As soon as Taiko, Zakku, and Yorihiko had finished fighting the strong and durable demon, a horde had stepped into the battlefield. and yet still far away from them. Zakku and Taiko were both able and capable to hear from far away despite having aura sense, but due to their low mana and exhaustion, they just safely assumed it was just a horde of horses. Are they stampedes, horses, bulls? Both of them had almost passed out because of low magic power, both yawning due to that.
"God darn... I've used up most of my power..." Zakku whined though he was the one planned to use all of it up because of a single, powerful demon.
In the distance,
The horde was actually a horde of demons that which they teamed up, and a humanoid demon as the leader of the demon raid group.
He was sitting on top of a demon's head, the center demon's head as it was the demon given most defense. His wings were flapping showing that he was extremely bored and impatient for the raid. he let out a long and loud sigh, VERY Bored.
"Boring... I got all excited all for nothing, what a bummer." the leader sighed in disappointment, but hoping to get near the targets anytime sooner.
"The targets... Yorihiko Kaze and Taiko Rose of Dungeon Adventure's ten strongest members that plan to demolish the dark bloodline and Jaka's group. They are going to be great trouble for me, but that just makes the raid more fun." The demon closed its eyes, and suddenly perfectly imaged Zakku's, Yorihiko's, and Taiko's appearance as it shows a symbol that the trio is near to be seized.
He opened his eyes, waking up from a dream and now in a daydream so surprising that it immediately formed a smile on his lips.
"I'm amused, and yet more excited now! My dream ability is as accurate as ever, I'm impressed. This battle will be sadly and disappointingly easy, but I hope they go all out for me to get amused enough in this battle." Constantly and nonstop daydreaming, a star appears in his eyes' pupils.
"This is great! I am finally able to fight another member of Dungeon Adventure's ten elites... but now it's two elites! These decades of searching wasn't a waste... I'm feeling so great right now!" Like a maniac, laughed so hard, but normal for a high-ranking demon (that even made this one a humanoid one) that they laugh that way.
After a few seconds, the demons suddenly took a break, the leader almost falling down the center demon's head. "Wait, why did you guys take a break!? There's no time for one-" Looking down from the sky, seeing the destruction of the village from below. he laughed just by seeing people down there suffering from the destructed village, though he was lucky that he will still be able to fight the two elites and one tall-ass boy, already knowing that those three won't die easily from that.
Well, of course, he wasn't fazed from the destruction from below, which he saw burning and destroyed houses, but something disturbed him. He thought that Zakku and the elites would be in the village, but... where are they exactly? The dream ability can accurately image something happening in mind, but it would be impossible to see people far away as he was in the sky.
"My ability is able to image the scenery, and where they are but... I don't feel their aura." Correct, smart ass leader. Zakku, Taiko, and also Yorihiko has the ability to conceal their aura/presence and not just sense other's aura and presence. The two conscious ones held their breath until they have the best chance to attack, and made sure Yorihiko's breathing wouldn't be heard too much.
Not that those three know that there was a horde, it was because they knew that there would eventually be an ambush. They kept quiet, the demon horde looking around to find them. Taiko looked around her surroundings, taking a quick glance of a demon, no matter which demon it was, she saw the whole group of demons and the leader on top of the center demon's head.
The main chapter's aim, Demon raid group VS Trio
Taiko had taken a quick glance of a demon, no matter which demon it was, she immediately saw one, might be lucky to catch a glance of the center demon. Zakku did the same as what Taiko did, shocked and traumatized by the group. She looked at Zakku with visible fear in her eyes, and he then looked back at her with the same facial expression that she had.
"Zakku, Take Yorihiko to the nearest hospital here! Outside of this village or not, find the nearest hospital there is!" she shouted at Zakku who was a few feet away from her. his voice was laced with worry, not letting his own ally alone in a raid.
"No, Rose! You are going to get killed by those demo-" His statement of worry for his ally had been cut by Taiko's loud and booming voice.
"Zakku, don't worry about me, I've got this." Her XVR 460 magnum immediately turned into a sword by will. It had a beautiful crimson red blade, and the handle of the sword as a humans remains, creepy.
"G-Got it!" he picked up the unconscious body of Yorihiko Kaze and then ran to a route which he knew might have a village there. He turned around to see Taiko at least once before leaving the village, still worried. ~I hope you will win this battle, Rose. As your ally, I hope you will win this.~
He looked back to the path he was going, full of confidence that his ally will win in a one versus multiple battles.
Taiko turned around to see the stampede of demons that came down the village for the raid and the battle with the two elites. she points her sword at the demon, as the demons too had noticed her. The leader looked down and saw Taiko there, charging for an attack.
"Isn't it one of Dungeon Doe's elite members, Taiko Rose?" Both looked at each other, both are determined and prepared for an attack.
Meanwhile, Zakku and Yorihiko...
Zakku was in deep panic, worried about both Yorihiko and Taiko, in which Taiko was away from them and battling the demon raid group. He was struggling to run, his stamina was running low, and due to him being too worried about his allies. "I have to get Yorihiko to the hospital quick, then I will have to return to the broken village for Rose!"
Zakku was still a few miles away from the hospital near the village, he then fell down and went to his knees in failure.
"I am low on magic power and stamina... I can't anymore... I can't help my allies in this state, and yet I want to."
he was too fazed to get up from his knees, failed in rescuing an ally he wanted to protect a lot.
"I have to... I have to get her to there... or else she won't be recovered soon, and worse Taiko would be hurt while fighting the demon group..."
he got up from his position, his back aching, affecting his body due to too much stamina drained. His eye twitched. he tripped and fell down at some times. but he eventually got through it. He bit his own tongue, excessively bleeding. and to this, above all, his eyes became golden-colored.
A shadow of a demon appears behind him, guiding him, it was no aura of him... it looked like an apparition of a strong, high-ranked demon. his hair became shining bright blonde, shiny as gold. but then... his eyes briefly became red, then temporarily gold. Thanks to those temporary appearances, his magic power charged back to 100%. His stamina too. He crouched, carried Yorihiko on his back, his aura became stronger... and so his willpower.
He then ran with full speed, but now using his power.
"First slot, modified enhanced speed, full speed!"
Not just speed, his reaction time was also enhanced. Any tree in his way, any rocks in his way, he dodged all of him no problem. "I have to get her to the hospital... I must." Just a few more, buddy. Then eventually he arriveda t the hospital, crashing in and immediately saw a nurse as he got in.
"Please help my comrade... she's running low on power! Please help her!"
One of the nurses turned around, shocked to see a weak patient. She was shocked to hear someone with power, since it was unusual that there would be someone with powers in this hospital. Apparently, panicked the nurse. She called out for help from the other nurses, helping the unconscious and weak Yorihiko in grave danger. and though Zakku did not know he was underestimating Yorihiko, who had kept a secret.
He had to wait in the waiting room, hoping that soon enough Yorihiko will feel better. He would suddenly hear stomping from afar, by aura and by his hearing. He looked outside of the window and saw Taiko battling her heart out with the demons...
"I hope she will be okay, I must hope... Please god, guide the both of them."
Even Taiko herself was struggling to decapitate, nor kill a single demon in ease. She was already using a weapon much stronger than the greatest gun in this world, the XVR 460 magnum. A sword further stronger, in which Zakku is unaware of. "I will help her, nurses, take care of Yorihiko for me. I will go out and fight alongside with my ally out there!"
the nurses were confused, and thought this tall-ass kid was delusional but so he was serious with this. He jumps out of the window, all people who witnessed this scene were shocked. He landed perfectly on the ground, he jumped off the 2nd floor of the hospital, though he experienced something much harder than that, something taller.
"Rose has helped me a lot, and I want to repay for what she has done for me, I can't stand in the sidelines and watch her fight all by herself."
He ran towards the battle scene, screaming Taiko's name while he's at it. "ROSE!!! ROSE!!! HELL TO EARTH YOU ARE GONNA GET YOURSELF HURT IF YOU FIGHT ALL BY YOURSELF!!!"
She did not notice Zakku, as she was fighting seriously and trying not to get distracted. The leader of the group was in mid-air and saw Zakku right below his feet, surprised to see Jaka's frenemy, or nemesis coming to him.
"Are you giving yourself up, Jaka's nemesis? Zakku Seiji... I've always wanted to look for you, and so you are the one who ran up to me? What a coinci-"
he was cut off my Zakku's brave voice, "Why would I give myself up to you? Though it may be my life you want me to surrender, I'd rather help an ally in need!"
he laughed at Zakku's statement, "Brave you are, sure, determined but I am not surprised by it. If you want to help your friend, step in on the battlefield and fight along with her... AND DIE ALONG WITH HER."
~Second slot, modified enhanced second sword, dark blood.~
Zakku conjures a sword that appears in his hands, gripping the handle as tight as he could and dashed towards the leader, jumping up in the air that includes.
"Like hell we would die that easily! You sure are a cocky one yourself, now just who are you?"
the leader did not respond, he just blinked as Zakku came back to the position in which before he had conjured the sword. He was confused as on what happened, why he came back to the position before he attacked, and how? "Wait, what just happened...-"
"My power, the dream. Dark bloodline's special art, Dream. That is my ability." he blinked two more times, making time rewind by 35 seconds, as if it were a dream- or it was.
"You cannot escape from『His will』, nor my dream. It's as if I now control dreams and rewind time... don't sleep and dream if you do not want to suffer from lots of pain."
Zakku silent and closely listened as he continues to attack the leader and try landing a blow... it was helpless. Time just kept repeating due to the leader's 『Will』.
~I can't escape from 『His will』nor the dream... his power controls dreams and rewinds time due to『His will』nor his dream. If I dream, pain will be inflicted. A troublesome art...~
Zakku thought, trying to learn something to avoid and be able to overcome this troublesome dream art. he closed his eyes, and then perfectly imaged Zakku's incoming moves and avoided them. Now for the offensive mode of this powerful demon, he clasped his hands, put his hands in the air and strikes it down. It didn't look like a dumb move, but the central demon followed its leader's moves and strikes Zakku down with an all-out strike down.
Before the helpless Zakku would be able to hit the ground, the demon kicked Zakku to the side and flinging him to the hospital. Zakku's bones were fractured and broken, but... did that make him give up just because of a fatal blow? He did not. he drew his sword and grips the handle very tight, stuck the blade into the ground and stopped him from flying away. Taiko turned around, to then see Zakku helplessly get hurt by his attacks.
She was worried, and not just him. She turned back, and hoping her guard wasn't let down. A demon almost hit her, but she easily cut off the demon's arm, yet regenerated. She continues to attack the demon, she got to the ground and jumped up to the demon's face, and while she's at it, sliced and diced the demon's arms. Zakku didn't just sit down around and watching her fight all by herself, he gets up and luckily saw liquid gasoline close to him. He created friction with the gasoline with his sword. Creating fire as fire had surrounded his sword, which had given him an advantage for burn attacks.
~This kid is interesting, he used his mind and created fire with friction. Over all of that, these demon's body strength are weak to fire. Like metal, once fire lingers, the metal melts, as it weakens. I admire him, his strength and his cleverness far surpass a human's one! And his stats are on par with a demon, it's unusual!~
The leader thought as he admired the demon-like kiddo, smirking.
~He sure is worthy to be an enemy. I shan't kill him, but I'll fight him along with his allies. I will let him get stronger since then, then I will fight him some day if me and this Zakku kid meet again someday, by coincidence or by purpose.~
Zakku also had another sword in hand, wielding both swords in different hands. One had the fire and the other had not. Which made it confusing to the demons.
~I should try this attack out so I can at least assist Rose in battle/combat, this might just be effective.~
He lunged towards a demon, he held the fire-covered sword with his teeth and used the no-fire blade to cut off the demon's arm off and made his fire sword touch the demon's blood, making the whole demon's body burn and then it gets killed without a second thought. The other demons turned their attention to Zakku, and so did Taiko, who had just seen a demon get burned into ashes. This was the first time any of the demons, Taiko, and the leader has seen someone burn a demon that way.
~Incredible! This kid has used his whole mind into this planning. It may sound simple but it's effective, it's an attack which is a threat to demons, including us humanoid demons!~ The leader made a fuss, later then on shrieks of laughter.
"Haha... you sure are interesting, human! Noone has ever planned an attack like that! Let me tell you something about history, I've heard that a century ago, the light ancestor was the first to come up with such a troublesome attack."
Zakku... was immediately shocked by such sudden confession. He did or not believe him, more or less. Seiji had his sword all ready for another attack.
"How would you know, who-knows-all leader of this useless-no-point raid group?"
"Well... how would I know? I should ask you that. I can perfect image what happens-"
"But that doesn't mean you can't see everything at the same time, am I correct?" The leader noticed just now, and felt like he was being underestimated by a puny human... or is Zakku really human?
"Are you underestimating me..." he lunged towards the leader and slashed him, immediately landed a perfectly clean cut on him.
"GAH!"
"I wouldn't look down on anyone, strong or weak." He said with truce and honesty in his voice, but he had just said the truth before.
"But it's true, you wouldn't see everything in the same time." he lands in the ground and drops his swords. "I don't want to hurt anybody, but I have to when I need to."
the both hesitated, the demon group stopped to attack, Taiko looked at the two having a verbal and physical battle.
~What is going on...~ She thought to herself.
Then after a few moments of hesitating, the leader stood up from his seat and clapped. "I won't give up that easily, and saying that I should surrender? I'd rather not. I'd battle you to death now. Let's see if you should give up, instead of me doing so."
Zakku immediately agrees to the death battle, "It's on, you demon. A death battle or a normal battle, I accept your challenge. Whatever it takes."
The both had glared at each other with a death glare, but the battle had started immediately in a flash. Half of the demons of the raid group start to chase after Zakku and attack him, while the other half was Taiko struggling to kill. But she had seen the move, so she grabs out a better kind of gas, white, and poured it all over her sword. She raised the wet sword above her head and chopping down, stopping it sharply at the bottom, creating fire on her sword.
The fire danced rhythmically in great sync on her sword. The leader had been kind of... astonished. At this rate, the demon population would drop down drastically. Well, he didn't care to whatever happens to his underlings. he watched getting himself entertained by watching the two fight his own underlings.
~This is getting interesting, Zakku became the 2nd to come up with that move, but that elite had came up with a better plan by pouring better gas all over her sword and created friction. Let's see how easy they can beat, and who beats the other due to efficiency.~ the leader thought.
------------------------------Zakku's Point of View (PoV)------------------------------
I search around and research the area, I had already planned on what I should do.
~I will attack the leader once I deal with these demons.~
I plan in my thoughts. I am surrounded by these demons, yet I had planned for this, and knew that this would happen. I turn to different directions, turning to the aura in which I felt was the closest to me. I withdrew my dual swords, then to the closest demon I had felt which was the first one that will attack me.
I used the non-lit sword to cut off the demon's limbs in under ten seconds, jumping to attack the arms and stuck the fire sword in the cut wounds. I yet again had witnessed another death of a demon turning into ashes, and had defeated a demon this strong for the third time. Everything went as what I had planned to do, once I defeat a demon, no matter if it's close or not to me, as long as there was an opening where I can escape and continue fighting off these demons.
Little I knew the scene changed, the scene was in a battlefield, and I did not notice that there was a change of scenery, and notice that Taiko was not in the battlefield with me, with my aura sense. I barely did. I find a gap in between two demons, and in the middle were the ashes of that demon I just killed. I ran off, squeezed into that gap and managed to escape myself getting ganged up on by demons who are almost as capable of killing me in an instant with those big arms and immense strength.
"That gap was kind of small, but I got through it."
I sigh in relief, that was crazy, I almost got killed... and then I laugh.
------------------------------The leader's Point of View (PoV)------------------------------
I was just above the feet of those filthy and disgusting humans and demons. I was just sitting on my throne and closed my eyes, dreaming wonderfully. Actually, these "wonderful" dreams were the images in my mind, and these certain images were people suffering by the other raid groups my leader had recruited. The leader, Jaka Do, is very smart, he surpasses my cleverness, my terms in combat too, and he surpasses anyone else's stats.
He's awesome, and I admire him a lot as his underling. I take out something from my pocket, I held it, it was an egg. It was no ordinary egg, it might be small for me to hold, but it's something that hatches after a long time, it unlocks a humanoid demon's full potential and "True Power". It doesn't seem it's gonna hatch yet, I should wait for a few more years, become stronger and see the results.
I was only consoling, so I never actually had chances to battle. My power, dream, consoles others to kill. I yet hadn't killed people with my own hands, that's why the egg never reacted. I place the egg back into my pocket, but by the durability, it never broke, no matter what. I put your rear end on the throne, sliding my feet forward slightly. I feel comfortable in this position. Anyways, I did not just move my body to feel comfortable, I focus my own weight towards my middle.
"This is not so bad."
I compliment to the position. This had rested my legs and feet. I recommend to sit in this position, as ever, relaxing. I rest my legs as I watch Zakku do his sword work and continue getting entertained by him.
------------------------------Back to Zakku's Point of View (PoV)------------------------------
I find the leader on top, right above my level. I wonder why he's up there, and not battling? Is it some sort that he isn't capable of doing so, or is he just trying to get more powerful by sitting there. I suddenly remember, his power is the dream, and the 『His will』I have heard. He actually able to battle, and he sits to improve his power. Was it? I actually have no idea.
Well, I hope not, it will be a threat if he becomes better overtime when he focuses. Well that aside, demons were in line and dashed at me to attack. I had myself prepared for the attack, and so I moved the swords and swinged it around, setting the swords ablaze and killed each demon in my sight and way.
I rage, filled with anger. My veins were visible, as small fangs form on my teeth. I look like a maniac, filled with rage. I did not just kill the demons, but also destroyed the battlefield's ground. The battlefield has collapsed right before me, and the leader in which I plan to attack. I was standing on a rubble in which had was created when I broke the battlefield, the ground below had an endless pit. I avoided falling into the hole, but in a flash. The leader had blinked, rewinding time before the hole in the ground was made.
"Interesting, kid." The leader had complimented me.
What the hell... This person is sure one threat, I couldn't handle him. His dream... His Will... they are all too much!