Daniel and Alexander appeared in Limbo, and almost immediately Daniel's ears were assaulted by the deafening sound of metal striking metal as an attack from one of the specter's tendrils was blocked by Alexander's sword.
The specter retreated for a moment, and Daniel couldn't help but watch in surprise as Alexander took in a long deep breath.
'How did he just do that?' Daniel thought as Alexander began to speak.
"Daniel my boy, you really don't know what we are. You don't know what being a traveler means at all, not that I'm all that surprised. There isn't exactly a teacher for it."
'What is he talking about?' Daniel thought.
No noise could be heard except from Alexander, the rest of the world was silent, though Daniel could feel a sense of dread weighing down upon his body as Alexander continued to speak and breathe.
Creatures with sharp claws and jagged teeth skittered across the chitinous floor, drowned in everpresent smoke of Limbo. They were small, possessed no eyes and had hard black skin reminiscent of charred flesh, and they looked furious.
Several of the ones that Daniel could see had their maws open as if to scream their presence to the world, their bodies were tense and shaking but no sound escaped their small frames.
And Daniel could feel the danger these things emitted. They'd tear him apart in seconds. He was moments away from fleeing the dimension entirely when he heard Alexander laugh as he said a few strange words.
"Wall of Wills."
In an instant a semi-translucent dome spread a hundred meters in every direction, stopping the mad rush of the Limbo creatures dead in their tracks and trapping the specter, and themselves, within a bright blue dome.
Daniel stared at Alexander and could see the wild grin plastered across his face as he stared down the specter, but Daniel's attention was quickly drawn away from the duo and towards the dome where he could see thousands upon thousands of the little monsters scratching away. They scrambled over one another to get purchase against the magic structure, but as far as Daniel could tell not a scratch had been made on it.
When he finally managed to take his eyes off the monsters, Alexander and the specter were fighting. The specter moved almost like a liquid, jabbing spikes towards Alexander that formed from his body.
Alexander though, dodged each stab with a level of dexterity that made Daniel suspect he had a card relating to flexibility despite him supposedly only having one card. Needle-like stabs of spirit leapt in and out from the specter's body, forcing Alexander to dodge with the flexibility of an unmatched gymnast. What he couldn't dodge slid off the armor or was defected as he stepped close enough to swing his sword at the monster.
Firgrax reeled his body back as a cluster of needle-like appendages was cut loose, causing his body to contort in a screech of pain that made no noise. Though it didn't seem like the monster was going to let Alexander get away with a free attack, as a translucent spear slammed into Alexander's body and sent him hurtling far off into the dome where spider web-like cracks spread upon his impact.
"You do not disappoint, Firgrax. Though it does sadden me to see you run," Alexander said while lifting himself back up.
The monsters scratching away at the dome grew into a frenzy with each word the man spoke. It was as if every word he said was the peak of sacrilege to them, and they'd do just about anything to make him be quiet.
"I can't blame you too much though," Alexander said while cracking his neck. "I wouldn't want to fight an army either."
While he spoke, the specter continued to summon translucent spears that floated ominously around his body as he crept toward the armored man.
"Though I will say one thing, you can rationalize running from me with excuses. The longer you stay alive the more you can hunt after all, but she knows the real reason you ran. That I can promise you."
The specter seemed to grow angry at those words, and Daniel watched awestruck as it rushed towards Alexander like a rolling wave as its floating spears rocketed forward.
Alexander stepped through the onslaught of spears like a dancer as they flew by. It was as if he knew everywhere they would be and the perfect places to step, and when Firgrazx was finally upon Alexander, Daniel could swear he could hear the man laughing as he brought up one of his legs.
"Steps of Giants."
Alexander kicked straight and struck the specter hard in its core. The force from the impact made Daniel's ears ring as Alexander laughed heartily and the specter was sent rolling across the floor.
It didn't go far however, as Firgrax quickly found itself crashing into a chitinous tree that didn't so much as tremble from the impact of the giant monster. It seemed that Firgrax's ability to phase through objects wasn't absolute in this dimension, or Alexander had done something to it. Daniel couldn't tell which, and honestly it didn't matter.
Either way the result was the same. The specter lifted itself from the ground and the only noticeable damage took was that its ever changing body may have been slightly slower to morph. The hit had hurt it though, Daniel suspected. How much he couldn't tell. As in an instant Alexander crossed the space between himself and Firgrax and entered a brutal melee with the specter.
Sparks flew from the man's armor as needle-like appendages rained down on him. Most of them he dodged, but considering the amount of strikes being thrown at him some hits were inevitable.
Alexander's sword moved like a whirlwind, deflecting attacks and delivering strikes with a level of skill that Daniel had only ever seen in movies.
The two were relentless, and in the end it was the specter who gained the upper hand as one of its needles stabbed through Alexander's leg, causing him to fall to the ground.
Firgrax screeched in exhilaration, making no noise.
Madness was in its many eyes, and if Alexander wasn't wearing a helmet, Daniel was pretty sure he'd see it in his as well.
Firgrax raised his needles into the air and pointed them down as Alexander before thrusting them all down at once. Why he wasted time pulling them back like that when he had a clear opening, Daniel didn't know.
But what he could see was Alexander reach down to the spear sized appendage in his leg and grasp hold of it with both hands, one higher than the other before as he let his sword fall to the ground beside him and said a few simple words.
"Breaker of Swords."
And pushed his hands inwards.
CRACK
Fragmenting lines stretched up the specter's body in an instant, and it was just as quickly that Firgrax responded as with a clean swipe that cleaved away a third of his own body as the fragmenting cracks completely encompassed the abandoned piece.
Firgrax realed backwards as he screeched into the sky, his body rapidly morphing into a smaller form to make up for the loss of mass.
Alexander stood up as golden dust flowed from the fabric of his pants and healed the puncture in his legs at a visual rate. He was laughing as he picked up his longsword.
'He thinks this is fun', Daniel thought while standing as far away from the fight as he could.
"Daniel, my boy. I know you can hear me. I had to learn this myself, but I may as well tell you while you're here. You need one of three things to survive in this world: madness, ignorance or complete, overwhelming confidence in yourself. That is what makes me strong."
Firgrax seemed to have composed himself and retreated back from Alexander as ghastly figures began to appear in the space between them. They held the same translucent nature as the specter, and took the form of numerous different monsters.
They didn't waste time before rushing towards Alexander who calmly raised his sword over his shoulder before practically yelling, "Steps of Giants!" and rocketing forwards.
The force of his step was too much for the barrier to hold, as the various cracks filling its surface finally gave way to the monsters outside as they surged forward like a tidal wave.
Daniel managed to take his attention off the mass of monsters and back to Alexander who cut through the monsters that the specter summoned with ease while rocketing towards it.
"Steps of Giants," Alexander said once more and moved straight towards the specter who rained down needles and spears. Several of them hit the man, piercing through the gaps in his armor that didn't have cards covering them. One even managed to slip in between the eye slit of Alexander's helmet and pierce straight through the back, spraying blood behind Alexander.
But he didn't seem to give the wounds much mind as he was finally got close enough to bring his sword down onto Firgrax.
It cut deep, slitting down towards the center of the specter's core before loosing momentum and getting stuck.
Firgrax, sensing the opportunity, struck towards Alexander with four of its many heads. Two of which bit into his legs, their teeth sinking deep into his flesh, and another clasping onto his stomach causing his armor to screech as it began to get crushed.
The last of which took the form of a dragon's maw as it tried to clasp down upon Alexander's head. Alexander, though, let go of his sword and quickly grasped hold of the specter's jaw and snout. Barely keeping it at bay.
He was able to hold it off, if only as the last head pushed inch by inch towards him. Though it didn't seem like the specter had the patience left to kill Alexander at a snails pace as tendrils began to stretch out from the dragon's maw and move towards the gap in Alexander's helmet.
Though Daniel was surprised to hear laughter once more come from the madman's helmet as he spoke once more, "It was a good fight Firgrax. I look forward to when we can do it again."
"Breaker of Swords."
The specter's head violently twisted in Alexander's grip and in the next instant cracks moved down the specter's body. Firgrax though, wasn't able to cleave the damaged part off like he had last time. The sword still lodged deep in his body had done too much damage and he'd already been struggling to move his heads as is.
So it was with reluctance that Firgrax allowed himself to shatter, as Alexander crawled over and picked up his sword.
Daniel though, was in a dead sprint towards the wounded man with a swarm of Limbo monster's on his tail. He could've left anytime he wanted, but then he'd be tossed out into a group that he generously considered to be cultists with the news that he'd abandoned their leader in another dimension.
'I'd be lucky if they only killed me at that point,' Daniel thought as he all but threw himself at Alexander who was still laying on the ground, a small pool of blood forming around him. Daniel quickly grabbed hold of him, and in the next moment ushered the two of them out from Limbo.