'M-mana? They're made out of mana?'

Suta had no clear explanation for how these figures appeared, but they were here, as real as the air he could breathe.

25 feet away.

The azure figures continued striding alongside him. His gaze moved ahead, and two of the three fiery humanoids dashed ahead, gliding forward with an unmatched speed he could only barely comprehend. The first ghostly humanoid struck against the creature; its entire body suddenly turned red before disintegrating into countless particles. He watched a second Azure ghost carry out another strike. It, too, left the scene in the same manner.

'What in the world is going on?' His mind felt stuck in limbo watching this play out.

But surprisingly, his gaze never faltered. Suta felt as calm as a lonely stream running through a naked valley. His focus remained heightened to its optimum state. The world around him had changed strangely. Slow and grey, had time stopped? No, but it had indeed slowed down.

10 feet away.

It suddenly dawned that these strange azure figures were materializing from himself. He only overlooked the softest gentle wisps of Mana drawing out from his essence. More and more of these slender forms of energy continued to dash forward, and each one would perform some kind of strike different from the other before turning red and breaking apart. Suta became fixated on their presence and trailed each one of their movements closely right up until the expected end.

'Their trajectories are similar, but they aren't identical. They're all performing a slightly different movement each time. A movement...I...can perform. ' A growing suspicion was telling him these things were almost predicting something. After a few had struck and turned into vapouring red particles

'Prediction? Wait…that could be it. Predictions!'

Suta felt his hypothesis was spot on; these figures must have predicted his path—the best course for him to attack. He wasn't going to question how or why this was happening. He simply focused again. His eyes remained glued to their appearances; one by one, a dash of blue glided forward. Countless red endings were breaking away. Suta focused even more; he cleared his mind and felt little about himself. He focused and fell deeper into the void.

5 feet away

The monster slowly twisted its body his way. ' Not yet, just a little more...a little more.'

He tightened his grip and held Moondrop ahead of him. He kept his other hand against his back, securing Red Tooth in a reverse grip.

Suta was perhaps seconds away from confronting the creature head-on in real time. Suddenly, clarity flashed across his sight. One azure figure, in particular, surged forward, leaving a trail of golden light in its wake. Its countenance, by far, looked more unique compared to the others. It twisted its entire body and struck the creature at an angle, ensuring it landed behind it. The figure didn't break away into red particles this time. Its one-man onslaught continued. Clarity resurfaced, and a knowing smile broke free across Suta's face. He took another step and sucked in a large gasp of air.

The grey world dissolved, and time resumed again. Suta felt pain, and the swell of emotions he had suppressed within his body resurfaced. Before the creature could react to his arrival, Suta flawlessly reenacted the shimmering azure figure's movements. The beast approached it from his left side and tossed a deadly claw forward. Suta stopped on his heels, pivoted on that standing foot, and twisted around the outstretched arm. A flash of realizing something appeared in his thoughts. Using Moondrop, which he secured in his left hand, he slashed downwards, drawing a jagged red line from the top of its back down to the middle. Suta saw the incoming tail from below and jumped away in time. He adjusted his footing and danced to the other side; another backhanded arm bore his way. He ducked, rolled forward, and found the sucked-in ribcage of the creature wide open.

{Double Slash}

He sliced muscle and bone in what felt like his first critical hit. Suta quickly sensed its downward claws bearing upon him soon enough. He adjusted his footing before he weaved to one side, stood upright, and weaved again. Each time, the cutting winds skimmed only agonizingly past his head. His wide gaze never blinked; he thought against it, half scared that once he did blink, he wouldn't be able to see that azure light anymore.

Suta could still make out faint remnants of its outline, its ethereal form dancing wherever it liked. It was free; its purpose accurate and magnificent, like a deity of water freely moving in which way it pleased. Unbeknownst to himself, he had long fallen into a trance. Suddenly, his movements had become watery, efficient, and devastatingly accurate. Only Suta was so engrossed in the mysterious movements that he seldomly ignored the welts and claw marks appearing more and more against his body.

Despite almost performing the movement to perfection, his body was somewhat slowing down. With every passing minute, his joints were a few fractions of a second slower. Using Double Slash repeatedly was a double-edged sword. But Suta was on such a high level that he felt himself readily addicted to this feeling.

His ankle locked into place painfully; that fault caused him to incur another deep gash across his chest. Suta heaved cool air and refocused. At the rate he was going, he was set to be a corpse by the time this had ended. Blood poured down his stomach now; he saw Verdi's bright rays swiftly moving across the air, diving down his loose-necked tunic and already melding his wounds shut.

Suta twisted Red Tooth and jabbed forward. Its red bite sunk into the creature's shoulder, and then he dragged the dagger down, carving a cruel line across its chest. A bestial roar erupted and almost shattered his eardrums. Suta could nearly predict its movements at this point. Ducking so low he almost dropped to his knees, by a hair's breadth, he just about missed the ferocious claw from carving his scalp open. He reacted with Moon drop and sliced its abdomen. The beast roared painfully before it spun its entire body and slammed its thick tail against his body. Suta felt the sharp winds clashing against his wounds. A sense of weightlessness quickly erupted into a firm crash of pain.

Pain devastated his body again, but Suta was already alert enough to rise to his weak feet and resume his fighting stance.

'My left shoulder, did I…dislocate it?' The empty feeling against his arm told him that was the case. But Suta held no time to explore that wonder, fearing the accumulated pain would eventually render him unable even to move. He took a few deep breaths and bounced gently against his heels before darting forward. His confidence was growing, as were the wounds against his body. This maddening sense of his immortality had become akin to a drug. Suta was constantly falling in and out of a ghostly trance. His body was moving on a wave of detached instincts, naively gullible at times, frequently precisely deadly with a broad scope of unrelenting and unorthodox swings, slashes, stabs, and hooks.

Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

At times, Suta felt like he was dancing, a feral, tribal dance where the soles of his feet barely remained rooted down. He twirled, hopped, slid, and even pranced on both fleet-footed heels and springy toes. His bulging eyes refused to blink. His mouth remained slackened, drool falling down the sides. Suta could feel that sensation again, the art of mastery drawing ever closer. He held his toe dipped into the pool of it, but not quite yet submerged within the mastery of what felt like a new skill being learned.

The creature's demeanour was changing again. Two red fires appeared in its sockets. Rage. It launched itself forward, swinging its sharp, gnarled claws. Suta swayed back, but he felt the dangerously sharp wind slicing the air. A red line split across his chin; another flash of pain descended. Within that crucial moment, he saw his chance. With both of its claws spread apart, its visor was left unmanned.

"VERDI NOW!" He roared hoarsely. The little fairy weaved to his front and rushed forward carrying a pulsing golden light.

{Brightness x4}

A burst of blinding white light shone. Suta shut his two eyes quickly, but the creature was none the wiser. He heard its gnarled voice painfully howl. Suta moved on instincts and delivered a flurry of wild slashes against its firm torso. He felt his muscles tightening. His arms shook and forced him to retreat when poised to deliver a critical blow.

'I wonder how long I can go. How long until everything stops? This battle. If I overcome this, there'll be more. More monsters. More enemies. More problems to solve. More. More. Will it ever end?'

He adjusted his footwork and shifted his weight towards one side; his daggers danced again, and ribbons of blood flayed wildly. Suta was fighting on par with a creature who overwhelmed him in every metric possible. With every sway of his head, shift of his footing, and twirl and control of his body, he danced on the edge of death. One wrong move would spell the end.

'Focus…Focus…don't be swayed by it…focus Suta…Fo…cus.'

His words began to echo in his thoughts like a metronome airily. Time slowed again, and Suta saw a foggy azure figure appearing like before. Its watery movements were sleek and regal, like those of a knight. That figure again finally showed him the rest of its dance.

'I see, that's why it feels so…bright.'

Suta heard a surprisingly delicate voice filtering into his ears. He saw the blue figure slowly twisting its head towards him. The figure was faceless, but Suta could tell that voice must've come from it.

'I think I know who you are now. You're a fairy, aren't you? Your dance, you wanted to show it to me. I think it's beautiful, by the way…and thank you.'

The azure figure was still momentarily, but it slowly bowed its head. Its body began to fade away again into a fiery wind. Time has gradually resumed its course. Suta gripped the handle of his two daggers before engaging in another flurry of exchanges. This time, however, he saw the creature bend its knee. Suta exhaled a murky breath and used this chance to tuck himself closer; his head fell just below the creature's chin. Its neck was exposed; its head would fall now.

'Thanks to it, I now know how to end this.'

One last Double Slash would do it. Just one more. One…more. A foggy memory appeared within Suta's thoughts at that moment.

Suta : "Come on, you can tell me. We're companions for the day, aren't we? Don't companions share everything?"

Ser Ector : "C-companion? With sire? I am unworthy,"

Suta : "Pfft, don't be silly! The moment we agree on something, we've already become companions. How about this! Instead of 'sire' or whatever you're mumbling there, why don't you call me... Suta."

Ser Ector: "Oh dear, no! How could a lowly servant like me be graceful enough to speak sire's true name? A name only our mother utters! No, I must humbly refuse, s-sire."

Suta : "What if I ordered you?"

Ser Ector: "Then I'd have to personally reject it and march myself to the dungeons for such blasphemy!"

Suta: "And if I refuse that punishment too, then what?"

Ser Ector : "Then I will fall on my sword, sire! I would be unable to live with such shame!"

The corners of his mouth slowly lifted. He hated that he was thinking about such things at that moment, but...but he couldn't help it.

Mom: "Sigh ...you've always been a brave boy, " she said, ruffling his coarse hair. "You get that from me, ahaha, but you should try not to always shoulder the burdens of the world on your own. It's not your job to do that. You understand what I'm saying to you, right?"

‎"And don't overthink about Ringo...she-she's growing up so quickly these days, and just like you and I, she too wants to be brave and protect the things closest to her. It's one of my greatest wishes that you and her will be the best of friends one day. So, try your best with her...ok?"

Shoba : "Y-yes Mom...I will try."

Warm tears started to run down his cheek. Suta hadn't realized when he fell into a daze. His hand was shaking, and the dagger he held just below the creature's neck had barely grazed it.

‘Huh? wh-why did I stop?'

And in that moment of hesitation. Sutas body violently convulsed, with his eyes bulging wide he lowered his gaze to the horrible reality that the creature had impaled him through his stomach.