Small change, flash step will now change to Shunpo :D
...
"We are nearing the helm. Once inside, do as I say."
Shadowheart scoffed. "Who put you in charge? I'll trust my own judgment, thanks."
Lae'zel's eyes narrowed into slits. "Tch. Kainyank."
Fin didn't stop. "Save it. You can slit each other's throats after we're off the damn ship."
They burst through the next sphincter-door as it peeled back with a wet hiss, revealing the chamber of the helm. The air hit them; hot, acrid, thick with ozone and blood. Dead mind flayers and scattered imp corpses lay across the floor, limbs twisted, ichor bubbling where it dripped.
But it wasn't over.
At the far end of the chamber, a blast of flame knocked one of the mind flayers across the wall, its limp body steaming as it collapsed.
A cambion landed hard in its place, wings flaring, blade glowing with infernal heat.
"Avernus is ours!" it roared, voice ringing through the mind.
The remaining mind flayer spotted the newcomers. Its head twisted, tendrils curling.
Connection.
Fin winced as the voice entered his skull like a blade.
Thrall. Connect the nerves of the transponder. We must escape. Now.
His eyes flicked toward the other side of the room, an organic console pulsing with violet light and twitching tentacles.
Lae'zel was already moving. "Do it. We'll deal with the ghaik once we're free!"
She let out a battle cry and sprinted toward one of the infernal hogs that had charged into the fray. Her blade crashed against the creature's hide, sparks flying—but it barely flinched.
A fireball erupted nearby, exploding across the floor in a wave of heat. Lae'zel staggered, cursing as the blast singed her arm.
Shadowheart raised a hand.
"Flarga"
Radiant energy exploded from her palm, striking the imp that had flung the spell. Its body convulsed midair, then dropped to the ground, a smouldering husk.
Fin ducked low as a crossbow bolt flew past his cheek.
He didn't stop.
One step—then two—then he leapt.
His foot caught the imp in the chest with a crack, sending it reeling. He landed atop it, fists already flying.
One.
Two.
Three.
Each strike laced with cursed energy, coiling around his knuckles. The imp didn't rise again.
Then, he sensed a shift.
Fin looked up.
At the centre of the helm chamber, a figure stood tall, twice their height, with red skin and burning eyes. Wings stretched behind him like a cloak. His sword crackled with unholy fire.
The cambion commander.
Fin's jaw tightened.
"So that's the main one, aye?"
Two more camouflages stepped from the smoke beside him. Imps filled in the gaps. A defensive wall of claws and flame.
The mind flayer raised a hand.
Another psionic blast rippled through the room, sending several imps sprawling. Their shrieks echoed off the metal-flesh walls.
'Us' darted between fallen corpses. It sprang onto an imp, claws tearing through its skull with a sickening crunch. Ichor splashed across the floor.
Lae'zel snarled, recovering from her earlier burn. She launched herself at the commander.
Her blade met his.
Steel rang out, fire licked across her gauntlet, but she pressed forward. The cambion sneered, slamming his flaming blade into hers, the impact throwing sparks in all directions. Lae'zel's feet grinded against the ground, jaw clenched tight. Each strike came heavier than the last, as if the hellfire itself lent weight to the bastard's swings.
Fin ducked as an imp lunged at him, claws flashing. He twisted to the side, one hand raised lazily, forearm meeting the creature's wrist mid-strike. It hissed, frustrated, as its claws failed to land even a scratch.
Still, Fin didn't counter. Not yet.
He glanced over at Lae'zel, who was still locked with the commander, her blade catching blow after blow. Sparks danced across her armour. Her teeth were bared in a snarl.
"Hey!" Fin called out. "Switch with me!"
Lae'zel snarled without looking. "What?!"
"You're getting pushed back. Let me take him."
"Out of the question," she snapped. "You fight with your hands like some deranged monk, no blade, no armour. He'll burn through you in seconds."
The imp lunged again. Fin's fingers flicked up, redirecting it with minimal movement. He didn't even look at it.
"I'll be fine," he said. "Trust me."
Lae'zel twisted to glance at him now, insulted more than concerned. "You are nothing but a half-naked, filthy little man! Do not presume to fight a commander of the Hells..."
Fwsshhh!
A firebolt screamed through the air.
Lae'zel's eyes widened, but it was too late. The bolt slammed into her side, throwing her off her feet with a burst of scorching flame. She hit the floor with a grunt, rolling once before coming to a stop.
Fin's eyes tracked the bolt before it even launched. Observation Haki flared in the back of his mind, the intent clear before the attack even left the cambion's fingertips.
His body was already moving.
The imp beside him barely got a screech out.
Fin's hand swept forward, palm slicing through the air.
A black cut appeared down the imp's chest. Thin. Clean. Deep.
Dismantle.
Schlick—CRACK!
The imp split apart, not with a scream, but a quiet pop as its body separated cleanly down the centre, eyes frozen in place, mouth still open. Two halves hit the ground with twin thuds.
Fin vanished.
One step, no, a flash.
Shunpo.
He reappeared beside Lae'zel mid-fall, catching her before she hit the jagged plating behind her.
Her body was scorched, armour blackened in patches, but she was breathing.
Fin set her down gently, brushing a burned strand of hair from her brow.
"You alright?" he asked, voice low.
Lae'zel's eyes fluttered open. Her expression was equal parts pain and disbelief.
"You… moved like-"
"Yeah. I know."
He turned, rising to his full height.
The cambion stood tall in the firelight, smug and unbothered.
Fin exhaled slowly, lifting his right hand, still glowing faintly with cursed energy. He flexed his fingers once, then brought both arms up in a low, open stance.
The robe he wore fluttered behind him. The helm shook again. Ash rained from the cracked ceiling above.
Shadowheart stared across the battlefield from behind a fallen console.
"…What are you?" she whispered.
Fin didn't answer.
Fin exhaled slowly, lifting his right hand, his fists glowing faintly with cursed energy. He flexed his fingers once, then brought both arms up in a low, open stance.
Across the chamber, Shadowheart snarled as an imp lunged for her flank. She pivoted, slamming her shield into its face with a crunch of cartilage and bone. As the imp reeled, she brought her mace down, collapsing its skull in a single brutal swing.
Ichor sprayed across the floor. She didn't flinch.
Her eyes darted toward Lae'zel, still slumped near the wall. Without hesitation, she raised a hand with the mace, whispering a quick incantation.
A soft turquoise light bloomed across Lae'zel's armour, knitting seared flesh and cracked bone in gentle pulses. The githyanki groaned faintly, but colour was already returning to her cheeks.
"You're welcome," Shadowheart muttered under her breath.
But Fin didn't look away from the cambion.
The demon stood there, sword at his side, idly playing with the long black strands of his wild beard. His eyes gleamed with analytical amusement, as if this entire conflict were a joke, an inconvenience beneath his notice.
Fin's fingers twitched.
"Let's experiment," he said, voice quiet but clear.
A line cut the air between them.
Dismantle.
It hit the cambion dead centre, streaking across his torso from shoulder to hip. The skin across his chest tore slightly. Just a surface gash. Barely deeper than a paper cut.
A small bead of blood ran down his red flesh, hissing as it touched the infernal fire clinging to his armour.
The cambion looked down at it, then back up at Fin.
He laughed.
A low, echoing sound full of amusement.
Fin's head tilted slightly. His eyes narrowed—not from fear, but focus.
"…Mh, so I didn't put enough cursed energy into that one," he murmured to himself.
He flexed his fingers again, readjusting his stance. His expression was neutral. Calm.
He stepped forward once more, barefoot against the slick metal-flesh floor.
No panic. No fear.
Just an observation.
The cambion smirked, embers licking across his blade as he raised it.
"You wound me," he said, voice like coals grinding together. "Barely."
Fin rolled his neck.
"Let's see how deep I need to go, then."
The cambion surged forward, blade erupting with flame, heat waves distorting the air around him.
He swung, a horizontal arc meant to cleave Fin in two.
But Fin was already gone.
One step. One breath. His body tilted back at the perfect angle, the burning blade missing by inches as it hissed through the space his neck had been.
He didn't flinch.
Instead, he straightened and looked the cambion dead in the eye.
"How much do you think it'll take?" Fin asked.
The cambion sneered. "What?"
"To cut through you," Fin clarified, voice smooth, almost gentle. "10% of my cursed energy reserves? 30? How much?"
The cambion's eyes narrowed.
"Are you delirious?" he growled. "You speak madness, mortal."
Fin's grin twitched wider. His pupils narrowed, mad and calculating.
"Maybe," he said softly.
Then he screamed.
"LET'S FIND OUT!"
His arm whipped outwards in a diagonal arc, his fingers extended.
Dismantle!
The room split with a thunderous CRACK.
A tearing line, massive and fast, like the stroke of a giant's blade carved from midnight. It roared across the helm chamber in a wide diagonal, trailing black sparks and pressure like a descending executioner's blade.
It struck the cambion first, as it formed a massive cut line against the wall of the nautiloid.
This time, he staggered.
The slash ripped through his chest from shoulder to opposite hip. Not a clean cut—but deep. Bone-deep. A rent in his armour. A trail of dark blood hissed against his infernal skin.
He grimaced.
But the cut hadn't completely stopped him.
Behind the cambion, three imps had been mid-air, wings spread wide in preparation for another dive.
They were sliced cleanly, top to bottom.
No scream. No resistance.
They split apart midair, chunks of meat hitting the ground with wet thumps.
Worse still, one of the hellboars, charging from the rear with molten tusks lowered, was caught at the base of the attack.
Its legs vanished beneath it.
The upper half of the beast flopped forward with a splatter, skidding across the floor, twitching once before going still.
Smoke rose in curling tendrils.
Fin's hand lowered, breath heavy, shoulders rising and falling with raw force.
His eyes were still wide. Still grinning.
"…Closer," he muttered.
The cambion stared at him now, less amused, more wary.
For the first time, he raised his sword in a guarded stance, stepping back slightly.
"You are… not normal."
Fin's grin widened. "I guess you could say that."
Shadowheart stood frozen at the edge of the room, her mace halfway raised, mouth slightly parted in stunned disbelief. The imp she'd been chasing was already dead, a result of Fin's recent dismantling, and she hadn't even noticed when.
Lae'zel, leaning against the wall, blinked as the turquoise glow of healing faded from her chest.
"…Kshak," she whispered under her breath.
Suddenly, the sphincter door opened once again, and two more cambions appeared, wings flaring. Their eyes scanned the room, locking onto Lae'zel and Shadowheart.
Lae'zel bared her teeth, already moving.
"Tch! More vermin."
She pushed herself off the wall and rushed toward one of the newcomers, blade raised, fury renewed.
Shadowheart raised her shield, stepped forward beside the githyanki, and conjured a ward of radiant energy. "I've got your back!"
'Us' skittered ahead, claws clicking eagerly as it leapt to intercept the second cambion, gnashing its teeth with eager madness. The wounded mind flayer, face twitching with strain, turned and moved to flank the same target, its psionic aura pulsing violently.
Fin barely registered the chaos behind him.
His eyes were still on the commander.
His hand flexed once.
Twice.
He inhaled slowly.
Then grimaced.
'That last one… drained more than expected.'
His reserves weren't bottomed out, but that slash had chewed a bigger chunk than he wanted to admit. It was the price of going big without discipline.
'So that's what it takes just to scratch a mid-tier hellspawn. It puts into perspective the monster Sukuna really was. I need to improve my efficiency nonetheless.'
The commander was still breathing.
Still standing.
His eyes burned hotter now. Not out of pride, but out of the realisation that Fin was a problem.
Fin rolled his neck. The sound cracked loudly.
"Alright," he muttered. "Let's do this the old-fashioned way."
He dropped into a low stance. Fists raised. One foot slides slightly across the floor.
No blade. No spell.
Just hands.
The cambion bared his fangs, recognising the gesture. "You mock me? You think your mortal fists can finish what that pathetic magic could not?"
Fin didn't answer.
His hand shot forward, palm out.
Igni.
A blast of fire erupted point-blank, roaring straight into the cambion's face. The flames washed over the demon's skin, doing little to harm, but that had never been the point.
The cambion snarled and staggered, eyes momentarily blinded by the sudden bloom of light and heat. His sword raised defensively, but the fire's glare danced across his vision, throwing his sense of distance off for a precious second.
Fin moved.
Now.
He didn't rush in recklessly. He glided.
Feet silent on the trembling floor, he slid in with the precision of a practised blade. Kali wasn't about brute strength
His left shoulder dipped.
Then;
Crack.
A hammering elbow struck the cambion's ribcage, folding the plated armour inward with a sick crunch.
Before the commander could react, Fin's body pivoted sideways, knees bent low, hips twisting.
The rhythm snapped into place.
A lightning-quick forearm parried the cambion's blind counter-swing. His other hand followed instantly with a sharp slap against the creature's wrist; deflect and redirect. Then came a diagonal chop to the clavicle, cursed energy lacing his strike just enough to penetrate resistance.
The cambion roared and tried to retaliate with a thrust of his flaming blade.
But Fin had already stepped inside its arc.
Kali Close-Form.
He trapped the cambion's arm under his own, twisted his hips, and-
SLAM!
Drove his palm into the side of the creature's jaw with crushing force.
The blow echoed. The cambion reeled, blood and spittle flinging from his mouth.
Fin didn't stop.
His left foot shot forward, sweeping low. The cambion's leg buckled.
Fin caught him mid-fall with a rising elbow to the chin, then spun—both fists now glowing faintly black—and struck with twin hammer fists down across the cambion's shoulders.
Boom!
The commander crashed to the ground, his blade skidding away in a burst of sparks.
Fin stood over him now, breathing steadily, arms relaxed but ready.
The firelight danced across his face, eyes wide, not with rage, but with thrill. Focus. Mastery.
The cambion growled, dazed and bloodied.
"You... fight like a demon."
Fin raised a brow, voice calm.
"No."
His fists clenched.
"I fight like me."
The cambion raised his arm to block.
Too slow.
Fin's fist crashed into his gut, folding him forward with a retch of blood.
Another strike, hook to the ribs. Crack.
The cambion twisted, blade forgotten. Hands came up sluggishly, more reflex than intention.
A knee shot up into his jaw. The impact snapped his head back.
Then another punch.
And another.
And another.
Fin didn't stop.
Didn't blink.
His arms moved on instinct, no thought required, just motion, precision bred from violence.
Left elbow. Pivot. Knee. Open-palm strike. Twist. Backfist. Stomp.
He wasn't fighting anymore. He was operating.
The cambion tried to raise a guard again—but Fin's fist shattered through it, sending his arm flopping uselessly to the side.
Now it was one-sided.
Strike after strike, punishment after punishment.
The cambion reeled with each hit, stumbling on unsteady feet, his once-confident sneer gone. His armour was dented, his skin bruised black beneath infernal red. He threw a desperate claw, but Fin caught it and drove an elbow down on the wrist with a snap.
Breathing deep now, Fin stepped forward again.
The cambion could barely stand.
But Fin's body, it was electric.
He felt the flow.
Each movement came without resistance. No hesitation. No gaps.
Fin dropped low, curled his fist and shot upward into an uppercut that aimed clean for the cambion's jaw.
And in that moment, space itself cracked.
A shockwave rippled outward from the impact point, not of sound or pressure, but of distortion.
The cursed energy around Fin's fist twisted unnaturally, condensing with impossible precision.
Black.
FLASH!
BOOOOOM!
The cambion's head snapped backward violently, before separating from its body as it was sent flying into the ceiling.
A spiral of black lightning arced around the blow, not like cursed energy, but like reality itself was reacting.
A brief silence followed.
The camvion's headless body fell to the ground, dropping its flaming sword. His body slumped forward in a heap.
Fin stood in the centre of the room, hand still raised from the strike, cursed energy flickering faintly around his fingertips like tiny black sparks.
He blinked once.
Twice.
Breathed in—
And exhaled.
Then he felt it.
Everything around him slowed. His thoughts were sharper. Finer. A thread of understanding tied each movement together. He could feel the exact weight of the air, the pressure in his muscles, the motion of his next ten moves without needing to think about them.
He lowered his hand slowly.
"…So that's what it feels like," he whispered with a small giggle.
Shadowheart stared from across the room, frozen mid-spell, her lips slightly parted in stunned disbelief.
Lae'zel clutched her blade tightly, watching him now not as an acquaintance, but something else.
Then he reached down and grabbed the cambion's sword.
The blade still burned, ember-red and licking with residual hellfire, but Fin didn't flinch. His cursed energy surged through his arm.
Then twisted, blue streaks crawled across the steel as cursed energy flooded into it.
He spun the sword once in his grip, eyes locked on one of the remaining cambions still duelling Lae'zel across the room.
Then he pelted it.
A blur of steel tore through the air and struck the second cambion dead centre in the back.
The cursed-enhanced flame sword erupted through its chest like a cannon blast. The demon barely had time to scream before the cursed energy detonated inside its body, splitting it apart in a burst of blood, flame, and smoking ash.
Thud.
Its corpse hit the floor, twitching once.
Fin blinked in disbelief—then let out a high, breathless laugh.
"Heh—hahah… HAAAHAAAHAAAHAA!"
He bent slightly at the knees, hands braced on them, laughing harder now, breath coming in wild, sharp bursts like he'd just told himself the best joke in the universe.
"Ohhh shit, I actually hit a Black Flash?! First time? Really? I was aiming for a jaw!"
Still laughing, he began to skip toward the transponder on the far end of the room, each step giddy and light like he was weightless, arms swinging loosely, sending out smaller oneshots to the lingering imps and hellsboars coming for him.
"This is insane! This is so stupid! Ohhhh, this is what power feels like?! It's so stupid!"
Behind him, the final cambion let out a shriek and lunged at Lae'zel, blade raised for one last desperate strike.
Lae'zel snarled and parried the swing with a brutal upward arc, her blade glancing off his with a metallic screech.
Shadowheart appeared behind the demon with a sudden crack of divine light, mace raised, and slammed it into the back of the cambion's skull.
CRACK!
The creature dropped, lifeless.
Lae'zel exhaled, stepping back as Shadowheart brushed ash off her pauldrons.
Then came the shift.
Us… twitched.
Lae'zel turned in time to see the intellect devourer's claws rising.
"Traitor!" she shouted.
Before she could react, the mind flayer struck too, its tendrils glowing with psionic force.
A blast of mental energy knocked both women backward, Shadowheart tumbling over a console, Lae'zel grunting as her armour sparked against the floor.
The mind flayer advanced, tentacles writhing, eyes pulsing with malice.
"You are no longer of use," it said, voice echoing in their heads like a thousand whispered knives.
But Fin had already reached the transponder.
Still laughing, still drunk off power, he reached down and grabbed the twitching tentacles protruding from the console.
"Ali, you better anchor me."
Her voice flickered beside him, full of wary awe.
"You're lucky I like crazy." She smiled.
Fin grinned like a man possessed.
He pulled.
The tentacles writhed and shuddered as they latched into place.
And then—
The ship screamed.
The entire Nautiloid vibrated violently, the walls pulsing as if choking. The ground beneath their feet began to twist and flex. Red-hot lights across the ceiling flared with unnatural energy. A rumble echoed deep within the core of the vessel.
Outside, the battlefield of Avernus rippled and folded, space beginning to warp and fracture around the helm chamber.
Lae'zel looked up from the floor, eyes wide. "He's, he's activating it!"
Shadowheart staggered to her feet. "We're leaving?! Now?!"
Fin just grinned at them both, standing at the centre of the vibrating console like some mad prophet of destruction.
"You better hold onto something!"
The light surged.
Reality peeled.
And the Nautiloid tore out of Avernus in a howling burst of void-light and dimensional force.
...
[End of Chapter]
KOKUSEN!!!