Ludwig Roslov possessed only a single gate called Living Nightmare, letting him manifest things only seen in nightmares and use them to spread fear and death. The more people feared him, the stronger his gate became; it was a fuel that he needed, creating a habit of torturing his opponents before killing them.
His muscles began to flex to the sensation he felt, his head was shaking as if a cold drop of water touched his neck. He crossed his arms and grabbed them as he whispered, “Yes… Yes… YES!” In an explosion of excitement, dozens of tentacles appeared near him and grew as large as trees before falling on the frightened young knights.
Some of them were crushed by a single tentacle, and those who were unlucky avoided them and continued living to see the nightmare go on. The dust covered most of their vision except for the silhouettes. Ludwig could no longer hold back and jumped in.
The shark-like teeth penetrated the armor and bit into the flesh of the knight's neck, then he quickly moved onto the next victim, using the cane to knock off his helmet and then the handle to rip off the man’s jaw. Before they could realize that another one of them was killed, they felt the warm blood on their face and the oncoming silhouette of Ludwig, the Living Nightmare.
The display of terror was enough to crush the knight's courage and make them flee. Ludwig stopped to admire his massacre and observed as the knights ran away. “How amusing. It’s no longer a fight. It’s a hunt!” As he raised both of his arms in front of him appeared two wolves made of shadows with glowing red eyes and shining, sharp teeth. At a snap of his fingers, the wolves ran after the knights, quickly catching up to the ones who were the last to flee.
The first wolf jumped at the young knight, bearing its claws into his shoulders and its fangs into his neck. The knight in front of him turned around to check what it was. As he turned around, all he could see was a shadow closing on him. He instinctively raised his sword and slashed the wolf, except the blade went through as if it were just a cloud. The claws and fangs went deep into his flesh, and the wolf opened his stomach to feast on his guts.
A whistle made both of them stop and look at Ludwig, who couldn’t stop grinning. “You didn’t get all of them. Go! Before they leave the town.” At his command, the wolves stopped eating the two knights and ran after the others.
Ludwig turned around as he heard a clunking of metal. He saw a flash of blade which he easily evaded. He raised a hand to land a finishing blow on a knight, but he stopped with a hand near his cheek, sharp as a knife. The person who attacked him wasn’t a knight; it was a child who picked up the sword of a fallen knight and tried to attack him. The weapon was too heavy for him. After a single swing, the boy dropped it to the ground.
“You got more courage than those knights, boy. But it was foolish of you to try and attack me. Your rest won’t be a pleasant one…” Ludwig walked around the boy and watched the child as it used most of its strength and courage to grab the sword, run up to him, and attempt to lift it.
“I won’t rest until you die!” The child shouted once it stopped breathing heavily. Then it attempted to raise the sword yet again. Before he could lift the sword, Ludiwg sent a dark tentacle at the boy. The sharp end of the limb pierced his side and pushed the boy away. He rolled through the ground until he hit the dead body of a knight. Groaning in pain, the boy tried to stand back up, his hands covered in blood from his wound. At the sight of the fallen knight, the boy forgotten his injury and shouted, but didn’t look away; instead, tears began to flow down his face.
“Someone you know?” Ludwig asked, amused, taking a closer look at the dead body. “Now that I think about it… He looks similar to the knight who tried to fight me.” Suddenly, the body of White Fang dropped to the ground beside the boy. The two fallen knights looked like a family, a father and son, but the living boy was different. His hair was black, and his eyes were dark brown, far from the looks of the two knights.
The boy’s breathing was short but rapid, and his vision was becoming blurry. First, his arms lost strength, and he could barely hold his body up. Suddenly, he dropped to the ground, making even Ludiwg stop. “Did he… Die from shock? Bleed out that quickly? Eh… There goes my fun.” Ludwig walked past the kid's body and headed toward the remaining knights to feast on their fear and finish his work.
“Where do you think you’re going?” A crispy older voice asked from behind, a lot of malice in his tone.
Ludwig turned around, confused. “Now a grandfather will try to kill me?” He playfully asked, but his throat suddenly got stuck. An older man with long silver hair and a short beard stood between the two dead knights. He had the same clothes as the kid he just attacked. “What happened?” He asked, thinking he would get an answer, instead a hand appeared in front of his face, grabbing him, and throwing into the nearby building.
The wall crumbled under the pressure as the old man pressed Ludwig into the building, a single hand wrapped around Ludwig's throat. “What… Did… You do!” Gasped the Living Nightmare. Instead of answering, the old man pressed harder, forcing Ludwig to use his gate. Two tentacles appeared behind the old man and extended toward his back. As the limbs were about to pierce him, he jumped away, releasing Ludwig from his grasp.
“We didn’t share the same blood… But we shared the same past.” The old man looked back at the two corpses of his friends. “As to what I did… I won’t tell you.” The old man answered, looking at Ludwig with a cold, killing gaze. Completely ignoring the blood flowing from his side.
The boy lost everything he had: the village, his friend who was like an older brother, and his father, who treated the boy like a son. He was part of the family, and with nothing left to lose, he put the second most precious thing before death on the line. Time. By sacrificing the time he would have lived, he was able to open a gate that let him achieve unimaginable strength.
It was a fight between a Living Nightmare and a man at Death’s Door.
Ludwig grabbed his cane, and as he pulled it from both sides, a blade appeared from within it. The old man used his leg to lift a sword his dear friend had used and pointed it at the Living Nightmare.
“Boy. You picked up my interest. May I know the name of a man I am about to murder?” Asked Ludwig with a puff out chest, being sure of his victory. Already imagining the man being torn into pieces in my mind.
“The name of the man who is about to kill you is Edwin.” Whispered the old man with pure murder intent as he dashed forward with a sword’s tip aimed at Ludwig’s face. Nox’s Finger was surprised to see the old man’s speed. Even though he looked old, he far exceeded human capabilities. Ludwig barely created the tentacles in time to block the sword, but even that wasn’t enough to stop Edwin. He quickly knelt down and dragged the sword across the tentacle until he was able to scratch Ludwig’s leg.
Ludwig grunted in annoyance as he jumped back to create distance, but Edwin was quick to follow, sidestepping the tentacles and dashing forward. Pushing an open hand, Ludwig created a dozen crows flying right at the old man. Edwin waved his sword around, slicing each crow that blocked his path.
Between the crows, he saw a flash. Ignoring the crows, he lifted his sword to block the blade from the cane, letting the crows scratch his left shoulder, right arm, and both of his thighs. He barely felt the pain as he was focused on one thing, on one man.
Ludwig grew more annoyed the more he thought that a child was able to stand its ground against him. Against one blessed by a god. Edwin pushed away God’s Finger and quickly dashed forward after him. Slash after slash, Ludwig was only able to move his blade to defend and was even forced to use the tentacles to stop the blade from going into his flesh.
Wings made of bones spread from Ludwig’s back, making his retreat faster. “You… Die, you insect!” He shouted on top of his lungs, creating ten massive tentacles, towering over the two-story houses around the street, which fell toward Edwin.
It seemed like there was no path of escape for Edwin as the tentacles hit the ground. Ludwig thought it was over until the dust moved, revealing Edwin, who was closing on him. Both of them swung the blades at the same time; the force was so great that neither of the metals withstood it. Both weapons cracked and broke, yet Ludwig was the one being pushed with the force of the blow.
Using his wings, Ludwig moved high into the air where Edwin couldn’t reach him. Raising his hand and crushing it into a fist, he created tentacles to push all the dead bodies into one pile. Cutting his hand with the broken blade, he let his blood drip down onto the pile of corpses. The flesh and bone began to melt together; the pieces of armor and cloth stuck out through the flesh as if stitched into it, creating a monster with dozens of legs and arms, blades sticking out like needles.
“Before you can lay a finger on me… You need to kill your FRIENDS first!” Ludwig giggled maniacally, raising both of his arms and summoning his gate.
The monster rose as high as the two-story buildings, and its body was turning toward Edwin. He didn’t move, but he scanned the monster from up to bottom, ignoring the man’s mockery. He clenched his hands into fists and began running toward the monster without a weapon. One of the lumps of flesh that looked like an arm fell down on him. Moving much faster than the attack, he stepped to the side and used it to climb up the monster. He grabbed the sword, which stuck out, cutting his hand with it. The blade shone with red light as it was the crooked sword of the Red Crow.
Ludwig observed with amusement, watching as Edwin had to avoid the blades of the moving lump of flesh, which was unstable, barely walking on the monster. He knew very well where the old man was heading. He extended his hand and slowly clenched it to move the flesh of the monster according to his will, making a trap.
Seeing as Edwin wasn’t about to stop, he flew a bit higher, fearing that he might be able to reach him from the monster’s top. Except he stopped near the top, before the swords could close on him. Using the heated blade, he broke all the swords around him and grabbed a single broken blade, throwing it like a spear with all his might. Like a balista, the blade flew into Ludwig’s wing, breaking it apart and making him fall to the ground.
The man wiggled in the air, trying to use his second wing to somehow slow down the fall. Ediwn leaped from the monster toward Ludwig, sinking the crooked sword into his shoulder and breaking the second wing. Once both of them fell down, Ludwig was pinned to the ground by the sword, unable to get the sword out as it was constantly burning his flesh.
“That’s the wound for the Red Crow… Now for my FATHER.” Edwin took out a warhammer wielded by White Fang and brought it down onto Ludwig’s face as he screamed in fear, his face almost changing back into normal, one of a human being, but before he could finish the transformation, his skull was broken into bits, killing the man on the spot.
Edwin took a long breath and turned around to see the giant monster of flesh collapse and turn into a pile of melted bodies. Then he looked to the side near the building where the two familiar corpses lay down. While cutting the blades on the monster, he cut off the part of his friends he recognized. “At least I can properly bury them.”
He took out the crooked sword from Ludwig’s body and the hammer. Taking a look at them, he was thinking. He got his revenge but still felt empty. That’s when he heard someone clapping.
Instantly turning his head toward the sound, he pointed the sword at a woman and asked, “Are you one of them?”
The woman in question came out of the shadows, yet still hiding her face behind a veil. “No. I am their enemy. By looking at you, I can guess you too want to watch them bleed. The enemy of the Gods and Drowned. How about I lend you a hand in achieving that revenge, that will fulfill you?” Sie extended her hand toward the man, who stared at her for a moment. He then tried to look her in the eyes, but was unable to see them.
“I already paid a price; might as well go deeper.” He stuck the sword in the ground and grabbed the woman’s hand.