The Gamer's POV-Chapter 199: Home of the Hollow Ones [15]

What does it mean to be One with the Ravens?

That thought flashed through Cedric’s mind and then... he realized that he had actually never really used the skill to its full potential.

All this time, he had been treating the ravens as just teleportation anchors, and as separate entities he needed to command.

And so he decided to question the very nature of the skill.

How can I truly be One with the Ravens?

It didn’t take long for him to get his answer, and it was quite simple really.

He had to stop trying to command them, and instead become them.

...When he realized this, Cedric took a step back, surrendered himself and became One with the Ravens.

***

The hollow one’s eyes darted around the storm as he looked for Cedric, but the ronin was nowhere to be found. And with the sheer number of ravens hovering and cawing around the area, the creature found it impossible to tell from which direction Cedric would strike.

However, despite the confusion, it tightened its grip on its katana and continued to scan its surroundings.

Then, without warning, the dozens of ravens began lunging toward it.

The creature raised its blade to strike back, but whenever its steel was about to connect with a raven, the bird would vanish into a flurry of feathers, leaving the blade to cut through nothing but empty air.

It raised its blade again and again only to cut through the air, after which another raven would appear elsewhere or above its head, screeching in a mocking tone.

The creature eventually stopped its futile slashing and simply watched the birds as they began to graze against its skin.

Then, its eyes widened and it quickly raised its sword, because out of the storm, a mass of birds and feathers had gathered together, and Cedric’s upper half coalesced directly in front of the creature with his sword raised high. The other parts of his body, from his waist down, remained a shifting vortex of birds and feathers. Before the creature could fully brace for the impact, the half-formed ronin brought his blade down with the weight of the entire swarm behind it.

Their blades collided and the impact echoed among the screeching. Immediately after, both of them exchanged a few more rapid, clashing strikes. And then, the creature saw an opening and lunged forward with a lethal thrust.

However, just before the blade could connect with Cedric’s chest, his upper half shattered into a flurry of black wings, before turning into dozens of ravens that flew in every direction, joining the storm once again and leaving the creature to strike nothing but empty air.

It immediately turned around, its eyes darting around as it tried to anticipate where the next strike would come from.

Meanwhile...

Several hundred meters away, Aika was fighting against one of the ten. The creature kept delivering heavy, overhead swings that cracked the stone floor, forcing Aika to leap back to avoid its crushing weight. As she retreated, the creature continued chasing after her, determined not to give her any space to breathe or recover.

Fortunately for her, she reached the edge of the area where the storm of Cedric’s ravens was swirling. As she crossed into the fringe of the black plumes, her form too suddenly exploded into a flurry of black feathers, joining the storm that now swirled even around this bulky creature who had chased her into the storm.

The creature came to a heavy halt, its massive godsbane blade hanging mid air as its target vanished into the whirlwind. Just like the opponent Cedric was facing, this brute was now surrounded by a cacophony of wings and shadows. It growled and began looking frantically through the storm, searching for any sign of Aika, while also swinging its weapon in wide, frustrated circles, but the blade only met the same empty air and vanishing feathers. Unbeknownst to the creature, a cluster of feathers nearby began to coalesce, forming nothing but a single hand gripping a nodachi. Before the bulky creature could react to the sudden presence, Cedric’s hand plunged the blade deep into the opening in the creature’s chest.

Its eyes widened and it looked down at the blade in its chest. Then it looked up to see Cedric’s full form slowly converging before it. The brute let go of the heavy blade, which clattered loudly against the stone, and then it collapsed to the ground dead.

At the same time, the small opponent Cedric had been facing still kept looking around, only for a similar cluster of feathers to coalesce near its chest. Before it could react, a pair of hands holding a katana materialized from the whirlwind, and in the same way Cedric had handled the brute, Aika plunged her weapon into the creature’s weak point.

The small opponent gasped as its frantic searching came to a sudden, permanent halt. It slumped forward as Aika’s full form slowly began to reappear behind it, stepping out of the shadows and feathers just as the creature’s body hit the floor.

The storm of ravens began to slowly revert back into feathers, and in the next few seconds, hundreds of black feathers began to slowly drift to the ground, leaving the two warriors standing over their fallen enemies.

"Wow!" Cedric was breathless as he stared at the corpse with wide eyes, still marveling at the new discovery, but at the same time, he clutched his chest as he was now feeling the effects of mana depletion.

"Aissshh... that’s cool as fuck but it leaves me completely drained," he muttered, leaning slightly on his sword to keep his balance.

Then, he turned to look for Aika, only for her to walk over and place a steadying hand on his shoulder, letting him lean some of his weight against her.

She looked at him with a mix of genuine impressed wonder and her usual dry humor.

"Damn Ced, that was cool as hell."

"Right?" Cedric managed a weak, lopsided grin behind the mask, despite the exhaustion. "Your bearer’s a prodigy."

Aika rolled her eyes, though she gave his shoulder a firm, playful squeeze before helping him stand a bit straighter. "Of course you are. Just try not to collapse before we finish the rest of them."

***

A loud boom suddenly echoed from the far end of the vast chamber, as a massive pillar collapsed, sending up a thick cloud of grey dust and debris. The impact shook the floor beneath their feet, forcing Cedric and Aika to turn their attention towards the source. 𝗳𝚛𝚎𝚎𝘄𝕖𝕓𝕟𝕠𝚟𝚎𝕝.𝗰𝕠𝐦

That was when they could see that the cause was Celeste. The tall, gray-skinned woman had hurled one of the ten straight through a pillar with enough force to make it crumble.

After that, she let out an inhumane roar then quickly grabbed a nearby spear, and while the creature was still lying sprawled on the rubble, Celeste leapt in a blur into the air. She spun the spear while in flight and descended on the creature, driving the spear through the opening in its chest.

The creature, who had been trying to rise, suddenly slammed back against the rubble as the impact sent another shockwave through the chamber.

With that creature dead, Celeste stood upright, but shortly after she began walking, she wobbled and dropped down to one knee. She tried to rise again, but her form suddenly caught on fire as she finally ran out of mana.

The flickering flames licked at her gray skin as it began to pale, and she shrank, eventually returning to her human form. She remained kneeling on the cold stone, coughing as the last of the heat dissipated into the air.

It was then that Audrey descended near Celeste, then reached out to help her stand.

"Are you okay?" She asked.

Celeste turned to her while gripping her for support, then nodded tiredly.

Meanwhile, Cedric looked away from them both to the battleground which was now much quieter than before.

Then he saw that all the previous hollow ones had been killed, with Dion killing the last. Dion was now standing tiredly, breathing heavily with his spear hanging across his shoulders as he scanned the room for any remaining threats.

Several hundred meters across from Dion, Leon was massaging his jaw after a battle with one of the ten while also cursing seriously under his breath.

Not too far from him, Levi’s monstrous frame could be seen stepping away from the corpse of another member of the ten.

And far behind Levi, two of the vanguards from Aurora’s party were currently battling against a member of the ten. As they kept struggling to hold their ground, Cedric could see Xavier go to help them after just killing a member of the ten himself. Despite looking completely drained, he waded into the fray with his weapon already cutting an arc through the air, giving the vanguards the opening they needed.

Then there was Evelyn.

She too had killed a member of the ten and was now walking towards Cedric. She was the only one who still had a bit of life on her face. While the others were pale, bloodied, or trembling from overexertion, Evelyn’s expression was still wild and her skin still held its natural color.

Cedric looked away from her to Aurora far up front who had also just finished killing a hollow one. It seemed she had used her bonded ability again since she kept clutching her chest with a grimace on her face. Her hand was white-knuckled against her armor, her breathing shallow as she tried to fight through whatever internal toll her power demanded.

Cedric lowered his head and frowned, because while looking around the chamber, he realized that out of the almost eighty cadets that had gotten here, only eleven now remained.

The rest were dead.