Emmanuel landed on the scorched ground, panting heavily. He looked around at the dar-tandemons.
His voice sounded rough as he spoke. "Their... numbers have... decreased."
He chuckled.
"So... just a few left, huh?" A grin.
The flames on his arm guard and katana blazed wildly. "Let's finish it then." And with that, he rushed at them
— —
Rexford flipped through the sky, swinging his katana as his water whip thrusted into the river. Multiple water whips emerged, weaving into a spherical cage and trapping several dar-tandemons in it.
Rexford descended and immediately he landed on the river—the river rippling violently under his feet—he pulled his katana and the cage shrunk, snipping the demons into numerous pieces.
Rexford stood—taking deep breaths. "Not many left." He said, noticing the decrease in the demons' numbers and smirked, taking a step forward. Then another. A third. And dashed forward.
— —
Kocho landed beside Augustine, both boys breathing heavily.
Augustine glanced at Kocho, speaking between ragged breaths. "There aren't many of them left."
"I see." Kocho grinned, taking a deep breath.
"Then let's wrap it up."
Dar-tandemons emerged ahead of them, holding bows and arrows.
Kocho went down, picking pebbles from the ground.
"Augustine, launch me."
He jumped while Augustine stamped his foot on the ground again, a large spike emerging. He then punched the air, shooting it forward as Kocho landed on it.
The demons shot multiple arrows simultaneously at him. He then imbibed the pebbles with his energy and threw them.
The pebbles blasted forward like fireballs, exploding the arrows they touched while the force knocked them away.
The spike Kocho stood on, sliced through the chaos with a powerful speed, getting close to the demons.
Kocho went down, touching the spike and flooding it with his energy, before jumping off.
The demons couldn't react on time as the spike hit the one in front, going off in a huge explosion and obliterating the ones behind.
— —
Lawrence landed—mini jet clinging to his back—standing back to back with Royal.
Lawrence wipes sweat from his forehead with the back of his hand, voice groggy. "Have... you noticed?"
Royal nodded, speaking between heavy breaths. "Looks like we're almost done." He gripped his katana hard and smiled, the air around his arm and weapon thickened coldly.
"Let's make it quick, shall we?"
Lawrence nodded firmly, bending down as his eyes gave a feint glow. Royal twisted around, spraying white mist at the dar-tandemons.
Ice streaked, freezing the demons mid-motion.
Fire blasted from Lawrence's jet's thrusters, blowing him forward.
He outstretched both arms—wielding both daggers— and spun like a boomerang. He moved cleanly through the frozen demons, breaking them all down with precision. Not leaving a single one out.
Lawrence landed behind the shattered demon crystals, skidded to a stop, and straightened slowly—breathing heavy, but composed.
— —
Desmond cut down one dar-tandemon, twisted and cut another one sideways. He straightened up, taking deep, heavy breaths.
He noticed Augustus still going at it across the field—taking down one demon after the other with his wind drills—with a composed expression.
Desmond stared at him with a blank expression.
"He pisses me off for some reason." He mumbled as lightning flared for an instant around him and he dashed forward, slicing two demons in a row.
Meanwhile, Augustus landed upside down on a dar-tandemon—one hand on its shoulder—and dug his wind drill hand into its head, before leaping and landing behind it.
He started panting softly, turning to watch Desmond with an emotionless glare.
Attention going back to his opponents, a small "Hmph" escaped him. A demon approached him from ahead.
He just stood there as wind burst beneath him, blasting him into the sky as he spun along. Wind started spiraling around one leg—ready to bury the demon into the ground with a kick.
Desmond spotted a demon and ran to it, pulling his arms gripping his katana back.
Augustus came down with a powerful speed, bare leg crashing into the demon. His eyes snapped open. Where was the wind around his leg.
Desmond thrusted his arms in an attempt to stab the demon but then, he gasped.
Augustus looked at his arms. The wind drills and arm guards were gone. "Huh?!"
And the lightning around Desmond had vanished along with his weapon and arm guard. "What the...?!"
The demon grinned and grabbed Desmond by the arm, swinging him away.
The demon Augustus attacked held Augustus' leg and threw him in Desmond's direction.
The two bumped into each other with a crashing thud, gagging before dropping to the ground.
Desmond got up first, clearly having more endurance than Augustus. Augustus struggled a bit, getting back on his feet.
Desmond frowned, looking in his palms. "What the?! I can't feel my energy!"
Augustus clicked his tongue, looking in his own palms. "And why should I care?"
Desmond turned to him sharply. "I wasn't even talking to you."
Both boys' attention snapped back to reality. Standing back to back, they registered the remaining demons around them.
Desmond bit his lower lip. "Dammit!"
Augustus stiffened, turning to Desmond. "What do you think is going on?"
Desmond at him him with a slight frown. Augustus turned away quickly. "I was just asking. Don't get the wrong idea."
"There's no way I'd think that." Desmond glanced back at the demons. "One of them might probably be having the power to suppress others' energy flow."
"I see." Augustus said, looking around as if searching for the culprit. "It's the same ability as Master Richelle's."
Desmond nodded with a hum. "And we won't be able to use our powers if we don't find him and kill him."
Both boys kept glancing sharply around at whichever demon might be doing it.
"What is it, kiddos?" The demons around them snickered.
"The fight in you gone?"
Desmond chuckled with a grin. "I wouldn't say that. You guys are just too weak to face us so you had no other choice but to use these cheap tricks."
"Yeah!" Augustus seconded, also masking a grin. "Why don't you drop this trick and face us."
The demons only laughed out loud. "So, what if this is just some dirty trick."
"We are demons after all."
"Yeah! We don't care about how we kill our prey."
The demons rushed at the two boys.
"If you think you can talk your way out of this then you must be dreaming."
Desmond and Augustus both took steps back, frustration written all over their faces. Shifting gazes as if searching for something. Anything.
"This is the end of the line for you." One demon beamed, throwing a spear at Desmond.
Desmond's eyes widened, watching the spear pierce through the wind in his direction. "Shit! I can't dodge this one." He gritted his teeth, fists clenched, helplessness welling up in him. "What do I do?"
"I won't let you die." A blue glowing mouth whispered in darkness as Desmond's pupils glinted a blue color. Lightning spiked around him.
The next thing anyone knew, he had backflipped, kicking the head of the spear and making it spin.
Augustus turned around briskly to look at Desmond—a hint of surprise crossing his face.
The demons—running towards the boys— gasped mid-step.
"Huh?!"
"I–impossible!"
In that moment, Desmond's eyes was wide opened, his lips sealed, no emotion showed on his face.
He landed, catching the spear and turned to his left.
Lightning crawled from his arm to the spear, sparkling at the tip, pointing straight into the distance.
Then—
Whoosh
He sent it flying he with a lightning speed past the demons.
Augustus' eyes followed the trail of the spear.
"He missed them?!" He thought, lips pursing. "No. That's not it."
The spear moved, lightning crackling around it. And suddenly pierced through a demon hiding in the shadow's head.
The demon fell backwards. "Huh?!" Its eyes and mouth were wide open. "How didn't I see it coming?"
And dropped to the ground.
Desmond's glowing eyes dimmed and he blinked. "Huh?!" He looked quite surprised himself.
Augustus and Desmond's arm guards came back on.
Augustus turned to Desmond. "How did you do that?"
Desmond took a stance, his katana appearing back in his hands. "I don't know how I did it? It just happened."
Augustus groaned, looking back at the demons approaching them, wind spiraling around his arms again as he pointed both at the demons.
Lightning flashed around Desmond wildly and Desmond concentrated it around the katana. The lightning stretched outward from the tip like long chains of whips.
Augustus started shooting multiple wind drills at the demons—
[Abrasive Bombard Barrage]
The demons—completely defenseless— tried running back but the wind drills caught up to them, crashing them hard into the ground and tearing through them.
Desmond whirled the lightning whip over his head with his katana as the demons ahead of him kept approaching.
He then swung the katana sideways, sweeping the whip across the field.
[Lightning Lash]
The demons in the way of the whip got fried to the bones, screams echoing from them at the harsh attack until there were none.
The place fell silent after the simultaneous attacks. Dust flooding the atmosphere ahead of Augustus and the ground in front of Desmond scorched to black.
Both boys stood—breaths ragged but victorious.
Augustus straightened up, glancing back at Desmond.
Desmond looked back at him. "We did it."
Augustus rolled his eyes. "Whatever." His expression turned serious again. "Now tell me. How did you manage to use your ability with your energy suppressed?"
Desmond frowned. "I already told you. I don't know how. It felt like my body moved before I could even think. It was almost... unconscious."
Augustus lifted his chin in defiance. "Don't think I'll buy something as lame as that."
Desmond sighed, running his fingers through his hair. "Listen, I don't care if you believe me or not..."
Desmond paused when a hand suddenly fell on his shoulder. An orange hand. His eyes widened at the sensation behind him.
His arm guard came back on along with his katana and he spun around slicing through the air.
The figure behind him jumped back, avoiding the attack.
Augustus immediately activated his arm guard and swiped around—wind drilling around his arm—and thrusted his arm forward but whatever was behind him jumped back.
Both boys stiffened, watching the orange haired, humanoid, wolf headed demons in front of them.
One standing before Desmond and the other standing before Augustus.
Desmond groaned. "No kidding."
"Ori-tandemons?" Augustus blurted out, both boys shocked at the unexpected guests.
— —
Rexford crouched on the surface of the water, breath coming in ragged gasps. "Finally. I'm done."
He suddenly felt a hot breath against his neck. "Are you sure?"
Rexford gasped, stabbing the water in front of him as several water whips thrusted sharply up from behind him.
The figure backflipped three times, dodging all the attacks.
Rexford turned immediately, eyes widening when he saw the ori-tandemon a few meters from him.
He trembled slightly at the presence of the demon.
"S-seriously?! An ori-tandemon?!"
— —
Emmanuel walked away, nearing the edge of the volcanic field, hands in pockets, leaving behind him the dead bodies of the demons.
"This isn't a test anymore. I'm sure the masters have noticed." He stopped and looked behind him at the dead demons.
"They're probably doing something about it. I should get out of here while I still can. My energy is almost depleted. There'll be trouble if I ran into more enemies."
He turned around to leave but stopped almost instantly, coming face to face with an ori-tandemon.
His mouth opened but no words came out. Or he just didn't know what to say.
The demon was standing right in front of him, baring its fangs in a grin. "I don't think I'll allow you to go."
— —
Ferlan sat on the couch, glass of wine in one hand.
"They managed to survive first round, huh?"
Kimado grinned to it. "How interesting."
Ferlan took a sip of his wine. "Let's see if you can handle phase 2, shall we?" He grinned wider, revealing vampire-like teeth and chuckled.
Outside, thunder rumbled through the dark sky as if it signalling the second round of the fight.