"You thought I was scared of you? a fool like you?"
He cackled like a madman.
Zephyr stared at him for a while, then replied
"You're scared of a lot of things, aren't you"
Victor's laughter faltered, growing noticeably quieter.
"First… you were scared of me. So scared you couldn't even touch me for nearly a week."
Zephyr chuckled softly, adding,
"You even rigged a trap on the last day because deep down you weren't sure you could finish me all by yourself."
His chuckle turned into quiet giggles.
"You sent me on a death mission on the first day, hoping I'd die there…"
"I bet you're terrified of the sword too."
Now Zephyr was clearly laughing, a mix of amusement and mockery.
"Second… you're terrified of the sea."
"I might have believed your words, if Honorable Petals could cover two people at once."
"And you're trying to get it from me now." Zephyr's smile widened
The laughter belonged to Zephyr now
Victor's eyes followed him quietly.
Then the man asked, as if the answer didn't matter at all,
"Which church do you want to be buried in?"
His laughter fainted, and he was now calm and unbothered.
"Bury me next to the sword."
Zephyr bent slowly and assumed a battle stance, summoning his steel sword.
The man chuckled
And, soon, fixed his posture
Danger sense had surged through him, his heart was racing too...
But, he was smiling.
Not out of stupidity.
It was because, his danger sense just doubled out of nowhere...
'Perfect!'
The ground started to shake a little, then a bit more, until both of them could feel it clearly.
A thunder could be heard in the distance, but neither of them looked away.
As the second thunder cracked, Victor lunged with incredible speed.
Zephyr was prepared for that!
He threw the steel sword at Victor
'Is he really a fool?'
Victor thought as he dodged the blade, but when he glanced back, the boy was gone.
A few more thunderclaps were heard.
This time, Victor looked at the approaching geo entity.
The beast was only meters away, massive and merciless, ready to crush him whole...
It came.
It struck.
And it delivered its devastating stamps...
Victor was nowhere to be seen.
…
Zephyr was now in the labyrinth of Victor. Seemingly joyful.
'I can't believe this actually worked!'
He had this thought since the very first day he came here, he wanted to watch the geo abomination and Victor fight.
Zephyr was unsure which one would win, but his odds for the geo beast was higher, obviously.
He had to make sure that would Victor lose,
'That bastard had allergy to night, geo beast should slaughter him right now!'
He was smiling
He was happy
Until...
All of it turned into frown
[Danger Sense] had activated...
Then, the scent of rotting blood came...
And, he could hear the river of blood coming down...
'Shit'
Worry etched across his face as the sound grew nearer and nearer.
Zephyr dismissed the petals then summoned the bone knife and the cursed sword.
He delivered as much as mana he could to the cursed sword and activated its skill [Sucker]
By the time he placed the blade on the ground, the door collapsed and river of blood flooded the room.
He struggled against the current, and then, all of it suddenly sank to the ground.
…
A beast loomed, its twin heads stretching toward the ceiling and fat body. Its 4 hands long and thick enough to crush Zephyr's neck in an instant.
It towered over the boy.
One of its hand reached out and grabbed him by the neck, slowly lifting him up to its face...
'Too fast...'
Zephyr stared at the two ugly heads as he approached them slowly.
The monster let out a deafening roar. Its saliva all over his face.
He looked furiously at the beast and spat on it, returning the favor.
The ugly monsters blood ran over its exposed organs and bones, every vein visible beneath the mangled skin.
'A bloody one huh'
Suddenly, the creature tore a chunk from Zephyr's shoulder, and he screamed in agony.
Then it took out the other shoulder...
Zephyr had lost both his arms and shoulders just like that.
The twin-headed beast then leaned closer, its heads lashing out to lick both his sides, in an instant, Zephyrs blood turned slimy and could not circulate anymore.
That bastard's tongue was poisonous.
Zephyr was on the edge of losing consciousness. It was the highest level of pain he had ever felt.
Before he could, the beast tore into his head.
…
Zephyr was dead, once again, just in a most painful way.
The beast only left his right feet, Everything else was swallowed...
It had taken the form of Victor now, sitting on the bed. Zephyr's right feet in his hand, intensely looking at it. Then it glanced at the door and tossed the foot aside.
Victor rose slowly and walked toward the collapsed door, carefully clearing the mess.
He was certain Zephyr was dead.
All Zephyr needed was 30 seconds...
His feet rapidly began to grow, forming complete legs, then a torso, followed by two arms, and finally a head. Zephyr summoned the petals as soon as he came back to his senses.
He wanted to summon the cursed sword, but it was too risky. Instead, he summoned the bone knife in his right hand, and slowly sneaked to Victor, who was completely unaware of his existence.
His heart had been full of fear just an hour ago, now it was filled with pure spite.
Just a few more steps and...
He plunged the knife in, twisting it inside his head.
Victor didn't move for a moment, then collapsed to the ground.
Zephyr did the same, lying down next to Victor, who now had a massive hole in his head.
"Die, brat."
…
'Wait... he's older.'
Waiting for the system to declare his kill, he took a deep breath and closed his eyes slowly...
Just as he closed his eyes, the smell of rotting blood and [Danger Sense] snapped him awake. He jumped up and took a few steps back.
Victor's head had healed, and he was standing in front of Zephyr.
'How?' both thought simultaneously.
And then, Victor rushed forward,
Zephyr did the same.
What could he do anyway?
All his plans had failed. His last option was clear...
'Beat him into pulp …until he dies'
'if... he's able to...'
Maybe Victor thought the same.
Zephyr was taking far more damage, but surprisingly, Victor in his human form wasn't particularly strong. It was just that he was stronger than a kid who had wandered alone through empty nations for eight years.
The boy was helpless as well, all he could do was swing his knife around blindly.
By now, Zephyr had already died twice. He couldn't even deal serious damage to Victor. All he had managed was to knock out a single tooth.
Still, he continued to fight.
The fight seemed like it would last eternity...
Sometimes Victor ripped the boy's heart out with his bare hands and crushed it. Other times, he shoved his hand into Zephyr's mouth and tore out his insides.
But Zephyr managed to deal a few minor injuries to Victor over the span of forty minutes, yet that bastard mysteriously healed as if nothing had happened.
By now, Zephyr had already died around thirty times.
Most of the time, he was killed before he could summon his knife.
He cried.
He screamed.
He got mad.
He continued to fight through the never ending pain.
Nothing mattered anymore.
They just wanted to kill each other.
…
'How?'
'Is he immortal?'
'How is he healing without limit?'
'I've killed him around ninety times already, he haven't even killed me once! Why do I feel like I'm the one losing?'
'I'm almost out of blood. I'll have to use his dirty blood If he doesn't die by now'
Feeling his own mana, he knew he couldn't transform again for few hours.
The sword drained all of his mana.
Victor was staring at a corpse, which had no ears, eyes, lungs. Yet, he was sure that boy wasn't dead.
After a couple of seconds, the boy rose to his feet, seemingly unscathed, his eyes were calm.
'Just, what is he?'
The boy rushed towards him
…
Zephyr's mind was empty.
Actually, it had a single though.
'Kill.'
The small boy continued his fight against the giant man, he was at huge disadvantage in everything.
Even in abilities, Victors immortality seemed greater than his.
He didn't care though, he had to get on the boat...
Well, he didn't actually care about the boat anymore. All he wanted was to crush that giant towering above him.
As the fight continued, Zephyr began to get used to Victor's fighting skill.
Little by little, he was learning. Victor noticed the difference in his movements too.
Victor was slowly building fear in his very own heart.
The young man was too vile, dire, spiteful, vengeful and mad.
A hundred more kills, and he would run away. Victor wasn't going for the kill the way Zephyr did. He assumed the boy could revive himself with just a bit of mana.
If he knew that thought was false, he would just run away now.
Looking at the rapidly healing corpse below him, he frowned.
'Come on, just how much mana do you have'
Victor had already died twice by now, but he healed quickly enough to make it unnoticeable, hoping to crush Zephyr's will.
When his blood ran low, he planned to drink the boy's blood to recover.
Suddenly realizing he was far stronger than the boy, he felt… pride. There was no way for him to lose.
He pierced the boy's torso with his hand, then forced his own blood out through his palm, shaping it into spikes that spread like roots, growing endlessly.
The pain was inexplicable. That bastard probably had a master's degree in torture.
Several minutes of relentless violence later, his blood was finally completely drained.
"Please… just die already."
He glanced at the boy, who had died screaming in agony.
"I want to survive too. So... just die."
But as he looked closer, he noticed the boy's body healing again.
The pride he had felt moments ago slowly began to fade. He began sucking the blood from the boy's body.
But the moment the boy regained consciousness, he instantly acted on the thought he had at the moment of his death.
Summoning his small knife, he drove it straight into Victor's belly.
Zephyr had managed to stab him twice in the belly before dying. That damage had pushed Victor to his limit, forcing him to heal with the very blood he had just taken from his recent kill.
As soon as his wounds were healed, Zephyr was starting to rise up to his feet. Victor instantly surged towards him. Trying his best to stop the boy from summoning his crappy knife.
Zephyr jumped back, dodging the mighty arms by centimeters. He had learned about his nasty lunge attacks after dying to it about fifteen times.
He summoned his knife midair, when he landed, it was already in his right hand.
This time, before Victor could lunge again, the little boy threw his knife at him.
After getting tricked by the throw once, Victor had learnt about it too. His eyes were locked to Zephyr as he dodged the knife.
"You thought that would work again?"
Zeph didn't reply.
Because he was dismissing the knife.
Victor didn't realize there wasn't any sound of the knife hitting a wall.
Too overconfident that he neutralized poor boy's little trick, he lunged again...
He was growing careless.
Zephyr didn't react, he just stood there.
Maybe he had given up.
In the middle of it, an otherworldly voice rang in his ears, and letters took a form in front of him.
[You have unlocked a unique phase]
[Your ability has phased into stage 2] [Unique]
He didn't care about it. He just shoved the screen aside since it was blocking his vision and continued staring at the rushing terror.
Victor held him by his neck then bit into his shoulder and drank his blood.
Negligent about the boy's weird behavior.
Zephyr had learned just how fast Victor could kill him by drinking his blood, and it took longer than summoning his knife, which was all he needed for this round.
He summoned his knife again, and stabbed the bastard three times. Unfortunately, the boy died, strangled by the grip that held him.
Surprised by the agonizing pain, he stumbled back a few steps and began to heal himself again with Zephyr's blood.
And then,
The freshly healed stab wounds suddenly dissolved back into blood and flowed back to the boy's neck.
Victor couldn't believe what he just saw...
'How's that possible?'
The fear building inside devoured him whole in a fraction of a second, as he finally realized he had come face to face with something he could not overwhelm.
'This… this isn't a human.'
Driven by panic, Victor melted his left hand into a gush, flooding the area. Long spikes shot from it, piercing Zephyr's torso.
Victor's heart throbbed violently, struggling to keep up with him.
The bastard rushed toward the door as fast as he could, but a familiar knife struck him in the eye.
Victor fell to the ground once again. His spikes lost their form and liquefied back into the floor.
The boy had a four holes in his chest.
'Kill.'
Walking at a crippled pace, he finally reached Victor.
He sank to the ground, grabbed his knife, and continued stabbing without hesitation.
Zeph ended up stabbing him hundreds of times. Victor no longer looked like a person, just a body riddled with holes.
[Danger Sense] was gone.
And Zephyr died once again.
But this time, Zarvian woke up.
[You have stabbed a Tier 2 Creature to death, Origin: Bloodborne]
[You have received an item: Throbbing Heart]
The fight was over. Zarvian had won, without a single injury.
He had killed Victor, his temporary ally. The one who had fed him, the first beast to grant him a fleeting moment of peace.
For minutes he sat in silence, his mind a drifting void.
Yet, a few words slowly forced their way through the void.
"You wanted to survive?"
Zarvian sank down, lying still. Eyes closed, he whispered a few tired words into the silence.
"You fool..."
"This place, already chose it's survivor..."