The darkness falls away, revealing the city around. Several buildings collapsed around us, the road torn apart and cracked heavily. I look forward and see the beast standing at attention, his sword jammed into the concrete with his hands on the pommel. The creature stands about eight feet tall, it glares down towards us.
It exhales deeply and slides its hands down onto the handle. With a slow motion, it pulls the sword from the ground and readies it at its side. Vex draws his sword, and we ready ourselves. I smirk and speak up.
"Last time, you caught me off guard. This time, however, you will no-."
Before I can finish speaking it appears beside me, the ground erupting from its lighting quick step. I narrowly pull my sword up and block its strike. I get launched back into the rubble of a building beside me.
[-2,000,000 HP]
[+110,500 HP]
I quickly stand up and see Vex swing towards the beast. It blocks his sword, then kicks sideways and crushes Vex's left knee inward. As Vex starts falling to the ground, I lunge towards the beast and swing my sword downward with everything I have while activating all my buffs.
[Field of Anger 5], [Bloody Wraith 5], [Wrath 5], [God of Slaughter].
[All Stats Increased 5X]
[Speed and Strength Increased 20X]
[Strength Increased 10X]
[Strength Increased 30X]
[30 Seconds Until Buffs Wear Off]
[10% of HP Consumed Per Second]
My heart sinks as the beast blocks my attack with its bare hand and grips my blade. Its feet plant into the solid concrete and crush it from the impact. Blood runs down my blade and it raises its massive sword to swing towards me. I attempt to rip my sword from the beasts hands, but I can't seem to pry it loose. The blood pours from the wound, the blade digging halfway through its hand but it doesn't even flinch.
I jump away, narrowly, its blade coming inches from my face. I back pedal away and attempt to create space between us. I smirk nervously.
"Not bad! I can tell you have a considerable amount of skill, so let me ask a question. Why are you h-."
Once again the beast won't let me finish. It spins my blade around and throws it towards me like a spear. It flies passed me, cutting my cheek slightly.
[-10,000,000 HP]
[+110,500 HP]
It missed on purpose!? Not like it matters, since that sword does almost eleven times more damage to living creatures, but even still, I'm sure it could've killed me right then. Is it toying with me?!
I think, smiling and readying my fists. My mind quickly kicks in, realizing I've lost alot of HP, and I cancel [God of Slaughter]. I grit my teeth, starting to feel regret for trying to fight unprepared. I take a deep breath, trying to compose myself and not make any fatal decisions.
Should we run? I thought I could take him if I charged headfirst, but my attacks aren't even making it flinch! If I can't figure out something, we'll have to flee again.
While thinking to myself, the creature just stands ready to attack. It makes no movements, besides narrowing its vision and glaring at me. I see Vex suddenly appear behind it, swinging his blade directly into the creatures throat. His sword goes halfway through its neck, but again, the beast refuses to even acknowledge pain.
It simply grabs the tip of Vex's sword and pries it away. He quickly grips the blade and lifts it over his head, pulling Vex with it. In one swift motion, he tosses Vex over to me, Vex landing on his feet but stumbling slightly. Vex growls under his breath at the sight of the wounds instantly healing. I speak up.
"What can we do? Why is it healing so much? Is there any way we can win this?"
I mumble, Vex stands extremely cautious. Vex mumbles back.
"I have a trump card, but I really don't want to use it. I'm not sure what it would do to me. Besides that, I have no clue what else we could do. Maybe, [Clone 10]."
Vex takes a deep breath and ten more of him appear. The beast before us seemingly sighs and enters an offensive stance. Its dragon-like maw moves as though it's attempting to speak, but no sound comes out. Vex notices it too, and starts to speak up.
As I notice Vex open his mouth to talk, the beast blitzes forward and kills all of his clones. It then grabs Vex by the collar of his shirt and glares down disappointingly. I quickly throw a punch towards it, but it easily jams its sword into the ground and reaches across its left arm to grab my fist. With a loud crack and squish, I stumble and gasp from pain.
I look at my hand, a mangled ball of flesh and bone. Blood pours from around the splintered bone and crushed muscle. I feel shocking waves of pain ripping up my arm. Vex swings his sword towards the beast, but his sword once again only cuts halfway through it's throat.
"Your....vigor.....you.....have.....weakened."
The beast musters those words, almost struggling to speak. It looks to me and places its hand on Vex's face, Vex struggling and swinging wildly. It growls and glares at me.
"Trapped....in.....dungeon."
My eyes widen as I connect the dots and realize who this may be. As I start to speak up, Vex's skull gets crushed. His body falls limp and the beast chucks his body upward, far out of sight. It attempts to speak again.
"A.....Arth.....Pendragon."
I feel rage overtake me and once again I feel the thorns on my left arm throbbing, the beast seemingly happy with its accomplishment. Instead of hearing the words of encouragement like when I fought Zero, a different word rings through my head.
"RUN!"
Without hesitation, I teleport to my sword in the rubble. As I pull it from the rubble, I feel the large hand on my shoulder. As it starts gripping down, I drop to my knees to pull myself away.
"[Teleport 5!]"
I teleport upwards and see Vex below me, starting to plummet. I quickly teleport down to him, my chest hurting upon seeing his completely crushed skull. An eye dangles out of the socket and blood streams from his falling body, but he somehow still is holding his sword. I quickly grab him and teleport in the direction of Precinct 3.