Kwangg!

Kwangg!

Series of blistering fast cuts went high and low. A mixture of sweeping slashes, lightning thrusts, and quick parries danced in the room. It wasn't an immense weight Hope was dealing with compared to fighting the Awakened, but his muscles burned from all the previous injuries. And yet he couldn't stop. He had to fight-

'Right-'

Hope swung right and blocked a lashing tendril.

'Left-'

He ducked and thrusted his shield upwards.

Hope couldn't believe he was thinking this…but…where the hell was the other Awakened?

'Down…'

Instinctively, Hope let himself drop to the floor. The hound reeled away from the wall, passing over him, its fearful leap coming into contact with the Awakened instead who tried to sway aside from the attack.

Not fast enough.

Hope caught sight of razored claws puncturing through the Awakened's shoulders as it pinned him. Before Hope could do anything, a screech split in the air and the hound moved back—a deep cut had sliced into its chest, the flesh darkened like a bruised purple. But in response, it hurled the Awakened violently aside.

CRASH!

"..."

Plumes of stone and dust shot into the air, the impact slightly shaking the ground.

'He's fine.' Hope thought as he scrambled to his feet.

That guy was an Awakened after all.

How bad could it be?

Qraaaar!!

But the moment Hope got up, the hound roared in fury as it launched itself at him.

!!!

Recognized patterns flipped through Hope's mind as he then ducked and sidestepped the swing of its claws.

Wooosh!

A leap of black raced at the corner of Hope's vision and Hope quickly parried it with his shield.

However, at the next split moment, Hope flung up his arm reflexively to guard his throat.

"Urk!"

The hound's slavering jaws closed around it.

Slam!

It knocked him onto his back, numbness exploding through his body as he looked up and met the glaring fiendish eyes—his skin ripped by the hound's teeth.

Its face a glossy black, with lips pulled, growled with predatory hunger as it tasted his blood. Hope's eyes narrowed at the disgusting sight, while the hound's eyes grew wide as if it were intoxicated.

Hope quickly flipped out his pocketknife and stabbed it into the hound's eye, holding its head close before it got the chance to wrench his arm away. It shrieked. Raising its head and slamming it down where another spike of numbness rippled through him again and again.

Hope gritted his teeth as he dismissed his shield from his left where the hound still held in its jaws.

He then grabbed the hound's leg with his right and pulled himself deeper underneath the hound's belly, heedless of the agony in his arm.

Seeing that he was further enough, Hope summoned the shield in his right hand this time.

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Gripping onto the handle after the flash of Memory's light disappeared, he struck upwards with all the strength he could use, the rim of the metal plate thrusted into the monster's chest where the deep slice was made earlier.

Qrraaaarr?!

The hound released his arm, gaping its abhorrent mouth in pain, blood flowing down his flesh like tar.

It stepped back. But with the last spite of his energy, Hope kicked the shield deeper into its flesh before it could completely reel away.

Qrra- Qrraar!?

The hound stumbled back, shrieking as it lowered its head to glance at the wound. Its tendrils whipped frantically around the room, having Hope roll side to side before they lashed down on him like slices of darkness.

Qrrr….qrr…

But the hound was injured.

And it was vulnerable.

'Kill...'

Without wasting another moment, Hope dismissed and summoned his shield as pulled himself to his knees, ignoring the wet blood in his arm and its metallic smell spreading in the air.

Then his body lunged itself forward.

It took all but three seconds to sidestep the tendrils and reach the monster.

Hope swung in a deliberate stroke, striking between its pale eyes.

A satisfying slice passed through flesh and bone—

Chiiik!

And then the shrieking stopped...

Thud!

Patpatpat!

The hound's body went limp as it collapsed to the floor, the tendrils dropping like ropes all around one by one.

"Huff…huff…huff…"

Hope panted, the aching slowly returning as the rush of adrenaline waned. He stared down at the damn beast, the metal plate still buried inside its burnished head.

The life wiped out of the hound's wide eyes.

But when Hope looked up, he noticed the Awakened was also on its back with a sword stabbed into the hound's flank.

"..."

"..."

Hope did not want to say anything.

Or let another spite grow too soon.

Not until the damn Spell confirmed-

[You have slain an Awakened Demon: Night Hound]

'I fucking better have…'

"Sigh....."

Hope thought that as he let out an annoyed sigh, dismissing the shield for the last time before he dropped to the floor in front of the 'Night Hound.'

He couldn't care less about the name. Sure, it may have sounded cool to someone else. Or lame. Whatever the case, it made the damn wounds on himself worth it if he'd slain it.

The Awakened paused as he watched him before pulling out his sword.

'He still hasn't said a word- No. He hasn't even made a noise-'

[You have received a Memory…]

'Huh?'

[Pearls of the Moon]

'Ah a memory.'

"..."

'Wait- a Memory?'

Hope blinked at the achievement.

He…really got another Memory.

But before he could even expand on that thought, the Awakened walked off the monster like it was a small hump and headed towards him.

Hope frowned. 'Does he still remember me-'

Grab!

Fingers suddenly closed over Hope's throat, tilting his head back from where he sat as the white mask stared above him blankly. Naturally, Hope grabbed the hand to loosen the grip. But he knew trying to remove the Awakened's arms would be a waste of energy.

'That's a yes then…'

And yet Hope wasn't too worried about it. Maybe it was because both battles he had to endure from the Awakened and the hound. Hope's injuries overruled any remaining concerns, throbbing across his limbs and back. And of course, he was still accompanied by his memory's voices that whispered in and out of his ears.

"Huak-" Hope struggled a bit against the grasp but stared nonchalantly at the Awakened. "Still not going to let me go huh…"

Kszzzch!

Then a static sounded from the Awakened's gauntlet. He seemed to flinch and sway a bit from it as if he'd forgotten.

Then a voice scratched through the noise:

"..ince…re..w…here…the..hell are you?"

"..."

"..."

'Now he shows up…'

Hope gritted his teeth, his eyes now showing impatience.

He weakly reached forward, trying to push the Awakened's arms off, then chest. Of course, the Awakened was unfazed by the attempt.

However, Hope finally reached high enough where his true intentions were.

He dug his fingers into the punctured black fabric where the hound's claws had penetrated the Awakened; hot and sticky with blood; the warmth of flesh and tissue.

What hurts more, a touch on unblemished skin?

Or a touch on an open wound?

Hope's essence poured out more this time, rippling from his core to his hands loosely like a cool fiery stream.

His power driving into the Awakened.

The Awakened stumbled. He swayed more to the side, head bobbing back and forth before his knees finally gave way and collapsed to the floor—the pressure leaving Hope's throat.

Thud!

"..."

Hope blinked at the sight.

He had counted up to eleven seconds when he first grabbed the Awakened's hand, waiting for him to faint. But his Aspect didn't work fast enough, or the Awakened's will was too great. Whatever the case, Hope then thought maybe a deeper contact would work, instead of 'scratching the surface.'

Hope stared in silence at the Awakened's slumber. The Awakened's loss of terrestrial consciousness was not dallying in this world like all the other people Hope had subdued before. This was his first time using it on an Awakened.

And...

'Huh...he's not actually asleep asleep…' Hope thought as he looked down at his hands coated with dust and blood.

He could still feel the coolness from his essence that seeped through his fingers when he touched the Awakened. However, it disappeared as it came; the seal closed so as to not have it channel freely through him like an endless stream. A disadvantage if he would have wanted to utilize it more efficiently and delicately.

But his power...had driven the Awakened into the Dream Realm.

Sojourned in another life of far different nature from this one.

A place that was not so easy to wake up from no matter what actions or words stirred the Awakened's body in this world when his spirit was tied to another.