I don't give myself any time for hesitation and the demon for another chance to throw one of its bone shards as I sprint toward it as fast as possible. The dry dirt beneath me cracks underneath my footsteps as Dakota circles the demon. Blake takes a few seconds to recover before conjuring her spirit from within her.

But my focus is not on them at all. It is on the unique Volkar, Vualki. It shuffles side to side before rearing its arm back once more, only this time it's facing me. I think it might have realized that I am a threat as I can block its bullets, but little does it know, the construct of Ether that defended me is fucking broken.

Two hits were all it could take, and the second one went partially through. Had the tough Bloody Palm not been what received the leftover force, the bone shard would have gone right through my hand.

Vualki rears its arm back, and I look at its face to try and get a feel of where he's going to throw, but his eyes are hidden underneath his mask. Previously he stared at Blake's head before pulling the bone mask down, but I do not have that luxury this time. I have to guess. Or estimate. That's probably better.

I force my brain into overclock with my mind imbued with Ether, Ironheart, which strengthens my focus, and I look deeply at the burgeoning muscles of the demon. But my meager experience with throwing weapons tells me nothing. I'm no genius or Augur, so future sight is out of the question. What I do notice, however, before his hand releases the bone shards is that he twists his wrists right before throwing, and this time, he has three bones in his hand.

Reflexively, I put my arm over my eyes, and I'm thankful for the instinct as a projectile as strong as a bullet slams into my arm and gets stuck in the bone of my forearm. I look around for the other projectiles on my body as I move toward Vualki, but I feel nothing except for the teeth-clenching pain in my forearm. My hand goes limp from the injury as I hear a pained yelp and a groan nearby.

I twist my neck and see Blake doubled over as she pulls a shard of bone out of her stomach. The spirit she had summoned is fading as it seems to be ripped in two by the simple projectile. I also notice Dakota limping to my right. The fox had a shoulder sliced up by the bone shard.

All the while, I don't let my movement stop, and I sprint at the demon with all my might. I need to get close enough to use Intervention so Ether is flowing from me with a vengeance. I feel my blood begin to boil with rage at the injuries around me, and as such, the pain from my injuries fades as that volatile fluid of fury replaces it. Alongside this, fury simmers a dark feeling underneath, but I allow it to simmer. I need all the power I can get right now, and I just really want to fight.

Warm rage flows through me as I focus my will on my heart. I can already see the wounds to come, and my primary organ needs to stay beating. I imagine metaphorical chains wrapping around my heart and aiding its function. That is something I learned from Abraham. Your emotions and how you manifest them have power. That's how the man can turn his nightmares physical, after all.

I feel a slight resonance with how I use my Ether-infused will as the demon rears back another volley of bone shards. This time, five are spread out along its throwing hand. A broken Chero word comes from its mouth just before it throws the stones with a sonic boom coming from its hand.

"More!"

My feet slam into the ground as I keep my arm over my head, even with the bone shard in it. The only place I can't take a hit is my face. My ribcage should protect my heart, but a headshot is death. So, I end up just running directly into three of these bone shards. Warm feelings blossom along my side, hip, and right shoulder as I stumble and almost fall from the force of the impact.

None of the bone shards go through me, but they instead sink into my flesh and collide against a bone of my own before breaking apart inside of me. I curse inside my mind as the demon waves its arms and speaks again.

"Good! Good! Us fight! Great challenge! Fun!"

This demon thinks this is fun!? Motherfucker. I take a few more steps forward in my sprint as I realize I should be recreating Ironbound as I do so. It will take a few seconds under perfect conditions, so it will take at least twice as long while I'm being shot at. But the demon is quite far away as it had the range advantage to even start with. Hopefully, I can—-oh fuck!

I hear another sonic boom as my eyes briefly catch a glimpse of something happening on his arms with Chain Eyes, but before I can be sure of what I saw, I am inundated with another three of those bone shards. Another whimper goes out far to my right as I recognize that as Dakota getting hit again.

I want to look out for the little guy, but I need to kill this demon first. Then, we should be safe. Johnny, Silas, and the Chief will handle the other monster. Even still, I do hear the soft footsteps of the fox continuing to stalk the demon, even if they are slower and more labored.

Glancing out from under my arm, I see I've closed a decent bit of the gap, roughly halfway at this point, and I can see what's happening with his arm during the throws as he starts up another one. His joints turn liquid to increase flexibility, but that's not all. I see the light blue chains that wrap him tightly loosen for a split second before the release of his throw.

I duck underneath my arm again as I am hit once more by a trio of shards. I've completely given up on dodging the second I heard Dakota get hit. The fox is far more agile than me and far smaller. If Vualki can hit him, he can hit me without any effort. But the other two aren't as tough as I am. I hear a body collapse as I twist my head backward.

Blake has fallen to the dirt, with blood pooling around her. Shards of bone lie around her as I realize she was getting hit every time as well. My eyes still see chains wrapped around her in verdant luminance, so she is still alive. But I'm starting to see what the demon is doing as Dakota limps along.

He is trying to make it just him and I. Fucking hell. My teeth tighten so much that I feel they are about to crack as I keep getting closer to him. I need something to fight far away with. The range of Intervention is far too short. I'm always trying to get in close, and it keeps getting me or others hurt.

The demon seems to only grow happier as it sees Blake fall unconscious, but it seems to turn its attention toward Dakota. Vualki faces the limping fox with a gray-tipped tail and prepares another hail of bone at him.

"Soon!"

My feet slam into the ground as I make an instant decision. A deep breath of Ether flows through me just before the demon shoots out the bones from its hands. Strugglers Gasp siphons the Ether out of the air and from the demon as my chest fills up with air despite the two bone shards lodged in my chest and right lung.

This massive siphon of Ether flows from my lungs and into the rest of my body evenly as I need every measure of defense, speed, and strength to kill this thing. The Ether I siphoned from the demon feels incredibly familiar as it slows the speed of his throw drastically, allowing Dakota to move out of the way with a well-timed dodge.

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

I feel awash with a familiar flavor of Ether as my whole body flourishes with strength. And only as I burst forward with speed, cracking the dry and damaged dirt beneath me, do I realize the Ether inside of me.

It's the Ether of a Philosopher. That unique tang of realization of power and the momentary grasp of it is something I've only ever felt from my Sigil. And it makes sense. This demon has incredible strength, but only in small bursts that it uses to throw projectiles. However, I'm sure it could do the same up close.

Now that Strugglers Gasp is in effect alongside all my other strengthening skills, I glide over the earth with quick steps, bridging that gap so fast that the demon seems surprised. So surprised that it pauses, throwing the bone shards to crouch down. I ignore its odd movements, determined to just push through whatever it throws at me to reach it, but I am the one surprised this time as the chains on the demon's legs loosen. Then, it promptly jumps backward almost as fast as it throws those rocks, flying back at such a pace it's near impossible for me to catch up to.

My heart drops at seeing the power of the demon, but I don't falter completely as I see Vualki land awkwardly. An ominous chuckle that sounds like steel being bent comes from the demon as a few more rough words come from it while it tries to fix its landing. The demon then stands slowly as liquid drips from its knees, the liquid that is the blood of Volkar.

"Worthy! Fight! Sharpen! Grow!"

I see. He has limits as well. He can only break them momentarily, but our limits always catch up to our bodies.

That's why he throws the bone shards. It's likely a good balance between power and sustainability. Smart. For a demon from hell.

I shouldn't be praising a demon, though, even if it praised me. I don't really understand what it's talking about, but I figure it wants a good challenge to grow. That's quite a human view of things, and it puts me a bit off as I charge toward it. Dakota also comes from behind with a trail of blood, only far slower than usual. The fox is trying to emulate my hardiness without any of the skills or lineage to do so.

Putting my focus on the demon, I make headway just as it recovers and sends more bone shards toward me and Dakota. I take the bullet-like shards as I force my way forward. The Ether flowing through my whole body and loosening my chains in such quantity has increased the strength of my whole body such that the bone shards now only make it a bit into my flesh.

Less bullet, more throwing knife is what feels like slams into me, and I barrel through the projectiles. We repeat this charge through and the subsequent volley of bone shards three times before I hear another whimper behind me. I can't help myself as I turn and check behind me.

A deep pain enters my heart, one more so than any of the physical injuries I have, as I see the fox I've raised since it was a day old kit fall to the ground, bloodied and wounded. Clenching my hand so tight that my nails pierce the skin, I finish Ironbound and scream internally at the demon, wishing I could do it aloud. Strugglers Gasp prevents me from doing so as I need to save my breath, and as I barrel toward the demon with more hate and anger than blood in my body, dark red fills the entirety of my vision, tainting everything with black-ish vitriol. But just as this rage consumes me, I hear a small pitter-patter of footsteps far behind me.

Dakota stood up again. His insistence breaks through the rage, and I regain a bit of focus. Knowing that what I'm about to do will get me hurt severely if not lethally hurt, I turn and face my far too loyal companion. He's treated me with far more respect than I've ever given him. I release my Strugglers Gasp with a powerful burst of wind and a word for Dakota.

"STOP!"

I fly backward, now toward the demon, as I twist around to face Dakota, and I land with tumbling movements. I frantically attempt to stand, but the lack of Ether in my body and the weakness that follows using Strugglers Gasp prevents me from doing so. My arm gives out, and I fall to the ground just as a quintet of bone shards slams into my back, pushing me ever so closer to becoming an undead and gaining the gift of Undeath.

Only I like being alive, and I'd like to go back to the surface. I got a bastard to kill who is far worse than any demon down here. Another deep breath fills my body as I feel myself approach my limit of Ether saturation almost instantly. The headache breaching upon my deepest recesses is a final warning. Two Strugglers Gasps is basically my limit, and that's not even counting all the other stuff I've used in the past hour.

So, I release all my other skills, save Ironbound as it's already created, and shakily stand. Sadness mixed with pride fills my heart as I see Dakota lying down and watching me as he licks his wounds. One excellent thing about Dakota that I only notice right now. He's not intelligent enough to disobey orders.

I only force my back into a vertical before another quintet of bone shards slams into my back, only this time they are far less painful than the last five. Though, one does seem to clip my spine, eliciting a shocking feeling along my right leg.

I eke out a step toward Vualki as I start my sprint toward the demon once more. The demon seems to finally get what it's been wanting, and it takes a small break from trying to kill me to hype up our fight itself.

"Great, our battle! Grow, I will! Or you will! Survival of the fittest!"

I shake my head to push away the pain and fog of anger that is falling upon my mind as I rush at the demon. It quickly returns to firing the bone shards out at me, using its Philosopher-type skill to loosen its chains as well as its innate strength from being a Volkar. The way it moves is just so... inhuman.

But I quickly reach the demon with Strugglers Gasp flowing through me, pushing my physical body far beyond what it should be capable of, and Vualki replies by jumping over and past me this time while throwing bone shards at the top of my head. I am just barely able to cover my head by ducking and putting my arm over me as the bone shards pierce into me.

Blood continues to drip to the floor from me, and my wounds only grow as I make my way to the demon again, but it just keeps jumping away. My only solace is the fact I can see its legs breaking down just as I'm sure it sees my body slowly begin to break down. Its legs have bones sticking out where the knees should be. His skills work similarly to mine; we fight until our bodies break.

We are both tough, and that is something I'm sure of. This is a test of endurance, and while usually I'd be supremely confident, I started this fight with lingering exhaustion and some wounds. So as my steps slow and grow weary like an old man waking to his death bed, and as I use the machete as a cane to keep me going, I see Vualki's knees begin to buckle and his throwing hand break from overuse. He just switches to his other arm, though, as I grow a bit jealous.

We continue this back and forth for far longer than I would wish to, but I've already committed. As my steps turn impossibly laborious and the very moment that there is more bone that he's thrown at me in my body, his legs finally give out. But even as they do, the demon continues to throw bone shards at me. I'm forced to use Ironbound to catch a bone shard to the eye and one to the mouth. I take hit after hit as I take step after step. And as I do, my vision begins to darken. My senses dull. My thoughts slow. My chest nears implosion from the buildup of Ether. My heart stagnates with the massive hemorrhaging along my whole body.

I feel that unknown edge approaching. Like a film of paper stretched over my body, and I realize what it is so clearly. It is my body's limit. Only because of how brutally aware I am of my limit can I know this. I mean, I can literally see them after all with my eyes; what's so different from feeling it?

My foot touches the ground right in front of the immobilized Vualki just as I feel myself touch that edge. Just one more step is all that remains before I can let it all out on him, my Strugglers Gasp. I dropped the Intervention long ago. The holster that held it was destroyed, and it fell off before I could grab it as I had to protect my skull.

The limit. It keeps me back. It restrains me. My own body is betraying me.

No. That's not true. I betrayed it. Had I had any other way to fight than risk life and limb, I would have done so, but I did not have another option. No, that's not true. Something made me fight him. At this critical juncture, I gain clarity. Something is meddling with my mind, making me angry and aggressive. Or is it? Am I merely raging against the bottled-up emotions of what has happened to me? Or is this just who I am? A man fueled by rage and rage alone? I don't know. But I don't have any time to worry about that right now. My mind can wait. My eyes meet the Volkar as I stop and tremble throughout my whole body like my old home having an earthquake run along it. The entirety of me hinges on whether or not I can get just a bit closer. Vualki reaches up with an obviously broken hand that has bones sticking out and pulls up his mask of bone.

A wide smile is on the demon's face made of blue skin, almost as if it is mocking me, even if I know it isn't. I've learned a bit about this Vualki over our wild goose chase. It just wants a good fight to improve with. And I noticed that about halfway through as it stopped trying to hit anything other than my head. It learned where my weakness was and went for it. And in response, I have several bruises over my skull from grazes and one spot on the side of my head that is bleeding profusely.

The definite conclusion doesn't help as my vision swims with the demon smiling at me with its pale face. I just stand in this kind of limbo for a second or two as my body waves back and forth. But as my loopy eyes run over the shoulder of the demon and spot Dakota, who is now lying next to the unconscious Blake, I regain some energy. I tread the very fine line that is Ether oversaturation, and I hang from it acrobatically as I use Indefatigable and, for a split second, take a move out of Vualki's book.

As the energy, like a cup of coffee dipped into my veins, enters me, I shift Daydream from my arm that is guarding me against the Bloody Palm and place it on my leg. Then, I start my step before shifting it back; the deft manipulation of Ether is only possible because of the time locked in my dream. All that was needed was to lift my leg as I let gravity do the rest. I get closer to Vualki, close enough to hit him, and I feel something click.

The barrier seems to have been broken. The film of paper disappears instantly. But before I can follow up and strike the demon with all I have, the demon uses the only finger left on his body that is not broken and flicks me in the forehead. I can see the chains shatter on his finger as he does so.

I scarcely notice the impact before my vision goes black alongside a choppy voice.

"Worthy but not enough. Proud! Vualki best!"