Chapter 202 – Grim Dance (1)

“It was you, wasn’t it? Behind all of it.” Rambert asked, though he could already guess the answer.

Travelling to Bogside town, he and his companions hadn’t really cared much about Nesha and Percy. They’d heard of them, of course, but they’d thought the two were just a front – a couple of low-born informants House Avalon had placed there. Their actual fighters had to be hiding in the swamp, right?

It was with that mindset that he’d chased Percy through the bog, hoping to squash the pesky insect before his leaders had the chance to join him. Not to mention erasing the sheer humiliation their family had endured when Dranold got caught in that trap.

But the enemy reinforcements he had expected never arrived. Not when he chased Percy through the trees, nor when they tried to ambush him and Grian with those pitfalls. Throughout the whole thing, it had always been just Percy – and maybe his girlfriend too. And yet, despite everything, Percy was still alive. Somehow, he had kept up with him, evading him and even enduring some of his blows, luring him all the way here.

“What even are you?” Rambert asked again, looking up at his opponent’s otherworldly figure.

Crouching atop the branch, Percy was clad in an ethereal suit of armour, shimmering in a pale teal light. The armour was cracked in many places, an entire layer almost gone, yet the rest of it was in good condition. What was it made of?! Some kind of metal? Or was that mana?!

Percy’s entire frame shone in a rich Orange through Mana Sense. The sheer amount of mana contained within it would put any Yellow to shame. Resting on his shoulder was a huge scythe made of the same material as the armour, its curved edge glinting beneath the moonlight. And then there was the teal smoke pouring out of his back too, flowing into the wind like a cape.

Yet, by far the most ominous trait, were Percy’s eyes. Like a pair of gemstones, they shone from within the shadow of his visor, piercing through the darkness. They appeared to stab right into Rambert’s soul, their cold gaze sending a shiver down his spine.

But Percy remained silent, clearly not in the mood to chat. Then, he shifted. Robbing the weapon of its colour, he swung his arm at him, presumably flinging the scythe at a ridiculous speed.

Still, it wasn’t difficult for Rambert to sidestep the attack. The construct could be observed via Mana Sense if one knew where to look. Besides, Percy had already used this trick over a dozen times. Just the movement of his hand alone was more than enough to betray the weapon’s trajectory by now.

Rambert responded with three fireballs of his own, the first blowing the entire upper half of the tree into smithereens, the other two an attempt to catch Percy mid-air.

Percy twisted his body to narrowly evade both of the projectiles, doing so with relaxed grace. And this wasn’t the first time tonight he’d done something similar.

‘Can he somehow predict my moves?’ Rambert wondered.

Though he didn’t get the chance to dwell on it for long, as the scythe was already on its way back, about to cut him in half!

But he didn’t panic, seeing an opportunity instead. Jumping over it, he sent three more fireballs at Percy. If he wanted his weapon back, he’d have to eat the blasts.

Unwilling to take the risk, Percy chose to dodge instead. Tough as it was, his armour clearly had its limits.

Seeing that his enemy was now unarmed, Rambert capitalized on his advantage, launching a barrage of fireballs at Percy. Each was a little smaller than before, but there were too many of them to dodge them all.

Left with no choice, Percy barely avoided whatever he could, as the rest clashed against his armour, peeling the rest of the outer layer off.

Rambert was about to pick up the pace, to try and eat through the second layer too, when he sensed something flying towards him by the corner of his eye.

‘What the?! How?!’

He barely managed to lean back just enough to not get bisected, though the scythe still carved a deep horizontal cut across his chest, missing his heart by an inch.

Ignoring the thick smell of iron and the blood gushing out of his wound, he shifted his attention back to Percy, only to notice the scythe was spinning towards him once more.

Hastily pulling some mana from his core, he allowed it to explode out of his right palm, propelling himself out of the weapon’s path.

Yet, before he even had the chance to catch his breath, the scythe flew at him again, this time coming from his left!

Panicking, he drew even more mana than before, blasting downwards with both hands, shooting himself to the air. But he didn’t allow himself to relax this time, scanning his surroundings with Mana Sense. How was Percy doing this?! The scythe couldn’t possibly move that fast!

Not letting up, Percy shot some throwing stars at him, as the scythe spun towards him from below.

Unleashing two more blasts, Rambert manoeuvred around the attacks, before resorting to his sixth sense again, still trying to make sense of this mess.

Percy continued pressuring him, somehow sending the scythe at him from all sorts of directions, as Rambert tried to piece together what was happening between fleeting glances.

For a couple minutes, the only sound breaking the eerie silence of the bog were the deafening booms of his explosions, as he danced in the air, frantically dodging the insidious weapon.

It wasn’t until his mana was down to about half that he finally understood how Percy was doing this, the realization causing him to draw a sharp breath.

’10… 15… 20!’

Percy hadn’t just created one scythe. There were dozens of them, scattered around the battlefield, hidden in plain sight! And Rambert wasn’t even sure these were all of them – as each of them was both invisible and under the same cloaking enchantment.

‘This is why he brought me here!’

Knowing it would only be a matter of time until he lost his life at this rate, Rambert decided to switch things up. Dodging the next two scythes – at least it didn’t seem Percy could control too many of them at once – he then propelled himself right at his opponent.

Percy leapt backwards, trying to put more distance between them. At the same time, he sent more of the weapons at Rambert, hoping to slow him down. Still, it was much easier for him to dodge the scythes now that he knew about them, as he always kept track of the nearest ones.

Metre by metre, blast by blast, Rambert slowly closed the gap to Percy, delivering a heavy punch at his torso. Furthermore, he unleashed a hefty amount of mana on impact, supplementing the physical blow with an even stronger explosion. Rambert grinned as he felt something crack beneath his fist, as Percy was sent smashing through a tree.

Though his smile soon soured, noticing two more scythes spin towards him! Caught in an awkward position, Rambert hurriedly jumped upwards, not having time to draw any more mana. He managed to avoid the constructs, though the third one he failed to notice in time. He barely shifted his torso to protect his vitals, but the scythe still sliced through his shoulder, cleaving his left arm off!

‘The bastard got me good…’ he grimaced, landing in a muddy pond with a loud splash, a fountain of blood pumping out of his stump.

Evidently, Percy hadn’t eaten that attack for nothing. Rather, he’d gambled his armour against Rambert’s offensive, hoping to extract an even heavier price in return.

The only silver lining was that the pain of his amputated limb had yet to register. Getting back on his feet, Rambert sidestepped another scythe, his gaze falling on Percy.

Walking towards him, the young man clearly hadn’t escaped the previous scuffle scot-free either. Percy’s chest-plate appeared slightly caved in, countless cracks branching outwards from his sternum. At the same time, some blood trickled down from his helmet, painting a vertical line of crimson all the way to his boot. His steps were uneven too, though his eyes still blazed with determination, just like the first moment Rambert saw them.

Next, Percy called upon two more weapons, this time summoning them to his own hands. He cracked his neck, before dashing towards Rambert, as another pair of scythes flew towards him.

Unwilling to fall behind, Rambert propelled himself forward with an explosion, before drawing even more mana to his one remaining hand, lighting his fist up in a scorching blaze. Locking onto Percy’s weapons with Mana Sense, he paid close attention to the invisible edges. He couldn’t afford to get hit by them again.

The two men dove upon one another, engaging in their final clash…