A wave of black, the creature's own camouflage ability marking off the next and the next. Every body blended with the next creating a tidal wave of nothing more than bodies.
There was no distinction between one and the next, yet that was not needed. As I had a target. And if I had a target then there would be nothing that would stop me.
"Stall a moment." I said, turning to the side where Ellaine stood with sharpened eyes. For just a moment I could see the panic.
But it was ruthlessly crushed by pragmatism. She knew what to do and trusted me enough to execute my plan with her help.
I closed my eyes, the description of [En] coming to mind. It had said that the sword would grow with my dreams and ambitions. I knew what I had to do.
For a moment everything stilled, the only thing that I could even comprehend being the blazing victory of the sword that I had envisioned.
It was not a physical one and maybe even a concept could not fully encompass it. But right now I knew what it was. It was the very representation of sharpness.
A sword that could cut through anything, one that would even cut through the very lines of defeat in order to take with it the victory that it knew was there.
There was nothing that could stop it, there was nothing that could present even the slightest amount of resistance. It was utterly perfect in both its form and function.
And as I felt a pair of hands wrap around mine I knew that I had done my job, every emotion and ambition that I had associated with that very dream had manifested.
Mana rushed from my body, taking form and home in [En]. I could feel as she struggled to contain the power.
But with the gentle guiding of both of our hands there was nothing that this nascent spirit could not take.
I breathed out, my eyes opening to the tidal wave of black in front of me. They had absorbed the terrain. Not literally but it had seemed so for a moment.
Even the ground below me looked the same shade of black that they had taken on but that was not true. They had just piggybacked off of the pigments of the light. Taking with it every single speck and creating a void like black color.
In my hands I felt as [En] called for me, to release the power that she had accumulated. And I was obliged to. Yet I could not.
Not right now. I needed to warn Ellaine. To protect her.
'There is no need, thou's sword cuts only what the wishes.'
The same guiding hands whispered into my ear and I believed her. That eternal gaze of hers, the soft warmth of her body.
It was something that I could not disobey. In that I had no will to.
I took a deep breath before bracing myself. In front of me Ellaine shone like a beacon in the night.
Holy light seeped from her body and stemmed the tide of creatures.
But there was no need for her to do such a thing any more.
I raised [En] above my shoulders and swung down. There was no greater release. Every speck of energy that she had taken from the dreams of mine unleashed in one attack.
It blinded me with its light, enough that I could not see the results.
…
With the mana in my body I called forth the light, the very one that had called to me since my tutorial.
It broke free from its confines and shone brilliantly. The creatures in front of me recoiled in disgust but I knew…
I knew that this would not stem them for long. As they would adapt, they would always adapt.
Shivers rolled down my back as unwanted memories found their way into the confines of my mind.
However glorious, however despairing they were. I could not let them take hold. The light consumes and takes. But it also gives.
And give and take it would now. I had offered it a bounty, a bounty of creatures that the light would take delight in.
I breathed out, my mana flaring out a brilliant gold as it consumed the surrounding area. It took with it [Dignity] and with the sacrifice given it then strengthened me.
If I was to go without the buff of my light I would not be able to buy even a minute of time but with this I could do it.
I resolved myself and charged forth. With [Dignity] in my hand and the power that both it and the light gave to me I was unstoppable.
With every swing of the blade it cut down tens of them, and it did not stop there. The light went further, consuming their bodies and making them their own.
It spread and spread and because of the close proximity there was nothing stopping it but the inherent magic resistance of the creatures.
And even that took hundreds upon hundreds of bodies to wear out the power of the light. Yet even with that power, with hundreds falling with every swing. There was nothing that I could do as thousands charged to replace their fallen comrades.
I grit my teeth and swung and swung, wounds accumulating over my armor. Their touch rusting it over.
It hurt my pride but I could only hope that whatever Mihr had cooking was enough to wipe them out.
If it was up to me then I would have annihilated them all myself but I had not the power needed to do such a thing.
It was then that it happened, I did not know when but it had happened. A light all consuming.
Yet it was not the one that I knew. It was pure power put to form by the sword it modeled itself after.
It consumed the black void of creatures. Nothing was left if they even so much as touched it.
A downward swing, one containing no fanciful technique, nothing that could enhance it in any way.
Just simple and raw efficiency.
It happened, the wave of mana flew from the sword. I brought [Dignity] over my chest and braced myself for the impact yet nothing came. Only a light tickle.
I opened my eyes only to see the destruction that Mihr had reigned upon the creatures. Of the hundreds of thousands, maybe even millions. Only a couple thousand or more stragglers remained.
The rest were atomized, nothing was left of them, not even ash.
For a moment I just stood there stunned before I found myself running. My body had moved on its own.
Catching the falling Mihr. For a moment I too sat down. The remaining creatures were of no consequence. They did not have the sheer numbers required to overwhelm me. Not in the state that I was in.
I layed down Mihr in my lap, gently stroking his hair as I watched him furl his brows in his sleep. There was sweat forming on his forehead and I wiped that away with a handkerchief.
For a moment, one that seemed to stretch into eternity, I just watched and waited on Mihr. I tended to his needs. Watching for anything I could do for him.
But eventually it ended, the creatures had come too close. They were impeding on this moment and I would end them for that sin.