Broken Anomaly

Clutching his saber, the figure was determined to end this battle before it even began. He had to get rid of the man before him, he had to. It wasn’t a matter of pride or desire, it’s just how things were supposed to be, he was only following the book, at least that’s what he told himself.

The reality of his actions, however, was very different. He had already caused the death of three people. Three deaths that the book didn’t even hint at. But he was sure, if they just knew what he knew, they would understand.

Yes, his friends would understand him. He just had to get rid of the one who wasn’t supposed to be here. The one who stopped his friends and him from becoming truly close.

“Do you really not remember?” the man asked, his face clearer than ever before as it was illuminated by the moons high in the sky. “Or is this your attempt at humor?” he asked, disdain filling his every word.

Eric narrowed his eyes. The man before him had changed. He had found the necessary determination to do what he was about to do.

Eric, just like his friends, had arrived at the same conclusion. That the person responsible would be stronger than they were. They were also sure that is wasn’t due to levels or technique, no, they were sure he had aid.

The aid could be intentional, or it could be accidental. If it was intentional, then there was nothing they could do. It was probably some deity far beyond their reach. Maybe even a monster that was far too intelligent.

It if was accidental, then they would first have to find whatever it was that allowed the man before him to be as strong as he was.

If Eric had to guess, the answer was clearly in that book that the man had been furiously flipping through when he first arrived at the clearing. The book very much screamed “otherworldly power” just at a glance.

If it were anyone else, then they would have had to lie and pretend that they were fine. That the situation unfolding before them meant nothing and that they were ready to fight.

Not Eric though. He truly wasn’t afraid, even though he knew he would lose. He was just excited to see what would happen.

His life up until now had been full of things he felt little connection to, but everything that was going on had awoken something within. He was looking at the world through new eyes and he didn’t want to stop.

A small smile appeared on Eric’s face as he too tightened his grip on his spear. “Caleb, right?” he said, finally remembering the name of the person before him.

“So, it was your attempt at being funny,” Caleb said as he spit on the floor and got into a ready stance.

Eric was analyzing Calebs posture. He was no expert, but it was clear that Caleb had no idea how to fight. From what he remembered; he had actually used a nail gun to fight monsters. The sword must be new, he thought, it definitely looks new.

“I’ll make this quick,” Caleb added in a completely serious tone.

Eric’s concentration was completely broken as he tried to hold back laughter, but ultimately failing to do so. The laughter wasn’t directed at Caleb, it was just overflowing excitement, he didn’t know how to contain it.

Eric lifted his left hand, gesturing at Caleb to wait. “Sorry, it’s not you,” Eric said, trying to contain his racing heart. “This is just—wow!” he added, a full smile appearing on his face. “Whatever, let’s do this.”

Caleb felt anger rise within him. How dare this man who shouldn’t even exist, laugh at him. He lifted his sword and dashed forward. His posture was completely uncoordinated and allowed Eric to see more areas of opportunity.

Caleb brought his saber down in a diagonal motion. He aimed at Eric’s head, but he was wholly incapable of even doing something that simple. It was clear that he had no idea how to fight at close range.

That being said, he was incredibly fast. While he might not hit his target, the speed with which he approached, left Eric little time to react properly against the strike.

Eric dodged to the side at the same time as he lifted his spear, trying to block the strike. He knew he wouldn’t be able to do any of the two actions perfectly, so he did both haphazardly, with hope of it being of some help.

Unfortunately for Eric, his actions meant little. The force behind Caleb’s strike was beyond anything he expected.

The strike not only made his hands numb, but it also completely ignored any resistance from the spear, pushing it down and pressing it against Eric’s shoulder.

As soon as Eric felt the spear’s shaft dig into his shoulder, he twisted his body, lowering his shoulder, hit Caleb on the arm and backed away.

Eric quickly fixed his stance and thrust his spear, aiming at Caleb’s exposed side.

Caleb turned around and tried to block the strike but failed, drastically so. He had more than the required speed to turn and block Eric’s strike, but he overshot it, and the spear found its target, the area just below his ribs.

He recoiled because of the pain and backed away, much farther away than Eric or his friends would’ve. They would have powered through the pain and struck at their attacker who was now in an awkward position.

“You aren’t even supposed to be here!” he shouted, clutching his wound. Fear was evident on his face, with desperation beginning to creep up alongside it. “I’m just making things right!”

He soon moved his shaky hand, unclutching his wound. It was night, but the light of the moons revealed a clean and uninjured abdomen.

Eric clicked his tongue. “One of those,” he muttered in annoyance. He was about to fix his posture, preparing for the next attack, when he actually processed what Caleb had just said. However, before he could say anything. Caleb was once more upon him.

What followed was an exchange of blows between two people who both lacked any real knowledge on how to use a weapon. Or at least, that’s what Eric thought would happen.

In reality, there was a clear difference. Eric moved his spear through pure instinct, honed by his battles up until now. He had thought that he hadn’t learned anything, but that wasn’t the case. Thanks to his skill and repeated actions, he was holding his own against Caleb.

Eric had been fighting nonstop at every chance he got. He began with the barghests and most recently he faced multiple types of monsters in the city. Caleb on the other hand always fought from a distance, at least from what Eric knew, and because of that he lacked any real melee experience.

With every blow that Eric blocked, the number his hands became. He was sure that if he continued like this, he would eventually be unable to hold his spear.

He looked for any openings that might exist on his opponent, but then he encountered a problem—Caleb was full of openings. This either meant that Caleb was incredibly lucky or that he could no longer distinguish.

He was willing to bet that it was a mix of both. With the amount of openings he was seeing, it meant that every one of his strikes was targeting one, however, they rarely connected.

Caleb hadn’t gotten better during their exchange, far from it, he had gotten angrier, creating even more opportunities. That meant, that whatever was empowering him was more than enough to overcome the skill difference that existed between the two.

“If it were Anna instead of me—” Eric grunted as he blocked a strike, “—she probably would’ve cut you to pieces,” he said, finishing his sentence.

Once Eric finished speaking, Caleb paused. Eric took the chance and backed away, far enough for him to catch his breath.

Eric fixed his sight on Caleb. It was only for a second, but he felt it. Hesitation? No, simple distraction. Eric began to think about what he had just said, and what might’ve caused Caleb to be distracted. Cut to pieces? Maybe… he seems afraid of wounds­—No…

Eric lifted his gaze at the approaching Caleb and as he readied himself, he spoke. “You know Anna is probably going to hate you when she finds out, right?” he said, his eyes not matching his words as they carefully observed Caleb.

Caleb flinched lightly, his face showing signs of annoyance instead of hesitation. Eric frowned when he realized the true emotion behind Caleb’s expression. Does me talking about Anna annoy him? he asked himself. Is it because its Anna or because it’s me?

Another exchange, this one was much shorter as Eric was beginning to feel the limits of his current combat ability. He also began to regret not getting any combat skills. The mastery skills really didn’t teach him how to fight or any special moves, they just were, and he didn’t even have the Spear Mastery skill.

“Time to try again,” he muttered to himself. He really wanted to pause the fight so that he could catch his breath once more. He changed Mental Focus’s target and spoke. “Stella will probably do things to you that you can’t even imagine.”

Even with the full illumination of the moons, it was still hard to distinguish but there it was, the flinch, the annoyance that took over every time he spoke, or to be more precise every time he mentioned any of his friends.

He had switched Mental Focus from helping him with the fight toward identifying what it was that made Caleb annoyed. He already had an idea, but there was nothing like getting confirmation.

Caleb quickly arrived and swung at Eric, who was about to do the exact same thing he had been doing since they began, block it, but suddenly he saw it, a path.

Eric angled his spear lightly, and as the saber hit the shaft, he angled it further. The saber traveled through along the pole until Eric angled it even further, changing its trajectory completely and flinging it away.

He had done this before, but this time it was different. It was easier. It was like something had allowed the movements to flow with greater ease.

You have developed the skill: Spear mastery level 1

Spear mastery has reached level 2.

Eric felt something, it was brief, but it was there. Without hesitation, he tasked Mental Focus with figuring out what that was. It kept failing, but almost as if he were a broken record, he constantly repeated the command to investigate.

Without Mental Focus his fight against Caleb became much more difficult. It wasn’t a matter of skills, but of speed and strength. Eric needed all his concentration to be able to notice every single movement that his opponent made, that was the only way he could react in time.

But now, not only was his only aid not helping, but he was also constantly telling it to focus on something else, draining even more of his concentration.

He tried his best, but he was quickly becoming overwhelmed, until finally, he got it right. Mental Focus finally worked as Eric gave the command at the exact time that the feeling returned.

Having his normal focus return to him completely, Eric could once again fight at full capacity. He could feel that Mental Focus was working, it was waiting for the feeling to occur again.

“Marcus and Alex might do something. Though, I don’t really know,” Eric said, trying to rattle Caleb.

He didn’t have his skill to aid him, but he could already make out some of the expressions that Caleb made when annoyed, and he definitely had one on now.

“You said—”

“Will you just shut up!” Caleb exploded. His face was marred by a myriad of emotions, anger, annoyance and something else that Eric wasn’t able to recognize. “Let me make this very clear: you’re not the good guy, I am,” he said, pointing at himself.

Eric frowned. This was not something he anticipated. He could easily see Caleb getting annoyed at his taunting, or what he considered to be taunting, but whatever he was saying now, was beyond what he expected.

“I’m just making things right!” Caleb continued, his voice full of conviction. “And stop acting like they’re your friends! They’re mine! They’ve always been mine!”

Eric’s frown grew deeper. Caleb had begun to speak nonsense.

“You know what the most annoying part about you is?” Caleb asked as he dashed forward.

Eric was too distracted to dodge and blocked it with his spear, grunting due to the impact.

“There is evidence of you, even though you never appear!” Caleb said, grunting between each phrase.

Eric saw a light shine from Caleb’s side. It was the book shinning a blinding white light with a tinge of gold, it almost seemed holy. When the light dimmed, Caleb’s demeanor completely changed.

His desperation and anger were still there, but the way he carried himself was completely different, it was like he had just gone through years of rigorous training.

Caleb kicked Eric leg, causing him to fall and with monstrous strength, sent him flying back with a punch to his gut.

Eric gasped for air while simultaneously looking for his spear which he had lost without realizing. Suddenly a snap was heard. Eric lifted his gaze, finding that his spear was split in two at Caleb’s feet, who was slowly approaching.

“Whether it’s my friends facing off against a fully powered Ratsvalch,” Caleb began, emphasizing that these were his friends. “Your siblings holding off the revived Krisk,” he added with clear disdain, “or even your parents removing the leviathans from the board.” He paused, taking a deep breath, his frustration evident. “The only thing they all have in common is you,” he said, squatting down and jabbing a finger at Eric. “Someone who doesn’t even appear in the book.”

The book began to shine once more. This time around, the light was darker, with small lights, like the night sky. The light slowly began to coalesce into a circular shape.

“Don’t worry, according to the book, me and my friends will do great things,” he said, a smile forming. “I’ve already told you some of them. We will save everyone and for that to happen, you can’t be here,” he added.

Eric looked him directly in the eye. He couldn’t articulate words, but his gaze said all that he needed them to. But Caleb never got the message, as he was taken aback when suddenly, Eric shifted his gaze behind him and winked.

Caleb, with a face full of disgust, reached toward the book and took the item that had formed. It was a circular bronze token with the number zero on it. As the token began to light up, he threw at it Eric and he backed away.

As soon as the token touched Eric, a light enveloped him, a smile forming on his face. And just like that, he was gone.

Caleb felt all his strength leave him. Eric was right, but not in the way that he thought. Anna would’ve shredded him to pieces, though in reality, anyone would have. It was only Eric that couldn’t. With the magic dissipating, he felt a sense of relief wash over him.

“Finally, I can be who I’m meant to be,” he said with elation. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. When he opened them up again, he saw Anna approaching and a smile took over. “Oh! Anna—”