Book 2 | 5 Unleashed

With a flick of its wrist, one of the chains hanging from its shackles snapped into one of the tables of the large lunchroom. The table cracked, splintering in half as a crater formed on the white tiles. The grin on its face lengthened until it was too wide for its eyeless face.

Its words smoldered like hot coals.

"You have...A mighty soul...I will enjoy eating your soul."

The runes on my arms and legs charged, crimson mana replacing the orange surge of augmentation. A surge of power and fury filled my limbs, and I glared at the monster. My armor smiled, the grin malevolent and menacing.

"You're not the first to try."

Chapter Begin

Before charging him, I opened my menu screen and poured all my points into constitution. My armor tightened around me before I balled myself up. I grit my teeth and tensed my entire body, turning myself into a ball of iron.

A few snaps of my armor echoed through the room before it regenerated back to normal. I stood tall before cracking my neck.

The soulswallower took a step to me.

"You can transform then?"

I narrowed my eyes at the monster.

"Why did you wait in this lunchroom while we killed your kin?"

It raised its shackles.

"I am restrained to this position. In most circumstances, I await my lessers to bring me the minds and souls of other entities. However, you have come to me now, like lambs to the slaughter."

I turned back.

"Kessiah, Althea, there's a strong dude in here. I'm going to need your support. Hurry up."

The soulswallower whipped a chain at me with a flick of his hand. I dashed forward, dodging the strike that tore through the floor. I let out a laugh.

"For real, if it gets tense, we can just leave the lunchroom."

The soulswallower's skin bristled, tiny black thorns arising all over him.

"Silence."

He reached out his left palm, the eye glaring at me from its center. I ducked under his hand while dragging my left arm behind me. Pushing my heels on the ground, I smashed a heavy strike into the eye of his palm. Blood gushed over us, and the soulswallower grunted and grimaced in pain. His arm didn't relent at the power of my strike, however.

His fingers clamped down on my arm and sucked out my blood like a vampire's teeth. With a quick jerk, I pulled my arm out of his scythe fingers, long cuts tracing my arm. I grimaced at him as his eye healed and the blades grew brighter. The soulswallower smiled.

"You taste delicious, as expected."

A piece of fear nestled into my chest at the sight, but I shook my head, shaking blood off my armor. I seethed, more to myself than the monster.

"Of course, this guy likes to talk."

With another flick of his wrist, the chain on his right hand snaked toward me. After seeing it so many times, I raised my hand, letting it wrap around my right arm before pulling myself towards him. I leaped forward at the same time, flying up before drop-kicking at his mouth. My boots cracked his teeth, the enamel fracturing like a brick smacking into glass.

The monster bit down on my legs, the broken pieces of his teeth sinking into the metal. I raised my hands before stabbing my fingertips into his gums. As I tore them out, the beast took a step backward and loosened its jaws. I pushed my hand off its face and swung around him with the chain still around my arm. I landed mid-run, building my momentum as he turned toward me.

He shot out his left palm while stepping at me once more. As my momentum hit its apex, I smashed my heels into the tile floor, pulling the chain on the monster's right arm downward. Caught off balance, the creature fell forward. His face shot into the ground, and he caved in dry concrete, white tile, and a lunchroom table.

I pulled his chain to me while dashing at him. My runes charged with ascendant energies, the red aura leaking off my frame. The subtle, crimson coloration dispersed through the air like blood in water, and it imbibed a frenzy in my veins. I reached the beast as it pulled its head out of the ground.

I stomped my heel into the back of his head, my momentum ceasing in an instant. The crags of stone around the monster's face grew higher, and a mist of powdered stone formed around us. I leaned forward, narrowly dodging one of its wings as it sliced past me. Blood dripped down my cheek as another wing sliced at my chest.

I turned to my side, the wing scraping my torso. After four slashes, I darted away, several long cuts covering my legs and arms. The wings along his back pierced into the ground where I was, the feathers slicing through the rock. My blood seeped into the monster once more, and the Soulswallower pulled itself from the ground.

The wings flapped, and its feathers bolted through the room like raven bullets. I turned to my side while leaning into a gap in the feathers. A quick sideways jerk of my hand deflected several more, but six feathers still embedded into my shoulder, chest, and thigh.

Taking around a tenth of my health pool in an instant, I growled as the feathers crawled into my body. I grabbed pieces of them, jerking them out. The monster laughed, spreading its wings. A shiver ran up my spine as it sent another wave of feathers my way. I swallowed that fear once more as ascendant mana poured from my palms.

I redirected the feathers near me via telekinesis as I turned sideways and dodged. I only needed to divert a small portion of them, and they skittered off my armor instead of piercing it. They landed beside me, digging deep into the stone floor like writhing worms. A few more swings of its wings later, and I stood surrounded by a wriggling feather carpet.

My arms and legs burned from using mana, but I couldn't help but smile at the soulswallower's frustration. The monster roared as I lifted my palms and yanked at its wings using magic. My telekinises pulled dozens of feathers from the soulswallower’s wings at once. After a few quick, grasping pulls of my arms, blood dripped from the soulswallower's face and wings.

It drenched the floor in red, its smile mutilated by my tearing of its gums. Taking a step forward, its smile faded. I wasn't smiling either. Even without him ever getting a good strike on me, I had already burned through a third of my health pool during my telekinetic assault and from its feather worms.

I heaved for breath, and my own blood pooled at my feet. Still, my smile returned as I took a step toward him. The monster snarled at me.

"You enjoy bathing in your own blood?"

I took deep breaths.

"I enjoy a good fight, yeah. This falls in that category, I'd say."

Behind me, Kessiah and Althea ran in through the hole I made in the wall. I turned to them and deactivated oppression. It was too dangerous to use with them nearby. Althea shot a bone spear at the soulswallower. In a sudden explosion of movement, the soulswallower lashed its chain toward the bolt.

Althea's harpoon dug straight through the metal before stabbing through the monster's wrist. The spear dug a hole through one of its shackles. The beast eyed the wound on the metal before whipping its other hand at Althea. I shouted,

"Don't attack the chai-"

Another bone lance erupted from Althea's rifle, and the soulswallower blocked using its other shackled wrist. Impaled through his forearms, the beast smiled at me.

"So many years I have waited."

Althea turned to me before I shook my head. The monster ripped the weakened shackles off, and it spoke its words like a cult's mantra.

"Ah, to be whole once more."

Mana surged around the monster, energy soaking out of its environment. It stepped forward before pulling on a shackle covering his leg. From the eye at the center of his chest, an aura of power ebbed like umbral shadows given life. His arms expanded, turning into hulking limbs. The metal groaned and creaked before an ear-piercing pop echoed through the room.

"To be unleashed from my shackles. What a joy today has been."

It grabbed the last shackle before Althea shot a harpoon of bone into the center of his chest. Digging deep, the bolt caused the monster to stagger backward. With a burst of energy, I darted forward while grabbing a chain. Before he could rip off either of his foot shackles, I stomped onto one of his hands. Two of the fingers on his right hand bent backward as I whipped the metal links around his neck.

He clamped his teeth against the chain, shattering the metal but the rest of his teeth along with it. Using his left hand, he struck a fist out toward me. It lacked all finesse or technique, but it held tremendous speed and power. The blow bent the metal of my armor and forced me backward. I slid back as the finger scythes cut into my armor.

My knees wobbled for a moment, but still I stood. The beast already bent down to tear off its last shackle, so I grit my teeth and bolted forward. I bent low, letting all my weight build in my right hand. With a wide, sweeping uppercut, I pulled upwards with all my might. My runes flared, and burning mana flooded my limbs as my blow struck against the monster's ribs.

The bones caved in while tiny craters formed under my feet. Despite the difference in size, the soulswallower stumbled sideways before Althea shot another bolt towards his chest. The harpoon struck dead center into the indentation of my last blow. The bone spear dug through the creature before drilling out its back. Blood sprayed from his wound as he howled and turned away. I shot forward again, letting my arm drag behind me.

As I reached him, I pulled downwards and dragged my arm behind me. A solid overhand right swung up and over my head before pummeling into the monster. My blow landed into the gaping hole on the monster's back, digging deep into the creature's insides. With a burst of effort, I forced my armor to splinter outwards in all directions. Needles exploded into the soulswallower's chest before I put my foot onto its spine.

I jerked my arm outwards. A fountain of blood and a mound of organs followed my arm. The glistening, crimson mush splat against the ground before the monster whipped its left arm at me. I ducked under the wild strike, following with another sweeping left hook into the front of the creature.

A bolt sliced into its skull before my hook sank into a tiny hole left by Althea's previous firing. My hand only carved a few inches deep, but I splintered my armor again before ducking under a dark wing slice. Two wing slices later, and I timed a palm thrust to deflect one of the wing attacks.

At the same time, I jerked my fist back. Blood exploded from the monster before his left arm whipped back toward me. I ducked again, but his blow scraped the top of my shoulders and helm. Against his empowered flesh, my armor shot out sparks. The force of the blow left me off balance before he hammer fisted towards me.

The blow clapped against my back with the force of a cornered animal. I withstood the blow, my knees creaking under the stress. Another hammer fist later, and I crumbled onto the ground. With a quick shifting of the soulswallower's foot, he stomped me down against the ground. The force of the strike squished blood out of my mouth.

It peered down at me, and portions of my armor reached out, siphoning up the beast's blood and devouring its entrails. I peered up at the beast, and my armor covered my face. I smiled at the monster, jagged teeth of metal leaking streams of my blood.

The beast hesitated, its eyes widening. A spear shot straight through its shin while it was distracted, the bone fraying like splintered wood. The monster fell towards his injured leg, the limb no longer able to support his weight. It was the same weight that had held me down. Without it, I lifted myself upwards, pushing my hands into the ground.

I found myself at less than half health. My blood covered the floor, and yet vitality raged through my limbs, my heart keeping my body alive despite the damage I withstood. The sheer tenacity of my body amazed me. It amazed the monster as well, and our eyes met, its face upon the floor and mine rising from the ground.

It gurgled its words.

"Mere food."

I pushed my hands on the blood-soaked floor. The sanguine red coursed into my palms as I stood, bits of its body being consumed by the dark metal covering my skin. The monster's skin bristled as I stepped toward it.

"Of course, that's all I am."

As I stepped towards the beast, it trembled. My armor grinned at the monster. I murmured,

"Why are you so afraid of your food?"

With a quick step, I reached the soulswallower's chest and swung a hand into the eye at the center of its chest. Blood sprayed in every direction as the SoulSwallower gurgled, 

"Stop. Stop."

Ignoring him, I redoubled my efforts, slamming into the monster with an absolute abandon. Each time, my armor pierced into its body, ripping chunks of flesh out as pulled my hands away. My breaths turned to heavy wheezing as each strike became wilder and heavier. I struggled through the exhaustion growing in my limbs. Even as they became like lead, I kept pulverizing.

Before I could finish him, four rows of teeth expanded out of its chest, one around the eyelid and the other around its pupil. A hand pushed me towards the monster's chest, the clear coating around the crushed eye opening like another eyelid. The teeth ripped into my armor, the soulswallower clamping down onto me like its last lifeline.

Like tiny mouths, the teeth drained blood from me. After a few seconds, spikes exploded outward from my armor. The monster's eye-mouth vomited me out in a torrent of blood. Tiny strands of my armor ripped more from it, and I rolled on the floor before trying to stand. All the mana I used left me with less than a third of my health left.

I was a horror, my body a flayed, broken thing. Despite the damage, I stood and walked towards the beast. It howled out.

"Monster."

My limbs shook as a bolt dug into the soulswallower's arm that had reached for the shackle on its leg. Despite Althea's timing and precision, a burst of energy rippled up from the eye at the center of the soulswallower's chest. It coursed up his last working arm. With a sudden shot of vitality, the beast wrenched the last shackle off.

Energy poured out from where the shackles had once been. A sphere of green-blue energy appeared around him. I shot forward, slamming a fist into the sphere. I couldn't dent it. However, Althea could. Her spears shot through the glowing green barrier, damaging the monster. Realizing I couldn't hurt it, I stumbled backward and sat down. As my injuries healed, I shouted.

"Step back. I'm activating my aura."

Kessiah and Althea ran toward the opposite end of the lunchroom before oppression smothered my surroundings. Althea's bone spears left cracks on the shield of the monster along with tiny holes from where they shattered within. They weren't large enough for me to reach through, but I could using my armor.

I stood back up and walked over, putting my palms on the shields. Strands of my armor reached out like metal tendrils. They dug into the evolving eldritch, and I rested for a few minutes while it evolved in its cocoon.

Kessiah shouted through the room,

"You guys got this. I'll only help if things get desperate. Honestly, this is a good exercise for you both. It should reminds you why you're trying to get stronger."

I sighed. By now, I didn't need a reminder of why I needed to gain a few levels and skills. I held my palms against the barrier, my health and stamina refilling after the fervent frenzy of activity. Strands of my armor dug into its transforming body, and I gained mana and energy from draining it by the second.

As the soulswallower transformed inside the sphere, I opened my status screen and poured a few tree points into Genesis of Potential. With a quick clink, the skill tree reached 750.

Limits are more your perspective than your reality. Become fond of your limits. Become fonder of breaking them. That is because you will be the pathfinder, the horizonseeker, and the vanguard of your species. You will tread where others fear. You will become that which elicits awe.

+ 3 extra leveling perks in total | 6 Total | 5 Spent - Endurance, Willpower, Intelligence, Constitution, and Strength

I didn't have the attributes required for using the extra level 100 perk yet. I smiled, knowing my long-term mentality wasn't serving me so well in this fight, but it would after we squeezed through. I shouted toward Althea,

"Next time, try to inspect an opponent before you fire, alright?"

Althea put a hand against her temple.

"Yeah. Sorry. Kessiah told us to wait and let you get some training in. When I saw you in such bad condition, I just reacted on instinct."

I heartened upon hearing that.

"Really?"

Althea nodded.

"Yeah. You looked like a zombie."

I frowned.

"Oh."

I turned toward the monster, the barrier dissolving after another of Althea's bolts pierced it. I nearly fell forward as the energy cracked and dissipated, crumbling into the ether around us. A smaller person walked out of where the sphere had come from. Like a moving Greek statue, the thing glanced around with marble skin.

It looked remarkably human, no longer deformed and chained. The wings of black remained the same size, with larger, grasping feathers. The wings spread out, several times his height. With a quick flap, the dust and debris of the previous fight rolled away from him. He stepped forward, ignoring me.

His steps quaked the ground a bit under his feet. Turning toward me, the living stone smiled. As his lips moved, they sounded like stone sliding against stone.

"I'm finally free. It's good to fully be a part of this new world of yours."

I squinted my eyes, finding what I was looking for.

Gabriel, the Ascended Angel (lvl 850) - Once enough ambient mana was absorbed by the engorged soulswallower, the original form of the chained creature arose. This is Gabriel, the Ascended Angel. By allowing this creature to unchain itself, you've allowed it to manifest as a far larger problem than it otherwise would have been.

His skin is living stone and harder than steel. The feathers on his wings are sharper than blades. In this form, he gains illusion magic that can torment the weak-willed members of your party. Even if you can destroy his outer layer, he has a second one thereafter, and he'll achieve a berserker form that allows him to kill those who reach past his skin.

Despite the strength you wield for your level, you will struggle dearly versus this foe, regardless of your tactics.

Another spear lobbed out from Althea, but Gabriel deflected it with a dark wing. He turned to her.

"Come now. I won't let you hit me with those spears of yours anymore-"

I jerked my hands back, and strands of my armor ripped open cracks in his marble skin. The fissures spread across his entire body before another spear shot at his heart. He deflected it with a wing, but it ricocheted off another spear she fired, pelting into his gut. Marble dust and cracks flew everywhere, blood splattering onto the already disgusting floor.

Gabriel roared and flapped his wing in her direction, sending enough wind to rock Althea off her feet. Three feathers shot out and pinned her arms against the wall. The feathers burrowed even deeper into the stone, pinning her further. Gabriel turned to me.

"That...aura of yours...It displeases me. Cease."

His last word carried power, like Torix or Elijah. An icy cold spread through my body and the desire to fall rushed over me. My knees wobbled, and I let out a sharp gasp. A surge of ascendant mana imbued a sense of hunger and rage, pulling me out of my sudden stupor. I stood my ground as the words continued slamming into my mind. They held a weight like iron, their echoes mighty and unbending.

Unfortunately, they met my mind like a wall of steel, my purpose and resolve set. Gabriel raised an eyebrow. 

"How do you still stand? You should falter at my might."

I rolled my eyes before raising my arms in a defensive stance. There wasn't any need to rush this fight anymore. The longer he talked, the more oppression would eat at him. Gabriel turned towards Kessiah. The angel gestured with its umbral wings as it spoke.

"To the lady of power and grace, I would ask of you this - are you here merely to observe?"

Kessiah nodded. Gabriel grinned.

"Good. I'll teach these little heathens some manners then."

He shot toward me, raising a wing like a guillotine. Upon me, he stabbed the wing my way. I dashed forwards and planted a heavy hook straight into his side. My armor met his stone coat like steel bouncing on steel.

Gabriel grinned, "You will need more-"

Charging my runes, I turned on my heels and whipped a hook into his nose. The ground cracked beneath me as the angel took a step back. He rubbed a bit of powdered stone from his face,

"You can hit. I'll give you that much."

I dashed forward and sent a knee straight for his nuts. He grinned before a spear popped out from the center of his chest. Blood leaked from his wound and mouth before my knee slammed into his testicles with great force. He keeled over before I used the rebounding forces from my knee to plant my foot back into the ground.

A tight, compact hook slammed into the side of his head, sending him stumbling off balance. Another harpoon drilled through the bones of a wing, ruining the limb. I charged into him, trying to let Althea deal as much damage as possible. Gabriel fell off balance, face first to the ground. I held him down as well as I could, and he lifted an umbral wing.]

The feathers tightened, becoming a dark blade. They pierced down and into my back, impaling my torso. I gasped, blood pouring from the wound. Gabriel lifted me using only the wing, and he stood upright. A grin pulled over his face and he murmured.

"You will-"

I kicked him across his face before spitting a mouthful of blood over his eyes. I shoved the wing behind me, wrenching myself forward while growling. I gurgled my roar, spewing more blood onto his feet, and the angel fell on the slick, sanguine red. His head clapped on the floor before a spear pierced his other wing.

I stumbled back, trying to gain distance. He pierced another wing at my chest, and I leaned away while deflecting the blurred shape. It tore through my arm, and he pulled me to him before slinging me at a wall. Everything in my vision circled before I slammed into the mortared cinderblocks.

My vision tightened, the wounds having piled up. I took breaths, each one like a labored song. They were clawing desperate attempts at survival. In moments, I lifted my head. Like an inevitable truth, I pushed myself out of the wall. I walked forward, blood dripping off of me. My entire body burned. My limbs screamed for release. My chest heaved for air as I struggled to breathe.

I met his eye, and my armor grinned over my face. Gabriel's smile dimmed to a grimace. He snarled.

"You disgusting-"

Another spear pierced through a wing of Gabriel. The angel roared in frustration before turning to Althea. He pushed himself off the ground and paced towards her while deflecting spear after spear. He gained ground before I charged toward him again.

When I reached him, Gabriel roared,

"Leave me peasant."

With a kick faster than I could react, he slammed a heel into my chest. I flew backward again, a dent left in my armor. I flipped through the air before growing several spikes from my armor. I pierced them into the ground, stopping my tumbling roll. Retracting the spikes, I sprinted to him yet again. When I reached him, he thundered.

"I told you to leave me Worm."

He kicked towards me again, but I gauged the distance. I slowed down just enough so that his foot scraped my armor. The momentum turned me around, and I slung my fist using the inertia he gave me. I slammed my fist into his nose, cracks spreading over it. As he stumbled back, I grabbed one of his broken wings.

I pulled it down, and he howled in pain before another bolt shot through one of his shins. Gabriel turned and slapped the side of my face with a heavy palm. My helm bent. My teeth cracked, a few clattering on the ground like beads from a broken necklace. My jaw snapped, and my cheek split.

And I didn't let go.

Something in Gabriel's gaze changed at the sight of me. I glared up at the monster, my face a mutilation. Even if I couldn't hurt him, I could hold him down and let Althea do the damage she needed to. As if coming back to his senses, Gabriel grabbed my neck and lifted me off the ground. He slammed a fist into my face once, then again and again.

On his fourth strike, a harpoon drilled through the elbow of the arm holding me up. I fell onto the ground with my helmet caved. Fear spread through me as I found pieces of my teeth and skin from my face on the ground. I stood, my hands trembling from terror and adrenaline. I wanted to run, but this wasn't the time to weaken my resolve.

It was when I would show this monster who I was.

I had a tenth of my health remaining, and it gave me enormous physical power from my strength perk. The lower my vitality, the greater my physical ability, so even as blood drained from my limbs, strength surged into them in turn. I wielded that strength, my terror giving me composure and my wounds granting focus.

The angel swiped at me. I tilted to the side, dodging it. I feinted another strike, and he raised an arm to block. I kicked his nuts again. Stone fell. He swiped a wing. I leaped into the air, whipping in a circle from the wind alone. I landed on all fours like some insect, and he tried stomping my head. I turned it aside before charging.

I lifted him up before turning sideways. His wing sliced the air where I had stood. Another spear pierced his broken, shambling wings, and one fell from him, fully severed. Gabriel swung the remaining wing my way before I let him go and rolled aside. I grabbed his decapitated limb and used it as a shield.

He tore his own body apart, before kicking at me again. He landed his strike, and I skidded back. Blood streaked my dragging feet, but I spit to my side and walked to him. The angel roared, a poisonous fear inflicting him.

"Will you just die?"

I murmured, my voice like cold iron.

"No."

He took a step back before another spear hit his foot. He roared before turning to Althea. I ran up and drop kicked a spear deeper into his chest, and he flopped forward, his wings crunching. He stood, much closer to Althea. He stumbled to her, scrambling to close the distance. All the while, she fired his way.

By the time he reached her, Gabriel had become a pin cushion full of bone lances. Gabriel grinned when he reached Althea. The angel murmured.

"Now I've got you."

Althea smiled before her cannon and normal arm reformed into two mauling hands. Gabriel raised an eyebrow. Althea smashed a massive fist into his face, cracking the armor like paper. Her bones broke in response, and she let out a howl of agony. Gabriel tumbled backward, but Althea didn't let him escape.

Using her other hand, she grabbed him and pulled the angel back to her.

Strike after strike, the armor over his skin peeled away like wet tissue paper. Under her onslaught, the invincible marble was nothing. She was a hungry lion, tearing his flesh apart. Blood gushed from all the red underneath his armored skin, and she tore his wings off, snapped his joints, and ripped him limb from limb.

I healed all the while, preparing for his berserker form. Before she could finish him, the blood across the battlefield siphoned his way. As it did, I lunged forward, absorbing the red pool as quickly as I could. The few bits of his armor remaining fell from his skin as the blood spiraled around him. The veins crawled and sank into his body, pushing vitality through him once more.

Each beat of his heart gave him more power. His skinless body shifted and contorted as Althea continued pummeling and cutting at him. After a minute, the angel caught Althea's hand. He broke her wrist as two thin, wiry legs pierced into the ground. Althea's arms shook as Gabriel's new, thin frame overpowered her massive arms.

Gabriel's face grinned until the edges of his smile reached his ears. Blood gushed from his face as his mouth opened, revealing serrated teeth covering his open jaws. He tore into Althea, tearing a chunk from her face. She howled in agony as she stumbled backward. The crimson, berserker form of Gabriel dashed towards her.

He raised his clawed hands to tear her apart. Like two scythes, they tore through her flesh. They ripped one of Althea's arms off before I tackled into his side. He fell, tumbling away from me. Without the marble, he was far lighter than before. Althea stood from the ground, the bloody half of her face contorting into the maw of a monster.

The bloody angel darted back, his strength immense. He reached Althea and pinned her down. He reared his head back and opened his mouth. Althea formed a spike from her collarbone, and it pierced into the angel's upper jaw as he bit down. Gabriel's deformed, skinless face laughed at her before my fist dug into his fleshy side. His body flew backward, slamming into the wall.

By then, I had regenerated most of my health. I grabbed Althea before running back. As I set her down on the other side of the room, I leaned down.

"I think I can take him from here."

She murmured, her voice low and weak.

"He's stronger now."

I turned to the angel.

"But he doesn't have that armor. He's a squishy, fast attacker. It's just the type of foe I can kill."

Gabriel twitched, rage falling from him in the form of blood and dislodged feathers. I turned to him while picking up one of her bone spears. I twirled it in my hand as I walked to the angel, and it laughed. Gabriel looked at me through broken teeth and a mauled upper face.

"What will you do now?"

I glared his way, my body restored.

"I'll endure."

He bolted my way. I reactivated oppression as he lunged a clawed hand toward me. I ducked under it, the claw scraping against my armor. I shot a compact hook into his side. Blood gushed from Gabriel's cheekless mouth as strands of my armor pierced deeply into him. He slapped me aside, and I tumbled back.

Wire strands cut more of his body away, and he howled out in agony. I stood up, mana oozing from me. Gabriel snarled before running to me again. Each stride came with a gush of blood. He sent another wild strike toward me. At the same time, I surged mana into my runes, my body burning through my life force for power.

I cut Gabriel's attack off with a shorter, denser strike. I kept weight behind it, and the blow broke his bones. The berserker lost balance before I dashed forward. I grinned. If anything, the crazy, untamed movements of this Gabriel were easier to deal with than his previous iteration. Most of the physical weight of Gabriel was also in his armored skin, and without that weight, he couldn't push and sling me around with ease anymore.

I could win this.

With the ascendant mana overflowing, I dashed towards the bloody monstrosity once more. It whipped another strike at me, but I parried the wild strike before slamming a blow into its stomach. The maw of the creature widened, the jaw unhinging as it bit towards me. My own armor opened a set of teeth, meeting the creature's bite.

We wrestled upright for a moment before I tossed him onto the ground. He was far stronger than me, but I weighed more than him now. That let me maintain my own positioning in the fight. From my throw, the bloody berserker tumbled on the ground. As it tried standing, I channeled my mana. A tile ripped off the floor at an angle. It caught the berserker's leg, causing him to trip. The monster attempted running once more, but it was too late.

I was upon him.

The fervor and zeal of battle overwhelmed me. Coursing like the blood through my veins, that madness of battle unleashed brutality. Strike after strike, I pulverized and pummeled the creature to mush. He lashed out, tearing through my body in tandem. We traded blows, my deflections, parrying, and timing the only reason I matched him.

As pieces of our bodies began falling and as we lost parts of ourselves in the fight, I continued. I bolstered my efforts. I kept focused, my timing only improving by the second. I even smiled, my eyes wide and predatory. Gabriel took steps back. He hesitated, each of his swings muddied and unfocused. He committed less to each attack, allowing me to match his speed and pace.

As our wounds amassed, his eyes darted away, trying to find an escape. He planned out ways to evade me, and his knees lost their strength as they wobbled from his emotions. When the fight lowered in intensity, each of us stood exhausted. I smiled, and Gabriel trembled.

He lunged forward and bit through my shoulder. At the same time, I ripped his arm out of its socket. He shoved me away, and strands of my armor tore at the flesh holding his shoulder in place. As he lost his right arm, and I lost control of mine as well. Gabriel trembled, his mind flushing in panic.

He heaved for breath, terror robbing his stamina from him. I took deep breaths, holding air in for a moment at the peak of my inhalation. I came closer, and he swung a feral arm my way. I dashed forward and headbutt him. Teeth clattered against the ground before I grabbed his lower jaw in my hand. I pummeled my face into his again, more teeth falling down like bits of hail from a cold sky.

Over and over, I smashed my face into his. He slashed at my gut, his hand scraping me. One slice cut open my guts, leaving my entrails hanging from me. I continued ramming my helmeted head into his, and after several more headbutts, his face gave way before mine. He lost control of his body, his limbs falling limp.

I let him go, blood drenching down my face. I raised my arm and tore his limbs asunder. He twitched as I rived his bones from his legs. I crushed his teeth using my heels. I broke bone. I flayed skin. I ripped through the flesh of this abomination. The sheer tenacity of Gabriel's body worked against him as I tore him apart. His frame wouldn't let him die. That prolonged his torment.

As the dust settled from the brutality, I glanced around. Pieces of my armor lodged halfway into concrete. Enough blood doused this place to make a slaughter house appear tame. The entire room held debris from the crushed furniture and walls, and Kessiah eyed me with a mixture of emotions, not least of them being apprehension.

I peered at my hands, my breaths gargling from my own blood. I kept taking those breaths, each of them a potent reminder of my survival. In front of me was a bloody pile of mush. I walked over to it, one of us dead and the other alive, but no matter Gabriel's character, he had fought with everything on the line.

And so, I nodded at the pile before raising a fist its way.

"It...It was a good fight...So, good luck."

I peered up.

"Wherever you are."