Starbound Awakening

At the same time all of this was happening, Aiden and Valeria were facing off against the blade null in another part of the horde.

The blade null was way more nimble and faster than the other nulls, coupled with the multiple blades that grew on every part of its body. It was a real threat, and it was no surprise that Valeria and Aiden, who had just recently evolved, were unable to handle it.

Valeria and Aiden were on either side of the null, both of their swords in their hands. The soulless eyes of the blade null landed on Valeria. It wasn't looking at her; rather, it was looking at the golden energy emanating from her sword.

As said before, the nulls were attracted to life force, and it was like the energy that was coming off Valeria's sword was in more ways than one related to life force.

On this note, it wasn't just the blade null looking at her, but the other nulls in the surrounding area were staggering towards her.

Without wasting any time, the blade null lunged at Valeria, the blades in its hand extending to almost two feet. Using her strength, Valeria managed to parry the attack, sending the null flying into the air, but she was also pushed back a few feet.

Aiden wanted to take this chance to land a blow on the blade null, but before he had any chance to move, one of the nulls held his leg in a tight grip, and he could feel the life force draining from him at a slow pace.

With a calm expression, Aiden waved his hand as multiple black feathers appeared, impaling the null. Aiden swung down the oversized blade like feather in his hand, cutting off the head of the null.

Aiden turned his attention back to the sky, but he saw that Valeria and the blade null were already battling it out.

The battle was fierce.

The blade null was a whole lot stronger than Valeria, so facing the null alone was very hard for her. This explained why Valeria had been on the back foot since the start of the battle.

Aiden wanted to help her out, but the nulls attacking him never seemed to stop, and he had no chance to help out Valeria.

With a loud boom, Valeria crashed into the ground, forming a crater on the ground where she landed. Seeing this, Aiden increased the intensity of his attacks on the null, one strike killing no less than five nulls.

The blade null landed on Valeria and started slashing its sword at her face. But even while weak, Valeria managed to block the attacks of the null.

It was at this point that Veyron, his hand glowing with some kind of brown energy, punched away a null coming towards Aiden.

"Don't worry, Vice, we'll handle things here. Go help her out," Veyron said, smiling slightly at Aiden. Aiden looked towards him with contemplation on his face, but ultimately nodded his head a few minutes later.

With that, his gaze landed on Valeria and the blade null. With a wave of his hand, ten navy blue feathers appeared hovering around him. He waved his hand once again as the feather flew towards the blade, null at unimaginable speeds.

The blade sensed something coming towards it at alarming speeds, but by the time it decided to get out of the way, it was too late.

The butt of the first feather hit it, making it head sway a little. There was no time for it to regain its composure as multiple feathers hit it on the head with the strength of a sledgehammer.

By the tenth feather, the blade null was sent crashing into one of the walls nearby.

Aiden quickly ran to Valeria and helped her up.

"Heal up, I'll hold it back," Aiden said as two feathers appeared in his hand.

His attention was back on the blade null. With an exertion of his will, two long, sharp feather-like swords appeared in both of his hands. He pushed against the ground and flew towards the blade null with a burst of speed, his feather blade crashing down on the body of the null.

As the sharp feather was about to land on the head of the null, a blade came out of the head of the null, parrying the attack.

His first feather was parried, but that didn't mean that the second one was also parried. Without a change in expression, Aiden swung the second sword towards the neck of the null. But the same thing happened, a blade came out of the neck of the null, parrying Aiden's attack.

The null seemed to be angry as its eyes narrowed and multiple blades extended out of its body, reaching almost two feet in length.

Aiden had to quickly jump back to gain some space, but he wasn't fast enough as some of the blades managed to hit him, drawing some blood. He clenched his jaw, bearing the pain as he sent three feathers flying towards the blade null.

It was hard controlling more than one feather, because Aiden felt like he was splitting his brain since it needed all his focus to control just one feather, and doing it for a long time could lead to pain in his head.

But he had to bear all this now. The three feathers were relentlessly attacking the null, while Aiden slowly approached the null.

Nulls were supposed to lack expressions, but Aiden could see the frustration in the eyes of this particular null as it fought against him.

The aura on the body of the null increased as its body started hardening, the metal sheen of the blades spreading to every part of its body. The blades all around its body retracted, but Aiden couldn't help but think that the null was way stronger now.

The null raised his head to look at Aiden, and Aiden suddenly felt a sense of dread, as if he didn't do something now, he was going to die. Aiden didn't know when it happened, but he suddenly raised his two feather swords in an X position in front of him.

Almost immediately, the null appeared in front of him and swung its hand. Its hand was initially empty, but in that split second, a blade materialized. The attack hit Aiden's hand, the impact sending him flying. But the null wasn't done.

It didn't let Aiden land as it shot after Aiden, appearing in front of him in a flash. It swung down its hand, and once again, in a split second, a blade materialized.

Aiden felt pain like never before, the bones in his hand shattered, and some bones even sticking out of his skin. The feather swords in his hand shattered as they couldn't withstand the strength of the null's attack.

Aiden landed on the ground, a crater forming where he had landed. The null landed on the ground with a bang, a few meters away from Aiden slowly walking towards him. Aiden could feel it; he was going to die now.

In a last-ditch attempt to save his life, he materialized a feather and shot it at the blade null. But as if swatting a fly, it swatted the feather away, shattering it before it could disappear.

His life began to flash before his eyes, and the sense of death became stronger. He could not fight, and he knew it, so he resigned to his fate. The null now close enough swung its hand down, planning to kill Aiden.

That was until a powerful golden light appeared between the null and him in a flash, and the null was sent flying into the air, while he was sent skidding across the ground.

Looking up at what could have happened, he saw Valeria fully healed with a golden aura covering her body. Even though he wasn't close, he could feel the warm aura coming off Valeria.

Just from being this far away from her, he could feel the wounds on his body healing, even though it was at a slow pace.

'She became stronger... but she was very injured, how did she become so powerful again?' Aiden was trying to think.

But one thing was clear, even though she had become stronger, the null had also become way stronger, so fighting the null with unconfirmed strength could lead to her death if she wasn't careful.

"Valeria, run away or you'll be killed, that null isn't something that you can handle," Aiden shouted at the top of his lungs, ignoring the pain that came in waves, and tried to get up, but his body failed him.

However, Valeria just turned around and gave him an assuring smile. Aiden didn't know why, but after seeing that smile, there was some sort of calm in his heart, as if he was sure that she could handle it.

And there was nothing he could do; he was too far away from them, and too weak to help.

Meanwhile, seeing that Aiden was safe, Valeria turned her attention to the blade null. It had already recovered and seemed ready to fight.