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587 War Veteran

“ARGH!” Daniel groaned in pain. A new form of power had landed on his body at a speed he could not react to, blasting its way halfway through his flesh and muscles, and leaving him riddled in fist-sized bleeding holes.

Unfortunately, that was not the end of the devastation this power would cause him.

Daniel did not need to think to realize that another aspect of existence had arrived-and that its appearance, regardless of whether its purpose was to save the aspect of Corrosion, or to face him, placed him a step closer to his death. Escaping was his only option, yet, as he considered which path to take, Daniel quickly realized that he couldn’t let go of his current opponent.

Despite the immense karmic power that was released at the moment of Elijah’s death-Power which had allowed him to defeat Corrosion, Daniel was fully aware that his triumph had been a fluke. To be able to discover a new way to use his power right as he was at death’s door was not a show of skill, but a saving grace. After all, how many times would he be able to have someone with such a vast amount of karma power, and whom he was willing to sacrifice when facing another aspect of existence?

It was very unlikely that, if Corrosion escaped now, a more prepared version of him would fall for this trick a second time. He needed to die, if not for Daniel’s survival, at least to lessen the number of his enemies by one.

As his body quickly attempted to recover, Daniel noticed that the vermillion power which had harmed him had not dissipated, but had instead lingered within the mist of his blood, seemingly having a life of its own. “Tch!” Daniel scoffed at the sight of this power, which slowly grouped up into a small sanguine-colored cloud. “It could be gathering to perform another attack.. But it’s slow. Its owner must still be far away.” he thought.

Without wasting any more time, Daniel once again aimed at the injured aspect of corrosion. His fingers joined together, his arm straightened, simulating the shape of a spear. Around his fingertips, bluish ki appeared, sharpening them and forming an edge which could pierce the whole universe.

A moment later, Daniel’s shoulder snapped, sending his whole arm towards the dying aspect of existence.

Space rippled in its wake. The sparse elements present in its darkness heathed the moment the spear-like arm brushed past them, crackling away like sparks off of a welding table. It only took an instant for the attack to reach the aspect of Corrosion, yet, as the tip of the spear approached the red cloud, the latter came to life..ᴄᴏᴍ

Faster than Daniel thought possible, the reddish cloud split into two, then condensed into just as many different shapes. A part took the shape of a shield, while the other took the shape of a sword. The shield, almost as if possessed, immediately placed itself against Daniel’s arm, parrying the blow, while the sword turned into a blur before disappearing.

When the latter reappeared, only a fraction of a moment later, the sword was lingering above Daniel’s head. From its reddish edge parted a few drops of blood, which traced the sword back to its original position, as well as to the source of spilled blood.

A sharp pain invaded Daniel’s mind as his arm parted at the shoulder. The parry and counter had been instant, and so seamless that Daniel could not help but be taken aback. Luckily, pain was not a problem for someone with a mental fortitude as powerful as Daniel’s, as he was able to quickly shake it out of his mind and react.

Aware of this power’s reaction to his attack, Daniel immediately backed away. Few aspects of existence could represent such a perfect counter to his attack, and the first one that came to his mind was the aspect of Duel. A being born out of the concept of engagement between two parties. If that was the entity whose power he was facing, any form of attack would be countered effortlessly.

As he backed away, Daniel pointed the index finger of his remaining arm towards the aspect of Corrosion. From its tip, an immense amount of spiritual essence began to condense, forming a diamond-shaped construct the size of a mountain. In a moment, this enormous block of ice disappeared from in front of Daniel’s finger, leaving an afterimage, as well as streams of white colored air in its wake.

The reddish power reacted just as quickly. Its bubbly form changed once again, taking the shape of an immovable cuboid which was meant to meet incoming mountain, yet, just before the two could clash, the mountain of ice exploded, turning itself into an uncountable number of ice shards which all aimed at Corrosion from just as many directions.

Corrosion was horrified. Never before had he felt such helplessness, and now that he stared at the incoming attack, he could not help but fall into panic. What caused him to panic, however, was his fear alone.. For he had underestimated the power that was protecting him.

Similarly to how the ice mountain had exploded, the red cuboid exploded as well, sending fragments of its body in every direction. Almost as if guided by a god, each of these fragments placed themselves directly in the path of each individual shard, then crumbled into dust.

The particles of which these clusters were made began to rotate, grind against one another, then clash while moving at light speed, then rotate again until a moment later each cluster gained the characteristic hue of an incandescent object. These glowing vortexes then stabilized, forming a perfect counter for Daniel’s attack.

For the ice shards to move past them was no hope.. but that was never Daniel’s goal.

Right before the shards could come in contact with the small molten vortexes, the water essence changed in nature. Its surface became intangible, and for just a moment, they disappeared. The spiritual essence of spatial nature passed through the shields of plasma, turning back into water essence the moment they passed through.

“Come on..” Daniel muttered as the millions of shards encircled the aspect of corrosion. In the distance, he could feel a powerful consciousness move through the interdimensional portal. It was now or never.

The shards enclosed the aspect of Corrosion, then came to a stop the moment the tip of each shard came in contact with his damaged body. To stop each shard were uncountable specks of red existential power, hidden within the mortal body of the dying aspect of Corrosion to be used as a last ditch attempt to save his life.

However, even though the attack failed, Daniel did not show any sign of despair. On the contrary, his eyes narrowed, and his lips curved into a malicious smile.

His narrowed golden eyes began to shine of a green hue, a color which seemed to emerge from the depths of his mind, and condense into a layer which instantly parted from his cornea, and expanded into an almost invisible green blanket. This essence was, of course, Daniel’s mental power.

While it was only a guess, Daniel had imagined that no attack would be able to penetrate the existential power of Duel. After all, not only were win and loss part of its nature, but parry, defense, and counter as well. He was aware that no matter how many attacks he would throw at his opponent, be it magical or physical in nature, they would all be repelled. What Duel could not protect Corrosion from, however, was a mental attack. ρꪖꪕᦔꪖꪕꪫꪣꫀ ꪶ

The wave of green power moved past the millions of incandescent vortexes, then past the ice shards as if they weren’t there to begin with.. Witnessing this, Daniel smirked in satisfaction. He then turned around, and prepared himself to open a rift to the void, yet, he was quickly stopped in his tracks.

As soon as his mental blast came in contact with the existential power of Duel, the power utilized its higher speed to converge into a single spot. Its aim was not to halt Daniel’s mental blast, but to take a new shape. An enormous humanoid silhouette holding a mallet in one hand, and a large snare drum in the other.

As Daniel saw this silhouette, his heart sank. He had misjudged to whom this power belonged.

Before he could react, the massive silhouette hammered the large mallet against the drum’s batter head.

The impact was catastrophic. Seemingly powerful enough to create the birth of a universe, the thunderous roar expanded in a flash, blasting away Daniel’s mental attack before moving past him and corrosion, and advancing in every direction.

As the percussion reached Daniel’s body, his mind was blasted clear, and left buzzing the same way an alligator would after making the unwise decision to feed on an electric eel. It took the entirety of Daniel’s mental power to recover from this blank state of mind.

With a quick shake of his head, Daniel desperately tried to regain his bearings, but just as he was once again able to think straight, his ears captured a feeble drumroll. He looked ahead in a hurry, and quickly noticed that the silhouette was now holding two drum sticks, and using them to strike the drum at an increasing tempo.

*doom.. doom.. doom.. doom.. badoom.. doom.. baDOOM.. DOOM..*

Daniel’s heart began to race. He did not need to guess any longer. He was certain that the power he was facing did not belong to the aspect of Duel, but of War.

Immediately, Daniel converged his spiritual essence into his fingertip, then slashed downwards, opening a human-sized rift that led to a shattered universe. Just before he could go through it, however.. *BADOOM!* Another wave of immense power brushed past him, once again numbing his mind, and sealing the portal he had just created.

The thunderous sound of the war drum kept resounding through the universe, dissipating any form of rationale or consciousness it came in contact with. It was hard to even fathom the amount of lives that were lost each given moment.. A number which increased exponentially as the affected area increased in size.

Each wave struck Daniel’s mind harder than the previous. So hard, in fact, that he had struggled to notice the presence of the aspect of War became more clear. At the same time, the silhouette became more defined, revealing the shape of a large and tall man in full golden armor engraved with the pictograms of the fiercest and most important wars in the multiverse’s history. Pictograms which came to life as his arms continued to slam the drumsticks over and over again.

Daniel was now desperate. Wave after wave of War essence flushed his mind clear of any form of thought. To take control over the spiritual essence within his body was already the most difficult thing he had ever attempted to perform, let another use it to create a rift from which he could escape.

Luckily, he had always been quick witted.

It was in the short time frame between shockwaves that Daniel was able to formulate a plan. One which he forgot every time a new wave of war essence numbed his consciousness, and to which he added a new step every time he recalled it the brief moment he regained control of his mind.

By the tenth wave, Daniel was able to gather the bit of karmic power he had left in his body, into a corner of his mind. By the fifteenth wave, he had successfully encased a portion of his consciousness within it. By the thirtieth attack, Daniel stared at the aspect of War expectantly.

What he was looking for, however, was not the man in golden armor, but the familiar power behind him.

After the fortieth attack, the aspect of War suddenly turned his head around. In the corner of his eye appeared a golden spark of golden light, one which the first of his drum’s shockwaves had failed to destroy. Then the second, the third...

As the last of the shockwaves he had created was breached, the body of War’s avatar bent backwards, avoiding the now shrunken arm-sized spear of pure karmic power. Yet, despite missing its target, the spear did not stop. As quickly as it came, the spear landed squarely on Daniel’s stomach, then continued in the distance while dragging his body along, and out of danger.

War reacted immediately. The war drum turned into a longbow, which he gripped tightly. With masterful form he cocked an arrow of pure existential power.. Then let go of it.

As the arrow whistled through space, Daniel realized that there was no avoiding it. He needed to leave this universe immediately.

Now free to act without being impaired by War’s numbing attacks, Daniel quickly opened a new rift in the trajectory of the golden spear.. And the next moment, his surroundings changed.

The once stable yet chaotic universe turned to a shattered one. One where space was fragmented, and each piece grinded against another like broken glass in a sack. In front of him, the shrinking sight of the closing portal, and in the middle of it, the approaching red arrow.

The portal continued to close, yet, as only an opening the size of a needle’s crown was left, War’s arrow landed. The power forced itself through, losing the majority of its momentum, yet maintaining enough to devastate the already shattered universe.

Unable to bear its oppressive power, the area where the portal had just closed instantly collapsed, forming a rapidly growing void of absolute darkness which expanded at a mind boggling speed, swallowing Daniel and the rest of the universe in a handful of seconds.