Tilted

“Did you not listen to a word I said?”

Two grown men were having a heated argument while whispering in a random cramped supply closet in the compound.

“Derrick, I respect you opinion and took your feelings into account when making this decision–”

“Shut the fuck up! You don’t get it… that boy is not normal, he frightens me. He is an unholy abomination who is going to kill us all! I thought you were going to put him down, not have him join the team!”

Derrick was slightly out of breath and breathing heavily when he finally finished his rant.

“...Is that all?”

“The hell do you mean, ‘Is that all?’ Do you not–”

Normally, Vincent was a patient and benevolent man. He could let it slide when his subordinate cut him off once, but there was a limit to the amount of disrespect he could tolerate.

“No, now it is my turn to ask the questions: Since when have you doubted my judgement? Did sitting around in this shithole for 2 years make you forget who I am and what you were?”

“...but–”

“Can you really say that you were that much different from him? Because I remember how you wished to burn the world down in your misery. I remember when you hated everything and everyone after losing everything yourself. I remember how you drowned away your misery in the blood of countless enemies, slowly becoming intoxicated with violence. Can you really say, in good faith, that you were that much different to that boy? To me, the only difference is that he is much more powerful than you were”

There was palpable tension in the stuffy air of the storage closet. Vincent’s face was mere inches away from Derrick’s.

Then, with a sigh, Vincent continued talking, “...Since you’re a veteran of the team, I’ll explain it to you, why it is that I go around recruiting nutjobs and why the higher ups are fine with my methods… You see Derrick, it is a well known fact that magic is closely tied to the emotions of its caster, but the implications of this simple fact go much deeper than that. Simply put, the more extreme emotions someone has felt, the more extreme the magic that they cast may be. This can then create a positive feedback loop where extreme magic brings out more extreme emotions through extreme violence.

War is the best place to nurture strong sorcerers. In it, the vulnerable are pushed beyond their limits in this bloody pursuit of strength. Many will die, but some will rise with unrivaled strength. Well, there is a bit more to it than that, but that is the main gist of it. In any case, my superiors have high expectations for us, especially the new guys Djyn and Eris. But that’s only because they haven’t seen Pax yet.”

“...So you saved me because you knew that my magic would get stronger?”

“Yes, I helped you and then recruited you because I saw you as a strategic asset, not simply out of the kindness of my heart. Does this fact change anything for you?”

“...No, I was never naive enough to believe that the government was helping me simply out of kindness. It has always just been a mutually beneficial arrangement… I’m just surprised that I never figured this much out on my own.”

“This world is a cruel place Derrick, much more cruel then either you or I can fathom. Make sure you don’t lose yourself to the madness.”

- - - - - - -

Pax had a feeling that he could go all out against his next opponent. It wasn’t based off of any kind of logic, but his experience and instincts were telling him that this man was strong.

It’s good that I was able to warm up then.

“Are the both of you ready?”

Pax and Djyn were now standing a few feet from one another. Pax nodded subtly to Ivy’s question as Djyn moved his hand to the side of his waist, where he pulled out a sword from an invisible sheathe. The sword itself seemed to form out of a strange mist and was pitch black. There was something off about that sword, it seemed to absorb the light around it in a strange way. Djyn then held the sword out in front of himself and nodded.

“Well then, fight”

Instantly Pax pointed his finger gun and shot a bone bullet towards Djyn, but before it could reach him, he dissolved into mist and disappeared completely.

At some point during his introduction, Djyn had mentioned that he used a mix of illusion creation magic and mind manipulation magic. Pax knew that this would make him uniquely challenging to fight against, but after seeing it in action, he was still impressed.

Djyn appeared behind Pax, swinging his sword downwards onto Pax’s head. Pax dodged the blade and threw a punch at Djyn. His fist connected, but then Djyn’s figure dissolved into mist.

Another illusion….

Pax then noticed that a shallow cut had appeared on his shoulder. Instantly, he healed it and then looked around to try and predict Djyn’s next move. It was then that he noticed that somehow the entire area had been covered in a dense fog.

Even knowing that his mind was being manipulated, there wasn’t much he could do. The brain was simply too complicated for him to try any sort of healing directly on it. It was his biggest weakness. However, he knew that there had to be some sort of limit to how much Djyn could affect his mind. After all, even Lucius Drogo wasn’t omnipotent in his dream realm, and that guy had the help of a high grade relic.

“ –Rivers of Blood”

The answer was simple really, if Pax didn’t know where Djyn was, he could simply attack everywhere. Of course, he made sure that his attacks didn’t reach any of the spectators.

After one of the Rivers swam a certain distance, a man materialized while blocking the attack with his sword. As the mass of blood struck against the black blade, it seemed to weaken and then dissipate.

Pax and his remaining Rivers instantly moved to surround Djyn. They let out a series of continuous attacks to which Djyn was barely blocking.

Djyn’s skill with the sword was amongst the best that Pax had ever seen. His form was fluid and unpredictable, made even more so by his illusions. At times Djynn even possessed six arms and three swords. Interestingly, the Rivers would sometimes strike against all three at once and all get deflected.

When Pax swung his blade, Djyn seemed to move to parry it. However, it was impossible to tell whether he actually would. Pax’s crimson blade passed through the black blade, which promptly dissolved into mist, and struck against something invisible. Then, an invisible leg kicked Pax in the stomach.

As Pax reeled back, he noticed that the Rivers were hitting air. Djyn had escaped the encirclement.

Before Pax could formulate a plan, he felt a blade pierce through his stomach from behind. Pain unlike anything he had ever felt shot through him like lightning. Pax was momentarily stunned and couldn’t even react when a second blade was pressed against his neck.

“Match over. Djyn’s victory.”

Before Pax could process anything, the mist cleared and the match was over.

I…I lost?

“Heal your wounds Pax”

Looking down, the sword was still protruding from his chest. Pax could die if he didn’t do anything about it. After momentarily considering this fact, the pulled the blade out, stopped the bleeding, and healed his organs.

Looking to return the blade to its owner, Pax raised his head and finally saw Djyn’s condition. Djyn’s body was covered in cuts, some deep enough to reveal a bit of bone. During the short fight, Djyn had appeared perfectly fine, but it was clear that this had been a tough battle for him.

Kneeling down, he put the sword on the ground and placed his hand of Djyn’s chest. A slight glow came from the many cuts and the wounds rapidly closed.

“It was a good fight”

Pax didn’t really agree with Djyn’s words but couldn’t dispute the result.

Pax was weak, much too weak. This was undeniable.

It was time to do something drastic.