Edited by: KenChi死

The weather was peaceful. The earth was dry. Why does it matter that the earth was dry? I have completely no idea! I just saw a few times (in movies) cowboys checking the earth between their thumb and index finger saying the line “The ground is dry, perfect.”

A pixie was flying in front of me and the Headless horsemen with a flag in each of her hands.

“LAAADIES AND GENTLEMEN!” oh yes. Somehow when I accepted the challenge roadsides were crowded by masses of creatures “Monsters, freaks and weirdos! We have gathered here to witness the spectacular failure of our guest – Alice! No one of us really hopes that he would win, we can barely make bets how injured he would cross the finish line, if he would do so in the first place! Yet please, reward him with applause, for he will be our source of entertainment for the next 30 minutes! He is not in the least bit scared to be mashed into a pulp! Or to have his eyes gouged out and his elbows broken! To have his kneecaps split and his body burned away! And his limbs all hacked and mangled! His head smashed in and his heart cut out, his liver removed, and his bowels unplugged, his nostrils raped, his bottom burned off, and his penis…” “… That’s enough I think…” “Tsh, whatever. Okay! Please finish making bets. I just humbly wish to remind that chances of Alice being the winner are 1:20.Aaaaaand it’s finished! Now, to our main event! Headless! Are you ready!?” his horse raised on it’s rears legs, at the same time he unsheathed his sword circling it over his hea… over the place where his head was supposed to be “Well, I’ll take that as a yes… Are you ready Alice?”

I simply nodded. Kaito below me scratched the ground under him and growled lowly.

“Are you really sure, that you are ready to humiliate yourself? To have your pride mixed with dirt and mud? To be completely…” “Are you done?” “Tsh… Okay! Reeeeady? Steeaaady? Go!”

The difference in skill and mount could be seen right from the start. Kaito was great in chasing preys in places like forests, with many obstacles, on soft dirt, over a relatively small distances.

Here the ground was hard. Pretty much straight. Perfect for a horse with horseshoes. Another thing I didn’t notice, and it cost me dear. He started left from me. He was right handed. So was I. In the end he was holding the sword in his strongest hand while having the smallest distance to me. Fuck.

I needed to duck. If I was a second late. The number of headless horsemen in this race would double.

“For fucks sake! Kaito! You are a fucking wolf! You are twice as muscular as his fucking mare! May you help a little?!”

The beast growled and used its whole body weight to ram into the armored horse making it lose its footing. I was about to drop some spells on him, but we reached a crossroad. Because of the impact the horseman was forced to take the left road, going slightly down, while I started climbing up.

Looks like my rival is heading down the shorter path. Great.

Riding on the back of Kaito is not exactly comfortable. I was lacking suitable equipment, like a saddle, stirrups and reins. I was holding myself onto his back only thanks to the strength of my legs that were holding Kaito’s body, and one of my hand holding his fur.

Pretty quickly I found an opportunity to repay the horseman for his harassment. On the side of my path there was small pile of rocks. As I was passing by it, I pushed it with shock wave forcing a small rock avalanche to fall over him.

His horse whinnied annoying dancing between rocks. Jump to the left, jump to the right, jumping over another rock just to duck under one flying high. Just when I was sure that one pretty large shard would hit him, he sliced it in two with his sword. You must be fucking kidding me. It’s cheating!

“Ssssmart Alice! Yet completely useless, just like him!” I heard the butterfly roaring through some kind of megaphone “Unfortunately for you, the horseman as high level phantom is wielding a cursed blade that can tear the minds of its victim, a clod of rocks is as effective as a paper sword.”

Great. Sweat. Fuck.

“Kaito, you are running to close to the edge of the cliff, one wrong step and we wil… THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING?! DON’T EVEN THINK ABO…”

Too late. Kaito decided that it would be a great idea to shorten the path we were heading down. By jumping off the cliff. No, not exactly jumping down 20 or so meters; with a few dozen small leaps he slid to the lower path. In the process I felt my teeth hitting each another a few dozens of time and my whole body jumped a couple of times, making me almost fall off his back. But now I was first, the rider was behind me, and the path was too narrow for him to overtake me. He shouldn’t be able to reach me with his sword. I have a few hundred meters of comparatively peaceful rush.

“APPEARANTLY ALICE’S MOUNT IS SMARTER THAN HIM! GOOD JOB ALICE’S MOUNT!”

Fuck you too, bitch.

Now, that spell I haven’t use for past few months…

“Spirits of desires… hear my call,

My anger is burning and soul squalls,

As the phoenix of grief, I will mark my path,

To turn the world into ash, and hateful wrath.”

Flame path. The land on which Kaito stepped started burning leaving scorched earth behind.

“AAAAAND YET ANOTHER TIME WE CAN SEE LACK OF ALICE’S KNOWLEDGE! EVERYONE HERE KNOWS, THAT HEADY’S… OY HEADLESS HORSMAN IS TO LONG TO SAY, YOU DON’T MIND ME CALLIN’ YOU HEADY? EVERYONE KNOWS, THAT HEADY’S HORSE WAS A GIFT FROM THE GODDESS OF WAR! MADE OF MADNESS, FIRE, BLOOD AND SOME MORE MADNESS!”

As if wanting to prove the pixie right, the horse breathed fire from her nostrils, stepping over the fire like it wasn’t there.

IS THAT SOME KIND OF FUCKING JOKE?! Chaos no! Fire no! What kind of competition is this?!

The path got wider as we were getting closer to the sharp turn. I kept to the left side to have as small of a path to travel as possible. Of course as soon as there was a place to overtake me, the horseman overtook me.

But now I have a sword in my dominating hand, so prepare for some bullyi… why are you holding your weapon with your left hand?

I swung the sword from over my head, the strike was parried. I used the impact to redirect and hit from the side. I wasn’t exactly skilled in fighting with sword. I could barely fight on the ground, while using footing to aid my blows.

Here, on the back of Kaito, each strike I made was resonating in me, shaking my to my very core. Why the hell is he so fluent with using sword a both his hands?! It’s ridiculous!

“UNOFORTUANTELY! BEFORE HEADY BECAME A PHANOTM AND START TERRORIZING VILLIAGES, HE WAS A MERCANERY AND HE USED TO TEERORIZE BATTLEFIELDS! BACK IN HIS TIME THERE WAS NO BETTER USER OF THE SWORD! OF COURSE IT MEANS THAT AFTER REACHING PERFECTION WITH USING A SWORD WITH HIS RIGH HAND HE MASTER HIS LEFT HAND RIGHT AWAY! HA! I WONDER HOW LONG DOES IT TAKES FOR SOMEONE TO NOTICE THAT I ACTUALLY AM LEAVING TIPS FOR ALICE!? BUT WHO CARES!?”

What the hell!? With who am I racing?

The finish line became visible at the end of the path.

“Sorry kid.” The phantom said to me. Word “said” may be misleading. I felt his intention as a resonating voice in my head. “You were not prepared. You have this flame burning inside you. Make it glow as bright as possible, without making it burn you down... Or you will end up like me. If you would get any better… I would love you to challenge me in the future… but for now…”

He started throwing a cascade of swings and thrusts, forcing me to the side.

His blade pierced my arm making me bleed slightly. The damage itself wasn’t serious, but the blade did something more to me.

Howlers MarkYou were hit by the Cursed blade [Death's Stinger]You were struck by [Fear]

[Fear] status changed into [Panic]

[Panic] status changed into [Terror]Life drain effect was casted upon you [You will lost 10hp per minute]Damage you deal will be reduced by 10%

Damage you take will be increased by 10%

Stack x1 [max5]Remaining time 0h9m58s

[Terror]You have experienced an incredibly traumatic eventYour mental attributes will be reduced by 30%

The probability of taking irrational decision are increased by 50%You can overcome this effect by having [Charisma] of 50 or more

You can overcome this effect if you are being lead by a commander having [Charisma] 50 or more

My heart skipped a beat. And another. And another, in very next moment I felt the exact same heart in throat.

I know that its but the effect casted on me his by his sword… but I simply couldn’t stop shaking. I had cold sweat all over my body. As the horseman bolted to finish the line I tried to do everything to stop Kaito from moving.

Jesus fucking Christ! Kaito! Let him go! If he wants to ride forth. Let’s turn back and go in the exactl opposite direction! CAN’T YOU FUCKING SEE WHAT I SEE?! His cloak is moving like death itself! Can’t you hear the screams of every soul he killed around him? Can’t you see those battered faces?!

Why do you keep running?! I swear to the gods, if you won’t stop chasing him I will jump off you!

“FOM FUCK SAKE! ALICE! DON’T BE EVEN MORE MISERABLE THAN YOU ALREADY ARE! GETTING PIERCED ONE TIME IS ALL IT TAKES TO BRING YOU DOWN?! WHAT DO YOU WANT TO ACHIEVE WITH AN ATTITUDE LIKE THAT!?”

FUCKING EASY TO SAY! To achieve something you need to be alive first! And this guy is worse than death! He is a master in the use of all kinds of weapon! He knows this place better than the gods! He is riding on some kind of devilish horse! Wields cursed blade! Has proper equipment! How to fight him!? I have nothing!

“AND YOU WILL FUCKING DIE HAVING NOTHING, YOU WHINY BITCH! JUST FIGHT! HE IS SCARY! GOOD! SCARED PEOPLE CAN DO THINGS THAT THEY WOULD NEVER BE ABLE TO DO NORMALLY! RUN FASTER THAN POSSIBLE! FIGHT STRONGER THAN POSSIBLE! IF YOU WON’T WIN THIS FUCKING MATCH YOU ARE AS GOOD AS DEAD! JUST GO YOU FUCKING MORON! GO OR TURN AROUND AND GET OUT OF THIS DIMENSION, FOR THIS WHOLE PLACE WAS MADE WITH THE IDEA OF FRIGTENING YOU!”

… FUCK! FUUUUCK!

His cloak waved like the wings of a raven.

Raven.

I spent almost my whole life with a raven. He was always with me. He was my eyes. My talons. My friend and mentor.

I definitely am NOT going to lose against a raven.

Your [Terror] status effect changed into [Panic]

Your [Panic] status effect changed into [Fear]

Your [Fear] status effect changed into [Anger]

Your [Anger] status effect changed into [BloodLust]

… playing dirty… are we? I wouldn’t mind if you would kick me off Kaito’s back. I wouldn’t mind if you would cut my hand off. BUT MAKING ME WISH TO RETREAT I SOMTHING THAT I WON’T LET GO.

If you would honor your opponent you would allow him to fail with pride…

“Spirit of ancestors… that sleeps so deep

Wake from your slumber, as your children weep,

The nature that twist within the ground,

Will leave me enemies bleeding and wound.”

The tentacles of plants that erupted from the earth caught the horseman by his arm and pulled him back, making him fall from his mount.

“HEADY GOT DISQUALIFIED! YET ALICE STILL NEEDS TO CROSS THE LINE!”

The horseman raised from the ground. His horse awaited for him two meters or so further.

He moved his sword a few times and prepared to knock me down.

“Well done kid, but I am not going to let you win like that…”

He took a stance, holding the sword with both hands level with his shoulders, preparing himself to strike.

I stopped using my legs to hold Kaito. I jumped on his back instead. As the Horseman swung his blade cutting off Kaito’s legs making him fall, I jumped.

I landed with one leg on the horseman’s shoulder and kicked him once again jumping another time. This time I landed on his hose’s back, took a few more steps accelerating and jumping final time.

I flew for a few seconds and I landed exactly on the finishing mark. Half of my foot was behind it.

Everyone became silent

“Now… how do we count it?” someone was curious. “He didn’t cross the line on a mount…” “It’s not a regulation… he was told to cross the line – that’s one requirement… and he was told to not touch the ground before he would finish the race… the question is… did he cross the line? He is EXACTLY on the line.”

Kaito vanished is flash on purple smoke

Your familiar [Kaito] was forcefully unsummonedTime before resummoning: 11h59m55s

“The problem is, that there may be some of us, that would count it as win, and some that would treat this as failure. And none of us would be wrong…”

At the same time, A horseman start marching my way. With a few movements he hid the in his sheath.

“For willpower that allowed you fight back your fear.” “For creativity in fighting.” “For perseverance on your way to achieve your goal.” “For making your fire glow without burning youself down…”

He took my hand and raised it in the air

“I proclaim you the winner.”

After a few more seconds of silence, the crowd started clapping and whistling.

“Remember kid, anger is a powerful tool, but it may leave you crippled. I hope we will meet in the future. I will lurk in the shadows…”

He jumped on his horse, moved in a circle and start galloping faster and faster. As he was about to hit the end of the cliff, but vanished in an eruption of fire.

The crowd disappeared quickly. I looked at the event clock

Halloween Spooky Party!Remaining time: 19h11m37s

“Aaaaaaliiiiiceeeee!!!” The butterfly lady flew to me “Nice ride, you made an idiot out of yourself only 37 times. I lost my bet because of you! I bet, that you would make an idiot out of yourself over 50 times!”She ginned “What did you say at the beginning of the race? That I will miserably fall?” “Fret not Alice! Tis’ but the beginning of our parade! We have many more attractions prepared!... now time is money!... or actually should I say “time is candies”? Could be pretty cool, huh? KAY keep moving that squeezable ass of yours! Forward, forward!”

I was forced into yet another direction. Looks like I am not going to be bored.