Hiro ducked down and dodged the sharp claws trying to slice his head off. It had been an hour since the fight started, he had already retreated out of the narrow cave. After consuming all origin energy, he was only fighting with the sword and brute strength.
He breathed heavily from exhaustion as blood flowed from many minor wounds spread across his body. His eyes still shone with a scary battle intent and some respect for his foe.
Minokawa's condition was way worse, its durable body was filled with several holes and cuts. But its mirror-like eyes still held a ferocious glint. It was the first serious battle it fought and lost. Still unable to understand why it lost, the half-devil had lower reserves combined with a weaker body.
"Are you still hellbent on continuing this fight? It will only end in your death and I'd rather not kill an extinct Mythological beast if I have a choice. So let me ask this, will you become my familiar and a partner in my journey?"
He was sure it could understand the words as all supernatural beings had some form of skill to communicate.
"...Human."
A childish voice directly echoed in his head, he looked at the Minokawa staring back with an indescribable gaze. He understood it was talking with telepathy.
"...You are too weak to become our Master…" It stopped for a moment and continued, "But this battle showed your courage and determination worthy enough to stand side by side with us."
Hiro nodded, feeling just a bit proud of this achievement. The pride of Mythological beasts was quite high, more so when one had a bloodline of Dragon.
"So you like to form a contract of equal relationship? Very well, I, Hiro, a half-devil and half-human shall be your companion and a friend until this contract lasts."
A pure white magic circle appeared in front of Hiro as his incantation ended.
"Friend? Magnificent, then let us be friends until I find thou unworthy. We shall aid thee in your journey. In return, thee shall protect us and keep us entertained."
A silver magic circle appeared and mixed with the white magic circle, it let out blinding before scattering in the air.
After the contract was done, he walked closer to the Minokawa and extended one hand.
Minokawa tilted its head for a moment before it also raised its claw and put it on his hand.
"We shall give thee an opportunity to name us."
Hiro thought for a moment before asking, "What is your gender? I can't give you a suitable name without knowing your gender."
"We, like most dragon are a genderless being."
"Oh… How about Tsukiha? Tsuki for the moon which your species claims to devour and ha for your blade-like feathers. But this name is used for girls."
"Splendid, from now on we shall be called Tsukiha."
Minokawa said in a happy voice but its strange way of speaking felt weird.
"What were you doing here in this forest? I thought your species died long ago."
"We are the last member of our race and we were brought here by the Ruler of this forest."
His brows shot open in surprise and cold sweat drenched his back. "Ruler? You mean… The Chaos Karma Dragon, the only female Dragon King in history… Tiamat?"
"Commoners do tend to call her this way. Yes, she took us in after our birth. We have been here for ten years at least."
"Does she come here... to meet you?"
Tsukiha tilted its dragonhead. "Yes, she does come sometimes when she is bored."
He breathed a sigh of relief, he didn't fear Tiamat but everyone in Underworld knew of her temper. Every now and then he would hear reports of her havoc. She might just annihilate him if she saw the current state of her guest.
'Aux-san?'
[One hour and fifty minutes left]
He gave a quick nod, he plopped down on the hard ground to recover from the injuries. It took him nearly half an hour to recover whole reserves in this forest filled with dense demonic power. Origin body gave him no benefits other than helping him convert demonic power into Origin energy.
After healing Tsukiha wounds with the healing ability of the Vepar Clan, he went inside the cave with Tsukiha in tow.
After leaning against the stone wall in a comfortable manner, he asked, "How many abilities do you have?"
"We can use illusions, aura based attacks and our strong body to attack. Why are thou asking?"
"Because I need to fight a deadly battle in about an hour. Will you lend me a hand?"
"Of course, we don't fear any fight. But who are we fighting against?"
He sheepishly scratched his cheeks. "I don't know myself."
"Buwahahaha!"
He ignored Tsukiha's strange way of laughing and closed his eyes to remember the abilities of 72 Clans of Devils from Elans memories. Most of them focused on physical traits such as superhuman strength or transformation or just immense demonic power. Only a handful of them had energy type abilities.
The abilities he found were -
«Power of Destruction» from Bael Clan
«Worthlessness» from Belial Clan
«Regeneration» from Phenex Clan
«Lion Tamer» from Vapula Clan
«Dragon Tamer» from Buné Clan
«Water Manipulation» from Sitri Clan
«Horse Tamer» from Furcus Clan
«Crack» from Belphegor Clan
«Time Manipulation» from Agares Clan
«Charm» from Balam Clan
«Bear Tamer» from Purson Clan
«Wind Manipulation» fromViné Clan
«Demonic perception» from Beleth Clan
«Steal» from Velfar Clan
«Demonic lightning» from Furtur Clan
«Flash» from Shaz Clan
«Flame manipulation» from Aamon Clan
«Stealth» from Goap Clan
«Aura Perception» from Vasago Clan
«Healing» from Vaper Clan
If he could master all of these abilities and incorporate them in his fighting style, his combat prowess would rise to another level.
He lost himself in learning the properties of these abilities, that's all he needed to utilize them. Mastering them to the limit was another thing, he currently lacked the time to do so.
Tsukiha gazed at the half-devil curiously, truthfully Hiro was the first person it met after Tiamat. So it was unable to determine the true powers of half-devil Hiro. It kept looking until Hiro opened his eyes.
[It is time]
His deep concentration was stopped by the artificial voice of Aux.
After glancing at Tsukiha's curious eyes, he turned his gaze to the front. Space warped in front of him before taking the shape of a black circular portal around 5m in diameter. The black aura flame-like aura around its edges looked rather cool in Hiro's eyes. Behind it laid terrifying threats along with opportunities to get stronger.
His calm look faded and a serious expression took its place. "Let's go…"
"Fumu."
The duo of a half-devil and a Minokawa vanished inside the portal.
Bam!
A loud noise came outside the cave. Seconds later, a blue-haired woman entered the cave.
"Someone has the guts to enter my territory and steal that child!"
She punched the wall of the cave. The whole cave shook momentarily then crumbled into dust.