Danse Macabre

Lionheart took a step towards the statue, putting his feet on the fleshy pavement.

Immediately the reddish meat reacted and started crawling up his leg. On the internal texture there were suction cups which tried to pierce his trousers to get under his skin.

"So that's how you took out your victims' nerves huh? I can't even begin to fathom how exactly your reality ends up being destroyed."

The statue didn't reply, it stood there simply waiting the room itself to do all the work in its stead. But the crawling meat was not even close to being a danger for a warrior like Lionheart. All of his body was protected by holy magic inherited directly from the Holy Wizard of the Hero's party, back during his training in the holy guard.

The suction cups burned down the moment they touched his clothes; they would be completely evaporated if they were to come into direct contact with his skin. If that's all the Fateless was capable of, then it would be easy to defeat it.

The knight even knew its enemy's name.

"You're [MYTHO], aren't you?"

No response, which was on a roundabout way, a confirmation of the information he knew about his enemy. It was reported that once was a peaceful reincarnated which tried to build a life in their world without searching for conflict with the empire. But after a disgrace took away his family, he went mad, attached a group of bandits and died. After that, he came back as the statue that now stood against Lionheart.

No one knew what its intention were now.

But the previous knights that tried taking him down ended up being sucked dry of blood. One though survived to tell the tale.

"Why are you here? Are you after the first chain?"

Again, no words.

Useless to keep talking to it.

Lionheart reached under his jacked, he was wearing the cross [ECHOES] gave him all those years ago as a necklace. He pointed towards the enemy and chanted those mysterious words the fortune teller taught him at the time, the one's that already took down two of the Fateless he faced after that fateful encounter in the slums.

"En nomine, Patri et Filius, et Spiritus Sanctus"

But the statue didn't react.

"Couldn't be so easy"

This must be the Fateless [ECHOES] prophesized I would face.

Since then, everything went exactly as she said. Until today, I knew that whatever happened, my life would go on, but after tonight, who knows what'll happen.

He knew that in order for [ECHOES] prophecy to come true, she would have to meet him during that evening. But such encounter could happen either with him celebrating a victory or while gasping his last breath.

No matter how scary my previous fights have been, I knew I would continue living until today.

Lionheart brought a hand to his chest, feeling it thumping loudly, then smiled.

"Free from destiny, at last."

Reaching for the sword sheated around his waist, the knight rushed towards the statue. Pavement itself molded into a wall to stop his charge; the flesh corruption moved and protected its host.

"That's all?"

He slashed through, his blade cutting through barriers of meat like a knife would cut butter. Eventually, [MYTHO] appeared not far from him, it was a matter of meters, which felt much harder to traverse due to the flesh corruption constantly changing shape to protect the statue.

But every obstacle was eventually removed, then point of the knight sword reaching [MYTHO]'s head, but when the tip of the weapon approached the stone face, a dark hole opened up in it, revealing only darkness, then a hand emerged from the shadows and darted toward Lionheart's face. He had to withdraw his own attack and deviate.

Taking advantage of the knight's moment of surprise, the corruption built a pillar from the ground and hit the young man in the stomach, sending him to the other side of the room.

All distance he gained was now lost, as more than thirty meters separated the adversaries.

Instead of rushing into a now onslaught, the blonde man took a pause and observes the layout of the room as meat and nerves kept on filling it, turning the once beautiful dancing hall in a nightmarish scenario.

Everything it did, was to gain time.

There's very little information about [MYTHO] but it did kill at least thirty warriors. There's no way it doesn't know how to fight, nor that this flesh it's just an automatic self-defense mechanism. Someone would have gotten to it before if it was this simple. Yet, only one lived after facing this thing and his report was nonsense.

I need to start from step one.

Its main tactic was to defend, waiting for my move. Its only way to protect itself was to keep having the corruption get in my way. It only attacked once I was mere centimeters away, trying to grab my face…and from the force I felt while deflecting it, that hand could have crushed my skull.

Lionheart smirked, even then, [MYTHO] kept on stalling content to have the knight live and think for as long as he wanted.

Got it… so that's what you're after.

"Quite an unfair power you got there."

Still no response, not that he was expecting one.

If I'm right, he should attack whoever tries to live.

He looked towards Kaede, she was in her knees on the other side of the room, she hadn't moved a muscle in the meantime.

The shock must have been too great.

To think I suspected her to be a Chosen or even a Fateless. Girl has obviously never seen anything like this in her life, not even in her old memories probably.

Ironically, the best thing she could do right now is exactly stay there and not provoke this guy…still, she in the way.

Lionheart moved toward the enemy, sword in hand, and immediately found himself surrounded by a web of flesh. He had to start cutting his way through; it was harder to cut through the enemy's traps now.

Without channeling sacred energy into the blade, it is difficult to break free. Furthermore, it is beginning to weave a denser defense.

The knight gripped the weapon with both hands, planted himself firmly on the ground, and raised the tip of the sword to the sky. Then, gathering all his strength in his shoulders, he brought the sword down, destroying all the flesh in front of him.

For a moment, the path between the blond man and the statue was clear. All he had to do was shift his weight onto his legs and leap at the enemy, but he couldn't do it.

He stood still, panting, a drop of sweat slowly trickling down his forehead, down his cheek, and into his mouth.

Come on, attack me with your hand!

But nothing came out of [MYTHO], his cage of flesh simply rebuilt itself.

You're still not going on the offensive? Is it caution, or have you understood my intentions?

The intricate web continued to form, now closing around his body. Through a hole to his right, he could see the girl in the strange maid's outfit, her eyes wide and teary. She wasn't screaming, but her mouth was wide open.

“I'm sorry, Kaede.”

Lionheart looked down. The stench of corruption flooded his nostrils, he had to hold back the vomit, his lungs burned.

“So, this is what it feels like to fight a Fateless without magic... huh?”

The flesh on the floor began to crawl over his foot, up his legs, he could feel the suction cups trying to extract his nerves from under his skin.

“Like an insect in a trap... my energy depleted, I can only wait for you to eat me. This is your power [MYTHO], consuming your opponent with infinite defense and then killing them when they are at their weakest. Truly a difficult power to counter. Without a destructive power to oppose you, you cannot lose.”

He smiled.

“But now, Kaede is no longer in the way. I am exactly where I wanted to be.”

He pointed his sword at the ground, all the flesh that was rising up his body burned away, he was surrounded by light, and his eyes shone with a pure, divine white. He pointed his sword at the enemy. The entire web disappeared, and suddenly, he found himself alone in the room in front of [MYTHO].

" If defeating you requires a single, powerful blow, then you've found the wrong opponent..."

He paused. Victory was within reach; he was sure he could disintegrate the statue with a single devastating spell. However, his was not the only surge of energy to appear in the room. Another, constantly increasing, was nearby. It was not the Fateless, though.

It came from the girl on his left.