Chapter 8 - Turned tables

"True frozen arts " I chanted. Ice crystals suddenly materialized and rapidly formed the shape of a long spear. The spear raced through the air in a straight line and stuck itself into the forehead of a wolf-like animal. It fell to the ground with a loud thud and gave one last loud howl before dying.

"Impressive I have to say. You've come a long way into mastering the True arts in such a short time." Nameless praised. We had been wandering around the area for nearly a week without rest. Since the atmosphere was filled with ether, I couldn't imagine ever getting tired.

"I know right? Aren't I a genius? I probably just needed a time to shine" I answered reveling in his compliment. I reached the body of the dead wolf and began rummaging its internal organs, looking for a pill or core. The act was utterly ruthless. Of course, I didn't feel sad or disgusted, but the disrespect of rummaging through the dead body of another living thing weighed on me.

A shock ran through my fingers. 'Jackpot'. After running through hundreds of demons, in comparison to the first earth golem, there were a few things I noticed. One was that, I would most likely see that type of pill again. According to Nameless earlier…

"What exactly do you think spirits are? Pennies in the park? You could consider yourself lucky to have even seen one in your lifetime. The one you met was a lesser spirit, which is a by-product of a true spirit, which doesn't exist here. So you would have to make do with the cores you get from demons, they aren't that worse off than the pill." Or so he said.

I pulled out the little glowing green ball from the skull of the dead wolf and crushed it within my palm. The ether surged through my body, and the exciting sensation that came with every absorption never got old. And like always, I tried again.

"Begin! " The excitement gradually reduced until it came to a complete halt. I put in all of my concentration and began reversing the etheric flow in my system, However, it didn't budge one bit. Instead, the buildup from dormant energy increased continuously until I couldn't hold on any longer and released it all back to its normal positive flow.

"I almost had it this time. How'd I do?" I asked the barely concerned.

"Terrible as always. Begin " Nameless chanted and just as every other time, the flow stopped instantly and started moving in the negative direction directly into my spirit perfectly. The difference between my level of control and his was like heaven and earth.

"I still can't get how you do it like that. It's like I'm not focusing enough or I just don't have enough power" I lamented while sprinting toward the next presence we sensed a few miles away.

"It doesn't have anything to do with focus you nitwit. You have to be aware of your own ether. How it circulates, the velocity, the intensity at every point in your system, and most importantly, you must sense yourself as a spirit. And to do all this, you need to have a talent for ether control. Something you were obviously born without." Nameless explained once again.

His explanation was a little rude but still on point. From the moment I was announced as a grey-colored affinity at the mercenary entrance program till now, I have been told many times about my fate as a failure.

The third son of five children, with two older brothers, a younger brother, and a sister. My father--

"Hey shut it, something bad is coming!" Nameless exclaimed, rudely interrupting my thoughts. However, this was the first time I'd ever heard his voice get serious. "A wave of demon beasts are heading at high speed towards our position!" His voice was now more intense than it was previously.

"That's a lot! How could this happen?" I asked in disbelief. Immediately my eyes went to the wolf I dissected earlier. "Don't tell me, that last howl??" The memory of the wolf's scream earlier flashed through my mind.

"Not completely but that definitely helped them get our location. We've been found, and it's most likely because we destroyed that spirit." Nameless responded. They had become so close that I already began to sense them. Ten.. twenty… a hundred… three hundred..? An enormous quantity of demonic energy poured in from the west of our position.

"We can't run now. Prepare for battle, we'll figure out the rest as we go" Nameless instructed, leaking out ether to scare off the minor prey.

And so the battle commenced. Two similar wolves came flying out through some trees first but met their deaths easily at the arts. And so the rest came flying out. A huge vulture came swooping in from behind to stage an ambush. I turned my attention to it and just as I did, three demon wolves swooped in behind me to pincer my movements. It was already too late to dodge, I could only make do with one hand…

"" Nameless chanted. At his chant, the three wolves and a line of ten others behind were frozen stiffly into blocks. I flung another through the vulture's skull and watched it fall violently to the ground. Seeing all this, some beasts paused in their assault, instinctively scared of continuing. Death was all that was in their future if they kept moving forward.

Suddenly, the memories of Sharon's death began flooding my mind. The demons who held her, the one who sliced her head off. The one who choked me till all I saw was black. The Sharon I loved. Lith. Lith. Lith. Lith. Lith. Lith. Lith. Lith. Lith. Lith. Lith. Lith. Lith. Lith. Lith. Lith. Lith. Lith. Lith. Lith. Lith. Lith. Lith. Lith. Lith. Lith. Lith!!!!

His face corroded my mind. His laughter, his strength, his power, His demonic presence. I could sense it all so clearly now. As though he was here.

"ke-heh-he-he! You won't come to me? Such insolence." I laughed. And with a quick dash, I began my chase. The hunters were now the hunted. The ones that could fly opened their wings and soared away, those with legs ran, and the ones with hands dug and climbed.

"!! !! !! Begin !!… Tsk. !!!" These words resonated over and over throughout the deserted forest I wondered. From an outside observer, only bright white lights and puddles of different colors of blood could be seen from this forest.

"Hey stop, The demonic ether has started to corrode your mind and your spirit! You will run out of energy soon!!" Nameless I'm sure at some point warned, whenever that was. I stopped hearing him at some point. Something about turning into a demon, something about running out of energy, something about losing control.

I couldn't care less about any of that. I killed. And killed and killed. I received some energy and then killed some more. I was injured a few times. Different cuts and bruises from the demon beasts that tried to fight back with their lives, but it all didn't matter. The rage that fueled my mind blocked all sense of reasoning. The one time I was given power, I entered a killing spree.

How ironic.