The creature rushes towards me.
Dash!
I push off the invisible ground and narrowly avoid another swing of its claws. The movement feels different in here. My body is lighter than it should be, but I still remember the exhaustion from the fight.
Maybe this place isn’t copying my injuries, but it is copying how worn out I feel.
I turn and drive my fist into the side of its face.
BANG!!!!
Pain explodes through my knuckles.
The creature’s head moves slightly, but the attack does little more than anger it.
Its tail swings across the void.
THUD!!!!
The impact slams into my side and sends me tumbling across the darkness.
I hit the unseen floor several times before finally stopping.
There is still no pain.
That should be a good thing, but somehow it makes this worse. I can’t tell how much damage I’m taking or how close I am to losing.
~Your connection to your physical body is weakening.
Then why don’t you actually help me or give me proper advice on the situation.
~That function is not currently available.
Then what function can I use?!?!
The creature pauses.
The red eye narrows as it watches me from the distance.
A faint screen appears in front of me.
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
Unlocked Skills:
Essence Manifestation
Dragon Pulse
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
Two skills?
~The additional essence allowed your body to reach the necessary threshold.
Can either of them help me right now?
~Essence Manifestation is currently inaccessible.
Of course, why would it be available.
My attention shifts towards the second skill.
Dragon Pulse.
I don’t know what it does, but I don’t exactly have time to wait for an explanation.
How do I use it?
~Focus on the foreign heartbeat.
The creature charges again.
Ba-dum.
I close my eyes for only a second.
My own heartbeat remains distant, but the second one grows louder.
BA-DUM.
It is coming from the creature.
No.
It is coming from both of us.
The same rhythm beats through my chest and the dragon standing ahead of me.
BA-DUM.
I focus on it as hard as I can.
The darkness around my body begins to tremble.
A faint crimson glow spreads across my arms. It travels underneath my skin in the same way the essence did before entering my chest.
The creature reaches me and raises its claws.
Now.
BA-DUM!!!!
A violent pulse explodes out from my body.
BOOM!!!!
The creature is thrown backwards as cracks spread across the scales covering its chest. It lets out a roar before crashing against the invisible ground.
For the first time since entering this place, the darkness around us begins to break.
Thin red cracks spread in every direction.
Through them, I can barely see the forest and Raven is kneeling beside my body.
Veronica is standing behind her with both hands covered in blood.
My blood.
Their voices are muffled, but I can see the panic on their faces.
"Kain!" Raven’s voice briefly reaches me through one of the cracks.
My body is lying completely still between them.
Blood covers the grass underneath me while Raven presses both hands against the wound in my stomach.
Veronica looks towards something outside of my vision.
The crack closes before I can see anything else.
They’re trying to save me. Not that I’ll need it here.
I need to finish this before there is nothing left for them to save.
The creature rises from the ground.
The scales along its body are cracked, but it is still changing. Its back begins splitting apart as two damaged wings force their way out.
Its appearance is becoming closer to the dragon I killed.
Pieces of its flesh fall away with every movement before being replaced by more scales.
Worn and torn, yet somehow still alive. I really need to hurry up and finish this.
"Mine..." it growls again.
"No," I reply with a serious tone.
The creature’s remaining eye glows brighter.
I lift both hands and return to the same position.
I only managed to use the pulse once, but that should be enough to understand the feeling.
Focus on the heartbeat and find the part that is connecting us... Then force it back.
BA-DUM.
The creature spreads its wings and a wave of pressure crashes against me.
My feet slide backwards as the void shakes around us.
BA-DUM.
It opens its mouth while a crimson light begins gathering inside.
That is a new attack... Oh.
~A direct attack from it could permanently damage your essence.
You really like explaining things right before they happen.
The light grows brighter.
I focus on the heartbeat again, but my body feels heavier now.
The first pulse must have taken more out of me than I realized.
Come on.
I survived getting stabbed by its claws, survived cutting through its throat, and I survived absorbing its power...
I’m not dying inside my own mind.
BA-DUM!!!!
The creature releases the attack.
A beam of crimson energy tears through the darkness.
I throw myself aside, but part of it still passes through my left arm.
For a moment, nothing happens.
Then my arm begins breaking apart as small pieces of it drift into the void like ash.
What the hell?!
~Your form here is a representation of your essence. Continued damage will make returning to your body impossible.
I grip what remains of my arm.
It doesn’t hurt, but watching pieces of myself disappear is more than enough to make panic return.
The creature starts gathering energy again.
I can’t keep dodging it, I need to end this with the next attack.
My eyes shift towards the cracks that briefly revealed the forest.
Maybe I’m not supposed to destroy the dragon’s will.
Its essence is already part of me. Destroying it could mean destroying part of myself along with it.
~That conclusion is correct.
You could’ve told me that before I punched it.
~You did not ask.
I swear I’m going to figure out how to get back at you one day.
I stare at the creature.
It wants its essence back because it still believes the power belongs to it.
Maybe the solution isn’t killing it again.
Maybe I need to make it understand that it already lost.
I straighten my body and step forward.
The creature releases another roar.
Crimson energy continues gathering inside its mouth, but I don’t move out of the way.
~What are you doing?
Doing what I’m best at, something reckless.
~That does not narrow it down.
The creature fires.
Instead of jumping aside, I raise my remaining arm.
BA-DUM!!!!
I release another Dragon Pulse.
The two attacks collide in front of me.
BOOM!!!!
The entire void trembles.
Cracks spread through the darkness as the beam pushes against the pulse. My feet begin sliding backwards, but I continue forcing my arm forward.
The creature’s heartbeat pounds against mine.
BA-DUM! BA-DUM! BA-DUM!
I can feel everything that it has experienced. Pain, rage, sadness, all of it.
For a brief moment, images that don’t belong to me rush through my mind.
Dragons flying over distant mountains.
A much larger creature standing above them.
Chains wrapped around crimson wings.
"You lost," I say through gritted teeth.
The pulse begins pushing the beam back.
"I... killed you," I manage to say.
Another crack forms across the creature’s chest.
BA-DUM!!!!
The pulse tears through the remaining energy and slams directly into the dragon.
Its body is lifted from the ground.
Cracks spread across every scale before the creature bursts apart in a storm of crimson light.
Silence returns.
The pieces don’t disappear... instead they float around me for several seconds before slowly moving towards my body.
Each fragment sinks into my chest.
My missing arm begins forming again as the darkness around me fades.
~Integration is complete.
Does that mean I’m not dying anymore?
~Your condition is stabilizing.
That isn’t the same thing.
~No, it is not.
Before I can ask anything else, the void starts collapsing.
The invisible ground disappears beneath my feet and I begin falling through the darkness.
The distant voices grow louder.
"His heart is beating again!" Raven shouts.
"Move your hands. I need to close the wound," Veronica instructs.
Light begins surrounding me from every direction.
I look down at my body as the last pieces of crimson energy disappear into my chest.
A new message appears in front of me.
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
Skill Acquired:
Dragon Pulse
Dragon Essence successfully integrated.
Physical transformation has begun.
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
Physical transformation?
What does that—
My eyes snap open.
The forest immediately comes back into view.
Raven is above me with blood covering her armor and hands. Veronica kneels beside her while pressing a glowing piece of cloth against the wound in my stomach.
Both of them stare down at me.
For a second, nobody says anything.
Then Raven lets out a breath and lowers her head.
"You absolute idiot," she whispers.
I try to answer, but my throat feels too dry.
My entire body is worn out. Every muscle feels torn apart, and even breathing sends pain through my chest.
At least I survived everything.
"Look at his eye," Veronica says quietly.
Raven raises her head again.
Her relief disappears.
I don’t have the strength to ask what they’re seeing.
A strange warmth spreads around my right eye as another heartbeat echoes through my chest.
Ba-dum.
That’s definitely not my heartbeat.
~Kain, remain calm.
Why? What is happening now?
Raven slowly reaches for the sword resting beside her.
"His eye looks exactly like the dragon’s," Raven replies with a serious expression upon her face now.
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