IMPERIUM INSECTUM

Mana surged around my body like a rampaging bull. I looked around the ground, and dozens of faceless were now swarming around me.

“Let's start simple, shall we?” I pointed a finger at one of the faceless. The lumbering fool kept walking as the tip of my finger crackled with black mana.

“Disappointing thing. Umbral piercer”

 Instantly, a thin black bolt shot from my finger into the faceless. The bolt pierced through his chest, leaving a football-sized hole in him. I shot him again and again. More holes appeared in him faster than he could regenerate. In no time, his body was reduced to nothing.

“Too slow. Let's try something else. But first, we need a change of scenery,” I jumped from the branch onto the ground. As soon as I landed, the black gunk started to crawl up my body. I pushed my hands through the gunk until I finally hit something solid.

“Purge”

Black mana rolled down my arms into the ground. Suddenly, a loud hiss hit my ears, and all the blank gunk in a several-meter radius disappeared around me, leaving nothing but bare soil.

“You're getting a lot of mileage out of the spell, aren't you?”

A smirk crawled up my face. I can't argue he's right. Purge is a special Null spell that only targets living matter. The benefits of this are that it’s way more efficient on mana, and the collateral damage is more controllable. However, I think collateral damage is the least of my problems in this situation.

I looked around and noticed several faceless figures shuffling towards me. The umbral piercer isn't enough to dispatch this many. I guess I'll have to step it up. Mana flowed to my arms and solidified into a pair of dark black gauntlets.

“Ebony Grasps ”, I whispered. The gauntlets surged with mana as I launched forward and delivered a blow into one of the faceless. The faceless buckled with the blow and suddenly vanished as null mana hammered into its body. These gauntlets allow me to cast the purge spell on anything I hit.

I delivered another blow to another faceless, blowing a large hole in its belly. I did it again to the next faceless and again. They kept coming and coming, and I kept swinging, but it was a losing battle.

<I need to kill them faster> I looked towards the beacon. That is my goal. Not exterminating every faceless I see here, if that’s even possible. 

I punched one of the faceless in the face and dissipated my gauntlets. I guess I'll have to step it up even more. Mana surged to my arms once again, going down towards my fingertips and exploding into a black rod. Quickly, the rod morphed and shaped into the second of my 3 weapons.

“Obsidian spike”

The rod surged and shaped itself into a trident. I spin the weapon in the palm of my hand before facing down the faceless.

<I can't forget my flank watch as well.> Mana leaked out of my body and collected into a small black ball that darted left and right. A faceless suddenly charged. At me from behind. However, just before I could move. 3 black bolts shot from the orb into its body, killing it.

< Let's get moving, shall we?>

I lunged forward, swinging left and right and carving a path towards the beacon. Dozens of faceless bodies split in half as I moved. Thankfully, these faceless can not fight, or I would have real trouble. As it stands, my skill with this weapon consists of swinging wildly and quickly; it's not a lot, but it's enough. I closed my eyes and sent a wave of my mana ahead. 15 faceless ahead. Let's show ‘em what I can do.

I ground to a halt. And held my trident out.

“Change”

The trident changed into a long, twisting whip. I got ready to swing when suddenly I felt something crawl up my legs.

<How annoying>

Man surged to my feet and existed as I purged the ground around me. I'll have to keep doing it while I'm moving. This is very mentally taxing, but it must be done.

I pulled the whip back, and then in an instant, I swept it around in an arc in front of me. The whip cracked as it pulled itself tight as I swung it in an arc. With ease, it sliced through all the trees and faced without a care. The ground shook and thundered as trees smacked into the ground.

The whip slowly faded and morphed back into the trident. The whip is powerful, but it takes a lot of focus to maintain. Focus, I dont have at the moment. Damn that dragon and his stupid ga-

Suddenly, the sound of 6 bolts firing hit my ears. I looked around just in time to see two faceless disappear.

<That’s my reminder to keep moving.> I darted forward towards the beacon, encountering more and more faceless. However, as their numbers increased, their power didn’t. It was a slog. A tedious, exhausting slog. But I was getting close. The blue aura of the beacon shone brightly past the trees and bushes. Is it finally coming to an end?

I swung my trident once more, cutting down several trees and faceless, and revealing a tall pyramid in a large clearing.

<Finally> I said as I leapt forward and into the clearing.

“I made it to the end of your stupid challenge, dragon. What now. Can I leave you and the accursed place yet!”

“ Congratulations on making it to the beacon. However, your challenge isn’t complete yet. You have one more task to complete”

“That wasn’t the agreement, dragon!”

“Too bad.” The dragon said. God, this guy pisses me off!

“Gyaaghaaa! FINE, I've come this fucking far. I'll take whatever bullshit you planned.”

“I love your enthusiasm. For your final challenge, you will face-“

My instincts lit on fire, making me look upwards just in time to catch something large and fast hit the ground. I covered my eyes as dirt and dust were kicked up and set flying towards me. As quickly as the dust came, it settled. Revealing a familiar-looking figure shrouded in null mana.

“You can't be serious.” I snapped as the shroud disappeared, revealing a tall, proud dragon.

“You will face me…” the dragon flared its wings as it let out a beastial roar. My instincts screamed like crazy, telling me to run. But I couldn’t. this was his domain. And the only way out is through him.

The dragon flapped its wings and took off into the sky. I did the same.

“I'm guessing flying isn't off the table anymore.”   My wings raced as I shot up into the sky. Suddenly, the sky illuminated bright orange. I swiftly dodged to the right just in time for a screaming fireball to fly past me, then another and another. I dodged left and right as I followed the dragon from behind.

“Can… you… sto- ENOUGH”

Mana surged around my body as my eyes locked onto the 5 oncoming fireballs.

“denial rift.”

The sky trembled as mana swept the area. Suddenly, several black rifts exploded onto our plane of existence, blocking and erasing the fireballs.

The dragon hurled more and more fireballs, but my magic vaporised all of them.

“Impressive insect. But erasing my fireballs isn't going to help you defeat me.”

“I know! But this will!”

My wings suddenly started beating like crazy as I came to a stop and hovered high in the sky. The dragon still circled, launching fireballs at me the entire time. I held my arm out and summoned my trident. Immediately, my eyes started following the dragon's path. Realising what I was trying to do, the dragon started rapidly changing directions.

<tch soo annoying>

I took a deep breath, focused, and waited, waited until the perfect moment.

<Now!>

My muscles flexed and strained as I shot the trident towards the dragon like a bullet, catching him straight in the wing and leaving a large gaping hole. The dragon roared in pain as it plummeted towards the ground. I followed suit, gaining as much speed as I could towards the dragon.

The dragon entered a steep spin, picking up so much speed that I struggled to keep up.

“GOOD SHOT INSECT”, the dragon bellowed as its body collided into the ground, causing a loud ear-bursting thud. Dirt and dust kicked up into the sky, creating a thick, dirty fog.

My changed pitch is slowing me down and letting me land nicely.

“Are you dead, dragon?”. No response. It was worth a shot. I sent out a wave of mana trying to feel for him. But nothing. Where the hell did he go? I continued walking through the dust fog.

<So damn thick. I can't see a damn thing!>

I tried to listen for him, but nothing. Has he died? No, it can't be that eas-“

My instincts screamed at me to drop to the ground. However, I wasn’t fast enough. I was only able to catch a glimpse of something fast and black moving before it took one of my right arms.

“Gyaghaaa! ASSHOLE,” I screamed in agony as the pain went through my pain resistances and ravaged my body. My left arm grabbed what was left of my right as it tried to mitigate the pain.

“I hope that wasn’t enough to take you out of the fight, " the dragon bragged—this guy. I'm gonna eat you alive if I get the chance. I slowly stood to my feet as I fought the pain as best I could.

“Still got some fight, I see.”

“Stop hiding, you damn coward!”

The dragon chuckled. Suddenly, a sharp, powerful gust of wind blew the dirty fog away. Revealing an empty clearing.

“Still hiding, coward.” I spat out.

Suddenly, the air rippled and distorted, black magic arced out like lightning, striking everything. Suddenly, large black scales started to reveal themselves to the world.

“There you are, coward. Are you gonna fight me properly now?”

The dragon huffed as its body materialised in our plane. “You’ve already lost an arm. Clearly, you aren't the one.”

“Hmmph. Don’t write me out yet. I haven't even begun showing you all my tricks.”

Suddenly, black and green mana erupted where my arm was. The mana swirled and formed quickly into the shape of my arm, and then, suddenly, with a flash, the mana disappeared, revealing a newly rebuilt arm.

“Oh my….” Full of tricks, aren't you?

“I've got one more for you.” On cue, hundreds of flies swarmed out of my body and into a thick cloud around me.

“Let's fight for real now….”

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