Sen tried to bite his nails, although the fingers just passed through his mouth. He really wanted to see a fantasy battle with magic and swords fighting. This kind of thrill he won't get even from the best 3D movies on earth. And the fact that this really happened really brought a thrill to the battle. Plus he had no idea from where to start looking for his soul, so he might as well enjoy the show.
The demon was the first one to make a move. He made a big jump with his greatsword held tightly with both hands behind his back and ready to slash at Mathrim at the moment of impact.
But Mathrim was no amateur, like a blur, he disappeared. And instantly, he was behind Nazaru. Body twirled and daggers slashed, only to be blocked by the armor Nazaru was wearing.
Clash!
The two distanced from each other and continued at this pace for minutes. Apart from some minor cuts, no one really managed to gravely injure the other.
As the two clashed again and distanced from one another, Mathrim did not give Nazaru the first move this time. From one place to the other, like a zigzag, he moved with a frightening speed.
Sen's eyes could not keep up.
But Nazaru was no amateur either, he felt where Mathrim was about the strike and a string suddenly appeared in that place.
Argh!
Mathrim grunted. The string strapped him like a snake.
Feeling a sense of imminent danger, Mathrim roared. Golden aura bursting from his body. Although Sen had no physical presence in the dream world. He could still feel the scorching heat, like standing in front of the sun.
Mathrim roared and a giant golden sword appeared behind him.
The power of that sword was so overwhelming that the nearby soldiers fainted from the mental pressure. The only two conscious people were Nazaru and Mathrim.
"Damocles!" Mathrim's voice thundered, body turning golden and eyes shining brighter than the sun. This was his ultimate move, granted to him by the god of the sun to smite down all demons and heretics. A mindset he truly embraced over the years after he was chosen by the sigil.
But Nazaru was not afraid. In fact, he seemed to be elated. He smirked and brought his palms together. "Got you"
The world went quiet and Sen felt a shiver down his spine.
Nazaru smirked, made a seal with his hands.
Boom!
The giant sword lunged at Nazaru. But to Mathrim's surprise, a blade came out of nowhere and blocked it, sending ripples through the area and clearing it of any weapon scraps or stone.
Sen traced the curved blade to a rift that opened from space. He gulped, he clearly remembered that the last time he saw one of those rifts open, what came out was nothing but a harbinger of doom and destruction, a forsaken.
And just as he predicted, out came the dark red and purple sword, half a meter in width and taller than a human. Holding it was exactly the same monster Sen saw last time, just much taller than it and wielding a sword, not a scythe.
Bulging muscles underneath that ugly pale skin, head covered with a cloth that reached its horns. And mouth spilling black substance that looked like oil.
"What is it doing here?"
"Mathrim, you never had a chance of winning this war in the first place. His eminence alone is enough to destroy you ten times over" Nazaru looked at the forsaken with reverence. Clearly, he was the one that opened the rift with his seals.
"The appearance of his eminence is temporary as he only exists as a soul. He lives only by taking over bodies with the demon seed inside. The current vessel can no longer sustain his immense power and demons with demonic seeds can no longer be found. That is…"
Sen had an inkling of where this was going,
"That is until you appeared in our records, a half breed of a demon who possesses the legendary demonic seed"
Mathrim's eyes widened, he did not know what the monster in front of him was. But one thing he knew for sure, it is the reincarnation of terror.
Thoughts of why is he fighting this war in the first place got to his mind, making him doubt every decision he ever made.
He knew that if this creature wanted to take over his body, then he will have no chance to resist. His body was already in shambles, the fight at the front, then the fight with Nazaru, then he conjured the Damocles sword, all of these took a toll on his body.
Damocles's sword dissipated under the pressure of the forsaken. The latter appeared in front of Mathrim and caught the man's entire head its giant hand.
Mathrim tried to slash with his twin daggers, but his attacks did almost no damage to the creature.
Hou!
The world seemed to stand still all of a sudden. Mathrim's face distorted, like an image getting blurred, and was being sucked into the forsaken's mouth.
Sen watched the horror of the scene, he wanted to help but this has already happened, maybe even millions of years ago on another planet.
Suddenly, a blinding flash lit up the battlefield. The dark-skinned beauty with the lion's mane of silver hair appeared.
��A forsaken! So it's true what the high seer told me. You vile thing really came"
She waved the golden staff and a powerful blast of light separated Mathrim from the forsaken.
"I can feel your body slowly deteriorating" she smiled brightly and another blast shot towards the forsaken.
Slash!
The greatsword split open the blast and it dissipated.
"Y…your holiness," Mathrim said weakly. Seeing her arrive, he thought he finally found a ray of hope. But the reality was harsh, the seer spared him a glance and with disgust, she said, "Filthy demon, you dare call my name?"
Blast!
A golden light sphere collided with Mathrim, sending him flying.
"You couldn't even defeat one mere army commander, how will you win us the war? ...tsk… I can't believe the pure power of our beloved god had to be tainted with your vile blood" another sphere appeared in her hand, "after all the efforts we spent in helping you use the divine power, you couldn't even handle one-third of it. What a disgrace!"
The sphere collided with him again. With a blast of light, Mathrim was sent further flying.
Roar! The forsaken bellowed, unhappy at getting ignored.
Mist appeared around him as it lunged at the seer, but only to be met with a strong golden barrier.
Bam! The mist disappeared. But clearly, its power was greater as the barrier crumbled into light the next moment.
The seer retreated, but the forsaken gave her no chance as he lunged at her again with his greatsword.
Argh!
She grunted as the sword missed her vitals, but still managed to pierce a part of her skin.
"Accursed being"
The staff in her hands glowed brighter than ever. She closed her eyes and chanted something. The forsaken tried to advance but some power kept him in place.
Sen wondered whether the forsaken has always been this weak or not. Then he remembered what the seer said. The forsaken's body is withering and his power decreasing, that's why he needed Mathrim's body.
"You… how do you know this?" the forsaken spoke for the very first time. His voice rough and ugly to the ears. But contained within that unpleasant sound, was fear.
The forsaken looked afraid as the seer chanted, sword-like pillars of light appearing above her.
"A forsaken that's not in full form cannot even exert a quarter its powers. You've made a huge mistake coming here, vile thing"
Like an arrow, one of the sword pillars shot through the forsaken's shoulder, its end stuck in the ground.
"No! "The forsaken screamed, "Not again!" clearly whatever the seer is doing, the forsaken is familiar with; even terrified of.
"H…how?" he managed to sound despite the obvious pain he was in.
"How?" the seer sneered, "knowledge of the forsaken and the ascended has already reached the mortal planes. The sun god gave me the knowledge to trap you"
Roar!
The seals were strong, but the forsaken was not willing to go down without a fight.
His pale body started expanding even beyond the light swords.
Sounds of flesh tearing were heard, sending Sen's spine into another chill.
"You…" the seer was stunned. For the first time, Sen could see the fear in her voice. "You're going to release your soul?"
In hopes of stopping him, the seer summoned a rapidly growing golden sphere of light. Once it reached about two meters in height, she sent it to the forsaken while he was trapped.
Boom!
A frightening explosion boomed throughout the battlefield. If Sen was in a real human body, then he was sure that he would've been burned to ashes.
Moments later, the dust cleared and all that was left is a bewildered Nazaru who managed to survive the blast unscathed, the seer who wanted to confirm whether she successfully finished the forsaken off.
Only she knew what sacrifice the empire had to make to acquire the sealing way of a forsaken. Now that she finally trapped him, if he managed to free his soul, contamination would spread and the infected would turn into black, flesh-eating monsters.
The mist finally cleared around the place where the forsaken stood. Sen watched as the seer's anxious expression turned into one of joy. The body that once was forsaken is now but a mas of flesh and blue blood.
"I killed a forsaken" the seer bellowed in happiness. She held her staff to the air and sent mini-sun fireworks in all directions.
However, the seer's joy was short-lived. From a nearby place, she sensed a terrifying aura that made her shiver, even more so than the forsaken.
Sen as well turned around and saw a tall figure. Just a few inches taller than him, standing still with his face to the sky. Burning red hair and glowing eyes, one with a mesmerizing fire gold color and the other an intimidating red-black color.
In his hands were his two daggers. It was Mathrim. But something was different about him. Aside from the terrifying pressure he exuded, his aura right now was like a predator waiting to jump on his prey.