Return of the Fallen Volume 11 Chapter 43
Even after the worms changed their way of fighting and attacked by shooting their mucus, it proved to be useless against Kazuki. As a matter of fact, it made his fight that much easier. With them firing their projectiles at him, it caused a delayed reaction in their other movements. He could dip and dodge a brigade of attacks and with energy filling him, he left after images as he closed the distance.
Taking the back of his opponents, his needles flew out like a rain of despair. One by one the sandworms fell to the ground, paralyzed from the damage. A tail came whipping at his face. The speed cracked the air causing small explosions here and there. Kazuki swung his blade at an angle and managed to parry the tail away from him.
The tail was redirected into another worm and the worm was knocked down. The worm tried to squirm away but Kazuki was not letting anyone escape.
“Where the fuck do you think you’re going!”
He threw his hammer with everything he had and it slammed into the worm’s body, knocking it to the ground. A large dent was left in the creature’s body and the sound of bones breaking resounded pleasantly in Kazuki’s ear. Kicking off the ground, Kazuki rushed forward and grabbed his hammer before it touched the ground. leaping forward, Kazuki swung the hammer upward and gave the worm an uppercut causing its head to smash into another worm, and like a domino effect another four worms ended up colliding into one another from this one blow.
Chaos was all around as bodies fell left and right. With Arc’s help, Kazuki constantly switched back and forth with his weapons. Arc continually activated his ring and gave him whatever he needed in the moment. As Kazuki continued to fight, Arc began to synchronize with his style and pretty soon Kauzki no longer needed to communicate what weapon he needed when he needed. Arc was right there everytime and right on time.
Kazuki lifted his empty hand above his head and his sword appeared. Stabbing it deeply into another enemy, his hammer then appeared. After swinging it down it was replaced by the sword as Kazuki swung behind him and deflected another flying tail. He then jumped backward with a flip and while he was in the air he spun the sword at a rapid speed, causing the many projectiles flying at him to be deflected. Some of them bounced away harmlessly but some Kazuki sent back toward his foes.
The mucus projectiles stabbed deeply into many of the worms and they let out anguished cries. Still, even with all the pain, the sandworms were relentless and attacked nonstop.
The whole place shook and the ceiling continued to fall in on them but none were concerned with the falling rock. Kazuki relied on both his senses as well as Arc’s voice in his head telling him exactly where shit would fall. With this, he no longer needed to look up as he raced ahead. He moved like a ghost. Things that looked as if they were about to hit him, seemed to pass through him as he dodged by a hairs breath.
Not only were his movements illusive but because of all of the constant falling debris, it interfered with the army of worms’ senses. They were having difficulties tracking him as he stepped around them with an almost sickening flow. Sword, paddle, hammer, needles, Kazuki used his weapons as if they were an extension of his body. Cutting his enemies to inflict the most amount of pain, allowed him to stun many and get behind them.
His needles shot forward with a powerful hit and worms dropped like stones in a lake. The worms grew desperate. Kazuki wondered if they were actually smart or stupid by this point when they did something he did not expect. Around ten sand worms began to roar simultaneously. The sound reverberated within Kauzki’s chest but besides that, it caused no harm.
“Are they…”
Before Kazuki could finish that thought, Arc finished it for him.
(Dman, they’re calling for more. Kazuki this isn’t good.)
(What are you talking about, I’m crushing them. They can barely retaliate.)
(True, but that’s not what I’m talking about. Your fight has dragged on too long and this place has become increasingly more unstable. I wasn’t going to mention it because I thought you would be done soon but if more sand worms arrive and the fight is prolonged even further, this whole place will come down on top of you. You may be able to take a lot but this entire place…it will no doubt crush you to death.)
(Shit! Things are escalating beyond my control.)
(Right, you need to get away before it’s too late.)
Kazuki couldn’t do that.
(I can’t, Marty is just beyond that wall. I won’t abandon her.)
(I’m not telling you to, I know that line of dialogue will not progress. Breach the wall and take her out of here.)
(If I do that, and this place is buried I lose that A.I. room. That’s my biggest advantage!)
(You can’t stay here! Forget the room. Flee before it’s too late!)
Kazuki’s mind whirled in thought.
At the same time, he had to keep fighting and dodging incoming attacks or he would be dead.
(I have to stop them from coming but how? They won’t stop no matter what. The only way is if I’m dead.)
…
It was like lightning went off in Kazuki’s head.
(Arc, I need you to do something for me.)
A moment later, Kazuki rushed forward once again and jumped toward another sandworm. Just as he came face to face with it, another tail came flying at him. This time instead of dodging it, the tail slammed into Kazuki’s chest and he went flying backward before slamming hard into a wall. His body was embedded several feet into the wall and the world suddenly went silent.
The worms all paused and it was like they were looking at one another with serious doubt. Half a second later, blood began to spill out of the hole. The scent of this blood the worms found foul but this disgust was brief as the very next thing they detected was a soul.
One of the worms quickly slithered over and slammed against the wall with its head. A large chunk of the wall crumbled and Kazuki’s limp, lifeless body fell out. Immediately the worm that tore the wall apart opened its mouth and began devouring Kauzki’s soul. Not just this worm but a few others scurried over and they too opened their jaws wide before devouring Kauzki’s soul until there was nothing left.
Kazuki lay there with lifeless eyes. There was no breath no heartbeat and nearly all of his bones were broken. With no soul and no life, this still wasn’t quite enough to appease these beasts, not after what they just dealt and put up with. Several of them raised their tails high up above before smashing them downward and crushing Kazuki’s body. They hammered his flesh and bones again and again and again until he was meat paste. They found something a bit odd though. After turning his body into a paste, strangely enough, his head was left fully intact.
They could not understand this and tried to repeatedly destroy his head by slamming against it but it was left practically unscathed. His skin was torn off and the muscle was reduced to tatters but his skull still remained. They could not figure this out but after devouring his soul and destroying his body beyond recognition, many of them no longer cared. Even with hundreds of their supposed comrades lying on the ground completely paralyzed, the worms did not care. With resounding roars, they declared victory before finally retreating.
Hundreds of their own lay there, still alive and conscious but could no longer move. These worms were simply left because fuck them. After a few minutes, the ground trembled no more, the ceiling stopped collapsing and the sound of sand worms faded into the void.
It was at this time that Kazuki’s body regenerated. Bones repaired themselves from powder. Tendons, nerves, muscle, blood, skin, and so on, reformed and were remade anew. Kazuki’s face grew back and with it, his lifeless eyes began to regain their vigor.
*Ba bump ba bump ba bump*
His heart thumped like a drum in his remade chest and with a recovered body he sat up with a start.
*Huff huff*
The fallen worms all around could sense that he had revived and they felt a bit of terror within the depths of their souls. This creature they had poured every ounce of their violence toward should have been dead. Its soul was eaten and its body reduced to a sticky red puddle and yet the creature had just revived.
Arc flew up from the ground and went back on Kazuki’s thumb.
(Kazuki, that was an interesting idea. To fake your death to such a level…impressive.)
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