Asher the Insane

34 - Iadra the Wavering

The path I forged with [Storm's Path] turned the sand I trod upon to a glassy walkway.

As lightning would have stricken any man, so I struck my own brother.

But a split second before I had hit him the woman in the crowd, that my brother had been talking to since the beginning of this fight, yelled out, "MOVE YOUR ASS, ADRAN!"

There was no use. None, in all the world I'd like to believe, had the speed to dodge [Storm's Path] fully but for one such as him, even a single graze would make him fall.

Years ago, when I first obtained this skill, it already had the capability to cut through solid steel, and now, with all, my body, mind, soul and skills further refined, it should have cut through anything that had been laid before it.

Most who will see it in action will have no choice, either taking it head-on or in a desperate attempt to try and block it, in which, if they even come to have the option of it, it will be an effort made in vain.

Adran was not a man who was capable of neither facing it head-on nor blocking it, even if he had secretly trained while my eyes were turned. The skill required for a task as this would have taken him years to acquire.

And it did not look like he was up to the task, neither physically nor mentally.

In a split second, when all sound had been drowned out by the lightning, once more, I stood behind him.

I sheathed my red blade and strained my ears.

He was deathly quiet, but there had been no sound of him falling.

It all must have been too fast for him to react.

I was saddened yet proud.

My brother, my own blood, departed from this world, and I was the one who has taken his life.

At least I gave him the honor he deserved.

I looked down on my remaining blue blade I had yet to sheath, [Storm's Rage].

It complimented [Storm's Path]. The sword increased all lightning damage, status effects, and reduced cool-down to all effect-related skills.

There was no blood on the blade, and it took me a second to realize that there had been something different about it.

I knew this blade like I knew my own soul, training with it since I had received it on my tenth birthday.

Holding it close to my eyes, I could see that there was a chip on its edge, if ever so slightly.

How could this be?

One of the properties of this weapon was [Indestructible].

It required no repairs, no upkeep.

No rust would gather on it, not in a thousand years, yet Adran, my runt brother, damaged it.

I turned around with a grin on my face.

There he was, still standing, alive, and completely unharmed, not a single hair on his head touched.

This could turn interesting

"What did you do?" I asked him, "use a skill? Is this some kind of trick? Or have I simply underestimated you, brother?"

"HA! SURPRISED?" the woman in the crowds answered for him.

"It is not you who am I asking, woman!" I yelled back, she was starting to get irritating.

"HEY, ADRAN!" she yelled out again.

"Yeah?" He now answered for himself but it was like he didn't know where he was.

"COULD YOU ACTIVATE 'THAT SKILL' FOR A SEC?" It was like she was getting louder every time she spoke.

"Uh, sure?" He answered and the moment he did his limbs and body started to twisted and turn with such unnatural movements.

"That hurts! I wouldn't have okayed that if I had known!" He said still moving like someone was pulling on him with invisible strings.

The loud woman was laughing manically in her seat.

Adran, awkwardly, tore open a hole in the air next to him and pulled out a pair of metal gauntlets and put them on, very slowly. After a short while, him still trying to put them on, he accidentally let them go and they fell heavily on the ground.

The tear next to him also spewed out a set of armor.

"HEY, YOUR LIFE IS GOING TO BE so OVER IN A FEW MINUTES FROM NOW," the woman yelled out, of course she was referring to me, "PREPARE YOURSELF."