The battlefield had echoed for hours with the clash of swords and the last words of dying men. On the ground lay hundreds perhaps thousands of lifeless bodies. As time passed, the outcome of the battle became painfully clear: our warriors were falling one after another against the soldiers of Arcestria.
No matter how many enemies I cut down, I couldn't change the tide of battle. My vision blurred, my strength waned, and every breath felt like a struggle.
As I struck down one of the Arcestrian soldiers, I slipped on a corpse. Luckily, I didn't fall, but the enemy seized the opportunity immediately.
My sword didn't reach in time, so I had to use my ability—the Bloodweave. Quickly, I forged a blade from my own blood.
But before I could strike, the enemy froze, his last breath escaping as he collapsed to the ground.
Lisa emerged from behind the Arcestrian warrior, blood dripping from her blade.
"There's no need to thank me. You owe me one." She winked at me, then swiftly cut down another soldier.
I was surprised, but a faint smile crossed my face. I gathered myself and joined Lisa.
"Dinner's on me after this, deal?" I glanced at her briefly before focusing on the enemy behind us.
"We'll see about that. Right now, we need to find a way out of this bloodbath." Her hands trembled from exhaustion as she gripped her sword.
"There are too many of them, and they just won't stop coming." I fell silent for a moment, then drew a deep breath.
"I'm going to use the Bloodweave." My voice was firm.
"You're in no condition to control it." Her voice shook, and her face was filled with worry.
"I know it's a bad idea, but it's our only chance." My tone radiated confidence, though inside, I was afraid.
Lisa scanned the battlefield, watching countless lives snuffed out in an instant. After a heavy sigh, she said:
"There's no other way. But please, be careful. If you lose control, I don't know if I can stop you." Her eyes met mine, full of doubt.
"I promise. Pinky swear." I held out my little finger, and she hooked hers around mine.
After that, we split up to attack from both sides. My body was covered in cuts, and I had lost so much blood that gathering it was easy.
I focused my blood on my back, forming blood-tendrils that writhed like living blades. The enemy recoiled in terror at the sight.
Frozen in fear, they fell easily beneath my strikes. With the Bloodweave, I carved through them effortlessly.
In moments, I had cleared a path through the enemy ranks. Shock and fear spread, everyone could see the vast difference between a mere soldier and a wielder of power.
But exhaustion consumed me. The relentless fighting and the strain of Bloodweave blurred my vision, so I shifted my focus to mana. Suddenly, I sensed the presence of a warrior radiating immense mana.
'He must be a wielder too. I have to kill him before Lisa runs into him.' I pushed forward toward his position.
The closer I got, the stronger the enemy or maybe my sword had grown heavier. When I reached him, I drove my blade into the ground and locked eyes with him.
"Come here! Let's end this pointless slaughter. Just you and me." I gasped for breath, my vision still clouded.
He began walking toward me, each step radiating strength and an aura of dread.
"Now this I like, a brave warrior. What's your name?" His low chuckle carried a warning: be careful.
I snatched up my sword and readied myself.
"Narihu. That's the name you'll hear last."
He laughed loudly, then stopped before me. I saw the monster I faced, at least two meters tall, his body honed like steel.
"Confident, aren't you, Narihu? I am Gregorion, Arcestria's strongest warrior."
The name rang a bell. I'd heard it whispered in taverns and among conquered villages. I never imagined I'd face him so soon on the battlefield.
"Perfect. If I defeat you, we don't just win this battle we win the war." I tried to sound confident, but the trembling of my hands and legs betrayed me.
Then, out of nowhere, Lisa's voice pierced the chaos:
"Narihu! What are you doing? Get out of there now, you don't stand a chance against him!" She shouted as she fought her way through the enemy ranks.
Before I could answer, Gregorion lunged and kicked me away.
Gregorion's kick sent me flying across the blood-soaked ground as if carried by a storm cloud. My ribs protested with agonizing pain as I crashed into a pile of dead soldiers. Spitting blood, I forced myself back to my feet, my fingers desperately gripping the sword's hilt.
Gregorion was already approaching. His steps were slow yet relentless. The air around him tightened, as if the force itself were bending.
"Still standing? Good. I don't like it when it ends too quickly." His voice rumbled deeply, like distant thunder.
I tried to breathe evenly, though my vision was blurred. I had no other choice: I had to unleash the Bloodweave or die. I began to focus on my blood, and then blood-tentacles erupted from my back, writhing like snakes. The ground shook as they lashed forward, carving deep furrows into the earth.
Gregorion's eyes narrowed, his mouth twisting into a savage grin.
"Finally starting to entertain me? Let's see if you succeed."
He charged, his sword cutting the air in a silver arc. I parried, my blood-forged blade meeting his. The impact rattled my bones; sparks scattered around us. He was too strong. Every blow threatened to shatter me.
But I had more than just steel.
With an unrestrained roar, I unleashed the blood-tentacles. They struck forward, cracking like whips, wrapping around his limbs. One coiled around his wrist, another his ankle, their barbed ends digging into his flesh. Gregorion snarled, his muscles straining as he struggled against the blood-woven chains.
The ground trembled beneath us as I poured all my strength into the Bloodweave. The blood-tentacles' grip intensified. He could not break free from the blood-chains, no matter how hard he tried. His sword fell to the ground, and for the first time, his grin faltered slightly.
I approached in staggering steps, panting, my vision slowly fading into darkness.
"It ends now."
I leveled the blood-soaked sword at him, ready to thrust it into his heart. I was gasping so heavily that my trembling hand could barely grip the blade's hilt.
I squeezed the sword's grip and said in a deep, strong voice:
"Goodbye." The next moment, I drove the sword into his heart.
I threw the sword to the ground and looked up at the sky in relief. Only a single thought crossed my mind: "I won. It's finally over."
Then I heard a familiar cough, growing louder and more agonizing. My gaze immediately dropped to the ground, where I saw that Lisa was chained by the blood-tendrils.
Lisa was coughing up her own blood, more and more profusely. It wasn't Gregorion whose heart I had pierced…it was Lisa.
I instantly released Lisa from the blood-chains captivity, but before she could fall to the ground, I caught her and placed her on my lap. I watched as all color drained from her eyes, turning grey as her body grew paler.
"I… Lisa, please, don't leave me!" I tried to hold back my tears, but my eyes were glistening, and my voice trembled.
I held her hand, in which there was almost no life force left. Her breathing became increasingly labored. Lisa tried to say something, but a cough blocked her way. Finally, she barely managed to utter:
"Please… don't blame yourself." Her words struck my heart like lightning.
The last drop of life slowly left Lisa. No matter how I examined her, there was no sign of life.
No matter how I looked at Lisa's lifeless body before me, I refused to accept the fact that Lisa was dead—and by my own hand, no less.
Then Gregorion's voice spoke from the distance.
"I'm sorry about your friend's death, but I needed her sacrifice. I didn't think I'd have to use the Teleport Swap."
I bit my lip in fury, every word of his infuriating me... infuriated by the fact that Lisa was dead because of him.
That's when something inside me broke. I gently put Lisa down from my lap, stood up, and said:
"GREGORION! You bastard, I will torture you!"
My voice sounded alien, not my own: my face was consumed by immeasurable rage and vengeance. I unleashed my blood from my back, forming shapes like arrows: every soldier it found was killed instantly, except for Gregorion, who managed to catch the blood-arrows in time.
My dark hair turned completely white, my eyes glowed like gold, yet they seemed like a predator's eyes
"Now this is getting interesting." Gregorion said, then motioned for his soldiers to attack.
The soldiers charged at me simultaneously. Using my blood, I created multiple blades that easily allowed me to defend myself.
I searched for Gregorion, but I couldn't find him anywhere, all while hundreds of Arcestrian soldiers attacked me.
"Here is Commander Gregorion, requesting at least 2 units of reinforcement for the front." he spoke into a military phone.
"This is the Commander! Is there a problem on the front, Mr. Gregorion?"
"We have already defeated the enemy, but there is a Wielder among them who is currently slaughtering our soldiers." he explained in a surprisingly calm voice.
"I understand. But if the enemy is a Wielder, why are you not fighting him?" he asked, yet his tone was slightly commanding.
"I don't want to die." The lightness vanished from Gregorion's face: his voice became explicitly grim.
A brief silence followed, then the commander finally spoke.
"Reinforcements are on the way, but we have a request."
"What would that be?"
"Bring that Wielder back alive." His voice was clear and understandable, yet Gregorion couldn't believe it.
"Why? Why would you need him?" Something clicked in his head. "Understood. It will be done. Goodbye, Commander!"
I don't know how much time had passed, but I didn't have a single second to breathe. My exhaustion had taken over my body so completely that I felt it in every step.
I had taken the lives of thousands of men, and yet... it was as if there were still that many soldiers left.
Lisa's death drove me so hard that I was coughing up blood. My body begged me to stop, but I just kept killing and killing.
Then, in one moment, no one attacked me anymore: the Arcestrian soldiers watched from a distance. Then a familiar voice addressed me.
"I see you're in good shape, Narihu. I have to admit your abilities, but you're not a very smart guy. You should have run away long ago." His voice was provoking and kept getting closer.
I could barely stand still, but Gregorion's voice ignited the desire for vengeance within me.
I immediately charged at him with my remaining strength. But with every attack, he used his ability and sacrificed his own soldiers.
No matter how hard I tried, I could never hit him: he always swapped places with someone.
"Time to end this game: I admit it was fun."
"You scum, I'll kill you!" I rushed at him, disregarding my surroundings, so the Arcestrian soldiers attacked me from the side, and as I used the Bloodweave to defend myself, I was left open to Gregorion, who took advantage of it and kicked me.
In the end, a giant rock stopped me, but the impact was so strong that I lost consciousness.