From a vicious, violently dangerous demon to suddenly being on its knees with a bowed head, the terrifying demon glanced down at Rin who stood on the ground.
"I want you to meet my new friend," a golden chain formed around my neck and instead of pulling me by my heart, Rin pulled me like a dog with a leash, looking up at the demon.
Hah... fuck. This thing is tight on my neck! But...
Why is that demon... What? It's huge, but why is it talking? Why is it... not attacking? Confusion erupted from my body; my eyebrows furrowed. Rin is talking to it. She said she used to be the former demon lord. If anything, the demon should be attacking her!
"Ah. Is that the man who is going to take back your throne?" Surprisingly, a gently soft voice vibrated throughout the circular cave. The source? The savage looking demon.
"Yes, that's him. Aurath is his name."
I never knew some demons could talk, but this demon seemed different. It had... almost a certain charm to it. Nonetheless, I was surrounded by my comrade's unconscious bodies. They weren't dead, but at this rate... yikes.
"Interesting..." A white light covered the body of the kneeling demon. Suddenly, the formerly towering monster was gone. In its place stood a young-looking man with long straight white hair, a soft voice that matched a soft face. Buttoned down to fit his athletic torso, he wore a white collared shirt paired with black pants and black shoes. A slight scar to his cheek and brown eyes, he looked completely unlike his previous form. One form hideous, another was handsome.
The man approached me. "I've been meaning to meet you, sir," he extended his pale hand for a handshake, "I am Xilrathon. But you can call me Muzzu."
Out of curtesy as an Elite soldier, I accepted the handshake. "Thank you," I said, despite gripping my sword with my other hand and unleashing a rapid slash aimed at the man's head.
Effortlessly, the man, Muzzu, instinctively ducked down in time, his long hair dangled to the floor. "Ooh, feisty, huh?" Muzzu said loudly to Rin, almost in a cheery manner as his lips developed into a smile. He got up from the floor and placed his hands behind his back, giving me a playful look.
"Yeah, he's not so obedient yet," Rin pulled back the leash and I fell back from the sudden force, my sword dropped to the ground. "But I'll make him obedient," she giggled, mischievously placing her fingers on her lips.
K-kak.... Can't breathe. Dammit... there's got to be something I can do!
"Poor kid, huh?" The man looked at me with a slight look of compassion in his eyes, "He has to deal with you, Mistress Orath," he said jokingly.
Orath? Is that Rin's official name or what? Well... why do I care. I'm gonna get out of this situation!
"Pfft, don't worry, I treat him right. Don't I, sweetie?" Rin tugged a small golden chain strand, forcing me to nod in agreement, even though it was out of my will.
"...If you say so, Mistress Orath. Let's get going, shall we?" Muzzu asked and pointed a finger in front of us. Suddenly, a purple portal appeared.
"Yes. Come, now, pet," Rin said as the two walked towards the portal, both of their backs faced me. If demons had come from portals like that... I could only assume the worst from walking into one.
Divine energy channeled throughout my body. "Rin?" I called out to her; a quick plan formed to mind. It just might work.
"Yes, sweetie?" Rin suddenly turned around. My finger pointed at her eye, divine energy coursing through my fingertip. "Energy Blast II."
A suddenly bright, red light released from my finger. It went zooming at Rin's eye, who had not anticipated the spell attack. Due to the surprise, she let go of the chain and flinched back in slight shock.
Take that, you... demon wench! Now's my chance to run away! Yipppieee!
Instantly, my legs carried my body as they dashed to the exit of the cave. I had to get help for my comrades. Unfortunately... this was the best I could do. Or maybe I could just lure them away, if luck was on my side. Shit... I really didn't think this out.
Just as I managed to reach the exit, a figure with a sword blocked the entrance. "Where do you think you're going?" The white-haired man asked, his face serious as he tightly gripped the handle of his sword. His hazel eyes intensely peered at me, leaving me no choice but to unsheathe my sword.
Abruptly, his serious expression quickly rearranged into a slight, tranquil smile. "I'll let you make the first move."
Hah... as if I needed to hear that from you!
My hand extended outward. From my shoulder to my arm, all the way to the tip of my sword, divine energy drizzled from my very core. I put nearly all of my regular speed and skill into that single jab. All for it to be simply parried and knocked away.
"Ah, is that all now?" Muzzu said, a mocking chuckle left his pink lips, "I expected more from you."
He parried my blade again and again, I frustratedly threw more jabs aimed at his head. He gracefully danced and twisted his wrist, freely controlling his sword to block my hits. Suddenly, he parried and counterattacked by a vertical slice. Hadn't I barely been able to see the attack, I would've been cut in half.
I closed distance on the vertical strike, raising my sword to block the attack. From there, I stepped to the right and let the blade slide off my sword. Then, I raised my blade before the man could process what happened and counterattacked with my own vertical slice.
Simply, effortlessly, yet distasteful and frustrating. That was the best way to describe this man's sword style. He backstepped, barely avoiding enough distance to dodge my blade. "Phew, that was close! I didn't expect that!"
"...I hate you," I muttered, out of breath and gasping for air.
"Aw, don't be like that. I have to test your skills, after all."
Test my skills, huh... I'll cut your tongue off so you can't speak again!
My sword quickly disfigured into an aggressive, raged induced attacks as my sense of style disappeared. Jab after jab. A series of horizontal strikes. They all missed, but bit by bit I was closing in on him. Enough energy coursed into my blade to reach 10%. It was still relatively low, but I wanted to beat him by pure skill, even if the gap between our levels was too big to close in through skill alone.
My frustration got to the best of me. In a quick jab, a sword pierced my leg. I was unable to block, my leg bent in pain and blood poured out through my black pants. Instantly, I locked the little remaining strength in my leg to the ground.
I'm used to the pain now, so it didn't graze me one bit.
Something I realized was that he only blocked and rarely attacked. Sure, he blocked well and was quite fast when he did attack, but for some reason... he never liked provoking first. It was like he was leading me on from the beginning.
In other words, he was one of those pesky defensive types. The best way to deal with them was to force them out of their shell.
"Oh, what's wrong? Can't move now, huh, boy?" He teased me and tried to anger me, but I remained still. "You know... just because you get special treatment from Mistress Orath doesn't mean she likes you," he moved in to attack, our swords met, and we held them in place. "Mistress is my duty. She is mine, so you better not get cocky!"
Hm... had he been trying to enrage me all along? He is awfully protective of Rin. In a situation like this, I think it's best to give him his own medicine. Right where it hurts!
"Hah... wasn't planning on it, demon boy!" I shifted my weight backward and dodged a jab aimed for my head, "Now, I should shut your mouth. Mistress doesn't like hearing your voice. Only mine."
Muzzu's pale white face suddenly turned a deep shade of red. He gripped his sword even tighter than before and bit his lip. A rush of demonic energy suddenly emerged from his body. He had been suppressing it all along. His right brown eye suddenly became red. He was like... a half human, half demon hybrid.
"You... bastard!" Muzzu lunged forward, his movements suddenly more accurate and rapid. My leg limped as I was pushed back against a wall.
He was playing dirty, using his demonic energy. That meant... I finally had an excuse to unleash my divine energy.
Whooosh. The chilling sound of my divine energy erupted from my body. My sword glowed a yellowish, my damaged leg received divine energy input to make it function like normal again.
25%...
I was able to parry his rapid, fast and angered attacks. But not enough to counterattack.
30...
At the same time, his demonic energy surged far past mine.
"70... 80...!" He yelled, forcing me to up my divine energy to keep up with him. Despite such a large gap in energy, I was able to keep up with him. Maybe my energy levels were slightly more... advanced.
Parry, block, parry, block, counterattack. No hits landed on each other. Only the sound of our metal clanging filled throughout the cave.
If my energy was more advanced, maybe a sudden jump would be enough to catch him off-guard.
Channeling my energy, 30% instantly rose to 50%. A speedy, moving blur of my hand pierced through Muzzu's neck, an instant blow impaling him. At the same time, he released a demonic attack and landed a violent downward strike against my collarbone.
We both collapsed to the ground, bleeding puddles filled the rocky ground of the cave.
"Alright, that's enough, you two," Rin suddenly appeared behind us, grabbing us by the collar of our shirts.
"I'm impressed. To think that Aurath could match your power at only 50% of his, aha!" She said to Muzzu as she dragged us on the ground, leading us to the portal with her back turned.
I glanced over at Muzzu. He had a dazed look on his eyes and his red face turned back into his usual paleness. Bleh. I stuck my tongue out at him. He stuck his out back.
"I've found myself such a wonderful, strong pet, ehehe. I can't wait!" Were the last few words before I was launched into the purple portal, into a brand new world unknown to me.