image [https://i.imgur.com/GItwXiY.png]
Garyu floating above the burning wreckage of Sun Helm. His body’s golden light illuminated the rubble below him, where John and the Sun Fox stood.
Garyu focused his attention on the Sun Fox Beast king, trying to get a read on its magical energy. It was no doubt the same fox he had once hunted, but no matter how hard he tried, he could not decipher its rank.
I will just have to go all out, Garyu thought.
He raised his arms and closed his eyes. The Sun had gone down, yes. But there was still plenty of remaining Sun Energy in the surroundings. Specs of red light filled the surrounding area. Garyu’s blood pumped intensely throughout his body, and the Sun magic within him resonated with the surroundings. Every single tiny speck of sun energy was within his grasp. He was in control.
This must be how Pawan felt.
The Sun Energy began flooding into him, and his previously faintly glowing body practically shone with golden light. His body filled with pure heat, and his blood vessels seemed like they would burst from the sheer concentration of magic.
Garyu gritted his teeth.
It was only a borrowed power, after all. He thought.
It was not his own.
“However,” Garyu said while hovering in the air. “I know the peak, and I will stop at nothing to get it.”
The Sun Fox glared at him with eyes filled with purple madness, and its veins practically bulged from its hatred towards him. It howled, its voice sending shockwaves throughout the surrounding area, and John Fauster went flying from the battlegrounds, smacking his head on the ground and falling unconscious.
“Such power…” Garyu said. Was this really the same little fox he hunted?
Garyu summoned every ounce of the Sun Energy he had gathered. His body radiated with brightness, and in front of him, he created a spear of crimson light. It greedily absorbed his Sun Energy, and his body’s light dimmed, while the spear grew brighter.
The two grotesque bulges on the side of the fox’s body wriggled.
Garyu raised his hand, aiming the spear towards the Fox.
The Sun Fox howled.
Garyu sent the spear hurtling downwards. The very air around it vaporised as it shot towards the Fox.
“Spear of the gods!” Garyu roared.
Boom
A massive crater formed where the Sun Fox once stood. A smokescreen of fire and dust covered the area, and Garyu’s body slowly floated downwards, the light having left his body entirely.
Garyu painted, and he coughed up multitudes of blood. He clutched at his heart, every vein in his body feeling like fire ants were crawling through them.
“Magic drawback,” he said, while wiping the blood from his face. “Haven’t experienced that since I reached Rank 1,”
Garyu looked forward as the dust cleared above the Sun Fox. He walked over to it.
“Wait, a moment…”
As the dust cleared, a figure emerged out of the shadows.
“Impossible…” Garyu’s eyes widened in shock.
The Figure of the Sun Fox stood there unharmed. Two large, purple demonic forelimbs had grown out of the two bulges on the side of its body, and it had used them to shield itself from the attack.
All the golden light Garyu had sent into the attack now belonged to the Sun Fox.
And it glowed, like an ultraviolet demonic sun had descended upon the land.
Garyu tried to turn around and run, but the Sun Fox’s purple eyes fixed on him.
“No…” A giant forelimb came swooping down, crashing towards him. Garyu rolled to the side, but his burning veins made it hard to concentrate.
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For the first time since his ambition for power.
Garyu felt afraid.
The forelimb crushed Garyu’s right leg. He screamed in agony. He turned around as the Sun Fox advanced on him.
“No, please…” he said. “Mercy...”
A response from a bloody maw met his pleading, crushing his head within.
image [https://i.imgur.com/XIZL0SH.png]
Victor watched the entire scene unfold as he stood by Taiyo. He fought off a magical beast hound, and he examined the strange-looking Sun Fox.
He knew what it was.
Demonification.
Why had the Archon’s influence extended all the way to the southern hemisphere?
Uncontrollable memories flashed through Victor's mind. Demonified Hydras, with each head being as powerful as a Rank 2 beast. His last excursion to the North.
And Delsie’s death.
Victor clutched his head in pain.
“Victor!” Taiyo moved closer to him, her eyebrows drew together in concern.
“I’m… fine…” Victor said. He dug his fingernails into his palms, trying to suppress the searing pain in his abdomen.
“Are you sure?”
“Don’t worry about me,” Victor said. “We need to focus on that thing.”
Taiyo nodded, though her brow remained furrowed as she looked at him.
“Garyu is dead,” Victor said.
“Yeah.” Taiyo’s lips pressed together, and she grimaced slightly.
You may have been one of the most unpleasant people I’ve ever met, Victor thought. But you were our only hope against this damn beast king.
The Demonified Sun Fox howled, and Victor felt every single hair on his body stand on end. He had heard worse cries from more powerful creatures, but currently; he had no powers, and they had no backup.
Victor looked at Taiyo. Her eyes were wide, and she was breathing raggedly. The sheer presence alone would do damage to her, them being of the same element. He had to think fast.
The Sun Fox began slashing nearby buildings. Purple flames erupted from its body, and the two enormous forelimbs destroyed what was around it indiscriminately.
The temple was nearby, Victor thought. Along with every single villager.
A pack of maybe ten, no twenty black hounds gathered in the distance. Victor’s eyes widened as they all seemed to head his way.
“Taiyo!” Victor shouted. “Prepare for battle!”
Taiyo began chanting, and Victor raised his cleaver in a defensive position.
Shit, what were they going to do?
Three hounds pounced at him, and Victor blocked one. The other two attempted to leap past him. Victor spun, swinging the cleaver, slashing the one hound in front and one behind in half.
He missed one.
“Taiyo!” Victor’s eyes widened in fear.
Golden light erupted from Taiyo, and she drew a line of light on the ground in front of her. The beast paused, giving Victor an opening. He leapt forwards, driving his cleaver into the back of the beast.
Victor examined Taiyo. Good, he thought. The beast hadn’t made it–
Five more hounds surrounded the pair of them. Golden light erupted from Taiyo, and she drew a circle around them. The beasts paused, weary of the Sun Energy.
Why wasn’t Taiyo attacking them?
Victor’s eyes widened. He looked over at the Purple Sun Fox, and a vortex of violet light surrounded it, the ground covered in frost from the suction of energy.
It was like a black hole, swallowing every element of light in the area.
Taiyo would soon run out of magic to cast any spell.
Victor positioned himself in front of Taiyo. “Stay behind me!” he said.
One of the black hounds pounced over the golden circle of light Taiyo had drawn. Victor swung his cleaver downwards, slashing it in two vertically.
Victor hyperventilated. He couldn’t fend them all off at once, and Taiyo’s movements were becoming sluggish. If they all attacked at once, he might get away, but Taiyo…
Victor gritted his teeth.
“Taiyo,” Victor said. “I’ll distract them. You reinforce the surrounding barrier.”
“Victor?” Taiyo blinked rapidly. “What are you saying?”
“Don’t worry,” Victor smiled at her. “It’s only four magic beasts. I’m still a Mythril adventurer!”
Taiyo bit her lip, but she nodded at Victor.
Victor narrowed his eyes. Holding up his cleaver in front of him, he charged out of the golden circle. Immediately, the four hounds turned to him, each of their eyes glowing purple.
“All of you at once, then?” Victor’s eyes gleamed as he identified the leader of the pack. It stared at him with bared fangs and menacing eyes from behind the other three.
“Time to use an old technique,” Victor said.
Victor pushed all his strength into his legs. He could feel the tension rise tremendously, all his energy surging into his muscles. Blasting off the ground, Victor leapt over the pack of hounds, landing directly behind the leader. Before it even had the chance to howl, Victor cleaved it in two. The other three turned on him, growling.
“Strange,” Victor said as he slashed another hound, holding off the third and fourth. “They should have dispersed after I killed the leader. Why do they keep coming after me?”
Victor glanced at Taiyo from the corner of his eye, and though she was staring at him from a distance, her eyes not leaving his frame, she was unharmed.
That’s it! Victor’s eyes widened in realisation.
He made quick work of the next two hounds. A fifth hound approached Taiyo from a distance, but he dashed over, catching its attention. It leapt towards him. Victor dodged, giving it a hard kick to the stomach. The hound slumped to the floor listlessly.
Just as I suspected, Victor thought.
“Taiyo!” Victor said. “I have a plan!”