Starbound Awakening

Valeria stood bravely in front of the null, a firm grip around the grandmaster's sword in her hand.

In this situation, she was surprisingly calm, as if she had already won the battle.

The blade null didn't care, as the blades in its hair were raised high into the sky. Without a moment's notice, multiple blades were sent flying at Valeria.

She had a calm expression on her face as she slowly raised her sword, her grip tightening around the hilt.

The sword in her hands was moving slowly, but it managed to deflect every single blade that was coming her way.

Then the blade null appeared in front of her, it was about seven feet tall, towering over her. Then its blade-like hands swung down on her head.

Valeria quickly raised her sword and blocked the attack.

A shockwave spread out from the impact, and a small crater was formed where she stood.

Aiden, watching it from a third person's perspective, couldn't help but wince. Though there was no change in Valeria's expression, her arms could be seen vibrating under the pressure.

Using all her strength, she made the blade of the null scrape against her sword, deflecting the attack.

The blade null put some space between them, and once again, multiple shard-like blades that made up its hair were sent flying at Valeria.

She easily deflected the attack when the null appeared in front of her once again.

It once again swung its blade down on Valeria, but this time, she quickly jumped out of the way in a flash of golden light, swinging her aura-coated sword at the neck of the null.

The blade null made blades appear in that area of its neck, blocking Valeria's attacks.

In a flash of gold, Valeria jumped back, putting some space between herself and the blade null. She quickly swung her sword, releasing an arc of light that was flying very fast, towards the null.

The null easily deflected the attack before lunging towards her, two blades protruding from its hands. Before long, the two of them started exchanging strikes.

The clang of their sword strikes resounds in the area around them.

As the fight between the two of them continued, Aiden began to notice something: Valeria was getting better.

It wasn't obvious at first, but every subsequent attack was easier than the first. It was like Valeria was using the null as a target to practice her sword attacks.

"She's using such a terrifying beast at a whetstone."

Shock colored Aiden's face as this realization dawned on him. The monster that put him in such a state was being used as a whetstone right in front of him.

This just goes to show Valeria's talent for battle.

At the beginning of the battle, Valeria was on the back foot, but with every strike of her sword, she managed to gain some experience, and her strikes became more polished, with a lot fewer openings and wasted movements.

"I'm done, time to end this."

Valeria jumped back to gain some space, her sword in a firm grip in front of her sword and her eyes closed, even though she knew that the null was charging straight at her.

The golden glow on her sword became stronger and stronger as the cosmic energy in the surrounding area was drawn into her sword.

She opened her eyes, and the golden glow in them was stronger.

"Holy Sword Formation: First Formation...."

At this point, Valeria raised her sword into the air, her gaze on the null in front of her.

"...Glimmering Strike"

Slowly, her hand and the sword descended, bringing with it an arc of bright glimmering gold with a length of about seven feet, the exact height of the null.

The null could feel the strength of the attack, and it could see the attack going towards it. There was enough time to dodge, but the null didn't move.

Even though brainless, its instincts admired the beauty of the attack.

By the time it realized that this strike was meant to kill it, it was already too late. The strike had already hit it, cutting it down the middle into two equal parts.

As if knowing that its job was already done, it disappeared.

The null turned into golden particles that entered both Aiden and Valeria, giving them enough exp to level up, also healing Aiden.

It left behind a green orb and a clear marble with a weird purple substance swirling inside it.

****

In another part of the horde....

Amara's shadow stretched out from her, forming some kind of portal. From the portal, what looked like a gate, made entirely out of white pale bones, and a skull on the top of the gate appeared.

It was about three meters tall, and everyone fighting the horde could see it.

Shrieks could be heard coming from the other side of the gate, sending shivers down the spine of anyone who heard them.

The gate opened slowly, and from the black mist on the other side came a creature that could only be found in nightmares.

It was humanoid, its skin was a grey color, pale to the point that it turned grey. It had black sclera for eyes and red irises. The outline of its body could be seen on its body, with white bone-like horns coming out of its forehead.

And on its back were the bones of bat-like wings with patches of torn flesh on them. Long fangs came out of its dog-like mouth, its drool dropping to the floor and melting it like acid.

[Level ??? Nightmare Jester Pawn]

'Well, that was unexpected.'

Amara looked at the Nightmare pawn, a look of interest on her face. The Nightmare pawn turned to look at her, bowing slightly before raising his head, a questioning/excited gaze landing on Amara.

Amara was more intrigued. It was like the pawn was stating its intent directly into Amara's mind. It wasn't telepathy, more like her knowing what the pawn wanted through the emotions that it fed her.

Her gaze landed on the null that had already stopped in its tracks. It had no emotions, but it had basic instincts. And its instincts were telling it to run away now. But it was fixed in space.

Not just it, but everyone in this part of the horde where the pawn appeared. There was a cold feeling down their spines; it was as if they made a move, they were going to die no matter what.

It was only Amara who felt nothing; after all, she was the one who summoned the monster in the first place.

Her gaze landed on the morpher null, and it turned frigid. It had the coldness one would get when facing a sworn enemy, not something a college student was supposed to have.

She raised her hand slowly, pointing at the null.

"Destroy it."

Her frigid voice came out. And the Pawn, like a dog hearing a command, turned to look at the null, its mouth open, its snake-like tongue sticking out, and its acidic drool dropping to the ground in anticipation.

"BOOM!!"

One movement of it, and the sound barrier was broken.

It appeared in front of the morpher null in an instant.

Its red eyes locked onto the null as if analyzing its new play thing. The null could only stand there, its cloudy eyes locked onto the pawn.

The pawn suddenly jumped back and made a gesture with its hand, as if telling the null to run.

Seeing its only chance at living, the null didn't waste any time and was about to run away when it suddenly felt something.

It had no legs.

In fact, from its waist downwards had been destroyed, not sliced off, but tied up in a weird knot of flesh and broken bones.

All the humans could only wince, imagining the pain the null was in.

Well, not Amara, she was unfazed, or rather intrigued.

All she could think of was how she didn't know when the jester pawn even broke the legs of the null, and she didn't care, seeing the null, a slight smile broke out on her face.

But the null couldn't even feel that. It was as if it didn't realize that its legs were missing. It was crawling away, the jester pawn following closely behind, its cackles resounding in the ears of everyone there.

Even Amara couldn't stop smiling.

"Um... Please don't forget, your only brother is dying over here".

Amara quickly turned to the weak Dare.

"Finish it."

She spoke softly, but the ears of the pawn perked up as if hearing her.

It nodded its head slightly and slowly walked to the head of the null. Without a moment's notice, it stomped onto the head of the null, killing it.

The null broke into golden light particles that floated into the body of Amara and Dare.

Golden light covered both of them as Dare started healing at a speed visible to the human eye. Seeing this, Amara finally breathed a sigh of relief.

She turned her head to see the jester pawn looking at her with an expectant gaze. It was on both knee,s looking at her.

The smile on her face widened, something genuine, like seeing your child doing a good job.

"You did great," she praise,d "but it's time to go back. I'll call you when it's time to play again."

She rubbed the lead of the pawn as if scratching her favourite dog.

The pawn cackled in pleasure before it stood up and skipped into the gate. The gate slammed shut and sank into her shadow once again.

Dare just lay there, his mouth agape, looking at his sister...