As the battle began, the Kelpie's roars echoed through the city, blending with the crash of collapsing buildings and the acrid stench of smoke. A group of four huddled inside a building near the creature's rampage.

"That damn thing is still out there," a man muttered in the darkness, his voice laced with fear and frustration.

"Keep it down! You'll draw that thing right to us," another voice hissed, urging him to stay silent.

"Damn it, I was just at home cooking for my family before everything went to hell," a voice grumbled from the corner.

Rumbling*

The battle outside grew fiercer. "The monster's fighting someone out there," one of them observed, straining to hear over the chaos. "Maybe it's the adventurer's guild," another man added, a spark of hope in his voice.

Boom*

Their brief moment of hope was halted as the wall exploded inward. An old, muscular man crashed through, leaving a gaping hole that partially lit up the darkened room.

The man quickly rose from the rubble, brushing the dust from his uniform. His eyes locked onto the monster's massive form through the hole he had crashed through.

"Sir—Mr. Ryan!" the group shouted in unison, their eyes practically sparkling at the sight of him.

Instructor Ryan turned to them in surprise. "What are you still doing here?" He glanced back at the monster, noting it was momentarily distracted, and then commanded, "Get to the north side of the city. I'll keep this thing busy. Go!"

Instructor Ryan dashed toward the monster without hesitation. Spurred into action, the group hurriedly exited through the back door and sprinted north. As they ran, they glimpsed two figures battling the beast—Ryan was one of them, but they couldn't identify the other.

There was no time to dwell on the identity of the brave soul as the Kelpie's tail thrashed wildly, smashing into every building within reach.

Davis deftly evaded the Kelpie's attacks using his learned movement techniques, doing his best to support Ryan. But as the battle dragged on, Ryan found himself being covered by Davis.

Despite his years of training and field experience, Ryan struggled to keep up with the Kelpie's unnatural healing. Every wound they inflicted vanished within seconds. Davis struggles to do anything much as his weapon is still stuck on the Kelpie's head.

Ryan's breath came in ragged gasps, his legs threatening to buckle beneath him. Yet, he refused to loosen his grip on his blade. "How long has it been since this fight began? How much longer can I hold out?" he wondered as he maneuvered around the beast.

As if sensing it too, the Kelpie focused its attention primarily on the unarmed Davis. Realizing this, The Kelpie relentlessly lunged at him with its fleshy claw swiping down, but Davis dodged ever-incoming attacks, and captured its full attention.

The Kelpie clenched its fleshy claw and spun around, catching Ryan in midair with a powerful backhand slap that sent Ryan crashing into another building.

"Instructor!" Davis shouted, but there was no time to worry about Ryan as the monster's tail lashed out at him.

Davis leaped to safety, creating distance between himself and the Kelpie. It was now a one-on-one fight. Davis exhaled deeply, steadying himself. His eyes focused on his sword, still lodged in the Kelpie’s head. With a confident gesture, he challenged the creature to attack.

The Kelpie charged, but Davis danced backward, narrowly dodging each swipe by mere inches. Timing his move, he jumped and used the Kelpie’s claw to propel himself toward his sword.

Grabbing the hilt, he launched himself over the Kelpie’s head, freeing the sword in the process. Mid-air, he turned to inspect the blade—only to realize the sword was broken, its edge severed just above the hilt.

Distracted, the Kelpie’s tail coiled around him, slamming him violently into the ground. The impact left Davis dazed and defenseless. The Kelpie’s jaws opened wide, and with a roar, it summoned a fiery inferno. A blazing stream of fire erupted from its maw, scorching everything in the area around Davis.

The Kelpie closed its maw and turned to the side, finding Davis lying on the ground far away from the blazing inferno it just created. And standing beside him was a man, he was the one who pulled Davis away and toward him.

The Kelpie prepared another fiery breath, but before it could release the flames, its mouth was suddenly forced shut by thin, nearly invisible wires. The fire exploded inside its throat, causing its head to tear away from its body.

Davis, still recovering, turned toward the man who had saved him. The stranger expertly wielded the wires, which reminded Davis of someone unpleasant. "Are you Davis?" the man asked, retracting his wires.

"Uh, yeah... but who are you?" Davis replied, quickly scrambling to his feet, ready for another fight.

The man tossed a blade to Davis. "Mr. K told me to give this to you." He turned toward the Kelpie, which was already regenerating at an alarming pace. "He called it a katana. Said it’ll serve you well in this fight."

Davis, slightly calmer, glanced around. "K? Where is he?" he asked, scanning the area.

The man, Vincent, shook his head. "Mr. K isn’t here right now."

Davis inspected the katana, unsheathing it to reveal a single-edged blade. Before he could ask further questions, the Kelpie, now fully regenerated, prepared to attack again.

"He said to destroy its heart," Vincent added, pointing at the creature as it rose again.

"How? That thing's healing is—" Davis began, but he was cut off as the Kelpie lunged, slamming down between them. He and Vincent dashed away just in time.

The Kelpie turned its attention to Davis, swinging its right claw at him. Davis narrowly dodged, but the creature followed up with a crushing downward slam from its left hand.

The attack was blocked by Ryan who had finally come back into the picture, He used his sword to push its claw away leaving its body open. Seeing this, Davis quickly retaliated, lightning crackled around Davis's body, enveloping both him and the katana.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

Lightning God's Sword Technique, Third Form: Flashing Thunder*

In a flash, Davis dashed in a straight line, slicing cleanly through the Kelpie’s leg. The blade passed effortlessly through its bone and flesh. As he stopped at the end of his dash, Davis noticed how light and different the katana felt compared to his usual longsword.

Davis turned and was relieved to see Ryan joining them. "Instructor, you’re alright!" he shouted with excitement.

Ryan smiled back, his pride evident. "Of course. It would take a lot more than that to take this old bag of bones out," he replied with a chuckle. "Who’s this?" he asked, gesturing toward Vincent, who was still diligently slicing into the Kelpie.

"Sort of… I think he is a friend of my master," Davis answered uncertainly.

Vincent regrouped with them and calmly pointed out, "Let’s save the introductions for after we’re done with the enemy."

The Kelpie's wound healed quickly, despite Vincent's barrage of attack from all angles with his wires. Once again, the creature regenerated effortlessly, now torn between attacking Vincent, Ryan, and Davis.

Davis took a step back, analyzing the situation. "It’s healing too fast, but earlier..." A thought struck him—he had been so focused on his swordsmanship that he’d neglected his magic.

Fire Magic: Fireball*

A ball of fire ignited in his hand. Bringing the katana closer, Davis let out a deep breath. "Hope this works!" he muttered, attempting to infuse his fire magic into his lightning aura. But the two forces clashed violently, failing to merge and creating a small explosion.

"If they can’t be fused..." Davis thought, narrowly dodging another attack. He quickly changed tactics. Focusing, he condensed his lightning aura strictly onto the blade, while simultaneously creating a thin cloak of fire around it.

Lightning God's Sword Technique, Third Form: Flashing Thunder*

Davis dashed forward in a flash of lightning, and as his blade made contact with the Kelpie’s flesh, the clash between the blade's lightning aura and the fiery cloak created a small, explosive reaction that both slashed and burned the creature's hide.

He continued his assault, striking multiple times before regrouping with Vincent. They both noticed that the Kelpie’s regeneration had slowed slightly, the wounds taking longer to heal than before.

Ryan smiled and complimented. "Not bad, Davis. Looks like you’ve found a new way to deal with it."

Vincent joined in, smirking at the new development. "I’m not sure exactly why it’s working, but it is. Let’s roll with it. You two attack, I’ll cover you."

With that, Vincent, Ryan, and Davis charged back into the fray, ready to exploit their advantage.

Near the town entrance, K strolled through the chaos he had unleashed. "I expected a bit more—souls!" he muttered, his eyes darting eagerly around. "Now, where should I begin my search?" A sly smile tugged at his lips.

As he walked past a fatally injured man, he cheerfully stepped over the body. "Excuse me, coming through!" he chimed, utterly indifferent to the man’s suffering. The dying man reached out, grasping K's leg, his voice weak and desperate. "Please... I-I don't... hurt, it’s... ahhh, please."

K slowly knelt beside him, still smiling, and gently pried the man’s hand away. "Sorry, my friend, but you should save your strength for... hmm, Anubis? Lucifer? Hades?" He paused, feigning a thoughtful look. "Honestly, I have no idea where your soul’s headed. But hey, try to look past all the hellish nonsense and just... enjoy the ride!" K giggled contentedly, standing up as the man’s pleas faded.

K continued his carefree stroll through the ruins with unhinged happiness as he hummed Christmas tunes. His eyes flitted from one crumbling building to another, until he suddenly gasped with exaggerated concern. "Oh my! A soul in need!" he exclaimed, spotting a woman slumped weakly against a wall.

He sauntered over, his expression dripping with false sympathy. "Oh, you poor thing!" he cooed, as the woman, still alive, clung to the broken piece of wood impaled in her stomach.

"Can you hear me, love?" K asked, placing a light, almost comforting hand on her bloodied arm. Her eyes fluttered open, and with what little strength she had left, she gasped, "H-h-h-help me!"

K smiled warmly and nodded his head, his tone gentle. "Okay!" Then, with deliberate slowness, he pressed the wood deeper into her wound. The sudden pain stunned her as she stared at him with terrified eyes, and after a few agonizing seconds, her life faded away.

"Oops!" K chuckled softly to himself. "She didn’t make it... Too bad! I was just about to call for help."

He stood back up and entered the building beside her. "This should be far enough," he murmured, standing still. He formed a triangle with his arms, closed his eyes, and began chanting.

"Eye of the stars, pierce all that is hidden. With the authority I hold and the souls that I will offer. Give me a sign that my target is alive!" K chanted, his shadow spreading and forming into a crimson symbol of the Leviathan.

His calm demeanor began to shift, contorting with pain as he struggled to continue. The crimson symbol glowed faintly, threatening to fade. "Fuck... not enough mana," he murmured, his breathing labored as blood seeped from his eye socket. His hands trembled violently.

His body gave way, dropping to one knee, but still, he pressed on. "By the grace of the sky, with the blessing of the earth." The space around him began to twist and warp, as though he were inside a living painting. The distortion spiraled outward from a swirling mass of chaos forming before him.

With one eye squeezed shut, he raised the triangle before his open eye, gritting his teeth. "Open my eye at the cost of these lives, and show me my answer." He stared through the triangle as the mass of distortion parted, revealing a portal of light.

Despite the blood streaming from his eyes, and the strain causing his teeth to grind dangerously close to breaking, he remained focused. The room convulsed around him, bending and twisting violently as if the very air was alive and writhing in agony.

K stared at the portal with widened eyes, his teeth clenched as disbelief overcame him. "No, how did—" he stammered, struggling to rise with what little strength he had left, trying desperately to move toward the portal.

The portal suck in the energy of the room and everything fell silent, and after a few agonizing seconds, a pulse of energy shot out and pushed K back and into the wall. His vision blurring and his body growing heavy. The crimson circle flickered and then vanished.

"Y-you can’t be… dead," he murmured, his voice barely a whisper. Exhaustion overtook him, and his consciousness slipped away into darkness and he was out cold.

A pulse of energy rippled through the town without causing any immediate damage, reaching Davis, Ryan, and Vincent. They both felt a slight tingling sensation.

"What was that?" Davis asked, glancing around in confusion.

Vincent chimed in. "No idea, but it felt… strange!"

Ryan shouted with a firm and focused voice. "Ignore it for now. Concentrate on finishing off the nearly dead Kelpie. We’ll figure out that sensation later."

Davis and Vincent turned their attention back to the Kelpie. The creature's body was ripped and torn, one of its hands was completely severed, and it struggled to heal through its numerous injuries. They prepared to deliver the final blow.

The Kelpie struggled to rise again, but Vincent’s wires lashed out, slicing deeply into its body and widening its wounds. This cleared the way for Davis and Ryan. Davis braced himself, concentrating the last of his aura into his blade.

In a desperate move, the Kelpie unleashed a fiery breath toward Davis. The attack was intercepted by Ryan’s aura, shielding Davis from the flames. Vincent, not missing a beat, released his wires from the Kelpie’s leg and drove them deeply into its chest.

Seizing the opportunity, Ryan leaped forward and delivered a powerful slash, tearing through the Kelpie’s flesh and breaking its bones. The strike revealed the Kelpie’s heart to Davis.

Lightning God's Sword Technique, First Form: Sky Piercer*

Davis unleashed a burst of lightning-infused aura that spread out before forming into a straight line toward the exposed heart. The lightning pierced through the Kelpie’s body, creating a devastating hole where its heart once stayed.

The Kelpie let out one final roar before collapsing, motionless, with a resounding thud. The battle was over.