Pierce with Death

Child of Shadow

Chapter 2 - Pierce with Death

By theMadLad

The storm raged like no other, with countless tornadoes coalesced together into an impenetrable curtain of windy death. Feeling the sudden change of airflow alert my instincts, I hopped over a wave, diving under a shadow as a barbed claw swiped by in an attempt to behead me.

Resurfacing elsewhere with faintly glowing eyes, I glimpsed through the surroundings with ease. It was pitch black within the storm, just how I liked it.

My Sacred Gear, Night Reflection, reached its peak in power under these circumstances and with only the darkness surrounding me, the storm was no longer the domain of the Curruid… it was mine.

Thousands of tendrils made of shadows erupted from the storm's walls, with a few becoming shaped into hands which then wrapped around the monster's form, holding it in place. While the others turned into various weapons, with spears, swords, and axes all ready to seek out its blood, waiting to strike in between the plates of its bony armor.

Finally a giant mallet hidden within the black clouds above converged over the Curruid, ready to bludgeon it to death as a final move. But, just as everything was down to its final moments… an instantaneous beam of light erupted into the storm, tearing the curtain of darkness asunder and bathing me in light.

"—Who the fuck?!" I yelled out in response to the intrusion, voicing both surprise and rage at the sudden move that just cucked me! I was about to win!

I watched with my jaw hanging freely as the rays of light deeply affected my shadows, acting as their anatema by turning their overpoweringly lethal final move into barely a shade of its former self.

Someone just had to destroy my entire strategy, don't they know how long I have been preparing for this moment!?

I tsk'd in frustration as the monster took advantage of my weakened attack, sending a tsunami of water towards me with the intent to kill.

With my main plan of attack gone—I needed to compensate.

I heightened my senses in preparation, rousing my fighting spirit further as I set my heart ablaze. The faint shimmering aura over my skin doubled in density, coiling my muscles and empowering my body with the strength of over a hundred men.

The faint noise of my grip tightening over the shaft of my spear was the only signal for what came next.

—Instantly my arm shot out, ripping the air apart as it screeched from the force of my swing. My spear impacted the tsunami's tyrannical wave, easily disbursing it with the power of my attack as it exploded in a torrent of rain over my form, but I didn't stop there.

I charged forward, using the momentum to relentlessly pursue the monster which casually unleashed such a powerful move. With a mighty lunge that cleared the distance between us in an instant, the tip of my spear burrowed into the beast, slicing into flesh and devouring its blood.

And then I did it again. And then again. And again, and again. My arm was pulling back and thrusting forth at such a speed that it left afterimages in its wake as I tacked hundreds of vicious blows into the beast within the span of a single second.

In response the Curruid roared in hatred and pain, and with that roar came a tornado billowing from its jaws that could have easily been referred to as an F5 or more on the Fujita Scale.

But this one was different from all the ones prior—it was far more powerful and entrenched in palpable magical energy. I would not be able to easily disperse it like the others, hell, it might even kill me if I'm not careful enough.

…I smirked from the thought as my blood boiled in excitement. I was a celt now after all, and battle… it was in my blood and above all else, I would never turn back from a challenge.

I felt the wind's fierce blades attempt to shred into my skin, but it was halted by the layered protections of manifested fighting spirit and protective runes that were defending me.

…But that didn't stop the bulldozing windy funnel of death from continuing towards me with the speed and force of a subsonic maglift train that had flown off the rails—intent on exploding me into red misty remains.

The might of the tornado's wind, which had long reached the triple digits of speed measurement, eclipsed any noise in the surroundings… bringing only fear and anxiety with the compounding force of deadly winds. But, I grit my teeth before pushing on regardless—I wouldn't allow myself to die here!

My free hand reached outwards, pointing a glowing fingertip towards an imaginary canvas held up by an empty sky before inscribing four mana induced runes onto it.

— ᛏᚺᛉᛇ —

The runes were ones I displayed specifically to stave off the attack, with the rune Tiwaz (ᛏ) representing the God of the Sky, Tyr, and tying the forces of wind to the rest of the runic sequence. It was then followed up by Hagalaz (ᚺ), Algiz (ᛉ), and Eihwaz (ᛇ), representing nature and its wrath, protection and defense, and then strength and dependability respectively.

The rune chain formed into a faint corporeal shield which tied these various concepts together into a layer of defense specifically made for such an attack.

The cone of raging air exploded onto the faint shield with thunderous force, causing the surroundings to be hit by a shock wave containing the strength of a hundred bombs. I felt the sheer loudness of the impact pierce my defenses, puncturing through my fighting spirit and leaving my ears a silenced, bloody mess.

But the shield held.

I didn't wait to see, instead choosing to escape into my shadows before reappearing by the storm's walls. I was deaf at the moment, with the pain of my exploded eardrums bringing dizziness to my head while exhaustion swelled within my body.

I took a moment to catch my breath, slithering within the shadows as I prepared my next attack.

A few more runes were spelled out by my hand before being forced onto my body, they were Laguz (ᛚ), Sowilo (ᛊ), and Mannaz (ᛗ) which represented healing, life, and self. They came together to form a healing spell that quickly repaired my ringing ears and cleared my head, bringing along a clear injection of stamina as well.

A sigh of relief left my lips as I took a deep breath while gripping my bronze spear. This was the harshest battle of my life so far, with the Curruid easily being within Ultimate-Class.

But I was Connla.

Although I always remembered him as Cú Chulainn's dead son, and that weird edgy fucker from DxD who wears sunglasses indoors… that opinion has dramatically changed. After I became that very same edgy fucker and, unlike him, truely inherited Connla's memories and abilities—I realized what a fucking monster Connla was.

To put into perspective, Cú Chulainn was the divine son of Lugh, and the greatest warrior to ever walk among the Celts. At age 5, the young Cú Chulainn defeated over 150 other children at the same time, at the age of 6, he killed Culann's watchdog which was said to have the strength of a hundred hounds, and at the age of 7, he was able to throw a stone from a sling with enough force to kill over 500 men.

This was before he trained under Scáthach. Finally, when Cú Chulainn was in his 20s and in his absolute prime after already having defeated the greatest warriors of Ireland and holding back entire armies, he faced Connla, his only son, in battle.

—And lost.

When Connla arrived in Ireland, he soon defeated all the warriors of the land in both one-on-one combat and against multiple foes at the same time, including Conall Cernach, one of Cú Chulainn's greatest rivals and friends.

It's important to note that Conall Cernach was also one of Ireland's greatest and most legendary heroes, and during his duel with Connla he was not only easily defeated, but directly humiliated through being disarmed as well.

It was only after this that he was challenged by Cú Chulainn in a duel to the death, where they faced off until Connla was killed.

While Cú Chulainn technically won, it wasn't a true victory, as towards the end of the battle, Connla, who was winning, realized that Cú Chulainn was his father and held back a killing blow. Taking advantage of the opportunity, Cú Chulainn—out of desperation—used a never-before-seen special technique that Scáthach had never taught Connla to kill him with Gae Bolg.

So to sum it up, to defeat Connla—Cú Chulainn, the Child of Light, Greatest Celtic Warrior, and Fucking Irish Hercules, not only needed to have Connla hold back, but also had to use a secret technique that Scáthach had taught only to him.

…and this all took place when Connla was only 8-fucking-years-old.

Connla wasn't just a genius, he was a true monster amongst monsters, with these events taking place not only during the age when gods still freely roamed the land, but also in the extremely warrior oriented Celtic society.

It was highly likely that he was one of the most talented people to ever walk the earth.

…and I inherited all of that.

So I wouldn't allow myself to lose. Connla deserved to shine, that eight-year-old boy with talent like no other deserved a legend.

That's why I took on his name.

With that thought in mind, a single rune spun in my hand before embedding itself into my body, it was Uruz (ᚢ), which represented oxes, physical strength, speed, and energy.

I felt reinforcement hit my bones and muscles, bringing with it strength like no other to my body. From there I further enhanced myself by calling up my fighting spirit, which was greater than ever as I prepared my final move.

With a monumental effort, I overcame the detriment the light gave my Sacred Gear and sent out thousands of weapons made of pitch-black shadows that erupted from the storm's walls in a desperate attack towards the Curruid. The beast roared in anger seeing my offensive, sending blasts of air and typhoons of water in response.

But I was nowhere to be found.

I soon erupted from the shadows out of view from the monster, with a string of runes cascading beneath my feet.

— ᛏᚢᛁᛇᛖᛚ —

This rune chain inscribed beneath the soles of my shoes was what was allowing me to run on water, and now air as well. For this particular spell to work, Tiwaz (ᛏ), the rune representing the sky god must be placed closest to my toes, while Isa (ᛁ), the rune representing the concepts of Ice and Stillness needed to be placed below all the others.

With these two, along with the rest of the runes working in tandem beneath my feet, I was able to make small platforms to step on as I moved.

I quickly approached the sea monster, sprinting across the sky and almost instantly reaching my destination. By the time the Curruid noticed me—it was already too late. With my Sacred Gear working at full capacity to distract and stall it… the Curruid was unable to react in time.

My feet embedded into the floating ground below as I prepared my stance, with one foot stretched outwards ahead and the other forked into the ground by the toes. I held the bronze shaft of my spear with my dominant hand by its balancing point, before using my other hand to point perpendicular towards my target to aim.

It was the recreation of a technique that Connla had glimpsed upon death, a killing blow ingrained into the psyche of my predecessor.

My forehead glowed a faint brightness as two runes sprouted from it. The first was Kenaz (ᚲ), the Rune of beacons, vision, revelation, and technical ability. Used alone it allowed one to have a form of clairvoyance, but when used together with Ansuz (ᚨ), the Rune of the Odin, revealing messages, insight, truth, wisdom, signals, and true vision, it allowed one to grasp things unseen.

—Like the heart of a sea monster which was hidden within its bony exterior and magically saturated flesh.

And with that sight brought into my mind's eye, my next course of action continued. There multiple runes came up to surround my spear, starting with Ehwaz (ᛖ), Perthro (ᛈ), and an inverted Nauthiz (ᚾ) as a runic chain. Ehwaz confirmed movement and transportation, Pethro allowed one to grasp destiny and determine the future, while Nauthiz when reversed restrained freedom.

These set of runes allowed me to home in on a target while briefly freezing it in its path, practically guaranteeing a sure hit. They were crucial for my next and final move.

The reversal of cause and effect.

The final rune chain appeared, bringing a bright glow to my spear as I began to thrust. The first rune of the sequence was Jera (ᛃ), representing time and universal cycles, it was then connected to a second, opposite Jera (ᛃ), that represented setbacks, reversals, conflicts, and major changes through Gebo (ᚷ), which represented contracts and exchanges.

These three runes were used to reverse time between two concepts. These concepts were defined as cause and effect through the use of three more runes, specifically Raidho (ᚱ), Laguz (ᛚ), Nauthiz(ᚾ). Raidho in this case represented the decision to make a move, while Laguz represented flow and imagination, before finishing off by linking with Nauthiz which represented the recognition of fate.

Finally, the six runes melded into ᛃᚷᛃᚱᛚᚾ, a rune chain that when brought together, could reverse causality.

Then, using all three runic chains in tandem, I first located the beast's heart before homing onto it and thrusting the spear forward, causing the Curruid to become paralyzed in place.Then, using the reversal of cause and effect, the action of me thrusting the spear before striking the target reversed and turned into: the target was struck, so the spear must have been thrust.

All of this happened in an instant, with the last thing the Curruid would hear being the sound of my voice somehow triumphing over the turbulent orchestra of wind and rain.

"…Pierce with Death

—Cletiné!"

With my whole body undergoing a fierce movement, I rolled all of my muscles alongside each other into a single point of power and the next moment, the spear flew from my hand, enhanced by the strength of my fighting spirit alongside multiple reinforced runes.

I didn't even have time to blink as the spear disappeared, before reappearing at the center of Curruid's chest, with only a sudden bellow of pain signifying that its heart had been pierced. However, I had watched with my mind's eye as the bronze spear pierced the beast's heart, imploding it into bloody chunks from within.

The beast cried out as it tumbled to the sea below as a corpse, with its death dispersing the storm and its monumental body leaving one last tsunami in the wake of its collapse.

I was exhausted from the fight, but there was no doubt that satisfaction filled my body as endorphins flooded my brain.

I had succeeded.

A moment later the bronze spear returned to my hand, and unfortunately for me, it was partially destroyed as the bloody bronze tip had folded into itself. I was a bit disappointed that it couldn't survive the blow, but the spear was rather subpar when compared to other magic weapons so it was understandable.

It was a bronze spear that Cú Chulainn had once used in his youth named Cletiné, meaning Little Spear. It was discarded by him after Mebd took a fancy to it and sent a bard to request it from him as Cú Chulainn, like the dumbass he was, had one of his numerous vows and geass he was under be that he could not refuse the request of a poet.

But, as Cú Chulainn rather liked the spear, he was quite enraged by the request. And in that rage, he flung the spear through the bard's head and into a stream some distance away, breaking the spear's tip with the force of the impact.

I personally thought of it as a bit of an overreaction… but since it led to me eventually acquiring it in a rather ironic way, I couldn't bring myself to care much.

With a sigh of pity, a tendril of shadow rose up before wrapping itself around the broken bronze spear, absorbing it and deposited the spear into my shadow. My Sacred Gear, while not overtly overpowering, was still rather versatile.

I slowly walked towards the Curruid's corpse, going down invisible steps as I approached. As I hit the water, I outstretched a palm to the sea before taking a deep breath and focusing inward. A moment later, a large shadow erupted from under my hand, overtaking the sea and drowning the Curruid within, stealing it from the watery depths below and banshing it to my personal shadow realm.

As it finished entering my shadow, the brief boost of power from the runes I placed disappeared, causing me to stumble from the sudden fatigue and with my dwindling fighting spirit and exhausted mana reserves unable to compensate for it—I was on a collision course with the waves below.

Thankfully it seemed like two large pillows caught me.

…and they felt heavenly.

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Author's Notes

Here is chapter two, I hope you enjoyed it! Connla is hella overlooked don't you think?

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