The trees swung with the wind, like a pirate ship in a hurricane, while their leaves descended to the ground like lost souls. They made wailing sounds as they settled into the dirt.
In the forest, Jargon and Relix stood with their gazes locked. But as time passed, Relix's heart hammered in his chest as the weight of Jargon's presence bore down on him.
He felt as though he was standing on quicksand and sinking into its depths. His will to fight plummeted like a meteorite, and his senses went haywire; he lost this showdown. The man's ether weighed down Relix's body and mind.
But he closed his eyes and forcefully calmed his tense nerves.
Then, Relix reached for the hilt of a tanto at his back, his fingers curling around the cold metal, he proceeded to pull it out, and the blade made a silent sound as it slithered out, almost like a whisper.
The quiet situation made Relix apprehensive. Therefore, he made the first move. His legs and senses tensed up like a firefly in the night—the blade moved to his front. Ether surged.
Jargon suddenly spoke, cutting through the silence like a knife, and making the hostile Relix pause.
"How did you dodge my knife?"
"... What?" The question surprised Relix. But he also calmed down because of it, and he felt the shaking tanto in his hands, now drenched by the sweat from his palm.
He decided to stall for time until a window of opportunity came.
"My attack. There's no way you should have dodged it. You're just an Aneon rank etherist, a sensory classed one at that." Jargon contemplated.
Relix's eyes widened, taking in a look of realization and comprehension. He understood what was happening with the Huntsman's strange behaviour. His previous act had confused Jargon, and he was contemplating whether to retreat–or engage.
Relix begged internally, praying that Jargon chose to retreat because he knew there was no other way that he could win this.
Not wanting to reside to fate, Relix looked around bushy cleaning, trying to find what he could use or a path to flee: 'I need to think of something quick'—he paused, thinking—' yes! That could work.'
"I guess… I can not hide my power anymore." Relix looked disheartened. He folded his hands while allowing the ether to flow through him. "Did a legend like you really believe I was just an Aneon rank? That's disappointing..."
"Ah well, too late for regrets." Relix declared, letting his energy permeate the place and revolve around him in bright blue lights.
He hoped his crazy plan would succeed.
"Oh?" said Jargon with a stoic face, his tone both cold and empty, and it had a somewhat hazy feel to it. The act almost made Relix lose his mask of confidence. But with a brief prayer to the Âether, he continued.
Relix pointed the tip of the blade at Jargon, who stood there with a bored expression.
Relix took a steady step forward, and his foot sunk into the soil. His hands also moved to his sides and swayed front and back, as he approached Jargon.
The gap between them kept closing as seconds passed by. When they were just 7 meters away—
—Relix turned left and dashed into the forest, leaving behind a gust of wind. After he left, Jargon chuckled in a crooked voice. The silver dagger in his hands swirled about, spinning around his fingers like a propeller.
He chased after his prey; the wind blew faster and stronger as he stepped unto the trees, and the entire forest swayed about like it had attained life and seeked to enact vengeance. It performed movements unnatural to plant life.
Its movements also affected Relix–he could not move through the land as easily as before.
The wind hauled heavy logs in his direction, soaring through the air at blinding speeds—
—The ground beneath him transformed into mud, swallowing everything it could find, before tearing into unequal pieces.
And all the falling leaves combined to obstruct Relix's path like flies to waste.
The land, the sky, and life in general unified to kill him.
'Damn it! Damn it!' Relix thought. He tried to activate his senses again, letting his brain reach into multiple spots of the forest, but the act failed–he guessed it was whatever force that caused this.
Because every time he tried, a sensation would implant words in his mind: 'surrender, kill, hunt.'
The series of problems had also caused the gap between him and Jargon to reduce to—
(—100 meters.)
Soon after, the number of objects flying toward Relix escalated, ranging from boar-sized logs, branches, stones/boulders, and patches of dirt.
It was an ecological hell.
There was no damn path for him to escape from. Either above, below, on top, or anywhere—none. The place boxed him in its depths.
He cursed again as a wave of killing intent hit him from the back, but he kept on.
(60meters)
The trees snaked to Relix, twisting inside the soil multiple times before pointing skyward.
They entangled amongst themselves in crisscrossing lines, leaving no space in their shape as tightly squeeze each other.
Eventually, they created a dome-like structure.
(20 meters)
Relix glanced up and saw only the all-encompassing darkness, no sounds came anymore.
He realized that it trapped him, ominously moving in a serpentine motion. His face turn white as he looked about the place, mind racing as he thought of ways to escape.
However, a thought compelled him to look back, and so he did. He regretted it.
Ten meters away stood Jargon, standing in front of the vines that caged Relix. But what caught Relix's attention was the man's eyes.
The gaze that Jargon had unnerved him—it was similar to how a butcher would look at a pig.
"No…" Relix trod back with fright. He turned around and used the knife in his hands to cut at the vines multiple times. Multiple flashes of light emitted from the blade he held, and in response, the branches dwindled in number.
Jargon, on the opposite side, caressed the bark.
He felt delightful that he completed the escapade.
Because this was what he lived for: a successful hunt. The thrill of having an animal's life by his hands intoxicated him.
Jargon's tongue suddenly clicked as satisfaction and ecstasy washed over him.
Although he would have preferred it to be slower and more grueling—like he once did in the past—so he could savour it and use it as strength.
He sadly had a task to complete.
With one final click, Jargon condemned the trees to their last dance.