Author Note: The following scenes may be quite graphic and detailed in their depiction of violence. If this content is not to your liking, feel free to skip this chapter. I will provide a brief summary in the next one. Thank you for your understanding and continued support.❤️
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Ethan stood a few meters away from the bruised and battered Fabrice. The landscape around them was a chaos of broken rocks, shattered barriers, and fallen warriors. Ethan's eyes were still glowing with the residual effects of his gravity manipulation.
Fabrice tried to stand up, but a sharp pain shot through his side where his ribs were broken. Gritting his teeth, he managed to rise to his knees. Using his telekinesis, he reached for a shard of rock and propelled it at Ethan at high speed.
"Gravity Stop," Ethan muttered, and the rock shard froze in mid-air, suspended in a field of unseen gravitational force.
"That won't save you," Fabrice hissed. With great effort, he pushed himself off the ground, manipulating the water from his canteen to form icy spikes. "Water Piercer!"
Dozens of spikes shot toward Ethan, but he was unfazed. "Gravity Field."
A dome of gravitational force appeared around Ethan. The icy projectiles altered their course, spiraling away as they met the field, landing harmlessly on the ground.
Ethan closed the gap between them, his footsteps heavy but determined. "This ends now, Fabrice."
As he reached Fabrice, he extended his hand, palm open. "Gravity Bind."
Fabrice felt an unbearable weight descend upon him, pushing him back to his knees, then flat on the ground. His breathing became shallow under the immense pressure, and he could feel some of his bones starting to creak under the stress.
Gritting his teeth fabrice emitted a bitter expression: "last chance boy…"
"Don't 'boy' me, as if you are something special. My name is Ethan." Then he leaned closer to Fabrice's face. „Ethan. Epimetheus. Stormborn."
Fabrice's eyes trembled in fear. "Epi… Epimetheus stormborn." Everyone in his squad had the same reaction.
"The second hero of the Stormborn bloodline. The mad genius and the sinner of mankind. You're his son?" Fabrice was shocked to hear his name. If what the boy was saying is true then….
"You are.. his son.. Ethan. The most wanted person on this planet."
Ethan's eyes constricted. "Interesting. So I am a wanted person because of my father." Somehow it did not phase him too much. As if it was the natural thing to be after what he had heard the past month from valor and how he fought Henry, Eric and all the beasts in Oneiros dream world.
"Well, whatever." Ethan leaned back, his eyes still meeting Fabrice's. "Are those really your last words? Is this how you want to go?"
Fabrice felt it. He knew that Ethan was not joking. He did not look like a teenager at this moment, but like a furious beast that is about to finish its prey.
With a condescending look, Ethan slowly lifted his hand, his hand infront of Fabrice chest, positioned like a claw.
"Wait listen, we are just following orders. You are the one who attacked us first." Fabrice felt a shiver running down his spine. His back hair stood as if he was electrocuted and his breathing stopped. Right now one thing was for sure, Ethan wasn't joking. "His killing intent is suffocating. Either he killer millions of beast or his mental capacity is too scary. I need to do something, otherwise I am done." The killing intent he felt was 100% real.
Fabrice locked to the left, to the right, he was searching for someone to help him from this predicament.
"Gravity." Ethan spoke the first word. It felt like a judgment was about to be made. Ethan was 100% concentrated on Fabrice. His eyes and mana only fixated on him.
Halt what you are doing! Whatever happened, my team did to you, I am going to compensate you for it!" A domineering roar enhanced with telekinetic power traveled through space. It sounded more like pleading than a command. As if he wanted to buy some time.
At the exact same time Fabrice felt relieved, who else would it be that his boss. "You are finally here, Boss." Fabrice thought, relieved by his incoming reinforcements.
"Pull." In the middle of the loud roar an almost silent command was issued. It was as if time did stop ticking, and everything halted at this moment.
"Huh?"
*swish*
Silent, fast and almost untraceable with the eyes. Fabrice found a sword landing in Ethan's hand.
*drop* *drop* *drop*
Fresh blood was still dripping from the tip of the sword.
Fabrice looked at the blood dripping sword, then at Ethan and… looked down on his chest. There, where once his armor was, was a clean cut.
*plur*
"You dare.. to kill me… in this situation? You have no.. idea what you…" *cough* He started to cough blood,of which some landed on Ethan's face, making him look like a psychopath. "..have done. *cough**cough*"
He vomited a hand full of blood on the ground and with disbelief written all over his face his life found it's end.
*bam*
Usually a fall like this would be unnoticed in a battlefield, since the clashing of swords and usage of mana based attacks would make a much louder noise. But at this moment everyone's eyes were focused on Ethan and Fabrice. The fall of Fabrice's body was akin to a bomb exploding right next to everyone's ears. His lifeless body dropped to the ground, followed by a seemingly loud sound in contrast to the absolute silence in the air was the start for Ethan. The start for him to realise that he is not living in a peaceful world.
"FAAAABRRRIIICCEEEEE!!!!!!" The domineering voice once again sounded, this time it was more like a bark of fury and madness.
Fabrice's lifeless eyes followed Ethan as he walked away.
Ethan did not bother about him. No joy filled Ethan's heart in taking a life; he was no sadist. Yet, the battle was far from concluded, each seemingly irrational move meticulously weighed.
With the sword in his hand he looked to the direction of the voice.
Ethan had to display his unwavering resolve, manifest his strength; otherwise, he'd be marked, a target eternally pursued. Clasping the sword, his gaze flickered to the origin of the voice, leaving the shadows and their whispers behind him.
Fully concentrated on what is about to come, Ethan did not concern himself with the devastation and destruction behind his back. He felt it. A formidable opponent was about to enter the battlefield.
Suddenly and in a slit second after Ethan turned his back, Fabrice's shadow flickered and moved with full speed in Ethan's direction.
*Slash*
"And here I thought that rats would know when to hide in a hole. Gravity."
"ALLLLEEEN. DON'T!" And again, this time even stronger and filled with fury and rage, a roar traveled through space with telekinetic power announcing the inevitable enterance.
But it still did not hold Ethan back. With a slight shift to the side, Ethan evaded the attack. Since only evading wouldn't clear his predicament, he needed to act decisively. The new person was not alone, a full 40 man squad was moving behind him and would arrive shortly after the leader who only needed 30 seconds to enter the battlefield.
Ethan firmly grabbed Allen's arm with his left hand to ensure he wouldn't merge with the shadows again. "Your killing intent is responsible for your dilemma," he pronounced, moving the hilt of his sword slowly in Allen's direction.
"Don't act righteous. This is the rule of the dungeon, eat or be eaten. And even if you think…" Allen, with a bloodied face, visibly exhausted from the prolonged fight with Ethan, shouted back.
Never had he thought that one seemingly weak boy with only the awakening rank would decimate a 10-man squad from the sun school.
Allen, trained in the way of assassination, adhered to five rules, the second of which—also the one no one wanted to talk about—was straightforward. The Price of a Life: If you are prepared to take a life, be ready to give your own. If you are ready to end a life, you must be willing to face the consequences.
"You talk too much. Next time, try to… forget it. STAB."
Henry, observing his scouting team from afar with his mana sight, witnessed Ethan using the back of his sword hilt to tap Allen's chest slowly, as if the attack was not meant to hurt. However, the mana in Ethan's right hand told a completely different story.
*Tap*
Neither the blade nor the hilt penetrated the armor, yet what unfolded next was akin to a nightmare.
*cough*
Allen began bleeding from every orifice. While no cut was visible, the gravity stab operated like a reversed blade. The heart exploded the moment the sword hilt tapped his chest. It was as though the heart tried to escape from the chest, his back ribs, at the point of impact, shattered, and the broken bones pierced through everything in their way.
His internal organs were sliced, and the blood gushed from his seven orifices like a waterfall.
*pu* Ethan felt like vomiting. It was a gruesome sight, and unfortunately for Ethan, he experienced everything happening through his mana connections to the devastating gravity stab.
Ethan held back, unwilling to show any weakness, especially since the incoming opponent seemed much more formidable than this squad.
"WHAT HAVE YOU DONE!"
Henry did not hesitate, and a devastatingly heavy force pressed on Ethan from all sides.
"DISTORTION"
From a mile away without introducing himself, without looking for right and wrong and without checking for who his opponent even is, Henry used his full power right from the start.
As a strategic expert he still kept a glimpse of his rationality, and knew that if a whole squad was defeated, that he needed to take this opponent seriously. Therefore he used his standardized attack pattern to take a life.
First disrupt the mana flow of the enemy, that attack with a deadly attack and finish everything as soon as possible.
Henry constricted his fingers together tightly, each digit aligning with meticulous precision. His palm, pointed downwards, was taut, the skin over his knuckles whitening. It was as though he was compressing all his formidable power into this singular, focused point, directing it with lethal intent towards Ethan.
"PSI-PULSE CATACLYSM!"
With focused silence, Henry unleashed his telekinetic catastrophe, a covert and devastating pulse, intending to annihilate Ethan at his very core, leaving only the residue of silent destruction in its aftermath.