“Fine then,” As an empowered Grim Chimera continued to walk forward, a wizened and barely able to stand Straud gnashed his teeth. Sheets of skin seemed to be hanging off tent poles of bone in his body. “If truly wish to die, I’ll fulfill your wish! Tragedy Titan!”

The last of Straud’s image stopped propping up his physically weak body and he fell to his knees. Sprawled on the ground, he looked like such a pitiful creature. But in the sky above the stadium, a huge mass of blood with deep, empty eyes flickered into existence. Unlike Helen’s Tides of Blood, this creature seemed slightly more solid. It was as if someone took handfuls of congealing blood and packed them on top of each other until they had created a primitive sort of sculpture.

Yet despite its simple shape, it was not a simple thing to gather enough blood to slowly build such a creature. With every passing second, the strange blood idol's strength grew more and more oppressive as Straud brought the full weight of his image to bear on the stadium.

Make this moment meaningful. The Grim Chimera’s long tongue flicked out and ran along his teeth.

With Nether swirling to new heights within his body, the Grim Chimera didn’t slow as he proceeded toward the blood idol. But a quick mental calculation once more left the Grim Chimera disappointed; he would reach Straud before the weakened man managed to manifest his full image. Which made the Grim Chimera shake his head regretfully; what was the point of a powerful image if you locked it away within yourself in order to appear healthy? And unpacking it seemed like a process...

Yet a figure did rush at the Grim Chimera’s back to buy Straud a sliver of time. The Grim Chimera willingly let himself be distracted.

Decklan Hyde raised his daggers and shot forward with all the broadcast intentions of an arrow. And he managed to produce a rather significant amount of bloodlust that functioned quite like an image in protecting him from Reaper’s Mantle of Catastrophe at the periphery. The Grim Chimera regarded the attacker thoughtfully. From the main body’s memories, the Grim Chimera was distantly aware of this figure’s history.

Very quickly, the Grim Chimera’s face twisted in disgust. As an image built on the concept of survival, the Grim Chimera felt very little empathy for Decklan’s clear emotional turmoil. As he approached, very quickly his bloodlust began to tremble and splinter. Decklan Hyde had no true resolve. And the Grim Chimera felt not a little fury that after all the chances that the main body extended to this man, Decklan had still let despair devour him.

Snorting, the Grim Chimera decided to punish Decklan for his weakness. At least this would be a method to fully enjoy this freedom while he had it. Plus, this was a good chance to address the lackluster Skill Level of the Reaper’s Mantle of Catastrophe Skill. When he had activated it earlier, he had been genuinely shocked by how low it was in comparison to his other Grim Chimera Skills.

The Grim Chimera pressed with his will. A new wave of energy gushed outward and suddenly a thick aura of ash and ruin spun around the Grim Chimera’s body. He turned and coldly glared at the form of Decklan, who from his immediate shock must have believed he was being relatively circumspect in his attack. Yet how could such a haphazard mass of bloodlust be concealed from someone like the Grim Chimera?

Congratulations! Your Skill Reaper’s Mantle of Catastrophe (L) has grown to Level 106!

Congratulations! Your Skill Reaper’s Mantle of Catastrophe (L) has grown to Level 107!

The grey particles in the air rapidly thickened and swirled in a vortex around the Grim Chimera’s body. Despite the fact that he had been spotted, Decklan didn’t try to change his method of attack. In fact, he managed to press his bloodlust into a form dagger-like form that ripped him an opening in the exterior of the Skill. With several quick steps, Decklan was now within ten meters of the Grim Chimera.

Yet the Grim Chimera’s eyes were extremely cold as he watched the proceedings. The suppressive effect of Nether on images became increasingly apparent as Decklan approached, resulting in his bloodlust slowly wilting to nothing. Reaper’s Mantle of Catastrophe continued to grind away.

Congratulations! Your Skill Reaper’s Mantle of Catastrophe (L) has grown to Level 108!

…

Congratulations! Your Skill Reaper’s Mantle of Catastrophe (L) has grown to Level 119!

Decklan’s foot hit the ground right at the ten-meter mark and it was clear from the scowl on his face that he felt the increased pressure coming from the Grim Chimera’s Skill. Yet he didn’t falter. After planting his foot, he pressed on forward. This, at least, made the Grim Chimera’s expression somewhat soften.

Emotionally conflicted, but willing to pay for the ticket he has already bought. A broken creature. Like I was.

With each rotation of Nether in his body, the Grim Chimera felt a strange sensation of inviolability fill him. The connections and links being made as so many people watched the Grim Chimera was applying pressure to the limits of his core. Cracks formed in the Nether Gatekeeper core, which was alarming, but almost immediately they healed back stronger than they had been before. Yet the pressure internally simply kept growing.

Nether surrounded him like a cloak. Balanced by the main body’s Aether, particles began to drift outward in the surrounding area. But rather than eating at the substance of space, mostly the particles simply expanded the pressure on images that the Grim Chimera was releasing. And witnessing the way the Nether’s influence changed with each change in his Nether core, the Grim Chimera recognized what was happening.

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

The two energies really are so closely connected, yet separate, the Grim Chimera thought as he mobilized his Mantle to activate with even more intensity. Aether says I am free to impress my will on the world. Nether says I am free from the whims of this world.

Congratulations! Your Skill Reaper’s Mantle of Catastrophe (L) has grown to Level 127!

Decklan continued to rush forward through the screen of grey radiation, his bloodlust being slowly ripped away by the aura of the Grim Chimera’s Skill. By the time he finally was within arm’s reach of the Grim Chimera, basically his image had been completely confined to his body. Otherwise, it was completely suppressed by the presence of Nether around the Grim Chimera. His skin began to dry and flake from exposure to energies beyond his Endurance.

And suddenly, the Grim Chimera saw this figure as sad. He could see how his soul had been crippled by weakness. Perhaps not sensing the Grim Chimera’s attention Decklan swung his dagger. With all the ease of an adult taking a toy block away from a toddler, the Grim Chimera used his claws to knock away the weapon.

The Grim Chimera tilted his head at Decklan. “Don’t tarnish the memory of those who died for you by throwing your life away. The greatest pride of life is that I have no yet given in to death.”

“You-” Decklan began, but the Grim Chimera was done with this man. Abruptly, the pressure from Reaper’s Mantle of Catastrophe shot upward as more and denser Nether fueled the Skill’s activation.

Congratulations! Your Skill Reaper’s Mantle of Catastrophe (L) has grown to Level 141!

Decklan was blasted backward. The Grim Chimera turned forward and considered the straightening image above the crumpled form of Straud. “About damn time. Let’s finish this.”

The empty-eyed blood idol image raised its vast limbs and roared loud enough for the Grim Chimera to feel the vibration in his chest. The ugly thing’s mouth was wide enough to drive a bus through. Yet the Grim Chimera simply waited while his opponent gathered its strength, continuing to let Reaper’s Mantle of Catastrophe swirl protectively around him. The blood idol raised one of its arms and pointed at the Grim Chimera.

“I was chosen to kill you, Randidly Ghosthound,” Straud hissed through his yellowed teeth. Truly, without his image somehow supporting his health, he now looked like a shriveled prune of a man with twisted arms. “I was created to lead us to a world that you couldn’t. Even if your image is more powerful than me… your body is your weakness! As long as blood runs through your veins… I have dominance over you! Stigmata of the Fallen Blood!”

A strange rune burned itself into the turf beneath the Grim Chimera’s feet as Straud’s Skill activated. The shadows in the huge blood idol’s eyes seemed to slowly spin, releasing a mist of maroon blood into the surrounding space that began to press up against the Grim Chimera’s Mantle of Catastrophe. The drops of blood floating in the air between the two auras wriggled and then were smashed into nothing. The pressure from the image was significant enough that the Grim Chimera frowned as he looked down at the sigil beneath his feet.

The Skill was reaching up to seize the blood in his body… and it found nothing.

...perhaps this would have been a better Skill to use if I wasn’t just an image, the Grim Chimera thought awkwardly. His Reaper’s Mantle of Catastrophe swirled outward and pressed away the little bit of the effect that reached him as an image. Again, the Grim Chimera was rather uncomfortable with the outcome after how much he was looking forward to a serious clash with his life on the line like he had experienced on the frontlines. To be shown this…?

Congratulations! Your Skill Reaper’s Mantle of Catastrophe (L) has grown to Level 153!

The Grim Chimera gritted his teeth and walked icily forward, pushing forcefully through the image. Idly, he wondered what would have happened even if the main body had been here to be hit with the Skill. Most likely, the main body would have relied on the presence of Nether in his body to forcefully suppress the Skill and the image behind it.

Or even let his Nether laced blood be stolen by Straud, then watched as the potent blood of Randidly Ghosthound corrupted and destroyed any bloodbeast that it touched. The Grim Chimera supposed that if one was making a weapon to reliably suppress the main body, targeting his blood wasn’t a bad choice. But it did display a rather poor understanding of the main body’s abilities.

Straud’s face was blank as he realized that his Skill had no effect on the Grim Chimera. “You… what- hmph, do you think this is it?”

With a wave of his hand, Straud conjured a hunched bloodbeast that picked up his frail body. The bloodbeast quickly dashed about twenty meters backward and arrived before the glowing light of the Winged Serpent’s stone wheel. Raising his hand, Straud used his image to empower the process of whatever the wheel was trying to accomplish. The drops of blood that had been drifting from the bloodsoaked stands became streams that rapidly wound together in front of the wheel.

Yet no matter how much blood flowed to that spot, the gleaming item at the core of the formation was still only a single wet drop of blood. But the power building up in that drop began to grow much more quickly with Straud’s assistance.

“This Lifeblood Accumulation was supposed to open a door for God… but it is also His will that you die. There will always be more people we can bleed to create a bridge to Him… but I won’t let this chance to end you pass. Now die! Stigmata of the Fallen Blood!”

This time, the Grim Chimera swayed when he was hit as the unleashed image and Skill combo was much more potent; with the assistance of this Lifeblood Accumulation, the Skill was able to target the image of his blood and not just the physical blood that he didn’t possess. But just like the Grim Chimera had expected, the Nether suppressed the Skill to the point that its influence was negligible.

If you’d just used your image to fight against mine, rather than empowering a Skill that is not effective against me… perhaps this would have been interesting. You weren’t worthy of even a sliver of my attention. Monstrosity’s Appalling Physicality.

The Grim Chimera stepped and the powerful muscles of his legs propelled him to a spot right next to Straud.

“You-”

The Grim Chimera impaled Straud’s tongue with his bone spear and forced the tip out of the back of his skull. Then he flicked his wrist and ripped open the side of Straud’s head. He felt Straud continuing to persist by hiding his consciousness in his blood, but the Grim Chimera stretched out his left hand.

Nether’s Caress.

Congratulations! Your Skill Nether’s Caress (M) has grown to Level 126!

As black flames covered the Grim Chimera’s talons, he smothered the existence known as Straud before the other could understand what had happened.