Michael adjusted his grip on the dagger, eyes narrowed and focus razor-sharp. David swung hard, but Michael sidestepped and slashed his blade along David’s forearm, forcing him to recoil.
David roared and charged, but Michael was quicker; he ducked, spun, and used a skillful sweeping motion to nick David’s thigh, drawing another line of blood. Each move was crisp, calculated precision, the fruit of resolve, not mystical tricks. Michael’s breathing stayed steady as he kept his stance low, letting David’s brute strength work against him.
David tried to overpower him, grabbing for a grapple, but Michael twisted free, using a practiced feint to flick the dagger across David’s knuckles. David grimaced, forced onto the back foot, unable to predict Michael’s next swift, disciplined attack. Michael pressed forward, his dagger flashing, every move layered with technique and determination as he drove David back with relentless, controlled aggression.
Michael moved like a living shadow, slipping beyond the edge of David’s senses. His body was battered, pain threatening to overwhelm him, but adrenaline and raw purpose carried him forward.
David, bloodied and livid, scanned the darkened room. "Come out, coward!" he bellowed, slamming his war hammer into the floor and sending cracks spidering through stone.
Michael’s breaths were shallow, but every second he lingered in the shadows, his resolve grew sharper. He focused, channeling the technique he’d only glimpsed in his mind, the Echoes of Phantom Slash.
Suddenly, there was movement. Michael appeared behind David in a flicker of darkness and lashed out one, two, three rapid strikes! Each blow came from a different angle, shadows trailing the obsidian blade. Blood flew and David howled, swinging wildly, but hitting nothing but empty air and echoes as Michael was fully implementing his technique.
"For once, face me!" David roared, his voice trembling between pain and rage.
Michael didn’t reply. He circled, using each shadow for cover, the penalty from the system’s threat fueling his drive. He struck again, angled upward, slicing deep into David’s arm. The war hammer crashed down, but Michael faded back again, always just out of reach.
But this time, David anticipated. Using a burst of ability, he trapped the surrounding shadows, freezing Michael mid-strike. With one last, guttural snarl, he hurled the war hammer not just as a weapon, but as a cage of energy, locking the space around Michael, or so he thought. Michael was able to slip away from the lockdown; after all, you can’t cage a shadow.
Michael knew he couldn’t keep on playing cat and mouse with David Blackwood as he was already drained of essence and he was even risking his life by using more of his ability and if he was to die from essence exhaustion his story would end right here in David’s shadow.
Desperation kicked in; he can’t lose this fight, he wouldn’t lose.
He let the pain ground him, the fury drive him, and the system’s threat sharpen his instincts. With a surge, his body dissolved completely into shadow, dispersing past the field’s edges. Behind David, he reformed, part human, part night, all vengeance.
"David," Michael said quietly. "You lose."
He struck, obsidian blade gleaming, and this time, there were no misses. Michael plunged the dagger deep into his shoulder, drawing more blood; finally, David knew he couldn’t fight Michael head-on as Michael was able to counter him with his shadow aspect. David couldn’t believe he was unable to kill Michael. By now the dungeon was twisting as its space was distorting and the dungeon would soon push them out.
David Blackwood decided to make a run for it, as he was badly injured and was bleeding and had cuts all over his body.
Michael saw David turning around trying to run away but it couldn’t be called much of running as he was limping due to his injured leg where Michael’s dagger stabbed him. Nᴇw novel chapters are publɪshed on novel·fiɾe·net
Michael knew he couldn’t let David escape as this was his only chance to kill and complete the system task and if David was to escape Michael knew he won’t be able to kill him anymore.
By now David was in the middle of the dungeon boss room near where Michael killed the fiend wolf and he was leaving a trail of blood in his wake.
David smiled, seeing that Michael was not chasing after him to kill him. "That idiot, he could have killed me right here but he’s hesitating, hahaha!" David laughed, glad that Michael was hesitating to kill him. "When we are out of here, I will make sure to kill you," David said, promising to end Michael’s life next time they met, that was until he saw Michael summoning a bow that looked like it was made of night and had star-like patterns all over it; the bow could be said to be very beautiful but to David it was a weapon summoned from hell by the devil himself to take his life.
Michael just watched David as he tried to escape, seeing him running for his life and thinking he could escape from him. Michael wanted to let him have hope before he crushed it. "It seems, he forgot I had a bow," Michael said before summoning the celestial Star bow. As it manifested from a spark of light, beautiful as night.
Michael could see the color drain from David Blackwood’s face immediately he summoned the bow. Michael didn’t pay him any attention and drew the arrow, ready to let it fly. Just as Michael was ready to release the arrow, time seemed to stop. Michael couldn’t understand what was going on before he could understand what was happening; he saw a woman in his vision; it was like a memory was playing in front of him.
Michael couldn’t see the woman’s face or the woman’s body but he was able to see the bow the woman was holding and to his greatest surprise, it was the celestial Star bow and it looked different as instead of the usually black color it had when Michael welded it, the bow was glowing white like the sun and the star pattern all moved around the bow instead of just being still; it looked like a constellation of stars.
In front of the woman were an entire army of weird-looking creatures and the number was huge; Michael was not able to see the memories surrounding as it was blurred and dark; the only source of light in the memory was the star bow.
The woman raised the bow, aiming it right towards the incoming army of creatures and released the arrow but she called out a name before releasing the arrow and Michael wasn’t able to hear what she said but somehow he knew the name she called and it was a skill.
[Star grace: Piercing the Stars] Michael called out immediately.