Fractal Plane: Awakener's Pact

Chapter 12 - Entrust Me Your Burdens

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"This power..."

Kazuki felt the outburst of magical energy creeping through his left arm. The previous occurrence was nothing compared to this. Instead of just his Armament interacting with another, he felt something more.

As if, in this moment of time, his power and Sayaka's power were one.

That's it. An Armament's ability is the reflection of one's soul, right?

He now understood what his Armament's ability was.

It was the ability to connect. An interchange between people, a way to harness the power of someone else's trust.

It was what he longed for, deep inside. It was the one part of him that he had hidden after the series of unfortunate events that caused him to be resented in school.

Along with it, a desire to stand atop everyone and have hordes of people stoking his ego. He knew that it was a bad thing to desire, and he thought that he had abandoned it, but his Armament's ability just said otherwise.

That will always be a part of him, an un-erasable shadow so to speak.

However, he now resolved to use that power to protect.

"Raaaahhh!"

He swung his blade upwards at the incoming spider. Even before the spider had time to rear up and try to impale him from above, his blade cleaved through one of the front legs.

It did not matter that the spider seemed to have those elaborate plates protecting it. The slash went deep into the leg of the enemy.

"Whoa!"

Seeing viscous fluid spurt out of the leg that he just cut, he jumped as far back as he can. He was unsure of what that thing can do, but looking at its texture, it's not just some Nullity blood.

The leg now lay limp as the Nullity let out screeches of pain. That should be able to put it out of commission eventually.

That hope spot was quickly shut down when the limp leg flicked back into place. It did not take long, but the limp leg had quickly stiffened and returned to its place.

"Regeneration?"

He put his left arm in front and blocked a striking attack just in time. The shield portion of his Armament's fused form did its job of blocking the blow, but the impact still left him unbalanced and pushed him back a few inches.

He felt the trouble of keeping himself back up as his shoes rubbed against the now slightly cracked floor.

The spider's rampage had done a number on the room, and with each second of the battle, dust and rock particles flew around from the walls. The whole place collapsing won't be a concern any time soon, but if this battle drags out longer than it should...

Kazuki pushed back the incoming attack with his shield before rotating his left arm for a thrusting attack with the bladed end of it.

In a rare defensive maneuver, the spider placed both legs in front of its head. As the blade drove itself deep into one leg, Kazuki swung the blade sideways, trying to cut one leg off.

His efforts to do so were thwarted by a body blow as the spider surprisingly charged him from such a close distance.

Kazuki found himself soaring through the air once more, the force of the charge having pushed his blade off the Nullity's leg. The Awakener braced himself for impact, but even with his best preparations, he still found himself shaken as his back struck the floor.