143 Unnamed

I opened my eyes. The world around me was the same as it had been for the last few days. The once vibrant atmosphere was gone, replaced by a dull world devoid of energy.

I was not in another world, or a different dimension. I was not in a dungeon, or the inverted tower. My feet were planted firmly on Kaos.

In front of me stood a young Yufai. He was no older than twelve years old, and yet he towered above me. He held a great sword in his hands, and wore a condensing look on his face.

He sneared as he approached me. The greatsword swinging at a speed that my eyes could not follow. I reacted instinctively, barely managing to bring the great sword in my hands up in time to block the blow.

I was not given time to rest, as the blow was immediately followed by another. I was unable to block this attack, as a large gash appeared on my torso. Blood flowed freely from the wound that was already healing. A sense of obscene pleasure spread through my body as pain radiated from the wound.

The exhilaration acted as a focal point causing my mind to feel sharper. Another blow was headed towards me. This attack was not as kind, its trajectory headed straight for my neck. I would be unable to block this attack, and the reach of the great sword was far to much for me to easily dodge.

I was left with only a single option, I bent my knees and leaned as far back as I could. I narrowly escaped the slash, but the attack in itself was a trap as a large foot impacted my chest. I was sent flying by the kick, and soon found myself laying on my back.

I stared up at the sky. I had managed to last for 3 seconds against this child. His abilities were below mine, but his battle sense and talent with the sword was far above my own. In any other society he would be considered a prodigies, but here with the Yufai, he could only be considered average.

I sighed. It is not that I have not made progress in the last few days. At first I was not even able to last against the first attack. Perhaps If I had been someone else I would have given up. Perhaps if it had been before my evolution I would have just walked away. But now, now I did not have that luxury. When I had cast aside the mantle of the forgotten I had lost a large portion of my ability.

I no longer had a boost to my ability. I had lost my various titles and talents. I was left once again with only the barest of skills. The mantle of the forgotten had been what allowed me to become a master with firearms. It was through this that I had gained firearm mastery. But it was now gone. It is true that I would slowly be able to learn it again, but I found that my Arcane bullet was gone as well.

I would be able to relearn these, but it would take time and energy. This is time and energy that I did not have. The cuffs on my wrists prevented me from using my magic, so even if I maintained these skills they would be useless to the current me.

I raised my hand in front of my face. It was small, much smaller than it had been previously. It hand four fingers and a thumb. There were no claws at the end. The only things that stood out about it were how small it was, and the green flesh.

I sighed. After all this time I had once again become a goblin. I was not a normal goblin, but still I was a goblin. Scales coverd the majority of my body. And two large bone white horns ran down my skull. I had evolved into what was called a draconic goblin, and I somehow knew this would be the last time I evolved.

The form I had seemed to be a combination of the four forms I had previously. I was taller than a normal goblin, but much shorter than an elf or human. I stood roughly four and half feet tall. My hair was a dirty blond and was extremely short. The only part that had any length was a Mohawk like hairstyle that protruded from between my horns. My eyes maintained the same green they always had.

I had not obtained any new abilities with my new form, but my racial abilities from my old forms had been strengthened. They were roughly twice as powerful as before.

I sighed as I struggled to once again get to my feet. I could only endlessly get knocked down by the child before me. But Each time I got knocked down I would learn a little more. Each time I lost I would be able to last for a fraction of a second longer against against the punk before me.

I had no choice but to advance forward. There was no going back. The gods seemed intent on putting my on the path I had chosen, as any chance of retreat had been obliterated. I would normally struggle in vain against such a fate, but this was a fate that had happened because of my own choices. This was a fate that only existed because I wanted it to.

I lifted the sword as I looked at the boy in front of me. I did not wait for him to attack, as I charged forward with all of the determination I had. I swung my sword fiercely at the boy, knowing full well he would dodge the attack. But what choice did I have? I could only struggle to improve.