Kal’thrall watched the army closing in around him. For the most part, none of the figures present were able to give him a sense of danger. They felt like little more than insects scurrying around in his sight, and he could destroy them on a whim.
However, there were exceptions, those that gave him a faint sense of dread. First and foremost were the three girls that had emerged first. Kal’thrall could feel something almost sinister about the three of them, not to mention the fact that they seemed connected to all of these other monsters that emerged.
Next, there were a few monsters within the dark swarm that gave him pause. Six pitch-black humanoids carrying long rods, tails whipping behind their backs. Massive dragons that breathed out clouds of darkness. A lone man sitting with his legs crossed atop a flying rock. All of these figures made Kal’thrall feel as if he had to take this fight seriously.
These were the battle instincts instilled within him as a void beast that had clawed his way to the top. When the first wave of monsters charged, he did not do anything, simply maintaining the same rule that had allowed him to kill the leader of the previous scouting group. ‘Any damage directed towards my body will instead be borne by the nearest living thing.’
This one rule allowed him a degree of invulnerability, as the monsters rushing towards him all evaporated under the power of their own attacks. A flash of black caught his attention, though, causing him to quickly turn to the side. A whip cut through the void where he had been standing, and he turned his attention towards the one that had been called Clara. “You did not think that such a simple trick would harm me, did you?”
“It made you move.” Clara said with a grin. “Besides… just because you dodged, do you think I didn’t hit you?” Her words puzzled Kal’thrall, who suddenly felt an intense pain in one of his arms. Looking down, he saw that his right arm had been severed below the elbow.
“Interesting… you created the effect without executing the cause.” As he said that, his arm began to shift, reattaching itself. New rule. I will return to my peak state within one second after recognizing damage to my body.
Kal’thrall’s power was truly remarkable, allowing him to manipulate the void as if it were his own body, creating any form of rule he wanted. However… it was not without limitations. He could only have five rules established at any time. Furthermore, any rule that directly affected another individual needed to have a clear connection to said individual. In the case of his first decapitation rule, it was ‘Introducing oneself to the enemy allows you to remove their head.’ Thankfully, he had removed that rule after its use, not wanting it used against him.
For the damage reflection rule, the connection was more simple, being related to proximity. In that case, how did her strike hit me? Is it simply because her ‘effect’ allowed her to bypass my rule?
“Ten Thousand Threads, first form. Army of One!” The small individual’s voice called out, and Kal’thrall felt her presence shatter into a hundred identical copies. Each copy was wielding two blades and charging at him.
These blades gave Kal’thrall a sense of crisis. Combined with the previous attack, he wasn’t sure if he would be able to mitigate this attack with his original rule. New rule. Starting from a radius of fifty meters, the closer any living being comes to my body, the slower they will move. Similar to his first rule, this was one that could often protect his life.
Even with this, he braced himself. The various clones did not seem to immediately slow down, leading Kal’thrall to believe that they were accelerating their own time to counteract his rule. His body contorted in bizarre directions, bending where there shouldn’t be joints, and dodged the vast majority of one of the blades that sliced at him. One white blade managed to scratch his chest as he flipped backwards, hesitating.
A sense of intense joy welled up inside him. Even with this many clones of herself, she is forcing her attention to be split! It seemed like she bypassed my rule again, but she wasn’t strong enough to inflict any lasting damage.
Kal’thrall watched the various enemies. The hundred clones all discarded their white blades, seeming to give up on the increased difficulty of dual wielding to focus purely on a single sword. A smart move in his opinion, but he knew that it wouldn’t be enough.
As he thought that, one of the massive dragons swept down towards him. A low chuckle echoed around Kal’thrall as he charged towards the dragon, pleased to find that it slowed down unwillingly the closer that it got. So, they can’t all ignore my rules. Only the three girls. He thought to himself in joy, allowing the dragon to slowly attempt to bite at him.
The moment that it did, its own head was crushed. Kal’thrall turned to face the girls again, his claws stretching outwards. “You brought so many reinforcements. However… it seems that they are all useless. Didn’t anybody teach you that numbers aren’t the only thing that matter in a fight?”
New rule. Living creatures within the battlefield will sustain damage equivalent to one thousand units of ki for every living creature within fifty meters that it recognizes as an ally. It was dangerous to use a fourth rule already, as that meant that he only had one free ‘slot’ left to apply another rule before he had to take one down. However, the effect was immediate.
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The vast majority of the army shattered, unable to bear the weight of their alliance. Sienna and Clara’s eyes went wide, while the many Danas narrowed their eyes in concentration. “Ten Thousand Threads, second form. Flickering moment!” The one hundred copies all vanished, Kal’thrall rushing backwards in alarm.
At the spot where he had previously stood, all one hundred clones appeared, swinging their swords in from unpredictable angles. And then, they vanished again, forcing Kal’thrall to maintain his defensive. I see… because they are all one person, the rule isn’t inflicting the appropriate damage. Or… are they not considered living beings? That would explain a few things.
Kal’thrall thought that the answer was most likely, the feeling of joy from before returning to him. I have to do it. New rule! When any being launches an attack, the core of their existence will become exposed. If this core is struck, they will experience a complete death!
This fifth rule was one that he typically reserved for only the most crucial situations. However, given how much pressure this single individual was giving him, he knew that it counted. As he was preparing to dodge again, he saw Clara’s whips strike out. Aiming to utilize your effect with no cause again?
If he had lips, they would be tugged into a smug grin. The moment her arms moved, a shining core became visible in her abdomen. He could already feel the pain spreading across his chest, her attack hitting him before it completed, but he didn’t mind.
With a thought, he appeared in front of Clara, his claws swiping at the glowing core. Her eyes went wide, her body going limp. The whips in her hands fell as she collapsed, dissipating into an inky black substance.
“Clara!” Sienna shouted with wide eyes. She stretched her hand forward, dark energy erupting. “Kama! Black Wind!” Blades of darkness formed, striking out towards Kal’thrall. However, this time, he didn’t bother to dodge. The earlier wound that he had taken was already in the process of healing, and his first rule kicked in, causing two of the surviving army nearby to be sliced in halves.
Unfortunately, another glowing orb was revealed in Sienna’s body, which Kal’thrall took full advantage of attacking. Just as he sensed the army of Dana teleporting to his position, he teleported to Sienna, swiping at the orb. Just like Clara, Sienna’s body collapsed, starting to dissolve into a black substance.
When he turned around to face Dana, he found that her face was unnaturally calm. Is she the type that appears calmer the angrier she becomes? He wondered to himself, his body shivering with the joy of battle. He knew that his victory was at hand. All he had to do now was kill the true Dana, and all of the other monsters would disappear.
However, he didn’t seem to need to be worried about that. Dana shook her head. “Everyone, retreat.” She ordered, the monsters falling back into the darkness and disappearing on their own.
“Oh? Are you going to run away now that I’ve killed your copies?” Kal’thrall teased, hoping to keep her in the fight longer. He could tell that Dana was an important asset for the local forces. She came alone, knowing his strength, and challenged him to a frontal confrontation.
“My familiars.” Dana corrected. “And no. I just don’t want any distractions. Thousand arms… first form, One Strike!” The clones all shouted, slashing out with the black blades in their hands, each one creating an arc of energy that traveled through the air. Facing a hundred identical attacks, Kal’thrall wasn’t worried. He had dodged such strikes in close quarters before, so why should he worry now?
As his body twisted between the attacks, his senses focused on the various clones of Dana. Each of them had a glowing core within their body, indicating that each of them could be considered ‘real’ at the moment. Did she perfectly divide her existence into each of the one hundred copies? A commendable ability, I must admit.
Kal’thrall flashed forward, appearing next to one of the clones and slashing at the golden core on her body. She let out a gasp and shattered, Kal’thrall himself immediately moving on to the next. He found that their bodies briefly stiffened with the first death, meaning that there must have been some sort of feedback between the clones.
This short moment was all that he needed, killing more than twenty clones before they managed to forcibly recover. Dana grit her teeth, causing the clones to disappear and merge into one again. “Absurdity of Fate.” She muttered, reaching a hand out towards him. Kal’thrall felt as if the void itself was closing around him.
Undo the first rule. New rule, prohibit void solidification within five centimeters of my body. He declared, the hand seeming to melt as it grabbed him. His figure flashed, launching forward and appearing in front of Dana. “This is my win.” He said, slashing once again at the golden core within her body.
Dana’s eyes trembled, falling to her knees as her skin turned black. Kal’thrall chuckled to himself, wiping his hands off as the joy of battle filled him once again. “It’s a pity.” He said, turning and walking away. “Had you come properly prepared, you might have truly defeated me.”
“You’re feeling happy a bit too early, aren’t you?” Dana’s voice spoke up from behind him, and a black blade pierced through his back. “But… that’s why I cut you with the Joy sword first.”
Intense ripples spread throughout Kal’thrall’s mind together with the pain, joy and sorrow alternating in equal measure. “How… I… I extinguished your very being. I granted you true death!”
The blackness in Dana’s skin slowly started to recede as she stood, one arm extended to hold the sword stabbing into Kal’thrall. “The World’s Shadow… so it had this kind of hidden trick?” She chuckled to herself, having felt one of her shadow army extinguished the moment Clara, Sienna, and herself died. In order to let them recover, each of the others had retreated into the shadow world when they ‘died’. And that is also why Dana ordered everyone’s retreat, not wishing to let her ‘spare lives’ be extinguished.
Seeing that Kal’thrall had survived the Twins Swords Retribution, Dana knew that she had to weaken his mind. “Thousand Arms, Ten Thousand Threads, true form. Voidwalk.” She said, her body seeming to shimmer as she stepped into, and through Kal’thrall’s body. The moment she did, his mental resistance crumbled, the Twin Swords Retribution directly shattering his essence.