The Last Dainv-Chapter 55

The Last Dainv-Chapter 55

The knight walked over to a fallen candle holder. A soft clank of its metal feet kicked and slid the candle holder to just in front of Gale.
"Your father taught you to hunt like a lowly hunter. Your mother taught you to gather herbs and roots like a peasant gatherer. They could have taught you true power, yet reduced you to scraping dirt as you dare not look up."
Something snapped inside Gale. Insult him? Fine. Mocking his parents' teachings?
That didn't sit right.
The book dropped from his grip as he picked up the candle holder in front of him. He charged at the knight, using the object like a pole. However, the strike never connected. The knight casually stepped to the side, allowing him to pass.
"Sloppy. Predictable. Are you a child playing with a stick?" The knight seized the pole, twisting it mid motion while sidestepping, forcing Gale to adjust his grip or lose the weapon. "Your father taught you to fight like a human. Let me show you how a true warrior moves."
The knight released the pole and drew his sword in one fluid motion. "Come, little lamb. Show me what else your parents wasted their time teaching you."
Gale attacked again. One poke at the visor. A spin aimed at the flank. A strike at the leg. All of them missed by a hair each time the knight slightly moved. Not a single motion wasted. Not a single strike landed.
"Your stance is wrong," the knight took on a lower stance. "Your feet should not touch the ground as
they
do. We are not bound by mortal limitations."
The knight lunged at Gale's flank. A soft tap of the massive sword landed on his lungs. Not fast, just enough for him to keep up. Yet the stance he had taken made created a blind spot for the knight, a position maybe even his dad would've lost.
Gale moved back and adjusted his stance again. This time, he moved low, imitating the knight's earlier move. In reply, the knight dashed upwards, mirroring his position. Its sword moved slowly as if to mock him, and he couldn't do anything about the metal tapping his face.
Each time Gale tried to copy the knight, it was met with an answer. Every exchange, the sword moved to tap a soft spot that he couldn't block like it was magic. Movements he never seen before, a fighting style that he never saw anywhere on Earth.
The knight parried another thrust and then slowly tapped Gale's leg, causing him to lose his balance. "Do not think of what you hold as a tool. It is neither a weapon nor an object. Feel it as part of your very being. Feel its movement as you feel your own
breath.
Do you understand?"
Gale concentrated on the movement of the pole. It bent and stretched at each swing. Using those minute movements, he adapted them by thinking of the next move rather than waiting to see what was next. Rather, he
felt
where the pole wanted to move.
In a clang of metal striking against metal, the pole struck against the flat of the knight's sword.
The knight nodded.
"Better. But your strikes tell me everything. Your parents taught you to survive by hiding, by running. I will teach you to survive by glory and fire." The knight's sword wove patterns in the air that Gale's eyes could barely follow. "Watch. Learn. This is how a true warrior moves."
The knight slashed its giant sword in the throne room, scratching and clawing out even more stone from the floor. A hard stomp with an upward slash that sounded like a shockwave. The next move flowed like water through the obstacles blocking the straight path.
The demonstration that followed broke every rule of combat Gale knew. Even with its massive form, the knight's feet never settled. It didn't care about balance as if gravity were just secondary. At every turn that would seem like the knight would fall, it used its speed to put itself back on the path, ignoring the defined orientation dictated by gravity.
Suddenly, the knight charged his way, sword aimed right at his neck.
Gale let himself fall, no longer caring about which way was up. The sword missed his body entirely. Using his palms to change his trajectory, he pushed and launched himself, aiming the pole right at the knight's flank.
"Your parents gave you chains and called them wings," the knight parried upwards, leaving Gale open for another tap on the chest. "They taught you to crawl when you should have learned to fly."
Rage fuelled Gale's next series of attacks. Each strike aimed at vital spots of the knight, not caring about the armour. The knight met every blow as if predicting where he had aimed.
"Channel that anger," the knight hissed as another strike bounced off its sword. "But do not let it control you. Let it flow through you like the power in your veins."
The fight continued, less like a fight and more like an instructor teaching a junior. Gale's confidence fell as he saw all his attacks read like a book.
He changed his footing, no longer relying on needing to put his feet on the ground. Every part of his body needed to be part of the orientation, not just his feet.
Using the momentum of the knight's strike, his arms tried to spin his body to spin the pole. Hands slipped.
"Again," the knight groaned.
Gale charged, surprised that the knight had already moved its sword right in front of his eyes. Blocking the knight's sword with the middle of his pole, he allowed the momentum to carry him, allowing himself to spin. However, it was uncontrolled. The spin was too much, causing him to just fall flat on the floor.
"Again." The knight took another low stance.
One more time, same thing. Gale charged again. An upward strike this time. Again, he blocked it in the same manner at the middle of the pole.
The momentum launched him upwards, making him spin. That wasn't a mistake. There was no up or down. It didn't matter where or what foothold he'd use to launch from.
His leg pushed down from the ceiling, launching himself upwards to where the knight stood. This time, the knight reacted, blocking the stab instead of predicting.
"Yes, like that. You begin to understand. We are not bound by human limitations, by human thoughts, by human fears. Your parents' greatest failure was teaching you to think
human
."
The instruction continued. Each exchange revealed new depths to combat that were even more alien than the most fantastical of books he read at night. The knight's sword wrote essays in the air, each movement a lesson in possibility. Not a single strike missed its mark, whether to teach or to correct.
"They taught you to hunt deer when you should have learned to hunt stars," the knight said, the massive sword seeming to disappear before it tapped him from above. "They showed you how to gather roots when you should have learned to harvest lightning."
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The throne room filled with the sound of their combat, no longer a fight.
"Show me," the knight commanded in a low shout, "what you could have been without their restrictions. Show me the warrior beneath the pathetic peasant facade. Show me the power they tried to hide."
And Gale did, his pole moved in ways he never dreamed possible. He banked left, allowing the pole to bend from the speed of the swing. That bend allowed the pole to circumvent the sword's flat, yet still missing from a slight movement of the helmet.
Every strike carried more and more weight. The pole bent even more, allowing him to use the angles he never thought were even an angle.
The knight responded, accepting and meeting every attack, tapping him at the places where he would be most vulnerable like a mirror.
It was a lesson to look at everything as
prey
. To be the
predator
"Your parents taught you to be invisible," the knight said, his sword finding another opening. "I will teach you to shine so bright that darkness itself will be swallowed by your glory."
[Dainv Spear Arts Lv.1 - Unlocked]
The notification popped up. A new sensation he felt vibrated along his muscles. The Dainv OS reminded him of its existence, the source of all the possibilities that had been granted to him by the system.
Peeking at the notification list, he noticed the core density slowly increasing, and the most recent one was about the new skill appearing.
"You finally notice. The birthright you've ignored for so long," the knight said, lowering his blade.
Gale stared at the system screen. No one else can see it, but him… could he?
"Why didn't anyone tell me?"
"Tell you?"
The knight laughed even louder than before.
"Who would tell you? Your parents, who taught you to hide? The other Dainv, scattered and lost, who abandoned their duties? No, this knowledge comes from within. From the blood that flows through your veins. It is the birthright of those born from Cev."
The knight let go of its sword. Not dropping it onto the floor, but it became mist that blended into the darkness. "You stand at a crossroads, little lamb. This realm shudders under the weight of corruption, yet you waste time playing at being small."
"What do you want from me?" Gale said.
"Want?" The knight crouched down, allowing itself to meet him eye to eye. "I want nothing from you. The realm, however, demands everything. Your bloodline carries responsibilities you've never dreamed of."
The tendrils of darkness retracted from behind the knight. Its massive body now seemed smaller.
"This realm stands on the brink," the knight continued. "Corruption spreads like poison through its veins. Your bloodline, a cure. Yet here you stand, pretending to be less than what you are."
From the very beginning, Gale never deeply researched the Origin System. The knight was right. It was only a tool to survive. A tool? It was never supposed to be one. The Origin System had screamed at him from the beginning to stand tall. What did he do with it? He hid. Blended in. To survive in this wilderness rather than conquer it.
"The void hungers," the knight walked back up the throne. "It devours corruption, cleanses reality itself. That power runs through your veins, yet you use it to play at being a hero in a story far larger than you comprehend."
Gale felt the essence flow through his body as if there were preconfigured pathways already. It was such a normal feeling, like blood that flowed through veins. He never dared question it. It was just there.
"The gift of Cev to the last scion connects him directly to the origin," the knight said. "You are not some wandering survivor. You are a weapon forged in the fires of necessity, meant to carve corruption from reality's flesh. Take it as yours. Explore this ship. Find Vianne's orb, and absorb for yourself."
[Mission: Find and take Vianne's Origin Fragment]
"What is that? How would I-"
"You shall know what it is upon finding the orb," the knight said. "Come back once you've found it."
Suddenly, the room turned into complete blackness. The same nauseating feeling of when he was transported into the throne room filled his stomach.
Gale's forehead hit the musty blood-red carpet of the floor. Standing up and spitting out the dust, he was back in the hallway with a twist. A literal twist.
A fourth hallway stretched outwards beside the middle 2nd from the right. Except this one somehow went upwards yet also seemed to be at the same level as the other corridors.
Now's not the time to be bothered. He'd already seen crazy stuff and teleporting from one place to another anyway.
"Show me," Gale muttered, willing the status screen to come up.
...
Name: Gale Hathie
Race: Dainv
Core Class: Awakened
Core Density: 10/12
Core Attributes: [
Max Load: 25
Efficiency: 4
Essence: 76/100
]
Skills:
[Phase Touch Lv.3][Alter Lv.2][Distort Lv.2]
Passives:
[Breath of the Void Lv.2][Dainv Spear Arts Lv.1]
Missions:
[Find and take Vianne's Origin Fragment]
[Exit the Rift]
...
New notifications lit up across his vision:
[Core Density Increased.]
[Heart Core part built. Essence Regeneration increased.]
[Core Density Increased.]
[Meridian Core part built. Essence output increased.]
Two away. He was just two steps from completing his core density. Each step increased the 'required' amount of prey to kill, even though he felt like he had already slain hundreds of those beasts.
If only he used this system more… then maybe they could all still be together. Fighting with them, maybe on Earth. Hunting monsters in a haunted house or asylum. Those probably existed. The concept of monster hunting back on Earth wasn't even as fantastical as this whole world.
Would they follow though?
He'd never really put himself at the forefront of leadership. Really didn't even want it. It was really Rachel that led everything. All he really wanted to do was find ways for him and the others to survive.
The knight's words rang true. He
had
been just a boy playing at survival, never really amounting to anything. One day, this world might've just eaten him had he kept his ambitions low.
Just like Blue Haven. Instead of finding ways to fight from within or even conquering Blue Haven, his thoughts defaulted to running away. Always choosing the path of least resistance.
A new notification appeared in vision:
[Mission Updated: Exit the Rift => Cleanse Elliot.]
The gift of Cev… huh. This thing was a guide, pointing him towards greater purpose.
He tapped Phase Touch.
[Phase Touch - A cold touch from where nothingness begins.]
The descriptions had always been vague. Misleading. Though the knight's words made it make more sense. He used this 'tool' like a mortal. Not even bothering to research more of what it could do.
Would Phase Touch have materialized his whole body out of the material world? He never really tried. Experimentation took time from surviving. This whole gift was at the lowest priority.
Then why not try?
Gale activated Phase Touch, concentrating on applying the whole skill to his body. Suddenly, the world's colours twisted, similar to when he was in the violent trance he experienced from Breath of the Void.
The world changed. Weathered stone changed into sleek metallic walls straight out of science fiction. The flame that was once a deep darkness that ate away at the light now became a bright red flame.
Reaching his hand out, he dared to touch the walls. As his fingers touched the walls, he’d expected them to pass through just like Phase Touch passing through objects. But no, the wall didn't budge. All he felt were solid metal walls.
"Foolish little lamb. You are in a Dainv ship," the knight spoke, his voice seemingly sounding far but close at the same time.
Startled, Gale stumbled backwards, looking everywhere. "Where are you?!"
He waited for a couple of minutes only to not hear any reply back from the knight.
"Stupid knight," he grumbled.
Then he got back to what he was doing. Taking the knight's advice, he found foreign objects littering the floor that weren't there before. The same piece of giant sized armour on the floor caught his attention. A piece of metal torn through on its shoulder, likely from a claw.
He tried grabbing the chestplate, but it didn't budge. The knight seriously wore something like this?
Giving up, he moved forward to the corridor second to the right. The air throbbed in that direction. A heart beat that seemed to call out to him.
However, with this new look that was brightly lit straight out of sci-fi, the call towards the door didn't feel all too bad.
Gale followed it.

Chapter 55