Chaos! That’s the only way I could describe the situation all around me. I couldn’t make out anything in the fighting around me. The conflict around me had engulfed my vision of Frank and Frost and I didn’t have an idea of what was going on with the two of them. I was trying to move through all the brawls to get to where Frank and Frost were before I was confronted by the three Untethered, I had seen flanking in the club the last go around.

One of them looked at me with a menacing grin and said, “Boss said to make sure that you didn’t escape or flee. We gotta soften you up for the boss if you know what I mean.”

The other two just nodded with matching grins before one of them continued from where the first left off, “Indeed. And the boss doesn’t need you fit and fine, with all your limbs intact. He just needs you to be alive, even just breathing would be fine, in my opinion.”

With their piece said, they proceeded to surround me so that they could prevent me from fleeing or backing away, I guess. I summoned my scythe, ready for the attack that was sure to come. I looked warily at all three, wondering where the first attack would come from. All three of them were slowly inching towards me and I didn’t have an inkling of where the first attack was going to come from.

Being outnumbered three to one was nerve-wracking. I knew that I was outgunned and waiting for the enemy to take the initiative was fraying on my nerves. So, in a moment driven by pure instinct and emotion, I rushed towards the Untethered in front of me, intending to take the first shot and hopefully catch the opposition by surprise.

I didn’t just go in completely blind though, without any preparation or plan of attack. I activated my ability, thus slowing time down for all three of them, rendering it harder for them to react to my onslaught. Before the first guy knew what was going on or that time had, in fact, slowed down for him, rather than him being just slow on the uptake, I had cleaved through him with my scythe, making short work of him.

I didn’t stand around to ponder the gruesome scene in front of me. Instead, I jumped sideways almost instantly, having heard the impending approach of the other two guys. My ability had given all the time I require to evade their attacks and I had already turned around ready to reflect or dodge any further volley of attacks from them.

Contrary to my expectations though, there was no incoming attack. They looked startled and a little intimidated at the course of events, not expecting me to take the fight to them. They seemed hesitant to approach me, having already the devastating effects my ability could have on the battlefield.

Well, I wasn’t about to let go of this golden opportunity. Without much ado, I rushed, my ability still activated. Credit must be given where its due though. They were quick to brace themselves for my attack, already expecting the slowing down of time. I didn’t attack them head-on though, willing to take full advantage of the more enhanced sense of time I had over them. Instead, I completely avoided them altogether, rushing past them before turning around to get a strike on their back.

One of the guys was quick to recognise my strategy and turned around as well, ready to hold off any of my attacks. It was the guy nearest to me who was taken by surprise though, leading to a brief moment of hesitation in turning around. That was all the window I needed as I crouched and struck the man just as he was about to start turning.

My scythe caught him on the knee, before completely tearing through it, leaving him with a stump. The howl of pain and terror that emanated from his throat was enough to shake the hearts of the bravest of persons. Even I had to wince as his heart-wrenching scream told him all I had to know about the pain I had caused.

I wasn’t about to indulge in pity for my foe though. My actions towards his two comrades had the last henchman shaking in his boots, aware of the fate that awaited him. At that moment, I must have seemed like the reaper himself, bloodied scythe in hand, waiting to pass judgment on him.

He unwittingly took a step backwards, probably intimated by my actions until that point. I feared that he was contemplating fleeing and I wasn’t about to let that happen. I have to admit that the bloodlust was getting to me. I found my subconscious had some sick sort of pleasure from the blood that had painted my clothes and face, feeling some convoluted glee seeing the terror in my enemy’s eyes.

It was with this feeling of sickening euphoria, the want of more pain from my enemies that I rushed towards the last of Frost’s closest aides. I felt invincible, akin to a god of war that had never tasted defeat in battle. I waved my scythe in the air as I rushed towards my enemy, performing some sort of a weird dance to signify my lust for battle and blood at that moment, terrifying my opponent even more, if his expression was anything to go by.

I came down on him hard, striking him with all the force I could muster. He barely managed to avoid it, backing away in time, making my scythe hit the ground and causing cracks to spread out from the point my scythe had managed to hit the ground. But that was all the fight he had in him. the slowing down of time for him meant that he had barely adjusted before he saw the fatal strike of my scythe heading for him once more. This time, though, he was too helpless to avoid it. He didn’t even have time to close his eyes as my scythe pierced the crown of his skull, thus witnessing his own inevitable doom.

The battle seemed to have slowed all around me in my euphoric daze. I watched almost flippantly as Untethered fought all around me, desperately baying for each other’s blood. And it was at that moment that I had a stark realisation. I couldn’t distinguish between friend or foe. Or rather, I found myself not caring.

All I saw all around me were potential targets who I could kill to quench my own thirst for blood. It suddenly didn’t matter to me who was fighting for what, I just wanted to fight them all. I had trouble remembering what this war was for. Suddenly, it only seemed to have one purpose for me. The only thing that had meaning. Death. The amount of death that would be spread due to this war had me involuntarily smirking gleefully in anticipation.

And that was when I was looked down, wanting to drink in the sight of my body painted in the blood of my enemies. And what I saw horrified me while also clearing the fog surrounding my mind. Because there was a shade of red on my body that wasn’t supposed to be there. Or rather, there was a shade of red emanating from my body that wasn’t supposed to be happening.

For in the place where my tattoo was, the mark of the reaper, the scythe, was glowing in a menacing fashion. It seemed to be throbbing and pulsing, almost as if it was displaying its own exuberance due to my emotions. Almost as if it had emotions of its own.

And that was all the impetus I needed for me to concentrate on my own state of mind and control my emotions. Because the ominous glowing of the mark of the reaper meant only one thing. I was under the unwelcome influence of the grim reaper. Somehow, the act of battle had caused me to come under the direct influence of the reaper, which I suspected was the reason for my bloodlust and my general sense of euphoria when I saw the war going on around me.

And that thought terrified me. The mere suggestion that I could somehow be acting or even thinking under the grim reaper’s directions had me shaking in my boots. The realisation of the mere fact was enough to clear some of the haze that developed around my mind. I found myself concentrating harder on my core than ever, wanting to see if the grim reaper’s influence had reflected itself on my core in any manner.

I was back in the familiar surroundings within my subconscious, my core in front of me. My core was almost the same as ever, pulsing as vigorously as always. There was something different about it though, something I wouldn’t have noticed right away if I hadn’t been looking for it.

My core seemed to have a reddish tint to it, almost as if it had been tainted by specks of blood. Spots on my core seemed very unusual, almost as if they didn’t belong, as if they didn’t have a place there. The untoward influence of the grim reaper was evident on my core and the thought made me shudder more than I would care to admit.

To my immense relief though, the red tinge seemed to be receding, making it look as if someone was painting over it, restoring my core to its original colour. The more I looked at the core, the faster the red taint seemed to be lifting until there was none left.

I retreated back to reality, with everything striking me as clearer than before, almost as if I had been looking at the world through tinted and foggy glasses for the last few minutes. I didn’t have much time for retrospection though, as the grim reality of the ongoing battle between the two factions seemed to hit me again in full force.

I put the thought of the grim reaper's influence on the back burner, vowing to look at the future repercussions of the matter when all of this was hopefully over. The more immediate objectives at the current moment had me rushing through the battle, stopping for no one, with only one target in mind.

It wasn’t long before I found what I had been looking for. There in the middle of all the battle, seeming to be in their own separate bubble, were Frank and Frost, going at it back and forth, with no concern or care for the events surrounding them. I hastened to join their battle, as it was clear to me that Frost had the upper hand in their battle and without someone backing him up, Frank would lose.

The fact that Frost was more experienced than Frank shone through in their battle. Frost seemed to reply for everything Frank threw at him, each attack from Frank was met with twice the force and guile. Frost just seemed to be operating with more cunning and drive, as if he could see through Frank’s attacks and find holes in his defence with relative ease. I didn’t know how much I could tilt the scales of victory in Frank’s victory because it was clear to me that Frost was barely breaking a sweat in trying to combat whatever Frank had up his sleeve.

But the most important factor that made me want to interrupt their battle was my knowledge of Frost’s trump card. Absolute Zero, he had called it. The sheer destruction, the massacre it had caused still sent a chill up my spine when I recalled it. the ability to transform the entire battlefield into a graveyard wasn’t something that could be stopped if it started and I didn’t want to give Frost the opportunity to initiate the attack.

Frost was the one who noticed my arrival first as he basically stopped in the midst, showing utter disregard for Frank’s prowess. His abrupt halt caused Frank to stumble as well while Frost said with an amused grin, “It seems help has finally arrived, Frank. I sent three of my pawns to hold off David but it seems like they were utterly useless in that regard. Well, no worries! What’s one more insect to squash when I am already in the process of destroying another one!”

His words didn’t seem to elicit any response in us, as we were too overwhelmed by own emotions. Frank took that moment to catch his breath. It seemed as if the battle against Frost had made him give it his all and he seemed out of options. And wasn’t that frightening? Even with all his experience and power, Frank couldn’t manage to trouble Frost. And I didn’t know how much I could change that, what with my mind still being occupied by the thoughts of the grim reaper and the idea that battling Frost could put me under his influence once more.

It was with these thoughts running around in my head that I raised my scythe in the air and activated my ability, trying to direct all my focus towards the enemy in front of me. An enemy who had decades of experience over us, an enemy acknowledged as one of the strongest that our planet had to offer. There was no doubt in my mind that the key to stopping this battle was taking down Frost.

It was with a silent prayer to the heavens that I prepared myself for the coming conflict against Frost, hoping that Samuel arrived with the Council members as soon as possible because, in my heart, I knew that we couldn’t hold off Frost for long if he did go all out.