Dual System: Ascension of A Nameless Nobody

“Did you feel that?! It just got really cold-!” Sol shouted.

“Yeah! I think that was Tsukikage!” Xiaodan replied.

“–Let’s just hope he wins!” He added.

He evaded a swipe from one of the abyssal skeletons, countering with a powerful thrust of his spear that ignited with embers.

As the ravenous, smoke-born fiends closed in rapidly, Xiaodan held his ground, focusing his strength into his right hand as an emerald glow centered around it.

“Palm Nova!”

With a devastating palm strike that struck solid air, an emerald shock wave released, repelling the fiends and breaking the skeletal beings.

“They’re fragile, but there’s a lot of them!” Xiaodan shouted.

He continued using his spear to keep them at bay, summoning ember sparks to ignite various fiends, “–And they’re not stopping anytime soon!”

It seemed as though they had a steady method going–he was able to blow away each undead in one spear thrust, and Xiaodan’s swift movements made it manageable to keep them at bay.

Though even the fragility of the skeletons was proven to be false as the piled of shattered bones was reconnected by strands of the black smoke, rebuilding the undead. The piles of bones rattled, being connected again, but not into their original form.

Something much larger was born, made up of countless bodies of the smoky undead as dozens of arms dangled from its body, which was difficult to perceive.

“…Give me a break…!” He said, witnessing the new undead being made.

[Lesser Lich | Level 28]

The black smoke that naturally gave off from its rotten bones formed into a cloak around its colossal physique; a giant blade was made out of repurposed skeletons, having an ivory edge.

“All it is for us is a bigger target!” Xiaodan said.

“Xiaodan!–Hey!” He called out.

The silver-haired martial artist ran forward without hesitation, straight towards the cloaked giant of interlocked skeletons.

What’s he doing…!? Idiot! He thought.

Though he didn’t have any chance to lament his companion’s decision, nor aid him as he was immediately surrounded by more undead, prompting him to begin spinning his lance around to repel them from touching him, “Ghh!”

Xiaodan spun around in mid-air, using a shining dropkick to comet down towards the giant skeleton: “Comet Dance!”

“Fall.”

It was a single word spoken from the bone amalgamation, echoing from the depths of its fleshless body; the utterance sent chills through the body of the young martial artist, who found his resolve flickering in the middle of his attack.

“–!” Xiaodan’s eyes widened.

Suddenly, it was as if a bird’s wings were plucked; while traveling in mid-air, he was suddenly slammed down against the ground by an unseen force as if gravity had multiplied itself grossly in that instance.

What…is this? Xiaodan thought.

What was thought to be a mindless amalgamation of undead was something else. It loomed over him, walking with its ivory legs as its smoky cloak swayed in the miasmic winds.

“Sol…!” Xiaodan yelled out for help.

Pressed into the storm of bones as the undead clawed at him, the cry for help urged him to move, but a desire didn’t simply make the impossible possible.

“…Get back!” He grunted.

It’s not just their strength or tenacity…that smoke! It’s making the back of my throat burn up! He thought.

As he glanced back, he could see the Lesser Lich approaching Xiaodan, who was pinned beneath an unseen gravitational force.

…I’ve got to get over there! He thought.

The undead were breaking through his guard as their bony digits clawed at him, leaving cuts on his skin and bruises on his body as they slammed against him like a wave of rotten growth.

They were clinging onto his coat, gripping onto his arms and legs, trying to tear him limb-from-limb as bits of his skin did indeed begin to tear.

For better or worse, his sights were set on aiding his companion, but on his own condition; he bent his knees and summoned strength into his legs.

“Gaaah…!” He yelled out before focusing, holding his spear forward, “Through The Winds: Sonic Blitz!”

All at once, he strained his calf muscles and his hamstrings, using all of the explosive strength in his lungs to surpass the speed of sound in that singular movement, causing the air to whip and crack as he broke free from the grip of the undead horde.

Bones broke and shattered as skeletons dismantled like jenga towers, though some disembodied bony hands still clung to him.

The Lesser Lich was hoisting its ivory blade up, looming it over the pinned-down, silver-haired comrade of his as the black smoke billowed in its absent eye sockets.

“…Get away…from him!” He shouted.

There wasn’t any plan or method to his attack, he simply charged straight towards the colossus of skeletons like a desperate bullet, tossing his spear as a hail merry.

Just as the ivory blade was swung down, the molten spear collided against it, managing to intercept the attack in a miraculous effort.

“Yes…!” He let out in surprise and relief.

Though he stumbled over in his landing, he extended a hand down to Xiaodan as the gravitational press seemed to be dispelled with the lesser lich’s focus being disrupted.

The spear he threw naturally returned to his hand like a frisbee, with the amalgamation of skeletons regaining its balance.

Xiaodan looked at him in surprise, “…I’ve stooped to my lowest!”

“Huh?”

“I’m even getting saved by the crybaby now!” Xiaodan whined.

“Ah, shut up! We’re not done yet!” He embarrassingly barked back.

As they both rekindled their fighting spirit and stood by one another, they weren’t faced with the swarm of undead at all angles any longer.

“What the…” He slowly said.

Breaking down from their skeletal forms, the undead shattered and began being absorbed into the lesser lich.

“Why is it going into its second phase now? Hey! You’re supposed to get into your next phase after we’ve actually done damage! This is terrible boss fight etiquette!” He yelled out.

Xiaodan glanced over at him as if thinking “Is this really the kind of person I’m depending on with my life?” Sol’s ramblings at times like this was his only cope with fear, that or simply cowering away; that wasn’t an option at this point, however.

The abyssal smoke swirled around the field where all grass had been drained of life; the status of the skeletal monstrosity altered itself before his eyes.

[Evolved Lesser Lich | Level 31]

“It’s level increased!” Xiaodan noted.

“Yeah, I can see that!” He replied.

Together, they attacked in unison, rushing forward towards the mystical, dark being summoned by the depths of the black smoke.

The Lesser Lich didn’t take a single step forward, but emitted another word that echoed out like a malediction: “Repel.”

This time, another unseen force burrowed forward through the wilted field, rippling against the two with an all-powerful presence that knocked them back.

“Ghh!” Xiaodan winced.

“Gah!” He let out.

There was nothing that could be done to resist the word-given-form as he landed on his back with Xiaodan falling on top of him.

“…Dammit…” He groaned.

Xiaodan coughed out, picking himself up quickly, with Sol jumping up as well to face the imposing lich.

What kind of power is this…? He thought, It’s totally unreal. How do we fight this…?

The Lesser Lich stood with a presence of utter darkness; it didn’t feel like something simply summoned by Ash, nor a simple minion–it felt like something else.

He gulped, “…We’ll just have to hold out.”

“Yeah,” Xiaodan nodded, “We can do that much. We survived Armageddon, right? This should be nothing.”

This time, they both gave a small nod to each other before sprinting towards the lich from opposite sides, opting to throw off its attention. Even as they rushed towards the lich for a pincer attack, the entity stood still, simply staring forward with its void eye sockets.

“Raagh!” Xiaodan yelled out.

Leaping out first, the silver-haired andyrogynous figure built up momentum behind his fist, gathering an elemental swirl of blue flames around his knuckles: “Blossomed Flame!”

He opted to support Xiaodan, making sure he was able to get close as he reared his spear back, enhancing it with lightning, “Cast: Zeus’ Call!”

It was a much more powerful spell than one that simply layered the weapon in electricity; the spear was throttled with highly-intense lightning as blue sparks emitted before he tossed it forward like a javelin.

…This will have to work! He thought.

With the enhancement of lightning, the spear roared out as it easily shattered the sound barrier with an ear-filling whip, shooting directly towards the lich.

As both attacks closed in from either side of the lich, it remained standing still with its ghastly cloak swaying in the wind, only emitting a single word once more:

“Vanish.”

It was an utterance more potent than the previous; without a moment passing, the lightning was suppressed from his spear, and the flames around Xiaodan’s fist were snuffed out in an instant.

“What?!” He yelled out.

“Huh?!” Xiaodan let out, feeling the same disbelief.

Something of such magnitude seemed impossible–magic itself was silenced by a mere word, but there wasn’t any time to be in shock as the lich made its move for a counterattack. It raised its weapon, invoking the black smoke before the ground began rumbling.

Xiaodan landed on the ground, but it was Sol that noticed what was about to happen as he quickly burst over–”Through The Wind: Sonic Blitz!”

“Huh–?” Xiaodan gasped.

The gray-haired martial artist was suddenly tackled by the bandana-wearing spear-wielder, causing them both to roll through the grass, but it was quickly realized why such an action was taken.

Bone-forged spikes protruded from the soil, jutting upward intensely with the intent to impale and skewer.

“…Ah, thanks,” Xiaodan said, gulping after seeing the bone spikes on the ground.

He got up, helping Xiaodan up, “Yeah, well–don’t count on that again!”

Again, the lich invoked another command: “Suffer.”