Drona gazed at the lifeless Nagaraj with pitiful eyes while an influx of questions overwhelmed his mind. His lifeless body caused a sense of regret in Drona’s heart, while he himself wasn’t aware of the reason behind it.
“He was definitely being ordered by someone...but who? Who can order such force?” Drona whispered with a concerned expression, due to the incredible force of Nagaraj, it had taken all he had to defeat him, the thought of a being beyond that strength baffled him.
In the midst of his thoughts, his eyes reacted to a sudden movement. A dark circle suddenly began forming right beneath Nagaraj’s corpse.
“Wh-”
[SPLURT!]
Before Drona could even begin to comprehend the situation, a black claw pierced through Nagaraj’s heart and ripped his heart out of his body, leaving Drona shook to his core.
Purple blood began showering from the torn veins of the heart while Drona took a defensive stance.
[WOOSH!]
A dark mass of energy began rising from the circle that engulfed Nagaraj’s entire body, just as Drona was about to attack, “Cattle should never be given such responsibilities...” someone spoke with a deep voice that sent chills down Drona’s spine as he felt the being’s strength just by the sound of him speaking.
[HUM!]
Drona brushed off his concerns and fears, and formed a dozen arrows made of yellow energy and shot them at the strange phenomenon.
The arrow went towards the dark mass of energy with an incredible speed, just as it was about to collide with the strange phenomenon, an arm made of dark appeared out of the mass and caught Drona’s arrow midway.
Drona gazed with disbelief along with the awareness of his condition slowly seeping in. He realized that using the Padmastra had a huge toll on his body, resulting in the majority of his energy being consumed.
Within the moments was reflecting on his own condition, not a speck of Nagaraj’s body remained. The dark energy began condensing, adding to Drona’s surprise as a human form soon stood in front of him. The appeared being had a pale skin with dark hair still radiating the ominous energy. His dark eyes gazed at Drona while he stretched his right hand forward,
[BHUM!]
A sudden beam of dark energy was shot at Drona, he swiftly raised his hand to summon his mantra, but the lack of energy along with his exhaustion made his movements incredible slow. The dark beam of energy collided directly with Drona’s chest, sending him flying meters away at an incredible speed.
[CRASH!]
Drona barely managed to break his fall as the Mantra he had attempted to summon moments ago suddenly appeared and formed a platform for his safe landing. Drona, while aware of the grave danger to his life, was more concerned with the fact the he couldn’t sense the dark energy being used right in front of his eyes.
[SLASH!]
The man realized Drona’s desperate state, with a smirk slowly stretching his lips, he swiftly moved his open palm vertically. Four slashes of dark energy were sent raging at Drona just by the simple movement of the man. Drona once again forced his body to summon Mantra, but at that instant, he was scratching the bottom of the barrel.
[BOOM!]
Just as he began accepting his fate, a red slash of energy suddenly collided with the dark energy attack. Drona didn’t need to look, as he immediately realized the one behind this attack that just defended him.
“Sir Drona, I request you leave this one to me,” a familiar voice spoke, with Drona’s walking stick held in his hand.
Drona smirked and stretched out his hand.
“Time had no effect on you...” his relieved tone echoed clearly in his voice, while taking the walking stick out of Aizen’s hands.
[CRACK!]
It appeared as Aizen had appeared just in the nick of time, as the very next moment, Drona was unable to channel even a spec of energy, resulting in his yellow energy feet shattering like glass. As the particles of yellow energy slowly disappeared, Drona thanked Aizen in his mind and turned back, slowly walking away while supporting himself on the walk stick.
[SWOOSH!]
A dark-red stream of light was shot from Drona’s location, the man quickly turned in his previous form of dark energy, causing the dark-red stream of light to go through him.
“Heh…A sneak attack…befitting of a pathetic mortal,” the man said while slowly changing back to his original form, this time he faced the opposite direction;
Aizen stood behind him with a serious gaze, while analyzing every move the man made.
“Why…is a Demon here?” Aizen asked in a cold tone while his eyes scanned every inch of the Demon’s being.
This question suddenly caused the man’s face to contract, it was clear he didn’t expect Aizen to realize his identity. “Your worth doesn’t suffice for you standing in my front, let alone ask-” The Demon began speaking with a smirk, but before the Demon could complete his words, his eyes widened as a dark-red energy slash was heading directly at his face.
[WOOSH!]
He vanished from the trajectory of the attack and appeared behind Aizen. With a smirk, he slashed his claws at his back. But the very next moment, his eyes shivered while reflecting the image of Aizen’s sword raging with a dark-red energy directly heading at his neck.
[WOOSH!]
The demon’s pale face quickly turned into a dark mass of energy along with his entire body, this last attempt at avoiding Aizen’s attack worked, as the sword’s blade raging with dark-red aura went past the mass of energy while stretching it in the process.
[WOOSH!]
The dark mass of energy disappeared in thin air and reappeared meters above Aizen.
“How is a mere human this fast?” The Demon whispered with a sense of concern, with his hands beginning to form a dark energy sphere.
Once again his eyes failed to follow Aizen’s movements, just as the dark energy sphere contracted to launch forward, he found Aizen’s sword already cutting the energy sphere. The demon’s eyes widened while reflecting the image of Aizen’s open palm heading at his face.
[BHUM!]
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The Demon failed to retaliate, Aizen grabbed him by his face and aimed his body at the ground.
A dark-red stream of light was shot down from the sky. The demon crashed on the ground with dark-blood gushing out of his mouth. The strength of the impact formed a huge crater and made every tree in meters of range tremble with immense force. But it seemed Aizen wasn’t done with his attack yet, he began forcing the Demon’s head inside the ground with the resulting strength slowly beginning to crack the otherworldly being’s skull.
[WOOSH!]
The Demon disappeared from under Aizen’s palm and appeared a distance away from him.
“YOU PATHETIC HUMAN!”
[WOOSH!]
An immense dark aura suddenly appeared out of the Demon and began surrounding his entire body. Aizen stood up and turned in his direction with yet another calm gaze.
The very next moment, the Demon’s completely changed form was revealed. A dark shell that allowed almost no reflection covered his entire body, with two black horns piercing out of his forehead.
[WOOSH!]
Aizen rapidly moved at the Demon with his sword surrounded by dark-red energy.
[TING!!] [BOOM!]
The Demon slightly stretched his right hand and caught the sword’s sharp edge, causing the dark-red energy from the sword to burst away from them in the form of a shockwave.
[BHUM!]
The Demon’s hands formed an energy sphere that blasted Aizen away.
[CRASH!]
He landed a distance away from the Demon and quickly stood up.
“You…forced me to enter this form..” The Demon said while staring at his arm that had blocked Aizen’s sword.
“Ho?...A human freely using Demonic energy?…how intriguing..” He spoke with astonishment as he noticed small bolts of Aizen’s energy still remaining on his arm;
“If you had this power…why didn’t you use it against the Nagas?” He asked while lowering his hand;
Aizen moved his hand and covered his left eye.
[BHMMM!]
Tremors slowly began shaking the ground with a red glow engulfing Aizen’s eyes.
“He…wasn’t cooperating…but, killing Demons is something we find equal ground on..”
“What?...Who?”
“HRAAARGH!!!” Aizen’s body bent from his back, as the overwhelming strength of the blood Demon rapidly began raging throughout his body.
“You…will die..” Aizen’s voice echoed as if two beings were speaking at the same time, while his eyes turned completely black with red veins crawling out of them.
[BHUM!]
A sudden burst of dark-red energy propelled Aizen towards the Demon at a blinding speed.
“Huh?”
The Demon's eyes began to shiver even before pain could reach his head.
[SPLURT!]
His forehead began to gush out black liquid at an immense rate.
Aizen moved his left hand and caught the two horns that were just beginning to fall down after being cut off the Demon's head.
[STAB!]
Before the Demon could even comprehend the situation, he found his own horns stabbed into his abdomen.
“AHHH!!”
The Demon’s agonizing scream echoed throughout the area, but Aizen wasn’t willing to spare him even the slightest moment to breathe.
[SLASH!..SLASH!]
With swift movement of his sword raging with dark-red aura, all the limbs of the Demon were severed.
[SMACK!]
A strong punch in the chest sent the Demon flying towards the sky.
[WOOSH!]
Aizen appeared right in front of him,
[STAB!]
“URK!!!....[COUGH!]....[SPLURT!]” The Demon’s eyes lost their focus. His brain already had lost most of its function due to getting numb with pain, as Aizen’s sword had pierced his chest directly in the middle.
[DRIP…DRIP!]
Blood kept falling down from the Demon’s torso, as the sword embedded in his chest slowly kept slicing up due to the Demon’s own weight.
Aizen moved his hand and brought the shivering Demon closer to himself. He stared directly at the Demon’s wide-open eyes with his own pair of unending darkness.
“Am I worthy now?”
“Ugh…huma-..[COUGH!]” The Demon’s outer shell began cracking. His words could barely escape his lips, while the pain and the danger to his life kept rising.
“Why did the Naga attack this place?” Aizen asked in a cold voice, with a volume not far from whispering.
“Hehehe…URK!..Do you really think I will speak?” Dark blood kept flowing out of his mouth, but the Demon somehow smiled, which even caught Aizen off guard.
“Fine…be my guest.”
[SLASH!]
The sword stabbed in the Demon’s chest swiftly moved up, cutting the Demon’s torso in half. He began falling down with remnants of Aizen’s energy still lingering on both halves of the Demon.
[WOOSH!]
Suddenly, what previously were just remnants, burst into intense dark-red energy and began burning the falling Demon's body.
Only ashes remained of the terrifying Demon and softly fell on the ground, while Aizen remained floating in the sky with the red veins crawling back in his eyes.
“Dear…god…” Drona couldn’t help but sound his surprise at the display, while he stared at Aizen with wide eyes.
[WOOSH!]
Aizen’s raging dark-red aura dispersed with a powerful shockwave in the sky. He covered his eyes with his left hand while slowly descending to the ground.
“That was…quite the spectacle,” Drona said while he walked towards Aizen, who slowly moved his hand off his face and answered his gaze.
“Chandra kingdom is heavily grateful for your aid, Sir Drona, and we will never forget this debt.” Aizen suddenly lowered his head and spoke in a respectful tone. The soldiers nearby were startled by the sudden voice and began staring in their direction.
“Ahem!...Shadow Master, I was just following His Majesty’s orders.” Drona said after forcing a cough. He could practically feel the gazes of the soldiers on his skin.
“His Majesty ordered this?” Aizen said while lifting his head in a somewhat surprised and doubtful tone.
“Not the old man, but he.”
“Oh…Young Ma-...His Majesty certainly holds a great deal of surprise to him.”
“You might be even more surprised…after truly knowing him.” Drona’s expression turned serious as he spoke;
“Is it perhaps…him not being a normal human…or a human entirely?” Aizen’s eyes stretched as he smiled under his mask;
Drona’s eyes widened as soon as he heard him, for a few seconds he stood speechless and kept staring at Aizen.
“You…truly are the shadow master..”
“Haah…I’m not sure if I’m still worthy of the title…the enemies managed to drag the kingdom to this vulnerable state..” Aizen’s serious tone echoed on Drona’s face, as they both turned towards the dark dimension sphere slightly visible in the distance.
“His suspicion was correct..”
Drona turned towards Aizen with curious eyes;
“The Demon was definitely targeting the Centaurs…and now the Demi-humans.”
“What makes you so certain about it?” Drona asked while he placed his fingers on his chin;
“SIr Drona,..look around you…I don’t see any Naga’s corpse…but not a single human’s is missing..” Aizen gazed at the bloody battlefield around them, and saw hundreds of mutilated corpses lying in all four directions, and certainly those all were human soldiers, both from Padma kingdom’s army and the Chandra warriors.
“Nagaraj and his army were targeting Arav…who killed Usha,…another Naga who was the pillar supporting the….exploitation of elves.” Drona added to Aizen’s argument with a gloomy expression, with some hints of hesitation present, while his own head began spinning with various thoughts flooding inside.
“Whatever they desire…is certainly inside that place” Aizen said while his eyes turned red as he gazed at the huge dark energy sphere engulfing the elves’ residence.
[Chapter 33:END]