CHAPTER 48: BREAKING A RUNE

Xenos took a stance, facing the one from above, riding... light.

He didn’t move out of the way; instead, he shifted his sword a single inch.

When the Light Runebearer’s blade came down, it met a slow thud.

The attacker’s head... slid off without him even seeing the sword.

Continuing, Xenos swung his sword to the left, at the exact same time a man lunged at him from the shadows.

But just as his blade was about to cut the poor guy in half, gravity pushed him off course.

Clicking his tongue, Xenos stepped away from the Shadow soldier, kicked up the Light’s broken sword, grabbed it with his left hand while still in motion, and threw it right at the Gravity soldier’s neck, ending his life.

Runebearer of Shadow, the last of the three, froze.

Shadowy tendrils coiled around his hands, but they too didn’t move.

His gaze kept turning from one corpse to the other, unable to believe it, before suddenly...

"You can run."

He met Xenos’s gray eyes, who was now standing directly in front of him.

"AAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

The man screamed instead and punched forward.

Nothing was hit.

Xenos was already behind him, slicing the soldier in half.

When the man’s body fell apart, he let out a quiet breath and lowered his blade.

"You should’ve listened to my words."

His gray eyes turned to the sky.

"...a killer in both worlds, huh?"

Not allowing him a moment of... reminiscing? A few of the others, now angered, screamed and charged at him, not a single rational thought going through their minds.

"Ah, for Tartaros’s sake."

Xenos groaned.

"Can’t you people take a hint?"

"DIEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!"

No, they could not, and so...

He turned and bolted.

"Get him!"

"After him!"

He ran, and not because he had to, but because it was easier that way.

Besides, rage-baiting was an art form that needed repetition to perfect.

What better time than to practice it here, with a live audience?

"C’mon, hurry up!"

He waved his hand at them.

"You’ll lose me at this pace!"

Their fury only grew.

"My mother runs faster than that!"

Xenos led them down a narrow passageway, a canyon with cliffs on both sides, barely wide enough for five men to stand shoulder to shoulder.

Once he was deep enough, he stopped, drew his sword, and drove it straight into the rock wall.

The cliff trembled almost immediately, cracks spidering through.

In moments, the hill roared, much of it collapsing in a cloud of dust and falling stone.

Stone and rubble didn’t come to them; no, the canyon was safe from that.

The dust, however? Oh, the canyon was filled with it, blinding them.

"Retreat!"

"The bastard had set up a trap!"

"B-But... which way’s out?!"

Soldiers screamed, knowing better than to stay here a second longer.

Visibility had dropped to nothing, and they could barely breathe.

"I can’t see!"

"Hold formation!"

"Where’s—urgh! Don’t blindly swing!"

They couldn’t see or think.

Well, the second one wasn’t anything new.

Nor could they tell if the shadow moving beside them was friend or foe.

Were they to attack? Defend? Run away like they wanted to?

Either way, it didn’t matter...

Xenos was already among them.

This time, he didn’t need his ’GPS.’

His Beholding Eyes were enough.

The first one died before realizing anyone was behind him.

The second turned and saw nothing but his own reflection in a blade.

The third didn’t listen to orders and swung wildly, only to hit his ally.

By that point, panic had completely taken over.

"MONSTER!"

"H-HE’S A Daemon!"

"STAY TOGETHER—!"

Xenos weaved through them, his blade easily tearing through their flesh.

Screams, one after another, echoed off the canyon walls, and blood sprayed against the stone. Eventually, when the dust began to settle, the only sound left was the faint dripping of blood and the far rumbling of rocks.

Xenos stood alone, staring at what remained.

He twisted his sword, flicking their remains off, and sighed.

"...maybe I am."

Eris shook her head.

’They started it.’

He stowed his blade.

"Mm."

Xenos turned back towards the battlefield, stepping over corpses of humans and monsters alike until he reached the Rune...

The prize that had started all of this.

It floated in the air, pulsing and glowing faintly.

He stared at it for a long time, only to then groan.

"You’ve got to be kidding me."

—

[ᛂᛪᚾᚱᛜᛈᛜᛉ]

Element: Entropy

Rank: 1

—

"Entropy..."

He sighed.

"Out of everything..."

His eye twitched repeatedly.

"Entropy."

Of all the possible Runes to waste this bloodbath on, it had to be that.

One of the rarest ever Runes, an unimpressive Ethereal Entropy Rune.

He couldn’t even sell this thing!

No one would buy it!

Absolutely no one!

"Calamity really hates me."

Xenos stepped closer.

"Really, really."

Eris sighed in his head.

’Are you going to—’

’Oh, I am.’

He reached out, clutching the floating orb in his hand.

The moment his fingers closed around it, light flared...

Chaotic and incredibly violent Divinity.

Strong enough to twist his mind.

The pain he felt was enormous.

Yet he didn’t scream or blink.

"Figures, so..."

That was all he said.

It did just that, and...

’Break.’

The world went black.