When Reinhard returned to the group, he saw Nephis swinging her sword around and Sunless sitting nearby.
Four shimmering soul shards were placed in front of him.
As he approached, Sunless finally noticed him and pointed at the shards.
"These are yours."
Reinhard nodded.
"Thanks."
Then he absorbed them.
Because of how attuned Nephis was to her own body, adapting to the increase in strength granted by the four Awakened soul shards did not take her long.
As for Reinhard, adaptability was his forte. A few experimental swings of his arms and legs, a short walk, and he was already accustomed to the change.
Now that that was done, it was time to make a plan.
***
Soul Fragments: [57/1000].
Memories: [Pain Eater] [Bright Fury] [Axiom of Virtue] [Ranger's Cloak] [Azure Blade]
Attributes: [Fated] [Battle Master] [Favored by Fate] [Nocturnal Vision] [Nameless blessing] [Assassin]
This is the second closest I have ever been to death.
Now hidden behind a ridge a fair distance away from the two centurions, Reinhard patiently waited.
The plan was simple.
Sunless would lure the monsters away. Once the nearest Centurion took the bait and charged after him, the second one would naturally try to follow behind.
The moment the second Centurion moved to follow the first, Reinhard would intercept it and keep it occupied.
Then, somehow, he would have to kill it.
The creatures lacked the intelligence necessary to properly coordinate in battle, but that hardly mattered. A battle divided into a three-versus-one and a one-versus-one was far preferable to a four-versus-two.
Fighting two Centurions at the same time would be overwhelming regardless of their numerical advantage.
Not that Reinhard had any right to complain about anything.
After all, he was the one who had convinced the others that he could handle a Centurion alone.
Just then, he noticed Sunless standing atop the ridge.
Reinhard tightened his grip around Axiom of Virtue and steadied himself.
[New attribute acquired.]
[Attribute name: Soul Essence Control.]
Above the ridge, Sunless raised a silver bell over his head and shook it.
A clear, melodic ringing spread through the storm.
Immediately, the monster below moved; it turned its massive torso around and looked for the source of the sudden noise.
Reinhard ignored it and focused on the second monster instead.
Its response was noticeably slower, but it had become alert as well.
Then Sunless turned around and jumped from the ridge.
The first Centurion released a furious screech.
A moment later the ridge was no more; the monster had simply blasted through it.
The other one, a bit slower yet just as eager to kill, tried to follow through the opening the first one had created.
Good fucking luck to me.
Soul essence began to accumulate around Reinhard's sword, which covered the whole blade; the monster stopped and turned towards the source of that bright light.
As it turned its head towards the corner, a wide crescent of pure essence tore through the air, rushing towards its face.
The Centurion reacted instantly.
Both of its massive scythe-like arms rose to intercept the attack.
Of course that did nothing!
Reinhard hadn't invested much essence into the strike.
As a sleeper with only fifty-seven soul fragments, his reserves were painfully limited. On top of that, he needed essence to augment his body throughout the battle.
Wasting it on flashy attacks would be suicidal.
But the attack still gave him ample time to strike.
Hiding behind the blinding brilliance of the essence strike, Reinhard augmented his body and surged forward.
His target was the Centurion's right side.
Just like with the scavengers, reaching its back was the safest option. Those massive scythe-like arms were terrifying from the front, but their size made them awkward weapons when an enemy slipped behind them.
At least, that was the theory.
The Centurion proved him wrong almost instantly.
Despite the burst of light, the monster recovered far faster than Reinhard expected. Its head snapped toward him, red eyes locking onto his figure.
Then one of its massive arms came crashing down.
Reinhard barely had time to react.
Abandoning any hope of dodging, he raised Axiom of Virtue above his head and met the descending scythe head-on.
A shower of sparks erupted into the storm.
The blade slid across his sword with a screech of metal, missing his skull by mere inches.
Reinhard's knees almost buckled.
The force behind the strike was monstrous.
His arms trembled violently, muscles screaming in protest as the impact traveled through his entire body. For a terrifying moment, it felt as though both his legs and shoulders would simply give out beneath the weight.
But they held.
The moment the pressure eased, Reinhard pushed himself away and dashed backward.
He deliberately retreated in the opposite direction of where Sunless and Nephis were fighting.
Several meters away, he turned to look.
The monster released a shrill screech and charged.
Why is this thing so fast?!
Reinhard cursed internally and continued running.
The distance between them vanished alarmingly quickly.
Then the Centurion attacked again.
Both scythe arms swept forward, slicing through the air with enough force to tear apart anything caught in their path.
Reinhard saw the strike coming from the side.
Without hesitation, he veered sharply to the left.
No matter how absurdly fast the Centurion was for a creature of its size, it still lacked the mobility to change directions as quickly as he could.
Realizing its attack would miss, the monster tried to adjust mid-swing, redirecting one of its arms toward him.
But Reinhard had already committed.
Not only had he changed direction, he had leaped as well.
The scythe sliced through empty air beneath him.
He hit the ground shoulder-first, rolled across the rough stone, and sprang back to his feet before the monster could capitalize on the missed attack.
The Centurion turned immediately, then, with the remaining arm, it swept across in a wide horizontal arc.
Reinhard ducked as the enormous blade passed just above his head.
The blade passed so close that he felt the wind it generated brush against his hair.
Before the monster could recover, he lunged forward.
Axiom of Virtue flashed; the sword carved a cut into one of the Centurion's front legs.
The centurion screeched from the pain and then charged forward.
Reinhard immediately augmented his body and dashed away.
However, the centurion followed after him.
Relentless attacks followed, but the scythes simply ended up crashing onto the ground multiple times due to getting diverted or dodged.
And again and again, Reinhard narrowly escaped death.
Against an opponent of a larger frame, the logical option was to stay close; the centurion, however, wore chitin armor, and along with its other natural defenses, there were barely any openings to hurt it.
Axiom of Virtue was obviously sharp enough to cut through the monster's defenses, but the centurion simply didn't give him the time to strike. Every opening vanished almost as soon as it appeared.
That left its legs as the only viable option.
But it was extremely hard to target them; the centurion surpassed him in every physical category, after all.
However, his chances of winning were low, not zero.
The monster wasn't intelligent; its attacks had patterns. Slowly but surely, Reinhard began to adapt to those patterns.
After a few moments things began to go just as he expected them to; the openings he got were still fewer, but whatever happened was expected.
And as that started to happen even more frequently, Reinhard heard a familiar voice in his mind.
[Your Aspect Legacy mastery level has increased.]
[You have received the right to claim a Legacy Relic.]
Reinhard's eyes widened in surprise.
Finally!
Unfortunately, the Centurion had no intention of allowing him time to investigate.
However, this time something had changed; the gradual adaptation Reinhard had implemented against the patterns of the centurion became more concrete. The fight had gone long enough for him to completely understand them.
As the scythe came towards him, Reinhard didn't parry or deflect it; instead, he charged and, with a slight turn of his body, dodged.
Reinhard moved past it as though he had known exactly where it would fall.
In a sense, he did.
Then he swung his sword; Axiom of virtue went into the same leg he had wounded before.
The limb fell to the ground.
The Centurion staggered violently, its massive body lurching to one side as a shrill screech escaped its maw. Azure blood splattered across the stone, mixing with the rainwater that continuously flowed through the battlefield.
A small smile appeared on Reinhard's face.
The creature was still stronger than him, but it was no longer unmanageable; he saw his chances of winning clearly.
Perhaps because of that realization, Reinhards became bolder; his caution began to decrease.
A few seconds of exchanges later, he managed to cut off another leg on the same side.
Reinhard retreated several steps, creating distance between them.
Then his expression darkened.
Only now did he fully notice the problem that had been approaching throughout the entire battle.
His soul essence was running low.
No matter how carefully he had attempted to conserve it, fighting a creature like the Centurion had consumed too much of it.
"Fuck..."
[New Attribute acquired.]
[Attribute Name: Titan's Corpus.]
Compared to Soul Essence Control, Titan's corpus's augmentation was noticeably inferior.
Unfortunately, he still needed to preserve the last remnants of his essence for something else.
The Centurion screeched again.
An animal in pain was often more dangerous than a healthy one.
Allowing the battle to drag on any longer would only spell danger for him.
Then, suddenly a blinding flash illuminated the island.
Lightning struck somewhere in the distance.
For the first time since the battle had begun, Reinhard's attention was briefly pulled away from the Centurion.
Throughout the fight he hadn't spared a single thought for the other battle taking place on the island.
The lightning had struck something enormous.
A moment later, a deafening screech echoed through the storm.
Reinhard's eyes widened slightly.
The sound definitely hadn't come from his Centurion.
Which meant the monster in front of him reacted as well.
Directly facing the flash, it instinctively turned its head toward the distant light.
The centurion hesitated, like a creature who relied more on instinct than intelligence.
Which it was.
At that moment, only one thought ran in Reinhard's mind.
'Opportunity.'
The opening he had spent the entire battle creating had finally appeared.
And without allowing himself another moment to think, he charged.
***
The opening was there; it simply wasn't as large as Reinhard believed.
Exhaustion had accumulated throughout the battle; his body was battered from countless near misses and direct impacts, his soul essence reserves had been reduced to little more than scraps, and the sudden appearance of an opportunity after such a desperate struggle caused him to commit more decisively than he normally would have.
The moment the Centurion's attention shifted away, Reinhard exploded forward.
Rain whipped against his face as he crossed the distance between them, Axiom of Virtue held firmly in his remaining good stance, his eyes locked onto the exposed section of the creature's torso that had briefly revealed itself when its damaged body tilted toward one side.
For a fraction of a second, everything seemed perfect.
The Centurion was off balance.
Its attention was elsewhere.
Victory seemed to be only a strike away.
But the centurion was undoubtedly going to look back to its opponent.
And that too far faster than Reinhard had thought.
It didn't matter that he realized the mistake immediately; it was simply far too late now.
He had committed his entire body to this attack.
The Axiom of Virtue struck first.
The blade pierced through the Centurion's chitinous armored hide and sank deep into its body, carving through flesh and driving directly into the creature's torso.
A horrible screech erupted from the monster, and azure blood exploded from the wound.
Yet Reinhard's expression changed the moment the sword entered.
The angle of its body was wrong; he wouldn't have enough time to escape even if he decided to leave the sword behind.
For a single dreadful moment, both combatants remained connected by the sword.
Then the scythe came down. This time with no skill or precision, it was simply brute force.
Reinhard tried to run back; he didn't see the attack, but he knew it was coming. For a moment his hand refused to let the blade go, but a moment later it realized he couldn't take it back with him.
No matter what he thought now, it was simply too late.
The scythe descended.
For an instant, Reinhard felt strange.
Like something unexpected had happened, something he could never have expected or had felt before.
In the next moment agony exploded through him.
The blade easily tore through his right shoulder, severing flesh, muscle, and bone in a single motion before continuing downward, carving across his upper ribs and tearing a bloody path through his side.
His arm separated from his body.
Reinhard watched it spin away through the rain.
Then the pain arrived.
An uncharacteristic but short scream ripped itself from his throat.
His vision briefly blurred, and his knees almost gave out beneath him.
Hot; it's so hot!
Every nerve in his body seemed to ignite at once, flooding his mind with so much pain that coherent thought became nearly impossible.
Darkness gathered at the edge of his vision, and his body desperately demanded that he collapse.
Just then, his eyes fell on his sword, still stuck in the body of the creature in front of him.
Strange strength filled his body as he decided to do one last thing.
[New attribute acquired.]
[Attribute name: Soul essence control.]
The monster had moved a few inches back; it was out of his reach, but Reinhard shakily stepped forward.
After taking the sword in his hand, he sent the last of his soul essence through it.
Light erupted from Axiom of Virtue.
The creature convulsed.
Essence flooded through torn flesh and shattered organs, wreaking havoc from the inside.
Its screech became distorted, its legs stumbled, and its massive body shook violently.
The Centurion collapsed.
Its massive body struck the ground with enough force to send vibrations through the soaked ground.
Reinhard fell as well.
The impact drove the breath from his lungs.
For several seconds, he lay motionless in the rain suffering through the pain.
His severed shoulder felt as though molten metal had been poured directly into the wound. His left hand was pressed tightly against his chestplate, fingers trembling from the effort of maintaining even a fragment of control. His jaw was locked so tightly that his teeth groaned against one another.
Occasionally, a low grunt escaped his throat.
Then his eyes opened slightly. Through the haze of pain, he noticed movement.
The centurion's limbs twitched.
One of its arms dragged weakly across the mud.
The creature was still alive.
For a moment, Reinhard simply stared at it.
Part of him wanted to crawl away.
Part of him wanted to rise and finish the fight.
Part of him wanted to remain exactly where he was and wait for death to claim whichever of them surrendered first.
All three agreed on one thing, though.
The Centurion had to die.
Slowly, Reinhard pushed himself upright.
Blood streamed from the stump of his shoulder, running down his side before disappearing into the rain-soaked ground.
Even with darkening vision and trembling legs, he remained standing; hate was fueling his body.
Axiom of Virtue lay nearby on the ground; even its extravagant hilt had almost become unnoticeable due to the mud it was covered in.
Reinhard staggered toward it and bent down.
The simple act nearly caused him to collapse. Still powering through, he closed his grip around its hilt.
Then he approached the lying, awakened monster.
The bastard's body was so huge that he had to walk a few meters to reach its head.
Reinhard raised the sword, then drove it downward.
The sword entered just above the eye, and then a crack could be heard; fragments of skull exploded inward as it broke through the bone, and azure blood flowed out.
Reinhard pushed deeper; the blade carved through pulped brain tissue before emerging from the back and burying itself in the mud beneath.
The creature's body spasmed.
Still alive.
It was still alive.
Die, you fucking asshole.
For the next few seconds, Reinhard continued to twist the sword around in his head. Then a few moments later, the centurion finally stopped moving.
[You have slain an awakened monster, Carapace Centurion.]
Reinhard stood over the corpse for several seconds.
Then his knees buckled.
[New attribute acquired.]
[Attribute name: Crimson Elixir.]
He glanced left; his right arm was lying nearby, near where his sword was.
The pain he had ignored for a moment returned. He hurriedly reached the arm and brought it close.
Seeing his own detached arm felt strangely unreal.
The pale bone, which he looked at by mistake, didn't help either.
He returned to its body and pressed the severed limb against the ruined shoulder.
The pain increased.
FUCK!
The disgust of what he was going to do next stayed with him only for a second, as he brought his mouth closer to the mangled face of the centurion and sunk his teeth into his flesh. A chew later, his mouth filled with blood.
The taste was revolting, but he forced himself to swallow.
He didn't even know how this attribute worked; it was his first time using it, after all.
As he drank more, the flesh around his shoulder began to move.
The pain increased a bit; he bit down on something hard, but it cracked under the pressure, and a soily, disgusting taste entered his mouth.
Fuck.
He spit it out and began drinking more of its blood.
Muscle fibers emerged from the torn stump like living threads. Thousands of crimson strands stretched toward the severed arm.
The exposed muscle Reinhard had forcefully connected through his left arm connected with his right shoulder; soon he could actually feel sensation in his right arm.
Reinhard watched through narrowed eyes as torn blood vessels connected one by one, weaving together into complete channels.
Then right after bones grew out and attached, so did the nerves and several other things he wasn't aware of.
A few moments later, all the movements he could feel in his arm stopped.
He breathed heavily, allowing himself some rest after everything that had happened. The bruises on his ribs and the skin that had peeled right off at the side of his chest—all of it had healed completely.
***
I could have farmed 3 chapters out of this.
Anyways, reading arc 6 of rezero and watching its season 4 probably fueled the idea I had of making Reinhard suffer a little.
I don't know if I pulled it off properly, though. So you tell me.
See you next time.
Hopefully soon.