An Unfair Fight

"Fuck!" was the last curse Eirwen managed to spit out before his head was severed cleanly by the Bastard Sword. He shouldn't have toyed with his opponent so much. Playing with your food was never a wise decision, after all.

Only because he had defeated the exhausted and battered Bernard during his first Trial, Eirwen arrogantly assumed that a normal Awakened wouldn't pose any threat whatsoever.

Well apparently, he was wrong.

Until now, all of Eirwen's fights against Awakened -two in total- had ended in his favour, largely thanks to pure luck and unpredictable factors working for him.

Against Bernard, Eirwen had been fortunate that the commander was already exhausted, and the fall down the stairs had done him dirty. Against Sumoo, it had been luck that the man was mentally shattered after what happened to his brother, leaving him vulnerable and open.

But in this fight, he was fighting against a fully saturated Awakened at the peak of his strength who also possessed quite the annoying Aspect.

'If I used Pressure after touching his face it would've been long over' Eirwen groaned as his head rolled away, blood streaming down the wound.

It was a rather weird feeling, being decapitated.

Eirwen watched and listened as his own body crumpled onto the cold floor with a dull thud. 'How strange' he couldn't help but remark as annoyance slowly filled his mind.

He could feel his Essence draining from his Core, desperately trying to reconnect his severed head to his body. Eirwen wasn't sure what to expect. Would his body just grow a new head, transferring his consciousness there? If so, it would mean his eyes would be destroyed and restored in the process. Definitely not ideal for him and his Aspect.

Everyone was still caught up in their cheers for the Bastard Sword when, unexpectedly, he stepped back. His eyes widened as he glanced down at Eirwen's severed head, slight wariness on his face. He was already kind of startled by the fact that the Spell didn't announce his kill to him, but he ignored it. Until now.

As if reacting to Eirwen's previous complaints, his severed neck began to twitch. Tendrils of flesh and bone erupted from it, thrashing violently in the air. The crowd gasped, eyes wide in shock as the grotesque tentacles flailed desperately, searching for their missing body and spraying blood everywhere.

A moment later multiple people jumped into the pit, sending dust flying into the air. They have assumed that something has happened, and the dead fighter for some reason mutated into a Nightmare Creature.

The three new guests in the pit swiftly summoned their weapons, but the air was filled with the deafening shouts of protests from outside. The crowd, furious at their interference, made their anger known by throwing drinks or other garbage until a sudden, booming voice stopped them.

"Get out of the pit before you turn into corpses too!" A voice roared through the speakers. It wasn't the commentator. No, this voice carried authority. Brutal and guttural, it cut through the chaos, deafening even the loud music blaring in the background.

The crowd froze in fear momentarily before returning to the show.

Eirwen's head thrashed wildly with the meaty tentacles. 'Good God, I can't see anything!' he cursed in his mind, as one of the tentacles finally found what seemed to be the stump of his severed head.

Before anyone could leave the pit, the remaining fleshy tentacles shot toward his neck, fastening themselves to it. With a sharp snap, they yanked his head back to his main body at a breakneck speed. The longer the process took, the more Essence he lost. By now, less than a quarter of it remained.

Once he regenerated, he would have to finish this quickly.

If not for his monstrous luck of course.

[New Deal!]

'What? Leviathan?' his eyes widened as the sounds around him deafened for the Spell to speak.

While his head flew forward and tried to connect with his main body, he quickly opened the Runes and read them.

[Kill every Awakened in here. In return He will restore your Essence and grant you a new weapon!]

'Accept!'

Eirwen scanned the Runes and immediately accepted. He could already feel his body returning to him as his head fully reconnected. His flesh stitched itself together, and even his spine snapped back into its original position.

"How weird," he whispered, touching his throat as he sat on the cracked floor.

There wasn't much time to focus on his neck though. A hammer was already crashing down at him from above. Apparently the three Awakened chose to ignore whoever it was telling them to get out.

A mountain of Essence slammed into Eirwen's body, filling his Cores and Souls to the brim. His eyes and hair seemed to glow brighter than usual as he quickly planned his next move.

When the hammer was an inch away from crushing his head into a bloody pulp, Eirwen pulled himself back, narrowly dodging it.

"That's a Nightmare Creature! Not a human! We won't let our friend die because of you rats!" One of them screamed, raising a spear that was attached to his right forearm by a chain.

Eirwen meanwhile somersaulted back onto his feet, "Who is a Nightmare Creature?!" he roared from behind the mask, ready to summon his Bone Gauntlets.

But something stopped him, a mental block. His mind quite literally didn't let him.

Eirwen shot a glance down and noticed something strange. The tips of his fingers were covered in a black, metallic liquid. His nails had sharpened, reflecting the world around him like mirrors. 'Is this the new weapon, Leviathan? Do I look like a cat to you? Why did you give me claws?!'

"This is the Skinwalker!" someone screamed from the crowd, only intensifying the already chaotic roars and cheers coming from above. None of them took it seriously, they were here to enjoy a show after all.

With a twitch of his brow, he cursed and looked up, "Watch your goddamn mouth!"

"Get him now!" someone roared from the side, and Eirwen immediately felt the cold grip of death flying at him.

He widened his eyes in concentration, pushing every thought aside except his anger. Leaping back, he narrowly dodged the spear, but what he didn't expect was the massive war hammer following it, striking almost immediately after.

'Shit!' Eirwen cursed as the hammer struck him in the side, sending him flying a few feet away and dragging across the floor.

Rolling to a stop he winced in pain, looking down at his side. It was mangled, mutilated; organs and bones spilling out, only to be replaced by new ones. But he quickly forced himself to his feet, pushing the pain aside. He needed to focus if he wanted to finish this before his Essence ran out.

"I seriously don't know how to kill the man," Eirwen heard Bastard Sword spit. "Leather boots, be careful. Bulldog, Snake, protect her!" He warned his friends.

All of this would've been embarrassing for him if not for Eirwen's demonic presence, which had everyone trembling in fear. At least he had an excuse for jumping his opponent.

The 'Leather boots' person Bastard Sword mentioned was a young girl with curly, ginger hair, holding a marble rapier in her delicate hands. Her face was adorned with freckles, giving her an innocent and almost adorable look.

Eirwen's lips curled into a demonic grin behind his mask, his eyes wide and glowing with golden light.

One step in her direction, and he was gone, already flying toward the young girl. The wound on his side had fully healed, with no trace of it remaining. His claws were pointing right at the girls throat, ready to tear through it.

"Boss decided to let the show go on, but he promised that if anyone except for Wrath survives, they'll be in lots of trouble! Muhahahaha!" The commentator's annoying voice boomed through the arena once more.

Stepping back to make room, Leather Boots raised her arm and pointed the rapier at the quickly approaching figure. Strangely, there was no fear in her eyes.

And Eirwen understood why. A bit too late though.

Before he could even turn his gaze to see the attack that was intercepting him, a spear drove into the side of his head, absorbing all of his momentum and force into the long chain that connected it to Snake's forearm. The chain strained and glowed with a blue light.

He groaned and cursed as his body stumbled to the side mid-air. 'How well coordinated are they?!' Eirwen cursed, just as another blow landed. It was Bastard Sword, alongside the hammer-wielding Awakened he could only assume was Bulldog.

Bastard Sword thrust his sword forward, stabbing into Eirwen's spine and ripping through it, emerging on the other side and out of his chest.

Meanwhile the hammer swung low, targeting his legs. With a wide, crushing blow it tore through Eirwen's legs, ripping them grotesquely from his body. Pieces of flesh and bone exploded everywhere.

Guttural screams escaped Eirwen, but they were quickly drowned out by the roaring crowd and pounding music. 'Why are they enjoying my suffering this much?!' His mind was on the verge of exploding from pain and fury.

What truly pushed him to the edge, though, was the freckled girl.

She raised her rapier once more and thrust it, the blade stopping inches from Eirwen's heart.

"Die, monster," she whispered, as a monstrous wave of air blasted through the space, tearing into Eirwen's body and creating a massive hole where his heart had once been.

His golden eyes widened behind the mask. He would have coughed up blood, but there was none left in him. His body was blue, paler than usual, but with each passing breath, it slowly regained its colour.

'Use Kraken's Grasp', the countless voices roared, very much unlike their usual calm tone. They were furious too.

'I don't have enough Essence!' Eirwen argued, stumbling forward from the lack of legs. His Essence was already being drained by his Flaw, and only about half of it remained. After his body regenerated, there would be barely anything left.

But suddenly, Eirwen groaned in even more pain as another blow landed on his back, slamming him into the ground. It was the massive stone war hammer.

None of this was going as Eirwen had planned. He looked like a fool in front of everyone, not the great and powerful figure he had hoped to be. He hadn't even had a chance to use his new claws.

"Fuck it. I can't die anyway-," he cursed, struggling to prop up what was left of his upper body. "- and I've honestly had enough of you morons!"

In the next moment, Eirwen's left eye began to shine, burning with the intensity of a star…