Back at the mansion—
Ferlan sat—head bowed, glass of wine in his hand.
Kimado sat perpendicular to him—glass in his hand too, staring ahead as if watching something irritating.
The room was tense.
Like a coiled spring, ready to snap.
Both of them tightened their grips on their cups.
The glasses cracked—
Then shuttered, wine spilling on their fists.
Kimado scowled, slowly raising his right hand.
Dark purple energy surrounded it.
But Ferlan raised a hand to stop him. "No Father. Let me take care of this."
He stood, raising his right hand—black energy emanating from it like smoke.
"You might overflow him with your power and kill him like you did with the last one."
Kimado looked at him for a second—
Then lowered his hand. "If you insist. We can't let that boy live no matter what? We've seen how much of a threat he is."
"Exactly." Ferlan agreed, his eyes glowing purple.
"That child...just broke through energy depletion."
Kimado gave a slight nod. "And a lightning ability at that." He added, bringing his hand to his face. "It gives me an unwanted, nostalgic feeling."
The smoke from Ferlan's hand started forming a figure above his palm.
"I'm giving you a second chance low level. Honor it."
— —
Back on the island—
Desmond laid on the ground, cheeks flushed, body trembling, expression uneasy, breathing unsteady.
To his far left, a strange smoke started rising.
That's where the ori-tandemon's dead body lay.
Actually, scratch that.
Its dying body.
The hole was still in its chest but it was breathing—
Faintly enough to hold on to life.
A slow, menacing grin spread his lips as the smoke started turning thick.
"Thank you, young master."
Its voice didn't sound hoarse anymore.
It was calm—
And young.
Like a boy in his early teens.
The wolf headed creature slowly sat up.
The smoke grew thicker—him completely out of sight.
From the smoke, cracking bones sounded along with pained groans and erratic scratching sounds.
Like the creature was scraping his nails against the ground, trying to tear it apart.
Its groans grew harsher—as though every second of what was going on was tearing through it.
After a moment, the sounds began dying down as the dar-tandemon walked out.
But it didn't look like the wolf headed creature anymore.
It looked like a kid.
A twelve year old boy.
The hole in its... in his chest was... gone. His fur had all fallen off, leaving orange skin. The wolf head was replaced with an orange human head.
His arms were healing up—just at a slow rate.
His orange tail also remained along with his black robes—with the demon's war symbol (a red circle with a red sword and red axe crossing each other) still on the back.
He glanced to his right, seeing Desmond's body lying there.
Then he turned, and sauntered over to the body.
"Now..." He spoke in his childish, human voice.
Except, it was filled with menace.
"Let's get this over with." He stopped beside Desmond's body, staring down at him—
Like a starving predator finally standing over a wounded prey.
The place was quiet.
Too quiet.
His arms were slowly healing—right arm past its elbow, left arm almost at its elbow.
He wasn't smiling anymore. Just gazing at Desmond.
Desmond was still out and shivering, oblivious to what was going on.
The demon began lifting one leg, air current spiraling around it like a drill.
His eyes didn't tear away from Desmond. And he didn't say anything.
The wind around his foot started giving off a light purple glow—
Ready to tear through Desmond's body.
But then, certain projectiles came flying at him.
The evolved ori-tandemon's eyes narrowed in alert—
Then he jumped back.
The objects curved, going after him.
They looked like shards of broken purple glass.
The demon twisted his way through the air, evading each of the shards as they came flying past him.
At one point, things slowed down as one of them passed over him.
He got a better look at it.
It looked like a translucent scale instead of a broken glass.
The scale shot past him, piercing through a tree as the demon landed.
He turned around, seeing as most of the trees around had been pierced with them.
The scales dissipated into dust, disappearing into the air.
The creature's breath hitched as it felt a wave of danger flare behind it.
It quickly turned around, eyes landing on a masked white haired girl crouched beside Desmond, examining him.
"He's doesn't look too hurt on the outside. An internal injury? " She thought, brows creasing.
"It's definitely him. The one I felt the surge from. He must have pushed past him limit."
Just then—
Three wind slashes came down at her from the demon's direction.
But she didn't turn.
Didn't even flinch.
She simply lifted her hand—bronze arm guard glinting on to her forearm—as several of her translucent purple scales stacked up out of thin air into a barrier, blocking the wind attacks.
The demon landed—
A scowl crawling his face.
Even then, the girl didn't turn. Just stayed bent beside Desmond.
She brought her hand forward, placing it on Desmond's forehead.
"It's definitely him. But..."
A sigh escaped her as she got up—turning around, eyes settling on the demon.
"You." She called out, pointing to the demon. "How did you manage to evolve? I could sense your presence slowly waning so it shouldn't be possible."
The demon opened his mouth to speak but was cut off immediately.
"Don't tell me the boy showed fear in front of you. Because I know he didn't. How else did he manage to leave you on the brink of death?"
The demon tried speaking but was cut off again.
"Unless..." She continued. "You got help... Perhaps a high ranking demon. Or even your master."
The demon clenched its jaws, its eyes twitching as it groaned.
It was difficult to tell which expression the girl was making behind the mask and that only made the demon more anxious.
Noting the orange creature's reaction, the girl sighed.
"I thought so. But..."
"If they had the power to do something like this all along then why use it now? I mean. I've never heard such a thing happening before."
She glanced behind at Desmond again. "Do they really want to kill this guy that bad? If so, what is it about him that makes them want to get rid of him."
She shook her head, turning back to the demon. "This is all too confusing. I'll ask him later."
She took a stance—
Several of her scales appeared covering her right hand. "If he manages to hold on, that is."
She gazed straight into the demon's eyes.
"I have to warn you. I'm strong. Stronger than the other candidates. You better not underestimate me."
The demon stiffened, eyes narrowing. "She doesn't have to tell me that twice. She makes me feel uneasy for some reason." A chill ran down his spine at the thought.
"And her hidden eyes under that mask makes her feel more dangerous."
The place went quiet.
Both figures stood, glaring at each other.
One calm and collected...
The other uneasy.
At a tree right beside them, a bird took off, its wings flittering.
Immediately—
The orange skinned creature jumped up, unable to use it arms since they weren't healed.
Then it started kicking its legs quickly—
Sending multiple wind slashes at the girl who just lifted an arm, creating a barrier with her purple transparent scales.
The wind slashes crashed into the barrier and dispersed.
Multiple of her scales flew from behind the scale shield, suspending in the air.
Then—
She leaped from behind her shield, vaulting from one scale to another—
Very fast.
She came up in front of the demon—standing on two of her scales, blade in her arms and slashed downward.
Using his "copied" wind ability, orange figure swished to the left—barely dodging the attack.
But halfway down, the girl curved the direction of the blade sideways at the demon.
The orange figure gasped—
Then used his wind mobility to tilt backwards.
Despite that, the blade grazed his chest lightly.
Then it descended, trying to back away from the masked figure.
The girl flicked her wrist, projecting multiple of her scales to follow after the demon.
The evolved demon noticed it and maneuvered its way down—dodging most of the projectiles while the rest gave small cuts across his body.
He landed, immediately vaulting backwards as the rest of the projectiles pierced the ground in front of him.
His eyes darted, glancing at the girl who looked down at him from the sky.
"The heck. Is she really one of the candidates?"
The orange skinned figure's eyes twitched. "She's too skilled. Who in the world is she?"
[Miranda Bluefin]
[Age:16]
[Ability: Bluefin scales]
Miranda lifted her sword, passing her hand over the surface as scales climbed up, stacking over on to the surface—from hilt to pointed end—fitting it perfectly like a half sheath.
The demon's wolf ears twitched in alert, pupils dilating.
Miranda swung the sword as the scales shot forward like a whip, chained together by a thin film of purple energy running through their middle.
Almost like an extension of the blade.
The demon moved—
Left. Right.
Random directions—
Dodging every strike the the masked figure threw.
Miranda pulled the scales back, moving her other arm forward as her bluefin purple scales hovered down, stopping and suspending scattered in the air.
She stepped down, jumping from scale to scale—heading straight down at the demon.
Almost there, her mouth opened slightly as if she'd noticed something but sealed her lips again.
The moment she got to him, she swung the blade down at him.
The boy-shaped demon quickly sidestepped, barely missing the attack.
Time slowed down as the Miranda's blade inched further down.
Then out of nowhere—
The demon pulled his right arm from his back—now fully healed with a blade in his grip.
Then he thrusted it forward, aiming to pierce through the white haired girl's chest.
But the girl didn't look panicked as the tip of the weapon inched closer to her heart.
In fact—she chuckled faintly, a smile trailing her lips.
"You think you can fool me?"
As she said that, a bluefin scale flickered hanging in the air as one of her hands fell on it.
Using it to push herself back, she tilted upward as the sword swiped beneath her, snapping a little bit of her scattered hair.
The wolf's jaw dropped in shock.
"She saw through it? Impossible!"
Then she twisted, multiple of her scales covering her leg and glowing with purple energy.
A kick connected hard to the demon's orange-skinned human-looking figure's jaw—
Sending him reeling into a tree.
Miranda landed softly on her toes, breathing softly.
She turned, facing the demon who staggered back to his feet, clenching his lower jaw—
Blood trickling down his lips—
Eyes twitching.
"You little—"
"I saw through your little trick." Miranda interrupted, straightening up.
"You stopped your left arm's repair. Then converted it into your right hand. While doing so, you hid your right arm so I wouldn't know."
The demon stood, his body shivering violently. "You little..." His pupils narrowed, purple energy starting to leak out of him as air current whirled lightly around him.
Then he took a stance as a sword appeared in his grip as the wind pressure increased, blazing in purple aura. "So what if I did?" He said—
More of a rhetorical question.
His teeth grinded together, fangs flashing. "I've gotten a heck of a lot stronger than before. Don't underestimate me, brat."
To prove his point, the wind pressure increased a notch, his purple aura turning full-blown orange.
The braches of the trees bent in the direction of the wind.
A few birds around lost their balance, the wind throwing them in random directions.
Then his feet lifted slightly off the ground, leaving him hanging in the air as his grin widened.
Miranda just stared, the mask hiding whatever expression she was making.
And her lips which would have been the only clew didn't even twitch.
She just took a stance—pulling her left leg and right hand with sword in its grip back, setting her left foot forward.
The demon threw his head back, a maniacal laugh escaping his throat.
For a while, the whole place was filled with his intimidating laughter before he looked back at Miranda.
"Don't you get it? There's absolutely no way... No way to defeat this power. I have ascended from my weakling self."
The white-haired figure gave a small hmph. "Well, too bad. I personally wanted to teach you to know your place but..."
She clicked her tongue—
Bluefin scales stacking back on the sword again.
"I guess that's not going to happen."
"Huh?" The boy-shaped demon lifted a brow, confused.
Just then, a glimpse of golden energy flashed far behind the demon.
He caught on, his brows creasing as turned around...well, halfway.
It was too late.
A fist was mere seconds away from his ribs—coated with a monstrous amount of golden energy.
He couldn't do anything else but watch as the fist inched closer—
The mere intensity of it made him cough a mouthful of blood.
His eyes flickered ahead to see the figure—bathed in radiant golden energy.
A girl clung to his back, her eyes squeezed shut.
The next thing—the demon was blown away, heading in Miranda's way.
The masked figure exhaled, zapping forward as her scale reinforced blade flashed, slicing the demon clean in two halves.
She stopped, swiping the blood from her blade before it disappeared along with her arm guard.
Her attention turned to the man walking towards her, the gold energy around him dying down.
Recognition dawned on her immediately. "Master Jean."
Jean smiled as the he stopped, allowing Myla to climb off his back. "Sorry I disrupted your battle."
"It couldn't be helped. Although I personally wanted to handle it." Miranda said, a little arrogance lacing her voice. "As a matter of fact, you came at the right time."
Her attention directed to the dead body a few meters away. "He had probably gotten the hang of his new power already. It was only a matter of time until he overpowered me. I might be skilled but I'm not invincible."
Jean nodded. "Certainly. But I'm quite surprised." He said, glancing back at Miranda. "I thought I saw his energy flame dimming. But then it suddenly skyrocketed."
"About that..." Miranda spoke up, turning to Desmond.
Myla suddenly gasped—
Then rushed to Desmond, kneeling by his side. "What happened? Did he lose?" She said, worry written all over her face.
"No. He just went overboard." Miranda responded, sighing and turning away. "I can't tell if he was just being brave putting his life on the line, or being stubborn..." She paused, glancing at Desmond.
"Or just being an idiot." Even as she said that, she didn't smile like she was joking or something. "You better start healing him before he passes on."
Myla nodded immediately. "Alright." She said, stretching her arms.
But as she knelt there, her eyes lowered over Desmond's body to his belly region where his shirt was dismantled.
Immediately, she gasped, seeing Desmond's abs. They were surprisingly well carved.
She moved her hand down, almost touching it.
Then she paused—
And shook her head as she retreated her hand, a light crimson glowing in her cheeks.
"This isn't the time for that." She thought, holding out her arms again.
A bronze arm guard appeared out of a green glow of light on her left arm.
"I have to heal him before his condition gets worse."
From her fingertips, several veins of energy snaked out, winding around into one tentacle from each hand.
The tentacles moved, each one entering each of Desmond's palms.
Green veins could be seen spreading through Desmond's arms, climbing down to his shoulders—then split apart, some moving up to his body to his head while the rest spread down, all the way to his toes.
Desmond's shivering body calmed down slightly...but didn't stop as a soothing sensation ran through him.
Myla clenched her teeth, her brows twitching.
"His injuries... He looks okay but he's really hurt. I can't heal him properly." She looked back at Jean.
Jean nodded. "Don't worry. Just do the best you can until he's stabilized."
Myla also nodded, turning back to him.
"I'll do the best I can...for him. This won't be enough to repay him for saving me but I hope it would be of some help."
The place fell silent.
The only sounds were the soft whistle of the wind and the rustling of leaves as warmth slowly seeped into Desmond, his frown beginning to soften little by little.