“What did you do…? I claimed your heart–it is mine!” The four-armed demon yelled, causing his voice to ripple through the lifeless forest like a momentary storm.

As the swift guardian dashed towards the reborn adventurer, the young man found himself able to easily perceive the demon’s assault this time. He stepped out of the way casually, watching as the boorish fiend struck only at air with its blade-like nails.

‘He feels slow now,’ he thought.

Watching the four-armed demon with his eyes that glimmered like jewels that housed sunlight, he clenched his fist to prepare for his response. He could feel his muscles coiling beneath his skin, tightening with power he had never felt power.

As he thrust his fist forth, it felt as though an explosion triggered from within his shoulder, granting riveting force to his knuckles as they slammed against the floor guardian’s side.

“Nrgh–!” A wince came from Bakasura as the sound of the demon’s ribs being crunched became heard.

A secondary force came with a quake of flames, bursting outward with a miniature, point-black blaze releasing from his fist, blasting the demon across the chamber. The adventurer looked at his fist after blowing the once insurmountable foe back, closing his fist as embers exuded from his pores.

‘This is the strength of “Prometheus”, it’s amazing,’ he thought.

Enamored in his newfound power, an enraged howl shook the ashen trees, rumbling the soil beneath the young man’s boots. Erupting back to his feet, the tusked demon flexed his body as his dark-blue skin became overrun with veins.

“I’ll tear you apart! I’ll feast on your insides, human!” Bakasura’s voice rippled through the wind.

The demonic brute stomped his feet wildly and waves his limbs around, causing spears of bone to sprout from the soil. Plentiful; the instruments for killing loomed and surrounded the mighty demon, who held all four of his hands up as if expecting to be worshiped.

“Be skewered and die,” Bakasura invoked.

All at once, the dozen spears of ivory extended towards the lonesome adventurer, driving through the air with length matching that of the rooted trees.

Though the adventurer had only awakened to his abilities mere moments ago, it flowed naturally to him as he swept his hands in response, whipping and extending his black chains. Another pair of chains manifested from flames, wrapping around the demon’s piercing pillars.

The black chains were far from ordinary; like an extension of his own body, guided by his will, they felt unbreakable, burning with untameable power.

Bastian planted his boots against the soil before jumping up just as a set of the ivory lances curved towards him. He spun around in the air with a spiral of flames flickering around him before tossing his chains down, wrapping their scorching grip around the bones.

In a single tug, he tightened the bindings before crushing the ivory, landing back down on his feet as four more spears jabbed towards him.

“Hnh!” He strained himself, conjuring more chains and allowing them to wrap around his arms as he wrapped each set around the numerous lances.

Bakasura howled, “What–?! You think you can overpower my ashen bones?! Arrogance! Arrogance! Arrogance!”

The demonic clenched his fists, causing the colossal spears to rattle, attempting to pull away. Bastian kept his boots planted against the soil, leaning back as he flexed his body, contesting the strength of the mighty guardian.

“Enough of that,” Bastian mumbled, giving a powerful tug as he slid his boots across the soil, sharply pulling his hands back.

The weaponized bones were shattered once again, leaving the demon devoid of his killing instruments. Clearly frustrated, the four-armed guardian was salivating in anger, drumming his hands against his chest as his size increased.

Morphing from a humanoid build, the fiend’s bone structures changed; the cracks of his bones echoed as his chest grew and arms bulked to three times their normal size. Like a gorilla, the salivating demon slammed his fists down before leaping towards the adventurer from afar.

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“I’ll crush you–!” Bakasura roared.

Witnessing the goliath soar through the air, he slid his boot forward and cocked his arm back, casting his black chains behind him before whipping his bindings around sharply. Flames sparked from the metal links, slicing across the trunks of trees on the left side of the forest. The wind cracked as the chains whipped against the hulking demon’s side, causing sparks of fire to hiss. The impact of the lengthened chains whipping against the guardian caused Bakasura to plummet, crash landing against the sapphire-leaved trees.

From the plume of dust, the silhouette of the demon erupted, changed once again: a colossal, cobalt-scaled serpent slithered across the field.

It parted its jaws, large enough to swallow a carriage whole with a single snap of its mouth. The horned serpent drug its bottom lip through the soil, planning to swallow the human and the grass he stood on.

“Swallow this,” Bastian quietly said, pulling his hand back.

Heat condensed in his palm, glimmering with a blinding, orange light as embers gathered and flames began swirling around his fist. As the gargantuan maw of the serpent neared him, he tossed his hand forward, expelling a torrent of flames forward.

The unsavory meal of heat caused the demonic reptile to recoil, lifting its body as it vomited the blaze from its maw, exhaling and spewing smoke as embers rained down.

Again, the demon relinquished his form as smoke briefly swirled around his shifting body. A massive thud collided with the ground as the billowing smog was pushed outward, obscuring the adventurer’s vision briefly.

What stood in the center of the forest was colossal; flapping its ears and wavings its trunk that was neighbored by gargantuan tusks: a blue elephant, dressed in jewels.

“Another transformation?” Bastian mumbled, looking up at the behemoth.

The accursed elephant lifted its trunk, angrily trumpeting as steam exuded from its nose. The blaring noise rang the young man, who covered one of his ears with a small wince. The soil rattled; pebbles hovered above the ground slightly as the trumpet shook the forest.

After unleashing its warcry, the behemoth stomped towards the adventurer. Having been stunned for a moment, he had to move quickly, finding the elephant much faster than should be normal. A shadow cast itself over him as the mighty foot of the beast plummeted. Managing to slide himself away, he looked back as the behemoth crushed the soil beneath it, causing cracks to split through the field.

The devastating force could unmistakably turn boulders of stone to powder; still, the blessed adventurer countered. He planted his feet down and whipped his chains forth, flicking his wrists as he guided the steel to wrap around the backfoot of the behemoth.

“Nngh–!” He summoned his strength, tugging at the weight of the mountainous creature.

Of course, the elephant contested his hold, attempting to pull back with its unfathomable wait, trumpeting once more as the forest quivered.

He dug his boots into the soil, flexing his entire body before turning to the side, tugging with everything he had; a burst of flames igniting through the chained links, successfully tugging the behemoth’s foot from beneath it.

The gargantuan creature lost its balance, collapsing with a thunderous impact. The collision drove into the soil, forming a crater as nearby trees were uprooted, collapsing inward.

He didn’t shy away from the destructive nature of the battle, dashing in towards the kicked-up dirt before–

A beastly roar emitted as another morphed figure launched from the veil of dust; a massive tiger of blue-and-black fur, lunging at the adventurer. He reacted quickly, using his scorching chains to whip it away.

The steel struck the tiger in its jaw, knocking one of its fangs loose and flinging it back. He witnessed the beast change once more as it fell back, its bones crunching and flesh compressing and expanding.

“What now?” Bastian mumbled, readying himself.

An unexpected evolution came as the morphing flesh of the demon split itself into dozens of chunks, each expanding on their own and focusing into new shapes. Through his blessed eyes, he could sense a rise in the fiend’s aura; a troubling development was occurring.

He began spinning the chains wrapped around his wrists, gathering momentum as they sparked, flickering with radiant embers before roaring into wheels that carried a prominent blaze.

Above him, the split forms of the demon melded their flesh into wingless, serpentine beasts with flowing whiskers and cobalt scales–the creatures that ruled the domain of the sky: dragons.

They were small, but large enough to be trouble, each matching his own size as they began to encircle him in the air, with the cackling laughter of Bakasura shared between the numerous beasts.

“Arrogant human.”

The many forms of Bakasura taunted him all at once, from differing sides with his bellowing voice carried through the sound of crackling thunder.

“I have lived for thousands of years.”

Bastian listened without responding, keeping his eyes on the beasts as some strayed closer to him, feigning as though they may snap their jaws or lash their claws at him, but pulling away before doing so. The grinning reptiles cackled each time the blessed figure whipped his chains, falling for the feints.

“Since being locked in this prison, I have slain thousands of fools like yourself. All believing they stood a chance against my wizened might.”

Sparks of golden lightning spiraled around the zone in which the horned dragons swam through the air, zapping at the stagnant wind.

“Hubris of humans that have gained a lick of power. All the same, I have consumed their flesh and gnawed their bones.”