"What the fu...?!"
The words barely left Stephan's lips as the Warden's blade crashed against his dagger.
The force behind the strike was monstrous. It wasn't just raw strength, it was cold, honed brutality, guided by something that remembered how to kill.
Shockwaves jolted through Stephan's bones, rattling his teeth and numbing his arm almost instantly. His dagger arm shuddered under the impact, shadows splintering around it like breaking glass.
For a breath, the two locked eyes,Stephan's gaze hard and startled; the Warden's spectral eyes pulsing with an ancient, merciless resolve.
Then the Warden leaned in, twisted its stance, and shoved.
The sword's azure flame flared brighter, and the added force tore Stephan from his footing.
He flew backward across the broken chamber, cloak snapping behind him like torn wings. Dust and shards of stone exploded outward where he'd stood.
Teeth gritted against the blur of pain, Stephan forced his battered body to twist mid‑air. Boots crashed against the cracked stone floor; knees bent low, one hand braced to steady himself. The landing sent a jolt of pain through his shoulder and ribs, but he stayed upright, sliding back in a spray of gravel before grinding to a stop.
Breath ragged, he raised his gaze. Shadows curled tighter around him, drawn instinctively by the danger.
The Warden was already striding forward, sword still burning cold and bright, as if the first blow had merely been its greeting.
The Warden moved without a sound, a black silhouette wreathed in shifting azure flame.
Its blade cut through the stale air in a single, elegant arc aimed straight for Stephan's neck.
Instinct screamed. Stephan ducked low, dagger flashing up in a desperate attempt to deflect the strike. But the Warden was faster.
Before his counter could find its mark, the Warden twisted its grip, turning defense into assault with fluid precision. The heavy hilt slammed into Stephan's temple with brutal force.
Pain burst white behind his eyes.
Off balance, he barely registered the next strike: a cold, bone-cracking kick to the side of his head.
The impact hurled him bodily across the broken chamber.
He crashed through a half‑collapsed archway, stone and dust exploding outward, before skidding across the black gravel floor of a ruined hall beyond.
Breath ragged, vision swimming, Stephan pushed himself up on shaking arms. His ears rang with the echo of that perfect, merciless strike.
The Warden was already moving forward, its spectral eyes locked on him, blade trailing silent fire that seemed to consume the very air around it.
"Seems like I can't beat it using normal skills," Stephan thought, forcing air into his bruised lungs.
DING!
[Temporary buff activated]
[Predator's Instinct – Duration: 3 minutes]
A sharp pulse of darkness raced through his veins, shadows tightening around muscle and bone, sharpening every sense to a razor's edge.
"Three minutes," Stephan reminded himself, teeth bared in a humorless grin. "All I get today… and it better be enough."
The Warden's burning azure gaze locked onto him, as if it, too, felt the shift in the air.
Then it moved.
The duel exploded into motion, a blur of black dagger against soul‑flame steel.
Stephan darted forward, cloak of shadow coiling around his legs. His dagger came up in a vicious backhand slash meant to open the Warden's side.
But the Warden was already there, sword turned flat to block. Sparks burst in cold blue light.
The force of the parry rattled through Stephan's bones, but he forced the momentum into a pivot, ducking low to sweep at the Warden's legs.
Inhumanly calm, the Warden stepped back half a pace, blade coming down in a vertical arc aimed to split him in two.
Stephan twisted, shadows trailing like after‑images. The soul‑flame edge missed by inches, scorching the gravel at his feet.
He answered with a lightning stab toward the Warden's chest, fast, precise.
The Warden rotated its wrist, catching the strike on the cross‑guard, then flowed into a riposte so quick it blurred.
The flat of the blade smashed into Stephan's ribs, pain spiking hot through his chest.
Vision flashed white.
He staggered, nearly toppling, but Predator's Instinct dragged his body back upright, reflexes overriding agony.
Stephan snarled, twisting the dagger into a reverse grip. He launched forward, feinting left, then spinning right, dagger aimed at the Warden's exposed flank.
For an instant, he saw an opening.
But the Warden moved like water around stone: sword arcing up, forcing his strike wide, then hammering its pommel into Stephan's shoulder.
Bone ground against bone. His dagger arm went numb.
Before the pain even registered fully, the Warden pivoted, blade cutting a shallow line across Stephan's chest, burning cold as ice.
[Damage registered:23%]
[Status: | Deep Cut [Chest] | Bruised Ribs | Arm Numbness]
Breathing ragged, Stephan staggered back. Blood soaked into torn cloth, dripping onto the black gravel.
He leapt in, dagger raised. Steel clashed in flurries so fast even Predator's Instinct barely kept him alive: high feints, low stabs, spinning sidesteps, every movement sharpened by desperation.
The Warden countered each strike with elegant economy, a half‑step back here, a twist of the wrist there, sword sweeping arcs of soul‑flame that scorched the dark.
Stephan ducked under a horizontal cut, rolled, came up behind the Warden, dagger aimed at its back .
But the Warden spun, cloak of dark mist billowing, and caught his blade on its own, locking them edge to edge.
Eyes met: human defiance against cold, spectral indifference.
Then the Warden shoved forward, raw strength overwhelming him. Stephan's boots scraped stone as he was driven back.
The predator's gift kept him standing, but only barely. Then the Warden broke the bind, sword flashing down in a diagonal cut.
Stephan twisted aside, too late. The burning blade traced a shallow gash across his side, searing pain flaring hot.
[Damage Registered: 31]
[Status: | Deep Cut [Chest] | Bruised Ribs | Arm Numbness | Laceration [Right Side]]
Breath ragged, dagger trembling in his hand, Stephan forced himself to meet the Warden's gaze again.
Predator's Instinct still burned through his body, but even boosted, he was being pushed back, outclassed in every exchange.
Yet something cold and stubborn kept him on his feet.
"I won't fall," he rasped, blood running down his side. "Not here… not yet."
Shadows swirled around him, flickering under dying light, as the Warden stepped forward once more, silent blade raised to finish the duel.
[SYSTEM ALERT]
[Soul Threshold Breached]
[Survival Instincts Triggered]
[New Ability Unlocked: RAGE]
[Type: Combat Surge]
[Effect: Temporarily enhances speed, reflexes, and power based on emotional drive.]
[Cost: -15% Soul Energy per minute]
[Risk: Unstable. Prolonged use may affect mental state.]
[Activate RAGE Mode?]
[YES] / [NO]
Stephan's smirk twitched, dry blood cracking at the corner of his lips.
"The system always offers this when I'm getting cooked," he rasped, voice a hoarse whisper caught between a laugh and a curse.
[COMMAND INPUT RECEIVED...]
[ACTIVATING SKILL: RAGE]
[WARNING: SOUL ENERGY CONSUMPTION SPIKE IMMINENT]
[TEMPORARY LIMITER RELEASED]
[INSTABILITY: ACCEPTED]
[RAGE MODE — ENGAGED]
"Anyway… no pressure," Stephan breathed out, the smirk turning feral, shadowed by blood and resolve. "I'd do anything not to lose."
Then something inside him caught fire.
His soul ignited molten veins of power crawling across his skin like living scars, glowing through the torn cloth and blood. Shadows trembled around him, drawn inward, coiling tight against muscle and bone.
His eyes snapped open, pupils drowned in burning crimson, gaze locked dead on the Warden.
The pain was still there, every bruised rib, every fracture screaming under skin and sinew. But now it was distant. Drowned beneath the roaring heat of fury flooding his veins like molten iron.
Fear vanished. Thought sharpened to a single point of intent. Destroy.
Stephan lunged, boots grinding sparks from black gravel as he surged forward, black cloak whipped back by sheer force.
"Predator's instinct failed," he hissed under his breath, dagger gleaming black as night, red veins snaking across the blade.
"But maybe rage will work."
The Warden moved, spectral eyes narrowing as its soul‑flame sword burned hotter.
Stephan didn't dodge. Didn't feint.
He charged.
Dark energy cracked the stone underfoot as he slammed forward, arm lashing out, open hand spearing toward the Warden's masked face, power burning at his fingertips.
A blast of soul energy exploded from his palm at the moment of contact, rippling the air around them in a concussive shockwave.
The Warden staggered back half a step, the first time it had been forced to retreat.
Stephan didn't wait. He was already on it, dagger flashing in savage arcs: left, right, an upward cut aimed to shatter the mask.
The Warden parried with fluid grace, steel singing against black blade, but the sheer force behind Stephan's strikes pushed it back, sparks showering the crumbling chamber walls.
Every clash rattled the stones, a brutal drumbeat of fury against cold discipline.
Stephan felt his chest burn, soul energy draining by the heartbeat, but his speed kept climbing, muscles driven past breaking.
The Warden countered, sword blurring in a crescent slash. Stephan ducked low, shadows rolling around him, and rose in a vicious uppercut that cracked across the Warden's jaw.
For an instant, the soul‑flame sword flickered.
The Warden spun, cloak swirling, bringing its blade down in a diagonal cut.
Stephan caught the strike on his dagger, sparks erupting, but the force sent tremors racing through his bones.
Pain lanced up his fractured arm, distant, swallowed by the molten tide inside.
He bared his teeth, red eyes blazing, and pushed back.
The two locked blades, power grinding, shadows swirling between them. Stephan's molten veins flared brighter, crimson cracks dancing across his skin, shadows clawing at the broken pillars.
Then, teeth clenched, fury burning hotter than the agony in his flesh, he wrenched his dagger aside and slammed his free hand into the Warden's chest, sending black energy howling into its core.
A burst of force rippled outward, stone cracking under their feet.
The Warden staggered, mask tilted as if in surprise, then caught itself, spectral eyes igniting brighter in challenge.
Stephan raised his dagger again, blood‑slick and trembling under the strain.
Breath ragged, heart a war drum in his chest.
"Come on!" he roared, voice rough as broken glass, rage and dark joy twisting his words.
"Let's see which of us breaks first!"
And he launched forward once more, fury and shadow entwined into a single, relentless strike.