Chapter 57: Just another Chapter.
Before Annalise could even respond, his body dissolved into black mist.
The air cracked as he vanished from sight, the forest shaking in his wake.
And ahead, the mammoth raised its head, its crimson eyes narrowing as death itself approached.
The mist coalesced mid-air, and Sebastian reappeared, his form outlined in shadow and frost, Sacha blazing in his grasp.
Dark mana poured down the blade, a corrosive, hungry rot that hissed and spat like a living thing.
"Let’s see how you like this, you overgrown furball," he muttered.
Then his voice turned sharp. "Die."
He descended like a guillotine.
The mammoth swung its tusks upward, molten heat cracking the air as they intercepted his strike.
Steel screamed against bone, the shockwave flattening trees for dozens of meters.
Sebastian grinned mid-air, the corner of his mouth twitching upward.
He twisted his body unnaturally, legs coiling like a spring, and flipped over the tusks in one motion.
Sacha flashed, black rot streaking across the air like lightning.
The cut connected.
The mammoth’s trunk split open, flesh drying into husk as the rot spread, eating through veins and nerves.Grotesque flowers bloomed, pulsing masses of flesh and blood sprouted from the wound, spreading corruption like a garden of decay.
The beast bellowed in agony, stomping and thrashing, trying to shake off the spreading death.
Sebastian hit the ground a moment later, skidding through dirt, grinning wide.
"Not so tough now, are you, Trunkzilla?"
{Really? That’s the best you’ve got? Trunkzilla?}
’Shut it. I’m workshopping names.’
The mammoth roared again, angrier this time. One tusk glowed white-hot, then swung like a freight train.
Sebastian tried to move, too late.
The tusk smashed into him full-force.
He was sent flying through the forest, tearing through three trees before slamming into a boulder hard enough to crack it.
He coughed blood, laughing under his breath.’Okay... maybe Trunkzilla’s got some kick.’
Sacha’s voice chimed in faintly, ’Papa is flying again...’
{Flying’s a strong word. More like crash-testing.}
Sebastian groaned, pushing himself up. The gash across his chest and the jagged wound in his side began to stitch together, life mana flooding his body with that familiar white glow.
He glanced toward the mammoth, and his grin faded.
The corruption was fading.
Where the flowers of flesh had once bloomed, clean new tissue now pulsed, the regeneration so fast it was almost unnatural.
The rot he’d spread was being undone, swallowed by the creature’s vitality.
Sebastian sighed, dragging the back of his hand across his mouth.
"Well, that’s just unfair. Big, stupid, and self-healing. My favorite combo."
{Told you. Should’ve fought a rabbit.}
’Too late for that.’
He stood, rolling his shoulders as frost began to coil around his feet again, the air turning sharp and bitter.
’Alright, Trunkzilla. Round two.’
The mammoth’s massive form loomed through the smoke, regenerating faster than before, flesh steaming, molten tusks gleaming like twin suns.
And Sebastian smiled, that same reckless glint in his eyes.Because now he was done playing fair.
Sebastian exhaled, shaking dust and bark from his hair as the mammoth thundered toward him again, its roar echoing through the shattered forest.
He rolled his shoulders, Sacha humming faintly in his hand."Just a normal Chapter in the life of Sebastian Nekros," he muttered with a grin.
Then he was gone.
The world blurred into streaks of black and blue as his form dissolved into mist once more. He reappeared above the charging mammoth, the blade already coated in death mana, not decay this time, but poison and corruption, a sickly darkness that pulsed like a heartbeat.
’Sacha,’ he thought sharply.
’Freeze the wounds shut.’
’Okay, Papa,’ she replied, her tone bright despite the chaos. The sword shimmered, frost blooming along its length until it gleamed like a blade carved from a glacier.
Sebastian brought it down in one clean arc.
The blade cut through the mammoth’s shoulder like paper. Poison sank into the flesh, spreading black veins beneath the hide. Instantly, frost followed, sealing the wound in solid ice, locking the corruption in place and choking its regenerative ability before it could even begin.
The beast howled, staggering as one of its legs buckled beneath the weight of frost and venom. Steam hissed off its body, the clash of cold and heat filling the clearing with mist.
’That’s right,’ Sebastian thought, smirking, ’no healing this time, you oversized carpet.’
But victory was short-lived.
The mammoth twisted unnaturally fast for its size, one tusk glowing red. It slammed sideways, the ground erupting as it connected.
Sebastian barely had time to react. The air warped from the sheer force; he was caught mid-dodge, flung like a ragdoll. The impact sent him crashing into the dirt, and the mammoth’s shadow fell over him, ready to stomp him into paste.
{You’re about to die again, genius.}
’Not today—!’
Before the tusk could crush him, thin azure strings wrapped around his body, yanking him violently backward. The world spun, and a split second later, he was dragged out from beneath the monster’s descending foot.
He landed hard, skidding across the ground.
When he looked up, Annalise stood on a nearby ridge, one hand raised, blue mana threads glowing from her fingertips like living ribbons. Her coat fluttered in the wind, the faintest smirk playing on her lips despite the sweat running down her temples.
Sebastian blinked up at her, still catching his breath.
Then he gave a crooked grin.
"Nice timing, string girl."
Annalise arched a brow, strands still dancing around her fingers.
"You’re welcome, corpse boy."
Sebastian chuckled, rubbing the back of his neck with his free hand, looking entirely too casual for someone who’d almost been turned into roadkill.
"Guess I owe you one."
She smirked faintly, though her eyes never left the thrashing mammoth.
"Oh, don’t worry. I’ll collect."
Sebastian sighed, glancing back toward the enraged beast as cracks began forming across the ice-sealed wounds.’Figures,’ he thought, tightening his grip on Sacha.’No time for gratitude.’
{About time. Now kill that thing before it kills your reputation.}
Sebastian smirked.
’Wouldn’t want that.’
And with that, the mist gathered at his feet once more.