Chapter Sixteen: The Battle (Part I)

Their sheer number was overwhelming. Hundreds of them, maybe more, each as vicious and relentless as the last. My sword moved in a blur, arcing through the air, but it was like trying to hold back the sea with a bucket. Every slash, every parry, took more from me than it did from them. Sweat poured down my face, stinging my eyes, my breaths coming in ragged gasps.

This battle, it was more than a fight; it was an endless marathon. Every muscle screamed, my lungs burned. Time stretched, each second an eternity against the unrelenting tide of hatchlings. The oil-slicked ground was a trap, and my injured ankle throbbed with every twist and turn.

I shifted, wincing as pain shot through my ankle. It was a vulnerability I couldn't afford. Each move was a dance between attack and survival. I spun, my sword a whirlwind of steel and sheer will. But it was like a nightmare where the monsters multiply – for every hatchling I took down, two more appeared, their eyes hungry for me.

The air was thick, filled with the stench of oil and the metallic scent of blood. The ground, slippery with it, and well, I was coated in it too, right up to my waist.

Suddenly, a hatchling lunged for my neck. I tried to dodge, but the treacherous ground caused my feet to slip. Planting my fractured foot firmly, I swatted the creature away with my sword, then another, and another.

I tried to back away, create some space between me and the swarm. But they were relentless, crowding me, overwhelming in their numbers.

Then, my foot slipped, a sharp pain shooting through my already hurt ankle. I fell, the ground cold and hard against my back. My sword clattered out of reach. Panic surged in my throat as the hatchlings moved in, ready to swarm over me. I tried to get up, but my body wouldn't listen. My ankle, broken and throbbing, felt like it was made of lead.

The hatchlings were on me before I could even process it all. Their tiny, vicious mouths found my flesh, tearing into it with a hunger that seemed endless. I swatted, punched, kicked at them, with all I had. My body breaking apart, and uniting again.

My entire body blur, trying to fend them off, but they were everywhere. Each bite was a sharp, searing pain, a reminder of how vulnerable I was on the ground.

I tried my hand signs but I couldn't create a door, couldn't create other limbs, what could I do?

I could feel their weight, small but significant, as they clambered over me. My mind was racing, heart pounding. I had to reach for another sword, had to get back in the fight. But my body was betraying me, slow and unresponsive.

I needed something, someone to pull me from my feet. I…

⋘ Summons…⋙

I reached into somewhere inside me, felling my chakra web away as fingers grazed something spherical, something familiar. It wasn't a weapon, but it was all I had. I grasped it, feeling its smooth, cool surface, and threw it with all the strength I had left.

In a burst of blinding light, a creature unlike anything I'd ever seen emerged. It stood tall, its body sleek and muscular, covered in a coat of fiery fur that seemed to dance and flicker. The creature, a majestic horse enveloped in flames, reared up, its mane blazing like the sun.

The hatchlings recoiled in terror, scattering away from the intense heat. I lay there, stunned, as the creature turned its fierce, yet kind eyes towards me.

"Rapidash", (I will help you). A female voice echoed inside my mind.

"What?"

"Rapidash", (Guide me). The voice repeated, now tinged with a hint of irritation.

I just lay there, gaping like a fish out of water, my brain struggling to process everything. Words were there, on the tip of my tongue, but they just wouldn't come out. Yet, deep down, I knew, I knew exactly what I needed to say.

"Rapidash, use Flare Blitz and execute order 66"

Rapidash nodded, a gesture that seemed to say, "I've got this." Her eyes sparked with a fiery determination that sent a shiver down my spine. The air around us heated up, buzzing with a kind of electric frenzy. In a heartbeat, she was off, her body erupting into a magnificent blaze.

As Rapidash charged, it became a living, breathing comet, flames wrapping around it like a fiery cocoon. The ground trembled beneath its hooves, the air crackling with heat. The hatchlings paused. Even they, in their feral state, recognized the impending doom, the elemental wrath barreling towards them.

When Rapidash hit, it was like the world exploded. Fire mushroomed out, swallowing the hatchlings in a tidal wave of flames. Their screams pierced the air, a chilling symphony of agony and fear as the blaze devoured them. The heat was overwhelming. Even from where I stood, I could feel it baking my skin, the light so intense I had to shut my eyes.

Then, "Fuck", I gasped for air as the sharp teeth of a hatchling buried into the skin behind my left knee. My body reacted before my mind did, my leg kicking out and sending the creature flying into a nearby rock with a horrible sound. Pain and adrenaline were like fire in my veins. I had to get up, had to keep fighting.

I shot my hand towards my sword.

With the intense light coming from Rapidash's fight I couldn't see what I was doing, so instead of the hilt, I seized the blade itself. Pain lanced through my hand as the edge sliced into my skin, coaxing a curse from between gritted teeth. The pain was almost unbearable. Clenching my jaw, I held fast to it, pulling it back towards me.

Finally, when it was within reach, I clumsily maneuvered the sword with my other hand, seeking to grasp it properly by its hilt. I slashed at whatever was nearby, and with the sword's help, I managed to stand on my right foot, taking a shaky step back. I swatted and sliced at any hatchling that clung to me.

Then looked around me, trying to see what was going on. Rapidash was like a bullet, spreading his fire from point to point – burning the creatures up.

I smiled, so after they burn they don't respawn, nor multiply. Another thing i noticed, was that the black oil, witch was everywhere, didn't burn - no matter how many times Rapidash passed by it. It was still there. How? What was this thing?

"Rapidash", (Move).

Yes, I don't have time for this – not when the battle was so far from over. There were still hundreds of 'em, those disgusting things, squirming all over the forest like a filthy rug of flesh.

But since my attacks, would only increase their numbers I decided to go see what I could to help the living.

Limping and swatting the creatures away, I made my way towards the pit.

Then I saw, those pink little monsters, all over the pit, devouring the animals. Something deep in me shattered. Panic seized me, and I was upon them, blade flashing, carving into those demons clinging to the hapless beasts trapped in that greasy abyss. The wolf, the raccoons – stripped to bones, their flesh torn as if it were naught but cloth. Fucking hell.

Amidst the carnage, I spotted 'em – the rabbits, almost untouched by the scourge. My heart was a drum in my chest as I snatched them from the pit. I looked around, trying to see what else I could save.

The bear… Gods, the bear's still putting up a fight. It's fur soaked in blood, oil and those fucking hatchlings: each move a hard-fought battle, each breath a painful grunt. I stop for a second, thinking back to when I was a kid, all those warnings about bears – killers, they said, evil beasts that'd eat their own cubs when hungry. But when I lock eyes with it, those defiant black eyes, I see it's asking for help, challenging me to be more than my fears.

As its eyes flicker, heavy with pain, I decide. No more hesitation. I spring into action, hauling the bear out, my katana a blur of deadly grace, slicing those creatures from its body.

He's gasping, sides heaving as he pants. Once I clear them off, I start to hack them to pieces, relentless. No matter how they multiply, I press on, their dark-green blood seeping into the earth beneath us.

So there's another way to kill them. I smiled. The bear collapsed, its eyes half-closed in sheer exhaustion. If the battle continue like this, I soon enough would be on the same state.

But not now. Not yet. Balancing on my good foot, I became a whirlwind of rage and steel, slicing through those damned creatures with a desperate fury. They were starved, snapping at the air like mad dogs, some even turning on each other. In their frenzy, they helped thin their own ranks.

Trying to move on one foot was like fighting in a nightmare, slow and clumsy, but I kept hacking, my blade rising and falling in the rhythm of death. I couldn't tell when I hoisted myself onto Rapidash, only that at some point I did.

Lighting myself on fire, charging at the enemy like some sort of Ghost Rider, my katana transformed into a weapon of searing light, each stroke leaving a trail of destruction and flame. I was a pyre of vengeance, an unyielding force against the enemy.

When my senses finally returned, when the blood-fueled haze lifted from my eyes, I found myself standing in a desolate field of ashes, the echo of battle still ringing in my ears, the heat of the flames still licking at my skin. But not harming me.

Why?, I thought to myself as I…

"You killed them all."

The voice froze my blood. I whirled around, heart pounding like a war drum. It was Ittetsu, he was back.

And he wasn't alone.