Two minutes earlier – Main Road Petrol Station
*Smack*
"Hey, Boby, you idiot, how could you think of smoking right next to a fuel drum?"
"What's the big deal? It's just a bit of petrol."
*Slap*
"Arggg, what am I going to do with you?"
John sighed in exasperation. His sister had asked him to babysit her nephew on a Saturday night. He had reluctantly agreed after being paid a little money, but he felt he wasn't being paid enough to look after that moron.
"Throw away your bloody cigarette and help me carry this to the van. It's your fault we didn't get stuck in the middle of the road."
Billy still didn't fully understand why his uncle was angry with him, but that didn't stop him from being an idiot. When his uncle turned his back, he opened the lid of his petrol can and, without thinking twice, threw his cigarette inside.
"Hey, why are you so quiet? I'm sorry about what I said earlier, but I'm worried about you...!!!"
John turned around, feeling bad for talking to his nephew like that. Billy was already 18, but to him he was still a child. Before he could see Billy's face, promise to buy him a pizza for dinner and watch a film together, he could feel for a few moments how the hot air and fire were burning his lungs and his whole body.
Lake of the Fireflies.
"Tsk, you really do have some dangerous things, William."
Yukio, high up in the sky, could feel the gusts of hot air against her face. She was high enough not to be affected or injured by the fire from the explosion.
"All this damn smoke is blocking my view. I guess I'll have to descend."
Yukio took a deep breath and slung her sniper rifle over her back. A thick cloud of smoke and fire covered the entire area, and the remaining trees around her burned like torches, illuminating the whole area with a warm reddish-orange glow.
"Hey, are any of you dead?!"
Yukio descended completely, his black boots landing on the charred ground. He picked up his rifle before starting to walk around the area in search of Cayous or Noah.
"Why don't you ask who's alive?!"
"As hard to kill as a cockroach, Cayous."
Cayous emerged from the smoke, his bronze skin burning red-hot. Cayous is not only resistant to cuts and impacts, but also to high temperatures and pressure.
"Hey, I need some help over here." - Noah -
"Where's Elliott?" - Yukio -
Yukio walked over to Noah, who had one of his legs trapped under a huge limestone rock. During the explosion of the arrow, the rock had flown off and hit Noah. The Light of the Fallen had completely protected him, but he wasn't as strong as Cayous and couldn't free his leg without help.
"Oh, here I am. Heat is bad for a man of clay."
Cayous lifted Elliott's body, holding him by the neck as if he were holding a rat he didn't want to touch. The lower half of Elliott's body had completely disappeared, his skin cracked and dried out by the heat, blood finally oozing from his wounds.
"Give him an emerald tear, then we'll treat his wounds completely."
Yukio easily lifted the huge piece of rubble that was trapping Noah's leg.
"And if we leave him lying here, I never liked him anyway...!!!"
Before Cayous could finish his words, the enormous Black Bear emerged from the smoke, its coat as black as night still smouldering in places, the cut and burnt flesh of its chest revealing the enormous plate of bone that protected its internal organs.
"Arggg!!!!
"I won't go down so easily!!!"
Cayous tried to resist, but the weight of the enormous animal pinned his body beneath it. The Bear's enormous fangs completely surrounded Cayous's head and exerted pressure.
His skin did not break, but slight dents began to be visible. The hot bronze was malleable and soft.
(Tsk, I didn't think that damn initial wound would affect me so much.)
(It's been years since anyone has been able to penetrate my defences!!!)
Blood flowed from the cut on Cayous' left side. He was unable to regenerate his wounds without a Tear, and his was in his car. His pride in his invulnerability was such that he did not bring his lifesaver with him.
Cayous did his best, his large fists pounding the Bear's chest, the thick bone plate crunching with each impact and warm blood splattering his face from the wounds Yukio had caused with his rifle.
"Rrrraaww!!!"
The Demon roared with excitement, tasting Cayous' blood on his tongue. The pressure of his jaw had begun to affect Cayous' insides, and his ears bled.
"Yukio, behind you!!!"
Cayous barely glimpsed the tall, slender figure of the young man dressed in white with golden hair, emerging from the shadows like a ghost, a long silver sword with exquisite gold and silver details in his hands.
In a perfect Orchs pose, the German fencing guard of the Ox, William held Sting with both hands near his chin, the tip of the blade pointing directly at Yukio's neck.
Cayous' warning was essential. Yukio trusted him completely and took a step back to the left. William's sword blade touched Yukio's skin by only a millimetre and left a long, bleeding wound.
"Tsk, just a little more!"
William continued to unleash multiple cuts, each one aimed at Yukio's vital points such as his heart, head, neck, or thighs. All of them came close to their target, but Yukio dodged them with only a few cuts to his clothes.
*BAANG!!!*
Yukio got enough distance and raised his sniper rifle, firing a direct shot at William's heart.
*Tink!!!*
The large-calibre bullet only compressed when it hit William's armour.
*BANG* *BANG* *BANG* *BANG*
William was unable to deflect three consecutive shots with his sword, taking them with his chest armour and left arm armour.
(I need at least 3 seconds to change the magazine, it's useless to try.)
Yukio quickly raised her rifle right in front of her, Sting effortlessly broke the sniper rifle in two.
"Let's see if you can stop this."
Yukio smiled confidently as he drew his dagger with such light and swift movements that it took him only a second to unfold it, his ace in the hole, the object that gave him his confidence and the right to command ordinary members of the Artifact Collection Society.
A Tecpatl of Aztec origin, a dagger of pure obsidian made to honour the god Quetzalcoatl and beg for his blessing, which came to its creators through a weapon capable of repelling the invasion suffered by the Aztec people.
The Aztecs would have won the battle of Tenochtitlan and repelled the Spanish invasion, but unfortunately, the god's blessing was not used for war and protection as he had wished. Instead, it was consecrated in the Templo Mayor (Great Temple) and worshipped as a god on earth.
"Shit...!!!!"
William sensed danger from Yukio's dagger, and his Imp King ring vibrated intensely in his left hand.
"This isn't my first fight, kid!"
Yukio's left arm pierced William's sword, jamming Sting's blade between his bones and knocking the sword from William's hands.
*Blood splatter*
William vomited red blood at first, but it soon turned black. The obsidian blade carried the blessing of Quetzalcóatl, the rot of flesh and blood, a disease that could destroy anyone who felt a fragment of its blade on their skin.
The god Quetzalcoatl would give thousands of these weapons if asked with devotion, for protecting his people was his greatest desire and will.
"I will take you with me..." - Yukio -
Yukio also spat blood, William's entire forearm plunged into Yukio's belly, his sharp black claws cutting through his flesh as if it were paper.
William felt panic and fear, the sensation of pain barely arising from the small scratch he received on his neck.
"Heat!!!"
William couldn't help it. He quickly pulled his hand out of Yukio's belly and put Sting back in its sheath. He held his neck with his left hand and took a deep breath. The hot steam filled his lungs with a burning but comfortable sensation, as if he were in a sauna.
The heat invaded his body, and the black flesh was soon covered with a golden glow for a moment. The Dawn Moth was capable of healing any existing and future illness. The moth in William's left hand glowed intensely with golden light and fluttered its wings energetically.
"I definitely shouldn't be dealing with humans, I prefer dealing with wild beasts."
William now felt a surge of energy as his wound caused by the Tecpatl healed completely, but he knew he was only an inch away from the gates of death.
"Now there are two more left!!!"
William looked for Noah but couldn't find him in the smoke and fire.
(One of two things: either he ran away with his tail between his legs, or he hid somewhere to ambush us.)
William lifted Sting just a little and let it fall back into its sheath, producing a pleasant metallic click.
(Now where is the Big Guy? Is he still stuck with the Black Demon?)