled in the middle of the cul-de-sac, lifeless.

Kristel jumped off the roof; her Art fatigue evident by the amount of smoke coming out of her entire body.

“You, okay?” Frein asked.

“Yeah,” Kristel replied. He pointed all over the smoke. “It’s fine. I can’t Draw for a while, but I’m not completely out of meiyal yet. I don’t really use Judgment unless I have to.”

“Well, you sure toasted this abomination.”

“I thought Meiyal Arts won’t work on it.” Kristel took slow and deep breaths.

“We had an opening.”

“You mean during that erasing wave?”

“It was just a theory. If that wave erased everything within its range, maybe it also included itself, you know? Glad it worked out.”

The Princess side-eyed him. “What if it didn’t?”

“You saw what it was trying to do at the end. It was afraid. Besides, I think we’ve held it off for long enough. There shouldn’t be any civilians around.”

That brought a thought in him. He turned roughly towards the direction he came from and saw the dwarf hiding behind one of the houses. Kristel followed his gaze.

“Master Midan!” she exclaimed. “What are you doing here?”

“By my balding head, you did it!” the dwarf, Midan, rushed towards the Fallen corpse. “This be a profound discovery, m’lass! There ain’t no need to bypass its resistance, we just have to take the right timing!”

“Umm…Master Midan?”

“Yes, m’lass. I’m on it. We have to preserve the corpse and see if we can study or gather some materials from it.”

Kristel eagerly tapped at the dwarf’s shoulder to bring him out of his stupor. “We have a few things to talk about first, Master Midan. Can you send a green flare?”

Frein noticed a certain clarity in the dwarf’s eyes and sent out the flare.

“I see. No worries, m’lass. I’ll meet ye back at The Big Mess after I give ‘em some instructions…”

The conversation trailed off as Frein’s attention turned to a weight leaning on his leg. Enza melded into view.

“How long were you in Nature’s Favor?” Frein whispered.

“The entire fight. You asked me to stay out of the way. I was worried, you know!” Enza licked him furiously. Frein swore she got bigger again.

“You’re not tired or anything?”

“No.”

Weird. Frein scanned his yuma’s meiyal reserves with an observation Meiyal Art and found it to be completely full. He made a mental note to explore this further later.

“Can you do me another favor and check up on Katherine?”

“Do I ask her to follow back?” Enza tilted her head inquisitively.

“Only if she’s not busy.”

“Roger that.” As soon as she turned back, Enza melded out of view again.

“You sure you’ll let her use Nature’s Favor whenever she wants?” Kristel asked. Her Art fatigue had lessened to steady lines of smoke. Meanwhile, Midan was discussing with the guards that responded to the flare.

“I checked her reserves; they were completely normal. I want to know how long she can do it.”

Kristel nodded and sighed.

“What’s wrong?” he asked.

“This makes one thing crystal clear.” She crossed her arms for emphasis as she looked back at Those That Fell Off a Cliff. “Vyndival isn’t the enemy.”

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