As the ghouls draw nearer I recognize their figure. They are crow griffins. A mixed breed of hellish black panthers and crows. Their beaks are layered with razor sharp teeth, including two long fangs curving and protruding downwards. Their talons can easily shred a human in half.
I look at Aki and Dior. I doubt they'll survive. I doubt I can convince them to run. Their expressions read murder, they want to kill as much as I do.
The trauma of the last few days has taken ahold of Dior and transformed her into a demon. She wants blood. Aki has never changed. He was born craving a fight.
Damn, I'm going to have to take the brunt of it to increase their chances of survival. My thighs fill with blood as my muscles contract like a spring.
I launch off my board at super sonic speed. The board shatters at the tremendous torq that my legs forced onto it, and the air tries to resist my velocity.
The sound barrier breaks a couple times and everything around me turns into a blur. Everything except for what I am aiming for.
The largest crowpanther leading the flock locks eyes on me. Everything to the sides of me have turned into streaks of light, the target stays steady and grows larger.
Within seconds I close the distance of kilometers, and pounce on my prey. I place my hands into its beak and spread open its maw, splitting it apart.
The razor teeth bend at my grip, posing no threat to my enhanced skin. I waste no time and jump off its corpse to stay a flight.
These ghouls are no greater than B tier, but in a flock like this they could tear apart an S tier within minutes.
With my skin never breaking and my strength never yielding, I bet I could shred the whole flock in the same amount of time.
I hop from crowpanther to crowpanther, killing each one within seconds, tearing into them like I myself am a hellspawn beast.
To them, I am the monster. I am the predator. The sky rains ghouls blood as I disembody the flock of horrifying creatures.
It takes several dozen deaths for them to start to attack at me in unison. They are coordinated. Each cawing and communicating how to approach their threat.
Their crimson beady red eyes dart at me as I try to jump onto another creature. The air opens up, and the flock start to dance around me in the air, not allowing me to touch them.
I flail helplessly in the sky, this is their territory. Without my board I am like a fish out of water.
They all start weaving into me in a coordinated pattern. Each strike trying to break open my skin. I feel the impact, but their talons don't even leave a scratch.
But then, they change tactics. The empty space that I was falling in closes up like a clam shell. I see no light. I am surrounded by them.
I use every limb, every ounce of strength, to tear open an exit. Countless bodies crumble and shatter under my barrage of attacks, but the darkness still remains.
I feel their death grip, each talon latching onto to my short stalky frame, countless beaks clamping down on my body.
It is deathly silent. There are brief moments where I can hear their breaths panting, their hearts thumping, and the wind cutting against the outer shell of this ball of ghouls.
I feel as if I am in hell. Drowning in a sea of dead souls, each grasping onto me, clutching at my soul as if it is their lifeline.
I panic. I feel trapped. Claustrophobic. I get flashbacks of the endless void that the demon of Death had trapped me in.
No this is different. I can feel these creatures writhing in pain when I tear them apart. I can sense their numbers dwindling. I can win this battle, just as I won against the void.
I increase my intensity and start tearing up the flock even harder, faster, more and more brutal as I feel them squirm in pain.
This goes on for several minutes until I am drenched in their blood. It reeks of death. I have to spit out their flesh and blood in order for me to catch a breath.
I am not tired. I am not decreasing my intensity. But my willpower is dwindling. They just never stop. With each one I kill, another replaces it within seconds.
They are like leeches, sucking my soul dry, depriving me of any hope of escape.
There's got to be an end to this. There has to be a cap, a limit to how many there are. Several more minutes go by. I am damn near drowning in their blood.
I don't remember what fresh air smells like. I don't remember the sensation of light entering my retinas.
The sounds of crunching bones, flapping wings, restless breathing, and the wind whistling is all that fill my ears.
I am in a trance. I flow state of endless slaughter, but it never stops. It feels like I have lost myself within the pile of hellspawn ghouls.
I have become one of them. Fused together by their talons and beaks. Covered in their body parts and blood. We all one convulsing pulse of darkness.
We should have reached Aki and Dior by now. Are they safe? Did they survive this madness? Did the flock swallow them up?
A blinding light enters the void, and a am met with the icy cold embrace of marine liquid. Millions of tons of pressure compresses my aching body.
I was already fatigued and out of breath, but now my lungs fill with water when I try to bring in air.
I look around me and recognize the undulating sunlight, the crystal clear water, the ominous depths of forever blue.
I am in the oasis. It is said to be filled with ghouls surpassing the S tier, with the most elites of shepherds. If the cold or the water pressure doesn't kill you, the monsters from its depths will hunt any intruders.
I look below at the sky and desperately swim towards it to escape the pressure. My bones creak, my muscles shrivel down to its most compact form.
Even my enhanced body cannot withstand this much pressure for long. I feel like I will implode at any moment.
I reach the surface... or rather the bottom of the oasis, and reach out to break free. A thousand talons and beaks strike at the palm of my hand, pressing me back.
They are crowding my escape. The intelligence of their cunning tactics to murder me is chilling. Their terrifying minds conjured up a way to kill anything that is stronger than they are.
They just shove creatures into the oasis and wait for them to drown, implode, or simply get eaten by another menacing ghoul. This is a hack, a cheat code in battle.
I hate their bloody damn tactics. I hate their gory shit talons and razor beaks. I want to annihilate them.
My hands furiously claw against the horde of monsters. My lungs are on fire. My body is beginning to crumple like paper. The flock remains abundant, unchanging in temper, pushing me back into the depths of the harrowing oasis.
This is the end. I am going to drown here and die to some random flock of ghouls. My hands lose its strength and begin to drift in the water. As I accept my fate, my hand instinctively reaches for my mothers pendant.
I miss her. I cry for my mother with what I believe to be my final breath. I am dying. Almost dead.
I hear the faint sound of Dior's angelic voice as I am about to depart from this world.
"I told you not to jump into danger. Stop fighting alone. No matter how strong you are..." it is drawing near to me, I can almost hear it right by my ear.
"We always have to come save your ass... hold off on making stupid decisions champ...." Aki's voice brings relief as I slip from consciousness.