When the Udwi originally heard of the Usurper, he envisioned a powerful man. A man with a strong build and the charisma to act as a leader. One who had the will to continue onwards despite having to face off against such a powerful figure and have the power to go through with such a task. A true warrior amongst men and one that was truly one in a millenia.
After coming to this world and witnessing just how corrupt the land was, he realized that he was wrong. The Usurper was not a strong man or a warrior, but a snake. A backstabbing no good bastard that couldn’t care less for anyone else but himself, someone that had no qualms about the state of the world so long as he benefits from the cruelty. Such a being could not have a spine as they were forced to resort to such weak and useless monsters to act as their enforcement units. How incompetent such a leader could be when every single last one of their units were so dumb that they were borderline useless.
Perhaps this was the reason why the Usurper had to take on such a menacing figure as a means of intimidation. Either that or this was the form of their soul, corrupted and darkened by the sheer evil they have brought out to these lands.
Either way, this was a situation he found himself in. He hadn’t expected to come face to face with the new king of these lands so early and he certainly wasn’t ready for such a fight, but this was something he couldn’t avoid. In any case, he had to prepare himself for defense.
He put up his fists and got ready to fight. The dark figure continued to stare at him, before its entire body split in half vertically to reveal a long row of fangs that were all misshapen and crooked. The maw seemed to open and close for a brief few seconds, breathing deeply in and out, before finally speaking out.
“So this is what that pitiful broken man brought in. This? This was his last resort?”
Pitiful broken man? The Udwi couldn’t help but squint his eyes at that statement. Was the Usurper talking about the person he met up at the tower?
“Ah. I see. It is him.” The maw seemed to chuckle at that, all of which threw him off.
What? Don’t tell me this bastard has been able to read my thoughts the entire time! Since when was he able to get into my head like this?
The Usurper chose not to give him an answer, merely having its head shake back and forth before speaking once more.
“How pathetic. Did he truly think warriors from another realm would be the answer to dealing with me? This was the best he could do? This pitiful soul that couldn’t even fight back against my divinity? This wretch who struggled to fight one of my scouts?”
“A lot to say from a snake that wouldn’t dare show his true body.” The Udwi spat, “Why don’t you show your true self instead of hiding behind such a grandiose act of power?”
“Hah. Hah. Hahahah!” The maw bellowed. The Usurper seemed to take the statement in good fun, but he wasn’t fooled. If that was the case, then that eye of his shouldn’t have intensified its glare with absolute hate.
He already knew that he had insulted the pride of this bastard. What he didn’t expect was how petty the Usurper was. He found himself being snagged even deeper into the murk until his head had dipped far into the substance. H still wasn’t aware of what this liquid was, but he knew that being this deep made him choke and gag as they began to tighten all over his body, including his neck. While none of the fluid got into his mouth, they seemed sentient as they were choking him and gripping hard enough that he could feel his body being crushed completely.
Then when he was almost gone, he was shoved up to the surface and freed from that deadly pressure. He took a deep breath in and braced himself to be dragged down once more, only to find himself being grabbed and lifted up in the air.
“Filthy peon. Know your place, worm.” The maw spat with pure hate, the flecks of anger splashing against the liquid and causing ripples that went endlessly throughout the surface, “You dare talk down to a God? One that is far beyond the likes that you can even fathom? Disrespect me one more time and I will teach you the true meaning of pain.”
The Udwi had words. Oh, he absolutely did. However, he did not desire to have any kind of pain or suffering delivered upon him, thus he decided to keep quiet.
The Usurper waited for a brief while, clearly checking to see if he would levy any insults. Upon being satisfied that there would be no backtalk, the maw smiled and proceeded to go onwards.
“That’s better. You’ve learned to respect your betters. That’s much better now.” The maw spoke, before proceeding to continue, “Allow me to continue. As I was saying, did you really think you could do any substantial damage to my reign? True, you have the power to kill the inhabitants of these lands. You managed to take down one of my scouts. But do you really think that truly means much in the long run? You may win the battle, but you cannot win the war. No matter how many of you there are, nothing can be done to succeed. This is meant for failure and you have only signed a suicide pact.”
He did not say anything in response. There was nothing to say anyways, with the way the Usurper seemed to enjoy listening to himself talk.
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“Why bother? If you truly wish to be a part of something better, then give up your arms. Abandon the quest that you have been forced into and join my ranks. You will be reborn, given shape to a better form. One that will allow you to do as you wish and please.”
That was enough. The Udwi truly tried, he really did. But after hearing that, there was no way he could hold back anymore. After all, this bastard reminded him far too much of those filthy British scum.
The way they held their head up high and sniffed down at him and his country men. The way they called him a savage and how absolutely disrespectful they were to every single person he knew and loved. This means they tried to break up the tribe and to incite havoc by trying to kill his people just to say they could.
This monster was all that and more. He couldn’t sit back here and listen to this shit any longer. He’d face the consequences for his actions, but there was no way he would sit here and suffer this anymore.
“What? You mean to be remade into the same monsters that roam these rotten lands? The ones that are so brain dead they cannot parse language and charge at everything they see despite how absolutely foolish such an action is?”
“You– How dare you–”
“Oh, shut up!” He roared back, the maw flinching back in shock, “You talk a lot of crap about becoming something better, but you prove you are not capable of achieving such a grand action! These lands are nothing more than a disease that continues to fester without fail! Everything that dies turns to dust rather than help provide to the people that live in these lands! You have failed at providing anything of worth with your powers, doing nothing more than destroying and corrupting whatever this land could have offered! The only places that are still grand and beautiful are those that have not been touched by your filthy hands!”
The maw growled viciously, but he was not done.
“Even if I lose the war, it won’t matter. Each battle I win gives the opportunity for others to take my place. Perhaps I alone am not enough, but that will not matter. No matter how many I have to kill, no matter if this war is truly as doomed as you say… so long as I have the ability to ruin your plans and destroy your hopes and dreams, I will never give up. No matter how fruitless this whole endeavor is.
“Because I am a warrior of the Zulu. I was chosen for this duty and no matter how much you try to do anything to persuade me, you will never succeed. Not so long as I breathe and you live to see another day.”
“Then die.” The maw gnashed before the Udwi could feel the pressure building up once more, this time directly in his head. He roared with pain as the maw began to laugh in sheer joy. He could feel his being as a whole breaking bit by bit, losing part of who he was and for that single moment he felt a tinge of regret. He didn’t want to lose himself completely, he wanted to survive! He had to save his tribe, kill the British, and prove that this Usurper was nothing more than a snake that had no true power at all.
He refused. He would not die like this. He couldn’t–will not die in such a pathetic manner!
Another roar. Not one of pain but of defiance. He poured all of his will to try to fight back against the pressure, to find some spark within himself to reverse the tide of power. The Usurper had said the God had given him some of their power, which meant he still had to have something to fight back.
He dug deep into himself. He searched and struggled. In that infiniteisemlam moment where he would be turned into nothing more than a paste, he found something. A connection to his soul that he had not been able to achieve.
Perhaps this was because he was in a true life or death situation. Where there truly was no chance to escape and fight again after analysis. A moment where the only true option was to fight or die. In this exact moment, he was able to break through his limits and surpass everything he had imagined himself to be.
He found the connection to the anima. He asked–no, demanded they all helped him. In this inescapable void where these spirits were nothing more than ants to an elephant, they all obeyed to follow his demands.
The pressure disappeared in an instant. The maw went from smug and confident to utter shock. That gave way to horror as the Udwi floated in the air and the wind began to blur throughout every single corner of this void. The spirits were all convening to his march and there truly was nothing the Usurper could do.
“You dare infringe upon my domain?! How? How is this possible? You were only given a silver of the remaining divinity, you should not have the capacity to overthrow me at this moment!”
“Perhaps you should have put some effort in actually being a true warrior rather than a snake.” He spat, before giving the order.
The spirits erupted into chaos. The harsh winds ripped and tore into the darkness, making all the liquids evaporate upon getting struck. Bit by bit, the dark fluid began to dissipate and the black shadow erupted into shrieks of pain as it began to melt back into the ground. The maw tried to escape into its own blob before getting struck by the wind. The fangs were all shattered into multiple pieces and the mouth was ripped apart until it became nothing more than fragments of black tar that evaporated into nothing.
The eye itself flew out from the figure, before flying all around as the spirits struck it over and over again. However, even all of that was not enough to destroy this shadow, as the boy seemed to regenerate from the eye.
“Enough! I will not allow you to steal even more divinity!” The Usurper roared throughout the void, before the eye twitched and burst open into a flood of red and orange. All of that then molded itself into a giant hand that came speeding towards the Udwi.
A roar of sheer hatred and anger came from the incoming limb, prepared to grab him and finish him off once and for all. However, he wasn’t scared. In fact, he couldn’t care less.
Right here and now, the Udwi knew. There was nothing the Usurper could do to him in this place and time anymore.
The spirits came together and formed into a whirlwind of death. The hand flew right into it and thus became shreds of black once more. The screams of pain filled him with joy as the eye began to twitch and jolt around in sheer suffering, before finally going still.
That was when something odd happened. The eye seemed to nearly melt away, before leaving behind a white shining orb that floated up in the air for a little while. At least, until it began to float slowly towards him and enter his chest.
Any pain he had before disappeared in an instant. His mind felt clear again and his strength was returning to him. Another flash of light began to enter his vision.
Then he blinked and found that he was staring at the sky once more. At least, until the Samurai’s mask covered up his view.