The night mist brushed the forest's edge as Kenzo attempted the impossible: deceiving the Warden. Now deaf, he heard nothing anymore, but that voluntary loss had saved his life. From the moment he had stood before that monster, he had done nothing but stare at his lips, trying to decipher every word he spoke. By some miracle, the Warden repeated the same phrases he had uttered before taking the lives of those two unfortunate prisoners.
Without wasting a second, Kenzo bent down to grab the armband that had just fallen to the ground. The Warden, stunned, remained frozen. How could a mere human, devoid of power, resist the grip of his voice, that gift capable of subjugating any will? Too slow to understand what had just happened, he watched Kenzo flee toward the forest, unable to react in time.
The instant Kenzo dashed into the shadows, he shouted at the top of his lungs: – « Come here, filthy serpent! » The answer came immediately. In less than a second, the Nightmare Viper burst from the darkness. That Void Creature, nightmarish in appearance, had been following him ever since he had lured it before confronting the Warden.
But something strange happened. When he expected to become the beast's target, Kenzo saw the Viper turn away from him. Its dead yet gleaming eyes were now fixed on the Warden, the man who had enslaved it for a length of time no one could measure.
– « In its place, I'd be furious too… » Kenzo thought, watching the scene warily.
The Warden, realizing the imminent threat, drew his sword and roared: – « I'm going to kill you, filthy rat! »
But Kenzo heard nothing. Silence was absolute in his deafened world. The Nightmare Viper, for its part, did not seem affected by the Warden's gifts either. Without warning, it lunged at him.
The Warden rolled swiftly aside, barely avoiding the black fangs dripping with venom. In the same motion, he attempted a piercing strike, aiming for the giant serpent's rotting throat. But the creature dodged with almost unreal suppleness, its pale scales brushing the moonlight filtering through the branches.
The battle had begun. A brutal duel between a Transfigured and an infected unstable. Kenzo, eyes wide, could hardly believe what he was seeing.
– « A fight between a Transfigured and an infected unstable… I really wonder who will come out on top. » he thought, fascinated.
He did not know the exact stages of power. Among humans, he only knew that one went from Revelation to Awakening, before becoming Transfigured. Those stood on the front lines against Void Creatures. But of Void Creatures, he knew almost nothing. Stains, weak and servile. Demons, terrifying and overwhelming. And between the two… a void of knowledge. What did infected and unstable mean? He had no idea.
Yet he was witnessing something no human would have thought possible: a monster against its former master.
Under the moonlight, the fight took on titanic proportions. The Nightmare Viper, nearly two and a half meters tall, its semi-cadaverous body vibrating with muted hatred, hurled itself at the Warden. Its massive jaws opened, revealing fangs as black as the void, then slammed shut where, a second earlier, the Warden's torso had been. He rolled again, sprang back to his feet, and counterattacked.
His sword flashed through the night. He struck with fury, each blow aimed at severing the beast's decayed neck. But the serpent's movements were monstrously fluid. Its tail cut through the air like a whip, hissing before smashing into the ground, throwing up a cloud of dust and dead leaves. The Warden leapt backward, nearly losing his balance, then surged forward again, weapon poised to pierce the monster's nonexistent heart.
The creature growled, an obscene sound that made even the surrounding trees shudder. Its jaws twisted, spewing a stream of venom that ate into the earth just a few steps from its opponent. The Warden, face twisted with rage and focus, dodged with an acrobatic leap. But in his momentum, he could not prevent the massive tail from slamming into him, crushing his left shoulder with a sickening crack. The man groaned, yet tightened his grip on his sword.
They circled one another like two beasts determined to kill or die. The Viper reared up, an imposing silhouette against the pale moon, then brought its full weight down in a terrible assault. The man barely parried with a desperate swing. Steel bit into dead flesh, tearing away part of the monster's jaw, but the impact shattered the blade in two.
Weaponless, the Warden staggered, gasping. The Viper too was weakened, its twisted body sagging. Its scales were cracked, black fluids leaking from its gaping wounds. Yet its dead eyes still locked onto the man, vengeance blazing in the darkness of its hollow sockets.
Kenzo watched the impossible unfold. This duel exceeded his imagination. The raw strength, the speed… it was enough to tear down an entire house. The ground trembled beneath their clashes. Whole trees exploded when either missed their target.
He narrowed his eyes. It was impossible for him to follow their movements at full speed. His gaze only caught trajectories, the traces of their paths marked by torn earth, shattered trees, and broken stone.
Little by little, both adversaries slowed. Their wounds accumulated. Blood—black for the Viper, dark red for the Warden—soaked the damp ground. Now even Kenzo could make out the violent gestures of their macabre dance.
– « They're slowing down… I should try to get closer… » he thought, tightening his grip on the spear he held.
In a final surge, the Viper sent the Warden flying with a monstrous sweep of its tail. The man crashed into a tree, partially shattering the trunk. Splinters flew into the night air. He lay motionless for a moment, his ragged breathing barely disturbing the forest's spectral silence. Yet his clenched hand still held his broken sword, ready to strike if he had any strength left.
The Viper, swaying, slid slowly toward him. It was no more than a nightmare's shadow now, a corpse animated by hatred alone, but it still had enough energy for one last attack.
Kenzo swallowed hard. His heart hammered in his chest.
– « It's my move now… » he murmured, fingers clenched around his spear, eyes fixed on the two broken giants before him.
The decisive moment was approaching.