Chapter 40: Shattered
The figure, coated by the red mist walked out of the church with a strange, deranged smile on his face.
The figure looked at Talon, his gaze was cryptic as Talon couldn't figure out the meaning behind them.
"He is too lenient on you."
Said the figure, his smile absent as he addressed Talon, but it returned soon after as he looked at the hunter, Adam Grayson, who stared right back with a weary expression.
It wasn't only his gaze that showed how tired he was, his fractured body shoved it enough, the hunter that every single gifted feared and faced only in their worst nightmare was on his last leg.
Without looking away from the figure, Grayson left Talon's side and walked straight towards the figure with his claws still reaching the ground but their glow weakened.
The two stood less than two meters apart, locked in a tense stare-down, each circling the other.
Grayson wore his usual monotone expression, only his eyes and body showing the real exhaustion that hid behind the shell falling apart, named: Adam Grayson.
Meanwhile, the shrouded figure bore a maniacal grin on his face.
The first one to make his move was Grayson, not knowing exactly why, but the figure before him made him want to go all out from the beginning, holding nothing back.
The first piece of gear that activated on him was his boots, giving inhuman him speed.
The second piece of gear was his belt which gave him the strength of a giant.
And just before he reached the figure, the cracks on his skin expanded once more, reaching his cheeks which made him groan in pain, this time, it was audible to even Talon.
The size of his claws did not increase but the glow around them gained back their glow, now, even stronger than before.
As the claws were moments away from reaching him, the figure pulled his short swords to block the claws with speed barely visible to Talon's eyes who was spectating the fight from the ground in pain.
As the swords met the claws head-on, sparks flew into the air from the impact.
Block after block, the figure showed no sign of having trouble against Grayson, every single block executed masterfully with minimal movement required from the shrouded figure.
Even then, this did not mean that Grayson was an opponent to be trifled with, his attacks only served to gouge the skill of his opponent, a sudden fear hit him, making him jumping far away from the shrouded man.
The figure did not make Grayson wait for long before revealing his true expertise.
His movements turned strange, while the grip around the short swords only tightened and his leg muscles tensed as he jumped straight to Grayson.
The ground inside the strange dark hill cracked from the impact of the jump.
Then, the figure appeared before Grayson, this time, he was on the offensive, every swing and stab coming from him had a strange sense of madness behind them.
It was particular, too strange to be called anything else but a specialized weapon art.
The two distanced themselves from each other with a jump, this time, as if in a silent agreement, both of them began to fight with their weapon arts.
Grayson's fighting style was a final act of mercy, swiftly going for vital points to minimize pain with a finishing strike. In contrast, the figure's movements were something else entirely.
His swordsmanship exuded madness, malice, and an eerie sense of despair. It resembled a twisted dance, unpredictable and aimed at inflicting maximum pain while minimizing damage.
It was a sadistic dance of a deranged lunatic.
Feeling the despair of the strange weapon art, Grayson jumped backward and began to unleash ranged attacks with his claws.
Sending out barely visible blades into the air, those white and black blades shimmered with ominous intent.
One gleamed with radiant light, threatening to incinerate everything it touched, while the other was as dark as the abyss, black lightning dancing around its edge.
And just before it could reach him, the figure began to move strangely, sprinting towards the blades, he stabbed one of his swords into the ground, almost using it as a pole to change direction at the last moment.
Then, the figure stabbed his blades in Grayson's direction who blocks the swords with his pristine white claw, sparks flying everywhere.
In an act of counter-attacking, his black claw was dragged across the ground, sending ranged blades from close quarters.
This time, the figure could not dodge Grayson's attack, suffering damage from him for the first time.
Even amidst the red mist that surrounded the figure, it seemed like he was bleeding, and what shocked Talon the most who was still looking at the battle from the sidelines was the figure's reaction.
He was grinning like a madman.
It was his abdomen that seemed to be cut by the black blades. The figure held his sword in his hand and used his blade to wipe up the blood gushing from the wound.
Doing this with a sharp object such as his sword only seemed to make his wound worse while the grin on his face only widened at the same time.
And at a sudden moment, the figure appeared before the tired hunter, his speed only seemed to become faster since the start of the battle.
He began to swing his swords wildly at Grayson, and this time, the hunter could do nothing as his opponent was too fast, too aggressive, too unpredictable.
Without caring anymore, Grayson evaded for the last time before stabbing both of his claws into the ground, his long claws burrowing deeply into the dark hill's soil.
Black lightning began to shower from the sky as a blinding white light traveled through the ground, surrounding both of them. Then, an explosion of burning light erupted, sending the figure flying away.
As the figure slowly gets up from the ground, his silhouette inside the fog begins to flutter before stabilizing again.
Without uttering a word, his maniac grin only grew once more as he threw away one of his swords and raised the other one into the air.
Grayson rose from the ground, the cracks now reaching his eyes. As he closed them, his eyelids were already cracked.
As he stared at the figure before him, he almost seemed to give up for a while, before raising his claws in defiance.
The figure held out his sword and raised his left arm into the air too.
Shocking both Talon and Grayson, the figure cut his own wrist with the sword, deeply.
Blood flowed from the wound like water from a jug.
His blood only seemed to feed the soil inside the dark hill.
And before either Talon or Grayson could react, the ground began to come alive.
A tree began to grow before their eyes, the blood from the figure's wrist taking form and rising into the sky. It coalesced into the shape of a dead tree trunk, and from it, branches of blood began to sprout.
Just by looking at it, Talon had the sudden urge to puke just at the sight of the blood tree.
And as the more he gazed at it, new feelings began to take root in him as he stared at the tree, the first feeling was one of anger.
A wave of anger that he just wanted to unleash, to direct at something, anything.
But for Grayson, he felt nothing upon beholding the terrible mockery of nature. He only felt exhaustion, a sensation that had plagued him for decades now.
This time, he did nothing but stare at the figure walking toward him with only one sword in his hand. For the first time, the smile on his face wasn't twisted; it was soothing to just gaze upon.
As the figure reached Grayson, he pulled the hunter into a tight hug.
Grayson did nothing just stood there, his expression was unchanging.
And with a change of grip on the sword, he stabbed Grayson in the back, the blade piercing his heart.
Instead of blood, the only thing that left the body of Grayson was ash.
"You don't even bleed, Captain?" This was the first time that the figure said a word to Grayson, just like his expression, his tone remained soothing.
"Blood?" Asked Grayson, his emotionless expression began to break down just like the rest of his body.
"I have nothing more to give..." Adam Grayson's voice echoed, his body falling apart. The first of his body parts to break down were his arms. Instead of blood, only ash poured from his wounds.
The figure continued to embrace the hunter, the hold growing tighter. With weakened breath, the figure murmured something to the captain, a message intended only for his ears, not for Talon's.
And for the first time, Adam Grayson had a weak smile on his face, just before it crumbled to dust with the rest of his body.
Talon who only looked at the back of the hunter before, was now eye to eye with the figure before him.
"T— Thanks," muttered Talon, the figure before him silent for a moment, gazing at him in return.
And before he knew it, the red mist disappeared, together with the see of graves, the church, and the figure before him.
***
Talon bleakly opened his eye, seeing two people standing above him, both of them looking at his face.
Both of them were speaking, but Talon didn't hear the content of their words, nor were able to lead from their mouths.
His ears were ringing and his vision was blurry.
And just like that, he had fainted, his body finally giving up on him as the adrenalin left his body.
Gifts
-- Gift
received Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone