Arcane Danger

Surgit rose to find the blue lantern again. His alter-self had grown quiet. He'd led him to a stupid death. The hunter couldn't get angry at him though. It was his fault for listening to him. He collected himself and headed for the plaza, outside the observatory. He wasn't going to let the monster inside of him alter his plans. A new death was a new opportunity to retry his training before he got rid of the spider.

He attracted the monsters' attention and led them under the Lunarium. The plan was to fend off the monsters without thinking of the plan, and without getting hit. He avoided all attacks, some by a hair's width, and slaughtered all the enemies, including the stray near the auxiliary entrance.

He was ready.

He walked by Master Willem, who was still rocking on his wooden chair, and jumped into the moon reflection. Water broke under his feet and he found himself standing on top of the shallow lake. Rom stood several paces away from him. No spiders surrounded the beast. Surgit knew that it took only one hit for the vacuous spider to summon its underlings.

So the hunter ran and slashed the gigantic mouse with tiny feet. Rom screeched and curled up, trying to teleport away. Surgit wouldn't have it. He kept swinging his sword until the weapon hit the air. Rom appeared in the spot where Surgit had landed, surrounded by multiple spiders. Their heads were gray and scaly. Hitting them was akin to beating on stone.

Surgit had to avoid that.

'Rom won't attack until I get it to disappear twice,' he thought as he dashed toward the little creatures. 'All I gotta do is kill the spiders, then give it hell once we're all alone.'

The situation was similar to his training. He ran to the beasts, let them surround him. These were faster and deadlier than the flies. Their hardened heads could pierce the ground. One hit would severely damage him and slow him down. Their pointy legs were as sharp as his sword. He couldn't risk taking a hit.

The monsters swarmed him and the hunter danced around them, slashing and thrusting. The trick was to not apply too much strength to his swings. Wasted energy meant that he'd leave himself open for retaliation. He needed to attack, handicap and step back. If Surgit had one thing in abundance, it was time. But he didn't allow himself that either. He didn't want to get sloppy. He needed to be ready for the third teleport.

He'd wait until the spiders were close to pummeling him with their heads to jump away and perform a downward slash. The tactic was effective. If he didn't kill the creature, at least he slowed it down. In two minutes' time, he had eradicated the little pests.

"Now," he turned to look at the vacuous spider, "it's time I learnt from my alter-self."

Surgit threw his sword onto his back and inside the hammer's hilt. He attached the sword to the big slab of stone and held the Kirkhammer in both hands.

"Let's see," he said to no one in particular. "How did he do it again?"

The hunter tried to recall the fight against the woman who intercepted them at the observatory. Although Surgit didn't actively take part in the earlier fight, he had a firsthand experience launching that shockwave. He was inside his own body, albeit not in control. Rom stood there, it didn't seem to be bothered by the lack of underlings around it.

"It felt like extending my whole being to the sword," he murmured. "The beasts I've encountered since the Forbidden Woods seemed to have something similar, some extraordinary power. Since "he" did it, that must mean I can."

Surgit closed his eyes and concentrated on the Kirkhammer in his hands. He tried to mentally picture it, down to its smallest detail. He'd been using this weapon for too long, especially during his training. He knew its weight, how it handled. He knew how much strength was required to knock down, and how much was required to flatten the enemy.

He tightened his grip and loosened it. The leather strips around the hilt were used, tattered. Slowly, a picture started forming.

'Not bad,' the beast inside said.

Surgit didn't answer. He concentrated harder. He needed to have a full picture. He started thinking of the hammer, of the large marble slab attached to his sword. There were some engravings on it. Although he didn't know what they meant, he at least knew what they looked like. His head started throbbing. He didn't expect this action to be so strenuous. But he pushed on and kept forming a mental image, until the Kirkhammer appeared clearly in his mind's eye.

Surgit didn't need to open his eyes. He was using his insight. He could see the ghostly shape of Rom ahead of him. He could see the aura surrounding his weapon. It had a clear blue color; almost as clear as the coating he could apply using the empty Phantasm shells.

The hunter tightened his grip and swung forward. The hammer moved, lighter than ever before. To Surgit's surprise, a light blue color followed the movement and flew sideways. It disappeared two paces away from him.

'You have to direct it toward your enemy stupid,' the beast commented.

Surgit ignored him. His headache suddenly got worse. He felt blood trickling down his ears and nose. He opened his eyes and for a moment, he felt dizzy. The world he could see with his own, physical, eyes was completely different from the one his mind's eye showed.

"I can't use this for long," he swore under his breath.

The difficulty of the task frustrated and excited him at the same time. On one hand, he knew he could use the attack. On the other, he knew that it required more finesse, technique and knowledge. Knowledge he didn't have. He couldn't use it on Rom yet. But if he could master it, he'd grow in strength exponentially.

"What if?" he said, a nasty grin formed on his face.

He approached the vacuous spider but didn't attack. He was in range to hit the beast with his hammer. He closed his eyes and activated his insight. He fought the headache and urged himself to sustain the bleeding. The hammer gave a bright blue glow.

'Not yet,' he urged himself. The beast inside of him hissed and jeered but he ignored it.

The hammer glowed brighter. Surgit's hands started shaking. His knees threatened to give up but he urged them to be patient. 'Just a little longer,' he mentally noted. 'Just a little longer…'

The hammer's color started darkening. His head felt as though it was about to burst. Surgit couldn't take it any longer. He swung his hammer in a downward motion. Rom gave deafening screech then curled into a ball. When the hunter opened his eyes, the vacuous spider had teleported. Countless spiders fell from the sky and surrounded their boss. Surgit fell to his knees, breathless.

His vision was blurry and his heartbeat faint. It felt as though his heart had swollen, beating slowly and awkwardly. But he was happy. One hit and the monster ran away. It took a lot of time to prepare but he could pull it off with Rom.

'Not after this phase,' the monster reminded him.

'Shut up!' Surgit snapped.

He took two blood vials and injected them at once. The buzzing in his head stopped and his heartbeat returned to normal. He stood up but his head was still throbbing. The vials had a weakness after all. They could heal the body but not the mind. Surgit had put too much strain on his. He had to suffer the consequences.

'Good luck,' the beast sneered.

'Shut up!' Surgit snapped.

The little spiders didn't come for him. They circled their boss, waiting for the hunter to approach. Surgit didn't feel like fighting anymore, not with this head splitting pain. But he had to endure. He had a way to finish the beast quickly. He had to try. He had to get it over with. He struggled to get on his feet and move. Every step he took felt like a nail embedded in his temples. He fought the pain, urging his body to endure.

'Accept the pain,' he mentally repeated. 'Endure it, overcome it…'

He reached the spiders and the little pests started dancing around him. They'd jump high above and plummet down, head first into the ground. All the hunter had to do was: take a step backward and slash. But that was difficult to pull off, especially with his ears ringing and his head throbbing. He endured though.

Thrust and slash, that's all he could think about. Rom didn't exist anymore. He could only see a few feet ahead of him. He felt the spiders around him, heard their feet splash as they ran above the shallow lake surface.

'One fight at a time,' he told himself as he avoided a deadly thrust from a spider.

Two spiders landed around him with a loud splash. He had aptly avoided them, pierced one under its scaly head and decapitated the other. At this point, only half a dozen spiders remained. His arms and legs felt heavy. His grip on the sword faltered. He'd unsheathed it from the hammer, the latter was too heavy.

His headache was causing his vision to blur. His movements grew unsteady. He knew he was losing control. But he urged himself to endure, just a little bit more.

"You still have a meteor summoning beast to deal with after that," the monster inside of him reminded the hunter.

"Shut up!" Surgit snapped.

The monster hissed and laughed. "Try a vial," he urged. "It might help some…"

Surgit ignored the comment and decapitated the last spider. The pain had reached a new level now. His sword fell to the ground. His knees followed. Surgit was holding his aching head, screaming at the top of his lungs. The pain was unbearable. He shouldn't have strained himself that much. But what was the point of complaining about it now? The deed was done and there was no coming back.

He forced himself on his feet and picked up his sword. He limped forward, toward Rom. As soon as he reached the spider, he swung his sword. It felt as though he'd hit the monster with a stick. His strength failed him and the Vacuous spider was idle no longer. It flailed about like a fish out of water. Its gigantic body hit the hunter and sent him toppling back a few feet.

Surgit used his sword as a cane to help his stand up. Rom was just a blurry shadow in front of him now. His eyes refused to open. His legs refused to move. And the pain… the pain had intensified, revealing new levels of suffering Surgit never thought possible. He couldn't possibly endure that any longer.

"Use the blood," his alter-self urged. "Use the blood…"

"Fuck it!" Surgit swore and pulled a blood vial from his pocket. As soon as the healing blood got into his system, Surgit felt reinvigorated, but only for a few seconds. The pain came back and the hunter howled like a wounded beast. His alter-self laughed himself silly as the hunter tore his own hair and beat the ground with his bare fists.

'When will this stop?' he asked. 'When will this stop? Make it stop, oh please make it stop!'

"Are you asking me to take over?" his alter-self asked.