Camila struggled to shake her mind awake. She was a veteran warrior of the Barbarian race and a lover of battles. She had been through many difficult situations, and had come out of all of them a survivor. This situation was no different. Her experience proved a vital resource as she quickly made the wisest decision.
"Attack now! Forget capturing him. Kill him!" Camila ordered, and the eyes of the Barbarians somehow became even redder. They were already harboring hatred for this human boy who had not only kept them waiting, but had indirectly caused the death of several members of their race. Twelve of them rushed towards Mane with a recklessness that was born from their pent up frustrations. All of a sudden the boy who had felled their colleague with nothing but a two word command was not so threatening.
Mane looked expressionlessly at the group of barbarians jumping at him; all manner of weapons held in their hands. Of the 12, only two were Nightmares. The rest were Pseudo Nightmares. In less than a second the first few Barbarians had reached him. But Mane didn't cower. He was upset. He was angry. Just like they were furious with him, he was furious with them. But unlike this motley crew, he actually had the power to prove how much his fury was worth. He took a step forward, moving closer to the approaching Barbarians whilst preparing himself for a flurry of commands. Edict gathered at his call, and Words of Power was activated.
"Bind"
"Deviate"
"Fumble"
Mane let out a flurry of commands, and with each utterance came a huge cost of Edict. Since words of power now allowed him to deal with anyone who was weaker than him in terms of battle prowess and not energy level, he could use it on this motley crew. Grunts and cries rang out as several Barbarians had their weapons deviated into the path of their own teammates. And when those attacked tried to get away, they mysteriously lost their footing and had to watch helplessly as axes hacked into their skulls and hammers crushed their bodies into meat patties.
In nothing but a few seconds, the twelve had been reduced to four. The two Low Level Nightmares were amongst the four survivors, whilst the other two were Peak Pseudo Nightmares.
"Regroup," Camila ordered and took several steps back herself. Nasir and Chichi who stood to her side moved as well. Each one had his/her hand on their weapon, and their eyes remained glued to Mane. The four survivors quickly jumped back as well. They retreated as far back as their leaders, and stood behind them with pale expressions.
"What power is that?" Chichi asked with a huge frown on her face. The hand that held her zweihander shook slightly as sweat formed on her forehead. She was a veteran of many battles. She had been through many missions with a completion percentage of 95 and she had experienced the war of the Three Great Races more than once. Yet in all her life she had never seen anything like this; power that allowed one to dictate the flow of battle like he was eating a bag of chips – with nonchalant ease.
"I don't know," Nasir was just as alarmed as Chichi. His hand gripped his heavy hammer tightly, causing the strong weapon to squeak slightly. His eyes were filled with confusion and a bit of fear. As an intelligent man there was one thing he feared more than anything. He feared things he had no knowledge of! And what he was seeing was one of those things.
"Camila, have you ever seen something like this?" Chichi asked the lady who was in charge of this team.
"No," Camila's response was cold. Camila's huge axe was cradled in her arms like a newborn baby, yet her eyes were without any warmth. They were cold and devoid of passion. Those cold red eyes were for just one person – the blue eyed young boy who had so easily killed 8 of her men; 3 of whom were Night Patrol members!
"But it must have some sort of limit," she added, and Nasir nodded his head in agreement. He was of the same opinion. There was no way such power was limitless. There must be some sort of bridle; some sort of cap. Something, anything at all; something that would prevent the boy from using it so freely. And they were right to think this way.
Words of Power was a powerful skill. But it wasn't without cost. What it did was manipulate Edict around a person into achieving what you wanted. With the first barbarian whom Mane had ordered to kill himself for example; when Mane gave the command, Edict streamed into his arms and legs and caused his outer energy to ran wild, making it difficult for him to control his own limbs. And then Edict latched onto his arm and neck like a band, swinging his axe hand towards his own head. Mane couldn't stop a person's heart or explode a person's brain or anything like that. That wasn't how it worked.
Number 3's situation was another good point to look at. When she resolved herself to never give up any information, Mane used Words of Power to get the words out of her mouth. How was that possible? After all, Words of Power could physically force her to open her mouth, but it couldn't bring the words out of it. What Mane did was simple really. He used Words of Power to bring up mists and illusions that clouded Number 3's judgement, and then he was able to successfully hypnotize her. He studied Hypnosis from his 3rd Master – the Spiritualist. And he was pretty good at it. It was just that Number 3's mind was firm so Mane had to use mists and illusions to disorient her so he could use his hypnosis technique successfully.
And doing all these came at a cost. Whilst Words of Power now allowed Mane to deal with people he was stronger than, it still stood that their energy reserves were higher than his. To overcome them came at a huge charge. The simple command to the one barbarian asking him to kill himself took up almost ten percent of his energy reserves! And after dishing out those commands just now, he had lost 20% more! It was a powerful skill, but it couldn't be used recklessly.
"He is coming," Camila stated when she saw Mane taking a small step towards them
"We should spread out," Nasir stated. "Agreed," Chichi nodded her head in assent. Since Mane could order them like weapons against one another, it was best to be farther away from each other than they were now.
"Do it," Camila ordered, and the three leaders and 4 survivors quickly created sizable gaps between themselves.
"Smart," Mane admitted that their thinking was good. But it hardly did them any favors right now.
"Kill yourself," Mane barely looked at the Peak Pseudo Nightmare he had sentenced to death before giving the command. There was no need for him to do this. He could have fought with his hands or swords and finished this quickly anyway. But he wanted them to feel fear. He wanted them to bemoan their fates and feel the dread of death. He wanted the Grim Reaper who watched from the depths of hell to see and shudder. They needed to pay for what they had done.
*Poof*
Just like the first Barbarian, this one could only watch wide eyed as he stabbed his own sword into his heart. Copious amounts of blood flowed from his chest as he fell onto the ground lifeless.
"We must strike now," Camila's face scrunched up when she saw another one of her people die.
"Attack from all angles," she added, and the others nodded their heads in response. It would be foolish of them to attack from similar positions because they may just get in each other's way or be used by Mane.
*Whoosh*
The 6 moved speedily, but Camila was obviously the fastest. Chichi wasn't slow either, and Nasir was right behind the two. The other three were Low Level Nightmares – and one Pseudo Nightmare – so their speed couldn't compare to Camila's, Chichi or Nasir's. However, they weren't far behind.
Camila reached Mane first, and without any hesitation she flew at him with her huge axe pulled back to its farthest. And without giving the boy any time to react, she swung the weapon at him.
"Bullseye"
The faces of Nasir and Chichi looked brighter when they saw Camila's axe pass right through Mane. To them it looked like the boy was weak against pure physical confrontations and had been done in easily. No matter how powerful his mouth was, he was still nothing but a Pseudo Nightmare. However, their joy lasted for less than a second. For the axe passed right through Mane indeed, but it didn't draw any blood. Not only was the boy fine, he was moving towards one of the Low Level Nightmares.
Obviously Mane used Absolute Darkness to avoid the hand of death. He activated it the moment Camila leaped at him. He wasn't stupid enough to think that Words of Power's barrier was going to save him from the axe of a Peak Nightmare.
"Star Flicker," Mane mumbled softly and his figure disappeared from Nasir's vision. When he reappeared, he was behind the Low Level Nightmare. And before Nasir could warn the poor guy, Mane had already struck.
"Absolute Darkness: Evasive Killing"
Using nothing but his hand, Mane sliced through the man's neck like it was butter and a fountain of blood was opened. Before the headless corpse could even touch the ground, Mane had activated Star Flicker again, and he was out of sight.
"Watch your backs!" Nasir screamed, but his warning came a second too late. For another headless figure was falling to the ground. Mane didn't dally and moved to the last Low Level Nightmare. And he too was killed without being able to muster any resistance.
"B*st*ard!" Camila screamed in anger when the last of her subordinates fell. Her rage was like a billowing storm and her aura ravaged the land. Nasir and Chichi were gritting their teeth in fury as well. Like torrent of rain their auras fell upon the land. Even the unconscious figures of Black Hand and the others twitched uncomfortably under this pressure. For even in their forced slumber, their bodies reacted to the threat that was so close to them. Yet the one who was the focus of this aura was very calm.
He chose the weaker ones because they were the ones he could kill with nothing but a move. The three in front of him were different. However it didn't mean that he couldn't handle them. It just meant that he had to be at his peak to do so. So he restocked his Edict supply.
"Devour"