—Perfect.
I gripped the balloon sword tightly. The plastic creaked beneath my fingers as if it were alive.
The air exploded beneath my feet.
—Then prove it to me.
I vanished.
The pavement burst apart where I had been standing. I shot forward like a projectile, the sword tracing a lethal arc straight toward the entity's neck.
But the creature barely moved its head a few inches.
The slash passed by its dark skin without touching it.
Silence.
My eyes gleamed with genuine surprise and delight.
—Oh…
Then he attacked.
There was no warning. I didn't see the movement.
Only the impact.
My body flew like a rag doll and crashed into the wall of an abandoned building. Concrete caved in, glass shattered into thousands of pieces, and a cloud of dust rose around me.
For a second, everything went silent.
Then…
I laughed.
Low. Unstable. Genuine.
—Jajajaja…
I spat blood inside the mask. The metallic taste filled my mouth.
—That… actually hurt.
I slowly stood up from the rubble. Pieces of concrete fell from my shoulders. My mask had a thin crack across it, but it was still smiling.
My eyes glowed even brighter.
One poisonous green.
The other sickly yellow.
—And I liked it.
The entire alley began twisting from the pressure radiating from both of us. The lights flickered wildly. Shadows writhed on their own. The puddles on the ground reflected purple eyes that didn't exist.
The wind stopped completely, as if the city itself were holding its breath.
The entity remained motionless, watching me without any visible emotion.
That made me enjoy it even more.
I straightened up, cracking my neck.
—I've never been hit like that before.
—Ever since I arrived in this world, I thought mentally.
The creature tilted its head slightly.
—You are not normal either. You do not smell human.
My smile twisted into something wilder.
—And you smell like an old corpse refusing to rot.
The darkness around the entity stirred.
—You absorbed part of me… and survived. That should not be possible.
I slowly raised the balloon sword with theatrical slowness.
—Then watch me make the impossible happen.
The air vibrated.
And it vanished.
This time it was faster. I barely managed to tilt my head aside. A black hand brushed past my face, widening the crack in my mask a little more.
Silence.
I saw the purple trail a second before the attack landed. As if the entity I absorbed was warning me.
—Ah… —I muttered with a grin—. Thanks for the gift.
The entity appeared behind me.
The hit was brutal.
My body crashed through an abandoned car. Metal twisted with a horrible screech. Alarms started blaring throughout the alley.
But before I touched the ground, I teleported.
I appeared above him.
Sword downward.
Vertical slash.
The entity raised one hand. My sword slammed into a black barrier. The shockwave shattered the windows of the nearby buildings.
BOOM!
The alley trembled.
I smiled.
He smiled too.
And for the first time, his smile almost looked real.
—Now I understand… —he said calmly.— You are a monster too.
Silence.
Then I started laughing.
Louder.
Crazier.
Freer.
—Jajajajajajaja… Of course I am!
My aura exploded violently. Darkness, black flames, and pure pressure erupted around me. The ground beneath us sank several inches.
The balloon sword began deforming from the energy pouring out of it.
My eyes glowed like two infernal beacons in the night.
The entity slowly looked toward the sky.
And then…
The sky above Trenton darkened instantly.
The clouds twisted into a gigantic vortex.
One by one…
Hundreds of purple eyes opened within the clouds like sick moons staring downward.
Watching the city.
Watching us.
My laughter slowly faded.
I looked upward.
Then I smiled again.
Bigger.
More dangerous.
Hungrier.
—Ah…
I spread my arms wide.
—Now this…
The wind exploded around me.
—This is getting fun.