Farthest Night— the leftover of something Ikky doesn't even know about. Nonetheless, Ikky realised he had once again been given the shorter end of the rope.
This was where expectations had gotten him— constant complaining and internal conflict. It had never mattered to him before in the past. Nox made do with the rats on the streets and Equinox survived with his acquired knowledge, no matter how lacking it was.
Every asset, could be used. Every resource could be manipulated. And every tunnel of path could be carved by hand or spoon. Ikky had been filled with too much hope with his ascension to prophethood. He had filled his mind with expectations.
He had almost forgotten his virtues.
Ikky had no choice but to be satisfied with whatever he was given; the lesser the tools he had anyway, the lesser he needed. That was what had made him become the way he was, strong.
Without further intervention, the mist spread on its own, infecting Ikky's entire body.
He had given his Totem use and taken advantage of his abnormal body.
———
The spirit's grotesque body began to bloat before large spikes of grinded bones shot towards Ikky at bullet speed.
Meanwhile as Ikky's heavier than usual body sunk a few centimeters into the snow, he gathered strength in his arms to block his face.
With each bone spike that hit his body, loud 'Bangs!' spread throughout the bottom of the cliff as they shattered. They knocked him a few steps back, yet he resisted.
Black paint spread across Ikky's skin on the points of impact of the spikes before very slowly fading away.
Ikky's entire body had gained a surprising amount of pounds, yet there were no lags in the movement of his limbs. If anything, his reflexes, reaction time and control over his own limbs were better than ever.
Alas, with the reality of how heavy his weight was, it meant Ikky would have bad mobility in the thick and soft snow.
'Why does it stay put? Is this thing just messing around with me?!'
Ikky's initial plan of running away was still his only one.
The temperature of his body was decreasing at a rapid rate, and he could swear that there were no space between his atoms now as everything had been filled up to the complete brim, even shutting the tiny pores of his skin. He felt like a living statue.
Ikky didn't know how long he'd last till the mist took over his entire system, before killing him in the process.
That being said, he was now as tough as diamond, and his body dispersed immense force throughout out his entire body to reduce the pain he would suffer from external force. Moreover, although his body weighed tonnes more now, he actually moved like he was more lighter and more flexible. It was confusing.
The attacks from the spirit hurt, however they were now beneath his top worries. The white Mark drawn on the back of his shirt was fading quickly, signalling how much spiritual essence he had left to use. And when the link between he and Yaga breaks, his totem would wear off and he would be dead for sure.
Ikky wondered whether the creature was being serious in its pursuit, being sly by deceiving him into thinking he could turn his back and run, or that it was doing all it could.
Well, his tough skin had given him a bit of confidence in just running away.
However, as soon as he walked a few steps backwards with that thought, an even louder sound erupted. A wide and darker splash of black appeared beneath the skin on his forehead head as Ikky was sent flying further into the distance.
Taking the harsh pain along with the one already tormenting his body all together, Ikky couldn't hold his ground. He fell flat in the snow, barely gripping onto his consciousness.
The spirit's thin patches of skins expanded making its body into a ball, before bursting a wave of bone spikes into the air.
Ikky still couldn't do any—
"Gahh!!" Hurrying to stand an all fours, Ikky crawled desperately to the side, avoiding the larger numbers of the spikes but allowing the fewer ones guaranteed hits.
With the spikes slamming violently onto his body with the force of tank shells, Ikky kept crawling, then began to a walk, before running right at the spirit with all the strength he could muster.
He was fast, really fast— his brain focused entirely on adding the night mists in his blood stream into the muscles of his legs and his head. He tripped and tumbled in the thick snow, the bones broke on his face and shook his brain, but he rolled back to his feet and kept going.
Like a maniac, he quickly got too close to the spirit.
Bones began rearranging themselves around the spirit's stomach, turning into a scythe that swung from side to side, threatening to divide Ikky into two horizontal slices. Fortunately, Ikky was quick to fall to his knees, dodging the scythe as it sliced over his head.
Shooting off the ground, he leapt onto the creature itself.
"If I can't get out of here of my own free will, then why don't you do it?!" He roared, planning to use the spirit's attacks to launch himself so far into the atmosphere. It was a crazy idea. But he couldn't even run in the opposite direction, so what else was there?
The spirit's rotten flesh began to bloat again, filling the air with more of its repulsive stink. But Ikky currently didn't have the attention span to be repulsed— he didn't give a damn. The Mark on his back had only a dot of life left, so he anticipated the spirit's spikes even more.
As the tips of the spikes began to form shape in the creature's body, Ikky braced himself, forcing the mist through his blood to fill his stomach and chest. This sudden movement of night mist within his body left him with the feeling that he'd spew his guts out, but at least he'd be saving a few organs when the bone bullets blast his body into the air.
A countdown had begun in his head for the time Ikky would either self destruct or get out of this situation barely alive. And as it got closer to zero, so was his anxiousness increasing in folds.
Cursing out loud, Ikky threw a frustrated but meaningless punch at the spirit's head, blasting it away.
The spirit's attack continued regardless. However, as the tip of one of the large spikes touched his stomach, Ikky suddenly felt his body being pulled into the sky. Pulled, not shot.
He squinted his eyes dazedly as the spirit below continued to get smaller as he flew into the clouds. Ikky then looked at his own stomach.
"Heh. That didn't even... hurt." Relieved that he had finally lost sight of the creature within the foggy Kailash, Ikky's mind went blank.
———
"Damn." Ikky sighed as he stared at the glass of his room's window— well, the spare room's window. Falling back on the bed, his small Augur spirit, standing on a pillow ahead of him, placed her cold palms on his red forehead and stared at him from above.
Ikky looked into her one hollow and one white eyes and then brought his finger to tap her small horn.
With a stoic expression on her porcelain face, she thought out loud, "I wonder what summoned that Curse."
"I wonder why you kept quiet during more than half the time. You could have at least cheered for me."
"Your spiritual essence control is bad. I had to hold our link together with full focus so it doesn't break off suddenly."
"Ouch." Ikky sighed. He had thought the totem was at fault, but failed to see that it was just he who couldn't use it properly. In fact, Ikky felt that the function of adding night mist into his body should have been less taxing than it was. He would have to work on that.
The door of the room suddenly opened up, calling Ikky's attention.