image [https://i.imgur.com/zweWNHT.jpg]

Fergus’s palms were wet with sweat. His grip on his baselards trembled as he stared into the creature's black eyes. Inky black pools scan the noble, muscles bulging and tensing, getting ready to strike.

“Breath in and out slowly, young lord.” Said the large warrior priest, standing behind him with his giant shield and sword on guard. The noble followed his guidance and tried to calm his nerves. But those eyes... Goosebumps rippled through Fergus's skin.

“To kill this creature, we need to whittle it down. Cut it. Injure it. Get it to use as much of the regenerative power as possible.”

“A-Alright. What will you do?”

Bob clasped his shield to his back. And with a low stance, he placed his great sword by his left thigh. Amber aura collected on the blade.

“I will wait for a chance.”

The young lord breathed in and out. Aura flowed like a torrent through his veins. Muscles strengthen and tighten. Eyes glow white with energy. His face is marked with lightning tracks. Dead soil scuffed as Fergus ran towards the demon. Fergus weaved past a pale lance made of the demon’s arm. The demon jabbed again and Fergus zipped to the left as the lance grazed his stomach chainmail.

Injure, right? Okay!

A right baselard exploded in a blaze. Flames gathered around the rune-engraved sword like waves in a storm. The lord slashed down, cutting the lance apart. Aura-enhanced legs propelled him forward while he sliced the lance in quick succession with his left blade. The demon growled in pain, bringing his appendage back; however, the noble reached him first. A left baselard stabbed at its head to be blocked by a pale shield. A right blade slashed at the stomach, scoring the demon with a deep burn. The cut lance transformed into a heavy axe and dropped downward. It split the ground but Fergus was already at its back. The demon’s shield arm twisted backwards unnaturally to block a strike to the head. Another flaming blade scored its back.

“Annoying!” The demon screeched as he kicked at its rear. Its leg transformed into a blade, slicing into empty air.

An aura wave sliced into the creature's calf and a leg flipped in the air before flopping on the ground. The demon looked at his missing feet, aghast. Enraged black eyes turn to Fergus.

It's trying to heal.

Fergus advanced with speed at the demon, crossing metres in a second. A double aura wave launched from his blade and the demon transformed its two arms into a large shield. Aura hit the pale shield like thunder, pushing the demon a yard back. Like lightning, Fergus zipped behind the guarding apparition. It's twisted around on an already regenerated leg to slash diagonally on Fegus with a pale sword.

Like Drac taught…

Fergus stepped back with his left foot. The ground ruptured under his feet as the demon's arm sword split the soil, missing the noble entirely. Fergus's foot dug into the ground. He gathered rushing aura into his legs and feet. Tendons and ligaments, imbued with energy, were taut.

Floating, dry grass twirled as if underwater. Soil and rocks were still scattered in the air, drifting slowly like dandelions in the gentle wind.

So this is Lightning Step.

A small smile crossed the noble’s face.

Fergus surged forward and a demon’s sword arm flopped to the ground. Fergus vanished out of sight, a flaming sword struck the demon, and then a left knee bled. The demon turned, tracking its disappearing prey. A silvery blur trailing orange light spurted soil as it zipped around.

“Where!?”

The demon slashed down a blur and hit the soil. Another slice to the demon’s back and it whipped around to attack with its blade. Nothing but the sight of trees in the distance. The demon's eyes widened and it looked down in pain. A jab from two blades to the stomach burned the demon from the inside. Pale skin sizzled like oven-cooked meat. Fergus pulled his blade to find them stuck. Pale skin clasped onto the steel, black eyes stare down over a creepy smile.

“Got. You.” A pale sword hung high.

“Sure?”

Fergus Surged. His two blades sawed through its stomach. With arms stinging with electricity, back and chest muscles charged and Baselards engulfed in a scalding flame, Fergus attacked with a flurry of slashes. Pale skin was ripped and torn apart. The demon crumpled inward and regenerated in vain as new injuries piled on its arms. The demon stepped back to escape.

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A lightning step and Fergus stopped its retreat. Two blades slam into a pale shield, dropping the scared demon to the ground. Blackened by burns, and bloody with large lacerations, it struggled to get up from its knees. Cuts lingered, barely healing.

Using the last of its strength, the demon screamed aloud, and black flames oozed out of its skin like smog. Another demon hollered in the distance.

“Good job.” Bob’s voice boomed from metres away. Fergus turned to see the giant crack the ground with speed that could rival his own. The priest's great sword, burning with a bright amber glow, fell with fury on the demon. Holy light brightened the area, towering into the sky, and for a moment, the forest darkened from its brilliance.

I thought Holy Aura didn't enhance...

The bright light dimmed, and a man sheathed his large blade over a blackened demon. Hot vapour steamed off his rusty armour, and his proud chest heaved. Split in half, the demon disintegrated in black ash crumpling from a small breeze

Bob walked over to Fergus, a large hand patting his shoulder.

“Drac was right about you.”

Fergus’s heart warmed with pride, looking up at Bob, whose eyes looked at the dirt.

“Feel that?”

Fergus, curious about what the priest saw, looked down at the ground himself and noticed grains of soil bounce.

“We have guests.”

Imbue your arm with aura.

The female demon's feet claw into the ground. Using the momentum of the exploding punch, its body twisted around, turning to back fist with a left fist, burning with a black flame. Murus formed on Drac's side shattered, left met left, emploding the air into vapour by Drac's head.

You saved me, Axton.

It has enough power to disintegrate a stone wall.

But it's nothing compared to the beetle. By the way, watch your stomach.

The naked creature unhooked its feet from the dirt and swung its burning feet in a roundhouse kick. Drac pulsed back, letting the kick miss him. Another pulse and Drac closed the distance. Drac tuned his fists with Ventus and Ignis. Fire condensed as he threw a right jab. However, it was adeptly evaded by the demon and it manoeuvred to its right. A left-leg kick imbued with aura to the demon's right thigh stopped the demon in its tracks. It returned with a right fist to Drac’s chest, to be parried with a pulse, bouncing the attack down with his left hand. The same hand attacked the head but missed entirely as the demon tilted its head.

It has good instincts.

Drac closed the distance again with a large pulse from his right sole. Going low, a flaming fist careened for the demon's stomach. His fist connected with pale skin; a short flash of light and the explosion forced the demon back with a massive wound. Blackened skin sizzled as the demon's eyes widened.

There was a scream in the distance and the female demon turned into the origin. Its face was consumed with fear and longing. Sharp teeth open wide to scream as well. A black tear trickled down its pale face.

“Your better half having trouble?”

A bright amber light turned the day into night.

The tearful demon hunched down. Black flames flared high. Wrath twisted the face of the once-calm demon.

Ah, shit.

Mm?

Minions.

Out of the forest, forest lions ran beside bears in their dozens onto the dry grass. Woodland creatures holler with black foam bubbling from their mouths. Their eyes were purple and mad, with only the prey in their sight.

Elkan, Axton. Split from me. Help Fergus and Bob with the beast.

Alright, brother.

Don't play around too much. It seems the twins share their energy somehow. Now only one is left...

I get the gist. Go.

Two copies split from Drac. His mind felt alone.

“See you soon,” Elkan said, throwing Murus knives engraved with runes at a mad stag.

Axton pulsed, evading a lion claw. He spun as he sliced the beast in two. He pulsed forward with glee, slicing two more with ease.

A burning fist neared his face. Drac dropped his head, letting the black fist burn above him. Fire condensed on his fist and attacks rained upon the demon’s stomach and chest. His barrage blocked, Drac swung wide at the demon's face. Two arms guard the feint and the demon keeled over from a stomach burst attack from Drac’s left fist. The demon's feet left the ground and a pale face was crushed around Drac’s searing fist. An explosion spun the demon, making it tumble yards away. It bounced off the dead grass to meet Drac's fist again, which bounced it off the ground once more.

An ear-rupturing scream and the fiend blaze with black energy suspending in mid-air. The demon flicked its fist. Drac blocked with Heilong unsheathed, and the force dragged his feet through the dirt.

“Dead, dead, dead, dead. DEAD!!”

Drac exhaled, feeling extreme disappointment. “It’s not the same.”

The ground burst as the demon ran with a black aura covering its fists. It jumped, lifting his flaming fist high to hammer down at Drac.

Drac brought up his blade.

Eyes glowed white and the world moved slowly. Pale skin touched cold steel and Drac guided the attacking fists to his left. A pulse from black boots rippled the ground and he jumped. His sword ignited and the demon's stomach was cut black again. A Murus barrier formed in the air shattered under Drac’s feet as he pulsed for a lunge. Burning steel stabbed into the spine, pinning the demon to the dirt. It struggled, scratching and clawing away from its certain death. It screamed for help, not realising its minions lay dead.

“It was fun. But it lasted a bit too long.”

Drac tuned and a cone of bright orange fire shot from his blade, burning the demon alive from the inside. Its skin blackened, and its organs charred. It screamed no more as it crumbled into black ash.

Drac felt Elkan and Axton, feeling whole. Standing in a smouldering crater of melting rock and dirt, the young man sheathed his blade. The feeling of dissatisfaction remained in his thoughts.