There was not even a sprinkle of doubt in my mind at the time… that someone like him simply could not exist. This guy… if Ninigi was the immovable object in my path, then he was the unstoppable force coming straight at me, indestructible at its very core. No champion by any means, but he possessed the strength I desperately needed. I sought out his power as my life took a steady decline over the decades, like finding a spring in the middle of the dessert after years of searching.
He proved inferior to me despite my weak condition… that was the most terrifying factor about him. He was on his knees… weak and tired from all the injuries he endured, yet the one trembling in fear… was me. I knew he’d stand up, and he did… I knew he’d come back… and he did. A mortal that hunted me with endless vigor, no matter how much more powerful his opponent he would not stop.
I was surprised to know he was quickly forgotten… achieving the greatest deed this world had ever known just to be replaced by an idolized image of a generic hero. A sword wielding man with every virtue that humans like… kind, patient, always eager to help and do the right thing. Hearing about him from mother’s lips almost made me believe that the legends were right all along, but a small fragment in my scattered memories still remembered him well. What I was to humanity… he became to my specters.
Eastern Region of the Deadlands: 936, December 31st, Monday, 2:30 AM.
Inhaling deeply before blowing the air out with pursed lips, the fiery redhead Gal Frey propelled herself against a pair of hungry demons that charged at her with intimidating roars. Both creatures towered over her small stature, their armored bodies displaying a powerful structure that would put the strongest body builder to shame.
Despite the obvious advantage the specters held in physical appearance, the young girl proved her valor through combat skill and superhuman capabilities, utilizing her strength and speed to dominate the battle. She ducked under the slicing claws of one of the beasts while sliding across the dirt with the heels of her feet, creating a trail of dust that followed her trajectory.
Her second opponent quickly chased behind her, jumping at her from a distance while raising its arm above its head—putting its obsidian bladed hand at full display. Already anticipating the monster’s attack, Gal pressed both feet on the ground with an abrupt motion that forced her body forward, allowing herself to fall while planting both hands on the dirt. She followed the inertia of her movement to lift her feet in the air, and roll away from the attack of her foe like a starfish.
The bladed arm of the specter slammed the dusty ground that the girl once stood on, lifting piles of rocks at the sheer strength behind its strike. Its assault did not cease after its unsuccessful attack however, as the demon quickly initiated a second chase against its opponent—followed closely by the second specter.
Both creatures joined their efforts in an attempt to best the nimble and slippery redhead, but the hybrid girl’s speed proved superior to that of the demons—avoiding their rapid swings with precise movements as she stepped and jumped away from their attacks with relative ease.
“Heh!” Gal chuckled with a confident smirk that showed her shiny teeth, evading the horizontal slash of one of her opponent’s bladed arms with an upwards jump. “My turn!”
Having witnessed the limits of her opponents, the girl proceeded to move into the offensive after gaining some distance with a quick backwards jump—rolling across the air like a football that had been kicked by a professional athlete. She landed safely on one knee, and hopped back on her feet as she raised one leg closer to her chest.
The sole of her foot began to glow with an azure light that resembled the ones emitted by gladean knights, created by a mysterious stream in her veins that concentrated itself in a single point of her body. Both demons ignored the warning signs created by the azure color they learned to fear, consumed by their instincts to kill while furiously screaming at the girl with ravenous fury.
“This one…” Gal whispered with a smile as her the light at her feet ignited in a burst of azure. “Is for Gigi!”
Spinning herself like a rotating top, the young hybrid caused the crimson fog of the Deadlands to dance around her as she approached the beasts like a growing tornado—absorbing every particle in the air through its destructive path. Not even luck could save the unfortunate demons as the girl’s indominable attack stopped them in their tracks, met by a mysterious power that would put a swift end to their destruction.
Gal reached both targets with her mighty spinning kick, and like the sharp blade of a divine sword engulfed in azure flames, she managed to behead the demons in her path with a swift yet deadly strike against their necks—splitting the fog with the powerful gust of wind created by her attack. The specters silently dropped to the ground as the azure light created by the girl crawled its way into their bodies, consuming them both until nothing but ash and embers remained.
“Phew…” the young hybrid sighed, wiping the sweat from her forehead before resting both hands on her knees with a groan. “I did it…”
“Gal!” a masculine voice called out, prompting Gal to turn her head towards it.
Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.
The man jogged his way close, and stopped in front of her with a frown as he crossed his arms. “Was that really necessary? Master told you to be careful.”
“I did it, Maulik!” She proudly claimed, standing straight up as if all her fatigue had suddenly vanished. “It still leaves me a little dizzy… but I can actually control it now! I think!” she rubbed the bottom of her nose with one finger while smiling in self-satisfaction. “Now Gigi will have no reason to keep you around, hehe.”
“As if…”
While seemingly in high spirits and raring to continue to protect the eastern side of the Deadlands, the torn clothes in both hybrids revealed cuts and bruises that would be enough to incapacitate a common human being. The battle had been brewing for hours as each horde grew in numbers and strength, draining the pair’s energy with every fight and every opponent. The young students resigned themselves to their posts regardless, aiding each other through every fight while maintain a friendly competition between each other.
Despite the chaos they endured for hours however, the pair would be greeted by a cold silence that reigned over the Deadlands. Not a single specter could be seen in the surrounding area, and the hybrids’ abilities to feel their presence failed to assist them. All that remained in the once chaotic battlefield was the scorched field of land, and the soft whooshing sounds of the wind as it carried the crimson fog across the region.
“Wait…” Gal said, noticing the empty plains as no more demons emerged to face her. “Its… over?”
“That can’t…” Maulik stepped next to her, glancing from side to side in search of further opponents.
“Huh… maybe we killed them all?”
“There is no such thing as killing them all, Gal.” replied Maulik. “Something must’ve happened further ahead.”
“Should we go take a look?”
“Our assignment is to defend to defend this region, we can’t just abandon the people he-Gal!”
Sensing the presence of a sneaky foe behind them, Maulik warned his companion while quickly turning to face the ambushing opponent—prompting Gal to follow as she twirled around while lifting one leg close to her chest, ready to engage in combat once again. What the pair found lurking behind would leave them both with slacked jaws and raised brows however, hearing nothing but the pulsating beats of their hearts among the quiet winds of the hellish zone.
A specter of humanoid appearance clumsily stumbled its way towards them, guided purely by instincts as its body had been robbed of its vision and hearing. Maulik sneered in disgust at the grizzly sight of the beast, while Gal clenched her jaw with furrowed brows—having no words to express at such horrid sight.
The foul creature had been brutally mangled into an almost unrecognizable shape, with its legs being the only intact part left on its body. Its head, while still connected to its sliced open neck, dangled from the side as it was forcefully snapped to face backwards. Its torso had been grotesquely half split from the shoulder, leaving a great portion of its upper half hanging by the waist. Though abandoned with a mostly functional body, the beast was brutally molded into a sadistic effigy that continued to wander on its own—left to suffer a painful fate until death itself decided to take it.
“What the hell…” Maulik said, unable to take his eyes off the bizarre sight.
“Maulik?” Gal looked at the hybrid, unsure on what to think of the situation.
Neither hybrid could come up with the words to explain the gruesome actions of whatever confronted the demon, but the brutally mangled specter would not wait around for their minds to clear—defeated by its terrible injuries before it could reach the pair. Its broken body flopped into the dirt, and while disturbing in nature, the beast was horrifically torn in a way that would not end its life in an instant—meticulously and expertly butchered as to extend its pain for as long as possible.
The Deadlands earned its name once again, as nothing but dead silence reign over the region. Both Gal and Maulik observed the flying embers of the demon joining with the crimson fog as it finally met its end, left shaken by the disturbing sight before eventually coming back to their senses with a deep breath.
“That was not miss Atalanta’s doing…” Maulik said with furrowed brows, resting his chin in one fist.
“M-maybe it was that woman!” Gal retorted, referring to Atalanta as ‘that woman.’ “I knew it, Maulik! She is a freak!”
“Calm down, Gal… Miss Atalanta might be ahead of us, but this is not how she fights.”
“It’s not Gigi!”
“I didn’t say it was the master… there’s no one we know that could’ve done such a thing.” Maulik’s expression hardened, scrunching his brows with an angry frown as he pressed his lips together. “My bet is in those things he told us about…”
“Daemons?”
“Probably, but I was thinking about the false knights from the order. They are the closest thing to a gladean knight after us, or perhaps they are closer since they were knights once…”
“We must help Gigi!” Gal said with a pumped fist, determined to stay idle in the vast empty field of the eastern region. “We took care of those things here, let’s continue!”
A drop of sweat rolled down Maulik’s cheek as he crossed his arms, unsure on how to proceed with their assignment. “We should probably wait a bit longer…”
“What! Why! Gigi could be fighting them right now!”
“Gal, I don’t know!” the hybrid snapped. “If we leave this place and the specters come back then… dammit… let’s just wait for now… if master needs something he would call for us.” Maulik smiled at Gal, helping her and himself relax over the argument. “He is the strongest warrior to ever live, remember?”
“He is!”
“Then let’s trust him. We both know he can take of himself.”
Unaware of what transpired further within the region, both Gal and Maulik made the choice to listen to their master’s words and remained at the eastern side of the Deadlands. The mysterious disappearance of all specters in the eastern region, and the gruesome discovery of the mangled demon was of no coincidence however, as both actions were closely entwined with each other—resurfacing in every corner of the hellish zone, as not even the Deadlands could withstand the unstoppable force that haunted its grounds once again.
END OF CHAPTER