Roars withered as ethereal blades slammed into each other. There was a moment of tension, the full, enhanced forces of two of the strongest people in the world pressing against each other. Izir was pushed back, but the opportunity went away as the formation of soldiers closed him in.

Blades pierced from all sides. Too much chaos to dodge everything. He couldn't even see most of the blades. He leaped back as his flesh was cut on the sides. Most were flesh wounds. Some stabbed into his stomach. He didn't push the pain away. Not again. Not like last time. He embraced it.

Even as he leaped back, however, he was still surrounded. As more blades stabbed at him from the sides, he jumped high into the air and took in the formation.

About half the squadron was on him. The rest were occupied by his companions. The men surrounding him had taken the shape of arrows coming in from the sides, when he retreated, there were rows of men on both his sides. Simple but effective.

Then a beam shot at him. And another. And another. He twisted his body and set up a few shields just in case before materializing a platform and pushing him toward the ground. He shot onto the ground and landed in a crouch. The surrounding men staggered before three came up to grab him while the others inflicted blows or prepared beams and compressions.

Aurelius was faster. And more prepared. He was alone, so he could improvise while the squadron followed their set strategies.

He grabbed an outreached hand and broke it at the elbow before using the man as a meat shield. A blade pierced through him, but didn't quite reach Aurelius who then pushed the man before shooting a hastily prepared beam through the man and the next. But even the least loaded beam Aurelius could manage took too much time to prepare. A miscalculation.

A ball of essence slammed into his back. The clothes on his back were torn to shreds at the exact moment of impact. His eyes shook wide as he turned everything but reinforcement onto mini supplies and focused everything he had on not being paralyzed by the shock. His spine ached, as something surged through his body, making muscles tense.

His face slammed into the mud, and for a moment, he thought himself paralyzed. But then he caught sight of Cade's figure struggling through the assailants, her face bloody and twisted with desperation.

Mini supplies gone. The power returned to his shoulder and he ripped his body forward before hurling himself up to his feet with a flip and slamming his fist into the first face he saw. The man's face crushed under the pressure, but Aurelius didn't care. It was onto the next one.

He turned, after having taken in the assailants at his back and proceeded to break and stab and kill everything before him as he dodged the strike he saw from his peripheral vision and turned when someone he had foreseen was at his back.

He soon found that the men had abandoned the arrow shapes. But there had been no signal. No, they were improvising. And like a hivemind, they split apart right as Aurelius wondered where their leader had gone.

Aurelius was about to rotate, a ball of compression writhing in his hand. But before he could complete the motion, someone put a hand on the ball of compression. And as the essence of pure destruction touched flesh, Aurelius' hand jerked back from the impact, undoing his rotation. There was a scream. Then a ball of essence slammed into Aurelius' side as Izir punched forth.

Aurelius managed a shield. But what good it did could be summarized as 'not a lot'. No setup and hasty construction.

There was a spear waiting at his back when he launched back. Having seen it, Aurelius twisted in the air so that the spear grazed his side before he split the mess of a formation and tumbled, slamming each body part into the mud and tree parts on the ground before his back hit a tree trunk.

And as he sat there, eyes hollow, blood pouring out of his mouth like it was made to do it, he couldn't help but blame Balgair for provoking the enemy. He turned his head with a groan for a split second of seeing his friends slowly die before a beam shot at him.

Aurelius' hand shot up and a tilted shield came into existence, but only to redirect the beam a little before it dispersed and left Aurelius' reinforcement to fend off the last of the energy which tore his skin apart.

He weakly slumped to the side and let the beam pass by, only taking part of his shoulder.

The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

In the mud, it was cool. He looked up through his blurry eyes at the approaching men. It was the end.

And at the end, laying in the mud, his back, side, and hand ripped to the bone, Aurelius cried. Not for pity. Not for anything. Just sadness flowing down his cheeks. Tears with no purpose except the self-expression of a helpless young man who thought he was more.

Izir looked at him, the sniveling boy, not with disgust, but apathy. "After this, I'll kill your friends," he said as he put his hands together and prepared a beam from ten meters away. "Stop crying. This was how it was always going to end. You were simply too stupid to see it."

Even the mere act of breathing became a hellish labor as Aurelius curled up and closed his bloody eyes, the overwhelming pain searing his mind.

The rain was loud like drumming. A moment of silence. Then flesh was sliced. "REY!"

Aurelius' eyes shot wide as Cade's voice called out in the darkness. He heaved a breath as she met Izir head-on. She wasn't strong enough. They were evenly matched, but she was already injured and then she was beaten down by more.

Aurelius just couldn't take it. The pain, the loss. These people beat down everyone in their way, not because of a grudge, but because they were all like him. Like Izir.

The man was a plague. An angry plague, spreading over men. They were all lost and angry people just looking for somebody to punish. But Aurelius would not be that somebody. He could bleed and be killed, but he would not be a victim. Not of this devil.

Aurelius looked at Izir and saw an ugly red face with jagged teeth biting on his love and he could not take it. That man was pure evil, so even if Aurelius had to give in to that sensation, it was only right.

Aurelius shook his body as he pushed to pain away, remembering what blood coursed through his veins. Yes, it was right. It was so right!

Aurelius ripped forward and materialized claws before pushing himself into the first person who came his way. He scratched at his face, taking his eyes before punching his hands forward multiple times, giving the man tens of stab wounds in a split second before he flung his body forward with wild momentum and ripped through a group of men, untouchable.

Then he met eyes with Cade. He felt like puking. Not because of how she looked at him, but because of how for a moment he wanted to rip her to pieces all the same. To find out what she was made of. Did she really think herself stronger than him? He pushed the torturous thoughts away and focused on combat.

He remained untouched on his way to Izir and when they met eyes, he could see the man shake. That's right. Deep down, he hated him because he feared him. Aurelius' smile grew.

"Creature," Izir whispered as he pushed away from Cade.

"Hah!" Aurelius let out a mocking laugh straight from the heart before they met in the field.

Aurelius' feet slid in the mud as he planted his feet, grabbed Izir's hand, and moved faster than he thought possible.

'Slices on the forearm, block the right hand, right fist straight to the chin, pull back, claw at the ribs, elbow to solar plexus. Sword on the left. Grab the arm. Pull. Claws to throat. Crush. Throw by the forearm to the left,' a flow of thought coursed through his mind faster than they were registered, as Aurelius completed a series of movements that got only sharper and more lethal with every strike.

Then he turned back to Izir and kicked his knee at an unnatural angle. There was a sound. Bones broken? Joints torn? Not sure what it was. Couldn't be good. More men. It was time to end this.

The calws disappeared, replaced by two blades as the remaining men rushed at him for their leader's sake. Aurelius danced through attacks, eyes jumping at every movement. Everything was torn. His body screamed and so did he and everyone. Die. Just die. Everybody dead.

His eyes were blurry. There was no intention in any movement anymore. He could not see faces. But he could fight. Even with nothing else, he could fight. He could kill. He could be a monster. At the end of the world, he was going to be a monster.

Blades shredded through flesh.

"Help!"

Whose voice?

"Now Aurelius!"

There was no end to it.

"We're dying!"

The blades were whistling.

"Snap out of it!"

Oh, how peaceful the ripping of flesh seemed.

The smooth flow of a blade against the skin.

Blood was life.

Aurelius knew nothing but life.

He was covered in it.

Life flooded.

A shriek came, and Aurelius slowed, his body a tired mess. Lazily, he turned only to see his friends struggling for their lives. Losing. They were losing. He rushed out, leaving everything behind. Balgair's hand was a stump with blood rushing out, his hand having been chopped off.

Aurelius froze. He had torn humans to pieces all along, but as he watched his friend evade the enemy while frantically holding onto his lost hand, he felt his guts being squeezed.

'Hold on. I'll save you,' he thought as he dashed through mud to reach his friends surrounded by enemies.

Everybody was tired. Cade fought with sloppy movements, but she was alive. She was always alive.

The enemy turned as Aurelius made it close, but instead of engaging him, Aurelius jumped over to Balgair who'd been screaming his name. He was there. His friend could lie down. He was there to take it all on.

But why had he not seen it? Izir had disappeared, and he had not seen it. But he saw it now. Balgair, bleeding out from his hand with an arm firmly wrapped around his weak neck.

Aurelius reached out a hand, his feet sinking into the mud, impossibly more heavy than before. "Izir, please."

Balgair looked scared and sorry. He didn't deserve this. "Aurelius, it's not your fault," he said, his voice low.

"Yes... it is," Izir said before pulling back.

"NO!" Aurelius shrieked, the high tone piercing ears.

His feet struck into motion, but the distance was impossible, and Izir was too fast. Balgair tried to maneuver out of range to no avail.

A blade went through Balgair's stomach. Again and again, until no doctor could save him.