Capítulo 16: Prelude Of A Spear Boy's Battle
(Cao Cao POV)
Opening my eyes, I saw a sight that almost brought a tear to my eye. An old ceiling, a familiar smell of worn wood, and a burning fire permeated the place. I looked around and saw my old room and the sun shining in the sky as the sounds of the nearby woods lent a calming atmosphere.
It's funny, as I never had trouble sleeping until I moved away from here. Maybe I just got used to hearing such sounds that the lack of them made me more sensitive. But before I could ponder further, I walked out of my room after looking and seeing all my old posters and my old Yugioh card collection right where I left it.
Opening the slightly creaky door, I saw a person I had never thought I would see again.
The woman looked at me and smiled as she said, "You woke up late today. Is everything okay !#!#!!#?" Where she would have said my name, I only heard a garbled noise, but I walked over and sat next to her as she said, "Okay, seriously, is everything okay? You seem a bit more clingy today."
"Yeah, I'm alright, just enjoying the moment." The woman laughed as she said, "#$#%$% you never liked hugging, so what's wrong?" I looked her in the eyes as I said, "A dream I had had somewhat upset me, so I am a bit more physical."
"You know you don't have to make up stories if you just want a hug. But this is coming out of your supply of hugs." So we just sat there as I looked at her and said sarcastically, "I have a hug fund?" The woman then grabbed an abacus and moved some of the cylinders as she said, "Yes, this will leave you broke for hugs for the next few months."
Chuckling I asked, "So what? I need to take out a loan from the bank of physical contact?" The woman, with a straight look on her face, nodded as she said, "I wouldn't recommend taking out a loan in this economy, but I can make an exception." Before she could say anything else, a ringing could be heard from the woman's purse. As she picked it up, her face formed a scowl. She sighed and hung up.
She looked at me, and I looked down, knowing what she was going to say, and I said, "If you need to go, then go. They need you." The woman formed a strained smile as she said, "I know, but I still feel bad." Slowly, she got up from the couch and grabbed her things as I said, "It's not like I am going anywhere, and besides, I have some work to do myself."
"Don't make a face like that because this is what you wanted, and besides, it's not like I won't see you later," I said. As she picked up her purse, she gave me a small kiss on the cheek, which I returned, and then looked at me. I gave her a smile and a wave, and she left. The world around me then began to crumble as she pulled out from the driveway.
I held on to the couch as I fell into an abyss, and my eyes shot open within the mirror dimension. As I saw the crystalline dimension, I sighed as I wiped my face from the dirt and other things on it. As I stood up, I heard Celestine say with a worried tone (Cao Cao, you're awake! Thank God! When you fell after the fight, you wouldn't wake up!)
Forming a small smile, I said to the two, "I'm all right. I just needed some time to heal. Do you two know how long I've been out?" Cato then said with a relieved tone of voice ( You have been out for a week since the fight. Thankfully, you were able to transport yourself to this mirror dimension of yours. Based on the amount of time we have left, this is the final week before the witch decides to train us if she desires to do so.)
Looking at my LP stock, I now had 7,034,400 LP after seven days, but then I saw another notification that said [+1,000,000 LP For Defeating A Powerful Foe]. My 7,034,400 LP then rose to 8,034,200 LP. Forming a fist, I felt the increase in my magic core and physical strength as I am assuredly in the ultimate class after only three months of training. Zenkai boosts are a hell of a drug.
After checking my skills, I saw that nearly all of them had risen to an A+ rank and were only limited by my current power and skill level. Feeling a small amount of pride in myself for my improvement, I decided to buy three more defenses for myself, which cost 2 million LP in total, with those defenses being a possession, drain, and reality defense.
The first two are rather self-explanatory as possession defense keeps me from being possessed or infected by parasites, while drain defense keeps my magic from being stolen from me. The last one is a bit more complicated as it essentially allows me to keep myself anchored to reality to the point where reality warpers aren't able to affect me.
So if I were, for example, to go to the Marvel Universe during the House of M storyline, the Scarlet Witch would have a much harder time rewriting my reality or person. But that universe is a mess of cosmic proportions.
Cato and Celestine felt this change as Cato asked (Young man, have you done something? I can feel the connection between the spear and your soul becoming much more prominent and stronger, to say the least, and our existence feels much more solid?)
"An experiment of mine, but it doesn't matter, at least not for now, as we still have an entire week to train, and I need to make the most of it."
As I said this, I could feel Cato frowning as she said ( Cao Cao, You just fought an amalgamation of thousands of years worth of grudges, and we're nearly burnt to a crisp and then proceeded to fight a small army of monsters. You need rest training. You can wait for a moment.)
"I will rest when I am dead, or I can walk out of this place without being nuked by every pantheon on the planet. While your concern is very much touching, it's not what I need right now. I need to focus on something else."
Cato and Celestine send me a nod as I begin to train within the mirror dimension again, with Celestine seeming happy at my commitment to my training. Although she keeps trying to make me yell out my attacks, Cato simply remains silent as if used to this type of behavior.
(Scathach POV)
-A Week before-
The smell of burnt flesh and spilled blood. Two smells I have nearly gone nose blind to after so many years of fighting, and as the ash from the child's battle with that hollowed knight ended, he rushed into battle against an almost endless horde of beasts even though he found a limit.
Lighting and fire were spread across the battlefield as blood sprayed everywhere, and there were enough red fluids to drown entire villages after the conclusion of the fight.
I walked into the center of the ash and found the child lying there with Burns all over his body that was slowly healing. As I checked his pulse, I found it to be weak, but he was still fighting. A small smile formed on my face as I grazed his cheek with my hand. The warmth from his fight still lingered on him, but then I heard a small growling noise and saw a few cleric beasts scuffling through the ash, sensing his weakness.
It's odd as ever since he has arrived the Land of Shadows has been behaving oddly as it's simultaneously more intense than before while also being more prideful like it's preparing the child.
Such a thing had never happened before, as even I did not know that this land held such sentience as to prepare such challenges. The Land of Shadows has no voice, but I could feel its desire to become something more as it seems that all of the death and darkness does not appease it anymore.
Turning to the beasts, I form a gae bulg in my hand, and it then glows in a red light. Without even throwing it, the lance blitzes into the air and pierces the hearts of the beasts, and before they can even react, they fall and disappear into the ash. Looking at the child, he is then surrounded by a crystalline and mirror-like cocoon and disappears. It seems that this child holds more secrets, as I can still sense his presence, but it's inverted somehow.
I look at the hand that touched him and still feel the warmth he exuded, and that almost makes me feel something. The mere small flame I felt was growing with each day as my sacrifice while still there was slowly being filled with something new.
"I wonder who is teaching who at this point, child," I say to myself as I return to my castle and wait for him to return. I know that he is still alive as I shall be the one that can kill him and the only one at that, as leaving a woman waiting is not polite after all, especially a queen. And when he returns, I will know, and only two weeks remain. Our fight shall be legendary, and maybe he will be able to make me feel something. A true battle to remember and one that shall determine a multitude of various things.
It's been so long.
(Cao Cao POV)
-Six Days Later-
"Twenty-four hours left. It feels like I have been here for mere days, yet it has already been three months. It was almost like I have been living in time skips, but that is absurd." I think to myself as my training has reached a bit of a routine again after the soul of cinder graced me with its fiery presence.
I can understand when people talk about phantom pains now, as sometimes even I can feel the burns forming on my skin sometimes when I close my eyes. It has gotten better over the past couple of days, but I definitely will not forget that thing ever. Yet my musings are interrupted by a spear implanting itself in a tree near my head.
Pulling a small note from the spear, I see a location in the center of the Land Of Shadows where all the shades exist in a swirl of malice and despair. To be honest, it looks similar to a horde of dementors flying in a tornado-like fashion. So I began to trek to the center of the darkness, flying a no-go as the note specified not to fly nor use a portal to get there, but my speed alone should only take me a few hours.
The Land of Shadows is an interesting place as it is essentially the size of a country similar to Spain, with the castle at the top of the place and the dementor nado in the dead center. The environment itself seems to rotate between dead forests or endless battlefields of spilled blood and ash.
Thankfully, the Land of Shadows deemed that I had fought enough and kept my path mostly clear, and after half a day of walking, I found the witch standing in the center of the shade nado with her spear pulsing with dark and red energy that sent chills up my spine.
(For a more visual explanation, imagine the place there now, which is similar to the Manus boss fight arena from Dark Souls 1.)
The witch then noticed my presence and opened her eyes, her blood-red eyes staring through me and taking in my form. After taking up the weapon, she says with a flat tone, "You have arrived good. It seems that your time here has not been wasted, young one."
Taking up my dragonslayer spear, I look at her and say, "And I would like to thank you for allowing me to train here as I could not have improved so much without this place and without your permission, Queen Scathach. You have chosen an interesting venue for the fight. Any reason other than the ambiance for this choice?"
The witch then looks to the surroundings' shades and says, "This place represents the hatred the Land of Shadows holds for the world as anyone who has died here or traveled here has found themselves in this place suffering forever. The way the Land of Shadows has been reacting to you has been an interesting one to behold as if it was preparing something or someone. I have lived for thousands of years and seen empires and nations rise and fall, and yet one constant remains, and that is the fact that the Shadows have always existed."
She then gestures to the swirling ghosts as she continues, "Many have sought my teaching but yet could not understand the sacrifices one makes to learn from the God Slayer. However, I can understand why you came here yourself, as having that spear makes you the enemy of nearly everyone on the planet.
I still remember when those sacred gears were first recorded in history; it was God's chance to allow humanity some semblance of hope, but the supernatural has turned it against them."
"Is that why you decided to fight? To give them a chance or to show humanity's potential?" I asked, to which she shook her head and said, "It was nothing so altruistic as that I simply desire to be more than what my station would present. I was royalty once, yet I would not have been expected to be more than a handmaiden for my husband, and I refused that fate. I went to the three sisters and tore apart the threads myself. They did not like that and subtly manipulated fate so the other gods would find themselves in my path, and I would have had to slay them, thus turning the entire world against me."
"So you got in the way of fate, and they sent the world against you. Why did you continue to fight, knowing you would not win?" My question was met with silence as she said "Consider that part of a ward if you impress me enough and since you still have half a day take this time to ready yourself." Nodding, I sat on the ground and began to focus as the Queen Of Shadows watched with a burning gaze.
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