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Sentinel excerpt (The sheer difference)

The sheer difference

Excerpt from Sentinel. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Haaa- ah!"

A violent burst of power surged within Jed's body. It was a pulsating, malevolent wave of malice, one so powerful that the surrounding sands beneath his feet rippled outwards. It was so intense, that the clouds in the sky were being repelled. It was painful to merely look at him, let alone stand next to him.

Jed clenched his fists and lowered his body into a battle stance, facing Cozy.

And yet, Cozy was not flinching. His eyes were not impressed in the slightest, but rather, his face had twisted into a frown.

"... Is this an insult?"

"What?" Jed widened his eyes in shock.

He had produced a ridiculous power, a power beyond what a normal human can reach. He had displayed power that could flip elephants with a single finger, power that could crumble the toughest walls and dent shields made of iron with a mere flick. Power that could destroy a whole castle gate had he punched. He had literally went "all-out" as Cozy had requested, yet he was not impressed in the slightest, but was instead angered?

"Is that supposed to be an expression of 'I can definitely defeat you, so I can afford to waste my energy and power on my surroundings'? I think you're underestimating a Sentinel's capabilities."

Cozy signaled the owl resting on his shoulder to go away, to which the four plumes above its brows wore off, and the owl's body, made of a translucent, orange material, turned into an orange fog before disappearing into the atmosphere.

"..." Jed could only hold his words back.

He did not know how to reply.

All his life, he had relied on this tremendous, Herculean power. He was revered a hero to his people, and a terror to his enemies, and none of them had a contradiction as to his power. Yet, this boy wearing old, tattered clothes was accusing him of leaking power into the air.

It was similar to an AI being asked a question it was not made to answer.

"I shall show you the sheer difference between us. Mine, the Origin of Power, against yours, the Deviation of Power. Brace yourself, muscled fool."

Cozy raised his hand and pointed it towards Jed.

In the next instant, there was an orange veil around Cozy.

Or, rather, the air around Cozy turned orange.

That was not quite right neither, for a fierce wind was blowing from Jed, yet the orange cloud around him did not seem to be carried by the wind. It wasn't affected at all.

"... Yämos."

The orange "mass" around Cozy seeped behind him and formed a huge being, one which looks like a very, very large ape.

"Früðl."

It consolidated and formed what seems to be a hulking giant, with a humongous upper torso and arms and a significantly smaller lower torso, resembling a gorilla, except the hands' width and the arm's width were equal. For a face, the orange mass had a wall with 17 blocks of what appears to be translucent, orange material shaped into cuboid stones.

"Behold... Hrödingär."

The huge giant grabbed Cozy with a speed that betrays its inertia, and pushed him into the huge bulk of orange translucent mass. The monster, with Cozy present within itself, seemed to "grow" - Its body rippled with a strange, undulating motion, and its whole body expanded proportionally.

Cozy resurfaced on the head, or rather, the dome of the giant, with only his feet still inside the giant, locked and rooted tight. In his hands, out of nowhere, came a orange pole, which he raised above his head, and expanded to a giant size. With ease, he dropped the huge orange pillar in front of him, which the giant catched.

With another orange pole in his hands again, he placed his right arm holding the pole behind his back and twisted his body so his left would face Jed, in a defensive stance. The giant grabbed the orange pillar with two hands, and held it in a stance that seemed to imply it knew bojutsu.

An orange giant with a young man standing on its head, was supposed to be an embodiment of the 'fear' humans feel...

... Jed could only clench his fists tighter, and run toward the hulking beast.

*** ***

Eight seconds has passed since Jed took his first step forward, against the Sentinel.

A splatter of blood underneath a giant's foot was all that remained of Jed. The force had been so great that the soft sands beneath their feet was not enough to even cushion the tremendous force partially.

His bones and every body part has been squished to a fine mess the colour of ketchup, its purity tainted only by the sands mixing into the syrupy remains of what was once Jed.