[Damn it!] Mask thought as he saw that massive gauntlet coming his way. For a moment, he thought about using the dagger to divert the blow just enough not to get hit by it squarely on the face, but his body was basically leaning against the attack at that moment.
[Their attack combination is way more brilliant than I thought. It doesn't seem to be a coincidence at all! Once they saw that my reflexes were enough to deal with them, they used it against me and brought my face directly where they wanted! Right into the very attack of their leader!]
Gabriel's eyes got filled with power as he charged his fist and nourished his Soul Mirror with Divine Energy. His body got surrounded by a golden aura that looked dangerous just by Mask witnessing it surging.
"Smash him, Ferreus Mons!" he shouted, rotating his hips and shooting forward with his fist covered in that white and silver gauntlet. Mask could hear the punch cutting the air and leaving a whistling sound as it traveled directly towards his face.
The demon closed his eyes, prepared to take that punch. He knew that it would possibly behead him, but maybe he would be lucky enough to get his neck broken or his jaw and teeth completely shattered.
However, the punch never came. For a moment, he thought that he was already dead. The whistling sound stopped, all that Divine Energy going to collide against his body at full force had disappeared for a moment as if it never existed in the first place. The tension remained there, but the feeling of upcoming danger was washed away by a vicious aura replacing it.
That vicious aura, though, was quite pleasant for Tobey's body as it felt stronger just by staying near it.
'Hey, Mask... Take a look at it...', Tobey thought, now finally paying completely attention to what was happening.
Mask opened his eyes slowly and saw a considerably huge scythe in front of him, blood dripping from it. The scythe's blade had a dark red tonality, some runes written on it, which Mask nor Tobey could read properly. Its long cable was black and had some strange details here and there.
Finally, their eyes reached the ground and saw Gabriel's arm laying there, washing the asphalt with blood.
Mask gulped as he moved his eyes and saw the man in front of him.
[What the...?] he thought, unable to finish his phrase.
'Mask,' Tobey called him, flustered, 'is it some kind of joke, an ace up your sleeve... or is there someone very similar to me in front of us right now? Do all demons have the same appearance?'
[No. They differ a lot depending on their lineage as far as I can remember. It's similar to humans. I have a few flashes of kids back in our childhood, and they weren't all equal in looks.]
Gabriel was just as flustered to see that man in front of him. Maybe, more flustered by his presence than the missing of his left arm.
He jumped several meters away, trying to create some distance so he would be able to recover quickly. He knew that there was more fight ahead.
"Bloodseeker, huh?" he asked while holding his left shoulder, which was the only part left of his arm.
"They call me a lot of names, mate. Maybe that's the most famous one, though. But you can call me Mark as well, not that it is important right now since you probably will keep the bloodseeker thing.'
The paladin was breathing harshly, and his eyes showed a bit of nervousness every time he looked at that scythe.
"Of course, the wonderful Lamia is with you! Tell stories to our kids about your scythe is a tradition among the paladins. You surely became a legend, bloodseeker. And this scythe of yours surely is part of all this. It's your Soul Mirror, after all, your trademark."
"You don't seem to be good when trying to buy time, commander," Mark coldly said. "Let's see what happens with this confident and faithful look when you start to watch your fellow comrades die one by one!" For some reason, Mark seemed to be furious at that moment.
Mask couldn't understand the motivation for his wrath, let alone Tobey. But they both knew that the demon wasn't aiming that anger at them, so they could escape easily without getting targeted.
Mark looked over his shoulder, just to take a glimpse of his brother's face. It was a pleasure for him to see Tobey in his Demon Form already.
"There is no doubt," he muttered. "It's you. I sure of it."
He turned again to that troop of paladins, looking at each one of them carefully. He was analyzing the battlefield so he would know what to do next. The most impressive of all of that was the fact that he did it in just some seconds with ease. He had already memorized the position of the paladins, the expressions in their eyes, the type of weapons they were holding, and their fighting stances.
From just that analysis, he could know for sure who was the first one who would attack!
'From the left,' he thought as he gave a step to the side and swung his scythe. It drew a wide bow in the air, but fast enough to reach in time a paladin that had stealthily tried to approach him.
That fluid and quick attack seemed to be just a means of getting that man away and maybe hurt him a little bit, an attack with no strength behind. This was the main reason why everyone, including Tobey and Mask, got flabbergasted once the blade of his scythe crossed ways with the paladin.
At first, it seemed like he had failed in his attempt to attack, but reality showed otherwise as the body of the paladin got split in half after two more steps forward.
"This blade is bloodthirsty right now, mates. And I even gave you the chance to back away, how unfortunate!" he shouted as Dark Energy surrounded his body and weapon.
Without giving any reaction time to his enemies, Mark stomped the ground and dashed forward leaving a trail of red and black behind. In the next time, the Soul Mirror of one of the paladins got shattered into pieces as he used it to try to stop the demon's fierce attack. Right after, both his hands which were holding the cable fell to the ground.
He opened his mouth to yell but another nimble swing beheaded him right on the spot.
The rest of the paladins, of course, wouldn't wait there while that demon slaughtered their friends. With another warcry, they charged toward Mark.
However, the demon was expecting such an outcome already. It wasn't like him to underestimate paladins. All the times he did so, he regretted it deeply.
He only needed a glance at the approaching enemies to calculate his next movements.
Faster than them, he sprinted to the left, his speed making it seem like he warped in front of those paladins. Since the latter saw his speed back in his last assault, they were already attacking, expecting him to appear in front of them.
Mark easily dodged those blows, leaving just one of them to scratch him on the cheek. Nevertheless, that scratch was so insignificant that it couldn't even be considered real damage.
That very mistake cost their lives as well. Another carnage happened before the troop's eyes as they saw three of their comrades get killed by a single blow.
"Y-You bastaaard!" one of them shouted, who seemed to be quite stronger than the others. He was holding a battle hammer in his hands, carrying it around as if it was light as a feather.
Mark leaped backward as he saw that hammer descending, aiming at his head. Once it hit the ground, it made a sound louder than a clap of thunder.
The bloodseeker clicked his tongue as he looked at that man in annoyance.
"You are stronger than the rest of them, clearly. The amount of Divine Flame coming out of your Soul Mirror is very impressive. You only lose to Gabriel," Mark commented, carefreely.
The paladin ran forward again, wildly roaring and charging his battle hammer. He was going to give his all on that attack, unleash his true power! He would take vengeance for all his fallen comrades!
"It's a pity that, if even Gabriel is nothing for me," he casually waved his hand to the side, making his scythe draw a straight line. It wasn't too strong, but the whistling sound it left showed how sharp that attack was. "then you probably are even less than that. Way too easy to deal with."
Half of the paladin's hammer fell to the ground, and the other half of the cable remained on his hands as he trembled in fear, his face pale.
"I don't want to make you suffer, though," Mark added, making his scythe come back to the opposite side, splitting that paladin in half as well as if it was nothing.
The remaining paladins, including Gabriel, looked in dread as the scythe's blade absorbed the blood of all the people he killed. Not only the blood wetting its blade, but also what was spread on the ground or in Mark's clothes.
"No need to fear, buddies. The fight only started. I barely warmed up."