Eternal Elysium

A single touch.

That's all I need to reap someone's life away.

How strange it truly is when someone thinks about this for long. I always had found this strange, that in split seconds I can make my enemy's heart drop to nothing.

In a way I was a weapon myself.

Raising my hand, I shot it toward the man looking at me with a confused and dumb look over his face.

I knew that I couldn't kill him.

Not because I was weaker than him but rather because I was asked not to kill anyone—we need to catch them alive. Franz has asked me this personally before coming here.

This was the reason for my worry.

Catching awakeneds alive was tough, and when they were this strong, it was even tougher than before.

But I had a feeling something was going on behind my back.

All of this didn't make any sense after all.

The Temple I knew was cautious.

They had hesitated to throw the gangs out from the city in fear of the number of innocent lives that would be lost in the battle. The only reason it even happened was because I had forced them into a situation where they couldn't keep their watch anymore.

But now they had sent only two awakeneds to catch four—

Boom!

Another attack moved past me by the woman throwing me away. In another second an onyx arm raised from the ground, trying to pull me down.

Raising my hand, I quickly lunged my blade towards the newly formed onyx arms and cleaved it downward.

'I am getting better.' I thought and placed my foot on the sky once again.

Pushing forward, I looked at the bronze-skinned man who was shaking his head, his eyes becoming clear with each passing second.

'It only lasted five seconds, huh?' I frowned, dodging another swarm of attacks coming my way.

While the charms were undeniably effective in the end, they couldn't be compared to artifacts and powers born from awakening.

"Hey, what's your name by the way?!" I asked, my gaze falling on the woman who was running towards her brother, presumably.

She shot me a sharp glare, her hand raised towards me in the blink of an eye, and again a barrage of attacks came my way.

Coming to her brother, she held his shoulder, shaking him out of his daze, seeing him still holding his head like a madman. She raised her hand and—

Slap!

The man's face turned to the side; his eyes became clear as he turned to look at the chaos happening.

"Ugh, Summer, what happened just now?" He asked, his eyes looking at the onyx arms erupting from the ground to catch the man jumping around the sky.

"That masked man can use charms. Be careful." Summer stood up and again raised her arm, throwing stray shots towards the masked figure.

"Should I use…?"

"No, you can't." Summer rejected his idea immediately, understanding what he was suggesting.

"Just keep him busy like we are asked to…"

Boom!

Hearing their conversation, I frowned.

'Keeping me busy… Not killing me? Is there something wrong here?'

Cutting down another onyx arm, I decided to get serious now. The battle has been prolonged for a long time now. Dragging it any further would be harmful for me.

And for them as well.

My eyes locked onto the man, and just as he was about to raise his hand, I stopped him.

Freezing his time!

At the next instance I appeared near him, closing our distance. With my sword raised high, I aimed for his abdomen.

Summer's eyes widened, but she couldn't move on time; her attacks directed at Franz's team briefly disrupted them, giving them the small time needed to attack.

But then—

An onyx arm lunged at my feet, pulling me down.

Clicking my tongue, I didn't back down either; my aim shifted from his abdomen to the man's side, and I slashed him down.

Following my actions, a strong wind blew from my right; I saw Franz holding down Summer—the walking cannon was down with his ability.

Behind him, Rose was trying to stop the onyx arms from reaching him along with the help of Mathew.

If you come across this story on Amazon, it's taken without permission from the author. Report it.

"Argh!" The man grunted in pain and grabbed his left side, holding the blood from oozing out.

I had not used poison, as I was not sure how strong it would come out.

But seeing his reaction, the attack did little to no damage.

Suddenly smoke curled off the land, and a burning smell entered my nostrils. I quickly spun back midair, backing away from the man.

A chain of explosions engulfed the area where I had just stood; my heart started to race wildly. If I had been a little late, just a split-second delay would have cost me my life.

The man stood in silence, not holding his wound anymore, and then a small light shone on his right. A spear appeared, a head taller than him in size with a curved tip blade on its top.

'They are getting serious… Aren't they?'

I was starting to sweat bullets already and feeling my muscles ache with every move I made.

But then someone screamed—

I hastily turned my attention to look towards Franz and his group.

Franz was yelling something, and Rose was on her knees, blood dripping from her shoulders. Mathew had his hand shot forward, throwing shockwaves one after another, stopping the onyx arms from coming their way.

But the scream belonged to neither of them.

It was Sina who did that—a gut-piercing scream had come from her.

"Sina, idiot! Use artifacts! Artifacts!" Elric yelled back, seeing Sina hurt and burn under Franz's attacks.

"Brave of you to look away!"

The man suddenly came near me; his spear descended towards me with a blinding speed, but I could still follow his movements.

I swiftly countered, my sword raised to stop his attack.

And then—

Crack…!

A snapping sound came, making my eyes widen. I could feel the colors draining from my face.

My trusted weapon… something that I have been using for a long time has broken.

Sword of Repose has resisted the weight of the attack. I was certain I could have pushed him back as well, but…

"...How?" I muttered in surprise as the sword finally got cut in half.

"Ah, you pissed me off." The man mumbled back, more of his blood suddenly leaking out.

'I never attacked him this much…?! Where are his wounds even coming from?'

Stopping him for a few seconds by freezing his time, I hastily jumped back.

My chest seems to be burning from the inside as several attacks followed me from Summer's side.

My breathing hitched for a second as flames again passed through me.

The smell of ashes filled the wind, and my gaze moved to see how others were doing. But again the man with the spear thrust his weapon forward.

'His weapon is an artifact… but what its power is unknown.'

… Phew. I breathed a sigh of relief, parrying his attack with my broken sword. I could feel that it had lost its ability, as no matter what I tried to do with it, nothing seemed to work anymore, much to my despair.

"Grrrr!"

A new sound came, one similar to that of a beast, confusing me even further.

From the corner of my view I saw Franz struggling against the three opponents. They had placed their focus on him, trying to tire him out. I thought and gulped before shouting.

"Franz, let's change opponents!"

"Yes!!" Franz didn't hesitate to answer back, his voice filled with frustration.

While his attacks were powerful, the opponent was equally powerful. This made him uneasy… In a war of attrition, the one who gets tired first will lose, and in front of three opponents, it was even worse.

Jumping back, I accelerated both myself and Franz in a hurry. Feeling changes in himself, Franz lunged forward, almost flying above me at blurry speed.

Rose, on my left, made a vortex on the ground, giving me a final push on my step.

Summer, seeing this, raised her finger and attacked once again.

But the attack never reached me…

'What?'

I was prepared to dodge any attacks that came while changing opponents from the Onyx Arms and Summer, but now it made me even more confused.

Her attacks even at the start were pretty tame compared to now… But as we fought more, her attacks became a little bit more deadly than before, as if she trusted me to dodge them.

Landing on the ground, I rushed toward Sina, who held a crystal in her hand, raising my broken sword. I tried to stab her but then stopped.

The onyx arms suddenly rushed at me, as Elric was closer than before.

"Morgana!" I whispered in the rune language, throwing the disk below.

Again a blinding flash of light came erupting from the charm of light—the light rose higher, blinding everyone momentarily, but that's not the only thing that happened—the shadows surrounding us vanished along with the impending light.

The onyx arms vanished, and the man with long hair suddenly appeared, his body thrown from the shadows that no longer existed with a surprised face.

'It won't last long.'

Before he could move, I stopped him.

His body froze in time…!

Sina's figure expanded, her size now almost above ten meters.

My eyes followed her figure and leaped at her.

'Ugh, again some artifacts! How many even are here?!'

Frustrated, I gritted my teeth and felt a strong metallic taste of blood in my mouth. Sina flicked her limbs, attacking with her giant hands.

From my right a sonic boom resounded loud enough to make my ears go numb, and then it hit Sina, making her gigantic figure stumble back.

Taking a strong step forward, I leaped further towards her, my steps carrying me through the air, and stabbed her, twisting my blade deep inside her neck.

"AAAAAHH!"

She screamed in pain, her figure struggling to stand her footing. With an eventful twist of her rubber-like limbs, she twisted herself by the waist trying to escape. But I didn't let go and stabbed her deeper.

I could feel myself getting dragged on the ground, holding her down as she moved like a wounded beast in agony.

The broken sword didn't help much, but it did bring pain, and that was enough.

Her hand again moved to catch me, but this time Rose made her move; a strong gust of wind came, hitting her hand.

Ting!

Something cracked; from my blurry and limited vision I saw the man finally leave the frozen time, and at the same time several things flew in the air…

Her ring seems to have been broken by the impact, making her fall.

"Sina! Sina! Wake up, dammit!" Elric yelled, his voice becoming desperate.

But I knew… We all knew it was not for her safety or well-being. This was just selfish and an act filled with greed for survival.

Sina's giant figure shrank back as blood started to leak from the back of her neck like a fountain had exploded, sprinkling it everywhere.

I had left her to fall and hopped away in time… but my world seems to spin for a few seconds, making it hard to balance myself.

The battlefield had fallen silent with the fall of its first victim.

"El, Elric… Elric…" Sina's will was broken and filled with pain.

Her face again seems to change into something new, a face no one has ever seen before—but we couldn't tell how she truly looked, as blood has hidden it well.

"Is this your true face…?" I asked in a daze, but I probably was already aware of it.

That this was not it.

"...Elric...My…Face…Elric." Like a broken record, she kept repeating Elric's name but still found herself asking a single question.

She had a face…

But that's not possible.

After all, she didn't know what she looked like.

She had forgotten.

The crystal with several sharp corners in her pulsed with light. She had used its power to gigantify herself but knew her emotions had reached the abyss.

Everything was dark…

She has lost control—she felt herself drown in emotions she never knew existed.

So her body changed rapidly, making my eyes go wide.

Then—

Something hit me on the right, throwing me away.

I couldn't see what hit me…

No one could have seen it coming—a monster, one that was shapeless.

She had grown beyond what eyes could see and lunged forward.

"Elric! Elric! Elric! Elric!" Repeating a single name, a grotesque mass of flesh moved with several eyes and mouths.

Before anybody could see anything on time, it reached Elric crawling through the group.

He couldn't react; how could he when nobody else could? In the end he was consumed—a Sina figure wrapped him like a paper bag, not even giving him a chance to scream in despair.