Jacob saw the Charybdis shatter the attack like it was nothing and suddenly understood.

That bastard wasn’t just at the Mantis realm, no… It had already transitioned to the Intermediate stage!

Juliet was doing a great job and could probably handle the rest of the horde herself if the bastards did not run away, but they now had an overpowered Charybdis to kill!

“Back off! Back off!” Jacob shouted.

He had not foreseen that outcome.

What happened next would forever be imprinted on his corneas.

The Charybdis looked at Helena, sensing a threat that could actually deliver some sort of harm to him. But, unfortunately, her attacks had been the only ones to shake the monster a bit, and the Mantis realm Charybdis had not liked it. Oh, the Charybdis had not liked it one bit.

The next instant, instead of charging Jacob, it pounced on Helena, who did not see the biting feint coming and got impaled on the poison stinger.

Frederick’s eyes became bloodshot. For all he tried to keep his calm around her, he was infatuated with Helena.

“YOU BASTARD!” Frederick shouted, and it sounded like a symphony to the Charybdis, once paired with the bloody gurgles of Helena.

“NO! FRED!” Jacob moved, but it was too late.

The Charybdis made a move as if to strike Helena’s head while she was still on its stinger, but the next second it turned and, avoiding Frederick’s Void Spears, it punctured his lung with one of its insectile legs.

But that had been part of Frederick’s plan.

The wounded teenager stabbed himself much deeper, coming close at arm's length with the beast's torso and head.

Frederick advanced slowly on the insectile leg while flesh squelched and blood sprayed on the ground. His breathing had become a mix of rasps and gurgles, with one lung trying to make up for the other.

The Mantis realm Charybdis had been too fast for him to hope he could land an attack on its vital spots without getting this close. And Frederick had known from the first moment that they would all die if he didn’t do something. So he hadn’t thought for a moment to listen to the voices in his head that were begging him to leave, to abandon these losers to die so that he could grow stronger and one day exact his revenge.

No, Frederick’s body had moved on its own, without thinking, without having to ponder. And what it did was against the will of every single cell in its body. Moreover, the body was already slowing down because of the poison the Charybdes naturally secreted; and the Mantis realm Charybdis had even stronger poison than its present kin.

But Frederick had not cared.

He had seen Jacob’s face. He had seen the truth, the resignation to fight a losing battle because it was the right thing to do. And that had been when he had known what he had to do.

There were no victories without sacrifice. There was no war without its martyrs.

Frederick smiled while the Charybdis tried to retract its sharp insectile arm. But, even though he was not at the Mantis realm, his grip was stronger by sheer will because what he was trying to do couldn’t be canceled by simple strength.

“FRED!” he heard Jacob shout but paid no attention to it. Although he liked Jacob, he knew that Jacob was trying hard to make them all stronger; at the same time, he knew that Jacob did not trust him all the way. But, even though Jacob didn’t trust him, he still gave him a power large enough to Frederick to become a huge threat for himself.

All tales have an end, Frederick thought.

Some tales were longer, some were shorter.

Some were to be graced with love, some with hate.

He wished the fight could have lasted a bit more, he laughed. Because it would have made this insane gesture even more grand and glorious than it was going to be. Yeah, that was probably his only regret at the moment, while he put his hand on the pulsating flesh on the neck of the monster that was now thrashing wildly, finding it impossible to dislodge the human from itself.

Had it lasted a bit longer, maybe he could have squeezed a speech in, like in some true heroic tales. Boy, hadn’t he read so many books in his childhood, he might not have made this insane gesture.

Frederick started chanting an obscure incantation he had asked Jacob to spell out for him. Void Spear was the only magic he could use because it was the only one his body could take. But there was something he couldn’t use but that he was willing to use.

Frederick started feeling the Void Magic in his body churn and roar, ready to be unleashed. He thought of all the training his father had brought him to, and all the time, Frederick had been half-asleep because he had been up-all-night reading.

He thought it would be selfish of him to hope, right at this moment, that people would not forget him, that this gesture would make something out of him. Maybe, something greater than skiing, something worth telling a story of; or even to write a book about.

It was funny that that was going to be his last thought.

I hope that someone will write a book about me like the books I used to read. Because it would make this death worthy. One day, another person might become as cool as I was in this moment.

Frederick re-channeled the Forbidden Technique, wreaking havoc in his Meridians, destroying multiple ones on the spot, and then used the Spell Jacob had only described, not taught, to him.

Void Nova