Chapter 8 – Quick Attack
“It should take no longer than an hour. We will attack before the sun rises.”
“Understood, Sir Cain.”
“Have you ever fought succubus demon types?” Cain asked the group.
The response was a mixed yes and no.
“I think most of you know that succubuses are a certain demon type that charms men. This is the reason why most of you here are women since the charms are less likely to work on you. As for the rest of you men, good job with the high mental strength, don’t lose them.”
Cain continued. “Demons are hard to predict. Although they share the same ranking system as us, their demonic characteristic makes it harder for us to fight them long term. Demonic bloodlines share the ability to heal severed limbs, this is the reason why we need to swiftly attack.”
“Work in two-man groups for Apprentice ranks. For Adept Minor rank I permit you to work alone and deal with anything you deem necessary. The charmed men will be weak, so I’m not worried about them. If you fail an assassination and you think you’ll die the next attempt, give up and run away. When I give the signal, I want all of you to regroup with me.”
With the plan set, Cain and the assassins swiftly moved out of the abandoned building, their footsteps silent in the night. Nacht led the group with precision, her instincts finely attuned to the shadows that cloaked their movements.
As they reached Penrith in under an hour without breaking a sweat, Cain felt a slight demonic presence from multiple areas. He commanded the group to stop and reassessed the situation with them.
“I’m sensing multiple demonic presence in some houses and a strong one in the town hall.” Cain said with a blank face, no mercy can be seen from his emotions. “Alright start the mission.”
With the go signal from Cain, the assassins split into their designated groups. Each pair moving with efficiency towards their assigned targets. Nacht has separated from Cain, while Cain reached the tallest tower in the town overlooking over the landscape below.
As he surveyed the scene, Cain’s mind churned with calculation and strategies. ‘They should have traps laid down and some magic alarms set up. Theres no way this mission is going to be easy, this is their last base.’ Cain thought while overlooking the assassination.
Meanwhile, inside the townhall, a succubus that displayed herself as the leader of the demon group lay sitting on the edge of the bed with multiple scrawny men who lay drained of life around her. Her eyes gleamed with malicious intent as she surveyed her room, relishing on the life essence that she had received.
She then received a quick mana fluctuation in the traps that has been set up. Her lips curved to a smile. To her it was merely a confirmation of what she already knew – the guild has noticed their movement.
‘Bunch of weaklings,’ she thought as she surveyed her surroundings. ‘More food coming for me.’ As she licked her lips.
With languid grace, she rose from her bed, her form transforming to a demon with purple skin and bat wings spanning on her back. A tail with heart shaped tip emerged from her tail bone. Her chest and lower area are barely covered with dark clothing manifested from her demonic magic, seemingly on purpose to distract enemies.
As she moved through the town hall, her senses keenly attuned to the presence of her enemies, the succubus felt a surge of anticipation coursing through her veins. She enjoyed the thought of the coming battle, the chance to see the chaos and destruction that she wished for. For she was a creature of darkness, born to feed on the life force of others. And tonight, she would feast upon the souls of those foolish enough to challenge her.
The leader sent out mana fluctuations that alerted the other succubi. Strong undulation of mana was felt through the air as the demons were alerted. As the chaos unfolded, the demons alerted, other members of the Assassins Brigade engaged the remaining succubi.
Demons and humans fighting is a common occurrence in the world of Gaia. There is natural hatred that stems from humans against demons, rooting from the Age of Myths. Multiple battles can be seen around the small town, small skirmishes deciding the over-all conclusion of the group.
“You’re very pretty,” A lower succubus said to one of the assassins.
“Prettier than your whore face!” The assassin retorted whilst brandishing her weapon as she lunged towards the demon.
The assassin swung her weapon, barely grazing the demon as she dodged backwards with a small step. Three attacks hit air, the fourth attack was blocked with long black nails that are protruding from the demon’s fingers.
“I thought assassins are meant to run away after failing a kill?” The demon teased.
The assassin displayed no reaction whatsoever while holding her weapon against her nails, keeping her in place. Unbeknownst to the demon, another assassin is hiding in the shadows.
As the demon is distracted, “Blink.” The hiding assassin muttered under her breath. Blink is one of the core incantations of a shadow assassin. It surrounds your body with the shadows, causing your body to jump into a chosen space. The downside of this spell is that it consumes a lot of mana and energy. A price to pay for an immediate semi-teleportation incantation.
A fine line of red appeared on the succubus’s neck. Not knowing what happened, the demon just fell with a thud.
“Any idea what lord Cain’s meaning of signal is?”
“No, but he said we would know…”
The two assassins talked while they went for another target. Scenes like these are happening around the town.
Amidst the flurry of battles a huge mana came from the front door of the townhall. Causing ripples of waves to encompass the whole town. All eyes turned to the leader as she emerged from her dwelling. Her head turned towards a tower. Her eyes locked onto Cain with a chilling intensity.
In a blink of an eye, Cain vanished from sight, reappearing behind the succubus with his halberd poised for a killing strike. Not surprised at all, the succubus leader anticipated his move, a smirk playing on her lips. Her wings unfurled to shield her from the attack. With a wicked grin, she spoke to Cain laced with charm magic.
“You’re quick mortal,” she purred. A pink miasma enveloped the area, thickening the air with malevolent energy that would cause all men from the area lose their life essence if they come in contact with it.
Cain’s sense tingled with a warning as he watched the succubus step forward, her form radiating with dark ominous power.
“Did you really think it would be easy to end me?”
“I never underestimate my enemies,” He retorted with a cold voice. “But it seems like you need to be punished for looking at me like a piece of meat.”
“Oh, I like it when they struggle at first.” She said while acting coy.
With a swift motion, she unleashed a barrage of attacks, black spikes that erupted from the ground around him, threatening to impale him from all sides. With lightning-fast reflexes, he leaped and twisted through the air, narrowly avoiding the deadly spike.
While airborne, the succubus soared above him, her bat-like wings beating with grace descended upon him. Her long sharp nails gleaming in the moonlight slashed at him, aiming to tear through his defenses with her strength.
Cain gripped his halberd while falling, channeling his lightning to go in his body, through the halberd.
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“Rend!”
A slash of blue arc of lightning appeared as he swung his halberd towards the descending succubus. She blocked it with her nails causing the slash to redirect in another direction, but this caused her momentum to falter.
As Cain reached the ground with his foot, he chanted two more Rend spells aiming at the flying demon. The succubus, not planning to back down, decided to block it, instead of dodging it. Her arrogance caused her dark nails to chip, diminishing her durability.
“What an incredible amount of strength, such pure concentrated mana as well.” She complimented.
As she landed, she looked at Cain with curiosity.
“My name is Eletzia Hei Lutsch, the baroness of the Hei Family of Succubus. What is your name, child.”
“Cain Nocturne, heir of the Nocturne family.”
“I see… the Spellblade,” she said. “You will never see the sunlight of tomorrow.”
Demon Art. “Obsidian!” Eletzia said while her mana fluctuated and reached the peak of what her body can handle. Sharp spikes as dark as obsidian erupted from the ground towards Cain, this time, faster than the previous attacks.
Cain dodged backwards with a tap of his foot whilst swinging his halberd at the incoming obsidian spikes. Demon Art are the demons' bloodline ability that is unlocked only by royalty or containing royal blood. This Demon Art Obsidian is only available for the bloodline of the Hei family, a succubus bloodline. One of the strongest forms of succubus that gives them physical prowess to fight in terms of strength.
“Rend!” Another arc of lightning came from Cain’s halberd as he swung it. As the lightning hit the spikes, it didn’t budge. This time, Cain held his halberd like a spear, he shifted his grip, sticking it close to his armpit while brandishing it in a sharp manner.
“Lighting Pierce!” Cain said with resounding confidence. As he thrust his halberd in front of him, lightning converged into the tip of the halberd creating a concentrated dot. As he extended his arm fully the concentrated lightning zoomed out of the halberd tip, looking similar to a blue beam.
The ray pierced through the obsidian spikes and continued to do so till it reached Eletzia. Eletzia responded by blocking it with her hands and redirecting the lightning to the ground.
“Come on pretty boy, you have more than that don’t you?” Eletzia said in a joking tone. “I hate it when men can only go for a couple of rounds…” Eletzia’s taunts kept continuing as she mocked Cain, challenging him to show more of his strength.
“If you tempt me, you might be the one who will be exhausted,” Cain said with a nonchalant tone. Beneath his calm façade, Cain’s mind raced with strategies and ways to rid of the demon filth.
‘The succubus are probably having a hard time with the assassins; I need to get more information out of this demon.’ He thought.
“Why are you even here? Why would the demon realm be interested in a small place such as Mescua.”
Amused by Cain’s persistence, “Getting information out of me? Aren’t you a cute one. Well since you’re cute, and about to die, might as well tell you anyway.” She said confidently. “I was sent here by the queen to look for something. By that something- you don’t need to know.”
“What if I force it out of you?” Cain said.
“Hmm, not a big fan of being a masochist, so let’s see.” Eletzia then clapped her hand once. The men that were inside the town hall were seen to regain some sort of vitality. They acted like puppets, driven by their lust to follow the whims of the demon. Multiple houses also contained some controlled men surrounding all Cain's escape point. These men are controlled by the pink miasma that surrounded the small town and are fully controlled by Eletzia.
“I wonder what a Spellblade taste like. I am going to enjoy taking your sweet life nectar.” She purred. She then pointed her fingers at Cain, causing all the men that are thinking with their lower parts to run at him with some not even having weapons.
Cain just looked at Eletzia with a nonchalant look. Rousing his energy, Cain tapped into his reservoir of mana, he summoned his lightning element to go through his body. His mana exploded out of his body and caused the surrounding to turn gray. Everything slowed down besides Eletzia and Cain.
“Aura, and a strong one at that. You’re not even in the realm of Adept Major and you can summon a mana aura.” Eletzia’s smug face turned serious.
‘So, these are Spellblades. A human who has the power of both body, and mana practitioners. A person who can transcend and fight a person with a higher realm toe to toe. What a rare breed of human.’
Cain’s aura intensified, the ground beneath him quaked and fractured. Then silence occurred. The grayed world, started to return some color and the men started to move normally towards Cain. With a still silence and the quiet of the surroundings, a whisper can be heard from the man with the halberd.
“Thunder Pulse.”
The earth trembled, responding to his will as if acknowledging his dominance over the elements. Bolts of lightning danced around him, acting like loyal guardians ready to pounce at rabid dogs. This is the same spell that Ally has summoned but the difference in power is as vast as the ocean.
His hair dancing with lightning surrounding him, paired with his still dark eyes. Cain displayed himself looking like a god of lightning. This transformation sent a low boom around the town, causing all the remaining succubus that are fighting the assassins to look at the town center. Dark clouds were summoned on top of the town that contained lightning, causing low grumbles of thunder.
“Is that the signal?!” One of the assassins asked.
“Looks like a signal to me, Sir Cain did say that we would know right away. He is the only one here who can summon that crazy amount of mana and power.”
With a focused gaze, Cain surveyed the men closing in on him, their movements slightly sluggish. With a flicker, he lunged forward, the crackling energy of his aura enveloping him like a protective shroud. With insane speed disappearing in the blink of an eye, Cain unleashed a barrage of lightning infused strikes. Each blow was calculated with the finesse of a seasoned warrior.
Cain maneuvered through the groups of men, his halberd cleaving through flesh and bone with ruthlessness. With each fallen foe, the air crackled with a scent of ozone, showing the power coursing through him.
Despite their numbers, the controlled men proved no match for Cain's enhanced power, their bodies crumbling under the relentless onslaught. With each swing of his halberd, Cain carved a path of destruction. In a final display of strength, Cain unleashed a torrent of lightning, engulfing the remaining men in a blaze of electrified fury. Their cries echoed through the air, silenced only by the crackling energy that consumed them.
As the dust settled and the echoes of battle faded. Cain dashed towards Eletzia through the dust. Eletzia responded with another attack to counter Cain’s heavy blow. As she was about to have their attacks connected.
“Blink.”
Cain said, not paying attention to his stamina and mana as he blinked onto her back. His attack that was originally meant to attack Eletzia’s front torso was now transferred to attack her back.
‘WHAT?!’ Eletzia’s eyes widened in surprise. ‘He has two elements!’
As her attack hit the air, her back was left wide open with no defense. As Cain swung his halberd tearing through the air, the gruesome attack hit her shoulders. The blade kept tearing through her flesh, cutting one of the wings from her root, causing her to stagger in pain.
Staggering under the weight of pain and surprise, Eletzia struggled to regain her footing, her once-confident facade crumbling in the face of Cain's relentless onslaught. Each strike from his halberd left a trail of devastation in its wake, carving through flesh and bone.
Despite the searing pain that coursed through her body, Eletzia refused to yield, her determination matching Cain's in its intensity. With a defiant glare, she steadied herself, summoning what remained of her strength to mount a counterattack. Before Cain could swing his blade again-
“OBSIDIAN!”
She encapsulated herself within her spikes to recover her bloody back. Unfortunately-
“Lightning Pierce!”
Cain confidently said, piercing the obsidian spikes, causing the whole enclosure to crumble around her. With ample amount of time given, she has healed only a small amount, but it is enough to fight back.
Before Eletzia can conjure an attack, Cain raised his left hand, as if reaching for the sun. The clouds above rumbled and lightning started to appear.
“Lightning Shower.”
As he finished his incantation, a strike of lightning that was summoned from the clouds attacked Eletzia, causing the surroundings to fizzle with lightning energy. Eletzia felt a strong shock as her skin turned char black.
“Careful, birds can’t fly under the storm. Although you’re more like a bat to me.”
Continuous showers of lightning were then deployed on top of the town, separating enemies from foes. Multiple enemies got electrocuted, causing them to stagger, just enough for the assassins to finish them off.
“DIE!” She screamed at Cain, activating her last pool of mana, she activated her obsidian nails again. Before Cain could defend against her, his Thunder Pulse deactivated as he puked out blood.
‘Fuck, I used too much mana.’
This slight distraction caused him to take an attack from Eletzia. He dodged backwards but the attack still reached and brushed over his left shoulder. This attack caused a big gash of wound to appear, his bones can be visibly seen with torn flesh still beating with crimson liquid.
“What happened cutie! Need a break? Hahaha!” Her face disheveled and burnt, with wounds that are slowly healing, her previous beautiful body and face could not be seen anymore. She looked more like a crazy demon who needed to kill the person in front of fer.
“COME ON PRETTY BOY! FIGHT ME!” Eletzia screamed as she sent another attack, this time towards Cain’s neck. Cain blocked her nails with the pole of his halberd causing him to get thrown back a few feet.
“How fucking dare you ruin my face. A puny human, a mere child. I will show your last seconds that you should not MESS with ME!” She lunged at Cain preparing for a final attack.
“Ignorant arrogance!” Cain parried her attacks with just his physical body. “Who do you think you are to decide when I die.” His eyes contained nothing but bloodlust and his faith in himself that he would win.
“You belong beneath me, whore. You are nothing if I say you are nothing.” He attacked her with only one arm whilst his body is bleeding and ragged, begging for rest.
“This is the place where you will grovel and die. Nothing else.”
“COME!” she yelled, brandishing her nails towards him. Before she can attack him-
“Blink!”
A woman, Nacht, clad in all dark clothing appeared behind her with a katana about to slice her neck.
‘Another assassin!’ Eletzia yelled in her mind.
Nacht’s katana made contact with her neck, but before Nacht can slice her neck completely, she mustered the remaining mana and lifeforce she had.
“I WILL TAKE ALL OF YOU WITH ME!”
Demon Legacy Art “Limbo!”