Outside the harrowing cave, along the fields of corpses sown amidst, Vincent stood still with his eyes glowing in a deep shade of azure. Surrounding his flanks were three legionnaires with their weapons drawn at the sharpest edge. Vincent felt no dismay, for there was no need to, for beings such as himself. The black sphere acting as his primal heart pulsated inside his chest and spewed out threads of aether. His flesh strengthened, his crystalline bones were fortified and his blood was ignited like the molten pits of a volcano. And then, time crawled at a snail’s pace in his vision and all sounds faded out inside his ears.
Vincent threw out a punch, the muscles around his arm swelled and veins squirmed underneath his skin. A violet glow appeared around his fist and the air rumbled across the path it undertook. Its target was Kennard, standing motionless with the greatsword still latched in his waist.
Crunch! The fist connected Kennard’s chest. No dents or blemishes were marked on his armour. Such were the wonders of the runes endowed by the mystical intellects from the Empire. But Kennard still fell and knelt on the ground. For even his runic armour failed to fully disperse the strength instilled by the ungodly punch. Kennard gaped and vomited fresh blood, with small chunks of flesh floating in between.
“Commander!” the legionnaires screamed and disengaged from Vincent. Two of them held Kennard by his shoulders and dragged him away while the other drew his sword and stood at their front, slowly backing away and securing their route of retreat from Vincent.
“Hmm? Still not enough to contend against armours inscribed with runes?” Vincent unfurled his fingers and gazed at his hand. “Well, whatever. Kennard! It appears that now you know your answer. You are far past your prime to fight beings such as myself. So why don’t you all just leave and be on your merry ways?”
“You know… I cannot… do that,” Kennard coughed up more blood and sighed.
“Sure you can--”
Roar! A heaven-shattering howl rattled the clouded skies. Vincent turned around and peered close to the shaded empyrean. A towering figure dived down from the ethers. Its target was not him, but the foolish young woman standing still right out in the open.
Vincent narrowed his eyes and his pupils turned into slits. The backside of his cloak burst open and four pairs of wings emerged. These were no ordinary wings made of feather or flesh. They were forged of bones resembling the shell of obsidians. One might wonder how such wings could possibly offer flight to its owner, and they would be sadly mistaken for having such notions. If one looked closely at its obsidian surface, one could truly admire its countless vessels stretching all across the wings. Each vessel pumped out aether from its pores in an endless deluge, barely visible to the ignorant mind. Thus, the wings rejected the authority of the mortal winds and instead, seized the tides of aether to rule the skies.
His skeletal wings moved in unison, pushing him off the ground and into the untethered winds. Aether surged around their frame until illusory violet flames were materialised, hastening his approach towards the gullible young woman to renounce her early demise. He reached the woman within moments and took her in his embrace. Then his skeletal wings spread apart from one another, no longer donning the image of mere wings, but the limbs of a vile arachnid. He turned around and his arachnid limbs stretched out, lashing against the incoming enemy.
The towering figure swiped its tail at him in return. The two attacks met as intended. And then, inhumane roars struck the horizon as pieces of chitin flaked off, and green fluids seeped out of its battered tail.
Vincent landed on the ground and observed the enemy at his front. The creature masked the face of a lion with human eyes and ears and a nose. Thick raven mane skidded down from its head and all the way down to its neck. Covered head to toe in black fur, it stood on four limbs with two leathery bat wings arching from its back. The bruised tail resembled a scorpion’s sting. Green fluid dripped down from it and sizzled on the ground underneath.
“Well well, a guardian beast hailing from the Empire,” Vincent laughed and said to the woman clutched in his embrace. “Hertha, it seems the Empire did send somewhat of a worthy opponent after all.”
“A manticore,” Hertha said and hid her face deep in his chest.
“Are you that scared my dear?” Vincent asked.
“Just… a little bit.”
“Hmm? Well, that’s certainly not good,” Vincent placed her back on her feet and tapped on her shoulders. “Go and hide inside the cave.”
“But I want to help!”
“You are just being an annoyance staying here and holding me back.”
“But--”
“Shh,” he placed a finger on her lips and lulled her to silence. “Remember well that you are not Selena, these fights are well above your ability for now.”
“Okay, I will listen to you,” Hertha uttered a deep sigh and retreated inside the cave.
The legionnaires regrouped and formed a shield wall far behind the manticore as if they too were afraid of its untamed rage. The manticore gave an enraged howl not at the soldiers but at its enemy that barred its prey. Steam flushed out of its nose, and its eyes glowed crimson. It opened its gaping maw and leapt at Vincent.
Vincent threw out a leisurely punch in return, aiming at the deep chasm in its mouth. Eyes filled with mockery, the manticore closed its mouth and crunched on his arm. His flesh was pierced when its jagged teeth dug deep inside, barely avoiding his bones. But he was not distraught for that was his plan all along. Just as the beast was anchored on his arm, his arachnid limbs stretched out and converged into one, paralleling the countless amalgamation of spears, and pierced into its unguarded throat.
The beast howled in anguish and released the hold it had on his arm. He pulled his arm from its maw and jumped up behind its neck. Raising his foot, he stomped hard on its head. It howled once again and fell flat on the ground. His arachnid limbs rose up and plunged down, piercing through its paws, like a corpulent animal on a butcher’s table ready for slaughter.
“Just a beast in the end,” Vincent chuckled and grabbed onto its wings, intending to rip it apart.
The Manticore stopped struggling and looked back at him with a human-like grin. It mimicked the words of men and laughed like a madman on the verge of insanity. One of its crimson eyes bled gold until it turned entirely golden. Its black fur suffered the same fate as golden lightning snaked around its body, turning its frame to match the skies before sunset. It stood up on its hind legs and looked over its neck, for Vincent was still standing atop its shoulder.
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“Is this how a son-in-law treats his father-in-law?” the Manticore asked in a deep voice.
“Well well, if it isn’t the Emperor himself in the flesh, but this is not what I had imagined meeting you again to be honest,” Vincent said and jumped off from its shoulders.
“What did you imagine, son-in-law?” the Manticore asked.
“I hoped to see you in your actual body, not through a soul projection on some beast.”
“Rest assured son-in-law, my actual body is on its way here. Do forgive me for the delay, haha! As you are well aware that the capital is quite far away,” the Manticore said.
“Son-in-law? I don’t recall ever marrying your daughter, so why do you keep calling me that?”
“You say that even though you made my daughter carry your child, so what else should I call you?”
“Oh? This is unexpected, I thought you would fume in rage after knowing the fact.”
“Won’t deny I was a bit infuriated after finding out, but no matter, not everything goes to plan, even for me, haha!” the Manticore said.
“Hmm? Plan? Care to elaborate?” Vincent asked.
“Vincent, think far back and you will already find the answer,” the Manticore laughed and gazed at the cave’s entrance. “Selena! How long are you going to keep up with the act?”
Footsteps ensued and Selena walked out with Celeste in her arms. A ghastly expression was spread across as she lowered her head and pulled her little daughter close to her embrace. She shivered and leaned on the entrance, not daring to look at Vincent or even the Manticore that reflected her father.
“Would have at least preferred a grandson but let’s not dwell on what’s already happened,” the Manticore said and gave a satisfied grin. “Now then Selena, I hope you have succeeded in your mission.”
Selena took unsteady steps and walked outside, not towards the Manticore but towards Vincent instead. She arrived next to him and knelt down, with Celeste still embraced in her arms. Tears rolled down her cheeks as she said, “Vincent… I …. it’s not what… it seems.”
“Don’t tell me, you actually fell in love with Vincent,” the Manticore clutched its own belly and laughed. “A bit surprising even to me, haha! I did not realise you were even capable of such love. But this does explain why you stopped sending in reports. Not that it matters much to me anyhow.”
Selena ignored her father’s provocations and gritted her teeth. She then held onto Vincent’s leg and pleaded, “Vincent! Wait! Please! Celeste… only came into our world through the union of our love, not because I tricked you!”
Vincent raised her up by the shoulders. She did not know what he felt inside for the same serene expression still lingered on his face. He held her chin in a gentle caress and looked her in the eye. No words were spoken, but his eyes relayed his thoughts all the same. She leaned forward and placed a deep kiss on his lips. Then she turned around and ran inside the cave, with her daughter still clutched in her arms.
“Should have known women are the creatures of emotion, but never expected her of all people was capable of such,” the Manticore said as it looked at her departing figure.
“Who else was a part of your grand plan?” Vincent asked.
“Just us father and daughter, it’s more believable that way,” the Manticore said and pointed at the faceless legion blocking off the valley, but if one could foresee what was underneath their helms, they would only find unrelenting turmoil plaguing their visage. “Look, even they are confused as you are.”
“Hmm,” Vincent placed a hand underneath his chin and asked in contemplation. “Help me understand will you? I think I know what you really wanted from all this, but was it worth it at all in the end? You used your own daughter for your ambitions.”
“You jest, haha! She agreed to my plan out of her own will. Ask her yourself if you want,” the Manticore tapped its forehead with its paws and said. “And it appears you don’t truly know my daughter after all. Am I right to assume she fooled you till the end? Hahaha!”
“What’s so amusing about all this? And it looks to me now that she is not that keen about returning with you to your side”
“Does it even matter? She is bound to come once I capture you.”
“That’s assuming you even have the authority to capture me in the first place,” Vincent laughed and cracked his knuckles.
“Bold words coming from someone who is wounded,” the Manticore said.
“Wounded?” Vincent looked at his mangled arm that bled drops of red. He flexed his muscles and the gaping wounds were forcefully sealed off, halting his blood to be further lost to the earthen soil underneath. “That was just a scratch.”
“Just a scratch indeed, haha!”
“Now that the pleasantries are out of the way, it’s about time we settle this.”
“Son-in-law, that’s an excellent suggestion if I do say so myself!”
The ruined earth was ruptured and cinders rose from behind as they charged at each other. The lightning-infused body of the Manticore rammed into Vincent and made a swipe with its foot. Vincent crouched down, barely avoiding the strike on his chest. He grabbed its leg from underneath and lifted its body up in a swing.
“Son-in-law, did you forget that you are fighting me and not a beast?”
The Manticore flapped its leathery wings and rose up in the air, carrying Vincent along with it. Then, it wrapped itself around Vincent and dived down like an infernal meteor falling from the vault of the heavens. Just before they reached the ground, the Manticore caged Vincent in a stockade imbued with lightning and slammed him against the pit.
Boom! Vincent collided against the sunken terrene. His skin blistered and flaked off within the raging lightning. His bones creaked and rattled from the pressure, and slight fractures appeared on their surface. But this was far from enough to cease his unrelenting strength caged inside
The pit encircling him turned dim and the air came to a halt, for his beating black sphere swallowed in all the aether from his surroundings. His skin was enkindled in a deep violet glow. He stood up and threw a punch underneath the jaws of the Manticore.
Bam! The Manticore was hurled up above.
Vincent pulled his arachnid limbs close to each other until they once again regained the shape of wings. He unfurled them all and took to the skies. Flying next to the heaving Manticore, he grabbed into its maw and pulled it open. Its jaws creaked in pain as it stretched well beyond its designs. A stream of golden lightning gushed out of the Manticore’s throat and poured towards his face.
Vincent pulled himself away just at the right moment, saving his regal face from an untimely ruin, but the rest of his body did not fare better. The golden deluge smashed against his chest, vapourising the front part of his cloak and charring his flesh, and before long his crystalline bones could be seen peeking in between.
“Son-in-law, my daughter would be sad if she sees you in this state.”
Vincent opened his mouth to say something. No words came out, but instead, his cheeks almost tore apart as his jaws outstretched into a gaping maw of its own. He chomped onto its wounded neck, the neck that he pierced with his arachnid limbs at their very first conquest of strength. Crimson blood, tinged with gold sprayed out when he ripped open its throat once more. Then he curled his hands into fists and landed blows after blows into the heart of the severed flesh.
“I am… not sure… who is… the actual beast here, hahaha!” the Manticore said in a guttural voice.
Rip! Its scorpion-like tail skewered into Vincent’s abdomen, almost severing him in two. Vincent retaliated just the same and skewered the Manticore’s head with the rest of his skeletal limbs. Then they both fell and plummeted down from the sky.
Vincent stood up with stiff movements and pulled out its tail from his body. The Manticore mimicked his actions and pulled out the embedded skeletal limbs one after the other. Two stood in front of the other, mere inches from their presence, a man donning an emotionless visage and a beast relishing with a smile of mockery.
Vincent kicked off the ground and threw an elbow towards its abdomen, the Manticore gave a hearty laugh and met his attack with its own. It rained blood and flesh, forming a pool beneath their feet. They fought like rabid dogs in the back alleys, contending in pure brute strength, using no skills, tactics, or even strategy.
Moments went by, and Vincent tore off its scorpion tail and shredded it into pieces. In turn, the Manticore clasped into two of his arachnid limbs and tore them apart from its base. Then it pierced those very limbs into his shoulders and kicked him on the chest. The pit beneath them had sunk even more as Vincent collapsed atop it.
“Son-in-law, are you perhaps hoping for mutual destruction? That won’t do at all, that won’t do at all. This body is just a puppet, it means nothing to me, but the same cannot be said to you is it?”
The Manticore bent down and tore open his chest. His flesh crumbled away and bones splintered into pieces, revealing the pulsating black sphere rooted inside. It stretched its foot inside the chasm and wrapped its claws around the beating orb.
“Lord Father! Please stop!” a figure dashed out from the cave.
“My kind daughter Selena, you know that you cannot stop me,” the Manticore said.
“I know, but… but,” Selena said and looked at the tome held in her arms, “but this can!”