Nameless King

There was an eerie aura emanating from the black hand. It looked more like the paw of some powerful, creepy monster. This paw had short, black claws, like sharp fingernails.

Sometimes red streaks flashed across the arm, like veins. There was also dark energy slowly emanating from this hand.

Wain looked at the hand and then at Forgotten's body in the distance. He muttered, "So this is what Forgotten was afraid of. Clearly, some forces are just as interested in this pearl."

Then Wain swung his hand, and the Plasma Destruction Sword flew towards his hand like black lightning. However, when the sword almost reached his hand, it shrank sharply and quickly destroyed the Plasma Destruction Sword.

This attack was so powerful that it created a shockwave that spread dozens of meters apart.

After that, the hand continued to slowly reach for Wain. It was meant to take the pearl of the soul from this man.

"I don't have much strength left, but thanks to the healing nectar, my body is gradually recovering," Wain muttered and looked at Forgotten's body.

"You've spent decades or maybe, even more guarding that pearl. I don't know what kind of creature it is or why it needs this thing, but your work deserves respect."

Then Wain's aura began to intensify, and he said, "In gratitude for such an outstanding fight, I will rid your eternal sleep of all anxiety."

Wain decided to use the second form and deal with the black hand. The creature was powerful, but Wain was not afraid. He was sure that his powers would be enough to banish this creature from this space.

Wain's aura grew rapidly, then dark energy began to emanate from his body, which swept over him entirely like a storm. Then Wain's appearance began to change.

His eyes changed from green to azure, and black energy emanated from his hair. He wore a long cloak, torn in many places, and tall boots with many chains. His face was half-covered by a black cloth reaching down to his nose.

In his right hand appeared a long, silver sword whose blades were covered with a layer of ice. From this sword emanated a cold and intimidating aura. 

The most significant change was the swordsman's curse. There were seven chains wrapped around Wain's torso, and his left arm was pinned tightly underneath. He could not move his other arm no matter how hard he tried. To do so, he had to get rid of the curse and destroy all seven chains.

This was what the second form of Nameless King's Forms looked like.

The storm dissipated when the transformation was over, and Wain looked coldly at the dark hand reaching out toward him. He was calm, but his aura looked like a violent dragon capable of destroying an entire world with just his breath.

'What power, it far surpasses the Code of Light and Darkness, but my stats have not increased. It's a strange feeling of true power, independent of my stats.' Wain thought. This feeling was new to him.

It seemed that he could cut an entire island into thousands of identical pieces if he wanted to. This was power coming not from stats but from mastery and the art of the sword.

Wain took a step forward toward the dark hand. His effort was heavy and powerful, and the clouds beneath him partially parted to the sides. A cold aura constantly emanated from the ice sword, causing the temperature around it to start dropping drastically.

When his hand almost reached Wain, he looked at it coldly and gripped his sword tightly. Even though his left hand was chained, it didn't mean that he was weak. Even with his curse, the Cursed Swordsman's skills were at a prohibitive level.

Then the hand almost completely covered Wain and suddenly clenched its claws with force. It tried to crush Wain and destroy him just as the Plasma Destruction Sword did. But Wain was ready for it. He had been waiting for this moment.

Whooosh.

Wain made light but lightning-fast upward swing with his sword. An icy wave of energy headed toward the claw at the same instant. It was like a purposeful, icy tsunami.

It was powerful enough to chop off the creature's claws and several fingers. They fell slowly into the clouds and plummeted to the bottom. Then the icy blade created by Wain's swing disintegrated into tiny shards.

The hand did not expect a creature as small as Wain to be able to fight it back. It was a shock to it, but that didn't mean that the hand abandoned its attempts to take possession of the soul pearl.

The red stripes on the arm glowed brightly and turned into thousands of bloody threads, which quickly regenerated the severed limbs.

The hand tried to crush Wain again, but he took a step back at the last moment and moved thirty meters backward like a black flash.

Then the creature's patience began to run out, and the hand turned violently toward Wain. 

Wain's azure, ocean-deep eyes looked at the dark hand, and he said coldly, "I don't know who you are, but you're nothing but a miserable thief. If you wanted to take this pearl, you should have defeated Forgotten in a fair fight and come here in person. Now it belongs to me!"

Wain raised his sword above his head and made two diagonal X-shaped cuts with incredible speed.

The two icy blades flew toward the dark arm and easily cut it into four equal pieces. It was a powerful being, but it couldn't stand up to Wain's strength and mastery in the second form.

The red stripes on the parts of the arm glowed brightly, and the creature tried to restore its limb as it had the last time. But, suddenly, its flesh began to freeze and turn into large chunks of ice.

The scarlet threads failed to start the regeneration process and disintegrated into small pieces like the monster's frozen hand.

After that, a massive man-sized eye appeared in the hole in the sky. An eerie aura emanated from that eye. The eye stared fiercely at Wain, its capillaries swollen, and it seemed capable of toppling Wain into hell with a single glance.

Wain looked at him coldly and, pointing his icy sword in his direction, said, "Decided to show your face at last? But, I don't want to see you. You're nothing but a miserable scum. Get lost!"

Tremble.

Wain's aura rose, and a silhouette of death with a bloody scythe seemed to appear above him. Then the air around Wain's sword began to shake, and there was a loud click.

Kinetic Shot instantly reached the monster's eye and plunged into it. The kinetic bullet wounded the creature considerably, and a fountain of blood poured from the eye, flooding the clouds below.

Roooooooooaaaaaaaaarrrrrrrrrr!

Then there was a loud roar that shook the space. There was pain and hatred in the roar for the common man who had dared to harm the creature.

Then the hole in the sky recovered, and the monster retreated. It wanted to get the soul pearl, but instead, it lost its arm and received a terrible wound.

When the sky was restored, space stopped shaking, and the situation returned to normal. Wain canceled the second form and dropped to his knees, exhausted.

He immediately vomited a mouthful of blood, and everything blurred before his eyes. The monster could not wound him. It was a crushing defeat for it. But, Wain had overstretched his body too much.

He fought Forgotten for a long time and could even enter a unique state. At that moment, he also used the Code of Light and Darkness. The strain on his body was enormous as he acted at the limit of his abilities.

But then Wain had to use a second form, the Cursed Swordsman. This further aggravated his situation. Moreover, during the battle with Forgotten, he sustained several serious wounds.

"Damn, I can hardly stay conscious. If it hadn't been for the healing nectar, I might have fainted and bled out by now. This time I was walking on the edge of a blade." With difficulty, Wain said.

Then he smiled broadly and said, "But, I haven't enjoyed a battle this much in a long time. It reminds me of the old days. It's a wonderful feeling."

As the healing nectar wore off, Wain struggled to his feet two minutes later. He managed to stay conscious, and his body gradually returned to normal and recovered.

His Vitality was quite high, so his own regeneration also played a big part in his survival.

Wain walked over to Forgotten's body and muttered, "I didn't even notice at first, but I didn't get a soul after I killed him. What's more, he seemed to enjoy this fight a lot more than I did."

He looked at Forgotten's smiling face. He didn't feel hatred or anger at the moment of death. On the contrary, he was relieved. Wain was the one who had freed Forgotten from the shackles he had put on himself.

'I didn't get a soul, so was he human? Or perhaps he was another being who has no souls of his own as humans do?' Wain pondered.

He had to go to the pagoda and go downstairs. But, he didn't know if there would be any danger waiting for him on the way back. At that moment, he was quite weak and vulnerable.

But, Wain had no time to think, for suddenly, he felt himself starting to fall down. The barrier that had allowed him to stand above the clouds began to gradually weaken.

"What the hell! No!" Shouted Wain, and at that moment, he fell down. He fell through the clouds with Forgotten's body.

They would reach the ground in half a minute and be turned into bloody scones.