Divine Beast Ascension

623 You’re Too Flustered to Fight

CH-CH-CHTING!! C-C-C-CRACK!!

A pillar of ice raced upward, giving Ocker a raised platform so his surrounded troops could clearly see their general. Oker yelled, “STAND UP! DON’T COWER–!”

Crack. Chting! Frrrip!

In the middle of Ocker’s rallying cry, worry flashed across his face. But it was too late.

A sword had effortlessly and quietly pierced through the ice pillar. The blade was already too close to evade, about to run through Ocker’s heart.

Ocker managed to twirl his halberd to redirect the attack. But the sword still skewered Ocker’s side, only a hand’s length away from the general’s heart. What Ocker had failed to realize, until after the sword had already pierced Ocker, was the change in the sword’s attack.

There was no swirling, saw-like frost on the blade. Instead, there was a razor-thin edge created from glacial frost, which had cleanly and silently stabbed through Ocker’s pillar of ice.

Behind the blade, holding the hilt of the sword, was a long icicle. That’s what had propelled the sword so perfectly to its target of Ocker’s chest, until Ocker’s last-second parry to save himself from instant death.

“You’re too flustered to fight.”

.....

General Ocker’s immediate attention was thrown behind him. Ocker didn’t even have a moment to fully address the sword that was brutally piercing and freezing his internal organs.

Already, after skating up the pillar, Hurman had reappeared to flank Ocker. Hurman’s sword was already swiping upward, with earth essence on one side of the blade and ice essence on the other.

C-CRACK!

The column of ice was perfectly split by the edge clad in earth essence.

Before he could fully turn around and swing his halberd, Ocker’s footing was already destroyed. The ice pillar was quickly collapsing.

Hurman, however, had already leaped off of the pillar. He was barely above Ocker with his sword held high, ready to bring it down on the falling general. 𝗳𝔯e𝒆𝙬𝘦𝙗𝓷o𝘷el. c૦𝑚

Ocker scrambled to do something. Anything!

The general tried to piece the ice pillar together. But the pillar had been cut all the way through, down to the base and into the ground beneath it. Also, Ocker’s essence wouldn’t reach the base of the pillar in time. Ocker wouldn’t be able to recreate any steady footing before having to deal with the incoming swordsman.

Then, during Ocker’s mental scramble to create a counterattack, Hurman started a two-handed swing of his sword from two krin away.

Ocker didn’t fully understand what Hurman was up to, but Ocker quickly put up his guard. His halberd was held forward to parry or block whatever Hurman was attempting to do.

Swinging his sword down from afar, Hurman’s sharp eyes stayed on target.

A blade of ice rapidly grew, more than doubling the sword’s reach. That’s when the attack came crashing down onto the defending halberd.

CRACK!

The thin yet sharp blade of ice shattered on impact. And the halberd trembled in Ocker’s hands as the backlash against the sharp earth essence carried within Hurman’s icy blade.

But Hurman didn’t stop.

CRACK! CRACK! CRACK!!

With the extended blade of ice breaking but never having his true sword make contact, Hurman tucked into a front flip with his unimpeded momentum. And another extended blade of ice instantly grew back as Hurman’s second, flipping strike carried even more force.

Ocker defended again, unhurt from both clashes. But Ocker was startled by how his hands were trembling more and more, even with Ocker’s ice essence around the halberd’s shaft.

Yet Hurman’s onslaught of flipping, mid-air strikes had only just begun.

Hurman became a human saw as he rotated and attacked, over and over again. Hurman offered the enemy general no wiggle room and no chance to look away.

And General Ocker adamantly defended himself, ignoring the numbness in his fingers. Until…

CRACK! F-F-FRRIP! CR-Rrrip! Thud…

Finally, as Ocker expected, he was about to land back on the ground. Ocker was about to yank the sword out of his side, preparing to tuck and roll back to his feet for a quick recovery.

But, before Ocker could even turn his head to see the ground from the corner of his eye, Ocker’s eyes widened in pain and absolute shock.

Under Hurman’s hasty and powerful strikes, Ocker had been pushed to the ground even faster with each block Ocker made. And, with that heavy momentum from above, General Ocker now felt nearly a dozen points on his body being punctured.

Ocker couldn’t stop himself. He tried to turn his head to see what was happening. But Ocker felt something puncturing his scalp as well.

When another strike fell upon Ocker, the general’s face clenched in fear. “You set a trap?!!”

Finally, Hurman brandished a confident, sly grin.

Back while Hurman had skated up the side of Ocker’s ice pillar, Hurman had also raised stone spikes all around. And the tip of each spike was brimming with Hurman’s sharp earth essence. That way, it didn’t matter whether Hurman’s blade ever connected with the general’s flesh. So long as Hurman could distract and pressure Ocker, then Hurman could cement his victory.

The general was forced into an impasse of his own mortality.

No matter how badly Ocker didn’t want to be pushed down again, Ocker also couldn’t allow Hurman’s lethal sword strike to land either. Thus, with less than a split second to react, Ocker was only able to defend himself from the incoming, icy blade.

Halting his attack and flips, Hurman commanded two spikes to rise higher, running through Ocker’s thighs. Those spikes suddenly flattened at the tips in order to give Hurman some footholds to land on.

And Hurman was left standing there, looming over the impaled corpse of the general.

Everything had happened so fast, all within seconds and in front of the Prodson troops. Lots of soldiers that had wavered before quickly fell to their knees in search of mercy over death.

“Do you surrender?” Hurman asked from afar, leaning his sword on his shoulder while glaring at the Prodson troops.

“Y-YES!!”

Half of those Prodson troops had already fallen in battle, while the Forell army had experienced minimal casualties. And with Iccad City’s infamous Archer & Spear Corps above, the Prodson soldiers were already heartbroken.

But seeing their mighty general killed off in such a brutal manner, by the uninjured “Old Practor” himself… It was beyond perspective-shattering. It was world-breaking to the mortal troops now desperate to live.