BLADECRAFT: The Undead Spear Emperor

The Man In Pink

___

[System Activated]

—

[Congratulations! You are the 13,849,099th Earthling to activate the Apocalypse System]

—

[Comprehension Unlocked: Basic Spear Mastery]

—

[Would you like to see your status?]

–––

Ozias barely read what was before him before he trembled as the Zombie crashed into him with the force of a gorilla, toppling him over as they rolled, the system notification disappearing.

The momentum carried them a long distance, their bodies ricocheting like ping-pong balls off a smooth wooden table.

Ozias kicked and punched as hard as he could, the viciousness behind each strike making the Zombie quiver uncontrollably.

‘Tarnation!’ Ozias’ thoughts swirled wildly in his head, his summoned courage wearing out little by little. His weapon had been thrown out of his hand after the clash, and they had rolled away from it—far out of reach.

If he wanted a chance to deal with the Zombie, then he needed it.

With a burst of strength, Ozias knocked the Zombie off his body, his tendons snapping with a violent shock that made him output more strength that he knew he had.

Ozias had noticed that his physical strength had increased since he heard those three bangs. He moved faster, hit harder and even now that he just realised this, his mind was stronger.

His thoughts hadn't been sped up to unimaginable levels, but he wasn't as affected by fear as much as he should have been.

Coming to a stop, he hurriedly stood, his knees bent with caution, his muscles tensed and ready to erupt with power if need be. His eyes tracked the Zombie slowly getting on all fours… Or rather six—since it had two pairs of arms.

Its growl resounded in the surrounding tens of metres, its flesh wriggling as though worms were underneath it.

Ozias’ eyes never left it once, yet he nearly lost track when it blasted off the ground towards him, accelerating like a projectile shot from a ballista.

His eyes widened, only for his pupils to dilate right after as he locked in. He really did not have the time or energy to feel fear… So he shot to the side, avoiding the basic grapple of the Zombie and rushing back to where his weapon was.

He heard the sound of the Zombie coming right at him again, and he lunged forward, performing a flip and picking his weapon in one fluid motion.

Feeling the weight of the cold metal in his hands, his confidence rose, and the soft blue glow in his eyes seemed to increase, his short black hair dancing in unseen waves.

A sharp aura spiralled out of him, and his presence shifted, turning more predatory and deadly.

His calm gaze only seemed to amplify this, and when he moved, he possessed the graceful movements of a ballerina, yet, he struck with the blinding speed of a serpent's lethal strike.

The Zombie found its second head pierced through like a hot knife through butter, its body suddenly becoming motionless as its second brain was destroyed.

Ozias snapped out of the state he had entered, and his hands shook, his muscles screaming at him to lay down and rest.

‘I..I did it,’ Ozias thought with a bit of fatigue clouding his vision.

He raised an arm to caress his cheek and winced when his fingertips grazed the wound there. His face couldn't help but pale right after.

If memory serves, Zombies could infect victims with their undeath through scratches and bites. And he… He had multiple scratches across his body.

The Zombie's grip wasn't weak by any means. It had four arms and he only had two, so it was something inevitable.

Ozias calmed his raging heart and clenched his jaws. Self-pity wasn't going to help him; it wouldn't help anyone even.

He had to do something, and fast.

“Nicely done!” A masculine voice resounded behind him, snapping him out of his thoughts.

He turned around, slowly, his body feeling sore all over. He really needed to rest.

Rolling multiple times on solid concrete, getting maimed by a freaking Zombie! And using something he knew nothing of—which sapped his stamina… All that was left was to rest.

The world, though, had something else in store for him.

“Seeing it with my own two eyes is something I always wished for,” the masculine voice continued.

Ozias finally saw who spoke, and he couldn't help but narrow his eyes.

It was the man in pink.

“Tell me. You're Ozias, right?” The man asked, taking Ozias off guard.

Ozias hesitated, but eventually asked. “Who are you?”

The pink haired man cocked his head, seemingly wondering if he had heard right.

“You don't know… who I am?”

Now it was Ozias’ turn to be confused.

“Are you someone popular or something?”

Silence.

There was a moment of awkward silence. A silence so loud that it was deafening.

“How can a Draven not know my name?” The man said, but that statement seemed to make Ozias turn wary all of a sudden.

His father, and even his father's father, had warned him never to tell anyone his real surname. So he went around with the alias, Ozias Hayes. But hearing his real name being mentioned by the weird looking man—who he had seen decapitate something he had struggled to deal with—was enough to make him take a step back.

The pink haired man sighed upon seeing that reaction, and he took a step towards Ozias, in which Ozias mimicked by taking another step back.

The pink haired man felt a little annoyed, but he swallowed it and decided to lecture Ozias instead.

“Listen hear kiddo, I'm a friend of gramps. This whole thing happening is something we all know about. The Apocalypse, the Zombies and the Awakening,”

“Gramps had filled us in on everything that would happen, but you weren't around to hear that. He had predicted that the Apocalypse would descend in a year at least, but somehow, his calculations were wrong, and things have been sped up,”

“I'm not here to hurt you. Fact is, searching for you and bringing you back to the base was part of my agenda, if I really wanted to harm you…,”

The pink haired man suddenly appeared before Ozias, seemingly teleporting from over where he was. Then he said, completing his statement.

“You would be long dead.”