Chapter 21: At the edge (1)

The appearance of Hex on the path left everyone stunned. Even the Disaster turned towards him.

Its eyes gleamed strangely. But before it could move, the Knights resumed their assault on it.

They didn't know a Squire survived a Disaster stage attack, but they were happy to see him, especially Hestia.

"Run away you moron!" She couldn't help but shout, hoping that Hex would get away. She hated her inability to protect her team. But even a Knight like her could barely survive when being attacked by a Disaster.

Despite being on the verge of going berserk, Hex could hear her. His mind was telling him to follow her advice. To get out of here. It was the better option. But his heart was unwilling.

'I became a Blessed so I can live on my terms.'

'I will run away if I want to.'

'I will fight if I want to.'

His chest hurt like hell. There was too much energy inside his body. If he didn't channel it quickly, it would burn his insides.

Screech!

He saw the creature get on all four, shrieking loudly. There was no doubt what its intent was. The surviving demonic Heartless all turned and stormed toward Hex.

They were fast. Within a few breaths they reached Hex. The creature at the forefront leaped into the air, swinging its club at Hex.

Swish!

The sword cut through the demonic creature like a hot knife through goat cheese. Seeing the creature die instantly lightened the pain in his heart.

"Bahaha." Hex laughed maniacally. "Let's be all Heartless!"

Cut.

Slash.

Bang.

Hex seemed to be in a frenzy. With each swing he killed a creature. His laughter echoed through the mountains.

Hestia helped the other Knights contain the Disaster. She doubted their ability to kill it, but if they continued to survive, there might be a chance to survive.

She could hear Hex's crazy laughter. It made her worry about his mental state. 'Whatever, if he is laughing he is safe. I will worry about his head later.'

The swarm of creatures didn't seem to end. The Disaster's shriek seemed to have summoned all nearby Heartless. But Hex didn't mind.

He hadn't lost his mind. Shouting and laughing helped him ease the pain in his heart. Killing the creatures was just an added bonus.

'They were maybe not my friends, but they could be."

Slash!

"It felt nice being with them."

Slash!

After some time he started to feel his arms getting sore. Even then, he was unwilling to give up.

"I need to control my strength even more."

Red light streaked around his hand. The glyph remained active. It increased his strength and helped to relieve the energy bursting inside his veins.

The path into the mountain was wide and long, with chasms on both sides.

The battle raged on two fronts. The Knights were barely able to constrain the Disaster. Neither were able to kill the other. For now.

Hex's focus remained on his strength control. He had enough energy to keep the glyph active. He cut another of the creatures. Not all died instantly, but as long as they were incapacitated, it was enough.

He turned to kill another one, when he noticed one of the creatures had let go of his cub. It just took off and jumped at him.

'Sacrificing yourself to kill me?'

The Heartless was quick, but Hex had spent a lot of time in these mountains. Using the terrain to his advantage had become an intuition at this point.

He bent his body backwards and used his sword to parry its talons. With a kick in its stomach, he sended the Heartless flying over the edge.

Its suicidal jump inspired Hex. Not to jump, no. But he could use the chasms.

'Energy preservation is not only about using adjusted strength. If I can push these creatures in the chasm, I will have saved some energy.'

While training the bearhanded sword Hex had read the instructions many times. He could recite them by heart. But he hadn't grasped everything.

The Knight kept saying not attacking is better than attacking, but Hex had assumed it to be the author's joke. But now he understood.

His entire body was still hurting, but Hex started to get attuned to his energy flow. He felt how it flowed through his body into the sword.

Clang!

He parried the club of another Heartless, stepping behind it nimbly. He used the back of the hilt to hit the Heartless form behind, tumbling it into the darkness.

At the same time he was already fighting another Heartless.

Clang!

The creature was not dumb. It had seen its brethren being pushed into the darkness. It realized Hex's ploy and raised its cub to parry the incoming sword.

But right before his sword would clash against the cub, Hex threw himself forward. He speared the creature back. It shrieked, but it was too late. It stumbled and grapled around.

Puchi!

There was no way Hex would let it recover its footing. Hex pushed the sword in its neck. Black liquid oozed.

Hex kicked the struggling Heartless, pushing him into the chasm. It disappeared into the darkness.

His new method increased the speed with which he was clearing the creatures from the path. His goal was to reach the Knights.

'If I go all out, I might give Duter one second to kill the creature. And if he fails, we will die anyway.'

'Just hold on.'

The pain he felt helped him remain sober. He wished to unleash everything inside him. But only when the time was right.

While killing he would throw a gaze at the creature fighting the Knights.

'Soon.'

'One hit…for them…even if I die!'

…

Elron and his hooded partner stood inside a cave.

The cave was wide and high. But it lacked depth. At the side of the cave was a bed made of dried twigs and leaves, with the dried skin of a hairy beast on top.

The ground was dirty with bones spread over the floor. The walls were dyed with splatters of blood.

It smelled foul.

But Elron's purpose in coming here was the dark altar in the middle of the cave.

Elron approached the black altar. It was made of four skeletons each standing across each other. All eight hands supported a small basin.

The basin was made of bones and hides. It was about half a meter in width and a meter in length. The basin was filled with a thick, vicious dark red liquid. The body of an infant with black skin lay submerged within the liquid.

The two men looked at the infant with reverence in their eyes.

"The unborn deity."