Unmade Chapter 29: Chapter 29: Raging waves(2)

Read chapter 29 of Unmade by churro on NovelPedia.

Vale and the chained man launched into each other with a relentless, unbroken assault. Vale’s weapon had taken the form of a heavy claymore, while the chained man wielded a long odachi, both blades carving streaks of light across the air with movements almost too fast for the naked eye to follow. Vale’s armor had been slashed open in several places, thin streams of blood trailing down his ribs and legs. But he didn’t flinch. Cuts meant nothing. Pain meant nothing. His focus had become unbreakable. Yet the tidal wave did break it. The wall of blood rose behind them, towering, shifting the rhythm of the fight. The chained man stepped back and unleashed a single devastating blow that forced Vale to skid across the surface of the sea, but instead of pursuing him, the man stopped. He looked down at the ground sea them… then up at the oncoming wave. Vale followed his gaze. The wave was enormous, hundreds of meters high, a moving mountain of crimson. The chained man’s posture tightened. Vale’s stomach dropped. And then, strangely, a nervous grin crept across his face as a reckless idea crashed through his mind. A stupid idea. A very, very stupid idea. He glanced back down at the chained man, who stood perfectly unwounded, perfectly calm. This idea might be Vale’s only chance to gain even the smallest advantage. 'Fuck… I really am an idiot,' he thought, a bead of cold sweat sliding down his temple. And then he ran. He sprinted straight toward the tidal wave. He had no idea what would happen. The sea had never swallowed them before, but that didn’t guarantee the wave wouldn’t simply crush him. Still, he calculated the possibilities: Either the wave would launch him upward, letting him reach the peak before the chained man did… Or the blood would pass through him harmlessly, giving him a momentary advantage. Both options were better than none. But there was also the chance it would kill him instantly. Vale clenched his teeth. 'Please work.' A heartbeat later, the wave swallowed him whole. And to his shock, it worked. The wave hurled him upward, launching him into the air. He soared above the crest, flipping once before landing on his feet atop the shifting mountain of blood. He looked ahead. If his insane plan had worked… The chained man erupted from the wave below, flung upward by its force, rising exactly where Vale had predicted. Vale’s eyes widened. His moment was now. His only moment. 'I have to hit him fast.' He transformed his claymore into a spear mid-stride, dug in his heels, and halted his momentum in a single sharp motion. He twisted his torso, took aim, and hurled the spear with all his strength. It streaked through the air, toward the chained man’s torso. The impact was heavy. The man was sent flying backward, But Vale’s face fell. A disappointed grimace spread across his face as another cold sweat rolled down his cheek. “You’ve got to be kidding me…” he muttered. Because he saw it. The chained man hadn’t been pierced at all. He had caught the spear right before it touched him, his body held so unnaturally still that the tip of the spear had never made contact. It was control over one’s own body so absolute, so superhuman, most people wouldn’t even dream it possible. But he had achieved it. No, he had mastered it. Vale froze for a single heartbeat, stunned. Then he moved. He sprinted across the unstable surface of the tidal wave, closing in as the chained man landed near the edge. But Vale wasn’t aiming for a clean strike anymore. As the chained man swung his odachi downward, Vale ducked low, lower than he should have, and shifted his entire weight forward. His goal wasn’t to dodge. His goal was to tackle the chained man off the wave entirely. For any sane person, it would look like suicide. But Vale had learned something in this cursed realm: Sometimes the only way to kill this man was to die with him. If he couldn’t defeat him… He would drag him down. The tackle hit. Both fighters tumbled off the towering wave, plummeting