"If I tell you, it wouldn't be fun, right?"
Nidrasef's voice was serene as he spoke; soon his body vanished within the darkness, leaving nothing but ripples of energy behind him.
'That damned snake'
Kheru's face grimaced in anger as she witnessed the departing figure of the snake.
"I don't know what you are scheming, but I swear on my honor, I would never let it unfold the way you want."
Kheru's eyes burned with a purple hue as she felt the approach of multiple entities, and based on their numbers, this wasn't going to be easy.
Reflected within her purple-blazing eyes, appeared stretched 10-inch claws attempting to stab her throat.
Through the empty darkness, a figure leaped through the empty space, charging in her direction, but that was not the end; the figure became two, and the two became three.
Three figures charging straight at Kheru with a monstrous speed, one from above attempting to smash her skull with both of his hands held together.
The one charging from the front attempted to stab her throat with his claws, and the other came from her left blind spot, attempting to sever her head from her body with a sword.
Through her eyes, time froze, every entity slowed down, and her left hand held the hilt of her sword.
Her eyes scanned the vital spots of their bodies that were visible.
But it wasn't normal scanning.
Her gaze connected them like spots forming the trajectory of a sword dance.
Her eyes gleamed with a blazing purple hue, like a lightning bolt striking the earth as she moved.
Electric sparks spread in spiderweb-like electricity, forming between her feet simultaneously. She was leaning forward on the toes of her left foot that was stationed at the back for balance, which caused her to leap forward.
Her sword slid from its sheath with a metallic sound, causing a ripple through the darkness as it blocked the incoming stretched claws that were shimmering with a light of death with the side of the sword.
Connecting her movement smoothly, her stretched arm that held the sword pushed the claws a little as it slid through the empty space between the claws and the head of the figure.
The tip of the sword stabbed deep into the skull of the figure, simultaneously evading the trajectory of the sword that came from her left blind spot.
Twisting the sword inside its skull mid-movement, Kheru slashed the skull upward, severing the legs of the figure that was attempting to smash her skull with its two fists.
Every move of her body connected instantly, like a lightning bolt that strikes instantly without giving a chance to dodge or evade.
Boiling purple blood burst in the air as the severed legs of the entity fell down.
Its slitted eyes shimmered with anger and pained shock as a monstrous cry erupted due to the pain of its severed legs, but suddenly that cry came to a halt; gasps of shock could be heard from what it saw.
Through those eyes, it saw the reflection of its own comrade falling beside it.
Its eyes were hollow.
The wound on the forehead was as deep as the abyss.
At that moment, it realized what true despair was as they fell through the sea of darkness into the oblivion.
Silence returned once again as only one snake remained.
The figure's eyes shone with intellect, and the sword in its hands shimmered with death, but before the presence that Kheru was exuding, it knew the end was near.
The glow in the snake's eyes waned, but soon it lit up once again with the conviction to never lose to the fear of death.
In its eyes, Kheru was the incarnation of death that was clad in sparks of purple lightning, waiting for the single movement of the tiny snake to take its life, yet it chose to never cower.
"You might be a snake, but who would have thought that among those snakes there are those who had a warrior sense?" Kheru's eyes narrowed with pity.
"Survive no matter who the opponent is, was it?" Kheru spoke, her voice carrying nothing but mockery and pity for the creature.
The snake nodded slightly as it understood every word Kheru had spoken; the hands on the blade tightened and then loosened again.
"Come, you have the chance to attack." Kheru turned to face the creature.
The creature was a towering figure, standing at seven feet tall with a lean, muscled body. His eyes shone with the ferocity of a warrior; he was ready to die an honorable death.
Witnessing that, Kheru felt even more pity, but her eyes showed nothing but the coldness of approaching death.
The snake channeled energy through its two legs as it leaped forward, charging at Kheru ferociously, holding the sword with two hands. It kept the sword aimed at the chest of Kheru.
The snake could see there were a lot of flaws in Kheru's form, which made it feel uneasy, but it decided to ignore that feeling.
The second the snake reached the attack range of Kheru, it slashed diagonally at Kheru, aiming at her unguarded chest.
The minute the sword was a breath away from Kheru, Kheru stretched her sword upwards, parrying the sword trajectory and fending it off, leaving the guard of the snake open.
Pulling her sword back, she stretched it forward, stabbing the sword into the skull of the snake, delivering a quick, easy death as its body fell helplessly diving through the sea of darkness.
"Maybe in the afterlife, we will be able to cross our swords again."
Kheru stated solemnly as visions of the past, blurry and indistinct, washed over her.
As seconds went by, those visions were interrupted by the sound of clapping.
A pair of slitted eyes glowed with an ooze-like-color, shimmering with frightening killing intent.
His dark skin mingled with the darkness of the space.
Gray armored chest plate with jagged serpentine ridges along the spine.
A metallic silhouette shone underneath that armor; gray scales covered his spine, spiked out of the armor, and exhibited light, giving a contrast for the being's frame.
Beneath the gray scales, wrists and vital points of his body were protected.
Heavy armored skirt that allows mobility but has sharp scale-like plating, like a natural continuation of his body.
Bronze pauldrons shaped like dragon-serpent heads.
Arm and leg guards of gray obsidian and bronze scales.
The clenched, elongated jaw expressed a serene air, except for those slitted eyes that exhibited nothing but killing intent.
But something felt out of place, on second thought.
An entity that exudes the killing intent of an assassin, yet when you look at him, his body exhibits the blunted strength of a warrior.
Turning around, Kheru waved the sword lightly as the boiling glowing blood of the snakes splattered and dropped, disappearing within the darkness.
"I'm very touched, you know; that was epic, and the last dramatic scene made me truly tear up, and that 'We would cross swords again' was top tier."
A sneer accompanied a voice of mixed emotions of mockery and madness.
The voice kept on changing tones, showing more emotions.
It was an inhuman voice mimicking a human, which sounded like a sword scratching the surface of an iron wall.
Kheru's eyes, still glowing with a purple hue, carried nothing but indifference, as if she were watching a child throwing a tantrum.
"At the end, he made a move—interesting."
Kheru spoke in a solemn voice while scratching her chin, lost in thought, disregarding the words of the entity before her.
Not giving the entity time to speak, she cut him off indifferently.
"So you are one of Moloch's swords, right?"
"Hmph! They were right; your mental fortitude can't be taken lightly,"
he stated as his slitted eyes twitched in madness as he continued, "Yes, I'm one of his swords; I'm Marchosias."
"Marchosias? Unique name indeed," Kheru stated as her purple eyes flickered in surprise.
Then for an instant, she felt something was wrong.
'That's a lie.'
Kheru thought inwardly after noticing how unnatural his body was.
His body exuded the killing intent of an assassin, a murderer, but also that same body gave the appearance of the might of a warrior.
Wearing a heavy set of armor in a one-on-one battle? Why? It's not even a group battle where you have to guard yourself.
The way he speaks is unnatural as well; it feels like someone is acting to be someone else.
'Heavy armor at that? Something is abnormal here.'
Continuing the thread of her thoughts, she asked.
"So how many of you came?"
Kheru's eyes swept the entirety of his presence while tossing a question.
'Not even shaken by the presence of my existence or my speech, still a unique being—those from the black lands are all freaks indeed,'
Marchosias thought inwardly while chuckling.
"You are asking too many questions; you are going to make it dull that way—you might not be popular among your peers for that."
Marchosias attempted to aggravate her, hoping to cause a crack, even if tiny, in her mental fortitude.
Nodding slightly, she smiled chillingly as she spoke.
"Actually, you are right; leaving your head intact in the end would suffice. The only thing I want is a few words out of your elongated mouth."
Chilling energy radiated from her body.
Through her purple glowing eyes, the figure of Marchosias was reflected.
His slitted ooze-colored eyes carried a ferocious glint.
His elongated mouth twisted into a grotesque smirk.
With that, he took a step back, vanishing through the sea of darkness the same way he appeared.
It was a bizarre movement that made Kheru's eyebrows twitch in comprehension.
Suddenly her body tensed; her brain cells rang in alarm.
She tilted her head to the right side as blood gushed from her left cheek.
With that, the imposing giant figure of Marchosias was standing in front of her once again, licking her blood that was dripping from his long nails.
Her eyes widened in surprise.
Touching her wounded cheek, she let her lips curl into a chilling smile.
For the first time, Marchosias's slitted eyes narrowed in comprehension.
For the first time, he felt he was facing an enemy whose thread of thoughts couldn't be read.
He couldn't figure out her emotions.
He couldn't figure out whether she was smiling in madness or she was smiling while suppressing her anger.
With that, both of them vanished from the sight of each other.
What remained: a flash of purple light and the clashing of steel against steel raging throughout the sea of darkness.
But they didn't stop; both were determined to kill each other.
The exchange continued; the space was raging with ripples of steel clashing against steel.
From how fast they were, the sound of their sword clashes lagged behind compared to the flash of erupting fire caused by the clashing steel.
Then they came to a halt.
Both of them were standing in their respective defensive stances.
Kheru was holding her sword mid-guard with her left hand while her right hand was dripping with purple-glowing blood.
Marchosias was standing six meters away from her; his chest plate had disappeared, replaced with a long gash on his chest.
The wound wasn't deep, but it was enough to scar the pride of Marchosias.
The glint in his eyes carried the thirst to erase her existence from life.
'In that last exchange, as her sword thrust forward, I thought she was about to stab through the chestplate, but instead she attempted to cut down the weak spot where the chestplate armor was connected to the shoulder so she could slay me much more easily. What type of maniac would think of this during a battle?'
Storms of thoughts raged within Marchosias; his expressionless façade cracked visibly into a grimaced expression.
Their gaze locked mid-air, and in response, a grin spread over Kheru's face, revealing her soaked, bloody teeth.
It seemed she had taken a heavy blow to her jaw.
'During the moment of slashing his chest, he managed to interrupt my sword path by striking my face with the hilt of his sword.'
She thought to herself, her eyes growing cold.
Suddenly her eyes glinted as realization struck her.
'What had I clashed with right now? He is not even holding a sword in his hands!'
At that moment, she started visualizing the last exchange between her and him, and vaguely, she started to see it.
'Telekinesis! In that case, where is it? How could he control it with such speed to the point my eyes can't perceive it?'
At that moment, Kheru was starting to lose her composure; for the first time in a long time, she felt thrilled — a feeling she had lost since the ages of being trapped here.
Feeling the change in the atmosphere, Marchosias felt as if he had been discovered.
He felt a chill running down his spine just as Kheru felt it.
Both knew that one of them would live to tell stories about the death of the other.
Even then, neither of them felt fear.
A serene feeling dawned upon both of them.
At that moment, everything would be decided.
Both thought of the same thing.
That thought was reflected through their eyes; one glinted with murderous intent while the other stared back serenely.
'This has to be decided right here, right now.'
This time too, Marchosias made the first move, leaping forward.
He charged towards Kheru as she stood there motionless, like a mountain against a raging storm.
In a second, he reached the attack range of Kheru, his right foot stationed forward with his left leg backward at 90°, his left hand thrust forward in hand-blade form, attempting to pierce her in the heart.
Kheru stood motionless; she was waiting for it, but even then she realized that he knew that she had figured out his hidden ability.
'This is getting tougher than I expected it to be; I should have ended it right away.'
She thought coldly, her eyes shining with murderous intent as she took a step back to the left, evading his hand.
Marchosias kept advancing forward in a never-ending series of consecutive attacks to pierce either her throat or her heart.
His left and right hands moved through the air like two whips; each movement of his arm released a whip-like sound that caused Kheru's brain to ring. Even then, she controlled her composure while evading.
The speed was blinding, sweat was pouring, and death was looming.
At the last attack that was targeting her throat, Kheru charged forward, her sword raised high.
With blinding speed, she entered the embrace of Marchosias, attempting to sever his arm.
At that moment, his expression froze in shock, and his eyes darted in fear for the first time, but was that really the truth?
Kheru felt her body screaming at her to step back; her body froze in motion as time slowed down. She saw fear and confusion on her opponent's façade, but for some reason her instinct screamed that it was a trap.
'A trap?'
Confusion crawled on her face as she realized what she had forgotten due to his continuous series of close-range attacks.
'His sword!'
A silver sword flew through the empty dark space at horrific speed that couldn't be seen but only felt.
A silver sword shimmering through the darkness like the dread of death.
The sword was already eighteen centimeters away from stabbing the back of her head.
But suddenly, the sword disappeared.
A deafening, horrific sound like thunder erupted, causing a ripple that sent everyone flying through the space of darkness.
Twisting their bodies to the opposite side of their direction to stabilize midair.
Both Marchosias and Kheru stood once again in the empty space.
At that moment, they saw it.
The sword was blocked by a human.
His hair was as dark as obsidian, almost blending with the darkness.
'Void!'
She exclaimed in relief.
But her relief couldn't be celebrated for long.
She started to feel the fading presence of Marchosias, the heavy aura.
A dreadful, eerie feeling of looming darkness that was ready to sever her neck wrapped around her senses.
Suddenly her eyes darted left and right as the presence of Marchosias disappeared; his figure couldn't be seen.
Her gaze diverted back to his silver sword; the sword evaporated into ashes.
Seconds passed as she replayed her exchange with that entity once again. At that moment, her instinct was right all along.
There was something wrong.
At that moment, she realized who she had been fighting all along.
It wasn't Marchosias.
"Ah~ I was about this close to ending this stupid insect—until another one appeared. I guess I talked way too much."
It was a voice as deep as the sea of darkness, a presence as cold as death, a walk as light as a feather.
White metallic scales layered across deep emerald skin shimmered, reflecting polished silver upon wet stone, elongating features, regal yet predatory, and carrying divine yet serene terror.
He stood nearly eight feet tall, his physique immense yet unnaturally refined, built less like a brute and more like a perfected hunter engineered for ritual slaughter.
His long serpentine neck flowed into broad shoulders draped beneath dark vestments crafted to contour around his scaled anatomy rather than conceal it.
Layered black robes hung from his waist and shoulders, split strategically for silent movement.
Matte obsidian fabrics were wrapped tightly around his torso and limbs, but they were severed in the middle, showing a long gash dripping with blood.
"Kheru, my favorite insect, despite how much we brawled, you still fell for my tiny prank, but interestingly enough, this time my illusion has been broken—Kheru, how did you do it?"
His eerie voice was commanding; his demeanor had changed, now exuding the might of a lord judging his slave as he pointed his index finger towards the void.
'Volefor has been wearing an illusion to impersonate Marchosias; that illusion is controlled through his aura, once his aura was felt or detected by his opponent, the aura immediately fools and controls the perception of the human brain, causing him to see everything in a replaced form.
Somehow Void broke through the illusion.'
Kheru was revising the whole situation once again, feeling her pride taking a hit; her jaw hardened in anger.
At that moment, Kheru reached for Void and stood beside him.
Ignoring Volefor, Void took a step back, standing behind Kheru, blending within her shadow.
She turned her gaze towards Void.
"What is happening over there?"
She asked in a composed voice.
"A bloody battle, but we held out well."
He said it briefly, which caused both Volefor and Kheru to react with different demeanors.
"Held?"
"Bloody?"
Both spoke at the same time, asking about what caused them to feel worried.
At that absurd statement, Volefor's face grimaced.
"Indeed, I have wasted too much of my time."
With this statement, Volefor vanished from their sight, but so did Void.