At the behest of the burly man, a loud rumbling could be heard and felt through the bones of all three present.
A second later, the ground split itself apart, opening into a deep crevice barely the same size of the alleyway. A deep, hollow darkness was looming just beneath it.
However, the familiar sensation of falling never assailed the two. As if the world refused to allow them to.
Harita hesitated for several long seconds before opening his eyes. What he saw shocked him.
Beyond Bian's shocked face stood a boy, with raven black hair and deep blue eyes that seemingly penetrated the darkness in a way different from his own. He was just standing there, clutching his shirt by his heart, staring at the whole situation with a horrified face that he was able to see very clearly, even despite the darkness.
The boy muttered, his voice shaking:
"Ha-Harita? What is going on?"
His eyes were glued to the blood dripping from the bisected head, curious and scared. One closer inspection, Harita could see that his legs were shaking, as well as his hands. There was cold sweat running down his face as he met the dead man's gaze with his own, feeling the world sink in and devour him, the despair taking over.
He did not seem to have pay or otherwise pay the slightest bit of attention to the gaping hole in the ground. Which could only mean one thing.
'This is an illusion. One that isn't even complete… yet.'
Realizing the importunity of the moment, Harita peeled the woman away and disabled his barrier. Bian resisted… tried to, anyways. But because of her wounds and injuries, it was exceedingly difficult for her to do so. Even that tiny set movements caused her an unimaginable amount of pain, with several wounds opening up in her body.
"Lieren, we… I…"
Before he could finish the thought, the deep pit disappeared almost instantaneously along with the constant dread that it exuded. In its place were several earthen javelins, pointing dangerously at Harita with their unnaturally sharp points.
With a flick of the burly man's wirst, the javelins flew, much faster than before.
Harita had a grim feeling that, it he got hit by even one of those, then his life would be immediately forfeit. Taking so into account, he prepared to cast his reinforcement spell once again.
He tiredly, feeling his consciousness die down ever so slowly:
'Will I even make it?'
At that moment, his eyes shot wide open.
Harita reflexively stepped in front of the rogue woman as a spell he is very familiar with shot into his direction, crashing into a stone javelin powerfully, shattering it into tiny pieces.
The burly man's mouth hung open as blood flowed from his nose.
"What… what just happened?"
His gaze fell to the boy behind him, his eyes shifting dangerously as a glint of infuriated desperation overcame his vision, swallowing it entirely. Only the thirst of blood and the never-ending desire for victory was present in the man's eyes at this very moment.
Despite the burly man's piercing gaze, the boy only looked forward, as if it was the only thing he could do. His gaze was only and decidedly at Harita.
Through their binding ligature, Harita could very subtly feel the disordered mix of emotions whirling inside the boy's mind, confused and perplexed by the situation in front of him.
Even after all that he had seen, there was still a part of him that desired to be innocent and forget it all, to stay true to his age and leave the dark future for himself to handle.
…And that was where he made his first mistake.
Harita reached out with his hand, only now reminded of the watersteel dagger in his hand drenched in the blood of the woman beside him.
The boy's eyes widened in horror as he witnessed the dagger's blade drip blood onto the concrete alleyway.
Opening HIS eyes, Harita spun around and whipped the dagger behind him, clashing against the woman's rapier. With her long blade and battered body, and his disabled Reinforcement spell and unbalanced physique, the two were at a deadlock, incapable of surpassing the other. That is, until a third party interrupted. And there was certainly one of those around here… just not the good kind.
The stone javelins littering the alleyway crackled with energy, their forms shifting subtly, becoming much scarier and deadlier as they condensed themselves into sharper and thinner spears, with the appearance of a needle.
Just as First swung his arm in a wide arc with his hand gestured like a chop, all of the stone javelins shattered like the fragile objects that they seemed to be. The look on First's face told the all those present what his reaction was to this moment.
Pure astonishment and grave disbelief.
Even with the years of experience that the man clearly held, it would seem that this occurrence was something beyond what he was capable of understanding. And it all starts and ends with a young boy in the crisp age of ten.
First glared at Lieren with renewed vigor and hatred, fully redirecting his course of action. Just like earlier, the boy did no pay the man any attention, instead focusing on the single-handed man in front of him, his gaze unwavering as he repeatedly crushed all attacks coming for him with uncanny precision.
The fact that he was young and most likely recently initiated caused a cold shiver to run down First's spine, as if a bucket of ice had just been poured right behind his back. It quickly disappeared though, as cold fury replaced his in comparison less significant fear.
Closing his hand into a fist, he dismissed his warhammer and approached the boy with a glint of madness in his eyes, along with deep-rooted anger and wrath. He seemed to be on the breaking point of something. Most likely his sanity.
Clenching his teeth, in which dripped a dangerous amount of blood, he swung his muscular arm and approached the boy.
Harita reached out.
"No!"
Only to be stopped by Bian's rapier, his Reinforcement spell still unavailable to use. His dagger strained against her rapier, which was especially concerning.
Rapiers, by design, were not meant for direct confrontation or mighty clashes. They were made for quick thrusts and deadly ripostes, blending counters and dodges, using wit and agility to outsmart the enemy into showing a weakness that they did not even know they had. However, as all things do, it came with a cost. Because of how they worked, and how they were meant to be used, they were not especially wide, meant to be wielded with one hand and paired with excellent dexterity. This meant that, in direct clashes were strength and endurance were the main focus, somebody using a rapier would be at a disadvantage. Though this did not mean an instant loss.
And Harita was being bested in such a clash, straining all his muscles and squeezing out all of his power with emergent vigor. It felt like his mind was ripping itself apart, cutting him to pieces, silently improving him.
But the woman was unrelenting, not letting him out of her sights.
At this rate, he… no, oh gods. Not again.
'I cannot let this happen. Not again. Not anymore.'
Closing in with her relentless power, pushing all her body weight on him, her body alit with a dangerous light that empowered the woman's body and senses with great power… as well as a great cost.
Gritting his teeth, Harita squeezed out all of his remaining energy, pushing the dagger forth to meet her rapier.
But it was useless.
With her body enhanced by augmentation mana, and his exhausted body to the point where his spells are threateningly unusable, Harita can only do so much at this current time. That was on top of having only one arm, which meant he could only use about half his strength with the dagger, thus making it his strikes easier to deflect. Or in this case; meet and trap him, rendering him incapable of fulfilling his Oath.
Was he going to fail again?
Only fate could tell.
Bracing himself for the worst, he prepared to use his strongest ability, reaching deep inside his soul, then even deeper. For a vast majority of his life, he had done his very best to improve this spell as if his life depended on it. And in some cases, it did, just not in the way he expected. It was always a surprise to him what kind of situation he would need to temper this power and improve it.
Harita closed his eyes and began to pray.
Not to the gods, they were of no help to him anymore.
Certainly not the daemons, he had long abandoned those vile creatures.
And definitely not her, or the ones that cane before that despicable and magnificent woman.
None of them mattered right now.
He only needed to protect the one in front of him. The person who would risk his life just to save him.
Harita smiled and opened his, alit with the flame of his radiant will, unable to be stopped by anything. It seemed to be burning at first glance, but further inspection revealed a cold serenity inside of those irises.
The man had abandoned everything, leaving only one thing only: his Oath. Everything else to him now was just merely a distraction setting him apart from his goal.
His entire body was brimming with desperate, radiant dying will, filling him with untold power in small trickles of flowing magical energy and mystical force.
This was it. This was finally it. After this, there really was no more going back. Not again. Not anymore.
Harita took a deep, long breath, taking in everything in front of him in a flash.
…And have it disappear just the same.
"What?"
It was gone. He was gone. The power he had worked so hard for, the ability he had painstakingly developed with his life om the line every single time… was gone. Entirely gone.
Unspeakable dread befell Harita's body, almost putting him on the ground. If it were not for Bian's silver rapier dangerously in front of him, he would not have remembered to keep his body firm and still, grounding his feet on the ground and keeping himself stable.
For a second—no, it wasn't even close to that. It was much smaller and much more horrifying. He almost didn't see it.
…It was there, in the boy's eyes.
Resting, waiting, and watching. It was preparing for the right time on which it shall finally descend and reign once more over all the lands. Vritra and Indrath alike.
Nothing was safe in its grasp. And nothing could escape its grasp. Everything was within the palm of its hands.
It was only for a second, but Harita had managed to gleam into something, perhaps through his binding link to the boy, and peer into its true nature.
But somehow he knew that that wasn't quite it.
Somebody else had disabled his ability forcefully, cutting it off from it like a drug to be expelled from one's system. It was not the being within, but the creature outside.
The one he had sworn his allegiance to.
'Well, I guess it was worth a try. No matter how futile it was.'
Gritting his teeth, he decided to push out once more.
"What… what is this?"
The momentary burst of power, no matter if it was activated it or not, had reconnected him to his mana.
'Just… a little… more…!'
Pushing out magical strength throughout his body, empowering his muscles and bones, he pushed out, deflecting the woman's rapier with his dagger, finally allowing him to dash away to the boy's side.
And when he did, he could not help but stop.
Hariya lowered his blade and smiled darkly, an unsavory chuckle escaping his lips.
"Who's the monster now?"
The burly man, standing relentlessly just a moment before, was riddled with gaping wounds that pierced through the other side of his body, allowing him to see the pool of blood that collected inside of it as the newly-formed corpse lay flat on its face, reaching out its hand—for the boy.
The edict of life had escaped the man's grasp and reduced him to nothing. The only thing remaining left there to be forgotten and rot away. Forever.
The boy looked directly into the man's eyes with an almost inhuman gaze.
"Do not ever say that again."
Cold sweat permeated Harita's back and face. A cold chill ran down his spine.
'What… what did he say to Lieren?'
If it was enough to warrant killing the man then surely it must have been something truly devastating and offensively insulting to the boy. Especially considering the damage done to the man.
But it didn't end there.
'Dammit!'
Feeling his senses tingling with a sensation other than fear, Harita whipped around and brandished his dagger.
Sparks flew.
Hitting the bare middle of his blade was the silver point of an elegant rapier, paired with the dangerous glint of desperate standing will.
Harita tightened his grip on the handle and opened his eyes wide.
He wasn't the same as he was before.
Enhancing and fortifying his body with augmentation magic just above what he was capable of, Harita swung his dagger in a wide arc, forcing the woman to back away.
She quickly collected herself however, and dashed forth once more, her silver rapier ready to stab and pierce anything in its way. Her gaze was unrelenting.
And so was his, maybe even more so. Letting his grip go slack, he threw the watersteel dagger with all his might, grazing the unflinching woman's shoulder. She did not stop for even the fraction of a second to feel the pain, as if all her senses had been cut off from her, except for her emotions.
But that was enough.
Condensing his enhancement magic on his legs and feet, he willed his body to dash forward with his fist closed and his body lowered.
The woman adjusted accordingly and lowered her stance, her gaze following his every move.
With an explosive leap, Harita dashed forth, opening his eyes wide.
He had only one chance. One infinitesimally small chance.
And he wasn't going to waste it.
Bian thrust her rapier forward, fixing herself on the ground and pushing out her arm repeatedly.
Harita could not help but grin.
"Return, Silent Reverie."
The woman's eyes grew wide as Harita opened his palm wide and summoned his dagger back. She tried to whip around, to avoid the incoming danger, but it had happened too fast and too sudden. She wasn't prepared for this at all.
With a desperate crunch of the bones and ripping of flesh and skin, a deep cut sliced open the woman's wound. Where Silent Reverie had grazed its watersteel blade.
The woman's eyes grew wide with horror and fear as she fell to the ground, her body suddenly growing limp as her arm hung by the thread that is her body.
She closed her eyes, slowly and barely accepting her fate. The path she had chosen to walk through.
But no, she still had uses. Lots of them.
And Harita was not willing to abandon such uses unattended.
Crouching down, he picked the woman up and placer her on his shoulders, glancing at the boy apprehensively.
"Are... are you alright?"
The boy nodded meekly, his eyes glued to the burly man's dead eyes, somehow still alit with a phantom kind of vigor. It was horrifying and deadly, ad if the man would resurrect at any moment.
"What are you going to do with that?"
He glanced at bleeding woman and stared at her curiously, tilting his head. The boy searched for her eyes, but Harita moved just the fracture of an inch to not allow him to.
Harita gave his most reassuring smile and glanced up, at the moon hanging above all of them.
He muttered as he bathed in the moonlight:
"I have a couple of questions for her."