Astrum Irae - Chapter 13

Chapter 13






"So, I conspired with the commander and Gilgamesh. I'm to bring you back to the base if I decide that you have malicious intent towards us. While it's true that you don't seem to want to kill me, you are mentally unstable and a liability to the fort, so I'm going to kill you now."

"Hahaha. You? Kill me? No, nononono I don't think so motherfucker. I'm going to deliver your corpse to the commander personally then rip his head off after seeing his morbid face, then deliver that head to Gilgamesh!" I laugh maniacally.

Syfeid politely waits for me to finish talking, then draws his bow and releases an arrow straight into my forehead. The impact doesn't faze me much, but I still take a step back.

He promptly runs away shouts, "Do you even remember the way back?"

He's right, I don't. It seems I'm forced to chase him into an inevitable trap, lest I be lost in these woods forever. Whoo. Okay. I need to calm down and not rush into a trap.

I take off and run after him in full sprint, my lack of armaments and unlimited stamina helping me greatly. I gradually catch up to him after a while, and tackle him to the ground. He slips out of my grasp and rolls a few feet in front of me.

We're now in a clearing bordering a roaring river. The river is unbelievably loud, making it hard for me to even think straight.

"So, this was your plan? To get me in that river?" I shout at him, hoping my voice travels over the river. "Too bad, haha. I'm superhuman and I don't get tired. Bet ya didn't calculate for that."

Observing the river, I notice that the river is dug deep into a ravine. I can't see the actual water, so I assume the edge is at least 100 feet high.

We have a stare down, each side not daring to make a move. I don't dare to try any magic. The wind is tunneling through the river, loud enough that it's the only discernible sound over the roaring current.

I suddenly get grabbed from behind and flail majestically. I whip my neck around to see the commander himself, looking at me with a serious expression. He grabs my neck and attempts to snap it to no avail. He re-grips me, bends me over his shoulder and walks toward the river. Syfeid relaxes and approaches us.

"So, it was nice talking to you and all, but-" he starts.

I use the deep hatred for him in my heart to re-invoke the feeling that I had when I burned the whole camp of scouts and pull up mana through the commander and blast straight down since I can't freely move my arms.

The fire hits the ground violently and creates a small explosion, spreading across the ground. It burns the commander's legs and he buckles to his knees while screaming. I squirm out of his grasp and land on my back in the fire. I'm already naked so I don't lose a set of clothes this time.

Syfeid was only barely hit by the attack and quickly was put out by the wind without any injuries. The wind is still going strong and managed to put out the remaining fire around and on the commander. His legs are burnt up to his mid thighs in varying degrees of burns, the severity scaled towards his feet.

I roll over to my chest and get up, but I am kicked in the gut by Syfeid. I fall over, and he grabs my arms and starts to drag me behind him over towards the river. I squirm, wriggle and flail but I can't escape his impeccable grip. If I wasn't immortal he might've broken my wrists by now.

I once again attempt to draw some mana and blast Syfeid, but the angle is too unfamiliar to me and I can't. The feeling of drawing mana through my feet was similar enough to use the commander as a catalyst, but trying to do it directly through my back is too unfamiliar.

I have an epiphany and do a backward somersault, kicking Syfeid in the back of the knees in the process. He buckles to his knees and rolls forward, away from me.

I get up and start to manipulate mana into my hand, but he notices this and quickly shoots an arrow at me. It breaks my concentration and I fail to achieve anything from the act.

Now what? Do I make a break for it or do I attempt to kill these 2 buffoons?

The adrenaline is getting to my head, and I make a rash decision. I turn around, ignoring Syfeid's arrows, and run up to the commander, who is still sitting on his butt. He roars at me and draws his sword, swinging it wildly at me like a lunatic.

I keep some distance until I see an opening, then rush in and connect a flying dropkick square into his neck. He gets pushed back a few inches and lands on his back. I run up quickly to grab his sword, but Syfeid tackles me from behind.

The commander gets up onto his butt, but still doesn't dare put his weight onto his scorched feet. Syfeid, meanwhile, lunges at me and connects a football tackle right into my gut.

I'm thrown up into the air and hit the dirt, not stopping until I skid a foot from the momentum. I swivel around and throw a punch at Syfeid, which he easily deflects to the side. He throws a mean punch in return straight into the spot he tackled me previously.

I don't really feel it as per usual, and start a slugfest with him. We both throw punches at each other until I start to noticeably connect more, then he changes his tactics. He once again attempts to get close and grapple me, but I'm having none of it. I keep my distance, and if he tries to get in close I switch it up and throw a knee or two.

Syfeid is panting viscously, eyes filled with hate and sweat dripping off him. I'm still buck naked, but apart from being covered in grass stains and dirt, I'm completely fine.

Ha, I'll always win a war of attrition. I hope you're ready to get thrown in that river yourself, prick.

I keep an eye on the commander every once in a while to make sure he's not faking it to get another sneak attack in.

Syfeid and I break away from each other for a moment. I focus on the commander to strategize a way for myself to get over to him, steal his sword, and the hopefully gut him before Syfeid gets to me.

While eyeing him, I notice two things. He's testing out the waters with his feet, and the wind is picking up.

The wind starts echoing through the ravine, the trees meanwhile are shaking and creaking with the force of a thousand suns. It's still midday, but the clouds overhead have condensed greatly compared to when we took off. The sun isn't directly visible, and the clouds have drawn a shadow across the forest, resulting in a dark and heavy atmosphere. My hair is whipping back and forth, slapping my eyes. It doesn't sting like it should, but it still impedes my vision.

The commander's face is contorted in pain, as the wind is affecting his burns. Syfeid is unaffected by the wind save the initial shiver it sent down his spine.

I have an idea, and back up towards the cliff edge. The roaring rapids giving me minor flashbacks and invade my mind.

Well, if I do fall in at least I won't die this time. I'll just be far, far away from anything that I know.

Syfeid follows me, obviously aware of my plan.

I look down the river to see that it the rapids continue for as far as the eye can see in a straight line. My face pales in realization, and Syfeid jumps on the opportunity. He doesn't overexert his momentum forward, wary of the impending doom of falling off the small cliff.

I turn my attention back towards him and meet him head-on. I try to throw him off using his momentum, but he promptly slams on the brakes. We both grapple each other and hold each other tightly, neither budging. I decide that I seriously hate Syfeid enough to ruin my chances of really getting a head start in this game of 'God's'.

Just when I resolve myself to drag him off the cliff with me, a sudden burst of energy from the wind forces both of us over, and we land in the grass, still holding on tightly. We struggle and roll around until I get my vision on the cliff edge again. I try to bring us over towards it, to which he agrees. We roll over each other until I'm just on the edge. He lets go of me, and tries to free himself while kicking me towards the edge. I look him dead in the eye, laugh maniacally, and let a leg fall off. I use the same leg to pull both of us towards the edge ever more, until I get a butt cheek off. The momentum takes effect, and we both slide down the side of the steep, rugged cliff. I continue to hold on to Syfeid while he helplessly struggles to get free.

To my surprise, the spot we fell off at wasn't 90 degrees straight down, only 110 or so. So, we slide down the side while hitting stray rocks and get drowned in dry, loose dirt.

I utilize all of my power to force Syfeid deep into the cliffside, hoping a stray rock will dislodge or shatter a bone or two. When we reach the bottom, most of our momentum has been seriously absorbed by the loose dirt, and we stop on a small, flat spot next to the river.

Unfortunately for me, I have been swallowed by that very loose dirt. I'm in the prone position with all of my body under the dirt that came with us except a bit of my face. Syfeid escaped the same fate, but in return is unrecognizable. He is passed out on the ground, completely covered in dirt and blood.

I attempt to wriggle out of the dirt in order to finish the job before he wakes up, but I hear a groan and he roll over and weakly stands up, ready to topple over at any moment. He seems out of it, and looks around to see where he is and where I am. He doesn't notice me hiding in the dirt, and looks down the river to see if he get get an eye on me.

I don't move a muscle, hesitating as to what to do.

Well, I certainly can't break out of this in one go, but hopefully if he notices me he'll pull me out of this damned dirt to his own downfall.

I decide to struggle and make noise, seeing what reaction Syfeid will have.

He looks down at me and starts laughing.

"Haahhahaha, look at you now! Trapped, like the rodent you are. You probably hope that I'll pull you out and try and throw you into the river, to at which you'll overpower me due to my injuries and throw me in, or just strangle me. Well, what do you say to this?"

He kicks me in the face and walks above me. He stomps the ground until a small landslide rolls down and buries me further. I keep struggling in vain to escape.

"You just stay there for a while," he scoffs. "Commander! Can you hear me? I trapped him. If possible, come down here and help me get rid of him."

I have a realization and attempt to shoot fire out of my hands to loosen the dirt. I succeed, but the act of frying a small amount of the dirt around my hands does little to nothing for the overall situation.

Fine, if I can't use fire I'll use earth magic.

I conceptualize the dirt around my body to be lifted off me while I absorb and manipulate mana around my body. The dirt vibrates softly, to no effect. Anger flares in my heart and I try again. This time, the dirt visibly shakes and slides off me, bit by bit. I let anger completely take me over and attempt to throw the mound of dirt directly at Syfeid in an attempt to kill him.

The dirt leaps at him, just not with enough force to kill him. The sheer mass of the mound manages to knock him over, though.

"Earth magic!" he angrily growls. "I guess that proves my point, you treacherous fiend. You just wanted to steal our technology and bring it back to your country, Dreida or not."

I get up and rebuke, "Well, actually I didn't ever lie to you except for the memory loss point. I'm really from another world, sent here by God to herd you unruly cattle. But, you won't ever get to see how that goes."

I start laughing and slide the dirt out from under his feet with earth magic. He lands on the ground chin first, and I follow up with a clean kick to the side of the hide. He rolls with the momentum and ends up in the water as an escape technique of sorts.

"Oh shit!" I verbally yell and dive in after him. I take a few strokes to catch up to him, then promptly clamp down on his ankle with both of my arms.