Chapter 104: Synergy
Beru moved in a streak of essence, his body dissolving into particles before reforming in front of Achilles.
His sword tore a clean stroke through the air, a blue arc following its path as it closed in.
Achilles caught it with his golden shield, a tremor sweeping up his arm as he held on.
But the force was too much.
Achilles was sent crashing into the earth, his body a streak of gold.
Before Beru could move, ice had begun to form across his body, covering him in thick layers of blue crystal.
A sharp glint appeared in Beru’s eyes as he turned toward Jack Frost.
Nothing.
The space where Jack had been standing was empty.
In the next moment, his instincts screamed.
Beru turned quickly, but it was too late.
Jack’s staff, coated in a thick sharp layer of ice, pierced through his chest from behind.
Beru’s entire being froze.
Not from the ice spreading through him.
It was the pain.
His soul began to freeze as though it had been dipped in cold water.
Jack’s body drifted backward before Beru’s enraged slash could reach him.
Achilles had already reappeared, capitalizing on the opening with a slash at Beru’s underbelly.
Green blood sprayed into the air as the sword connected.
Achilles did not linger.
He pulled back and thrust forward in the same breath.
Beru caught the sword with the flat of his blade, retaliating with a kick to Achilles’s stomach.
Achilles was sent flying, his body streaking through the air.
Jack was already behind Beru, repeating the same move.
But Beru had learned from the first time.
Before the staff could connect, he swung his sword upward, sending it off course.
His sword continued forward in the same instant, slashing toward Jack’s neck.
Swoosh.
As if Jack were made of mist, the sword passed through without resistance.
Beru’s eyes widened, but he could not afford a blunder on this battlefield.
A sharp whistle tore through the air from behind, creating a vacuum along its path.
Beru reacted on instinct, dropping to the earth to avoid the attack.
Achilles’s spear thrust through the space where he had stood moments ago.
From the earth, Beru’s eyes moved across his two opponents.
His expression was disdainful.
To him, they were insects that could be crushed at any moment.
The only reason they were still standing was because they would not die.
One of them was so durable that not even his strongest attack left a mark.
The other seemed to be made of something that was not solid at all.
Achilles and Jack looked down at Beru from the sky, then at each other.
As if they had communicated without words, they moved.
Jack went first. Hundreds of ice spikes formed in the air above him, the temperature plummeting as they sprouted.
Then with a single command, they were sent toward Beru.
Beru brandished his sword as he looked at the incoming volley.
He had made his decision.
There was no point engaging Achilles and Jack until their master was dead.
Achilles followed behind the spikes, head facing the earth, the tip of his spear leading the way with essence erupting along its frame.
Beru swung.
It was a casual swing, but the power behind it was anything but.
The floor beneath him split in a clean line as an arc of essence shot upward.
Looking at the arc bearing down on him, Achilles did not move.
There was no need.
The arc slashed through every spike, reducing them to fragments.
When it reached Achilles, it was the arc that broke.
Achilles drove his spear toward Beru’s position in an attempt to end it cleanly.
He did not get what he wanted.
Beru caught the spear with his sword.
The floor beneath him exploded further and for a moment, he staggered.
Achilles capitalized immediately, his sword appearing in his free hand.
He brought it down toward Beru’s neck and shoulder simultaneously.
Beru regained his footing quickly, narrowly clearing the attack.
The sword sliced through his arm cleanly, as though it were nothing.
The thud of the arm hitting the ground was the only sound that followed.
Then the thick metallic scent of green blood.
Beru planted his leg into Achilles’s chest, pushing him away before any more damage could be done.
At the same time, he leapt backward, avoiding Jack’s staff slam.
He landed far from both of them.
His gaze was cold as it settled on them.
If they were beings he could kill, he would have done it ten times over by now.
But he could not.
He glanced at the arm Achilles had severed.
It had already regrown fully, reattaching as if it had never been touched.
Achilles and Jack had already begun to move again, streaking forward.
Beru sighed, preparing to meet them head on.
Then nothing.
Both fighters vanished before they could close the gap.
For a moment Beru stood still, unable to process what had happened.
Then a thought surfaced.
His master had killed their master.
The earth cratered as Beru launched into the sky.
His eyes swept across the entire battlefield from above.
All he saw were ruins and ravines that ran further than any gaze could follow.
And within the ruin, a single body. Unconscious, but alive.
Beside it, a torso, already dissolving into mist.
He did not need anyone to explain it to him.
His master had been killed.
"Master. Avenge."
The words forced their way through his mouth as he descended.
He drove straight toward Azrael’s unconscious body, sword leading the way.
Snap.
A single snap echoed through the entire dungeon, arriving everywhere at the same pitch and the same moment.
"Alright, playtime is over."
Those were the words that followed.
Beru looked up toward the presence he felt.
The same one that had left a scar in his soul and mind in under ten seconds.
Only one thought came to him.
The same one that had occurred to him when he laid his eyes on this person before.
Run.