"Arkhon! Arkhon!" Jak yelled out, running towards him
"What is it my cute little eaglet?" Arkhon replied
"It's glowing. Look." Jak said
Jak lifted up his t-shirt, revealing the scar on his hip that was glowing.
"I see. That's very unusual. Y-You haven't been branded by another demon have you?" Arkhon asked
Arkhon felt the scar with his fingers, making him squirm since he was ticklish.
"Arkhon. I-I haven't." He replied
Jak heard a voice coming from the distance so he decided to follow it.
"Jak. Do not be afraid, boy. No one else can hear me except you." a deep voice called out
"What? What do you want? Who are you?" Jak replied
"Thank you so much for that blood offering, boy. When you challenged the Circle, I possessed your sword by borrowing energies and blood to make the sword temporarily habitable for my soul form. I was the one who showed you the truth about Arkhon's wrongdoings. I am the Demon King, but I don't want to wake up yet so I'll leave you with my soul temporarily. When I do wake up however, I am going to give my son the punishment of a lifetime! Allow me to enter your body. It already is a suitable vessel for me." the voice continued
"What? But how? So you'll possess me?!" Jak said
"Don't worry. I won't continue to possess you. I just go outside sometimes as a spirit. I wish to become invisible, light and full of energy. Also, as rent, I will pay you with my own vast energies like I did during your fight with Arkhon." The demon king explained
"I understand. I feel like that on lazy days as well. You look so tall, huge and heavy so it's understandable. We all need breaks from our heavy bodies don't we?" Jak explained
This caused the Demon King to laugh loudly.
"I will enter you now to possess you. Take a few deep breaths so you don't feel any pain. And that's what he said." said the Demon King, smiling to himself in amusement at his joke
Jak did what he was told to do and for the first two seconds, the pain he felt was unimaginable! It felt like severe heartburn. After that, the pain faded away and Jak still felt odd.
"Are you comfy?" Jak asked
"You ask the person who possessed you that kind of question? Ha, you're hilarious. I'll have lots of fun inside here I know." Kall replied
***
Arkhon, Jonny and Jak were training together.
Jonny and Jak were sparring together.
"You're completely healed now so using 40% of my power should be easy enough for you, son."
"I know but you're just so tall and it's hard to fight you. And it hurts, dad. I am going somewhere to take a break."
Before Jak could even lift a leg to move, a concerned Arkhon rushed over to him, holding him in his arms.
"Are you really hurt anywhere? Is it that strange mark on your hip again? T-Tell me."
"I'm fine. I just need to take a break. It's just exhaustion."
"He's just fine, ok. Leave him alone to rest." Jonny told him
Jak walked off to expel the Demon King from his body.
When the Demon King escaped out of Jak, Jak felt that a weight had been lifted off him.
"It feels so much better now that you've gone out of me than when you were inside me, Mr Demon King."
"Uh..ok then, kid. Thanks for helping me. Don't tell Arkhon about me possessing you. He'll probably force my soul form back into my body." He chuckled, waving goodbye to Jak
"Ok. I think I understand. What's your name again, Mr Demon King?"
"My name is Kall. So..um..how old are you?"
"I am 9 years old."
"What?! Really? And you're already participating in the tournament games?"
"Yeah. Some of my teachers were planning to recommend me to participate earlier but I said no."
"Ok. You're very wise for your age and you have an incredibly rich soul *cough* I mean you've got really great potential. I could see why Arkhon likes you so much, Jak."
Jak got even more confused at Kall's words.
"I can barely understand half the stuff you say to me, you know that? What's a great soul anyways? I am sure I am just like everyone else."
Kall didn't say anything. He just stood there, grinning like a Cheshire cat.
"Oh..whatever. Just forget about what I said." Kall smiled
Jak waved goodbye to Kall and walked back to Arkhon and Jonny.
***
It was time for Arkhon to train.
He summoned up to 600 shadows, gathering up and concentrating his energies beforehand.
To summon so many shadows required a lot of energy and time.
The more practice that a level 4 demon gets in summoning, the less time and effort it takes for them to summon an even larger amount of shadows.
Arkhon had to practice his shadow summoning skills before the tournament games.
For the tournament games, he would have to summon 1000 shadows and do this quickly.
Jak watched in amazement as he summoned them all.
Jonny got tingles thinking about killing them all.
"Awaken, my shadows. You will fight that man, Death Dealer. You will NOT harm his son next to him."
They nodded in agreement before charging at Jonny from all sides.
Jonny cracked his neck by quickly tilting his head from side to side before fighting them.
The shadows had the same form as Arkhon but they looked black and shadow-like.
Jonny grinned. Arkhon hadn't even bothered to make exact replicas of himself.
Jonny pulled out his golden revolver gun containing silver bullets and he leaped up really high into the air. Arkhon watched in amazement as Jonny shot 20 shadows on the forehead whilst upside down in the air about to fall back down! Jonny after a few flips managed to land on the ground on his own two feet.
"I can't believe it! He was only upside down in the air for about a fraction of a second!" Arkhon spoke out loud, his eye colour turning red
"Wow dad!" Jak spoke
'Ahh, this feels great. It feels so good to destroy them. Because they look like him. But there's only one problem. One problem. Killing them this way, isn't intimate enough.' Jonny thought
Jonny let out a growl before staring at them intensely like he had gone berserk.
He started cackling menacingly as he charged towards them, punching and kicking through them and even taking out his sharp demon claws to stab through their chest, instantly taking them out one by one.
Some of the shadows had managed to hurt him but he was able to regenerate.
"Ah, if only they could bleed.." Jonny whispered
Once Jonny obliterated all 600 shadows, he noticed one that hadn't yet turned into dust.
He gave it a wicked grin making it squeal out desperately for its master.
It crawled on the ground so desperately, feeling sheer terror whilst Jonny stalked it slowly from behind.
The desperate shadow, clutched onto Arkhon's feet and hoped that Arkhon could save him and let him live long enough.
Arkhon had little time to react when he realized that Jonny had just leaped onto the shadow, trapping it underneath him, his long black hair resting on the shadow's body, covering part of it. With a quick growl, he roughly bit into the shadow's neck, using all of his power to quickly rip off its head from its body. Jonny realized that he did not get warm rich blood rushing into his mouth but instead got the taste of bitter dry ashes! He spat and coughed it out immediately. Arkhon watched him, feeling flustered all of a sudden.
Jonny noticed that he got carried away and got back up after clearing his throat quickly and attempted to act normal. Jonny was slightly breathless but after a minute or two, he recovered.
"You really are something, my dear." Arkhon sighed, excusing himself to take rest somewhere as he was too tired from summoning them all.
***
"Hey son! How about we go home to have dinner? Then we'll get back here with our jetpacks." Jonny spoke
"Now are you sure about that, Death Dealer?" Arkhon grinned
"Yeah. What do you mean?" Jonny asked
"Check the fuel tanks on your jetpacks." Arkhon told him
"Oh shit! They're almost empty. How?!" Jonny asked
"Whereas mine is just fine, Jonny! Luck appears to be on my side! I can check up on 'weakling' and have her make me some delicious foods!" Arkhon suggested
Jonny jumped on Arkhon tackling him to the ground but Arkhon showed no resistance.
Tugging on Arkhon's light blue hoodie, Jonny almost growled "You're staying put! No one is to go anywhere. I'm glad I bought my rucksack with all the emergency supplies! "
"So we're camping out here like before?" Jak said
"Yeah. But after getting some fuel, we'll be able to go home." Jonny replied
"Uh..so hey, Jonny. I think there's something you still haven't realized." Arkhon said
"What?" Jonny grumbled
"Look at where you're sitting. Are you trying to cause such a risqué scene in public? Suddenly, we'll have a whole audience but are you into that stuff at all, I wonder?" Arkhon said
"We are in the woods, idiot!" Jonny snarled
Jonny was still pulling onto Arkhon's hoodie, continuing to glare at him He unintentionally rocked forwards, causing Arkhon to let out a barely audible groan. Arkhon twitched underneath him, and his eye colour turned red confirming either his bloodlust or 'lust of the other kind'. Arkhon looked downwards to look at Jonny sitting on top of him and after Jonny met Arkhon's line of sight, he quickly jumped off Arkhon. He tried to hide his embarrassment by whistling casually whilst polishing the exterior of his golden coloured revolver.
"Let's eat somewhere right now ok. I am starving!" Jak chimed in
When Jonny, Arkhon and Jak went somewhere to eat, Jonny began to search through the pockets of his rucksack and realized that he had no money on him!
'Shit! I must've left it at home.'
"What's wrong dad? Don't you have any money with you?" Jak asked quietly
"It's ok little one. I'll be paying today. Eat up." Arkhon smiled
"Someone's in a good mood today. I'm glad I am not the one paying." Jonny thought to himself as Arkhon paid for all of them.
In the middle of eating his rice and steak, a group of ladies approached their table.
"Oh my. Look here! It's Sky Queen of the Circle! How are you doing today?" one of them said.
Another lady held out a sparkling glittery silver coloured scarf to give to Arkhon as a present.
"Hey Sky Queen! I hope you accept my gift to you." she said, smiling shyly
"What a beautiful scarf you've given me. This will go wonderfully with my clothes. Thank you very much, lady!" Arkhon replied
The lady started to blush and the others giggled and waved goodbye.
The lady who gave the present still stood there, watching Jonny and Jak.
"So who are you eating your food with? And who's the kid?" she asked, wondering
Jonny looked at her in disgust.
"I am Death Dealer. So unless you're on my 'who to assassinate next' list, get lost." warned Jonny
"Just ignore him. He has woken up on the wrong side of the bed today. Death Dealer here is my level 1 and sitting next to him is his son. We've stopped at this place by random and stopped to try out their delicious foods." Arkhon explained
"Hi! What's your name, lady? Do you want to join us?" Jak said
"No thanks but normally I would..It's just that my friends are waiting for me now. My name is Sarah by the way. What's yours?" she asked
"Jak Price. I am going to take part in the tournament games and beat up all the demons there!" he announced loudly and enthusiastically.
"Wow. Excellent. Well you have fun ok?" Sarah laughed awkwardly, not wanting any other demons to get annoyed with what Jak blurted out loud then walked away.
The food on their plates were almost gone as the three of them continued eating. Then Arkhon ordered a glass of strawberry milkshake after eating the food, causing Jak and Jonny to laugh hysterically!
"What's so funny?" Arkhon asked
"You actually drink milkshakes! And strawberry even! How girly." Jak laughed
"What's wrong with that? Would it be better if I drank vanilla milkshakes instead? Or mint flavoured milkshake or any other flavoured milkshake. What about milkshake flavoured milkshakes?" Arkhon said chuckling
"Milkshake flavoured milkshakes?! HAHAHAHAA there's no such thing!" Jak burst out laughing
"NO. Can't you just drink alcohol or something or even water? It's not manly to drink weak sugary drinks like milkshakes."
"Oh really. Says who? I know another man who once drank human-flavoured milkshake made of humans and he was a really manly guy." Arkhon mumbled
Jak giggled in response.
Arkhon's eyes narrowed slightly and his smile widened.
That's when Jonny got up and threw a heaped bunch of the warm rice on Arkhon's face.
"You cannibalistic creep. Don't make such morbid things up!" Jonny said
Jak held some rice in his hands and stood up in his seat to attempt to reach Arkhon's face but Arkhon held Jak's hand, eating off of it.
"Hey!" Jak protested
"Thanks for the food, little eaglet. Change seats and sit next to me ok? You're the only one here who's nice to me." Arkhon said
"Hey Arkhon, can I ask you something?" Jak said
Arkhon pulled him in closer and decided to let the boy sit on his lap. This was only so that he'd reach the table a lot easier.
"So-so-so..J-Jak. Do you think I am too strange and not normal t-too? Also, how can I thank you for being so kind to me? You're the only cool person here who laughs at my jokes." Arkhon said nervously.
"Oh I know, Arkhon, you could pat my head and ruffle my hair for me. I like it!" Jak said enthusiastically
Arkhon smiled, thinking about the times when the Demon King would sit him on his lap, stroke his silver hair gently whilst singing him a lullaby to fall asleep to. With the Demon King 'asleep' now, he missed that more than ever!
Arkhon ruffled Jak's hair and blew softly against the back of his neck. Jak already felt sleepy and relaxed even though only a minute had passed. He leaned back to rest his head on Arkhon's chest. Jak was just about to fall asleep until he noticed something.
"Look Arkhon! Dad's asleep!" Jak whispered.
Arkhon rested his arms on the table then got up to see if Jonny was really asleep.
Arkhon got Jak to stay next to him whilst he waved at the people staring on. He picked up Jonny bridal style and walked out.
***
Arkhon helped Jak train using the Devil Slayer (his sword). They practiced hunting as well as acrobatic skills and flexibility.
It got dark and it was almost time to sleep.
When Arkhon woke Jonny up, he held up some items in Jonny's rucksack.
"How do you use these things again? I'm not that great with technology." he said
"Oh just shut up and give me those." Jonny mumbled, still half-asleep.
"So moody. Even after waking up." said Arkhon, shaking his head
With one zap, the miniature pocket-sized model of a tent was enlarged to it's maximum size.
One large tent for Jonny and one medium tent for Jak.
"There's only 2 tents so where's Arkhon going to sleep? His house is too far away. Dad? Your jetpack has been broken somehow. I don't know how that happened Dad!" Jak said worryingly
"Oh don't worry! I am sure the jetpack can be fixed soon. In the meantime, should I sleep in your tent to keep you safe and sound whilst your father sleeps in his own tent or do you prefer your father to stay with you in the tent whilst I sleep separately? Yes, I think that's for the best." Arkhon said
"Jak can sleep in his own tent. He's strong enough to defend himself. You'll be sleeping with me instead." Jonny replied
"Ok then if you insist. I don't mind. There's some stuff I have to get out of my bag first ok. Jak, stay safe and call us if you need help." Arkhon said
"Ok. Thanks, Arkhon." Jak replied
Arkhon's POV
Sometimes, I think I go way too far to get the things I really want. But I also think that I simply can't help it. This is just who I am. Trying to suppress urges that are purely instinctive is like someone who's sweet-toothed being forced to keep away from sweets or cakes for their own good. But would they truly be happy? Knowing that what they so crave and desire is dangling right in front of them. Like a delicious poison that will cause them harm in the long term, like a drug that they will eventually come back to, no matter how hard they try to not be attached to it.
But this is different from a simple addiction. It's so much more! No matter how much I try to push these extraordinary feelings back, they keep coming back up. It doesn't matter anymore that I feel ashamed with myself. It doesn't even matter if Jonny will eventually be the death of me.
"What are you thinking about, Arkhon? Having trouble falling asleep?" he asked
I didn't reply but despite the cold winter breeze coming from outside, I felt hot under this huge blanket. I decided to remove my vest but I still felt uncomfortable so I also took off my trousers.
I noticed that Jonny's eyes were fixed on me but didn't know what he wanted from me.
"Something wrong, Jonny?" I asked
"Put your vest and trousers back on! I don't want you to sleep next to me like that!" He replied, crossing his arms disapprovingly
"Why not? I can't sleep with too many clothes on, ok! I don't even know why you keep your shirt and trousers on at night. Normally, I'd take everything off except my pants but you're here so I can't do that." I protested
"All right then. Don't face me when I am sleeping ok? And I don't want to look at your perfectly sculpted chest anyway. I-I meant that they're not that perfect ok. Not that I even wanted to compliment you. And don't speak to me. I don't wanna hear your voice or wake up to it in the morning. It irritates me." Jonny exclaimed
'Why was Jonny rambling like that? He noticed my muscles too. Interesting.' I thought.
"And finally. Don't touch me and that's an order." He snarled
"An order? But you're the one supposed to take orders from me. I turned you into my level 1 demon remember? Don't worry. If you don't want to be touched then it's fine with me. I won't touch you so relax." I said
Jonny relaxed, a small smile of sweet relief appeared on his face as he gathered his long black hair and moved it to the side, away from his face. I had to look away. The more I looked, the more I felt convinced that he was absolutely perfect! His large brown eyes were about to close and with a yawn, he stretched under the blankets like a cat before turning over and sleeping.
A few moments later, Jonny seemed to be softly mumbling as I lifted the duvet away from his face. His shirt was almost rolled up to his shoulders, revealing his back. It looked so smooth and perfect and I wondered how my hands would feel around his waist. If Jonny didn't want to keep his shirt on, why didn't he just tell me? What was he so afraid of?
I lifted his shirt up even more and saw my brand for the 3rd time. It was glowing red which only meant that Jonny was going to be in danger soon but I wasn't worried because I knew I'd protect him no matter what. Using my fingers I softly traced the scars that surrounded the brand. He must've had a lot of deep stab wounds to get these faint scars but thanks to his regeneration, he wouldn't die so easily because of that.
"No." I heard a voice say. Was Jonny awake?
His heart rate had skyrocketed and he was breathing heavily.
"Jonny? Are you alright?"
"A-Arkhon? Arkhon? Please..s-save me! He's getting closer! He's gonna k-kill me." he murmured softly
He sounded so sweet and delicate especially when he called out my name like that!
His eyes were shut and he was shaking.
I turned him towards me and I noticed that there were tears coming out of his eyes.
I shook him awake and his eyes widened as he scurried away into the corner, covering himself with the blanket.
"I thought I was- . Not that again! Anything but that!!" He said
I didn't know what to do about Jonny being so upset so I began to walk out of the tent.
"Wait. Don't go! Stay with me." he said
I froze in my tracks and Jonny rushed over to me hugging me so tightly.
His limbs shook like he was afraid.
"Jonny? You're safe don't worry. It was just a nightmare." I told him
He shivered as I stroked his hair. He stopped being so tense and relaxed in my arms.
"A d-dream?" Jonny spoke sadly
I got the feeling that something was wrong.
I tore part of Jonny's shirt to reveal the brand to check whether it was glowing or not.
"What are you doing! D-Don't touch me!" He shouted, hissing in pain
"The brand is glowing red! It must be burning you. You might be in danger soon but don't worry! I'll tear the enemy to shreds!" I said angrily.
"Why do you want to protect me so much? Could it be that you really do care about me like Nimue and my son told me? Why do this much for a level 1?" He asked
I smiled and patted his back then quickly got changed into my normal outfit for battles. What I loved the most about the outfit was that even though it had some heavy armour, it had cool looking dragon-like wings at the back that were multi-coloured like a beautiful rainbow! It worked as a good shield for my back and it sparkled so brightly on sunny days too!
I got out of the tent, sensing the incoming enemy.
The enemy's powers didn't seem all that powerful compared to me so I figured that I didn't actually need a lot of weapons apart from the magical dagger that Jonny's wife gave me. She really was a useful woman even though I nicknamed her 'weakling'. She was actually quite strong for resisting the shadow gatherer's powers for so long. Any normal weak human would've died (from resisting it) in a matter of days!
I could sense the enemy's presence! He or she had a high level of bloodlust. The enemy was approaching closer and closer.
I heard a surprised shout and several gunshots. What a coward! The enemy had snuck into the back of Jonny's tent!
I rushed towards the tent.
Jonny looked even more frightened. He held onto his gun tightly. His limbs were shaking tremendously as his body flinched and hopped out of the tent. The man pinned him to the ground, his eyes narrowing as he grinned wider.
"Oh no. It's him! I-I couldn't even fight back..in my nightmare just now. I f-feel sick!" Jonny lowered his voice.
The man previously sitting on Jonny's lower back traced Jonny's brand with his tongue as he pushed Jonny face down onto the ground, causing Jonny to let out a strangled cry for help whilst shuddering in disgust.
"I can tell that your level 1 demon transformation is yet to be completed. I can taste it from that brand of yours. I've waited so long for the day that I could have my way with the Death Dealer himself, break him completely and kill him! That's what you get for killing my mate! I'll kill Arkhon too and take his place in the Circle. Then after I am done rapin.g you, I'll be coming after that brain dead wife of yours and your kid. Mark my words, Death Dealer." the man said
Arkhon heard all of this as he had super sensitive hearing.
"Rap.e Jonny? Well, not on my watch." Arkhon reacted
TO BE CONTINUED...