Chapter 56:

Riley’s sword danced nimbly in the air, parrying each and every arrow shot his way, making sure that none landed on his daughter. Finally, as one of his men brought her to safety he rushed ahead, eyes cold and uninterested.

Yet soon those listless eyes grew slightly wide as up ahead the masked man began to retreat; and while that did not surprise him, the speed at which he moved did.

‘Almost as fast as I!’ Riley remarked in wonder before picking up speed.

Along the way he noticed that the arrows began to lessen in quantity and, hoping to take advantage of that, he sent out an aura slash which ripped its way toward the masked man intending to sever him in two. Unfortunately, that would not be, for the target was skilled indeed; just as the blade of aura threatened to touch his robes, the masked man dodged slightly to the side with minimal movement mid retreat.

Riley wanted to applaud the skill on display yet he was too busy readying his blade for another attack, unfortunately just as it was about to come to fruition he was forced to abandon it in favor of parrying the incoming barrage of throwing knives. Metallic clashing sounds rang out as the previous scene repeated itself with the masked man throwing out a frankly absurd amount of attacks while Riley calmly parried each one all while closing in on his target. The knives fell uselessly to the ground, some even flying a distance away from the force of Riley’s blows.

It was then that his eyes squinted. He studied the falling blades and realized that they were a bit odd.

“Spider silk?” He asked himself as he studied what seemed to be threads that were attached to some of the knives.

Suddenly he stopped running and his face hardened.

Coincidentally, the masked man also stopped running and, in a grandiose manner, he brought his arms together forcefully. Shimmering under the harsh glare of the sun, countless threads could be seen converging upon his arms.

Riley riled up his aura and focused it around himself, forming a rough barrier. A second later, dozens of blades varying in both size and shape besieged him. They were the blades he blasted away earlier, it seemed the masked man had planned for that all along.

He clicked his tongue in annoyance. His opponent was skilled indeed but far too weak. With a bestial roar, he exploded his aura outward, knocking every blade far away.

The masked man’s eyes widened in shock and his stance broken as he was forced to spread his arms wide lest he be torn apart from his own threads.

Riley snorted as he lowered his own stance, like a predator seconds before it pounced, his entire body stilled and his eyes dilated, taking in every bit of detail concerning his prey.

Seeing the masked man’s genuinely confused appearance, he smirked before erupting forwards with frightening speed.

Within seconds, he arrived before the mask and he viciously brought his sword down on the latter’s head.

The blade cut through the masked man’s head, severing it in two; or at least that was what Riley thought would happen. Instead, the masked man merely disappeared from his locations a fraction of a second before imminent demise. Riley’s eyes widened in shock for he knew that based on the man’s earlier retreat, he did not have the speed necessary to accomplish such a feat.

It was then that he remembered the threads and looking around, he found a particularly taut one; on one end it was connected to a blade that was deeply plunged into the ground while on the other he saw the masked man.

The mysterious man gave Riley a wink mid-air before tugging hard at another thread.

Riley turned to the side where he saw the tugged thread and he moved to cut it, but before he could he was met with a shoe to the face. Angered, he swung his sword wildly but by then the man was gone.

Using a combination of planted daggers, steel-like thread, and impressive physical strength, it was as if he were flying; the masked man moved through the air with unusual grace.

Riley was finally moved. The masked warrior was worthy of respect, he even shuddered to think what he would be like if he had the power of Aura to boot.

Purely through skill, this masked man was able to recreate Vanessa’s previous performance.

“Who are you, exactly?” Which was why he attempted to reason with the man. Riley knew that such talents were uncommon thus he had the urge to take him under his wing. From his frame and eyes, Riley knew that the man was still rather young. If nurtured properly, Riley couldn’t even begin to guess the peaks he’d reach.

Unfortunately, the masked man did not seem like the chatty type. His figure flickered in and out of the surrounding area as he frantically moved about, perhaps hoping to confuse Riley. Every now and then, he’d toss out more knives or even load and shoot arrows.

Riley’s impression of the man grew more favorable; he could tell that every blade and arrow did not go to waste. Not only was their timing perfect, their aim precise, and their intentions properly masked, but they also had multiple purposes. Some were tied to threads, increasing the man’s movement range, others were larger, drawing more attention, and some were even coated in poison.

Riley sighed. It was a shame but it seemed like the man was not interested in hearing him out. “Well, whatever. Youths are inherently hot-blooded,” He said before smiling, his eyes staring into the distance as he recalled days long since passed. Days were he, much like this young man before him, had the audacity necessary to stare death in the face and laugh at it.

“A shame really,” Suddenly Riley’s bearing grew violent and his aura began taking the shape of fire. With a roar, he sent out an explosion of aura that not only burned but also severed. The countless threads surrounding the battlefield failed to resist the onslaught and they were cut apart mercilessly.

…………………………………………

Pillars of fire erupted from the earth, completely surrounding Rine but before he had the chance to do anything the pillars suddenly began converging toward him. Soon, he was held tightly in place by massive pillars of flames each six palm widths in girth.

However, that was not all, as a distance away, the well-dressed man was surrounded with pillars as well, only rather than contain him, they seemed to serve him. With a flick of his hand, the pillars bent in shape, and from rods, they turned to ropes. These ropes then coiled around the pillars surrounding Rine, thoroughly encasing him in fire.

Within the span of a few breaths, the sea of fire surrounding Rine was replaced with a cage.

Rine gasped for breath as the immense heat radiating from his prison’s bars set his body ablaze. It felt as if his blood was boiling.

“And with that, the little birdy is caught,” The well-dressed man said as he laughed condescendingly at Rine’s writhing appearance.

By his side, a figure appeared which turned out to be the masked woman. Her cold eyes remained trained on Rine as she sheathed her slender blade. Having done that, she turned toward the well-dressed man.

Meeting her gaze he sighed in an exasperated manner. “Don’t worry he won’t die,” He said as he lazily stretched.

“...” The masked woman remained silent.

“Yes, I know, I know. The high-commander wants him alive. As I said, he won’t die. I got this.”

“...”

“That time was an accident, I got carried away,”

“...”

“Now look here, I’m still older than you so don’t go using that tone with m-”

Suddenly he stopped talking and his shocked eyes headed toward Rine.

“N-no way.”

…………………………………………

Rine woke up screaming, sweat covering every inch of his body.

He shivered as he recalled the dream he had just had. Though fuzzy he could still recall many things. Chief among them being the disgusting sensation of a man's head squirming under his foot as he struggled to breathe, to live.

No longer able to hold back, he threw up, and soon vomit covered the ground he sat on.

Minutes later he stood up, the night’s breeze sending shivers down his spine. He looked up toward the sky. It was a moonless night.

Shifting his focus to his surroundings, he saw the familiar sight of his village. It warmed his heart but it was eerie nonetheless. Finally, he figured out why. There were no people.

Going inside one of the houses he saw that everything was as he last saw it but he still could find no trace of the house’s owner. After a while, he confirmed that there was truly no one else around his vicinity. Fear gripping his heart, he reluctantly trudged his way toward a certain direction.

He did not want to.

“But I have to,” He whispered.

Walking through the familiar roads, he arrived before an even more familiar building.

“Grandpa…” He muttered as tears gathered in his eyes.

Slowly opening the door, he confirmed his suspicions. No one was here either.

Breaking down, he kneeled on the ground and began weeping. Faces of the people he ruthlessly burned to death kept appearing in his mind, their screams ringing in his ears.

“That was a dream, a dream!” He screamed to himself. “I didn’t kill them, I swear I didn’t. I’m innocent…” Suddenly he stopped talking as a familiar face appeared in his mind. His first victim.

Her expressionless face was as icy as ever, but Rine could see it. The barest hint of emotions in her eyes. Rage, despair, regret.

Shuffling sounds came from his room, waking him up from his reverie.

In a daze, he headed toward his old room.

Stopping at the door, his hand hovered over the knob with hesitation.

For some reason, he had the distinct impression that whatever was in there would change him. Change him on such a fundamental basis so as to almost disfigure him.

Eventually, he opened the door, but instead of his old room, he was met with a large and spacious field. The grass was grey and rotting, the wind biting, and the air rancid with a putrid stillness reminiscent of a stagnant puddle of filth.

But he knew he had to do it. Just like he knew he had to open his door.

He moved through the lifeless field for an untold amount of time before stopping before a large cage. The dark iron looked sturdy and cold.

Within the cage, a relatively thin figure could be seen.

Rine wanted to look away, but his eyes remained transfixed nonetheless.

The black-haired figure looked up suddenly and Rine was shocked to see that he had a face similar to his own. No, not similar. Identical.

(Finally. We meet.)

“W-who are you?”

(Again you ask, how pointless.)

“You’re not me!” Rine rammed his fist against the cage. It barely moved.

(Whatever.) The figure said as he mimicked Rine’s actions. Only instead of reacting as it had to Rine, the cage shook violently before bursting to pieces.

(I don’t really care what you think.) The dark-haired Rine said as he dusted off his sleeve. (It’s my turn anyway.)

“What do you mea-'' But before Rine could continue, he was shocked to discover that he was now the one in a cage. The same Iron bars kept him securely in place.

(Now,) The figure said as he cracked his knuckles. (It’s time to end this. Like I’ve done every time before.)

Suddenly Rine’s mind was split into two and searing pain caused him to convulse. Memories flooded into his mind and he suddenly realized that everything he experienced was real. He really did kill all those people….

“No. No, it wasn’t me! It was you!” He said as he pointed at the dark-haired Rine.

(You done talking?) Dark-haired Rine asked before lifting up a sphere.

The sphere was crystalline in appearance and within it, a tiny spark gave out a faint light.

“W-hat’s that?”

(It’s our core.)

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