Would he be consumed entirely by an alternate being like Koharu?

Or would all sanity be completely erased, reducing him to a beast in a man’s body?

His body remained completely motionless– almost too still, but only time could tell which outcome it would be.

I couldn’t stand around and wait for something to happen. Regardless of which would play out, allowing that form to wreak havoc on Synoria Outlook would only end with casualties. I had to move now.

Shifting the greataxe into a winded-up stance, I sprung from my legs towards the captain with all the speed I could muster. I’d cleave the core in two with one swing before the battle even started.

Yet, my conviction in my blade faltered ever so slightly. 

What if, on some off-chance, he retained his sense of self? What if, just as I had experienced, he was now trapped in his own mind to watch the horrors committed by his own body?

It was true that from the brief first impression he gave, I was anything but a fan of his character, but even so, that wouldn’t excuse killing someone that could still somehow be saved.

In that split second hesitation, the air around him changed.

Veins of corruption raced from the core across his body, snaking to his fingertips and up the sides of his face, just as I had seen on Koharu’s appearance.

In the next instant, his body moved faster than my own senses could register.

His arms swung back as if he were wielding some weapon, yet his hands remained empty– at least for now.

Crackling bolts of crimson energy condensed into a rod that traced the outline of his palms, immediately solidifying into the crystallized form of a greataxe. It was the same exact shape as his previous weapon– the one I now held inches away from his neck.

His eyes swiveled in their sockets like the wooden balls one would see embedded within the head of a puppet before settling on me.

The anger and hatred in those eyes burned strong enough for me to almost feel against my skin.

With no time to formulate a plan, all I could do was instinctually defend, switching my grip on the axe to intercept the attack with the flat of the axe head.

Boom! I could feel splintering wood against my back as I was sent rocketing through the front rooms of a nearby shop.

Wiping the dust out of my eyes, I glanced around, relieved to find that the people of these buildings had already been evacuated.

Through the dirt and sawdust, I could just make out the outline of a figure trudging towards me in a not quite human gait, those glowing red eyes piercing through the haze.

I blinked once and the figure vanished.

“Shit.”

I tightened my grip on the axe’s handle and threw the entirety of its weight alongside my own to the side, generating enough momentum to quickly swing myself a considerable distance to the side.

Almost immediately after, a deafening crash broke through the roof and sent the entirety of the building crumbling down upon itself. 

The eyes wasted almost no time in finding me through the debris once more, the captain this time soaring into the air with a single leap.

Once more, I swung my body to the side, narrowly avoiding the attack alongside the shockwave that rippled through the ground from the axe’s impact.

I couldn’t keep running forever.

He charged towards me and swung horizontally at my waist. 

I could counter this.

Summoning my aether into the blade, I swung overhead and struck the flat of his axe from above, plunging it into the dirt.

Maintaining the momentum from that same movement, I advanced my ground by taking a single step forward, using his axe as a foothold. 

I wouldn’t allow him the chance to attack. 

Stage 0 - Aetherflow, Maximum Output

I swung my axe upwards, preparing to bring it down in an arc that’d cleave diagonally through his torso.

Yet, my foothold wavered.

Almost effortlessly, he lifted his axe from the ground with me above it, freeing his weapon once more.

Before I could alter my attack, he had already assumed a countering stance, our blades clashing midair.

Clang! Utilizing this much aether would only make our strengths equal at best?!

Without a place to stand, I quickly found myself being pushed back again.

Once more, he vanished from sight, this time appearing behind me before swatting me away with the flat of his axe.

The hell–? He was producing this much force while swinging with only one arm?!

My body ragdolled down the road as I struggled to regain my bearings. 

Every time I managed to correct my balance and prepared to strike back, I found myself being pummeled from a blindspot into disorientation once more.

Speed. Strength. Everything. I was completely outclassed.

As he struck me again, I glimpsed the corner of his mouth quivering.

Finally, he spoke.

“You–! If you hadn’t– If you hadn’t been here– If the Guildmaster hadn’t set his interests on you– All the glory of this fight– It’d all be MINE!”

With those words, I could feel his rage transforming to bloodlust. 

Once again, he blindingly outsped my perception to strike from behind. Yet, this time, the blade of his axe was directly aimed to cleave through my abdominals as I fell.

Pain. I felt the searing, chaotic energy tear into my side. 

Even so, this sensation was merely from the tip of the blade.

I needed more strength. More abilities. Somehow– some way to turn the tables– else I’d be sliced clean in two within moments.

With every fraction of a second that passed, I could feel the blade digging into my flesh.

The pain was all that occupied my mind– Pain that brought the memories of my last encounter with a titan flashing through my mind.

Hah… if the gods really were real and my encounters with them had truly happened, then now was more than ever the time to believe in their existence.

My use of the system might have been extremely limited, but even so, there was one status that should still hold true despite my predicament.

[ You are the Prelude to one backing god ]

There was no message to accompany the two abilities I recalled, yet I still could embrace the feeling of those abilities all the same.

‘Weapons Mastery’ to allow my dexterity with the greataxe to rival that of a war veteran and ‘Pain Nullification’ to overcome the wounds and aches that hindered my body.

If I remembered correctly, I’d be able to sustain these for one minute precisely.

The sensation of the frenzied mania of battle flooded my mind.

I quickly rotated my body away from the blade of the axe, a thin arc of blood spattering from my side. The bleeding no longer bothered me.

The captain’s eyes observed my movements with curiosity. 

This was no longer a matter of proving myself, but a matter of survival of both my own and the town behind me.

“Bring it on!”

- Rooftops of Synoria Outlook, About two minutes ago

As shouts and explosions echoed from the streets below, Setsuya and Seika merely stood in silence, surveying the fray from above.

“Are you sure we should be just watching like this?”

“I told the kid he’d get a chance to prove himself. This is his opportunity.”

“He’s not the only one fighting down there, y’know– oop, looks like one of those guards just got skewered.”

“Guard #16 of the Synoria Outlook division. Last reported enjoying a bowl of stew while the previous attack claimed 34 lives.”

“Damn… doesn’t even get his name uttered by the Guildmaster, huh?”

“Those who desert their duty for the sake of personal gain don’t deserve my sympathy nor remembrance. Anyways, it’s been some time since I’ve last visited, and I believe some restructuring is in order.”

Of the two fights currently ongoing, Setsuya paid nearly no attention to the one involving the guards. In fact, he was more likely to have his attention captured by a dead fly on the rooftop than the guards’ deaths.

Each time Seika mentioned a loss from the guards’ numbers, Setsuya only replied with a brief summary of that specific one’s faults or incidents of abandoned duty.

“How far they fall when not under surveillance… what a shame.”

“Yeah. And that other guy’s put on some weight since I last saw him– What’s his name again?”

“Uhhh… I forgot. I think his title was something along the lines of ‘The Metal Soldier.’”

“Eh, that’s probably close enough.”

“By the way, you never told me that kid was a shardbearer.”

“Didn’t wanna mess with that whole angry vibe you had going on back there. Should I have?”

“What do you think? Well, whatever. I know now and that’s what matters.”

“Why? You suddenly interested in the kid? I thought you hated him for him being marked and all.”

“I… made a deal with Yukiko. In short, I’ll allow him the chance for me to hear his story directly from him. Alongside that, I’m allowing him to take care of this end of the ‘wave’ to prove his capabilities in battle.”

“Interesting. You’re paying an awful lot of attention to him though.”

“It’s not like the guards are doing anything worth watching.”

“Got me there.”

***

“Tell me, what do you think of their relative combat prowess?”

“Hmm… To the average eye, they’d seem to be evenly matched. Their strength could in some ways be viewed as equal, but the captain’s speed far outclasses Kaito’s. In terms of skill set, the captain still holds the advantage with the versatility of his corrupted energy. However, in terms of adaptability, I’d say Kaito is superior.”

“Adaptability, huh..?”

“Yeah. I only taught the very basics of aether this morning and he’s already able to use it at stage 0. On top of that, you yourself must’ve seen how quickly he learned and developed his skills in these fights alone.”

“Hm. I’d have to agree.”

“Now, when exactly do you plan to step in?”

“Let’s see… About now.”

Kaito’s POV

My resilience was wavering. I didn’t know exactly how long it had been since I activated the abilities that accompanied the Blessing of Ares, but chances were that my minute was almost up.

“One more block. One more swing. One more push.”

I kept repeating these words in my head. Don’t think about how it’ll be over until it's over.

As the battle raged on, I began experimenting with the capabilities of ‘Weapons Mastery,’ blending the basic techniques of axe-fighting with more advanced concepts I’d seen others use with different weapons, such as the Assassin’s daggers and Setsuya’s katana.

A rapid whirlwind-like dance to shred through close range defenses. A blindingly quick slash from the hip to mimic the iai slash.

This corrupted form might have the captain’s body and skills, but at its core, it was nothing more than a corrupted. That was how I needed to view this opponent.

I swung the blade in an uppercut-like fashion, tearing through his defenses from below. I’d follow up with one more overhead slam. One more strike to end it all.

[ Blessing of Ares has been depleted ]

What?

The pain crept back into my wounds as the strength I’d previously channeled began seeping from my arms.

At the same time, crackling lightning-like bolts of corrupted energy gathered around the captain’s blade. 

An arm’s length– a finger’s width– a hair’s breadth from my neck.

Would I really have to fall back to relying on spiritburner again?

“You’ve defected to corruption and have turned your back on the town you once swore to protect. In turning your blade against a citizen of Synoria as a guard of Synoria Outlook and the Snow Guild, you have hence committed treason against Synoria.”

The flat of a katana flew inches before my eyes and seamlessly connected with the axe’s handle slipping it out of the captain’s grasp, the hand holding that katana being none other than Setsuya.

Hold on– citizen of Synoria? Actually, what was he of all people doing here saving me anyways?

I didn’t have the strength left to worry about these sorts of things.

With a sigh of relief, I allowed my legs to crumple beneath me, my knees striking the dirt. 

I could feel someone rest their hand on my shoulder.

“Seika?”

“You did well, but he’ll take it from here. Just stay still while I tend to your wounds.”

As the captain laid his eyes on Setsuya, I could now almost smell the seething rage permeating through the air from his very being.

“And you–! If it weren’t for you– I wouldn’t have been stuck here protecting this damned town and its shit-for-brains people!”

Was it just me, or were his sentences being strung together more coherently without fragmented pauses?

“The glory of that war– All of it should’ve been mine! JUST GET OUT OF MY WAY AND DIE!”

Setsuya gave a sly grin while brandishing his blade in response.

“I must say, I’ve never really liked you much.”