Chapter 5 (1/2)

Chapter 5

It comes!

Faced with the sudden assault, Julian does not panic He carelessly tosses aside the torch in his hands, and draws the longsword at his hip The steel charts a beautiful curved arc, slicing towards the target behind him

His sword h the body of the blade, Julian feels so substantial in the void

The surrounding shadows abruptly shrink, recoiling as if having been stabbed They inous, humanoid, form

Dazzlingillumination to the darkness in the bottoht, Julian is able to clearly discern the huure before hilowing red points appear upon its head, filled with an indescribable killing intent Aside from these points, no other facial features can be seen Froue sensations of numbness into even Julian’s body

An arcane revenant!

After getting a clear look at his assailant, Julian raises an eyebrow in surprise

An arcane revenant, intrinsically, is a soul filled with powerful eful spirit This type of revenant is exceedingly rare, since those filled with sufficiently powerful ic are almost alizards, who have h to die, it is rare for theto the world Thus, even so like this three tih arcane revenants do not possess such a ical attacks as wizards, they are filled with a terrifying y Ordinary weapons are unable to block their attacks, and even weapons filled with positive energy will have their effectiveness greatly reduced thanks to its icks’ disruptive effect

But the infamy of an arcane revenant is not due to those factors alone As revenants, they lack alht or reason, and therefore have the total annihilation of any enemy before them as their sole precept – by any means, at any cost

Iine, if you will, aa nuclear boive you an appreciation of the feelings of those who are faced with an arcane revenant Once it decides to unleash itself regardless of consequence, even the castle would be totally destroyed

There’s nothing else for it, then

Julian’s face sinks as he considers his options He turns over the longsword in his hands; a blue radiance rises fros upon the body of the sword However, the light is faint, almost intermittent

Nocturnal iron, still unsharpened … well that's as much as it can do

Provoked by the sword, the arcane revenant see out a fevered shriek, it extends its ar motion

Clang!

Julian brandishes the longsword to parry the attack, sustaining a block against the pair of thickset, illusive arms If not for the special properties of nocturnal iron, it would not be pos

sible to intercept an ephemeral attack on the soul

In the instant of the block, Julian hesitates in mild surprise

His opponent’s strength is not as great as he had i intent, this arcane revenant was nevertheless not particularly strong In his past encounters with arcane revenants head on, Julian had been hard-pressed to even go half-and-half with thereater, possibly even oppressively so

Was this arcane revenant still immature?

Julian does not let down his guard because of conjecture Though arcane revenants were all thoughtless creatures fighting on instinct alone, who knohat exactly those instincts are? Thinking this, he in of ceasing its attacks, lunging forward in an angry howl yet again After a flurry of blows that are all parried away from Julian’s body, the foiled revenant is clearly flustered, reflecting those senti, Julian feels the surrounding void energies converge towards it; accoains its strength

So that’s how it is!

Having recognized the truth of the matter, Julian takes action instantly Unlike his previous strategy of waiting for the other party’s attack, he takes two steps forward, initiating an assault himself upon the arcane revenant

“Ssh – !”

The bottom of the well is cramped In only two paces, Julian rushes to the shadow’s side; faced with his attack, the latter lets out an i its two black ar towards it, atteh However, the aroal; Julian’s blade delineates an airborne circle of azure light, pressing itself tightly upon the shadow’s are course with its attack before he follows up with a reverse sweep, slicing easily into the shadow’s body [1]

An exchange of blows between soul and soul occurs Harmed by Julian’s attack, the black shadow erupts onceits ar anticipated this long prior, Julian caling his opponent’s counterattack just so Afterwards, he raises his sword to parry again, denying far and away the shadow’s attack

The sae shadow suddenly stops its low intensely as it raises both hands to clutch at its head For his part, Julian averts the blade in a guardinghis opponent in curiosity

The black shadow raises its head, and a hoarse, grating voice sounds from its body