Chronicles of Myth Volume one: Twisted Daydreams

Episode five: Hangman

I looked at the perch where Ashton was sitting on and saw the scoreboard, the opposite gate opened and I faced Death, I wondered what kind of man he was; I drew my sword and held it one handed, “That guy up there, he gives me my paycheck and not to mention… I actually like my employer, so would you kindly give him back”? Death raised an eyebrow before touching the ground with his scythe blade; “Well shit”, I dodged a horizontal swing and landed on the shaft of his blade; I ran forward and I slashed downward, he caught my sword in his palm: “Well this awkward, where are my manners: I’m Reico”. “Louis, nice to meet you; er… can you let go of my sword”? “It’s a masterpiece, I’m simply admiring it; like my scythe”? “Very pretty, well balanced; you build it yourself”? “Of course”. I jumped backward to dodge a vertical slam, I formed Hades out from my left shoulder blade as drill of purple flames; I rushed forward and my arm hardened into amethyst as I slammed my fist into the ground, I crushed Reico underneath my palm and drove him into the ground, I self-destructed my construct on top of him turning him into a pincushion; he looked at me from the ground, and frowned; “Fool”. I was held in place for a moment, like I was swimming through molasses; Reico slowly got to his feet and looked at me with pity, he snapped fingers and I saw was suspended in the air by a crystal bird cage, the base of the cage was lined with bloodied spikes; I looked and saw that I was caught in a web of barbed wire, I looked up and saw that the top was lined with bloodied spikes as well, “For an illustrious bounty hunter, you disappoint me”. He made swatting gesture with his right hand, I grit my teeth as the cage sandwiched me between its teeth; the construct faded on impact and I was face down in the dirt floor with multiple puncture wounds, I staggered up and saw Reico’s guardian for what it really was, he grew a single large tail of sapphire from his tailbone, he cracked his neck before stabbing me through the heart and tossing me into the air I was smashed back down into the arena floor by his tail as he leapt above me. “And the coup de grace”! He shouted triumphantly, I placed my hands on my chest and muttered my incantation, “My trump card… the gate of hades… I must really down on my luck, if I have to use this”. I pressed my collarbone and watched as the gate formed in front of Reico, “What the he— Sounds of agony ruptured through the air as the gate opened, I extended my arm forward and it came out the gate as an ethereal version of itself, I closed my hand around his body dragged him through ripping his soul of his body. I saw him rip apart as the madness inside the gate consumed him, leaving him desolate as the void within. I closed the gate and Reico fell to the ground as charred skeleton, I rolled out of the way and watched as his bones shattered into obsidian as they crashed into the ground; I staggered up with my wounds sealed and sheathed held my sword, groggily swaying from the worn off adrenaline I planted my feet firmly into the ground. Reico reformed himself and looked at me with quaint curiosity, he moved in a blur and held his scythe above my head, “Game over”, he pulled down and cleaved me in two or at least he tried to, I disarmed him with a flare of purple fire; his scythe impaled itself into the wall behind him, I stepped forward and kneed him in the gut; he spat out black inky blood, he doubled over and I leaned into him, “Shut up… you’re annoying”. I whispered into his ear, I spun around and placed him on my back, I threw him over my shoulder and slammed him back first into the ground; hair thin threads bound him to the floor: “I don’t care if you’re immortal, so to be fair I’m going to half kill you as a courtesy”. I stomped on his face, and he screamed in pain; “Don’t worry… I’ll make it quick… ninety eight more bones to go”. “This is the shoulder blade”, Crack, crack, crack… to put it shortly I gave him a crash course in human anatomy before I broke half of his body. I kneeled next to him as he groaned in pain, “This is a civilized dueling ground, not a slaughterhouse; so consider yourself lucky that I stopped when I did Reaper”. Reico took a deep breath and his wounds were healed, he stood up and walked up to his scythe, pulling it out of the wall; he tapped the ground and took his stance, he swept the blade at my feet and I leapt up; I spun toward him and tornado kicked his head; before spinning in the air and slashing downward with my sword cleaving him in two, “Well that’s disgusting”, I stood on his gut as the top portion of his torso turned into gaping maw lined with teeth, I quickly shot my arm into the maw, in an instant opened my fist and let out cluster white flares, before I leapt backward as the mouth closed shut with snap, I put my shield in front of me as I watched his body convulse from within, the top half of Reico exploded from the concussive blasts I put inside of him; black sprayed everywhere as the lower half fell on its knees and hit the ground with a splat, bits of blood and gore stained my armor as I took a deep breath and braced myself for what was to come. I pulled out my China Lake and took aim, I blew up what was left of his corpse; I pulled on the pump and cycled in a new round; the black aggregated into a slimy mass and he reformed in front of me as a twenty- five foot tall skeleton, he smashed his fist into me; I stepped back barely escape the force of his punch, I climbed his hand and ran up his arm, I dodged a swat; I continued running upward to his face, once on his shoulder I sprinted toward the base of his neck and slashed away, until I decapitated him; I stabbed my sword into the base of his throat and braced myself for the ride down; he fell off balance, and timbered like a tree… The sad thing was this isn’t a contest against Death alone, it was contest between our team and his, I could only shudder at the strength of his companions; funny thing is in terms of strength compared to the rest of his party, he was the bottom rung on the ladder.