Will Domination II

He walked forward, intent on finding Charlotte in this maze-like forest and dominating her to gain another witch under his command.

As he traversed the murky paths, going left and right to not lose his direction, Irwin willed forth a weapon in his hands, something he could use in his upcoming battle.

Concentrating his mind, Irwin tried to picture his sword. The sharpness of the blade, the feel of the hilt, and even the blood gleaming on the surface as he decapitated a vampire.

Seeing it not working, Irwin closed his eyes and dreamed of the sword, before finding the familiar leather binding of the hilt and then came the weight of the sword. 

With a smile on his face, Irwin opened his eyes and saw the blade in front of him. He waved the bastard sword a few times, getting used to the feeling of the blade before willing forth a scabbard for it, which was relatively easier now that he had got the hang of it.

"Since this works.."

A few minutes later, Irwin had been fully equipped with leather. Leather shin guards, leather pauldrons, stuffed leather armor, and even a pair of dark-stained cowboy boots which complemented his natural skin tone.

Sheathing the sword on his back, Irwin felt proud of himself, not minding the fact that he should have produced a hex bag for his spell use. "Man, I should order this in the real world!"

A sudden drop of wind passing through his body cut his musings short. It was unusual since he had felt no wind since he got here.

It just felt even more weird to him as the woodlands became eerily quiet, lacking any sounds that one would find in even a dark forest such as this.

A sudden shift in the compost-like soil behind him alerted Irwin as he rolled forward just before a crack of splintering wood appeared on the tree beside his previous position.

As he rolled to his feet, his hands had already unsheathed his sword and moved it into a cross guard. Eyeing the scenery and noting the destruction caused on the tree, Irwin felt a tingling on the back of his neck as he dodged forward, not minding if his mouth became full of the soil.

He felt the sting below his nape, hands clenching the ground as he rushed out of his position, evading the strike once more. Mulch flew astride the force of the strike, sending dirt around the area.

Breathing raggedly, Irwin tightened the grip on his swords and slashed at the general vicinity of the destroyed mulch, hoping that the length of his sword could at least glance a blow.

Which it did. Just before the sword could swing back to the other side, its silvered tip slashed at a thicker piece of air that carried a splash of blood.

Hearing a slight whimper, Irwin brought back the sword and swung using the back of the blade, creating a deeper cut on the invisible creature. Blue blood sprayed across the brown canvas as Irwin forcefully halted his swing before it could leave the creature, stretching his wrists muscles, and thrusted his sword with as much force as he could muster.

He heard the thud and the downward force he felt from the sword, surmising that the creature had fallen down; Irwin twisted the sword and ran it upwards and across the creature's body as blood and guts sprayed towards and around him.

"ARGH!" He bellowed as he removed the sword from what he would surmise as the creature's head before thrusting downwards repeatedly until he could hear nary a whimper nor growl of existential defiance.

He didn't waste any time as he removed himself from the still invisible carcass, sheathing his sword, and ran away from the battlefield, ears and other four senses propped for any signs of an attack.

Before he could get step past one tree, he felt a claw tearing apart the back of leather armor, sending him tumbling down the ground and softly crashing to a nearby tree.

"Sine detrime-" He tried to cast a defensive spell as he stood up, but the beast was far faster than the previous one as it crashed onto him and sent him flying a dozen meters away. "Son of a bitch!"

He unsheathed his sword, rolling to the side and using the momentum to bring him up to his feet, scanning the area for any sign of another attack.

Luckily for him, the anteceding fight with the first beast had caused a few branches to be ripped from their homes, one of which had been stepped upon by the silently snarling beast.

Irwin twisted his body and slashed backwards, two hands gripping the hilt of the sword as it tore apart the beast. From the subsequent thuds and two pools of blood on the ground, he surmised that his slash had cut off a limb or two.

He followed the sound of spurting liquid and noticed claw marks going northward as he ran after the beast, sword in hand. He soon saw the floating blood amidst the dreary woodlands and stabbed the area where he thought its back would be.

A pain-filled howl filled the surrounding, contrasting the silent scenery that once housed the dark forest. Irwin didn't stop at one stab, merely a precursor to seven more piercing blades and one ruthless decapitation.

'System!' He willed, eliciting no response from it. He cursed silently, for if he couldn't activate the system, then it means he couldn't use any of the sub-system or rifle through the Rewards or Trade counters. A frustrating thought then bloomed within his mind.

What if he couldn't activate any of his system-given spells? What about his skills?

The Energy Shield alone would be a boon in this environment. What if he couldn't cast a spell in this realm? It was possible since his ability to cast magik was given to him by the system.

He slapped his cheeks before the fear overtook him, severing his mind of the thoughts as he cleared it for a more useful one. He wiped the blood away from his face before he tested the limits of this reality.

He pictured a hex bag, not just a simple one, but the Indestructible Hex Bag. Dark-stained leather, four sigils etched with blood and tears, entwined with a rope so worn and old that it could have been used by Judas when he committed his last mortal sin.

If he was to be perfectly honest, he was hesitant to use the system-given hex bag because he knew that once he created a spell with it, he can no longer use the bag for any other spell. It would be his go-to hex bag whenever he wanted to use that specific spell since it would, as stated by its name, be indestructible.

Solitary Immolation, for instance, would have no deactivation method as the bag could not be destroyed by fire. The only way to stop the spell would be by his command or his death.

But since he was not in the real world, anything he would create in the Indestructible Hex Bag would not affect the real one. As such, he pictured the Indestructible Hex Bag opening up and taking in the components of the Flaming Whip spell, his foremost offensive spell.

Unlike the sword and the rest of his leather armor, the hex bag took time and great care, much of the time taken were for sensing out any more hidden attacks. Once he felt the rough texture grazing his hand, Irwin gave a sigh of relief, but knew the next bit will be harder, not on the mind but on his stomach.

He noted the feeling of the hex bag on his hands, the weight and tug so miniscule that only he can assess the difference with his enhanced senses.

He invigorated his magik, happily noting that the wave of arcane energy pulsated at a normal interval.

"Flagello!"

Like clockwork, the azure flames wrapped around his right arm, engulfing his entire arm in bright flames that illuminated his area of the dark, winding forest. A smile appeared on his face as he reinforced the flames with his magic, making it brighter and hotter.

He clenched his fist, still feeling the hex bag inside of his palms. Before he could rejoice at the thought, the very air around him seemed to shake uncontrollably. The leafless trees rocked back and forth as the ground shook with great intensity.

It seems that Charlotte had noticed his use of whatever energy he had used to create the spell. Whatever it was, he knew that something as large as a flaming whip would expend energy that could potentially make him appear on her radar.

He noticed the shaking seemed to be lighter as he walked westward. It was not difficult to find her, not when she was lit up like a Christmas tree in mid-October.

Standing still as a monolith in the middle of a forest clearing, Charlotte stared at a peculiar tree. It was peculiar in how it was full of life, unlike every tree in the forest; green and brown was its color, its leaves lush and flush with excitement as it swayed on non-existent winds.

As Irwin stepped into the clearing, her head turned towards him. Her face, like the tree, was rosy and flushed, bereft of the dullness that had encapsulated her two month-long capture within the manor. The last time he had seen her like that was when she had ambushed them in the mental hospital.

In fact, there was one more thing that reminded him of that scene: the large sewn-shut body of the animated corpse that clawed its way out beside her and stumbled onto the ground with heavy breaths and bestial roars.

Irwin smiled, willing forth the Flaming Whip in his left arm and the sword in his right one. 

"Wake up, little girl!"