∼ Day 220 ∼

Before I had time to react, the blinding blur of his spear struck me in my chest, the fanatic human disappearing from where he had stood and closing the distance within but an instance.

[You have taken 52 damage!]

I could feel all the air leave my chest as my body was thrown backward, the spear not penetrating my body, receiving the entire kinetic force of the blow as a result.

As I tumbled across the ground, getting to my feet once I managed to stop my momentum, I rubbed the ache where the spear had just barely penetrated my skin and tore a thin layer of muscle. While the attack hadn't been all that powerful and the damage quite minimal, there were quite a few disconcerting facts unveiled by it.

The blow had been just a probing attack, but the sheer speed behind it was not something I could match with my own. And even though the man's spear did not possess the sheer lethality and cutting edge that the human swordswoman had with her weird heirloom, the skill with what he wielded the spear displayed in that one simple thrust was beyond anything the swordswoman dream of.

Furthermore, this zealot's strength was ridiculous.

"Hmph, at least you can take a hit," He grunted, flicking his spear to rid it of the small amount of blood coating the tip.

The small amount of damage had already healed almost the instant the wound had appeared, but the ache of the blow was still a sobering reminder of the power behind the monster facing me.

I didn't answer, too focused to think of any snide retorts or comments.

This was no time for fooling around, and I hadn't been idle either.

With a great amount of will, I let a tendril from the winds of chaos within my core exit, making the desired direction but allowing it carve its own path. And as I did so, one spell that had been so elementary and initial to my first delve into the world of magic enacted itself.

Without having time to react, the blood of which the human had just flicked off his spear, suddenly twitched and lept at the man. Although he noticed it at the last second, even with his speed, he couldn't avoid it. And so, Stagnation activated as a symbol from my blood itself, formed by the chaos and will of my mind, on the human's body.

The blood crept along with his shiny armor, shaping itself in an unfamiliar pattern. Not like the glyphs I once used, but symbols that followed the natural course of chaos itself. The once easy spell, one that I had been able to cast with but a slight thought and which had little to no effect on the ever-greater foes been facing since rising to real power, was now more hard to cast than any other spell I've attempted before. It was also the only spell I currently could wield.

"You dare befoul me with this vile sorcery?" The human scowled as he was unable to stop the rune from forming, seeming as if it sunk through his armor and disappeared upon completion.

He was genuinely pissed now, the flicker of a white fire burning behind his eyes.

He lept for me, the ground beneath his feet exploding outwards at the immense force behind his legs. But even as he did, the effects of Stagnation were clear. Unlike its much - much weaker predecessor, where even pumping the spell formation full with mana would have practically no effect towards someone even of a similar level of power to me, this new form of the spell was powerful.

Slowed down significantly, I could finally react to the blur that was Cain. Dodging the spear that went point first for my head, I attempted to land a glancing blow to the slowed and surprised spearman. But even with his considerable drop in speed, his spear still moved with blinding speed, its ivory shaft flicking up to deflect the blow to his side.

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Before he could break his momentum and retaliate, I had already disappeared into my shadows, another figure pouncing on him from the front.

Clamping down on the spear, only inches from the man's arms which he moved away just in time, the massive wyvern shook its head like a dog with a toy, throwing away the spear and the man latching onto it so he smashed into the lip of the cavemouth I had come from. A shriek tore from Sombra's maw, in challenge to the human-turned chew toy.

But even as he picked himself off the ground, rubble and stone clattering down from where he had struck the rocky surface, I increased the tempo.

The clang of metal and force rang out as we exchanged blows, my weapons formed of blood constantly changing in an effort to throw him off. But even as I did so, Sombra helping me by battering the much smaller human around, tearing up the clearing and earth beneath our feet, we were unsuccessful in dealing any real damage.

I faced two major problems. Cain, the religious fanatic, could apparently see straight through my shadows, always knowing the general direction of where I was and making it hard for me to make any use of them. But most troubling was the fact that his defense was impenetrable, with none of the attacks I attempted to land on the master spearman striking home. All of them deftly parried or blocked with incredible ease despite the debilitating mark of magic slowing him down.

The way he moved with that weapon was with such skill that I could hardly believe it. How could one, with but a stick that had a pointy end, do the things that he did?

It was astonishing, even for the likes of the mystical and magical world that we found ourselves in.

More so troubling than the fact that I could get past his defense was that I knew he was holding back. He had yet to display the full might of his heirloom, the ivory spear, and any major skill by the looks of it.

I could hardly accept that someone with the classes, Champion of Light and Arch Paladin, didn't have more than just unparalleled skill with a spear.

I began realizing that I had to make a move if I really wanted to hurt the damned spearman. Calling upon the only other two remaining cards I had to play, that weren't my last option trump cards, I summoned Ketsu.

Streaming out from me, the slightly humanoid blood monster, many times larger than his originally small self, launched itself at the human who stared in surprise. Before he could even dodge the deluge of living blood, I activated Petrifying Gaze, rooting the man in place.

Ketsu just managed to catch him by the legs, creeping up as he tried desperately to destroy the blood monster that splattered in every with each powerful swipe of his spear. Ketsu was making little progress with the lack of foreign blood to substantially feed him and increase his power as he could grow much larger, but he did just what I needed him to do.

It was finally at this time, I landed the first true hit, one arm-sized spike of blood that encased my entire hand and forearm passed straight through the spear master's defense and pierced him right through the heart.

[Human "Cain" has taken 1528 damage, a critical hit!]

All movement froze for an instant, however, it wasn't relief that washed over me. Rather, it was a sense of dread that had me Blink away in pure instinct.

Still standing slumped over as if my arm was still impaling his chest, holding him up, I could feel his strength wane as his vital lifeblood ran in rivulets over his mangled armor. However, the increasingly weakening presence only caused me greater unease.

"Ketsu!" I called, the familiar working double-time as it enveloped his body, seeping into every orifice, his wound, mouth, nose, and ears.

[You have taken 46 damage!]

But a sudden aura of pure power came over him despite his failing body, causing sudden agony to lance through my body.

The damage notification and pain came from seemingly nowhere, and I went I did regain my sense I laid eyes on the still form of Cain, seeing what had really happened.

A white fire, a flame that produced no heat burned around the gaping hole in his chest. Before my eyes, his wound closed in but scant few seconds, the mangled armor that punched into his skin melting like they weren't some incredibly tough magical metal.

But what really struck terror in me was that Ketsu wailed with suffering, its form scorched by the white flame coming from the fanatic. However, this wasn't any ordinary damage.

No.

The flame was burning its soul.

My soul.

Like a mirage, I thought I saw a figure, massive and majestic unlike anything I've seen, looming over the figure of Cain. Like some god.

"The will has achieved permanence and is eternal, inextinguishable, imperishable to anything terrestrial or adhering to the mortal coil." The words of A Sovereign's Undying Will echoed in my mind.

"Anything terrestrial or adhering to the mortal coil..."

"Are those the flames of a god?"

Realizing the danger and realizing taking down this person no longer was worth the risk, I recalled the hurt Ketsu and flashed to Sombra's side who immediately took me into the air, flying on wings that were even more powerful than my own.

This fanatic was able to hurt my soul, damage that my health wasn't recovering from, unlike wounds on my body. He had a god on his side, helping him.

I doubted that the gods of this world were above the System, so it made me wonder with horror how they could extend their influence to inside the Trials. But before I even got far from the clearing where we had fought, Cain had disappeared.

Attempting to locate the human, if you could even call him that anymore, proved futile as the flaming figure, bathed in the white flames of a god floated in the air before us. The ivory spear covered in the same flames at his side as he stood in the path Sombra flew.

"You've got to be kidding me," I muttered as Sombra came to a dead halt, hovering in the air before the flaming angel.