Boar Hunt (2)

"First Form—Black Death!"

Evan's eyes slowly turned darker and darker until they appeared pitch black, sucking the surrounding light in like two bottomless holes.

At the same time, a black hue sprung from his body, enveloping him in a swirl of darkness as his appearance radiated sovereignty and absolute control.

'First Form—Horizon's Dash!'

Gripping his sword tightly, Evan got into stance as the by-product of activating two different arts manifested itself into existence.

With his figure blurring, the speed he travelled at increased as minute cracks snaked across the ground from the sudden force of his acceleration.

Raising his sword in the air, he swung forwards as the blade arced beautifully in an eerie display of dark and red. The boar's berserk eyes shined a bright red as it generated power from its hind lings propelling itself upwards to block the blow with its tusks.

Clang!

A shockwave rang out as the blade and tusks collided with each other, jolting Evan's arm as he gritted his teeth, resisting the urge to cry out in pain from the rebound force.

Gazing at the result of his efforts, his eyes turned grim. His earlier strike only caused a few scratches to appear on the boar's tusk. With it coming out relatively unscathed.

Taking a deep breath to push down the nerves that were threatening to engulf him whole, Evan's eyes burned. They burned with such ferocity that the boar clearly faltered, almost responding to its sharp instincts.

'34%, 58%, 73%, 90%.'

Activating his mana vision, he saw the greyish-black particles swirling with great speed in response to the activation of the first form of the Demon Reaper Art.

Willing those particles to enter his body, he witnessed them start circulating through his pathways instinctively. After what he felt to be a sufficient number of Ki particles, Evan concentrated as the greyish-black particles began vibrating.

As the particles continued vibrating at a greater frequency, Evan felt a rush of strength course through his body. Feeling invigorated, he sheathed his sword back in its scabbard.

Placing it back inside his storage ring, his eyes became unyielding. Bellowing once more, he sprinted as the boar charged forwards, seeing its prey rushing up to it.

'100%'

With one final vibration, the Ki particles created an overwhelming force which strengthened Evan's body several folds.

The black hue surrounding his body burgeoned before rising up with great intensity, covering the radius of a meter surrounding him in a tsunami of darkness.

A humming sound began to proliferate from his body as he tensed, dashing forward like a shooting star. The humming reached a crescendo as he completed one last stride before he punched out toward the boar's skull.

Feeling the extreme danger, the bloodshot eyes of the boar turned even redder as a shriek escaped from its mouth, spurring its body into action.

A red glow began to emanate from its tusks, encasing them in a solid membrane of bloodlust as it pierced forwards with its razor-sharp elongated tooth meeting Evan's strike head-on.

Bang!

As both strikes met, a deadly silence permeated throughout the area, displaying the calm before the storm. A second later, the silence shattered as an ear-piercing explosion rang out, causing a cloud of dust to form.

As the dust settled, it lay the condition of both Evan and the boar bare to see.

For Evan, his condition declined slightly as he wore a pained grimace, with the black hue swirling around his body dimming by a considerable amount. The boar's condition was worse, however.

Blood matted its face as only one of its eyes was open, with the other one pierced by a white shard of bone. A red stream was steadily flowing out of the wound as it shrieked in pain.

That was not all, as the boar's tusk splintered into many pieces, which pierced the boar in non-vital areas, causing a few shallow wounds.

With the loss of its tusks, the boar's combat strength decreased by a large margin. Gazing toward the human opposite it with hate apparent in its eyes, the boar pounced forwards, ready to eviscerate its enemy into shreds.

Panting from the exertion of the battle, Evan saw the boar let go of all its inhibitions, determined to bring him down with it even at the cost of its own life. Donning a serious look, he watched his enemy charge with careless abandon.

Positioning his body in the correct stance, he closed his eyes and waited, all the whilst taking huge gulps of air to continue fueling his body in this strenuous twirl of combat.

Visualizing the mana in his body rushing through his pathways like water in a rapid, he scrunched his brows in concentration.

As the cerulean mana started to course through the mana pathways, its speed increased after every circulation. Controlling the mythical energy in his body to continue circulating, Evan felt his body begin to boil.

'Shit! I'm breaking through!'

The breakthrough was completely natural and couldn't be forcefully stopped unless one wanted to experience severe side effects ranging from the crippling of the body to a painful death as the mana went on a rampage internally.

A feeling of panic began bubbling up, overwhelming Evan as his concentration broke, forcing his eyes open. Staring at the boar which was now within a 2-meter radius of him, the primal fear of being at death's door assaulted him.

Helplessness filled Evan's eyes as the feeling that he hated most ever since he was betrayed sprung up again, enshrouding his whole body.

'Is this it? Is this what I amounted to in the end, huh?' he thought with stark resignation.

As his thoughts drifted to the events of the past, he saw the warm, caring gaze of his mother and the stalwart and dependable shoulders of his father flash through his eyes.

Remembering the heated gazes of passion from the other members of the family as well as the indifferent but prideful gaze of the man at the apex of the world, Evan's psyche was on the verge of crumbling.

Feeling his heart swell with pain after recalling all these memories, he roared in his mind as a tiny spark of indignation ignited, flickering weakly.

'Argh! I will not let myself die at the hands of some stupid monster!'

Roaring with greater vigour, Evan strained his mind to the maximum, desperately trying to come up with a solution.

Alas, every possible method he thought of was useless, as all of them ended in one thing. His death.

In his vision, time seemed to slow to a crawl as the boar's jaw came closer and closer to his face.

It was at that moment that the sound of cracking resounded in his mind as an ancient aura appeared around him, freezing the world.

Feeling the aura, Evan strangely didn't feel uncomfortable. Instead, he felt as if he was right where he belonged.

Turning his sight inwards, he found an azure ball tightly wrapped in chains rotating slowly in its place in the recesses of his mind.

Suddenly, an extremely aged voice rang out, startling him.

"The flowing river of fate encompasses all. However, it is not omniscient. Use this inheritance to achieve your goals, young mortal. Make the universe your stage, heir of the Yivris."

Sighing, the ancient and time-worn voice subsided as cracks appeared on the chains sealing the azure ball. The chains continued cracking until finally; they were no more as they dissipated, leaving no mark of their existence.

Finally, free of the chains, the azure ball released a bright wave of light that spread across all of his body.

As the wave of light washed over his body, the flow of time returned to normal as Evan's dark eyes receded and the blinding gold light of his pupils glimmered dazzlingly against the twilight sky.