Chapter 452 - The Goblin

Capturing air into his lungs as the moisture in the air lined the roof of his mouth, he organized his breathing into a stable rhythm. 

With the heavy rainfall pouring against his ears, and the thunderous stomps of the abyppoes muffling much else, he spoke with magic lining his words: 

"Hear me, Daughter of Chaos, Mother of Dreams, Death, Fate...Day, Night, and Destruction."

Timed with the grumbles of the behemoths and their jungle-shaking steps, his chant was unheard as he kept his eyes locked on the passing forces. 

Even so, his heart still thumped inside of his chest as he stood amidst the foliage, unrestraining his words as he put his trust in this singular plan. 

"Inside and out, the aspect of the night holds true to my soul...in honor of you and your overwhelming power. With this, grant me reprieve from the dangers before me."

Again, he waited for the roars of the storm to reach its peak, as well as the bellows of the sable abyppoes before he continued. 

Slowly, he raised his arm to the air as the shadowy essence began to formulate around him, lining the edges of the grass as it ran along his body. 

Accompanying the abundant magical pressure, the mud around him began to vibrate and part in the wake of the building of great magic. 

Some of the hobgoblin foot soldiers came to a stop as they sensed the bubbling darkness, snarling and looking around before their attention latched onto the bush he was tucked away in. 

"---!"

Yelling out in their gargling language, the march came to a stop as the armored hobgoblins began to rush towards his location. 

He held his ground, focusing his breathing and the intent of the magic in his mind before pointing his hand forward, directed at the mud-made trail of the abyppoes march. 

"Be sent into the never-ending night forevermore! Nyx: Ultima Darkness!"

--Just as he invoked the great magic, the peculiar, caped goblin at the back of the group jumped back into the other side of the trail, sinking into the jungle's dense nature as the shadows crept over the area.

The approaching hobgoblins were left completely compromised as the wave of shadows wrapped around their bodies, holding them still with an otherworldly pressure. Their armor quickly began to dent in from the strength of the shadows as the nature of the great magic furthered. 

"Grahh---!"

Roaring in pain from the crushing great magic, the hobgoblins began to bleed from every pore as the shadows were cast over the surrounding area like an umbra. 

Only one of the abyppoes was caught in the field of darkness, being dragged into the air by the winds that were momentarily replaced by pressurizing darkness as the behemoth roared out with its form being crushed slowly. 

Crush…! He thought. 

Commanding his thoughts into reality with a squeeze of his fist, he coalesced the darkness into a singularity point that pulled all of the captured hobgoblins together with the large abyppo. As the darkness returned to one point, it gathered even the rain that fell in its path, curving the travel of the rainfall, forming a nebulous sphere of darkness that captured the plentiful hobgoblins and their steed. 

A terrible orchestra of the squelching of flesh and the powderization of bones commenced as all of the screams of those captured by the great magic were muffled by the dark sphere that encapsulated them. 

--Squelch. 

After the sphere shrunk itself to the size of a pebble, all that was left as it released was a spillage of crimson onto the stamped mud below. 

He stood there with his fist still held forward, huffing as the sweat coating his body mixed in with the cold rain. 

Before he could let himself rest for a moment to regain his breath, he swerved his gaze to the right as he noticed the surviving abyppo rider fleeing towards the wall. 

"Shit…!" He muttered. 

Grabbing his sword, he launched from the trailside foliage, beginning to sprint down the rainfallen trail towards the surprisingly fast abyppo, possessing surprising agility for something the size of an elephant. 

Extending his free, left hand, he guided his focus to the behemoth a dozen meters beyond his reach. 

"Dunkel--!"

--Before he could get the spell off, he was intercepted by a figure landing in front of him--forcing him to jump back as a blade was plunged into the mud where he stood. 

What--?! He thought. 

After flipping backward, he landed on his feet as he looked up to see who had intercepted his path: the cape-wearing, humanoid shaped goblin he saw earlier. 

"You…" He muttered. 

Silently, the mask-wearing Stormfallen shrouded in sable armor withdrew his greatsword from the mud, swiping it as the rain cleaned any residual, natural elements from its snow-white steel. 

This is their champion--no doubt about it. That aura...he's strong, he thought. 

He opted to keep his dagger tucked away in its sheath as he held his broadsword up, eyeing the wordless Stormfallen who approached slowly. 

Standing in opposition to one another, with the armored, tall goblin blocking his path from the northern wall, he focused himself. 

Around them, the mud-made trail was the only clearing of the dense jungle; the leviathan-like trees loomed over them while the rain continued to fall atop their heads. 

By the stance the Stormfallen champion held, wielding his frosty greatsword with one hand while keeping his posture slightly lowered, he prepared himself for a quick assault. 

He was swift enough to dodge Ultimate Darkness, and he's capable of swinging that massive hunk of steel with one hand--his speed is going to be an issue if I'm not on my guard, he thought. 

--But, that was assuming he let the wordless goblin take the initiative. 

Kicking forward as the rain seemed to intensify, he reared his left hand back as he conjured a ball of darkness in his palm. 

"Araphel: Blackout---!"

He yelled out before tossing the spiraling sphere towards the Stormfallen champion, continuing to charge towards him swiftly. 

Good, he'll be blinded, I'll be able to make the first move and--he thought. 

--His thoughts were halted as he witnessed a move completely unaccounted for from the black-armored champion. 

Before the sensory-deprivation sphere could release, it was caught in the left gauntlet of the goblin, squeezed and dispersed into particles of darkness from a single clench of the champion's fist. 

Huh? He thought. 

Momentarily dumbfounded by the absolute counter to his spell, he was barely able to guard with his blade as the silent champion rushed him with ruthless swiftness that brought them directly before one another in an instant. 

--Clang. 

With the resounding clash of steel sparking through the heavy rainfall, he felt the strength wielded by his inhuman foe. 

Unable to properly plant his feet against the mud with the little time he had to react, he was forced back by the clash of blades, having to flip back while unleashing a 'Dunkel: Slicer' to create space between him and his foe. 

As he landed back on the mud-formed trail, he recaptured his focus as he kept his eyes locked on the enigmatic champion, squaring off as he kept a distance of half a dozen meters between them. 

He caught my Blackout. That's a lot more than just catching a ball lobbed at him...in order to even touch darkness, he'd need to have a careful layer of magic over his palm--just enough not to destabilize the darkness and blow it up in his face. 

Even more so, Blackout travels at hypersonic speeds...the fact that he reacted to it with a picture-perfect catch...he's trouble. I knew that, but I'm seeing it first hand now, he thought. 

Breaking him from his thoughts, he readied himself as the Stormfallen champion began to rush towards him, taking a zigzag approach that kicked up the puddles of watery mud around them. 

This time, he planted the soles of his feet firmly against the mud before clashing with the greatsword-wielding goblin; meeting edge-to-edge, their blades of differing sizes greeted one another in a spectacular flash. 

As sparks flung from their clashing steel, mixing with the cold, plentiful rain, their swords met a dozen times without a single attack breaking through either of their defenses. 

He's not as strong as that king; not in raw power, at least, he thought. 

An opening came as the goblin champion lifted his greatsword over his head for a daunting overhead strike; a perfect opportunity for him to get in a clean attack himself. 

I've got you! He thought. 

Swinging his blade in a horizontal slash aimed for the black-steel champion, the edge of Belus stopped just short of the goblin's hip. 

What? He thought. 

--His sword-wielding wrist was gripped tightly in the free hand of the Stormfallen champion, held tightly with a vice-iron grip. 

Being so adamantly stopped in place, he now felt the looming shadow of the snowy greatsword coming down over his head. 

"Death," is the absolute concept he felt embed itself into his skin as it crawled over.