"Why don't you use the chains?" The Pirate asked, even it could tell how indispensable they were to Mike, and how powerful, so it was odd that he hadn't utilized them for combat.
Mike didn't understand a lick of what it said, but it saw its eyes trail to those crimson chains.
He stood up, and took a deep breath. Radiance infused air streamed out of his nostrils, and his chains curved outward, taking an offensive stance.
He leaped, finding new strength and drive. The chains jutting by his left shoulder stabbed the ground, and threw him upwards, and he flipped in the air, and brought his radiant sword down with him.
"Flashy and new, but not enough. " The pirate held up his sword, blocking the blow. It bounced Mike off with as little as a weak swing. He was not going to stop there; crazy were the things a cornered prey could do.
He sent forward a punch with his free left hand, and this time, it was not a wind attack that jutted from his arm, but a blast of flashy radiance. The blast struck the pirate's sword, and burst to a thousand embers, momentarily disorienting the pirate.
Mike gripped his new radiant sword with both hands, and keeping his distance, he thrust it, and a blast of radiance surged from it and zoomed to the pirate.
With a downwards strike, the pirate cleanly sliced the blast into two, and they struck its sides, exploding upon impact.
"You are going to waste your radiance that way."
The pirate let out a sigh, and then stabbed the gold floor with its sword. At first, Mike thought it had given up, but upon seeing the trail of black that poured from it, and was trailing to him, he knew better.
He leaped meters high and away, and when he landed, he fell face flat on the ground, huffing and puffing. He might have so much radiance than should be impossible of one of his caliber, but his stamina was greatly lacking. He had been fighting this nigh invincible monster for over ten minutes and the fatigue had cumulated.
'I cannot give up now. Not here, not while I'm oblivious to everything surrounding my appearance here. No!' A complete opposite train of thought as to when he was cornered by the dwarves. His radiance boosted the walls of his mind and made him as hard as steel.
"I think I was hoping for too much." A look of disappointment was the creature's face as it walked to Mike. It got right above him quicker than Mike expected, and he could feel its overbearing presence right atop him. Its radiance was so hollow, and bleak, like it sought to corrupt and feed on all that neared it. A diseased hunger.
It stretched its arm down, its hand well open, and then it gripped one of the crimson chains. It was hoping to yank it out but it stilled upon contact and a black energy streamed from it to Mike.
"Ahhhhh!" The man cried. He wailed in great pain. This radiance was not invigorating nor inebriating as those he had drunk, no, it felt like it ate into him, and the pain he felt was almost indescribable.
The pirate's red eyes flickered in intensity, dimming and flaring, and its sword stood still in its grip.
The aura about Mike got flooded by an introduction of the dark radiance. Unlike when he had tapped into radiant beasts and dwarves' radiance, aside from the pain that accompanied this one, there were also memories—memories of the creature when it still lived, when it was just but a pirating giant.
Contempt, hate, rage and pain.
He looked to his hands, and saw that they were milky white, and large. These were not his hands, nor were the boots his, but he was oddly calm. He was the tallest man on the ship, and around him, long-eared wicked looking humans ran about—elves. There was a crisis, a magical beast was attacking their ship, and it was not just the beast, but also two figures standing obscurely far away watching the chaos unfold. Their silhouettes revealed that they were not creatures he was familiar with, and he was frightened.
The great Ahjarus Gadithud—the most feared pirate in the seas was afraid.
The radiant beast looked like a compound creature, a mosaic of different beasts writhing in flames. Technically speaking, it was no radiant beast, its radiance was too unstable and unnatural, and the giant pirate had known radiant beasts all over the three hundred years he had lived.
The face was like that of a lion with a large black mane coated with hellish flames, its body was like that of a great predator bird—terribly massive, and on its large span of wings jutted out fire breathing snakes.
Ahjarus held his steel greatsword up at the beast, and he cried, "Strike!" Alerting his archers to release another round of arrows. But, every arrow burnt up before striking the flaming chimera.
It was its turn.
It huffed, its large chest expanding to twice its original size, and it puffed out a great flame.
Only darkness came after, and Mike opened his eyes to see his current nightmare unmoving and leaning on him. Its eye sockets were devoid of the red lights that told of life, and its large bones crumbled away.
Mike was still, the process was gothic, and he watched as the last bits of the creature broke down to dust.
Then the room quaked