Dimensional Descent

Hutch’s skin reddened, his eyes glazing over with a furious intent. When he swung his machete, it looked as though a crimson wave followed his every action. Those near him on the battlefield fell to their knees, unable to withstand the world shaking pressure.

Elorin calmly stepped forward, his own blade moving quite slowly, and yet it reached his grandfather just in time.

The two seemed to glide by one another, barely touching. All noise vanished and the world seemed to freeze before all hell broke loose.

CLANG! BOOM!

The glancing blow caused a booming wind to slice in all directions. Elorin’s pristinely white tracksuit rustled wildly within the wind, almost as though it was trying to rip a path off of his body. At the same, Hutch’s shirt was shredded to pieces, revealing a bronzed and powerful figure that didn’t seem to match the old features of his face in the slightest.

The two only paused for a moment before their strengths erupted. Their figures danced around the battlefield, every clash leaving a crater in their wake, and yet their creation seemed to lag behind, taking three collisions before the earth seemed to catch up to what was happening and finally collapse.

Hutch’s enraged howls echoed all across the Earth, the pain and fury within them causing the hearts of all those who heard it to race uncontrollably.

He fought like an absolute madman. None of his strikes seemed to have any sort of reason to them. He sliced from all angles, gathering momentum from impossible positions and erupting from irreparable positions.

Elorin calmly countered. Anyone with the eyesight to keep up with what was happening felt as though three of Elorin were fighting just one of Hutch. Due to this, his slow movements always seemed to counter his grandfather’s fast and erratic ones with ease.

However, on the other side, Hutch didn’t seem to be struggling very much at all either. His stamina felt endless and the bloody ocean wave that was his blade was relentless and all encompassing.

This was the first time in a long while those of Earth had seen Hutch battle, and for some, this was the first time period. The old glory of the Hacker Hutch name seemed to have been entirely forgotten, but on this day it was revitalized.

No one felt that it was too weak that Hutch hadn’t won yet. Rather, they were only more shocked by Elorin’s strength.

A pair of grandson and grandfather, one furious, another calm, one bound by duty, the other bound by piety...

BANG! BANG! BANG!

Blade Force rippled out in all directions, bringing with it a suffocating sort of presence. A cyclone of the sharp Force twirled around the two of them, shredding apart everything in its path and suffocating all opposition. It reached the point where it was almost impossible to hold any other battles in the vicinity as the pair completely went all out without a hint of their familial ties holding them back.

Hutch’s blade pierced forward, shredding forth like a torrential storm. Rather than a blade, it looked far more like a meat grinder. Blade Force stuck out in all directions, rotating akin a drill, and yet having no form or shape at the same time.

The more the battle went on, the more violent Hutch’s Blade Force seemed to become, and yet it was this very violence that he somehow also seemed to have absolute perfect control over.

Elorin gilded back, his arm shifting forward to parry with his own blade just once, and yet the after images of over ten blades formed at once, causing ten echoes to resound as he glided back another step.

Despite his clever dispersal, Hutch’s blade was relentless. The ten strikes seemed to disperse some of the circulation patterns on the rotating Force, but the total number were far too numerous.

For the first time, Elorin’s expression changed somewhat and his gaze narrowed as his grandfather’s blade continued forward unimpeded.

The blade appeared before him, ready to pierce through his head, but at that moment Elorin’s figure seemed to ripple. The blade that should have taken his head passed right through him as though striking a puddle of water and piercing a reflective image instead of the target.

The momentum of Hutch’s blade died and Elorin’s own blade danced. At that moment, the rust on the blade seemed to flake off one peel of gruesome brown-red at a time, falling to the ground like the fall of an ashen snow.

|.com The strike was perfect, so perfect that the wind sang and the stars shimmered, the Force of the world guiding his blade toward Hutch’s neck.

Hutch reacted quickly, Blade Force rippling out of his body like a sharp nail, radiating in all directions. It only paused Elorin’s machete for a moment, but it was enough time for him to pull back his own blade.

He raised the hilt to his neck, separating his ring ring and middle finger to allow Elorin’s blade to perfectly land in the space between all while deflecting his blow.

Elorin reacted nonchalantly, twisting his wrist slightly in an attempt to sever his grandfather’s fingers, however Hutch’s battle experience was high. He clamped his fingers down first and pushed down, changing the direction of Elorin’s blade and countering his twist.

He released the blade a moment later, stepping forward with a made look in his eye.

There was nothing between him and his grandson anymore, no fictitious barriers, no heavy tolls, no blade...

Hutch’s free hand pierced forward, covered by Blade Force as he thrust toward Elorin’s chest with a vicious light in his eye.

His life flashed before his eyes once again. The day he was assessed to have talent and shipped away from his own parent... the day he made his first friends... the day he picked out the weapon that called to him... the day he met the love of his life... the day they had their first child... the day he carried his grandson in his arms for the first time, only to be forced to put him down and escape into the night so that his daughter wouldn’t be forced to feel his separation again... the day he appeared in their lives again to whisk their son away...

The furious light in Hutch’s gaze blurred, flooding over with tears. However, his speed didn’t lessen and his striking power didn’t weaken.

Even so... just before his fingers pierced a hole through his grandson’s chest, a mind flooding pain coursed through his own body.

PCHU!

Hutch’s actions came to a stop.

He looked up, only to find that his grandson’s figure was becoming blurry for more reasons than just the tears in his eyes.

Soon, Elorin’s figure vanished entirely.

Hutch looked down, his gaze landing on a blade as its last hints of rust fell away and drifted into the wind.

Silence echoed through the battlefield. It was palpable, an almost harsh sort of silence, suffocating, even. It wrapped his hands around their throats and squeezed even as they turned purple and blue.

Hutch looked up from the blade, looking into the skies. Maybe only he knew what he was looking for... but he did suddenly smile, a smile of endless relief.

He slowly fell from the blade, sinking into endless darkness.