[Psychokinetic] Eyeball Pulling - Chapter 232

Daniel crept underneath a rock formation as he gazed intently at the raging battle. To him, it looked like a bunch of gods were battling it out for supremacy. Only the victory would ascend.

It was always like that. The strong would become stronger and the weak–the losers–died. If they didn’t have family, they would be forgotten. If they did, they would be a vague memory that would soon be forgotten.

Daniel barely remembered the faces of his own parents. Only in his nightmares did he manage to gain a fleeting image of them. But in the next moment, it was gone. Like the sun during the Deep Winter months.

Mother. Father, Daniel thought as another explosion rocked the earth. Cracked rock dusted his face, but he kept his vision forward. Nothing around him mattered as he stared at the Leviathan.

One day, his family, along with his friend’s family; the Severing Paths, joined Lord Sinwen on an expedition into a city. At that time, they were still young. But they were powerful. Everyone within Rebirth named them the Ruitera’s Rising Stars. Soon, they would take over the world, battling, adventuring until nothing in the world remained a secret. Together.

But on that fateful day, everything changed.

Lord Sinwen was the only one to return. Daniel’s family; dead. The golden-haired sovereign had told Daniel and the others what had happened personally. That it was the attack of spawn. They were ambushed by a group of them, and they were incredibly powerful. Just like the ones that Tennyson had lured away. The losses were devastating. In a matter of minutes, they were wiped out. Lord Sinwen couldn’t do anything about it, either.

At first, Daniel didn’t believe it. How could he? His parents, alongside Lord Sinwen, were the Rising Stars of humanity. They were supposed to bring Rebirth into the light. To carve out a piece of land for them all. A place to finally call home. It was their life long mission.

Father, you said you would find us an island to call home, Daniel murmured deep in his thoughts.

Days passed. Then weeks. Then months. But it was clear that they would never return. It was then that Lord Sinwen arrived. He said he would take care of them. The Lord of Sinwen took them under his wing. Brought them through training program after program until they were ready to take the Wayfaring exam.

Daniel swore that he would bring his friends–his family–to take revenge against what had tore their parents away from them. To annihilate the mother of spawn; the Leviathan.

And now, after years of constant training, years of bleeding, and killing, the beast responsible for creating the spawn was right in front of him. Lines flashed within his eyes. All the paths led straight for the gargantuan monster. Here, right now, he would kill it.

Daniel snorted. If he told the others of his plan, they would be angry. Furious. They would grab him by the neck of his shirt and pull him away. But they weren’t here. Hopefully they were long gone by now, back to Rebirth, taking everyone to safety.

Sorry, guys, Daniel thought as he tightened the grip around his curved blade. His knuckles turned white from the pressure. I can’t drag you along till the end, after all.

Finally, his moment had arrived. Lord Sinwen blasted through the barriers belonging to the order. He swept through unimpeded and crashed against them in a chaotic storm of lighting and blood.

Daniel blasted out from underneath the pile of rocks. He tore straight for the monster. There was only a few spawn that remained from Tennyson’s hound-like charge; three in total. Now their attention was on Daniel.

The spawn had their hearts visible. Instead of flesh, they looked strangely… solid. Red lines shone from the cracks as it beat like war drums. Skin-like armour surrounded their body in a streamlined fashion and gills like hair covered their head. They were roughly double the size and height of Daniel, standing at around twelve-feet tall. They each had a savage blade starting from their wrist and finishing at their elbow.

They were powerful. Just the visual impact they had was enough to make sure anyone in their right mind would avoid them. But Daniel couldn’t. The path was leading him straight through them. If he dodged. If he took another path, he would die. The red lines in the periphery of his vision were warning him so.

So he continued. He used True Blade Path and sliced through one. Gore covered him. An intense festering pain ravaged his sword arm. It was the result of using his skill on something that he had no right in beating.

His blade flickered once more, taking the life of the next one. Daniel felt the muscles tear in his arm. Once more, his blade danced, lopping the head off the last spawn that tried to stop him. Daniel grit his teeth as he held onto his blade for dear life.

From the attacks, the flesh on his dominant arm had split. Blood poured. He bolstered his courage as all the paths in his eyes changed once more.

The Leviathan opened its mouth. The paths were leading him in.

Daniel didn’t dare hesitate for a single moment. All his life he had listened to the paths. Not once had they disappointed him. Hundreds, no, thousands of times they had saved not only his life, but his family as well.

He always had doubts about his ability. Were the paths leading him based on his desire? Or was there something else to the Skill that he didn’t know? Daniel wasn’t certain. He had to trust them. Even if it meant his death. If they followed his desire, then that meant there was a chance to slay the monster, no matter how tiny that chance was.

The path flashed, turning green. It curved through the air. Nothing was there, but Daniel listened to it. He stepped to the side, diverting his course. Right where he would have gone, an enormous fireball crashed against the earth. It was so powerful and hot that everything underneath was turned into magma and slag.

Daniel felt his flesh blister. He looked up for a second and saw the man responsible. He was amongst seven… six, as one was instantly murdered by Lord Sinwen’s apocalyptic assault.

He gazed at the golden haired man in awe. Alone, he was fending off against twelve or so world experts. A gilded crown adorned his head as lightning surged as if he was the coming storm. His eyes were cold. Expression frigid. A wild smile curled on his lips. A Sinwen… They were bred for war. This was his home. This was his life.

Daniel dodged another attack by the skin of his teeth as he neared the Leviathan. He stomped on the ground and leapt up as high as he could. But even with his strength, he couldn’t reach the monster’s head. He wasn’t like the others either, he didn’t have any movement abilities.

Instead, he landed on one of the many spikes on Leviathan’s body. He used them as platforms and reached the monster’s maw in a few seconds. All lines turned red. Daniel stopped as an all destroying energy erupted from the Leviathan’s mouth.

It blasted toward the Elders of Rebirth. Daniel didn’t know if they made it out alive. He couldn’t afford to check as his moment had arrived. The paths told him this was the only opportunity. All of them turned into one line.

A golden path.

In mid-air, a stray red line appeared at the corner of his eye. It signalled danger. But there was nowhere to dodge. Instead, he somersaulted his body, flipping over in a desperate attempt to dodge it. He followed the path that was created, but something struck him. Something tore at his abdomen. His flesh turned warm as blood streamed.

Thankfully though, the impact brought him back on his golden path. His shoulder slammed against the tooth of the Leviathan before he plopped down onto its fleshy tongue. It was hot. The flesh on his non-sword palm burned. The smell of burning flesh filled the acrid cave of a maw.

The smell was awful. Burnt flesh mixed with the stench of rotten eggs. The tongue moved. The Leviathan was about to eject him.

Daniel glanced at the line. It was leading down. Taking a bated breath, Daniel bit his tongue, then descended into darkness…