Gone was the unassuming Mage, replaced by a horrifying monstrosity.
Kai's blood ran cold as leathery wings erupted from Actra's back, a sickening blend of membranous flesh and chitinous spikes. Razor-sharp claws replaced his fingernails, and his eyes glowed a malevolent red, the crimson hue reflecting a chilling awareness.
Panic threatened to consume Kai, everything he thought he knew about Actra shattered in an instant.
This wasn't a desperate Mage lashing out, this looked like a predator, a terrifying fusion of weaver and bloodsucker.
A rough snarl ripped from Actra's throat— sounding oddly like a mana fiend's voice.
The air crackled with mana, the effects of Mana Bane extinguished by the raw power that seemed to course through Actra.
Spiked stones materialized from the very air, propelled by a surge of magic, hurtling towards Kai. He sidestepped them with inhuman agility, the projectiles shattering against the wall with a deafening crash.
With a swift movement, Actra lept at Kai, their bodies colliding in a burst of raw power. In the heat of the moment, Kai looked at Actra’s rageful eyes as they beamed with something else— something he had never seen before.
The impact sent them crashing through the dusty window, their fight spilling out onto the estate grounds.
They were suddenly hurtling through the air.
Actra twisted in mid-air, his monstrous form aiming to slam Kai into the unforgiving earth.
With a desperate surge of adrenaline, Kai reacted on instinct. He twisted away from the impending impact, his hand snapping forward as he channelled his mana.
A blazing bolt of fire erupted from his palm, aimed directly at the leathery wings. The sound felt like the air splitting as the fire met flesh.
The impact threw both of them off course, their intertwined bodies crashing towards the training grounds below in a tangled mess of limbs and fury.
A few people scrambled with shrieks, terrified of the monster’s appearance. Kai looked up to see Francis walking towards the ground with a few people following behind. They seemed to have seen the monster flying around and looked shell shocked.
Actra, a monstrous parody of his former self, shrieked in fury, its wings caught in fire. Kai, barely registering the guards scattering in terror, scrambled to his feet.
Out of nowhere, Killian appeared at his side, his eyebrows furrowed.
Kai looked down at his body immediately, seeing the bruises and cuts where Actra had grabbed him with his claws.
He got to his feet, though a sharp pain through his knee nearly made him fall again.
"What's happening?" Killian asked, holding up his sword. His loud voice echoed through the grounds that were suddenly in complete silence.
"No time to explain!" Kai roared, hurling a searing bolt of fire towards the monster.
Actra, wings beating furiously, twisted in mid-air, the flames licking harmlessly against the rapidly growing scales that now covered his forearms. He launched himself at Kai with a guttural snarl, a horrifying blend of a bloodsucker's rasp and a fiend's hungry roar.
Dark vines, thick and menacing, erupted from the ground like black serpents, coiling towards Kai with unnatural speed. What the fuck-
"Actra? Is that Actra?" Killian's voice cracked with disbelief as he lunged forward, his sword flashing in the sunlight. Steel met writhing vines in a shower of sparks and severed tendrils. But for every vine he cut down, two more seemed to rise.
Kai, caught in a whirlwind of thrashing vines and snapping jaws, desperately launched another volley of fire.
The flames momentarily singed the leathery wings, but the monstrous hybrid pressed its attack. With a powerful kick, Actra sent Kai rocketing towards the makeshift weapon stand on the ground.
Kai slammed into it with a grunt, the air momentarily knocked from his lungs.
He scrambled to his feet, a throbbing pain radiating from his hip where he saw a dagger plunged. Taking it out, he frowned and looked around.
Spotting a discarded spear lying nearby, he snatched it up, its smooth surface slick.
Actra, a monstrous whirlwind of fury, swooped down before him. Claws raked at the air, inches from Kai's face, the stench of decay and blood washing over him.
Kai ducked it and jabbed the spear forward, hoping to land a lucky strike, but Actra twisted with unnatural agility, the tip of the spear whistling harmlessly past.
This wasn't the Actra he knew or had seen firsthand.
This monstrosity was a blur of fangs and claws, screaming a terrifying power.
Kai gritted his teeth. Actra's mana surged, the telltale signs of a 4th circle Mage radiating from the creature. Actra was previously just a 3rd circle mage, but now, it was hard to tell if he would be able to stand against him for long.
Focusing, Kai formed a spell structure of a second circle spell [Wind Blade] and unleashed it at Actra who hacked down at him with his claws. The blade of wind hit its sides, but the monster's smile simply grew as if he was relishing the pain.
Kai quickly rolled on the ground to dodge the attack and just then, Killian rushed from behind, his sword flashing under the sun in a desperate attempt to flank the creature.
But even with their combined efforts, they were barely holding their own.
A swipe of Actra's claws left a bloody gash on Kai's arm as he barely sidestepped the attack. The pain shot through his entire being, his feet turning cold for a second.
Killian, attempting a daring manoeuvre, managed to land a glancing blow on Actra's shoulder.
The creature shrieked in fury, the sound laced with a hint of surprise. But the injury was superficial, quickly eclipsed by a surge of dark energy. Chunks of earth suddenly erupted out of the ground, turning into sharp stones and rained down on Killian.
He reacted with impressive reflexes, deflecting some with his blades, but one caught him squarely on the chest, sending him sprawling to the ground.
A cruel smile, a grotesque mockery of Actra's former features, twisted the monstrosity's face as he turned towards Kai.
"This will be a spectacle for the ages," he boomed, his voice echoing across the ground. "The hero of the territory who's slowly rising up in the eyes of his people slain right in front of their eyes. Won't that be such a spectacle? People shall see, Arzan! People shall see!"
Actra lunged, his leathery wings propelling him through the air with inhuman speed.
Kai, with a rush of adrenaline in his body formed various spell structures around him. He was bloodied and battered, but as Actra came close, he only saw a coldness in his eyes.
Out of the spell structures, razor-sharp blades of air materialized.
As Actra descended upon him, Kai lashed out, aiming the wind blades not at the creature itself, but at the thick, leathery wings.
Unauthorized usage: this narrative is on Amazon without the author's consent. Report any sightings.
The blades trailed through the air as Actra spun to dodge two of them, but the third one struck true, tearing a gaping hole in one wing.
Actra shrieked, thrown off course by the sudden rip.
Before his body could crash on the ground, Kai aimed bolts of fire at him, but suddenly, Actra let out a loud scream. The dark energy around him condensed as vines came out to block the bolts.
Kai pushed more mana to form another spell structure, this time of a 3rd circle spell, but the vines made way for Actra who emerged with rageful, bulging eyes.
Immediately, he broke the spell structure, knowing he had no time to complete it and leapt to the side, but Actra grabbed him at an unprecedented speed.
Then, he leapt up holding Kai, rising high in the sky as the voices of Francis and others faded with each passing second.
“You are truly not Arzan. He could have never survived even a minute against me in this state. I would love to dissect everything out of you after I take out a limb or two,” Actra crackled with laughter, looking close to a villain from a theatre play.
“A dead man can't do that,” Kai replied, struggling through his grip, but unable to even budge it. Wind rustled past his neck as Actra flew towards the center of the city.
“Let’s see who will be dead. You are simply a weakling who barely could stand against my noble strength.”
“Noble? That's a funny way of calling an ugly creature that even your own mother would loath!”
“You!” Actra shouted, his face scrunching up in a scowl and for the briefest moment, he paused, probably wondering how he was going to torture him later on.
That gave Kai enough time to build up a spell structure in a matter of less than a second.
A fire bolt flew out, hitting Actra right below his neck, making him take a wrong turn.
Kai seized the opportunity, using the momentum to propel himself upwards and get out of his grip. He landed with a roll on the slanted roof of an inn, the bustling market sprawling below him.
All of them had seen the monster flying around with Kai and looked pale, as if they had seen a ghost.
Kai ignored them, quickly making a run on the roof.
But Actra was upon him in a heartbeat.
Claws lashed out, tearing through the clay tiles of the roof.
Kai barely dodged, rolling to the other side of the peak. The struggle continued as they attacked and dodged each other at the rooftop. Finally, with a deafening crash, the roof gave way under their combined weight, sending them both plummeting towards the cobblestone street below.
Shrieks of terror filled the air as people scattered, desperately fleeing the path of the falling figures.
Kai braced himself for impact, but just before they hit the ground. They landed in a heap on the bustling marketplace, sending a wave of frightened onlookers tumbling back.
Actra paused for a split second, his crimson eyes boring into Kai. "Why?" he rasped, the question laced with disbelief. "You see the power I wield, the strength coursing through me. Why do you persist? Why not make this easier for both of us?"
Kai’s eyes met with Actra's gaze unflinchingly. A guttural snarl ripped from his throat, a sound devoid of fear. "I've faced worse abominations than you," he growled, his voice raw with exertion. "Creatures that would make you cower in your borrowed power."
Actra recoiled, a flicker of shock momentarily extinguishing the crimson glow in his eyes. It was as if he was trying to find any deceit in his words.
But it was fleeting. In its place, a renewed surge of rage flared.
He rushed in again, swinging a claw at Kai who rolled to the side, mentally thanking Killian for all the training he had put him through or the claw would have ripped apart his heart.
In a blink of a second, another claw came for him, but sensing it, Kai hit back with a bolt, momentarily halting it. That gave him enough time to put distance between them, but he knew it was futile.
At first, he had assumed the transformation was short since Actra's body wouldn't be able to handle so much power for a prolonged period of time, but now, looking at his bloodshot eyes, he knew the old Mage was ready to keep it up until he killed Kai.
A part of his being was terrified as Actra opened up his mouth to snarl and rushed at Kai, but it wasn't the first time he was in a battle.
If he had to die, it was never going to be in the hands of someone like Actra.
“You are going to die at my hands, you insolent brat!” Dark energy swivelled around him as he flung, swinging his wings, but Kai kept standing, anger flaring at him as he sensed the scent of foul, dead mana coming at him.
He reached deep within himself, knowing the exact spell that was going to get him out of this predicament. In an instant, four spell structures formed in front of him, taking in the form of glyphs.
“Astrum Laxme Endro Fiend!”
Every word he took, more pressure dawned upon him until he felt like every part of the body was pierced by sharp rocks, but as he completed the incantation, the glyphs flared to life.
Blood leaked out of his nostrils and Kai felt like he was barely managing to stand. Despite that, a smile formed on his lips.
The glyphs mixed into one and Actra's eyes widened as he paused his charge.
"How?" he stammered. "How can you wield such power? Your mana…"
Kai cut him off with a snarl. "I don’t have to answer a dead man."
With that, white-hot flames flared up to life, engulfing everything around them and heading straight towards Actra.
As he felt the power coming from the mystical flames, Actra retreated, fear clear on his face.
The flames pressed onwards, leaving a trail of charred ground whenever they went.
Actra, for the first time in the fight, was on the defensive, his monstrous facade crumbling under the might of the flames. They struck his body, burning his whole hand as he tried to leapt back, but the more he struggled, the more the flames chased him as if they had the sole goal of burning his entire soul. He only protected himself with vines emerging from the ground, forming a barrier around him, but the flames burned them at a rapid pace. He frowned, looking down at his bloodied left arm. The flames had burned away three of his fingers and the pain was excruciating. If they touched him again, he knew he was dead.
Driven by desperation, Actra lashed out with a volley of jagged stones, ripped from the very cobblestones beneath their feet.
They didn't move towards the flames, but Kai who was standing right behind them.
The projectiles rained down on him, each strike leaving a fresh gash on his already bloodied form. A pained grunt escaped Kai's lips, but he pressed on.
Actra, his crimson eyes gleaming with sadistic glee, threw his head back and let out a chilling laugh. "You see, Arzan? Even with your fancy tricks, your power wanes! You'll burn yourself out before I'm finished with you!"
Kai ignored the taunt, focusing on channelling the remaining mana.
The [Fiendfire] spell was a hungry beast, draining his reserves at an alarming rate.
With a final surge of will, the white flames flared up, severing the thick vines in a matter of seconds that protected Actra.
Knowing his tricks won't work anymore, Actra flapped his wings, aiming to fly away to protect himself, but Kai couldn't let it be.
The flames chased after him, but Kai knew they would die before reaching him, so he thought of another spell. Maybe the last spell he might be able to do and even then, he would be borrowing strength from his life force.
Despite the risk, letting Actra go was the worst thing after all this trouble.
So, he channelled mana around his hands as all his energy seeped away into the spell, but he didn't care.
In a heartbeat, he cast [Infernal Chains].
Out of nowhere, dark, flaming chains erupted out of the ground, heading towards Actra who had already reached quite far away, but they bound themselves at his legs, yanking him down as he screamed.
He tried to move, swinging his claws at the chains.
"You think these pathetic chains can hold me?" he asked, loudly. The voice blended with monstrous noises filled the air. "You can clearly not hold yourself together. Once I'm free, your secrets will be mine! I'll tear every one from your lips, even if I have to rip your very soul from your body!"
Kai ignored the threats and moved forward towards him, one of his hands moving towards one of the inner pockets of his robe.
Actra, consumed by his rage, didn't seem to notice something far more dangerous than fear in Kai's eyes as he continued to taunt him while trying to get out of the chains.
“Have you given up?” Actra’s voice came after noticing how silent Kai had gone. Kai smirked. Without the flame, his spells would barely scratch Actra's body and he didn’t have enough mana to keep up with the chains for long.
"You're a fool, Actra," Kai rasped, his voice hoarse. "You have no idea what you've just done. Dead mana isn't a thing to play around even if I have no idea how it managed to transform you to such an extent."
His hand came forward, powering up the chains with the last remaining mana so that the fire would burn him up. Actra opened his mouth to let out a monstrous shriek but Kai lunged himself forward.
He tipped the vial and poured the shimmering liquid down the hybrid’s throat.
Actra's eyes widened in horror as the potion coursed through his veins.
By the look of his eyes, it was clear that the monster realised what was happening to him. Kai gave a final smile that was too cruel to his liking and ran away from the chains, as far away as he could.
He had taken around thirty wide steps when a horrifying sound burst from behind.
The force of the explosion made the ground beneath them shake, the shockwave rippling through the marketplace, shattering windows and sending dust flying.
Kai, his ears ringing, scrambled to his feet and took cover behind a sturdy stone wall just as the marketplace erupted in chaos.
The detonation was deafening as flesh and blood rained on the ground.