Ruigh's breath quickened.
Unbearable pain raged through his shoulders.
The figure that had driven the blades into his back now stepped into the doorway, joining the other attackers.
A hooded man.
They were all hooded.
The only thing visible—those white, soulless eyes.
Ruigh tried to stand, but one of them kicked him, hurling him against the wall.
He collapsed to the floor and glared up at them with dark eyes.
"What are you?" he growled.
Blood ran from the corner of his mouth.
One of the soldiers stepped forward.
"We are the servants of our Master," he said.
"So… enemies," Ruigh hissed.
He focused on the pain. Manipulated its logic.
And let it vanish.
He leapt to his feet, shaking the blades out of his back.
Then he reached for the logic of his wounds.
They vanished as well.
The one who had stabbed him charged.
But his throat split open.
The next one also fell, his throat torn open.
Ruigh took a step toward the army before him.
"Two wounds, two dead," he said with a faint grin.
He raised his right hand.
"One hand…" His gaze swept across the attackers. "…many dead."
Before his outstretched finger, a black sphere appeared.
He manipulated the logic of light.
The sphere split into countless projectiles and rained down upon the attackers.
The black light burned holes through their bodies.
Screaming, the front rows collapsed.
They writhed beneath the rain of horror.
When the barrage ended, Ruigh stepped out of the doorway into the corridor.
He carved a path through the dead and stopped before the survivors.
Ruigh lowered into a fighting stance.
"What are you waiting for?"
A masked soldier lunged forward.
He struck at Ruigh.
But Ruigh dodged and drove his hand straight through the man's chest.
With a violent pull, he tore it back out. Blood sprayed in all directions.
He let the corpse fall and cracked his neck.
"This might get interesting…" he muttered to himself.
He put a foot on the wall and sprinted off.
Ruigh jumped from it,
plunged into the middle of the crowd, and crashed like a living hammer among them.
Blades slid over his steel-hard skin, sparks flying, useless.
He grabbed a soldier,
smashed him against two more.
Bones broke. Blood splashed.
Another ran at him –
too fast, too determined.
Ruigh reached out,
grabbed his skull and slammed it again and again onto the ground,
until only a bloody imprint remained.
He rolled away,
came back onto his feet.
The attackers hesitated.
Only their empty eyes stared at him.
Then he moved
Lightning-fast he shot
through the ranks.
It clinked loudly as the
blades slipped off him
ineffectively.
That and the moaning of the
dying were the
only sounds.
He ripped off a head.
Blood splashed in all
directions.
He spun around and threw the head.
He manipulated the logic.
The head hit and exploded.
The explosion tore a huge hole in the wall
and turned countless bodies to ash.
The rest retreated.
Calm, out of the smoke.
Blood ran over his silvery shimmering skin.
He staggered and tipped forward.
And shot off.
A soldier shot forward.
Calmly he snatched the blade from him
and rammed it through his torso.
Three more were behind him.
Calmly he jumped over them.
He followed a quick movement with his hand.
The three were cut in a line.
Their bodies were swept to the opposite wall.
Blood flowed from their lower bodies as they fell.
Calmly he landed on his feet,
gasped heavily, and held onto the wall.
From the mass of attackers
now ten jumped out and sprinted towards him.
He gasped and felt his body for something.
One of the white-eyed had reached him.
His blade cut toward Ruigh's throat.
He pulled a lighter from a pocket and flicked it on.
A small flame appeared. And grew. Became ever bigger.
It consumed the first attacker.
He burned screaming and writhed in seconds to ash.
The fire poured onto the ground and shot at the rest coming toward him.
It grabbed the remaining nine, who went under screaming,
and roared at the mass.
It filled the entire corridor and grew steadily further.
It fell upon the large crowd of attackers like vultures on carrion.
The soldiers pressed in the opposite direction,
but they were all swallowed by the sea of flames.
As the flames had completely died down,
Ruigh walked over the burned ground.
In the air lay the smell of burnt flesh.
The burned corpses of his opponents lay stacked on top of each other,
where the purgatory had driven them.
Ruigh looked at his work with empty eyes.
Then he turned away
and left the part of the corridor behind him.
"I should look for Uhra," he murmured