The enormous Dread was standing in front of Dean with his bloodshot eyes aimed at him. Inside them, one could only see bloodthirsty and madness. It was hard to take that an animal could develop such malicious intentions.
"Chaos" was surrounding that beast, changing its body to increase its power. The environment was getting tenser. Dean felt a headache due to all that pressure. The negativity of "Chaos' was something that got normal humans sick.
Nonetheless, the boy just took a deep sigh.
'Survive, survive, survive. I will do it and find my home again. I don't even know where I am, but I will return to the refuge and meet my friends and family!' He motivated himself, making his hopes rise again.
The boy remembered his motivations, his ideals. Everything that he thought and did until now to become stronger, to have hope in humanity, wasn't useless. He had been struggling for too long to accept to die right on the spot without fighting back.
After all, not give up when you have even the slightest possibility to win was something that his uncle and father taught him since he was young.
"When the blade isn't good enough, you need to hammer until it gets. No matter how messed your work becomes, you can just affirm that it is ruined when the sword breaks apart. That's the struggle of a blacksmith: create a lot, but just get satisfied with one. And you will never find that perfect work if you stop trying." His uncle's words crossed his mind.
A hot sensation rsn across his body, getting him feverish. He felt like being stuck in a sauna. Something was lighting up inside him.
Dean closed his fists tightly, gritting his teeth.
The pain over his body got numb, and so were his negative feelings such as fear, sadness, confusion... Now he felt like he was in the place where he should be. He gained more confidence as his mind soothed. He believed that whatever the obstacle that imposed in front of him, he would overcome.
That lion was nothing but an obstacle that he would run across, a rock on his way that he just needed to brush off to keep going.
"Dean, I am not good at this. You know, I don't even know how I could raise you throughout the days, because I suck when trying to tell you something important. But, listen, really bad things will happen to you, and you will last to understand why they happened. However, what matters is that you keep in mind that we are capable of incredible things that we will just find out when we are at our limit. It's in human nature, after all. So, when something bad appears, remember: human beings show all their potential in moments of crisis. Keep your head high, don't fear, and do what needs to be done. You've got this." This time, the voice of his father echoed from far away.
His heart was beating steadily inside his chest. Every beat was sending a wave of heat throughout his body. He felt like a candle was ignite in his heart, but instead of melt as time passed, it got bigger and its flame, more powerful.
Dean was feeling his heart being enveloped thoroughly by that vicious sensation, getting on fire and overwhelming both his mind and body with energy.
"Take your sword, Dean!" His father shouted.
The boy took the black sword beside him, closing his hands on its grip and not letting go for nothing.
"Fighting instance!"
He positioned that weapon in front of his body, bending his knees.
After gathering enough "Chaos", the Dread stomped the ground and rushed towards Dean at a speed that didn't fit his big body.
It raised high one of its paws and launched it toward the boy.
Dean swung his sword. Their attacks collided, but he flew several meters away, skidding on the ground.
"Take a firm base. Plant your feet on the ground and don't let yourself be knocked by any means!"
The boy stood up. He put one foot forward, another backward. He bent his knees again and firmed his feet on the soil.
Relentlessly, the Dread was already boosting his body toward him. His attack came in no time, but stronger than the previous one.
"You know what to do, son. What have I been teaching to you all these years?"
Dean frowned hard, tensing his muscles and giving a warcry.
Golden flames began to appear from the left side of his chest and envelop his body, dancing around him. They were dense and intense, its heat burnt the dry grass around.
Using all his body in synchrony, Dean swung the blade to the left, clashing again with the Dread's diagonal attack.
"Willpower" and "Chaos" collided with each other on that clash with similar power.
Because of the intensity of the impact, the floor under Dean's feet cracked and sunk.
The boy prepared his weapon again, returning all the way he did with his hips, but to the right.
Another attack was coming from the Dread. That lion roared in frustration, releasing more "Chaos" on that blow.
Again, their weapons clashed. The ground sunk more, creating a shallow crater. A shockwave sent gusts of winds everywhere.
Dean's legs were trembling because of the effort to keep his base steady.
In a flurry of blows, they continued their exchange. The power was exponentially increasing, getting in disastrous proportions.
Even the sturdy metal of Dean's sword wasn't bearing that intensity and began to dent at each clash in different parts. Pieces of black metal began to fly everywhere.
The shallow crater from before was now more than two meter deep. Dean felt that all the bones from his hips to the tip of his toes were about to break. His wrists were in pain, also as his arm's muscles and shoulders.
However, his resolute eyes didn't even blink. He didn't afford his body to collapse. His grip on the sword was as tight as never before.
Taking advantage of a falter, Dean assaulted the Dread, doing a sharp swing with his sword. It was quick enough not to get noticed by the lion.
In the next moment, as easy as cutting paper, the black dented blade ripped off one of the lion's legs.
The enormous creature roared in pain, releasing a mass of "Chaos" and giving a clumsy attack with his other pawn, using its claws.
Dean defended the blow at the last moment, parrying it. However, the sword's blade finally broke, leaving less than half of it on the grip.
The Dread decided to retreat several meters behind. Wrath was present in its eyes. That animal was decided to kill Dean no matter what. And even if he couldn't, he would remember his face for the rest of his life.
He opened his mouth widely, gathering "Chaos" inside it and forming a massive black ball with red rays surrounding it.
Dean didn't know anything about how "Chaos" could be used, but one just needed his instincts to know that nothing good would come out of it. It surely was a long-distance attack, and if so much energy needed to be gathered, then it must be powerful.
The boy looked at his sword broken sword. Nonetheless, instead of letting it shatter his will, it just helped to increased it even more. The "Willpower" surrounding Dean got brighter and intenser. His white skin was getting slightly reddish due to the heat. His heart was fulfilled with power and was asking to release everything at once.
Dean didn't hold it anymore. He returned to his firm base, getting into a fighting stance. His eyes acquired a strong golden color. He poised his sword vertically, above his head.
"Gather strength in your arms," his father's last lesson passed on his mind.
His "Willpower" concentrated on his arms as he strengthened his muscles.
"Steady your base, be as firm as a mountain!"
The same happened with his legs. He pressed the soil with such strength that it began to crack even more.
"Put your sword above your head, use your joints like springs, and swing your sword while stepping in!"
The "Willpower" moved from his legs to his trunk, passing across his arms, and gathering on his sword. A new golden blade formed where the rest of the previous black one should be, but at least half a meter longer than before.
The lion finally finished gathering all the "Chaos" he needed in that dense ball of power. With a roar, he shot a beam from his mouth toward Dean.
The boy gave a strong shout, swinging his sword down, never doubting that he would be capable to stop the attack.
With an explosion of golden light and black energy, their attacks collided. The energy compressed into a single point, then expanded all at once, creating a huge explosion that opened a wode fissure on the ground.
All the far away refuges, groups of survivors, and Dreads could hear and feel the impact of that clash.