Sky and Ullr VS Dante (2)

I fell out of the Corruption, panting with the fatigue I felt while fighting Ethos and Logos. As I sat on the ground, Dante came at me with another attack I wasn't expecting. I braced for the worst, but Ullr blocked both strikes with his hammer and kicked Dante backward.

"We're just getting started, Bossman! Stand up! We're not done yet!" Ullr said. He lifted my body off of the ground and that fatigue was immediately dispersed. "I'll still follow your lead Bossman, you call the shots." He added. I nodded in response. I felt the handle of my sword, feeling my own handprint pushed against the metal surface.

"Let's go Ullr!" I ran at Dante once more, going for a much more direct approach.

[Remember]

The searing pain returned while I was running, but I knew I couldn't hold back now. I was too close to Dante to fall into that state once more... it was Deity, why was she enticing me to fall into this Corrupt state?

I slashed at Dante and he blocked my strikes with no expression. I dodged every strike in retaliation that Dante made against me, while Ullr fit his hammer into wherever it could go. Dante may have had two swords, but we had a sword and hammer that fit well with our teamwork. I could feel my heart rate spiking, even more, I would pass out not before long. I had to finish this with something!

Something!

[REMEMBER]

[REMEMBER REMEMBER REMEMBER REMEMBER REMEMBER]

[ R E M E M B E R ]

Ullr slammed his hammer into Dante's sword and the blade near the tip shattered into metallic pieces on the floor, sliding against the patches of ice under us.

"I have a plan Ullr, charge in again!" I told him. Ullr nodded. "Swing your hammer over your head as high as you can and bring it down with as much power as you possibly can! Trust me and don't hesitate!" I yelled at him and he listened again.

I fell into my Corrupt state and concentrated as hard as possible on summoning those strands I could see Deity use. They were in my body, I knew they were! I have to find them... FIND THEM!

[SYSTEM CORRUPTION: LEVEL FOUR]

[WHITE STONE ABILITY GAINED: STRAND MANIPULATION]

[GAIN THE ABILITY TO MANIPULATE STRANDS]

[Current Heart Rate: 217]

Two white strings shot out of the palm of my hand and then rapidly swirled around. I kept those strands and threw my sword into the air. I had to aim this just right!

Deity used the strands to create chairs and objects within The Black Lake and they were solidified objects. When I imagined the strands in my hands, they swirled around, on the opposite side of my White Stone.

Over time, the other White Stones had explained to me that the Stone and the System were linked, Talion, Elo, and Zeal had all said it in one way or another. If the strands come from the Stone, then they're linked to the System. If the strands come from the System, then they're linked to the Stone. Either way, the links between the two are undeniable.

It was a lucky guess, but the strands I had in my hands I was visualizing and bringing to life pointed straight for both of Dante's arms as he began to swing at Ullr. Ullr didn't falter for one moment in swinging his hammer as he lifted it as high as humanely possible and began to come down on Dante with it.

I tilted the back of my hand towards Dante and the strands tightened in that direction. They highlighted the path an object would take if I deflected it, and it intersected with Dante's wrists. I looked up to see exactly where the sword I threw up in the air was earlier, and refocused on Dante.

This would blow my eye out of my hand and possibly incapacitate me, but Ullr can handle Dante if that dares to happen!

The point of the sword collided with my stone and an ugly noise burst out of the collision as the sword was sent into Dante's wrists at the maximum speed I could perceive.

Blood spurt from his wounds as the look on his face changed. Dante looked up at the hammer and blocked the fatal strike with his forearms. Ullr sent him into another spire of ice within the arena and Dante coughed up even more blood than before.

I hadn't realized it until the impact Dante made shook the spire of ice behind him... but I was unscathed.

The strands and Corrupt state I was in simultaneously disappeared and I was still standing! My injuries were healed, I was standing, and my breathing was back to normal.

[You Would've Missed if it Weren't for Me. You're Welcome.]

Then it was Deity. I knew that idea was far-fetched, the strands shouldn't have predicted the path my blade took, that was all because of Deity and her generosity. Why was she helping me so much now, rather than helping me before?

"Bossman! You're all good?" Ullr asked me. I nodded, walking over to Dante with Ullr standing right behind me.

"Not bad... White Stone." Dante said, spitting up more blood.

"It's Sky," I told him.

"Right. I guess you deserve that name after all. It's a real shame I can't reach for that knife on your hip and kill you with it. You really took away the most important thing from a soldier like me. That was a low blow." Dante laughed as more blood trickled out of the corner of his mouth.

"Tavian would want to see you before we kill you. Let's bring him back Ullr-" before I could finish, a sharp pain pierced both sides of my head and the searing heat on my face emerged. Was this the drawback of what happened earlier?!

[Kill Him]

I held onto my left eye as pain surged through it. It was Deity, I know this was!

"ULLR! GET OUT OF HERE WITH HIM! PLEASE!" I told Ullr. He looked at me confused as I held my left eye in pain.

"It's the Corruption! If I see him I'll kill him! Get him out of here!" I yelled again.

"Not so fast." The voice of Deity echoed through the arena we fought on.

"Bossman... what was that?!" Ullr asked me. No way... did he hear it too?

"I thought we had a deal. I help you predict the trajectory of that blade, and you kill that man. After all, he murdered Domin, just like that little bitch Lia. He's the reason all of this started, all of your rage, all of your hate, all of your regret, all of your guilt, all of your violence, and to think you'd want him to escape immediate death... you aren't following your part of the deal." Deity told me.

Everybody in the arena was far past confused. Ullr and Dante were beyond surprised by the sound of Deity's voice reaching them.

Ullr picked Dante up and while trying to run from me, strands sprouted out of my hand and shot toward him.

I closed my hand to encase them within my body. Interesting... they couldn't shoot out of my body if my hand was closed.

Ullr and Dante got away because of the resistance I put up against Deity. "Why can't you wait?! We're only taking him to Tavian, and then we're going to kill him!" I yelled at Deity.

"Tavian won't let you. He talks you out of your primal urges and has tainted my Apprentice. I won't let you be tainted anymore." Deity told me.