"Since all life is futility, then the decision to exist must be the most irrational of all."
- Emil Cioran
***
The myriad of swords emerging from the one slash I'd unleashed brought about true destruction to anything in its wake; at least, that was what should've happened.
As the materialised blades shot towards the dragonoid, the five scorching orbs of hellfire enlarged and rocketed forward to meet the blades head-on.
The fireballs continued rocketing forward till they met the barrage of swords in the middle of the trajectory.
Both the projectiles collided, and a blast whose shockwave could be felt as if it had erupted on my skin itself rocketed outwards. Clearing out any dust, flames, and the rampaging mana from the space in between us.
I could feel the heat billowing from the explosion on my skin ever so clearly. Hardly a second passed until the scene in front became clear to my senses; my eyes sharpened as I saw the clear opening in the dragonoid's guard right ahead.
The dragonoid was stabbed through at several places by a few swords, some had been deep enough to completely skewer the bastard through, while others were not deep enough to puncture his vital organs… if he even had any.
This was the moment to press forward, I thought.
Without thinking much, I pumped the inflowing mana into my legs and arms, and leapt off the ceiling while shooting down, akin to a crashing meteor.
Right as I brought my sword down, about to slice the bastard from shoulder to hip, he tilted back abruptly, like someone had yanked him back by moving the seemingly illusory strings controlling his body.
But still, a long gash was left across his chest, carving out scales, blood, and flesh that felt hot as the magma around us.
'Fu*k!! So close!!'
Dispelling the thoughts that came barging into my mind as I failed to slash the dragon apart, I skid forward till I regained my footing, then blasted towards the bastard once again.
The dragonoid was hissing and growling as he retreated continuously; all the while, he kept ripping the illusory swords out of his body, not caring about the self-mutilating wounds accumulating on him.
My dominion was pulsing repeatedly, as I continued chasing down the wretch akin to a murderous spirit.
But every time I reached close and was about to land a critical hit, the bastard would always manage to slip past my blade by a hair's breadth.
After a couple of minutes of playing this deadly game of tag, I managed to make him fall for a feint while cornering him to one of the edges of the cave, and executed a [Slaughtering Sword] at the last possible second.
As the bloodlust filled my mind and soul, the torrent of blood-like sword light shot from my blade and was about to puncture him from the left flank.
The crazy bastard was midair, and to dodge, he twisted his body at an odd angle, which would've been impossible for any other humanoid and tanked the hit with his left arm while pushing a tremendous amount of mana to fortify it.
Well, his arm was gone, reduced to bloody paste; besides, he was wounded all over the body from my previous attack.
The growl coming from his throat was getting deeper and more resonant, as if something was awakening inside him.
'The bastard is in a pinch, maybe that's why I am getting this premonition', I hoped.
He was a cornered beast, and that was when they were the most dangerous, and I didn't want to take any chances.
I pushed forward again. feeling the effects of the 'will' being lessened over time, even in this wretch's dominion and slashed forwards again.
The other hand of the bastard was also covered in flames, with his sword-like claws gleaming with torrents of bluish flames. As I hacked at him, he continued to retreat and use the only remaining arm while tanking any shallow blows.
'Something is wrong... very wrong.'
The look on the bastard's face wasn't the look one would have in a life and death battle; it looked like he had lost all of his rationality. The thought was illogical, as any being walking the path of cultivation, even a beast, would have intelligence no different from a human.
And for the beings who ruled our world, this state the bastard was in could be only called pathetic... Maybe it was a ploy to lower my guard and make an opening.
'Doesn't matter, Sixth and Tenth should be ready to attack any moment.'
That was right, it didn't matter; what mattered was to make an opening huge enough to land a decisive blow on the wretch, even if I wasn't the one to do it.
Only a couple of minutes had elapsed since the start of the battle, and my comrades should pop out of the spirit gates any second now. I only had to whittle the bastard in front of me down enough so that they could finish him.
As these thoughts blurred inside my mind, I managed to corner the dragonoid once again, zig-zagging my way through the hurriedly thrown fire blasts and reaching him in a breath.
I erupted with more mana and slashed down using [Blade Flicker] to attack several points at once.
The faint paper-thin sword lights flashed and reached him, but he didn't retreat this once; instead, he let the slashes gash through his flesh and shot towards me without defending his body.
I hurriedly stepped out of his dash and tried to move away, but he gave chase, akin to a rabid animal, not caring about his defences at all.
This was an opportunity, I knew that because he seemed to have lost his mind. This was the perfect time to deal a killing blow.
The only thing holding the bastard together was the fire continuously trying to regenerate his every wound, but my attacks didn't give him any breathing room; now it looked like he had finally lost his mind, but still, I didn't take the chance, worried that this was just a ploy to counterattack.
And this thought was proven right once again as he suddenly erupted with more speed than earlier, with jets of raging fire erupting from his feet.
I steadied my posture without any fluster and got ready to execute [Netherworld Annihilation].
My blade hummed with a dark light, about to crash like a tidal wave on my opponent. In response, the bastard opened his mouth and began gathering a ball of scorching fire.
Before he shot the ball towards me, the mana around me constricted me in a vice. I had predicted this and pushed the inflowing mana out in a hazy fog and stabbed at the bastard.
Just before my swing connected, the madman did something insane; he didn't shoot the breath towards me, but formed it into a massive ball in front of him. Suddenly, the ball enlarged more than ten times before and exploded just in front of him.
'Damn!!'
I wasn't going to let him do as he pleased. Still, my limbs wouldn't move, the reason being that the small remnant mana of the bastard inside my body from the breath earlier suddenly went into a rampage, rupturing several of my mana pathways, burning them as if someone had put explosives directly into my body itself.
With a grimace, I stabbed with what mana I could muster, trying to cut the incoming explosion.
The face of the bastard was burning while he had a grin on his face. I noticed that at the last instant, but before I could think further, my blade heart shook violently, and my haze, my law, was nearly torn apart by an invisible force, with my soul nearly collapsing on itself.
The last thing I remembered was getting engulfed by a torrent of flaming explosion.
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[A/N]
I've got my finals next month, so I probably won't update till the second week of December, after that I'll complete the story in one go