Abnormal 3

Even though its speed was on par with my own previously, now it appeared painfully slow. Midnight had enhanced everything about my physical form, from my speed to my strength and, most of all, my durability. I felt like it would take a meteorite to harm me, which is a level of arrogance that was harmful to not only me but also those who would soon be around me. 'I should know better... I still need to focus on not letting myself get hit, even if I feel like I could handle it.' I thought, trying to shake the arrogant train of thought away from my mind.

"Heads up, it's coming." Midnight said casually. Not a hint of worry coming from the detached grating voice.

Locking my gaze on the creature's movements, I got into a battle stance prepared for the impending attack. Not only that, I finally decided to employ my aura in this battle. Feeling the familiar chilling air envelope me was comforting like an old friend had wrapped me in a soft embrace. Focusing a bit more, I expanded the circumference of my aura to five meters all around me, making the ground and corpses freeze instantly upon contact.

After a few seconds, I heard the sound of ice breaking in front of me as the towering beast furiously approached me. With a casual flick of my wrist, a pillar of solid ice assaulted its already wounded leg, I did this in hopes of making the damn thing fall over. However, it just pushed through, shattering the formidable ice pillar into a bunch of glass-like shards as though it was nothing but a nuisance.

'Alright, if that won't slow you down. I'll just cut the fucking leg off!'

Straining my now rejuvenated and strengthened muscles I pushed off the ground in a whirlwind, the simple movement had made my previous speed seem like a child sprinting at a playground. It was jarring and disorienting trying to keep my senses about me while moving so fast.

Thankfully I had my aura to assist my senses since the creature was now within its icy field making the short burst more controllable in the chaos assaulting my mind. Navigating the blur that was my surroundings I finally came to an abrupt stop directly beside the injured leg, the sudden stop caused my entire body to groan. Thankfully the physical enhancements midnight provided me were more than enough to counteract the pain of the movement.

Focusing as much essence and ice as I could around eclipse, I swung the blade with my full might not holding anything back. I had expected the blade to slice cleanly through the inky black flesh, but I couldn't have been more wrong. Only embedding halfway into the leg it stopped, causing my arms to creak loudly. "Come the fuck on, how is this even possible!" I said in frustration.

Feeling the blade lodged inside of it, the beast looked down on me from its ridiculous height, that familiar bestial grin plastered on its horrific face. Taking a panicked breath I tried pulling the blade from the beast's tough hide, but eclipse wouldn't budge. Midnight sensing my distress took more essence from my reserve, so it could minimize the damage about to befall me.

"Boom!!!"

The blow hadn't sent me flying this time like the previous two, instead, I was forced into the ground where I was standing. My body was twisted grotesquely my arms and legs twisted in directions that weren't natural. I didn't feel any pain though which was odd considering the extent that my body appeared to be damaged. "What the hell..."

"It's because I'm nullifying your pain receptors." Midnight stated matter-of-factly.

"Give me just a moment and all your wounds will be fixed as well, of course, it'll take more essence but you don't mind right?"

"No, right now that doesn't matter. What matters is getting eclipse back and stopping that damn thing." I said back, my tone was hateful. I hated feeling like I could finally do something only to end up the same.

"I don't understand why she is so important to you, she's flawed. Just a fragment of her past self and previous power, honestly she's not even worth wielding ranika." Midnight said bluntly.

"That's....not important right now. We can discuss that after killing the creature in front of us."

"Very well."

Feeling my limbs twist back to their normal state should have been a painful experience, hell it should have been traumatizing. However, it was a smooth and almost easy process, I'm sure it'll still leave a scar on my psyche one way or another.

No one is meant to take this kind of severe damage and heal multiple times over without a bit of problem arising. After midnight finished healing me I stood back up, looking up at the titan I saw eclipse glowing dimly in its leg. Her light was about to run out as the store of the essence I had fed her wasn't enough to sustain herself away from me.

Leaning over, I took a sprinters starting position, stretching my legs out and tentatively flexing the muscles throughout them I mentally prepared myself for the second burst of insane speed I was going to attempt again. 'With one more burst, if I time it right...I should have enough momentum to rip eclipse free.' I thought as the process started. Essence flooded the muscle fibers in my legs soaking them in an ethereal power, making them quake. I let the pressure build until it felt like my legs would burst themselves wide open, and then I moved.

The world had become the familiar and disorienting blur it had been before, but this time I felt more in control like this was now second nature to me. Utilizing this newfound perspective I was able to navigate the movement more easily, and in the blink of an eye, I was holding eclipse again. This time though instead of halting myself like before, I let my body continue forward while gripping the handle with every fiber of my being.

"Agh!!!"

A scream had begun to tear from my throat as the counteracting forces fought each other, the beast's tough hide and my will to cut it. The feeling of flesh being cut away had finally reached me as eclipse began to move, it was a smooth cutting sensation. It was more of aking to cutting something with a dull knife. With a final push, eclipse was wrenched free, landing in front of the large titan I stood mentally exhausted. Holding my focus even for the brief few seconds I was in that state was like torture.

" y-...came ba-..f-...me." a broken yet melodic voice spoke out, it was hard to discern what it was saying but the emotion behind it was clear.

"Of course, I wouldn't leave you behind eclipse," I said gently, a smile tugging on my lips.

As I spoke, the titan had begun to stumble, the strength of its now cut leg unable to support its gargantuan body. A guttural roar rang out as it fell, and the ground shook upon its impact. With a confident smirk, I couldn't help but taunt it just a bit further.

"Where's that smile now? Huh asshole?"

The abnormal creature gave me a piercing look of hatred as it now realized it was finally at a level where I could attack freely. Not wanting to give it time to collect itself, I rushed in with my blade becoming a flurry of strikes and slashes. The wounds weren't deep, and I knew they wouldn't be fatal, but stacking a bunch of small wounds on top of each other would be a different story. The beast swung out with its arms trying to hit me, but now that I had the upper hand, landing a strike against me was almost impossible. Moving with graceful and fluid motion, it felt like I was dancing around its attacks while delivering my own.

The beast had slowed down, and its breathing was becoming ragged. The pool of blood below it had started as a puddle was now starting to form a lake from the amount of wounds I inflicted. I glanced at my sword. Its once silver sheen was now covered in blood dulling its radiance, and my armor had become a harrowing redish-black. With my essence nearly spent I decided to try and finish this quickly, placing myself in the familiar starting position I once again began circulating the essence to my legs but this time I also forced it into my arms to strengthen them.

Bursting forward, I aimed for the creature's neck. My control over the speed had decreased with the added fatigue. I wasn't completely out of control yet, though, raising my blade with finality, I sliced with all I could against the creature's skin breaking it. As the blade drove deeper into its flesh, a torrent of blood followed in my wake. Then, with a final stroke, it was done. Landing on the hard ground, my legs were trembling, and I was utterly exhausted. 'Please just fucking die...' I thought tiredly.

The once intimidating titan fell face-first onto the ground with a "thud". The bright scarlet eyes were now dull and lifeless, and its dark black hide now looked grey. I should've felt elated at the sight, but instead, I was left hollow and exhausted.

"That took you far too long boy." Midnight chided.

"Look...you fight a great creature solo and finish it quickly then I'll listen to your insults," I said with a sneer.

"Y-yo...did..w-well.." the soft voice of eclipse said, a hint of pride in her broken sentence.

"What...the fuck happened here?" A charming voice said from behind me.

"Hey gram...how's tatiana holding up?" I asked breathlessly.

"She's going to be ok, but seriously what the hell happened and why does your armor look like that?"

"Oh, nothing major. Just killed a great creature by myself and my armor is a relic so of course it looks different. I'm happy to hear tatiana is going to be ok though.."

'That's a relief..I was worried for the brash woman. Thankfully it seems she won't die, however, I doubt she'll be the same..' I thought to myself.

"While I'd like more details about the battle it'll have to wait, there's so much clean-up that needs to be done and the wounded need tended to." Gram said with a clear sense of direction.

"Yeah you're rig-" my voice cut away as I faded into unconsciousness falling to the ground. My exhaustion caught up with me, midnight seeing this retracted itself coalescing back onto my left arm as it had been previously. Eclipse lay next to me, her light suddenly extinguished. Gram seeing this rushed over, yelling for others to come assist him in carrying me and the sword back into the walls.

As one of the soldiers picked up eclipse everyone was left stunned, and the sword began to glow brightly.

"P-put me d-down!!" The melodic voice yelled, the touch of another that wasn't ranika on her handle making her feel disgusted.

"What in the goddess is this thing..." the soldier asked bewildered.

"Never mind it for now, just wrap it in a scabbard and bring it with us. Ranika needs medical attention. Let's go." Gram said with authority, turning to leave without another word.

'I need to speak with ranika...' eclipse said to herself inwardly, as the man sheathed her.