Res whirled around to face the most tattooed man he had ever seen. The hulking man standing in the street was about two-and-a-half meter tall, bald, muscular, and didn’t wear a shirt – The trademark of Akila’s men. Res tried to play it cool. “Who wants to know?”

The man laughed with his booming baritone once again. This time, Res realized that he used a special technique that let the surrounding air vibrate. “No other than sensei himself would answer me like that. It is good to be me. First, I get to kill a revolutionary leader whose name already pisses me off. Then, I get to burn a restaurant that is taking away business from the mistress.”

Res whispered to Serafina. “Take the princess and run. Now.”

Her training kicked in and she threw the protesting princess over her shoulder. She squeezed his hand once and ran away as fast as she could. The man grinned at him and pulled out an enormous two-handed sickle that he had held behind his back. “Thank you for removing pesky eyewitnesses from the scene. I, the death reaper, will carve my name into your flesh. What class are you exactly? C-Tier? Run like the prey you are. In front of you stands a mighty A-class officer of the Akila’s guard and right hand to the commander.”

The sound effects must have been there to make him retreat, to gain an advantage. He had never seen someone fight with a sickle before, so he deduced that it must be uncomfortable. “You aren’t that creative with your naming. Death Reaper? You are a low A-Tier, judging by your pitiful forearms. I could break them in an instant, you … you undersized pimp.”

The man’s forearms were actually enormous wood trunks while his own were comparable to chicken legs. His provocation worked, and the reaper prepared for an attack. “For that, I will gut you like a pig for slaughter.”

“Bro, I am readying the shadow. Just tell me when to release.”

The wind in his area picked up and a small tornado built up around the reaper. As fast as he could, he got out of the immediate vicinity to have his property stay undamaged. The reaper laughed maniacally. “Come, little one.”

The only warning he got was a change in air pressure. He instinctively hardened himself and his back exploded in pain. “Bro, shit. He has some serious air techniques right there. He must have been a sailor at one point because that technique is usually used to cut through a ship’s mast.”

When he felt at his back, his hand came back dyed red. With a sigh, he turned to face Akila’s officer who was by now floating in the middle of a tornado. The reaper seemed surprised that Res hadn’t been cut in half like a piece of bread, but recovered. “You could tank a hit from my death beam. Impressive, but it will not stop me long.”

“Bro, you need to put that guy down fast. He must be here with the permission of the elite guards. In about two minutes, the elite guards will notice that he met some resistance.”

With an enormous push of aether, Res catapulted himself towards the death reaper. The Tornado changed his trajectory to the right, but Res had readied himself and pushed against the pull. Yet, the reaper didn’t seem worried at all. Instead, his hands blurred in the characteristic motions of creating spell-knotwork. Whatever it was, Res knew it wasn’t good, so he pulled on all the aether in the area to fling himself at his opponent. The reaper threw out his hands and roared. “Howling Domain!”

All the aether outside of his body vanished, and he was sucked into the tornado. He frantically tried to gather aether but he could only move aether within his body. Res had to watch as the reaper prepared another of the Death Beam spells. A twist of his torso avoided most damage, but his left shoulder was still cut. His feeling for aether returned, but the reaper had already readied another spell.

“Howling Domain!”

For a fraction of a second, he could pull in aether once again in his hand, but it was torn away. He readied himself and inwardly commanded: “Jason, ready the shadow ring. 3 … 2 … 1 … NOW”

Res accepted the next slash on his right leg which began to pump out blood. Everything around him went black and Res pushed himself at the spot where he had seen the reaper last. His hardened fist connected with something fleshy. The darkness vanished to reveal the reaper in front of him, holding his dislocated jaw. His opponent wanted to say something, but Res didn’t give him the chance. Another boost propelled him into the reaper’s guard, but the reaper was prepared for that. The thug twisted away and Res’s fist only scraping along his ribs.

A perfect block intercepted his follow-up punch, and the reaper produced a black blade out of a sleeve. “Bro, that is an artifact!”

As he had never fought against a knife-wielding opponent, Res retreated several steps. That turned out to be a miscalculation as a whirlwind of slashes assaulted him.

“Bro, are you stupid? You completely gave up your momentum! What did you think he would do?”

Res beat a hasty retreat and fended off the blades as best as he could. Weighed down by time pressure, Res let himself be hit by the blade to get into the death reaper’s guard once again. Yet, he couldn’t move anymore. No matter how much he tried, none of his muscles responded. Instead of attacking, the reaper scurried backwards while summoning the whirlwind again. His heart fell as he saw the reaper’s sneer. With a dislocated jar that was filled with blood and some loose teeth, he slurred out.

“I know all your tricks now. HOWLING DOMAIN!”

The aether once again left his body, and he was lifted off into the air - A helpless target once again. The reaper would be braced for the globe of darkness this time, and Res would once again be used for target practice.

“Bro, don’t give up. Fight to your end! Where is the motivational music? It should fade in right about now? Bro, fight!”

The question: ‘Who are you?’ from the entity resounded in his mind. Was he someone who would give up? He grasped at aether for a second, tried to push himself towards the thug and screamed out:

“That’s who I am!”

Another slash hit his neck and blood covered his face from many other injuries. Reaching for aether felt like trying to climb up a wall made of slippery glass. Occasional tantalizing flashes of aether would be visible between castings of Howling Domain. Was there a secret aether combination he had to find that enabled him to draft? Another slash at his abdomen carved out a thin piece of human flesh. When he felt for aether around him to find solutions out of this mess, enormous amounts of aether in his own brain blinded him.

“In my … Jason, I am sorry.”

“Bro, why are you …”

Jason’s words were cut off as he pulled on a part of his new brain that looked kind of unimportant. Immediately, everything turned black for Res. Unseen and unfelt by Res, his body shot forward and his enforced neck bent back dangerously. Punching through the sound barrier, Res shot through the form of the reaper. The reaper could only react by widening his pupils as his entire bottom torso turned into red mush. The shock of the impact resounded through the entire city like lightning. In all the surrounding districts, people were stopping what they were doing. Housewives, fruit sellers, merchants, and nobles alike looked in the direction of the impact site.

The only sound that disturbed the deathly silence was the anguished cry of a young woman and the sound of slippers on cobblestone.