Chapter 116 Clash of Titans (5) Rowan did not know where his Rage stemmed from, but from the moment when those eyes opened, he had recognized himself, before it was crushed underneath by the darkness, it was like watching himself being killed all over again. Suddenly, he wanted… needed to kill this thing, who was making a mockery of his body and soul. His Serpents were forbidden from touching it, he would butcher it with his hands. He kicked the creature's arms open, exposing the chest as he lifted Envy. With one swift motion, he swung the Great Axe into the chest of the creature. The Axe was stopped by a raised hand, this creature seemed to have an impressive constitution, but the vibrational force that Envy carried shredded the limbs to mush, leaving black bones, the next blow severed that limb at the elbow, and from the open wound it bled shadow and darkness. But it was still smiling. The eye of the creature opened wide, and Rowan was beginning to see bits of glowing red runes that reminded him of the hieroglyphics that were inside the Primordial Record; he would not let it unleash any move it was about to make. Rowan was already swinging Envy again, The Great Axe slamming down with a metallic whine, the creature raised his other arm to block but was not fast enough and Rowan had put an extra oomph behind the blow. The Axe buried itself into its chest, and although its constitution was high, the chest exploded into gory bits, but Rowan was surprised that the bones beneath were still relatively fine, the Axe had only managed to dig a few inches deep into it. The bones were like black metal and had tiny spikes all over it, and reminded Rowan of a lesser version of his bones. Rowan wrenched Envy back with a savage motion. He actively called up the Soul Reaver bloodline to pull out whatever soul was in this creature, but it was futile, for it felt blank… Soulless. Disregarding that setback, Rowan kept swinging Envy, landing four heavy blows. The Constitution of this creature must be deceptive, or it was currently growing stronger, for Rowan felt he was cutting into a block of metal, its resistance was slowly increasing. He was aiming for the head, but the creature was slippery. With the limited space it had, it moved its body like a snake, making sure Rowan blows did not connect with the head. The ones that came close were deflected by it, although it lost nearly all the flesh in its remaining arm. The mouth of the creature opened and closed, as if it was searching for words or remembering how to talk. It would be a little difficult going for the head, so Rowan went for the next best option, the limbs, and with the next three blows managed to shred off the other arm and a leg at the knee. Reducing the mobility of the creature to near zero. Rowan was standing over it, and could finally get a clean shot at the head. Although it was tough, it did not seem to have an impressive healing factor, most likely because it was still growing and was not fully developed, so most of its abilities were not yet functional. The runes in the eyes of the creature became half complete, and it seemed to be creating a book in its eyes, and a sense of danger filled Rowan, he paused for a fraction of a second, and the creature detected that slight misstep. The shadow brought its only leg up, rearing for a kick, Rowan was already reacting, he moved a little to the side, his motion was just right, and there was no extra wasted movement, he could not afford another blunder. The leg whistled past him sounding like the Crack of a whip, a blur to the rest of his senses. Rowan poured his essence furiously into Envy and willed the Red flames to cover the Axe Head, and also covered the red flames in a coat of green flames, creating a multi-layer offensive move. He swung down hard, aiming for the neck, but the Shadow moved like mercury, dodging the blow, which was fine, for Rowan was expecting that motion from it. Envy bit into the shoulder, and instead of Rowan pulling the Axe back, he pressed his weight on it. Pushing all his strength and weight behind it. The Shadow opened his mouth in a Wordless scream, as it brought back its leg to kick again. This time Rowan did not dodge, he only braced himself, and angled his body so when the blow from the shadow landed it pushed him back, but the motion drove Envy deeper into the chest of the Shadow. The creature must not have realized it's folly, for he kept lashing out with earth-shattering kicks, pushing Rowan back, mini shockwaves blasting out from the impacts, but Rowan made sure all his weight was on Envy, and every shift backward tore into the creature, the vibration from the weapon acting like an electric saw, slicing through the extremely tough bones of the creature. The Red and Green flames were burning hard, but did not seem to do much. In Fact, it appeared to be fading. The darkness that poured out from the various cuts on the creature's body was extremely cold. And the darkness had a corrupting effect on the flames, as Rowan noticed a bit of gray fire beginning to flood the flames. Rowan willed back the flames, there were still mysteries he wished to unearth from them, and he did not wish for the flames to be influenced in a negative manner. The mindless blow from the creature stopped, it must be aware of the damage it was causing itself, as the blows from it were beginning to weaken. Envy had nearly cut it in two, and the shadow and darkness pouring out from it was a conflagration. It burst out like a hurricane, and it nearly drove Rowan back, before he steadied himself. But Rowan had not finished with his attacks, all these while he was being pummeled, even though he had been using the force of the attack to cut the creature in two, what he had been focusing on was his Flames. He did not only coat his flames around his weapon, but he created other balls of flame and gathered them in his chest, where he began to compress them, and when they became smaller he added more flames, and surprisingly, the blows from the creature assisted this effort. Every kick from it was like a hammer on a compressed spring. Every blow condensed the flames and Rowan gathered more of it, until his Spirit began to buzz, and it felt as if his head was about to burst. During the endless compression, the two flames had gone through a weird change and the two easily fused and created a silver flame with a hint of red and green inside of it. It was impossible to hide the light from the flames again, as it bloomed like a sun in front of Rowan, driving away the darkness and the creature, seeing this light make its first sound, it was a shriek, as its smile ended and Rowan began to see panic in those eyes. Rowan could not even wrap his spirit properly around this flame for it seemed to burn away its touch, he had created something that was truly destructive by chance. Although he could not control this flame with his Spirit, it was barely enough to direct its path, and Rowan slammed it into the open wound of the creature. It was a one-sided fight, and Rowan would have it no other way, he was aware that this creature had the potential of being the most dangerous being inside the Nexus, for it had a growing copy of the Primordial Record in its eyes, and Rowan suspected that this was a hidden chess piece that even the General was not aware of.