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Chapter 16: Birds Of A Feather, Part Two

A familiar axe flew through the air before being caught in Finn's hand, retrieved without so much as a word needing to be exchanged.

"Get that crazy bastard–gkk!" Damian shouted, coughing up blood as he sat himself up.

Raven glanced over in shock at the unorthodox display of unison, "That's–what?!"

As he approached the slayer, Finn wielded the axe without any sort of experience with the heavy, two-handed weapon. The first thought in his head was how heavy it was, weighing on his shoulders just from keeping it raised.

For the first time, the expression on Raven's face changed to one more constricted with focus as he crossed his blade before spinning himself around, "--You'll still be turned to mincemeat all the same."

["Scale-Rending Bladestorm"]

The monster-hunting skill allowed the lanky man to spin like a top, stirring up an eviscerating wind around himself.

Yet–

"Grk?!"

Finn did not back away, instead pushing forward as he committed to swinging the heavy axe. It managed to slash into the abdomen of the much taller figure, lodging itself in.

Though it managed to intercept the human cyclone, it came at a price as the axe-wielding arm of the bloodied youth was sliced off. A storm of shallow slices scattered across Finn's body as well, though no wound more pivotal than his left hand being taken away.

Despite losing a precious limb, Finn's expression remained ironclad with the resolve to win, not allowing the pain to slow him down as he controlled his own reaction.

"I see! You get it, too, don't you!?" Raven asked with a bloodied shout, holding a smile as he laughed. "As long as you "level up", you'll recover! So long as you don't drop dead, you can come back! That goes for only one of us, though!"

There was a lack of care for having his own stomach sliced into by the axe as Raven laughed it off, relinquishing his copied sword. Even faced with such an overwhelming situation, left on the brink of meeting with the reaper, complete focus was present in those emerald eyes of the assassin.

"That look in your eyes. You aren't a "little fly", are you? No, you're a spider just like me," Raven remarked. "Which one of us will sink our fangs in the other first?"

Finn reached with his right, grabbing onto the handle of the weapon lodged in the slayer's abdomen. Just as he grabbed it, so did Raven touch his single arm.

"I can do this with my System, too," the long-haired man spoke eerily. "Replicate."

Before the axe could be retrieved, Finn watched as his right arm vanished from the elbow down. It was a sudden weight disappearing from his body, at the exact same cut-off as where his other was amputated from.

["Phantom Flow"]

Still, Finn kept himself steady as he slid back, steadying his breath through a sharp exhale as he let the pain keep him lucid.

"I've disarmed you, quite literally! What will you do now, you feral beast?!" Raven taunted him while charging right at him with a vicious fit of laughter, not slowed by the axe lodged in his gut.

While sliding back on the wave of shadows, Finn lifted both of his arms, or rather, what was left of them as he pointed the bleeding ends at the one who chased him.

So abundantly losing blood, that very outcome was something that Finn burdened upon himself for a singular purpose; a gamble that had placed his life upon.

["Crimson Shot"] [Mana: -150] [150/450]

The arterial fluid that painted his body peeled off, coalescing along with the blood that spewed from his arms. It condensed into one point as though his limbs were used as cannons, releasing all at once–

In the view of the slayer, what burrowed through the chamber was a pillar of scarlet force, ripping forth with destructive intent.

"Bang."

An explosion of red expanded with a violent roar as the projectile collided with its target. The foundation of the dungeon trembled in the impact, leaving a cloud of crimson in its aftermath.

["Raven Valland defeated

."] ["Anarch Token x5000 obtained."]

[Experience Points: +55,000]

[Level fifteen reached!] [500/12500]

[Assimilated ability from [Raven Valland]: "Replicate"]

[Assimilated weapon from [Raven Valland]: "Bloodstained Odachi"]

[New Skill(s) Obtained: "Deadly Clairvoyance" | "Spider Bite" | "Gale Blessing" | "Impostor"]

Just as his consciousness flickered with the abundance of abilities bestowed upon him, strength returned to him as a warmth radiated throughout his body. He looked down at the bleeding nubs as an array of lights rebuilt his arms back to their original form seamlessly.

"I'm safe," Finn remarked quietly, finding the wounds across his body closing.

He made his way over to his slumped-over companion, who was fortunately still breathing–a good sign.

"Are you good, Damian?" Finn asked, reaching a hand down.

Coughing up a bit, the man of salt-and-pepper hair exhaled before wearing a smile, accepting the helping hand as he was brought to his feet, "--Better than ever."

The experience was shared between them as there was no doubt that Damian had leveled up quite a bit himself, going by the fact his wounds were all healed up.

"You pulled it off," Damian said, looking over at the red-painted area of impact at the other end of the chamber. "Seriously, you must be some kind of savant."

"It was luck, mostly," Finn brushed off the compliment.

"Forget that! You're awesome," Damian said while slinging his arm around Finn's shoulder.

"Whatever, man," Finn laughed a bit before softly pushing away.

Though they managed to joke a little, it didn't change the atmosphere around them; the haunting encounter they had barely managed to scrape through.

As they ventured further into the chamber finally, the corpse of the one who fell before them still invoked a feeling of dread.

Damian looked on the verge of tears, though composed himself, "Was that guy right about what he said? Is this really the kind of world we live in now?"

The question brought Finn to a pause for a moment. Though his initial instinct was to reassure his companion, a part of him did believe in the world's change. It was too far gone already, perhaps impossible to return to what it once was.

But, he did not say that.

"We just have to keep enduring," Finn told his friend.

For Finn himself, however, getting a taste of the dance of life and death served conflicting feelings to him; fear, yes, but perhaps some excitement as well. Nonetheless, he decided to bury such troublesome thoughts, focusing on what mattered now.

Damian looked around, "Isn't there supposed to be some kind of "boss" in a place like this?"

"I think Raven already killed it," Finn answered.

"Oh, I see. You're probably right," Damian responded.

The steps at the end of the room led up to a small platform, which was now painted and burned with the complexion of blood and smoke. It was only when coming across what looked to be the remnants of Raven, a charred and obliterated corpse, did both men come to a realization.

"My axe..." Damian said.

"My dagger," Finn added. "Damn, I didn't think they'd get destroyed in that blast, but I wasn't really considering that."

"Well, it was worth it. That guy was going to kill us otherwise," Damian remarked. "Right?"

"Yeah. It had to be done. Still, we have a lot of Anarch Coins now, so we can buy new gear finally," Finn said, looking down at the unrecognizable body left on the ground.

An odd laugh came from Damian, sounding like a mix between a chuckle and a sob. As Finn looked over, he found the man with an expression between a smile and tears, holding his own face in his hand.

"This is just too messed up. Talking so casually after killing somebody–looking at their body like this. Just a few minutes ago, we were damn near in pieces...You had no arms!" Damian remarked, trying to compose himself. "What is wrong with this world, Finn?"

"I don't know," Finn calmly responded, questioning that himself. "Just the way it is now."

"I just can't understand how you're so calm about this," Damian said, steadying himself as he breathed out. "Maybe I'm just slow on the uptake."

"No, you're the normal one here. I'm just...Anyway, come on. There should be something back there," Finn pointed out behind the platform, leading to an isolated room.