A battle like this had no place for higher thought, for planning and scheming. There was no plan to follow, no handy guideline for this scenario. No time for self-doubt. There was only the moment.
And instinct!
And as the chain slashed harmlessly through the air above him, he fixed his eyes on the shambling abomination's billowing cloak. Waiting for an opening, exposing the abomination's innards.
The thought of retreat had been baptised from the soldier's mind, the burning brand of his Oath compelling him forever forwards, unto the stars. In this state of searing focus, it felt as though time itself had slowed. He had no time to relish in that familiar sensation, however, pupils dilated to the maximum, every swish of fabric, every drop of rain suddenly becoming clear to him.
And in that everlasting instant when even the rain stood still, the only thing that moved the Nameless Soldier was instinct.
NOW!
He leapt forward with everything he had, deforming the charcoaled wreckage beneath his feet. For a brief moment, with a sickening lurch in his stomach, he was in free fall.
The abomination had snapped free from that frozen instance, or perhaps his hyper-focused state had simply slipped. There was no time to figure out which.
As if enraged that an ant dared display such aggression towards it, another hidden limb lashed out, a heavy length of chain following in its wake with the promise of death.
The soldier was in mid-air, nothing to push off. Yet his eyes were calm, fixated on his approaching doom with a detached coldness. He reached out a hand, channeling that strange spectral force through it until he could visible see the white glow of ethereal energy emanating from his arm.
The chain slashed towards him cutting through the air with a whistling shriek. The still-falling soldier merely reached out that hand blocking the chain with a single forearm.
The chain slammed into him like an enraged bull elephant. The sheer force should have snapped him in two, flinging his lifeless corpse into the distance. That was no doubt what the abomination expected.
Instead, the chain-link shattered into fragments, disappearing into the rainy night like ghosts in sunlight. Part of the chain flung off into the distance, now detached, while the shortened remnant returned to the abomination.
This entire exchange took place over the course of a few seconds at most.
Yet a few seconds was enough to shift the tide of the entire battle. The soldier swore he could sense the impotent rage from that hexagonal prism.
It's too late now!
He crashed into the segment of the billowing cloak exposed by the abomination's reckless swing. Still extending that enhanced arm forward, it smashed through the metal pipes and gears like a sledgehammer.
A shrill, piercing shriek resounded from the creature.
So you feel pain too, huh? All the better for me.
The soldier roared out in response, his tiny figure piercing through the hulking abomination like an arrow. He shot out the other side, slamming into the ground, barely shielding his face with his enhanced arm.
Sheer adrenaline masked whatever pain he should have been feeling, if any at all, as he crawled out from the crater he formed like a demon rising from hell.
A wild grin on his face, his entire body covered in foul-smelling oil.
The abomination staggered and but it did not fall.
So it's not going to be that easy.
The soldier grit his teeth, swaying to his feet on unsteady legs. Turns out using oneself as a projectile had consequences. As for the abomination, its billowing cloak masked most of its form but the soldier had caught a glimpse of a clean hole torn right through where it's heart would have been.
Not that it had such human weak-point.
Not that I have such a human weak-point either. Abomination against abomination. Only one of us is making it out of here.
The burning Oath reminded the soldier of his solemn vow and he grit his teeth with bloodshot eyes.
And I have a goal I absolutely must see, something I absolutely must know!
The shambling abomination had turned around and, now on level ground, it towered over the soldier. With a shrill shriek, it lunged forwards, trailing loose chains that attached to that unmoving silver cube in the distance.
Common sense dictated a creature that fast be slow, yet it moved with unnatural grace. Like a Hunter.
The soldier could feel his stamina dwindling, enhancing that arm had been on instinct, no doubt not as efficient as it could have been.
We'll settle this with the next exchange. My hit did some damage, it's clearly weaker and slower. Should I target the hexagon? But would it expose its weak-point so easily?
He shook his head. He was going about this the wrong way.
Planning and scheming isn't my way. There's no time for minutely-thought out ideas. In this moment, only instinct reigns supreme.
And so the soldier channeled the rest of his energy into his left arm, reigniting its soft-white ethereal glow. His bloodshot eyes began to leak fluid, his nose bleeding as he wrung his body dry of every drop available.
The soft-white glow enhanced into a stronger radiance, dispelling the darkness of the night like a lighthouse. The abomination did not show if it noticed, not pausing in its rapidly approaching steps.
The abomination swung out another limb, the metal chain cutting through the air like a missile targeting him alone. Bracing his feet against the ground, he extended his arm once again to block the blow.
This time, he focused on the sensation, the metal link shattering against his enhanced arm as if it were made of dirt. But his premature celebration died on his lips.
His pupils constricted as he saw a second chain, hidden behind the first whip around his raised arm.
Damn!
It circled his body like a serpent, attacking his other side. He barely had time for a shout before the chain collided into him. And the world went black. Then white. The black again.
He groaned, pain all over his body as if he were a walking bruise.
Where am I?
He forced his glacial thoughts to accelerate, his instincts screaming at him. But his head was pounding, like he had been through a washing machine cycle in hell.
His sensations came back to him, slowly.
I'm lying down? On wet dirt?
The image of the abomination flashed in his mind and his eyes shot open in panic. He tried to move, but his body refused to obey his commands.
He opened his mouth, a wet rasping sound coming out instead of any words.
So even a soul can get hurt? How exactly does that work?
Unfortunately, answers were not forthcoming in that place. More to the point, he could feel the ground vibrating in intervals.
Footsteps!
They were approaching almost leisurely, arrogantly, like that of a Hunter basking in the feeling of a prey caught in its trap.
Is that what you are? Prey?!
His Oath screamed at him in a deluge of raw meaning, but it was drowned out. He saw the battles of his past, the blurred faces of comrades, familiar tents, familiar weapons, familiar deaths. He saw that hateful pinprick of sky, the densely packed stars glittering like jewels, looking down at him so far, far below.
That's where he belonged, after all. In the dirt, buried under corpses of friends, corpses of enemies. It was fitting. He would not be remembered, his entire life distilled into a bland statistic to be recorded and forgotten.
The footsteps were louder now, closer. How far had it thrown him, that it took that monstrosity this long to reach him? To end this pain.
To let him embrace the peaceful solitude of death. Why was he even trying so hard to live, as if there was something out there for him to live for? He had nothing, he came from nothing. He was nothing.
The footsteps stopped. The rain too.
No.
He opened his eyes to see the indifferent visage of the abomination towering over him like an apathetic god.
Who decides that I am nothing? Fate?
It reached out a limb towards him slowly, like the butcher's knife approaching the mewling lamb.
Who here can weigh the worth of a man's Soul?!
The soldier concentrated his wavering and broken will.
The stars? The Stars that watch and mock and hate and laugh?
Yet all he could summon was to raise his right arm, its enhanced glow now faded into oblivion.
There is only Me!
His arm was raised weakly, trembling like a leaf in the wind. Yet his thoughts ignited a spark that resonated with his Oath. It burst through its suppression, roaring in defiance like a bonfire in winter.
At the tip of his wavering finger, a tiny mote of light appeared.
The mote of light made contact with the billowing cloak of the abomination, flickering out like a candle in a rainstorm. His arm collapsed down to the ground, refusing to move any further.
He closed his eyes, succumbing to the soft embrace of shadow. He waited for the end.
That never came.
He cracked open his eyes.
The abomination still towered over him, billowing cloak outstretched like the grim reaper's scythe, ready to harvest his soul. But it was motionless. Frozen. Before he had time to think further, the hexagonal prism atop its towering form began to glow.
Unlike the soft radiance of his enhanced arm, this was harsh, like the irradiating rays of an unfeeling sun. He closed his eyes, yet its brightness only grew until it felt like a star had descended in front of him. The back of his eyelids was awash with the blinding radiance, sending stabbing pain into his eyes.
Just as this luminosity reached a crescendo and began to fade, it was followed by a wave of pressure like a negative space. It washed over him, through him, making him shudder at the strange violation of his very soul.
Followed by horror as he felt his very presence unravel from its most fundamental parts. The spectral whispers cut out like radio in a thunderstorm, sounding muffled and muted, interspersed with static.
As his awareness faded, has his form fell apart, only a single core remained. A pillar holding up the remnants of a collapsing palace.
His Oath, connected to a fragile-looking thread. Yet even that immutable force shook like the masts of a ship in a hurricane. Just when he thought it would finally collapse, the thread snapping and the encroaching blackness about to swallow the last pinprick of his fading consciousness, that wave faded. And with it the force that unraveled his very soul.
He opened his eyes cautiously.
The figure of the abomination still loomed there, but something was different. Realisation dawned on him momentarily.
The hexagon...it's gone?
He barely had time to notice the conspicuous gap where its head should have been before it collapsed like a puppet whose strings had been cut. The billowing cloak fell to the ground, chains clattering into a heap around him, that silver cube still there in the distance.
Before he could celebrate, a sharp stabbing pain clawed through his core, coming straight from the elastic tether he now knew attached directly to his Oath. He held on for as long as he could, until the blinding pain forced him to black out.
The last thing he saw was the familiar, rotting face of the dead soldier's corpse above his body, trapped under layers of rubble, and the tiny pinprick of sky where the thunderclouds finally cleared, revealing the twinkling stars behind.