Why They Call Him The God of Fear

"Finally! A worthy opponent!" Khalil shouted out. The broad man wearing nothing but pants and a robe smiled as he looked at Eirikr Asterio in front of him.

Ellie was far too confused and intimidated by the presence of both people to want to do anything. Eirikr, clad in all-black clothing and accessories, was a very intimidating man who initially made Ellie freeze like a deer in headlights.

"A worthy opponent? I believe that I'm far more than that," Eirikr told Khalil as the two started to walk in a circle around each other, with about ten feet of space in between.

As Khalil took his fifth step in his alternating circular pattern, he charged in at Eirikr with blistering speeds. He kicked up dirt with his body as he swung downward with a strange knife he pulled out of the back of his robe.

The knife went straight past Eirikr and he watched it slide down past his shoulder. Eirikr was a man of little effort, spending no energy while conflicting with others. The knife, whizzing past his body by Khalil's discretion, was launched off in the opposite direction with Khalil's hand as he failed the strike.

Eirikr, seemingly with his mind, was able to cut Khalil's hand off with only his mind and a wave of his hand. His eyes sparkled in the moody sunlight as he refocused on Khalil's left shoulder, slicing a path straight through about three inches deep into his body. Soon after the strike, Eirikr launched a gust of wind into Khalil's body, pushing him into a tree that started to collapse from the impact.

"Holy shit man! You're no joke! Who are you, by the way?" Khalil asked the powerful opponent he was facing. He watched Eirikr take a few steps toward the inland, searching for something unknown.

"I am surprised to hear that an Arkian such as yourself does not have the instilled feeling of fear from Eirikr Asterio. I believe that when I created Arkians, I placed that into them on purpose," Eirikr revealed. He gave Khalil no more effort while ignoring him and continuing into the forest.

"Hah! I fear no person or thing on Earth... you will not be the first thing I fear," Khalil told Eirikr, attempting to antagonize him to steer him away from his goal. Khalil thought that it couldn't be good whatever Eirikr plans to do.

"Unfortunately, your attempts to upset me are missing one crucial bit of information: I don't react to them because they mean nothing to me. When you spend this much time at the top, you forget what it means to be in danger," Eirikr admitted to him. However, he still turned around, feeding into Khalil's journey to get more information out of him. Khalil smiled, warping the air around his wound to keep blood concealed in order to prevent death by blood loss.

"You're cocky... you've never tasted defeat before, have you? Had you let me keep my main hand, maybe I could've shown it to you," Khalil said to Eirikr, cockily standing up to any other challenge in front of him.

"Of course, I've known defeat before. I told you I've been on top for a long time, not forever. The only man who was strong enough to stump me and have me claim defeat was Sky Asterio, but he has since passed on as a man stronger than me," Eirikr admitted.

At the very sound of his name, Khalil started to smile in anticipation, learning more about Sky Asterio, who he had already taken an interest to. Hearing that the same man he was already interested in could defeat a man like Eirikr Asterio brought fear into Khalil. Rather than stepping down from the challenge, he stood even more confidently before.

Harry pulled on Khalil's shoulder to get him to back down from the challenge, but Khalil was immovable now because of everything he had learned.

"Eirikr, where do you plan to go?" Khalil sharply asked, walking closer to the black-haired man who waited for Khalil to get out of his way.

"Wherever I want. Now, leave me, I don't feel like dealing with you," Eirikr told Khalil. At first, Khalil refused to leave, but upon Eirikr's activation of his Fear Gaze, Khalil was forced to stand down until Eirikr let go of it, which wasn't until Khalil couldn't track him through the dense forest.

"What the hell was that?! You actually stood up to him?!" Ellie, who had been hiding the entire time, finally revealed herself once the Fear Gaze was loosened, running over to Khalil's injury to see if she could help.

"You must not understand, Miss, that standing down to anybody is not the way to live. Die standing, rather than kneeling, that's why my father always taught me, no matter if the guy you're talking to is a walking emo powerhouse, or a weakling such as myself," Khalil gleefully admitted, reattaching his hand and swarming it in strands.

Ellie knew about strands and their previous functions, but watching somebody else use them at the same efficiency as Sky Asterio was surprising to her, and caused her mind to run in several different directions before she leaked what she was planning to do.

"I know where Sky Asterio is. You came from his direction, didn't you know that?" Ellie asked Khalil quickly before he could show off his childish excitement.

"I knew, I just wanted to see if Eirikr would tell me that's what he's going to do. It looks like that's the plan for him, if we follow behind at a large distance, we should make it with no issues. So, are you injured? Do you need help?" Khalil asked Ellie as she wiped the dirt off of her pants.

"No, let's go see my leader. I'm sure he'll be ready to talk to you and discuss whatever it is that you needed from him... which is, what exactly?" Ellie asked him, becoming more confident as she realized that Khalil was a good man.

"We all have our own reasons," Khalil sharply stated.