Another Stupid Isekai

The madness of that place went on and on, slowly taking its toll on me. I started to believe that I'm never going to find the place. I started to believe there is no place at all. You might be asking why when I got the information from many sources, and I can tell you. I started to second-guessing everything I knew about this world.

There was supposed to be a flying city out there, Aaraam'soturi, but there wasn't. I never saw it. Even after using every single trick in my possession, and taking a lot of risk of putting many predators living out there on my track, to get as high in the sky, as I could.

All I got for it was almost losing consciousness because of lack of oxygen, and crashing into the ground, as I fell down. There was a lot of ruckus because of that, but my body was too tough so there was pretty much no damage.

Then I had to get the hell out of there as fast as possible because of all the mess I made.

I kept trying after that, but my doubts were growing every single day, and what ended them was not luck. It was the opposite. I kept pressing in one direction, hoping that eventually, I'll get to the end of the unchanging landscape. I hoped that I'll see a tree in the distance, or maybe the rocky terrain will suddenly become different, but nothing like that happened.

Instead, completely out of nowhere a figure showed up on my path. The clothing was blackened by time and dirt, ripped to shreds, revealing patches of grey, dead skin under. There was jewelry on both hands and legs. I couldn't see a face, because it was hidden deep in the hood, but I could see a giant weapon that this creature was dragging behind it.

It was a mace with the head made out of ax blades. The whole thing was as big as a car, and the ghost, as you are probably correctly assuming right now, couldn't even hold it in hand, despite being almost three meters tall, but he didn't have to. The reason was simple, he could move it just by sheer will.

We had a little stand-off, as I very slowly got my weapon out of the vault. The second later I got almost hit by that thing with the power to take down a building. The impact made a deafening sound and rose the cloud of dust, but that was just a start.

As I gained some distance with shadow walking, it was quickly nullified with that weapon coming after me like a speeding train. I avoided it again, thanks to my reflexes, and everything on its way got destroyed, so I took the chance, and went after the ghost sending a few fireballs, and rushing over there. The explosions shook the ground producing a cloud of flames.

I didn't wait for it to vanish, and got inside the inferno, swinging with all my might. He blocked with all the golden bracelets on his arms, and those precious things withstood my blade, as they were also enchanted.

The strength got the ghost threw out of the cloud, and I rushed after, just to get blocked with that weapon slamming into the ground just before me. I couldn't stop and was forced to shadow walk out, to lose the velocity.

"You can take that thing on", went through my mind. We were evenly matched, and I still didn't use all my tricks, so a smirk crawled up on my face, and I activated 'Shadow fusion', and the rest of my boosting skills.

The strange weapon went again after me, but I managed to deflect it. Well... I managed to send myself spinning, as I blocked it with my blade, but my body was too light, but I burst straight out into a full sprint, creating a swarm of firebirds on my way to take another swing.

The ghost dodged, but my hit created a shockwave just like his weapon, stirring up another cloud of dust.

I quickly repositioned, knowing that he also will get the hell out, and he did, which led me to send my nuking squad after him.

It was thousands, and the unleashed explosion was enough to release a hit capable of turning the sand into glass.

I anticipated a counterattack, but nothing came out. I was wary until the dust started to settle.

"Did I just win?", I asked myself.

The answer to that question came in form of a loud chuckle. Chuckle that send shivers down my spine.

Then my eardrums burst, as a shockwave was released. It was so powerful that it cleared the dust. The only thing that was left out there was the ghost, slightly levitating above the ground, with lightning bolts striking all over his body, and hitting the ground around him.

This time I didn't think. I didn't have to, I knew right away, that I have absolutely zero chances of winning.

- Fuck - escaped my mouth, but I couldn't hear it.

- You need to run Peter - a voice appeared in my head, and I immediately knew who it belonged to.

I summoned all the two thousand shadows I possibly, could, and send them after that thing, with summoning more the very moment I felt that I can.

- I'll lead you where to go, but if you can get there depends only on you - said The Great One.

I didn't answer, I was too focused on getting the hell out of there. Shadow walking, creating more firebirds, putting barriers behind me, and summoning more shadows. Praying that any of that things will stop the ghosts for a single second.

And you know what? They didn't. The very ground under my feet started crumbling down. But that was just the very beginning of what was soon to come, as the ghost slowly started drifting higher, and higher into the sky.

I knew because I kept looking over my shoulder.