Requiem Of A Failed Hero

"Come, Kortopi"

The black smoke in front of Raith suddenly plunged higher like a raging flame, then calmed down again as if it was taunting a particular person who was already scared enough from the undisputed energy of death that associated itself with Raith.

The smoke materialized to form a black humanoid on his knee facing Raith, with one hand touching the ground, another hand to his chest, and bowing on one knee Kortopi appeared before Raith.

Raith looked at Absalom with a smirk, "Now, proof that you are worthy of fighting me." He said to Absalom and put his hands in his pocket as Kortopi stood up and turned to Absalom.

Absalom gritted his teeth, 'How? How in the world is this possible?! What is this thing, it doesn't feel alive one bit and it has something like our fiendish energy... no, this... this is even purer...'

Absalom's hand was already shaking and he didn't even realize it.

Kortopi stretched his hand forward and the black darkness of his body surged towards his body to form a black sword with red streaks running through it like a crack– it was just like Absalom's sword.

Absalom bowed his head, hiding the emotion that was written on his first. '...I can see now. He really came here to get stronger huh? Then I shouldn't be comfortable with the excuse that I can't use my powers because of the celestial. It is only right that I too strive to get stronger... thank you for making me realize this you cockroach. I shall put my pride aside for once and fight... I will get stronger from this battle and drag you to Felfhiem to pay for your sins.'

Absalom slowly raised his face with a renewed facial expression. That scared face was totally gone. And his face was brimming with passion and anger. His brows were tight-furrowed together wrinkling his forehead and the harsh gritting of his teeth as he swallowed his narcissistic side to embrace growth caused rigid cords to form on his neck, temple, and jaw.

Raith smiled, '...I like the look on his face... I can't believe things have turned out like this.' "Kortopi"

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As he spoke, Kortopi dashed forward, lifting his sword over his head for a straight slash at Absalom who immediately matched his speed and darted off. Both their swords, clashed together in the middle, in that middle and instance the two of them began to strike slashes at each other from different angles– their swords kept clashing with each other, with a shower of sparks.

Wham!

The two of them moved at blinding speed, their feet barely touching the ground as they circled each other.

'...wow, I know Absalom is fast, but I never expected Kortopi to be able to be as fast as this...' Raith was impressed as he neatly followed the movement of both of them with [Metavision].

The darkness of Kortopi's body allowed him to move with eerie grace, his movements were fluid and effortless.

Absalom on the other hand was fast, very fast but Raith was sure he probably wasn't using half of his speed because even though both of them were already too into the fight, it was still a calm fight. More like...

"...he's trying to ascertain how skill Kortopi is..." Raith muttered.

The two got separated by the tremendous force of their attacks, they stumbled back and each flipped through the air for a perfect landing.

Things cooled off for a while, the howling wind on top of the building gently caressing the battle scene.

With a sudden burst of speed, Absalom darted forward, his blood sword slashing towards Kortopi's chest.

Kortopi spun away at the last moment, the blade narrowly missing him. He countered with a fierce swipe of his own, but Absalom was already gone, darting towards the edge of the building.

Kortopi ran after Absalon with a slit glare, his red flaming eyes focused solely on his goal– Absalom.

Absalom made a quick swipe turn with his immense speed, a trick that was supposed to push Kortopi who was coming at him fast off the edge of the building because it would be too late to put a stop to that tremendous speed. Even if he did, he would still fall.

But Absalom's eyes widened as the monster made a sharp turnover as he also did, hence instead of going directly to the edge of the building, he was now in Absalom's path, directly facing the speeding Absalom.

Absalom scowled at him and put more speed works to his leg. Both their swords clashed together in a deafening crash.

'...don't underestimate his copy skills man.' Raith smirked.

The two of them continued to fight on the rooftop, their swords flashing in the sunlight as they battled with all their might. Their swords clashed over and over again and the sound of metal on metal echoed through the city skyline.

Both of them moved with incredible speed and with each time Absalom only got faster but Kortopi could still keep up despite his quickness, their blades whistled through the air as they battled with running around from building to building.

As they landed on another building, Absalom launched a flurry of strikes at Kortopi, with his blood sword flashing in the sunlight. But Kortopi immediately mirrored his movements with perfect precision, copying every strike and parry.

As the battle prolonged, he was getting the hang of Absalom's style. And could now even anticipate his next move before he even made it– producing a perfect moment to counter Absalom, sometimes he would slip in a punch that would crunch Absalom away from him, or at times a sword slash that Absalom would dodge by a hair's breadth.

Absalom forced himself into the battle, it was his first time fighting so intensely and he intentionally threw all of his senses into that one moment.

He wasn't just fighting blindly, he was taking note of Kortopi's movement from the biggest to the smallest details, and seeing that Kortopi was a perfect copycat. He began to incorporate, more feints and unpredictable strikes.

At this point, Kortopi began to struggle to keep up, and his movements grew less fluid as he tried to copy Absalom, it was mainly because of the feints, Absalom could feint towards the left once at the first time and Kortopi after learning that, copies it and so also feints to the left but Absalom uses that feint to his advantage slashes Kortopi knowing very well that he would use it, no matter how much Kortopi tried to tweak the skills he copied Absalom was already perfectly anticipating it.

It was as if he had suddenly developed a sharp battle instinct that he didn't have before.

At one point, Absalom launched a high strike, his sword coming down in a deadly arc toward Kortopi's head. Kortopi copied the move perfectly, but Absalom had anticipated this and feinted, quickly changing direction and launching a low strike that caught Kortopi off guard.

Raith's eyes widened, '...shit, this bastard is growing during battle. This goddamn vampire is overpowered for real.'