Phase | Dennis Pater |

Chapter 14: Hunter vs Hunter

Daniel could then use the machine to begin his mission to rescue his friends. Travelling between two times or dimensions was not the most pleasant, as the journey could only travel Daniel in practically atomic form, not in his whole body, not in his whole body. Of course, when he arrives, he arrives whole. 

Daniel arrived at his first stop, which was of course a random dimension. Daniel found himself in a field, where a holographic display showed him the mission to continue to the next stop or to arrive at the desired destination. The mission was to execute a certain assassin so that he could continue his big mission. The mission also mentioned that it would be detectable who Daniel's target would be. He knew that he would have to set off at once for somewhere else, for he would not escape by waiting in a deserted field. 

Daniel: I should go in one direction... I'm going where the sun sets. 

Although he had no logical reason why he was going that way, he had no instructions as to where he should go.

Daniel's equipment and clothing: A large cape that covered Daniel's body, his usual mask, a hat, walking stick, his sabre, a bag with food and drink to last a few days, a group of photos of him and his mates and his master.  

The landscapes Daniel was crossing were very varied. There were deserts, forests, fields, and even landscapes that did not exist on earth at all. Although this was understandable from the point of view of being in another dimension, where there might be different rules of nature, or even encounters with people stronger than Daniel. It had been days since his first arrival, and he had already run out of food and drink, so he was forced to hunt for whatever he could find. He was able to replenish his water quite easily, as he himself is a water elemental, and it only took him energy to make pure water.  

The hunt was a little more complicated. First, he had to find an animal, which was not easy. So he had to be patient to find any animal at all. A wild rabbit did turn up, not a great source of food, but if he rationed it, he could get by for a few days. Even before the rabbit was found, Daniel had already set a trap and was just waiting for the prey to come to the right place.

He got there, but before he could catch it, a large beast caught him first. Then it spotted Daniel and attacked him. The beast was an easy opponent for Daniel, because he could kill it at once. And because he would find no other animal, he was forced to take some of the beast's flesh, plus some bush fruit, so he could camp and then set off again the next day.

So far he hadn't seen any sign of civilization, as if he was the only human in the whole world, and his mission was to execute an assassin, so he was sure he would find someone. 

Daniel was in a dark forest. He could hardly see because of the few light sources. However, Daniel had an interesting feeling...as if he was being watched. Although Daniel did not let go of this feeling and was much more careful. He did not dismiss the scenario that he was simply going insane from walking for days with the thought that he could die at any moment, and entities in this dimension could be twice as powerful as his Phase eye. 

Suddenly, from the foliage of the trees, a dagger came out, aiming at Daniel at high speed, but he barely managed to block it with his sabre. He was sure that it was his victim, the Assassin. He moved through the foliage of the trees and threw his daggers. Daniel managed to dodge them, but at one point the Assassin attacked at close range, revealing what he looked like. He brought a cowl and a mask on his mouth that looked like a dragon's mouth.  His eyes were not visible, because they were covered by the shadow of the cowl. He had two smaller swords for close range, which he used to attack Daniel with, but Daniel blocked it with his sabre. The Assassin had excellent reflexes and combat intelligence, for his fighting skills were superior to Daniel's. Daniel took one or two wounds from his intense attacks.

Daniel had to activate his Second Phase to even compete with him. Even though it made the situation more even, the Assassin still had more chances to kill Daniel. He even used his Water and Ice element to at least gain some advantage over the Assassin, but his swords sliced through it as easily as if it were melted butter.

Daniel saw no other option but to run away. He switched back to Phase One and he want to teleporting as far away as possible so the Assassin wouldn't know where he is. Even at the beginning of the battle, he kept mapping out the places he'd been so he could teleport there easily. When he switched back to Phase One and tried to teleport, he couldn't. Realizing this, he panicked. In this dimension, it cannot teleport either near or far. It was strange, because he could use his elemental, but not teleport. So he ran on pure power. The Assassin could keep up with Daniel. In fact, Daniel had to defend himself while running. Daniel got tired of running and stopped, preferring to fight properly, even if he would die in the fight. 

Daniel tried to find his opponent's weak point with the Phase eye, but the Assassin didn't even let Daniel think, even when he managed to gain a little time, he couldn't even look at the Assassin's mind. It was the same with Aarne, and he asked himself how that is possible. His only option was to attack as quickly as his opponent was doing. However, when he thought he had a hold on him and tried to stab him at close range, the Assassin threw his daggers into Daniel's chest, knocking him to the ground. 

The Assassin wanted to kill Daniel, but all he noticed was that someone appeared and the Assassin ran away, but he didn't know who the person was who had chased his victim away, because Daniel had fainted from the loss of blood. The last thing he remembered was that the person approached Daniel who was on the ground, but from then on, what the man did to him, he didn't know. After Daniel was completely fainted, the unknown man removed the daggers from Daniel's chest, dressed his wound and put it on his back, meaning he was rescuing Daniel and trying to get him to a safety place. Daniel escaped death...for now.