Chapter 136: Ch173. Clash of monsters - 2
Octavius’s roar could be heard by everyone there, near or far, on the battlefield.
But more than that, what left everyone’s jaw dropped the most, and with their blood frozen in their veins, was the wave of energy that emanated from the Dread Paladin with that scream.
The power that struck everyone on that battlefield was so overwhelming, powerful, deep and drenched in wrath, that many there felt effects even worse than when they witnessed Rhegal, disguised as the BWA Headmaster, using Dragon Fear.
Some fainted, others felt their noses bleeding, several felt nauseated.
But the weakest, most susceptible to mental-type abilities, immediately went crazy, scratching their own skin, digging their eyes out, inflicting on themselves every kind of pain imaginable, just to try to find some comfort, away from the feeling of their minds being torn apart.
Kurt could only watch as many of his opponents, and even his allies, died, victims of that abysmal wave of terror.
"No..." Kurt said to himself, and the puppet also said the same thing, at the same time.
And the two charged at Octavius with everything they had.
However, the closer they got to the Dread Paladin, the more they realized that that power was pushing them back.
Not only that, but Octavius’ form was changing.
The armor, or what had previously appeared to be armor, now seemed to be fusing with the Dread Paladin’s skin.
The scales of the vambraces joining his skin as if they had always been there, the claws becoming one with his fingers, and even the bone helmet, which had previously been pulverized by Kurt’s powerful punch, had returned, as if it had never been there before. had been broken.
Merging with Octavius’ skull, and making him now appear, completely and completely, like a demon.
No...
From the level of power that thing radiated, it seemed more accurate to say that Octavius had become an unholy deity.
Kurt gritted his teeth, holding the daggers tightly in his hands, trying to keep his puppet still tangible.
It was hard to believe, and even admit, but Kurt was having serious trouble keeping his mind straight as he felt that wave of energy washing over him.
In the back of Kurt’s mind, he could feel every good memory fading away, turning into pure and utter terror.
As time passed, with the dragging of eternal seconds, the difficulty in maintaining sanity only seemed to increase.
At least, until Kurt felt a hint of comfort.
As if a warm, comfortable light had turned on at the end of a dark, desolate tunnel.
And even though that image seemed to fit Kurt’s profile, the desperation that the monster before him emanated certainly had nothing on the source of power from which his darkness came.
But that light, on the other hand...
’Evellyn...’ Kurt thought, looking back momentarily.
Evellyn stood there, her entire body glowing in a warm, golden light.
Kurt could see a small red stream running from the girl’s nose, and he understood that she was going beyond her own limits to keep him safe.
Not just him, but all other wielders.
Even Daichi was there, conjuring barrier upon barrier, his nose and eyes bleeding, showing the extent of his effort and willpower, in going beyond his awakened limits, to protect as many as he was capable of there.
Kurt felt the warmth of that familiar energy washing over him, and he couldn’t help but smile.
’Thanks guys... It’s going to hurt having to say goodbye to you...’
And with that thought, he turned to Octavius, who was standing before Kurt, with a misshapen, completely inhumed and distorted smile on his demonic face.
"Let’s see... If you can... Take this..." The monstrosity said, waving its hand in front of Kurt.
The young man felt nothing at first, but after a few seconds of bewilderment, his body burned like it was on fire, aching inside as if every bone in his body was breaking and mending itself, only to be broken again.
And in the next instant, Kurt’s body seemed to be taken away by an invisible force.
First, slowly.
Then, with frightening brutality and unpredictability, upward, until Kurt looked like nothing more than a black star, shining in the blue sky.
’The blue one?’ Kurt thought, the wave of understanding sweeping away everything inside him but the pain.
Before being thrown against the ground again, and feeling the crushing impact of his bones against the stones and sand of that discolored desert, he managed to understand why he had been the victim of that attack.
It wasn’t because that attack had been especially strong or terrifying.
No...
Kurt had made a mistake during the fight.
He hadn’t counted on the possibility of there being a sun illuminating everything behind the thick layer of clouds in that sky.
But there was.
And as that sun shone, spreading light and color throughout that world painted in shades of gray...
Kurt was losing the feeling of the darkness that filled him.
Being overcome by an even greater despair than the one he had been subjected to just seconds before.
Kurt had never felt pain like that, even when he had been beaten by Quintus, and left on the brink of death in a barrel, under the sea at the pier.
The pain of that attack, whatever it was, was so indescribable, that Kurt’s world, previously populated by shadows and darkness, was flooded with searing white and stars.
Evellyn watched, horrified, at the spectacle that the creature, previously a human who had helped give birth to the boy, and now nothing more than a deformed and grotesque beast, provided everyone there.
Very few felt a wave of hope running through their veins, and those wore the cloaks and armor of the New Dawn.
The others, Kurt’s allies in that battle, could do nothing but watch as the monster beat Kurt until his heart was content.
Kurt felt as if he had become a spectator of his own death, watching in third person, as the monster Octavius almost came to the point of devouring him.
"You... Cannot... Resist... Kha’Ur!" The monster babbled, drooling black saliva. "You... Will be... Assimilated..."
Suddenly, it was as if all pain had disappeared from Kurt’s horizon.
Giving way to a spark of understanding, which exploded into a sun of understanding.
’Son of a bitch... It was you...’ He thought, unable to move a single muscle. ’It was you, all this time...’
Kurt let out a heavy, bloody sigh, closing his eyes, and bracing himself for the hammer that came down towards him, coming from the huge, massive fists of that monstrosity.
’What a shit way to die, huh...’
It wasn’t like he wanted to give up.
After all, Kurt had only given up once in his entire life, and that had led to him becoming nothing more than an echo of his own existence.
Kurt knew, even if he hadn’t necessarily been the one to live that life, that way, that giving up led nowhere.
But even so, with so many plans he had formulated that had been successful, it had been a bad time for one of his plans to fail.
’Will I start over as another echo this time?’ Kurt thought, feeling the seconds tick by as his life flashed before his eyes.
The moment he had gotten his hands on that stupid pocket watch, and that had gotten him into all this trouble.
’Yeah... But if it weren’t for all that shit, I wouldn’t have had so much fun...’
"Are you a masochist, man?" Kurt heard a familiar voice speaking behind him.
Kurt immediately opened his eyes, still unable to move.
With some effort, he managed to notice the approaching pair of boots, crunching the sand beneath their heels.
’You’ve got to be kidding... What are you doing here?’
But Kurt couldn’t voice the question, without the strength to even breathe and stay alive.
"Don’t worry, and save your strength. Your plan hasn’t failed yet..." K said, crouching down to get closer to him.
Next to K, Evellyn, the adult Red Oracle, in all her splendor.
"Everything happens for a reason, Kurt." She said, smiling at him. "And as much as you didn’t understand it at the time... You sparing our world, and that of so many other echoes, served exactly that purpose." She smiled. "Exactly for this moment in your life."
And when Kurt managed to move his head, very slightly, he managed to see a scene that, if he had been able to at the moment, would have made his eyes widen, and all the air in his lungs drained out in a single, surprised gasp.
Countless Kurts were around him, in that short and infinite space where time seemed to have been frozen, moments before the last drop of life drained from Kurt’s body.
"Hey man..." One of the Kurts said, waving and smiling, as if he wasn’t even seeing a version of himself, beaten almost to death. "We came here to give you a hand with your plan..."
