Chapter 38

(Within the depths of oneself, the fiercest battles are waged.) — Fyodor Dostoevsky.

The wind opposing his body, the inevitable power of gravity weighing down on him. The strain of his muscles pulling taught. These sensations together coalesced into a blood-pumping, adrenaline rushing process. Filtering throughout his whole body.

Absolute domain has been activated once more.

Ariel. who felt the rush, the anticipation, the overwhelming excitement. Barely held back a grin. Letting his mind indulge itself in such luring desires felt wrong. Clarity and thought processing was one of the most important things in a battle. That's what Nephis told him. And there was no one better than Nephis in combat awareness and knowledge. She was his teacher after all.

So he immediately tried to control the strength and the desire flowing through him like a raging tide. His mind went back to the fight with the depth dweller of the sea in an effort to recall the absolute focus, the calm, and the sense of emptiness he experienced. That fight had scarred him mentally. He will never forget it, it was a suffocating but good lessson for him.

Ariel readied his sword, his expression that was on the verge of breaking into a grin flattened. His vision tunneled, becoming much more clear and powerful. His senses went into overdrive, drowning him for a second with the massive amount of information he was receiving.

The first scavenger came into view amongst the vile darkness, its spikey, green scales glistening with wetness. Its body seemed frozen, as if deep in slumber. It was also unaware of the outlined figure falling towards it like a giant comet. The sword in the figures hand appeared as a white dot because of its stainless edge. It was positioned vertically above the head of the figure. Its descent inevitable.

In a split second, Ariel's feet connected with the chest of the scavenger below him. Bringing forth a terrifying force. Which made the chest of his first victim crumble like a withering leaf. His booted feet dug into a bunch of soft, meshed organs that spilled out a waterfall of blood. The chest of the creatures was no more, and in its place was a wide cavity of bones, blood, and flesh. The soon to be corpse of the scavenger twitched slightly, then became still. This time forever.

Ariel was in the motion of slashing it with his sword when a voice declared out loud in his mind, halting his actions.

[You have slayed an awakened beast, carapace scavenger!]

Oh, it's dead. Well… that was a bit anticlimactic.

His figure loomed over the messed up corpse. The soul fragment was nowhere in sight. Probably broken by his terrible descent.

Whatever.

Ariel turned his to his next target, it shuffled in its place for a few seconds. His landing was dampened and muffled by the body of the scavenger. But it still sent out a pulse of blasting air. Thus, the shuffling and movement.

Their alertness subsided a minute later. Engulfing the area into silence aside from the pitter-pattering of the rain and the occasional roar of thunder. He walked silently after he confirmed they went back to sleep. His steps patient and slow, the blood on his feet splatting on the ground wherever he stepped. The bits of flesh stuck to his boots filled him with a bit of disgust. But it was nothing compared to his first nightmare. Nevertheless, he endured it adeptly.

Silent in his hunt, Ariel stopped in front of the scavenger, his sword raised, his muscles tensed. The sword gleamed in its place. Then, in an instant flash. His sword came down precisely on the neck of the beast, going through its skin like a phantom. Not an ounce of resistance what so ever. The head rolled away a second later. The circular cut remaining on its neck was smooth and clean with no impurities in its shape.

[You have slayed an awakened beast, carapace scavenger!]

Wow, I've gotten really good with the sword. I'm guessing it's an effect of my true name. Though I haven't tried any other weapons yet, I probably should experiment with them. It does seem cool if I imagine myself being proficient in various kinds of weapons. A spear, a bow, a flail, a shield, a mace, an axe. Hell, even twin swords. Oh yeah, that would be amazing and very efficient. After all, memories come in different types. So it'll not all be swords.

While his mind was turned adrift, his body wasn't. His expression was sharp and focused. His eyes glinted in the dark once in a while. The overpowering desires and instincts briefly flashed on his face. His body yearned for more bloodshed. More chaos.

Ariel blurred from his place. Immediately after, clashes of metal resounded along with squelching and guttural gurgles. A testament to the brutality of his killing. Then came the chittering sounds of nightmare creatures shuffling about in the darkness in visible distress. In response to the noise of the murder spree.

And in a few seconds, shrieks of madness pierced through the ongoing storm. A stampede of dozens of footsteps rang out. The once slumbering creatures risen from their slumber, only to see the sight of the deceased and decimated bodies of their companions. Which ignited a whirlpool of fury, fervour, and hunger in the deepest part of their being.

Ariel looked on with impassive eyes, the sword in his hand streaked with blood. His figure incased in green, bluish armour only had an outline in the deep abyss. Causing a certain amount of the scavenger to scuttle towards him. As for the remaining ones, they hurriedly pushed forward in the direction of their comrades with a shining hunger in their many eyes. It was the survival of the fittest in this place.

Ah well, they were going to notice sooner or later, so this was a forgone conclusion. I've killed six of them in total. 34 or so remains. Let's get to work.

The wind stirred in the wake of the scavengers. A group of ten led by an Awakened Monster headed for the outlined, quiet silhouette standing in the midst of four corpses. With one of the dropped bodies being a Monster. Obviously their primary target.

The figure took a step before blasting away from his place. The Monster leading them was too late to react. And in a moment, its body was tackled by the now visible human. Its body easily being thrown meters due to the force of their collision.

The Monster whimpered. A sense of emptiness assaulted its mind. The sense covered its black, spikey chest. Looking down, it found its chest caved-in horrendously. So it did what a cornered beast does well… thrashing around erratically.

Ariel catched a straight or two from its wriggling, scythe like arms. Getting a few small cuts that closed up in a split second. He tried to pin down its arms and legs. A thought that was nagging him before surfaced. A plausible idea. An idea that he wanted to bring into fruition.

After a minute of tossing around, Ariel managed to subdue the creature. Its flailing arms caught in a vice-grip. Its hip and legs weighed down by his weight. Left of its freedom, it turned to attempting to bite him as its mouth filled with razor-sharp teeth clamped down again and again in an effort to catch him.

This position… is kinda sussy.

Nearly chuckling at his own thoughts. He bit his tongue, instantly feeling a stream of blood twisting in his mouth.

Then, he spat his blood directly into the Monster's large mouth.

Ok yeah, this is very sus.

The Monster froze. Whether it was because of his ridiculous action or because of something more sinister.

A cursed silence ensued as Ariel curiously looked down on the frozen scavenger. Waiting eagerly for something to happen.

And something did happen.

Statuesque, the scavenger suddenly began bloating, pushing Ariel off of its body. Startled slightly, he watched on as its body continued to bloat and bloat until it could no longer take it.

Oh shi-

And then it exploded into countless pieces. All that remained was a huge pool of blood splattered across the ground, organs and tiny bits of flesh, bones and viscous tissues situated in a circle around the pool.

[You have slayed an Awakened Monster, carapace scavenger!]

[You have received…]

Ariel, now submerged in a layer of blood, gooey flesh, and god knows whatever was composed of that creature's body. Blinked, then wiped the thick blood away from his eyes.

That was unexpected but expected at the same time. So nightmare creatures don't like my blood, got it. Also the smell… oof. It smells like hot piss, and it's too strong to just brush it off.

The oozing smell made his nose scrunch up with a wince.

That's what I get for being in a chummy position with a nightmare creature.

The pack of nine Beasts drew close in a hurry, their claw like legs rising up dust with their march. Ariel in turn barreled towards them in a sudden burst of speed that shot up a blast of piercing air, making the Beasts stumble and collide with each other.

His eyes locked in on his first target. It was trying to get up after falling over, the base of its neck out in the open looked very tantalising for a killer. It was one of the weakest points in its body. Ariel, in his sprint. Flipped over the sword with a skilful twist of his wrist. And when he arrived by the creature. The sword was already thrusting downwards with a devastating strength. The muscles and nerves on his wrist was outlined visibly. Then, the terrifying momentum carried the sword and easily stabbed through to the other side of the Beast's neck.

It twitched erratically for a few seconds Before becoming still. The slayer looked over at the other scavengers, his blue orbs glazed over with light that nearly drowned out the dark of the night. Then disappeared.

What followed after was a massacre. The cold, deathly storm and the darkness a hidden veil obscuring the slaughter. The clangs of metal or the whizzing bursts of wind the only clear sign of the battle. The blurring figure noticeable for his blue shining eyes never took a break, never stood still to catch his breath. Its eyes never blinked nor strayed, their intensity never waning for a single second.

A dance, a beautiful but deadly dance. That's the best description of the battle. The sword skills, the silent but vibrating footwork, the ever changing and unexpected style of fighting that never concluded the same moves. All of it together formed into a powerful piece of art in the midst of this horrific region. This adapting style of fighting was derived from the only saint of the Immortal Flame clan.

Broken Sword.

He was the first man to conquer the third nightmare, the man who married into the powerful and famous Immortal Flame clan. The father of the last heir to the legacy of said clan. Nephis.

Nephis, who had practised and beaten this fighting style into her body since childhood, passed it down onto Ariel. Although their training was short. No one was better than Ariel at adapting or learning. That's why in one month, he managed to have some mastery over it. His version appeared crude but deadly, however it was still in need of refining.

Whoo, that was a little annoying, however. I did get a few good things out of it.

Once again swiping the blood on his eyes away, Ariel stood in a crater surrounded by a couple of corpses. Some had their head cleanly severed, some had a fist sized hole in multiple parts of their body, some had deep, vicious scars trailing down from the right side of their neck to their left hip. And one of them actually managed to bite him when he was attacked by the last group of twenty, thus overwhelming him a bit. Again, once it sucked a small amount of blood into its mouth. It bloated before exploding in a shower of blood and gore. Coating him in a second layer of thick, viscous wriggling flesh.

And of course the vomit inducing smell came along. Doubling up in its strength.

Great, just what I needed. But there's something more that I desire right now.

A grin on his face, Ariel recalled the previous notifications…

[You have received an Echo.]

[You have received a Memory.]

A/N: hope you like it, if you have any ideas for his powers then out with it, I'm open to anything. Also give me some stones.