Chapter 893: Parallels [5]

"Enough?"

Tharvek repeated the word as he looked down at Leon.

The boy’s fingers were still clinging to his leg, the sand dragging across his features as more and more of his skin ripped and healed in real time. At the same time, the blood and flesh of his severed legs squirmed as they slowly started to heal.

He could see everyone was waiting.

Waiting for something to happen.

There were some that were screaming to stop, but Tharvek barely paid much attention to them as he raised his foot, and⎯

BANG!

Stomped down.

Spurt!

Blood squirted all over his clothes.

But even still, the grip remained.

Enough?

"You look at the men beneath me and decide that I have enough..."

Tharvek’s gaze continued to linger over the stands, staring at the people as they leaned forward to see what was happening.

He could see the cheers growing louder as he raised his foot again.

BANG!

His foot stomped down again as red continued to stain the sand.

But even so, the grip remained.

His gaze continued upwards, past their faces and towards the pale sun.

The pain in his shoulders. The thirst. The hunger.

He recalled it all.

"I look at the one above me and know that I don’t."

The grip on his ankle grew tighter.

Tharvek didn’t stop.

BANG!

The cheering grew louder.

"Kill! Kill!"

"End him! Finish him!"

"Finish him quickly...!"

"Don’t let him live longer!"

Tharvek basked in the shouts, his gaze slowly lowering back to Leon.

"That is the difference between us."

He raised his foot once more.

BANG!

He felt something crack beneath him as the sand beneath him dyed completely in red.

Tharvek drew a deep breath.

"A hundred people can bow to me when I enter a room. A thousand can shout my name at the same time. But what does any of it mean if someone else can decide, tomorrow, that I’m no longer permitted to have it?"

The grip started to weaken.

For a moment, within the bloody mess that was beneath him, their eyes met.

Tharvek stared right into those eyes and smiled.

That look...

He had worn it himself, back when he had been exposed to the reality of the world.

"Don’t mistake comfort for freedom."

"Eat."

The bowl had barely anything in it.

Tharvek remembered how quickly he had reached for it, bringing the stale piece of bread to his lips while the man watched from his chair.

"You worked well today."

He had been rewarded with a meal for working the entire day.

A meal that meant he would live another day.

He felt grateful then...

"Ha."

Tharvek laughed, his foot raising once more.

BANG!

"You think that because the hand fed me, I should be grateful?"

Tharvek raised his foot again.

BANG! BANG! BANG!

He stomped down several more times.

"The hand was merely there to chain me down."

BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG!

Tharvek didn’t stop.

He stomped, and stomped, and stomped.

To the point where the audience had long since quieted down.

Even as blood spilled in every direction, he didn’t stop.

"Call it greed. Tell yourself I should be grateful. But understand what you’re asking me to accept."

His father had wanted very little.

Tharvek could still recall those fingers as they clung to his opponent.

"You’re asking me to build a life inside someone else’s order and be satisfied because, so far, they’ve been kind enough not to take it away."

For several seconds, Leon said nothing.

Then his right shoulder shifted.

Tharvek looked down as the boy’s grip remained firm against his ankle. Despite his face being a bloody pulp and parts of his skull being cracked, he didn’t let go.

"Let go."

BANG! BANG!

Tharvek continued to stomp down.

The more he did so, the faster he became.

Dead.

He should’ve been dead.

And yet⎯

"Why?"

BANG! BANG!

"...Aren’t."

BANG!

"You."

BANG!

"Dead."

BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG!

"YET!"

His voice reverberated across every section of the surroundings as the skull beneath him cracked further.

Crack!

And for the first time, the grip weakened.

It hung loosely for a moment before the fingers began to straighten.

Tharvek’s eyes narrowed.

Ba... Thump!

A soft thumping sound reached Tharvek’s ears as Leon’s body twitched.

"H... how?"

For the first time, Tharvek started to feel something.

Cra Crack! Cra Crack!

Accompanying his words was the soft yet ever present cracking sound that echoed from all sides as Tharvek’s eyes started to widen and he immediately brought his foot down once more.

But⎯

BANG!

This time, his foot missed.

"....!?"

Finally letting go of his ankle, Leon rolled to the side as he pushed himself back up slowly. Much to everyone’s shock and horror, his legs had returned.

Ba... Thump! Ba... Thump!

His face was a bloody pulp, and it was hard to tell if he was even seeing with all the blood that covered his face.

Leon’s shoulders rose and fell.

Blood slipped from his chin as he lifted his head, his eyes briefly moving towards the people above them.

He could hardly make out the noise.

No, there was no noise.

The sand around his knees lifted.

Tharvek had began to move again.

Someone screamed from the stands.

Tharvek moved immediately.

His knee struck Leon’s face, forcing his head backwards as the sand rose around his body. Before it could close around, however, Leon pushed himself away from sand.

Ba... Thump!

The sand shredded everything within.

Then, extending his hand, a sword formed in his grasp as he slashed to his right where Tharvek suddenly appeared.

Swoosh!

Tharvek’s body scattered with the sand the moment he slashed, the blade passing through his chest, carrying a trail of sand with it.

For a moment, he remained still.

Leon stood where he had been, swaying from one side to the other as the blood started to crawl back into his body.

Ba... Thump! Ba... Thump! Ba.. Thump!

At the same time, the beat of his heart grew louder.

So loud he couldn’t hear anything else.

Ba... Thump! Ba... Thump!

His toes moved through the blood beneath him, and a strange expression crossed his face. His lips parted as though he meant to say something.

What came out was a breathless laugh.

He seemed almost startled by it.

Then his head lifted.

Tharvek raised his hand.

The sand between them surged upwards.

Leon struck it.

BANG!

The first ridge broke apart, but a second rose behind it, catching the blade before Leon could withdraw. Tharvek felt the pressure through his Domain and tightened the sand around the sword.

Leon should have released it.

Instead, he stepped closer.

His shoulder tore beneath the strain, the arm twisting at an angle that should have forced him to the ground. He used the movement to drag the blade sideways, breaking through the ridge before the joint pulled itself back into place.

Tharvek appeared besides him.

BANG!

His palm struck Leon beneath the ribs.

The impact drove deep enough for his entire chest to sink.

And yet, Leon remained standing as he folded one hand around Tharvek’s palm.

Then, he smiled.

Tharvek’s pupils shrunk as Leon slashed right at his face. Tharvek was quick to react as his heel struck the back of Leon’s knee.

Crack!

The leg shattered instantly.

Leon fell, but his sword was already moving behind him. Tharvek leaned away as the edge cut across his shoulder, and by the time he lowered his gaze again, Leon’s foot was pressing against the ground as though it had never shattered in the first place.

Ba... Thump!

He moved as if he didn’t feel the pain.

Tharvek’s pupils constricted further.

’The interval...’

There was barely any time between the injury and the recovery now.

Worse, the boy was beginning to move as though he knew it.

Tharvek drove his hand forward.

Sand struck Leon from the side, carrying him across the arena and into another ridge. The impact buried him to his shoulders, but darkness immediately seeped between the grains.

A hand emerged.

Then the sword.

Leon forced his way out with skin hanging from his forearm. It squirmed and healed in real time while he lifted the blade, leaving only the blood behind.

The crowd had stopped chanting.

Only silence remained.

Tharvek could hear individual voices now. Questions. Shouts directed towards the arena entrances. Somewhere near the front, someone was calling Leon’s name.

Tharvek’s jaw tightened.

’...Then I simply have to pulverise his entire body.’

Mana surged through his body.

But alongside it, he felt a sudden pain.

The pressure beneath his ribs sharpened, digging between them before spreading towards his back. Tharvek straightened as a deep ache passed through his spine.

For an instant, the arena seemed to tilt.

Then everything became clearer.

He could feel the sand beneath the stands.

The grains caught between the stones.

The dust falling from the railings whenever someone struck them with their palm.

His Domain spread further without him needing to push it.

Tharvek’s fingers slowly curled.

The entire arena followed.

Leon stopped as the ground rose beneath him.

A column carried him upwards, its surface splitting into narrow edges that closed around his body. He swung before they reached him, breaking two apart, but the third struck his shoulder and turned him into the fourth.

Blood scattered through the air.

Tharvek formed above him.

Their eyes met for a brief moment before his fist came down.

BOOM!

Leon struck the ground hard enough for the sand to burst outwards in a wide ring.

The front rows disappeared behind it.

Tharvek landed beside the depression, his breathing heavier than ever.

The pain in his chest had grown even stronger as he looked down at his hand, watching the grey covering it thicken.

It was slower than usual...

But just as he moved, he felt something grasp his ankle.

Tharvek’s gaze dropped.

The boy’s eyes were looking straight at him as his lips parted into some soft mumbling.

This time, Tharvek heard it well.

Laughter.

"...What’s so funny?"

Leon didn’t answer.

His grip tightened, and darkness spread beneath Tharvek’s foot.

Tharvek tried to move away, but his body refused to listen as he heard as soft ’Ba.. Thump’ inside of his head.

Tharvek’s balance tilted, and a sword came up from beneath his arm.

He turned sharply.

The blade tore across his side.

Pain flashed through him, followed by something hotter as the pressure inside his body spread.

Tharvek caught Leon by the face and drove him back into the ground.

BANG!

The fingers around his ankle loosened.

He struck again.

Before the third blow landed, Leon’s arm rose between them.

Bone broke beneath Tharvek’s palm.

Then pushed back.

Ba... Thump!

Leon’s sword scraped across the gray covering Tharvek’s ribs.

A crack appeared.

Tharvek forced himself backwards as the blade broke through, leaving a shallow wound beneath it.

His eyes settled on Leon.

The boy was getting faster.

Not only his healing.

The darkness around him had spread across the depression, and the faint stars within his eyes were beginning to brighten. His shoulders trembled as he stood, but his sword remained steady.

Then one of the stars flickered.

Leon’s smile faltered.

He pressed a hand against his chest.

Tharvek moved.

His Domain folded around Leon, forcing the darkness back as he gathered directly in front of him. Leon barely raised his sword before the first strike landed.

The impact broke his fingers.

The second shattered his forearm.

Tharvek drove the third towards his throat.

Leon lowered his chin just enough for the blow to tear through his shoulder instead.

Then he stepped closer.

Tharvek felt flesh close around his wrist.

His eyes widened slightly.

Leon had trapped the arm inside his own body.

The sword rose between them.

Tharvek twisted, dispersing his hand before the blade could reach his neck. Sand spilled from Leon’s shoulder as he withdrew, but the edge still caught him beneath the jaw.

Warmth ran down his throat.

He wiped it away with his thumb.

Beneath the blood, a dark vein had reached Tharvek’s cheek.

Leon came again.

Tharvek met him halfway.

BANG!

Their first collision tore the sand away from the stone beneath it. Leon’s heel broke as he planted it, but he drove forward before it had finished healing, forcing Tharvek to turn with the blade.

Tharvek’s palm struck his jaw.

Leon’s head snapped sideways.

His sword continued moving.

The edge cut through a ridge of sand and struck the ground, splitting the exposed stone. Tharvek gathered at his back, but Leon was already turning, dragging the sword through the floor as he brought it around.

BANG!

Tharvek caught the blade between his palms.

Cracks spread through the gray covering his hands.

Across from him, Leon’s fingers split around the hilt.

Neither let go.

Tharvek drew more mana.

Something inside him tightened in response.

The sand rose higher.

He felt it gather behind his shoulders, reaching further than he had intended, but Leon pushed at that moment and the thought disappeared beneath the strain in his arms.

"...S-tay down."

Tharvek forced the blade aside and drove his fist forward.

Leon’s chest caved beneath the impact.

At the same time, his sword cut across Tharvek’s shoulder.

Blood struck both their faces.

Leon staggered.

Ba... Thump!

He stepped forward again.

Tharvek’s lips slowly parted as the pressure inside him spread towards his skull.

Then the sand behind him came down.

***

BANG! BANG!

The sound reached them several moments after the impact.

The Great Sun watched the yellow cloud swallow the arena, his gaze remaining fixed on the two figures moving within it.

Below, people were beginning to leave their seats.

Not all of them.

Some remained pressed against the railings, staring as the stone beneath their feet trembled. Others tried to move past them, shouting towards the crowded exits while another impact shook dust from the upper platforms.

Kiera’s fingers twitched.

The Great Sun glanced at her.

The veins beneath her skin had darkened, spreading past her elbow and beneath her sleeve. Another had reached the side of her face, branching beneath her eye as she struggled to lift her head.

"...Leon."

Her voice was barely audible.

Dawn looked back down.

Through the drifting sand, Leon struck the ground, rose, and disappeared into another collision.

Tharvek followed.

The dark marks climbing the Conqueror’s face were visible now, spreading whenever his Domain swelled.

Kiera suddenly stiffened.

Dawn felt the movement through her wrist but didn’t turn towards her.

His attention had already shifted to the balconies.

Aoife stood near the railing, staring into the arena. His gaze lingered on her before passing over Evelyn and the figures gathered nearby.

One face.

Then another.

Below them, the sand lifted again.

Dawn’s fingers loosened slightly around Kiera’s wrist as the veins beneath her skin twitched further.

His lips moved.

"...Almost."