Chapter 4: Won’t Accept Defeat

“Sealed Technique—Spiral Style: Severance Flutter!”

Teus’ sword whirred, unleashing a storm of plasma-infused slashes that tore through the horde of centipedes below. Small pieces of their innards flew every which way as the acidic insides threatened to touch Teus.

In a flash then he yelled.

“Sealed Technique—Spiral Style: Air Ripple!”

With one swing of his sword, the air viscously rippled as a shockwave burst forth, blasting through the monstrous swarm and scattering their innards and remnants. 

He moved with blinding speed, darting around the remaining monsters with acute precision. However, as he continued, he rounded the corner. His heart sank. 

There were far more Fire Storm Centipedes than the seventeen that were initially detected. 

Their numbers seemed endless, crawling over every surface and hole in the mountains, in a writhing sea of malice and flames.

Teus frantically made his way to the battle airship, seeing that it was not getting closer in view, not with his speed. 

“These baby monsters are probably there too, if I keep going at this rate I won't be able to make it on time!” He thought.

The vivid sight of the fallen airship, still ablaze with uncontrollable fire in the distance, added to his pilling anxiety. The situation was preposterously dire. 

Teus knew he needed a potent solution. 

“Teus, watch out!” Alberion yelled. A burst of flames was narrowly avoided as Teus quickly changed directions. He then saw it. More of the Fire Storm Centipedes found his location than he had hoped. They all surrounded him. Alberion chimed in.

“Based on your energy reserves and percentage of the ship that’s on fire, you don’t have time for this Teus.”

With adrenaline hardening in his chest, he made a pivotal choice.

Teus whispered, his voice resolute and fierce.

“Sealed Technique—Spiral Style: Whirling Overdrive—Step 1!”

In an instant, a fierce surge of energy burst outward from him, the force of the technique crackling through the air like an unbelievable storm breaking loose.

The monstrous centipedes recoiled as the sheer pressure of the technique shook their bodies themselves, swirling the atmosphere around him into a spinning vortex of violent power.

The floor beneath him aggressively crumbled, and the monsters, once charging with confidence, now halted in hesitation.

The monsters paused… and Teus took advantage of that.

“Sealed Technique—Spiral Style: Severance Flutter!”

His movements became like a blur, the speed of blade far surpassing anything he had shown before. Lightning-like arcs of plasma danced across his sword as he launched forward with blinding speed, cutting through the horde of deadly centipedes with ease.

And a crackling wave of plasma-infused cuts, flared and erupted from his blade, splitting through the fiends. His strikes like a storm. Dozens of centipedes fell, sliced apart by the acute, deadly arcs of his attack. 

Sparks of electricity flew like lightning and crackled in the air, leaving a storm of devastation in his wake as he dashed through the unrelenting chaos.

“Teus, I’m detecting their heartbeats now.” 

Alberion’s voice crackled through, urgent though steady.

“They’re alive—but you have to hurry.”

As Teus came closer and closer to the battlecraft.

The burning ship looming ahead of him through the openings in the mountains. His eyes squinted to see it.

“…Just a little bit more…”

He was very aware he couldn’t slow down—not yet.

Suddenly, a huge shadow loomed behind him—another centipede. It had crept up, its fangs dripping as it desperately lunged.

“Watch out, Teus!” Alberion shouted at him in alarm.

But he had already predicted this. His body moved instinctively, faster than he thought, and his voice cut through the air:

“Sealed Technique—Spiral Style: Swell Pressure!”

He quickly twisted his sword in a rapid, fluid motion, spinning into a flawless 360-degree arc. The plasma-infused strike cut through the air, creating a swirling spiral of a shockwave that slashed cleanly through the centipede’s body. 

The creature was sliced in half before it could comprehend what had happened. As Teus blitzed his way through the wreckage and toward the ship, Alberion’s voice suddenly cut through the comms, sharper than ever.

“Teus, what I’m talking about isn’t behind you… it’s above you!”

Teus’ eyes widened in realization as an overwhelming shadow blotted out the bright sky. 

The mother of all of the Fire Storm Centipedes had finally locked onto Teus. It’s many eyes flaring ablaze, glaring with recognition and fury. The beast more than remembered him. 

It reared back, mandibles splitting open as it prepared to unleash a devastating fire blast. Still airborne from his latest leap, Teus had no solid base to move on. The inferno blasted forward toward him, thundering with heat and fury.

Alberion’s warning crackled, echoing quickly in his ear.

“Brace yourself, Teus!”

The burst of fire hurtled toward Teus like an inevitable force of nature. The heat waves rippling through the atmosphere, quick impending doom.

Teus’ mind rapidly raced for an answer, eyes scanning the terrain until he saw it–the jagged gray mountain nearby, already slick with acidic saliva the centipede had sprayed earlier, came into view.

“Here goes nothing…”

Teus grunted whilst he gripped his sword tightly. He slashed his blade in a sweeping motion.

“Sealed Technique—Spiral Style: Severance Stream!”

The plasma-infused slash cleaved through the mountain’s weakened surface. Sending the serrated boulders stumbling down. As the mountain collapsed, Teus timed his next move perfectly—allowing the falling debris to crash into him, pushing him out of the path of the fireball’s trajectory.

The impact flung him harshly, a surge of pain consistently coursing through him. Lancing through his body he was knocked back in a new direction, almost crushed by the hulking stone; though it was far better than the alternative.

Behind him, the fireball suddenly struck the tumbling rocks, causing a stupendously violent explosion that blasted pieces of the mountain everywhere. Teus flew uncontrollably toward another mountainside, his mind focused on surviving the impact.

Whilst flying in the air he yelled.

“Sealed Technique—Spiral Style: Air Ripple!”

A gust of wind surged from his sword, killing his momentum just enough before nearly crashing into the side of another mountain, almost killing him. He landed with a rough, jarring thud but managed to stay on his feet, teeth clenched from the strain.

His vision blurred momentarily as he caught sight of the remaining slivers of fire—still blazing hot, way too hot. And some serendipitously, darting towards him.

With clear thought, once again he spun his sword.

“Sealed Technique—Spiral Style: Rotation’s Shield!”

His plasma vortex burst forth from around him as he violently spun his body, making a make-shift force-field. Shielding him from the residual flames that could still easily kill him. Soon enough the fire subsided and the dust around Teus settled. The crisis has been averted.

Alberion’s voice cut in. “...Honestly, I’m surprised you managed to pull that one off.” 

His voice carrying a note of disbelief. Teus wheezed and panted, fighting the exhaustion before responding to him. 

“Yeah, me too.”

Before falling to one knee whilst leaning against his sword for support. The damage he sustained from the alternative was more than he expected.

Still shocked, Teus’ mind raced. 

“I can’t believe how much effort it takes just to avoid an attack from a 13 star beast! This is crazy! The empire went all out trying to kill me… Sucks for them but, I won't die that easy!”

[Warning: Critical damage was sustained. Retreat advised.]

[Warning: Critical damage was sustained. Retreat advised.]

“...Okay, I can definitely die that easy. But I’m not going out without a fight!” He continued.

“Teus, hide! It's still looking for you!” Yelled Alberion.

Teus quickly shuffled behind a large boulder, slowly peeking to see the mother beast. It was still mad. The gigantic form of the Flame Storm Centipede loomed above, its coat of fire more fierce than before. The beast scanned the mountainside as Teus remained crouched behind the boulder. 

His breath was shallow as he watched the monster’s every erratic movement. Every muscle of his tensed, knowing that one wrong move would bring its entire wrath upon him.

“Yup, definitely looking for me.” He whispered, his heart pounding.

“Safe to say she holds her grudge against you all the same. We can’t just start moving like we did before, or else it will just find us and kill us before we can get to the ship.” Alberion sternly lectured.

“I know…” Teus’ mind went through possible ideas before asking his next question. “Can we, try hitting it in the mouth from here?”

“...What?”

“I know it sounds crazy, but hypothetically if I hit it in the mouth again from here, I would buy us a lot of time again right? Is there a way I could hit it again from here?”

“It’s mouth isn’t exactly open for a second round, though…We also run the risk of getting it’s attention on us again, that’s a serious gamble...” 

Alberion stopped in the middle of his sentence to run some calculations himself.

“If you were to successfully do it; You would need to use step 2 of [Spiral Style: Whirling Overdrive] and if you used Severance Stream you could land a blow on the roof of the mouth, if we angle it precisely…”

Teus shook his head in disbelief. 

“I don’t know about using step 2 already…but it also doesn’t look like I have a better option if I’m gonna save the others in time. Got any other ideas, Alberion?”

“Sadly, no.”

With a deep breath, Teus began to gather energy for the technique. His sword hummed with plasma, sparks flying all directions as the power grew.

“Sealed Technique—Spiral Style: Whirling Overdrive—Step 2!”