Point-of-View: Fuo Wesroh

  ———————————————————————————


  My blade sliced through the air……and made contact with his neck, piercing through his skin and starting to slash into his throat……when suddenly, he reached up with both hands and grabbed the blade, which cut into his palms. It's no use, it'll just slice through his hands along with his neck, so……before I could finish my thought, the blade shattered into tiny pieces, his left eye opening as it finished healing, blazing with rage and fury.

  Right, he can use Alchemic Magic. His right eye then opened as well, as he grabbed my throat, deflecting my tail away with his own as I swung it up at his eyes. Damn it……suddenly, I got sent flying back with immense force, crashing onto a building and severely cracking the wall as I let out a gasp of pain and coughed out blood, the impact traveling through my body like a shockwave.

  Was the Repulsion? Before I could think, I felt myself being pulled towards him rapidly, as he grabbed me by the throat again and slammed my onto the ground on my back, before grabbing my hair and lifting me up.

  "I'm gonna enjoy killing you……you were a big reason in why I failed to kill Kuro before, so this is payback……I'm gonna obliterate your head," He remarked with an icy smirk, before his grip suddenly weakened as a slash of wind struck his back, dropping me to the ground again.

  "Th-that wasn't me," Selesa stuttered nervously, as he turned around with a glare, before she got sent flying back as he struck her with Repulsion and sent her crashing onto a wall, losing consciousness.

  "What a nuisance," He growled, before turning back to me, reaching down to grab hold of me again.

  My artificial moonlight has almost faded, but that won't be a problem since the moon will be out soon……but once I use up the solar energy in my body, I won't be able to absorb any more……and absorbing lunar energy into my body doesn't give me any strength or speed boost, it multiples my Mana recovery rate by five and lets me sense Mana around me in a one kilometer radius……which is useful, but not exactly helpful in a fight.

  I won't be able to match him for much longer……so, instead……

  I swiftly formed an ice blade and whipped it up towards him, forcing him to spring back to avoid it, the blade grazing him slightly. And then, I got back onto my feet as fast as I could, took aim while he was still on the move and therefore unable to evade as well as he normally would be able to, and fired out all the remaining solar energy in me in one powerful beam, striking him before he could evade or use Teleport……it was too bright for me to see, but I could tell that I'd definitely made contact, and fairly emphatic contact at that.

  It wasn't long before my beam petered out, and I collapsed onto my knees in pain, my body trembling slightly……I'd been running on adrenaline, but earlier, when he used Repulsion and Beckon on me, he fractured several of my bones, and now that the adrenaline was subsiding……I was in a ton of pain. I bit my lip and focused, making sure not to revert back to my normal form.

  I then looked up towards the direction where I'd fired my Solar Beam at him……is he……is he dead……?

  ———————————————————————————


  Point-of-View: Rai Rumel

  ———————————————————————————


  "Damn, there sure are a lot of them, huh?" I remarked with a frown, as I evaded and cut down one of the enemies, my hands shaking slightly.

  Killing was still something that I was against and wanted to avoid……but in a situation like this, I don't have a choice. These people, whoever they are, they're monsters……they're killing women and children with no signs of remorse, in fact, they seem to be enjoying it.

  "Focus, Rai, we're outnumbered, so we can't let our guards down even for a second!" Responded Key with a sense of urgency, whose back was against mine.

  "Yeah, I know, babe……this sucks, we knew an attack was coming, but they still caught us off-guard."

  The two of us had been patrolling the area north to the castle, when we saw wisps of smoke and the faint sound of screams coming from that direction, so we came to check it out……and ran into a group of, like, fifty plus enemies. Fortunately, while their Elemental Magic is actually stronger than both of ours, and their physical strength is greater too……they suck at fighting.

  Key and I fought really well as a duo, during those training duels we'd combined to beat almost everyone besides Persia, Ekai, Az and Fuo at least once. In other words, these enemies were child's play……except for the fact that there were so many of them, we had to be constantly scanning our surroundings to make sure none of them suddenly snuck up on us while we were focusing on some others.

  "Hey, shall we try that?" I suggested, as I fired out lightning bolts to keep them at bay.

  "You mean……hm, if that works, we'll be able to take out most of them in one go, but we've never tried it out in a fight before, not to mention that it takes some time to get ready," She pointed out.

  "In that case……I'll buy you some time," I remarked, as I ran lightning through my scythe and took out a new weapon I'd added to my outfit, a chain with a blade attached to the end of it, running lightning through it as well.

  "Fine, let's do it……I need about thirty seconds," She replied, as flames began swirling around her sword and intensifying rapidly.

  "Consider it done!" I declared affirmatively, before swinging my chain across at the enemies in front of me, zapping and slicing through some of them, while the rest stayed back……I don't like this……the fact that I'm slowly starting to get used to killing them……

  Damn it, I can't worry about that right now, or I'll be the one who gets killed!

  They then countered with Elemental Magic attacks, I swiftly activated a dome-shaped defensive barrier around the two of us, the attacks damaging the barrier but it managed to avoid breaking. I ran Mana through the spell again, to repair the cracks.

  This barrier spell was a bit different, running Mana through it after having already cast the spell would restore the barrier and erase any damage. As for how to deactivate the barrier, I simply have to run Mana through it in two consecutive, quick bursts.

  These people mostly attacked with Elemental Magic, with a few of them using close-range weapons, though none had any arrows or crossbows or any other mid to long-range weapon. It doesn't make sense, they're all strong, but pretty much none of them seem to have any real combat skills. Where'd they all come from, anyway?

  "Huh, this might be easier than I thought," I remarked, as I continued to repair the barrier each time they damaged it.

  "Careful, if they all pull off a coordinated attack, the barrier won't hold," Warned Key, her flaming sword almost ready.

  "Come on, babe, these people clearly have zero coordination……but I don't want to set off a flag, so I won't say something like 'there's no way they can break this barrier'."

  "What are you even talking about? Well, never mind that……I'm ready to go when you are," She remarked, the air around her shimmering as she finished charging up her blade.

  "Alright……then, here goes!" I exclaimed, linking my left arm with her right arm, balancing myself up on my tail while extending Lightning Boost into it, and then simultaneously swinging my lightning-coated chain-blade while spinning myself around on my tail with my arm still linked to Key's, spinning her around as well, as I deactivated the barrier.

  She horizontally swung her blade in the same direction that we were spinning in, unleashing the charged up flames in a perfect fiery circle that blazed outwards, scorching and slashing through several of them in an instant, while my chain-blade sliced through many of them as well. That took out all of them in one go……

  "Wow, that worked better than I expected," She muttered in surprise.

  "Heh, how do you like our combo move, 360 Electric Flame Dance!" I exclaimed with a grin, though I was forcing it a bit……killing so many people just like that, it made me feel anxious and uneasy.

  "Hey, it's okay, it's just me here," Whispered Key soothingly, putting away her sword and hugging me from behind, "I know this is hard for you, but you don't need to keep up appearances around me."

  Normally, I'd try to make her flustered by saying something about how caring and reassuring she's being right now, but……this is nice and I don't wanna ruin the moment.

  "Thanks, babe, but don't worry, I'll be fine, no worries. Anyway……are they……all dead?"

  "It looks like it……that was more than enough firepower to go through all of them, the buildings beyond them have some burns as well……I might have overdone it. Too bad, if there were any survivors, we could have interrogated them to find out what's going on h……hey, what's that?" She suddenly remarked with a frown, pointing up to the west……where a couple of dark clouds suddenly came into view.

  Those look like they might be……oh, no……

  "Hey, uh……those things kinda match the descriptions we got of what Demons look like in their corporeal forms……," I replied nervously……as one of the clouds flew down towards me.

  This is bad……all attacks are useless against them, and a normal defensive barrier won't be squat either……what do I do? There's nothing I can do……in which case, I'll let it possess me in order to buy time for Key to get away……

  "Key, run away as fast as you can, I'm gonna-!" I began, before being interrupted as she pushed me out of the way right as the Demon began to close in on me.

  "Rai, get away, now……!" She started to yell, before the dark cloud entered her body and she began to collapse onto the ground, I just about managed to catch her before she fell……she was unconscious, the Demon had entered her body……no……don't let this be real……please, no……no, no……no, no, no……!

  Damn it, this can't be happening……you better resist this Demon, you hear me!? I bit down on my lower lip as my breathing became erratic and panicked……calm down, this isn't over……I should hide her somewhere while she's unconscious, she's not dead, she's fighting to survive……yeah, that's right, she'll resist the Demonic possession, she has to.

  I rushed into a building with her in my arms and looked around frantically for a safe hiding spot, before freezing as I realized something……we saw two Demons earlier, where did the other one g……before I could process my realization, a dark cloud emerged from the ground below me, rapidly enveloping me before I could react, and the next thing I knew……everything went dark……

  _____________________________________________

  Thank you for reading, I hope you enjoyed this chapter! Don't forget to vote, and feel free to leave a comment, I appreciate any and all feedback and criticism!

  Also, check out my Instagram account @aimdaqs for posts relating to this book.

  Join the Discord server, I plan to tease upcoming chapters and future story arcs here, and you can also discuss or ask me any questions about the story and characters. Use the invite link to join:

  https://discord.gg/sRbx9VbTVP