Tessia & Cecilia: The Duality

5. He is Alive

Hundreds of blood-curdling red eyes stared at me as one of the creatures stepped closer, revealing its features. It was a black... ant? The creature looked like an ant, but it was bipedal, making it a head taller than me. The body of the creature was oleaginous, and its mandibles looked like two amethyst swords, teethed on the inside, protruding from the sides of its grotesque mouth. Its arms and legs were thin but they radiated the same amethyst glow which made them appear menacing.

It came closer, close enough that its sharp mandibles were swaying over my head. I was frozen, petrified when a shriek erupted from its throat and was followed by those of other ants nearby. The mandibles of the ants began clattering as the ant in front of me raised its hand high in preparation to crush me to death.

'Cecilia! Move!!', Tessia screamed in my head, snapping me out of my daze.

In a panic, I dove out of its arm's path and fell to the ground. A man-sized crater had formed around the spot where I stood, sending my heart into a violent frenzy as I turned to see it. My eyes widened in bewilderment, and I found myself struggling to breathe every passing moment.

Ha...ah Is this the end? Was I reincarnated here just to die again like this? Did I deserve a worse death? Will this be my real end?

I watched as the ant turned its head ferociously toward me while a sharper shrill rung from its throat. What will happen to me after I die?

'Pull yourself together Cecilia!!', Tessia screamed again, 'Take your sword out! Use Mana!!'

"Argh! What am I doing?" I growled through gritted teeth, biting my lip and drawing blood. I cannot allow myself to die here. She would perish if I were to die here. I have to fight.

I suffused mana into my dimension ring, however, as a result of my inexperience in mana manipulation, I felt some of it being lost into the atmosphere.

A sword appeared in my hand.

The sword and my body began to shimmer with mana as I took a deep breath. Nico explained this process to me when I was learning about mana, I haven't mastered it yet, but it will do for now.

As I stood back up, I saw the ant charging towards me at a breakneck pace. Bringing my sword to block another one of its crushing hand swings, I channeled more mana into my arms and shoulders.

In the instant my blade struck its arm, a shockwave swept through my body, creating a crater underneath my legs. As I grunted, I quickly pulled the sword back and thrust it into the ant, just below its head.

The ant squeaked, slumping down, losing the strength in its limbs.

I did it? Wasn't that har-

Just when I felt relieved, the ant ferociously tipped its head, glaring at me with bloodthirsty eyes. My eyes widened in terror as my ears pounded from the blood pumping. How is it alive?

As the creature lashed at my head with its sword-like mandibles, I performed a center split and dodged the mandible. This presented a good opportunity and I used my sword to slash through its leg, but the sword stopped abruptly as if it had struck a rock.

"What?!" I groaned in frustration.

'That amethyst glow... Cecilia, there is no use attacking the parts with the amethyst glow. Attack the dull parts.' Tessia commanded.

As Tessia suggested, I forced mana out of my hands, aiming for the ant's abdomen which didn't emit any amethyst glow. Ants' clatter dimmed as the earth rumbled and a buzz filled the air. Suddenly a huge wave of mana exploded from my core, crushing the ant in front of me along with some others standing nearby.